REFDL 35

The Fourth Prince momentarily lost his composure and thought, ‘What the hell is wrong with this bastard?’ Then he belatedly fixed his expression.

Kekeke!

When I laughed in his face, a strange gaze turned my way. I didn’t stay quiet either. Holding onto the resentment from the greenhouse, I helped Kaelus.

Kyaa.

I acted extra cute in a way I normally never did. I climbed out of the cage and onto his body. Kaelus’s face froze at this unscripted support.

In the past, it would have been due to repulsion, but humans are creatures of adaptation. He, too, has grown quite accustomed to me now. This is just… the dissonance of seeing something you’ve raised do something it never did before.

But the Fourth Prince misunderstood and sneered as if he had caught him red-handed.

“Oh dear. It seems the Duke finds the baby dragon uncomfortable? You don’t need to force yourself just because I’m here.”

“……”

Kaelus quietly reached out. He scooped me up with his palm, lifting me onto his shoulder.

Huh. What kind a windfall is this…?

As if I’d been waiting for it, I rubbed my whole body against Kaelus’s chin.

He almost flinched but regained his composure. He was conscious of the prince.

Their war of nerves continued until each entered their respective bedrooms.

* * *

The next day.

Neither Kaelus nor I expected the Fourth Prince to leave willingly. But…

“I challenge Your Grace to a duel.”

“……”

…Who knew he’d come looking for a fight first thing in the morning…

The knight of Denos returned, seemingly fully recovered after receiving some remarkable treatment overnight. He was still armed with an unyielding stubbornness, as hard as a rock.

But he couldn’t hide the anger and desire for revenge in his eyes.

‘He doesn’t seem to even try to hide it.’

After a moment’s thought, Kaelus headed for the training grounds, cradling the cage in his arms.

And it was only upon arriving at the training grounds that he handed the cage to Donon, who had been following him with an enigmatic expression these past two days, and drew his sword.

“Let’s spar with real swords.”

“No. We’ll use dull iron swords.”

“Ha, are you afraid?”

“Yes. I am afraid.”

The Denos knight faltered at the straightforward admission.

“With a real sword, I’d inevitably want to cut. Just thinking about the paperwork that would pour in afterward makes my spine tingle.”

Meaning, he feared the work that would pile up after killing him.

“…Let’s use real swords.”

“If that’s the case.”

Kaelus drew his sword. That was all.

Really, that was all.

“…!!”

The air changed.

It grew cool and honed. He himself became a sword.

It was the same aura I’d seen at the cliff, and in the Forest Village.

Even now, it felt several times more intimidating, as if intent on crushing his opponent, yet I wasn’t scared. I was surprised.

I’m not scared.

……Kaelus must feel the same.

He, too, probably finds me a little less frightening now.

[…….]

I realized. There was no need to be impatient.

Small and slow, but steady.

At least, that was how change worked between him and me.

* * *

The duel began.

But Valita didn’t even glance that way.

His influence in goading the knight had played no small part in how things had come to this, but his interest had never been in the duel between the two men.

The outcome was obvious.

It was the same even without using mana.

Clang!

Clank!

“Guh…!”

The Denos’s knight would lose. Even so, Valita deliberately pushed him forward.

“Hello. We meet again.”

Unless the duke was a mage, he’d have to be separated from this small, mischievous Kremlis during the duel.

The attendant’s body stiffened sequentially, starting from the extremities. His eyes rolled around like marbles within his rigid expression.

“I wasn’t speaking to you, so there’s no need to be so tense. You seem to be in charge of this child?”

“Yes. Yes, Your Highness.”

His reply came out in a squeak. Donon was so tense he had completely frozen.

Then Kaelus, who had been in the middle of a duel, noticed the situation over here.

Crash!

“……!”

The knight’s face turned pale.

His momentum and fighting spirit had been broken long ago. He was barely managing to block the duke’s attacks, but he stubbornly held on, clinging to his last shred of pride.

He was also a formidable fighter, one of the best in Denos.

Given that the use of aura and killing were forbidden.

“Aahhh!”

And given that his opponent was now possessed by rage, defeating him was by no means an easy task.

Valita, who had been enjoying watching the young duke’s face stiffen slightly, snatched the cage from Donon’s arms. He then casually handed the cane he was holding to Donon.

“Eh, eh…!”

“Just a moment. It’s fine. I don’t know if the duke mentioned it, but I’ve already held it once.”

Kyak!

Holding? What holding! You wrung me out like a rag!

The cage door opened. A hand suddenly reached inside. Yuram tried desperately to avoid it, but the narrow cage had its limits.

Ah. I really want to bite.

Glaring at the fingers that grabbed his body, he bared his teeth at their owner.

Grrrrr!

Kyaaaah!

Yuram, pulled from the cage, struggled. It was useless. The grip only tightened. He wasn’t the only one who’d already experienced this.

The man deftly wrapped his hands around his eel-like body.

“Hmm. Definitely soft to the touch. Ah, this might be addictive…”

His fingers rubbed sensitive spots at will. Places like the inner joint between his legs and torso, or his belly.

Valita deliberately asked an obvious question. A half-hearted one even a four-year-old would know.

“So, what’s your gender? Are you female?”

Kyaa?!

“D-dragons are all male!”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. They mate, but not for reproduction. They lay eggs alone. The number laid at once and the laying cycle vary by dragon. For example, Knum used as a pack animals lay ten at a time. They lay up to a hundred eggs in their lifetime.”

The young attendant was flustered by the sudden private audience with the Fourth Prince. He seemed unaware of what he was saying. It was a vile hobby.

“Thank you. You really are clever.”

‘Donon!!’

Now is not the time to explain that!

He glared at Donon with blazing eyes. Donon grew even more restless.

His face had turned pale blue, a sign he’d belatedly realized what mistake he’d made.

Yuram sighed.

Right. It must have been startling to have a foreign royal suddenly thrust upon him.

Yuram was human too; he was annoyed, but he didn’t mistake the target of his anger.

So.

‘This bastard is entirely to blame!’

This bastard, the root of all evil!

He’d stayed quiet, thinking things would get messy if he found out he could speak. But he’d reached his limit. 

If he didn’t hurl curses right into that damn prince’s ear, he’d probably die of a heart attack soon.

Yuram, whose specialty was roaring, took a deep breath, intent on rupturing the man’s eardrums.

Grrrr!

“Ugh…!”

The situation changed completely.

Kaelus, who had been watching Yuram’s situation, must have decided it couldn’t go on any longer. He forcibly ended the sparring match, even if it meant pushing himself a bit too far.

The sword broke. The kicked knight flew through the air like in a greenhouse and slammed into a wall.

And the broken blade flew upward.

Clang!

It struck the unrepaired gargoyle statue.

Yuram, Valita, and Donon looked up. Expressions of shock appeared on the faces of the spectators watching the duel.

Only Kaelus moved.

His body bounced forward toward Yuram and Valita. But even so.

‘Too late…!’

Was it a mistake to deliberately drive the opponent to the opposite side of the training ground, just in case the cage might be damaged?

He wouldn’t reach it.

Kaelus knew it instinctively.

His usually impassive eyes trembled slightly.

“Your Highness!!”

The knight who had been knocked down screamed.

Valita was already watching the statue falling toward him.

The gargoyle’s twisted face was directly above his head.

‘Ah.’

Valita instinctively knew.

He couldn’t dodge this. If he were whole, maybe. But with a leg like dead weight, absolutely not.

He reflexively became aware of his left leg. …His left leg seemed quite flustered too.

‘Ah…’

A few seconds.

No, even one more second might have allowed him to do something.

But this happened in an instant where he couldn’t even begin to deal with the thing parasitizing his left leg.

Above all, ‘this’ couldn’t arbitrarily interfere with reality without some cost…

‘What? Is this how it ends?’

It was a far more anticlimactic ending than he’d imagined.