DKFTI 28

While Sibel was thinking, suddenly flames began to blaze from the child’s body.

Look at this, look at this. He can’t expect something ordinary to happen in this world.

“I’ll kill you!”

Oh dear.

Sibel stepped back little by little to avoid the scorching flames. The ice golem was also surprised by the flames and slowly moved to the side.

“My mother’s enemy! Arcanon!”

The child called out someone’s name and suddenly transformed into a massive reptile. Sibel thought it was a good thing he had already kept his distance. But maybe because he had seen all kinds of monsters in the Demon King’s castle, he had grown immune, so even when faced with a dragon right in front of him, he didn’t faint.

[I’ll kill you, Arcanon.]

The child’s voice suddenly echoed in the air. This was the first time Sibel had heard a telepathic voice that made his head buzz and throb. He covered his ears.

“What is it saying?”

Aizen, who had been approaching, stopped on the spot and looked up at the dragon that had grown massive.

[Graaaah-!]

Flames spewed out the dragon’s mouth, and it went straight to Aizen.

Clang, bang-!

Aizen summoned his holy sword and split the flames in two. The ice golem wrapped around Sibel protectively.

“Wow….”

Sibel’s mouth fell open. As the fire went out, Aizen reappeared again. He was unharmed. The flames hadn’t even singed a single hair.

But he looked annoyed, as if this whole event was just bothersome.

“What are you? Can I kill it?”

He seemed a little angry. Aizen, wondering if this too was one of Sibel’s summons, asked him.

“Well, this one came looking for the Demon King… wait. Arcanon? But who’s that?”

[Arcanon, isn’t he the Demon King of this place!]

Sibel tilted his head.

“Did you come to the wrong address? There’s no such person here.”

[What? Then what is that?]

“Ah… that lord, no, our Demon King isn’t called that. Arcanon… Arcanon. I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere.”

Sibel mulled over the name. At that moment, Aizen, who was tidying up his messy clothes, opened his mouth.

“That’s the previous Demon King.”

“Ah! Aha!”

Sibel finally remembered the name. Then he immediately addressed the dragon.

“…That Demon King’s already dead.”

[…]

So this little dragon came to take revenge on a Demon King who was already dead.

[L-Liar.]

His fluster was obvious. He really seemed his age now.

“It’s true…. He’s long since dead.”

“There are rumors everywhere that he died and a new Demon King appeared. You didn’t even check?”

Aizen spoke with sarcasm.

Hey, hey, don’t provoke the kid for nothing. Why are you doing that.

Sibel tried to stop Aizen with a look.

[Th, then… that can’t be?]

This one really had no plan. He came for revenge, yet was acting so clumsy. Sibel felt sorry for this little dragon. It felt like looking at himself.

“That’s a sad story. But what can you do. You can’t drag a dead Demon King back from the grave. No, he disappeared without even leaving a body, so that’s impossible.”

The dragon blinked blankly.

“What else can you do. You have to go back. Do you know the way home? How did you come here. Did you fly? Do you have wings?”

Sibel peeked at the dragon’s back. Just then, smoke puffed out from the dragon’s body.

“Cough.”

Choking on the smoke, Sibel forced his eyes open. The child’s form from before appeared again, as the smoke started to dissipate.

“Heuuh….”

They soon heard a cry followed by a sniffling sound.

“Hic, then, what do I do?”

It seemed the little dragon had finally faced reality.

“What do you mean, what do you do. You go home….”

“I don’t have a mother or a home anymore…. Hic…”

“……”

Sibel was at a loss for words.

“Why did you only show up so late….”

“On my way here I just closed my eyes for a moment, but a hundred years had passed…”

A moment? A moment’s nap and a hundred years? Wait, then how old was this one supposed to be?

“Do you think a dragon’s time flows like a human’s?”

Aizen, noticing Sibel’s confusion, said.

“Then this one is….”

“Even if he looks like a brat, he’s at least hundreds, maybe even thousands of years old.”

“Ha.”

It was absurd. Ridiculous. So he wasn’t even a kid? If he had lived hundreds of years, couldn’t he at least walk around in an adult form.

“Moooom!”

The dragon grandfather in a child’s body started wailing. Sibel’s head is starting to hurt at this point.

“Excuse me, excuse me. You can’t do this in someone else’s castle.”

“Uwaaaah!”

Flames flickered again from his body as the child cried loudly.

“This is driving me crazy. At this rate the whole house will burn down!”

“You’re not even the Demon King, so why are you worrying about that.”

Aizen mocked Sibel, who earlier had forced the Demon King’s title onto him.

“Hey, little dragon! Look here! No fire!”

Sibel pretended not to hear Aizen and tried to approach the child, but he stepped back from the heat.

“I-Ice golem!”

“Uugh.”

Sibel hugged the ice golem to cool himself, then went toward the child again, only to retreat once more. He kept repeating it.

“You really do all sorts of things.”

Aizen sighed as he looked at Sibel.

“Hey. Dragon brat. Stop it and get inside.”

“Hic-no!”

The dragon flinched and burst into tears. At Aizen’s menacing tone.

“No, who said you could just….”

“This is my castle, I can call whoever I want. What. Why? Do you have any complaints? You’re just a human.”

Sibel wanted to complain about why Aizen was letting strangers into someone else’s house, but because of his earlier lie, he had nothing to say. Maybe this was why people shouldn’t live a dirty life?

“What a…you’re so magnanimous.”

Sibel had no choice but to quietly follow Aizen. By now he really couldn’t tell who was the host and who was the guest.

“Ah, let’s go together!”

Sibel was afraid to be left alone with the flame-spitting boy.

***

The little dragon Kairin finally calmed down after two full hours.

“So, the former Demon King caused your mother’s death, and you set out for revenge, but a sleep phase came over you and you slept for a hundred years, only to arrive just now, right?”

The child nodded. In front of him was a pile of singed handkerchiefs he had been given to wipe his tears.

“That’s unfortunate….”

Sibel handed him another fresh handkerchief.

“Why did you bring that brat here?”

Standing beside Sibel with arms crossed, Shanti glanced up and down at Kairin with displeased.

“Now that I think about it, Shanti, you’re a dragon too, right? Isn’t he like a relative or something like that?”

Sibel asked him.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think dragons come in only one or two types? How can a rootless red dragon compare to me?”

“And how are you different? Oh, right. You had three heads.”

“No, I’m not the same as that little blood lump!”

Shanti jumped in protest, telling him not to compare them. In fact, it was rude to treat Shanti as equal to a young dragon. He had existed for thousands of years, it was impossible to categorize him under the same class.

“So, what do we do now?”

How should they send this uninvited guest back? But he was sobbing so pitifully, it was hard to just throw him out coldly.

“What’s there to think about. He has to find somewhere else to go back to.”

Aizen, who had been watching, spoke as if it were nothing.

If that was the case, he shouldn’t have brought him into the castle!

“What is this, an inn? Bringing in whoever, dogs or cows… well, it’s not much different from now.”

Aizen looked slowly over the monsters crowding the Demon King’s castle.

“But he’s just a kid, and he has no home….”

“You think a dragon can’t find a place to live? You worry too much.”

“You didn’t see him crying?”

As Sibel and Aizen whispered about the boy, Kairin, who had been wiping his tears, looked up and asked Aizen,

“D-do I have to leave…?”

Ugh.

Sibel felt like his heart had been hit.

“W-well, there’s no need to rush, right? The castle has plenty of rooms.”

“Ha.”

Aizen snorted. In fact, the moment he saw Kairin crying his eyes out in the room, he had already predicted Sibel’s reaction.

“One day, that kindness will hold you back.”

“Then should I kick out the Hero first fr….”

“Tsk.”

Aizen clicked his tongue, and Sibel closed his mouth.

Why was he, of all people, who was freeloading in someone else’s castle, so intent on throwing out the dragon?