DKFTI 30

Grrr.

The incident happened half a day later.

They had just managed to calm Kairin down after filling his stomach with the hard-earned meat.

“Om, nyam nyam! It’s salty!”

“Yeah, yeah, eat, eat. Are you feeling better? Then, shall we talk about what comes next?”

Sibel had been waiting until Kairin was full so he could coax him into a proper conversation, but then suddenly he felt a great tremor.

“……”

Dududududu-.

Sibel, who was startled by the vibrations running through the ground like an earthquake, looked outside and witnessed the garden being split in half.

“What is that?”

Sibel rubbed his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. A huge looming shadow, the ruined garden, and flapping… enormous wings.

“Sha-Shanti?”

When the panicked Sibel pointed toward the garden in alarm, Shanti disappeared. And.

Boom-!

With a loud crash, two gigantic reptiles were entangled right before Sibel’s eyes.

Crash.

He don’t know where the debris came from, but dirt and stones flew against Sibel’s body.

“Cough, cough.”

Sibel opened his eyes with difficulty and looked at the situation in the garden.

“…Shanti?”

There, Shanti, who had transformed into a three-headed hybrid dragon, was biting the wing joint of a huge dragon.

“W-what! What is that!”

Shocked, Sibel held the terrace railing tightly and leaned out.

Is it an attack? Why all of a sudden?

In that instant, the young dragon Kairin flashed through Sibel’s mind.

“Ka, Kairin!”

Sibel called Kairin, who was still gnawing at the remaining meat. Startled, Kairin ran to Sibel’s side.

“W-what’s that?”

When Sibel pointed outside, Kairin’s eyes went wide. Bits of meat flew from his mouth.

“U-uncle?”

“Uncle? Your uncle?”

Sibel learned about the identity of the violent dragon that suddenly appeared.

***

Grrr-.

Shanti glared at the dragon baring its teeth before him and spat out the wing joint he had been clamping down on.

[This is not a place you creatures are allowed to step into.]

His telepathic voice reached the other.

[If you don’t want to die, get out.]

At Shanti’s words, the dragon resisted fiercely, spewing flames at him. Cutting through the fire, Shanti bit at the dragon’s neck again, but the intruder bit him back in counterattack.

In the process, the Demon King’s castle was wrecked once more. The power of their fight could destroy everything around them at any moment.

The two dragons that were biting each other fell apart with a heavy shock. Rough breaths came from both.

[Traitor of our kin. What have you done with my nephew.]

As the other dragon steadied its breathing, it spoke. Their gazes clashed. When he heard the word “traitor,” Shanti’s eyes grew even darker. The two knew each other.

Silence fell between them. The tense standoff was so dangerous that neither could move easily. And it was the same for Sibel.

‘What’s wrong with them?’

Watching the quiet confrontation between the two dragons, Sibel swallowed his saliva and poked Kairin’s side.

“You go stop them.”

“M-my uncle’s scary!”

“Hey! Do your part! Are you going to repay kindness with betrayal? If this keeps up, we will get hurt!”

Sibel kicked Kairin’s butt.

“Ugh!”

Kairin let out a strangled cry.

Grrrr.

A red glare snorting heat fixed itself on Sibel and Kairin.

“Hic!”

Feeling the gaze of the intruder dragon, Sibel shrank down, then quickly straightened his back and waved one hand.

“H-hello…?”

Afraid of being stomped by a huge foot or burned by fire, Sibel quickly pressed himself against Kairin’s side and put on a smile.

“Uncle! Your nephew is right here! I don’t know why you’re so angry, but we’re the unfairly treated ones here, right?”

The intruder’s body turned around at Sibel’s words.

[Kairin….]

“Uncle…!”

Shanti was very wary of the intruder because he didn’t know what he might do. But Sibel shook his head at Shanti, because he had seen the intruder’s eyes soften for a moment.

The form of the intruder dragon disappeared in an instant.

“Huh.”

However, Sibel soon noticed that the dragon hadn’t disappeared, but it had polymorphed into another race.

‘It’s an elf.’

The intruder, now in the form of a blond elf with pointed ears, was floating in the sky.

“Kairin.”

As he approached Kairin, Shanti quickly shifted back into a sheep form and moved to Sibel’s side.

Sibel leaned toward Shanti and whispered.

“What are they doing?”

“Who knows.”

“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Your teeth still intact?”

“…What are you saying?”

Shanti was staring at Kairin and the intruder with an odd gaze. Sibel tilted his head at Shanti’s lack of his usual fuss made.

“Uncle!”

Kairin ran to the intruder, who was in elf form, and threw himself into his arms. The two of them were showing a touching family reunion.

‘Why on earth are you doing that in my castle?’

Sibel sighed as he looked at the ruined garden and castle.

“It’s my fate.”

There isn’t a single peaceful day in the life of a Demon King. If they wanted to shoot their touching family drama, why in someone else’s front yard.

Sibel considered whether to bill the man for repairs to the ruined castle, then glanced at Shanti again. Shanti was somehow exuding a different atmosphere than usual.

‘What’s going on?’

Then he remembered the telepathic words from earlier.

‘Traitor of our kin.’

Come to think of it, Shanti was a dragon. That meant of the same race… but why was Shanti being called a traitor?

There seemed to be a story there, but Sibel couldn’t immediately satisfy his curiosity.

***

“A child who knows nothing has caused offense.”

“Ah, yes.”

Sibel was sitting across from the intruder in elf form.

“I have delayed in introducing myself. My name is Cloton, head of the Red Dragon clan.”

“Yes. I am Sibel, master of the Demon King’s castle.”

Sibel extended his hand without thinking. Then he suddenly thought that shaking hands was awkward here.

Tak.

But Cloton naturally clasped his hand. At that moment, Sibel felt hot energy sweep into his body.

‘Wa. Awesome’

Was this the aura of a Red Dragon? Startled, Sibel pulled his hand back and leaned back.

Then Kairin, looking at Sibel, opened his mouth wide.

“This uncle the Demon King? You said the Demon King was that guy!”

Kairin pointed at Aizen as he spoke. Sibel quietly shook his head and said,

“I’m not an uncle.”

“Now is not the time to point it out!”

Shanti, who had been listening, said to Sibel. But Sibel was more concerned about being called an uncle… when the kid was hundreds of years older than him.

Anyway, Sibel resumed the conversation with Cloton.

“…I heard Kairin’s mother suffered greatly at the hands of the previous Demon King….”

Sibel lowered his voice carefully. Cloton shook his head.

“That is Kairin’s misconception. The man did commit atrocities in the dragons’ territory, but she did not die from that. She simply returned to the earth by the law of nature.”

“Ah….”

“The shock of losing his mother must have confused his memory.”

“No! My mother was definitely killed by Arcanon!”

Kairin shouted from the side. Sibel flinched at the sudden loud voice, but Cloton spoke calmly, as though he was used to it.

“…She died from illness of the heart.”

Not even from disease or old age? Sibel was a little surprised.

“Red Dragons are fiery by nature. Compared to other dragons, it is not rare for their lifespans to be shorter.”

Cloton added the explanation for Sibel’s understanding. Looking at Kairin, his words made sense.

“Sniff, no… that’s not true. My mother….”

Kairin began to sniffle. Cloton stroked his head.

“He is still a child, not fully grown, and troublesome, but I did not expect him to vanish and cause such mischief. For a hundred years his presence could not be felt, so I thought he was in a sleep phase somewhere. Then I suddenly felt it here, and I was so startled I caused offense. My apologies.”

So Cloton had been worried sick when his nephew’s presence vanished, and when he felt it again after a hundred years, he found the source in the Demon King’s castle and was shocked.

“I understand.”

Well, being the guardian of a young one would bring plenty of surprises.

As someone who summoned and raised many magical beasts, Sibel sympathized.

“You should apologize as well.”

At Cloton’s firm tone, Kairin glanced at his uncle, then peeked at Sibel.

“S-sorry.”

The brat’s apology was brief and curt, but Sibel felt relieved that Kairin’s guardian had appeared quickly.

Especially after the ordeal with meals that very morning.