Dragonlord

Ep 113. Long Time No See. (3)

“It’s been a while.”

As Raizel stepped out of the shimmering portal, a familiar scenery came to view.

The youngling found herself in the middle of Magic Institute’s courtyard – a coordinate all students were obligated to learn when the facility had been active. The ruined districts she’d cleared up nearby were now fully restored to their former glory.

Not that it really helped her find Karas. If anything, the district’s restoration meant a return of its former habitants, which would make the search more difficult.

“Now then…how do I find him here…”

‘Hold on. Why do I have to look for him?’

If looking for something is difficult, then the alternative was to make the something look for her.

In a very…distracting manner.

✧ ✧ ✧

“Grrrrrraaaghhh!!!”

“?! What is that?!”

Partivine’s streets lowly rumbled from the explosive roar that suddenly filled the city. Many covered their ears, with the courageous few looking out their windows to look for the source of the noise.

But there were only three who properly recognized the silvery silhouette. Namely, Ilias, Karas, and Light.

“Wha…is that who I think it is?”

“That looks like…”

“Oh…I saw that before. That’s…”

After coming to an abrupt stop in their late dinner, the three narrowed their gaze onto the glimmering monstrosity afar.

And soon, a single name filled their minds simultaneously.

‘…Raizel?’

✧ ✧ ✧

After waking up the entire city, the giant steel dragon let out a satisfied snort before lazily curling up on the courtyard to rest.

Unfortunately, a few minutes was all she could get before a series of footsteps closed in. And when the three rushed in with heaving breaths, Raizel merely nudged her head to acknowledge their arrival.

“Huh, that literally took no time at all.”

“What is WRONG with you?! You couldn’t just come by and say hello?! Why’d you scream?!”

“To call you, obviously. Well…one of you.”

“Huh???”

Ignoring Ilias’ confusion, Raizel’s gaze instead fixed onto the professor behind her.

After a tired sigh, Raizel rose to her feet with thudding steps. But her size instantly shrank back, revealing the glowing portal that had been hidden behind her draconic figure.

“Hey, Xa…Karas. Come with me for a sec.”

“…This late? Where?“

“Lord needs you.”

“Serenis?...Just me? What for? From where? Why?”

“Oh, shut up. Just come.”

As the steel dragon beckoned in annoyance, the professor reluctantly stepped forth to approach the portal – something he wouldn’t have done for anyone else. In the next minute, he’d already disappeared into its glow.

Ilias and Light looked at each other in confusion, then back at Raizel who was just about to enter the portal herself. The red dragon hesitantly spoke up, her expression muddled with worry.

“Should we come too? Is it something dangerous?”

“Not really. Wouldn’t recommend it, though.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Because…”

Raizel turned her head, her eyes focusing on the withdrawn half girl by Ilias’ side.

Considering what Serenis was going to ask the professor, discussing Karas’ past was unavoidable – and the youngling was pretty sure that the answers wouldn’t be anything Light would want to hear.

“…It’s adult talk. It’s not for kids.”

“What??”

That was just the excuse Bruton had given them whenever he’d talk about the empire with other elders – she couldn’t think of anything better.

And so, instead of an explanation, Raizel shrugged back at her friend before disappearing into the portal.

But despite the steel dragon’s warning, Light abruptly chased after the youngling. She jumped into the entrance with hurried steps, fearing that the spell would disappear.

‘Yep. That was gonna happen…’

Once the red dragon also stepped through the portal, only then did the spell faze out of existence.

✧ ✧ ✧

When Karas slid out of the portal, the first thing he noticed were two elder dragons. And the black one was glaring at him, eyes mixed with both confusion and suspicion.

Thankfully, Raizel soon followed out to break the suspense. After a casual yawn, the youngling turned around to face the dragonlord behind the ring they’d walked out of, waving to signal her success.

Karas likewise turned around, letting out a relieved sigh to find Serenis behind them.

“Ah, Serenis. I heard you calle…gh!“

The professor’s sentence fell short as his beak snapped shut from the sudden impact on his back. Light burst out of the portal to tackle him from behind, collapsing onto the floor with her professor.

And, unsurprisingly, Raizel burst into laughter.

“Haha! Talk about weak. Or maybe the kid’s just too heavy for you-ack!“

Finally, Ilias stepped out of the portal, kicking Raizel down as she did so.

“That’s my sister you’re talking about…huh?”

When Ilias took a moment to scan the room they’d arrived in, she belatedly noticed Bruton and Aether’s presence. And both of them were staring at their daughter, shocked and confused by their sudden, unexpected discovery.

The couple then locked eyes with each other, suspicion welling within their eyes.

Neither parent recalled having a second child, but their daughter somehow had a sister.

That would mean…

“WAIT! Stop imagining things! I’ll explain!”

✧ ✧ ✧

The portal room came to be divided into two sections.

In one, Bruton and Aether couple were scolding their daughter about how little time Ilias spent at home. They weren’t particularly mad about Ilias calling Light her sister, but she was still being scolded on the basis of ‘you should’ve said something.’

In the other, Light sat against the wall, banished from listening in on whatever Serenis had to ask Karas. And although she’d imagined that she’d be alone for a while, she instead found herself in the company of a little hatchling, and the only other non-dragon in the room.

“Go on, Theo. Say hi!”

“…His name’s Theo?”

“Mhm! Isn’t he cute?”

“Um…”

Little or not, Theolus was a dragon. And if Light had learned anything from being around Ilias, it was that she should be careful around one no matter how friendly they seemed to be. An accidental bump from one could result in a dislocated shoulder – or worse, a completely broken shoulder.

But when Theolus waddled over to the half girl’s side to wave his little arms, Light found it impossible to deny Eline.

“Hewwo! I’m Theowus!”

“…Hi, Theo. I’m Light. Nice to meet you.”

“Wight?”

“Light.”

“W…Wlight.”

“Haha…close enough. Good job.”

With a sheepish smile, Light gently rubbed the joyous hatchling’s head. She almost found herself forgetting where Karas had gone.

Almost.

‘…I hope everything’s okay…’

Technically, there was nothing to worry about. It’d only been a few minutes since Serenis had walked out of the room with Karas and Raizel in tow. And wherever they were, Light seriously doubted that anything could threaten the three of them together.

But the look she’d seen on her professor’s face was practically that of a prisoner, walking down towards their noose.

✧ ✧ ✧

A momentary silence ensued. Although Raizel remained relatively undisturbed by the revelation, Serenis couldn’t help but stare in shock.

And Karas couldn’t bear to look up to face the thinned, disappointed eyes before him.

“Then, Karas. During the empire’s invasion, you were…”

“…The Akeian army’s commander. I participated in the campaign as Emperor Lavnore’s aid.”

“…”

A series of questions flooded the dragonlord’s mind.

There were so many things she wanted to ask Karas – from motive to reason, method to outcome.

But one question took precedence before all other.

“…Why?”

“…”

“Did the dragonkin wrong you in some way?”

“…No.”

“Did we wrong the empire, then?”

“…No.”

“Then why?!”

Serenis threw her arm to the side. She painfully bit her lips, eyes welling with doubt.

Even now, she wanted to hear some plausible excuse. Serenis found herself desperately wishing that there was a sensible reason behind it all.

Unfortunately, the answer that was returned to her was not one she’d wished to hear.

“…To return a favor.”

“What?”

“…I was born a monster, Serenis. My life was a prize for hunters to claim, and I had to survive somehow. Given that I was born with intelligence, the strategy I adopted was learning magic – from anyone that was willing to teach a monster.”

“…”

“As you may expect, there weren’t many.”

When she was first told that Karas was a monster, she hadn’t made much out of it. The only implication she knew was that contemporary society discriminated monsters, intelligent or not; she hadn’t realized what that fully meant.

A monster isn’t born in a society, nor in a family – they’re born in the wilderness, often alone and left to their own devices. With no allies and lots of enemies, many face premature deaths in the hands of active hunters.

And so, some would hide away, while some would disguise themselves as animals; some would retaliate with force, while some would simply accept their fate and die to the hunters that came after them.

Among such an unfortunate population, Karas had been an extraordinary case. He was born a monster, and yet he was also born with the gift of intelligence.

And so, he’d adopted his own strategy of survival.

One that would best exercise the gift he was born with.