Dragonlord

Ep 132. I Am Not Your Mother. (4)

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously, slaver??”

“…Yes.”

After making sure that no soldiers remained to disturb them, the others had taken shelter within Telberk for the night. Karas alone stood outside upon its ramparts, indulging in the cool night air as he stared into the distant stars.

It would’ve been nicer if there wasn’t a spirit yapping away at his ears.

“This is ridiculous. You can’t just add terms to our agreement!”

“I did not. I proposed a new one, and you agreed to it.”

“…I did not AGREE to your stupid proposal. I simply listened.”

“Would you like to decline then? Just say the word.”

“…”

Once, Felicir too had belonged to society as a regular human member. In fact, having been a court mage of his country, he’d been a rather prominent figure.

During this role, the Reaper had seen a myriad of personalities. From honest to deceitful, kind to malicious, he’d developed his own ways of addressing each of them.

But to this day, the personality he found most difficult to deal with was those who knew exactly what they wanted – and exactly what he wanted.

Under such circumstances, there was nothing to dispute, nothing to bargain. Each party’s wishes were bluntly out on the table, and both sides knew that neither could refuse.

Hence his unease right now.

“…Slaver, what you’re seeking to do is beyond insane. You’re literally trying to revive a dead person.”

“You’ve been complaining all night, but I’ve yet to hear you say that it’s impossible.”

“…”

“As I’ve said, feel free to decline. I’m perfectly content with leaving Aymeia in her crazed state. I’m sure Serenis would also be eager to return to Partivine as well; she could leave Aymeia in the dragonkin’s care, and find out about the other deities through Felicis or Aldrid.”

“…You’re not even certain if you can restore her. You’re merely claiming that you can.”

“So will you give up on her?”

“…No.”

“Then stop making pointless conjectures.”

Had Felicir still been alive, Karas would have been sentenced to death at least five times over for his insolence.

Unfortunately, no such thing was ever going to happen, and their dispute had to continue.

“I won’t ask for much, Felicir. I only need a single answer from you.”

“…You think I’d allow you to overthrow the concept of death? Me, the Reaper?”

“Will you give up on Aymeia then?”

“…Fine. Fine, I get it.”

Karas snorted, nodding at the Reaper’s reluctant compliance. He then rummaged his pockets, producing a rather unremarkable set of wooden ring and necklace.

“Just like how you can’t give up on Aymeia, there are things I cannot give up on as well.”

He’d done every possible research he could on his own. He’d then proceeded to study the dragonlord’s case directly, though the research had yielded nothing of note.

‘…Should even this fail…then I will forfeit our reunion for good.’

This would be the last research he would conduct.

And it would be last attempt he makes in his lifelong goal.

✧ ✧ ✧

When Serenis arose in the morning, the first thing she noted was…the fact that she’d actually gotten a good night’s sleep. It was a rather rare occurrence throughout her recent ventures.

The second thing she noted was the fact that Light was already awake, sitting beside her sister’s bed while chewing on a piece of dried meat.

“…Light?”

“Oh, are you awake? Good morning.”

Even though there were ample rooms within the keep, only Karas had elected on using a separate room. And both younglings had never awoke last night, sleeping through to this very moment.

“Are you hungry? I found some food in the kitchen here, want some?”

“…I’m alright. There are matters I must tend to still.”

“Huh? Like what?”

“…Well…destroying the shells, for one…”

“Shells?”

Initially, Serenis’ goals in venturing to Telberk had been to discover Aymeia’s whereabouts, as well as how the empire had gotten hold of Kelador’s shell.

The former had been accomplished as soon as Light had discovered Aymeia within the keep; as for the latter, Karas had kindly informed the dragonlord during yesterday’s talk that her assailant was the source of the empire’s antimagic arms. But even though they’d been thrown away into an endless void, Serenis couldn’t help but worry about the weapons that had already been provided so widely.

That is, until Light mentioned a rather peculiar phenomenon.

“You mean those bronze-like metals, right? The ones that the soldiers had?”

“They’re not quite bronze, but that would be correct, yes.”

“Don’t worry. They disappeared.”

“…?”

“They were already gone by the time I found Aymeia. Her nails disappeared just about then. All the weapons that those soldiers had are gone, too. Professor confirmed it while he was cleaning up all the…uh…bodies.”

“…Gone? But how could they simply be gone?”

“I don’t know. The professor might, though.”

Just as Light shrugged towards the dragonlord, they could hear a knocking sound at the door, followed by Karas’ voice.

“Light, are the others awake?”

“Oh hey, good timing. Come in!”

Light hopped off the bedside, gulping down the last bit of meat in her mouth before making her way towards the door. It soon swung open to reveal the familiar feathered figure, who quickly scanned the room thereafter.

“Ah, I see Serenis is awake. Though it seems others are still asleep…?”

Before her teacher could change the subject, Light quickly tugged on her professor’s coat, pulling him towards the dragonlord.

“Professor, do you know where all those bronze weapons went?”

“Oh, those? Since they were bound to the individual that attacked Serenis, they should’ve disappeared for good following his death.”

“…Eh? How do you even know that?”

A brief pause ensued as Karas stopped himself from saying ‘Felicir told me.’ He warily eyed the dragonlord before clearing his throat to give a better, equally sensible answer.

“I, um…I believe ancient texts depict such weapons being forged by a deity. Because they were bound to their being, they would disappear once the forger has passed.”

Serenis merely took the explanation for what it was. But on the other hand, Light was noticing something strange in her professor’s response.

“…Really? Which book was that?”

“…Good…question. I can’t seem to recall. It was too long ago to remember.”

After lying to his student with the straightest face he could manage, Karas briskly turned away to hide the guilt creeping over his face.

‘…You know, that’s only half right. They were bound to Hathelon, sure, but he didn’t actually forge any of those. Letherien did.’

‘Felicir, shut up.’

‘Is this gonna be how things are from now? I tell you things, and you lie about the information’s source every time?’

‘Well phrased. Yes, that’s exactly how things will be.’

‘…’

As her teacher turned away after his answer, Light looked back at the questioning dragonlord, shrugging about her teacher’s odd behavior.

“Well, that’s that, I guess. But yeah, they’re all gone, so…I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“…I see.”

After addressing the matter in full, Light returned her attention to the sleeping dragons. She proceeded to poke at her sister’s cheek, to which no reaction occurred whatsoever.

“Now…if we’re good with that, can you help me getting these two to wake up? They’ve been sleeping for like, forever. Any more of this and I’m gonna start thinking they’re dead.”

Light rolled her eyes, producing her wand thereafter to poke at the younglings’ faces. Having been the first to awaken, the half girl was growing increasingly impatient as she waited for the dragons (and Aymeia, who she couldn’t care less about) to leave the keep together.

But even though the wooden stick was poking at both of them with notable force, neither youngling showed any sign of getting up; in fact, Light only stopped when her equipment snapped against the steel dragon’s cheek, its broken half whizzing past her arm.

“…Great. Not like I use that thing anyways.”

Muttering more complaints under her breath, Light tossed away the other half of her broken wand. She then stared expectantly towards her dragonlord friend, imagining them employing some literally-magical-method to wake up the two dragons.

A bewildered look drew over Light’s face when all three awoke to a single utterance of their lord’s voice.

✧ ✧ ✧

When everyone finally gathered around to hear Karas’ announcement, the clock was already ticking past noon; there had been a lot of catching up to do, especially for the two younglings that had practically slept yesterday away.

But that was the least of Light’s concerns as she worriedly looked towards her professor.

Her eyes darted between him and Aymeia, who was now practically glued to his side. The former deity stared at the ground with forlorn eyes, as if she’d burst into tears any minute.

“So…we’re not going home?”

“You’re welcome to return with Ilias, Light. Serenis, Raizel, there’s no reason for either of you to stay, either. I can see to Aymeia myself.”

Light frowned at Karas’ reply. His words basically translated to, ‘I’m not going home no matter what.’

When the half girl looked towards others to see their reactions, Serenis was standing with her usual indifference, arms crossed and seemingly uninterested.

Only seemingly.

“…You’re mistaken if you think I’d abandon a kin in need.”

Nobody was particularly surprised by the dragonlord’s statement.

That is, except for Aymeia herself.

“Really? Does that mean-“

“No. Stay away.”

“…”

With her hopes shot down midway, Aymeia reluctantly retraced the steps she’d taken to keep her place by Karas’ side. And even though a pang of guilt gnawed at the dragonlord, she didn’t bother to take back her words.

Truth be told, Serenis didn’t particularly dislike the Aymeia anymore. After their talk last night, she could at least see that the former deity had never meant harm in her actions; even when Aymeia had sent Felicir to kill her, the dragonlord was thought to be some thief or monster, not their supposed mother returned to life. A series of apologies had followed as well.

And yet, Serenis couldn’t afford to have Aymeia near her.

She was still uncomfortable around the peculiar girl, and she still couldn’t decide on how to treat her. But none of those were plausible reasons to distance herself from someone she considered kin.

No, the actual problem lied elsewhere.

“Rrrgh….”

“…Child, stop that.”

Without turning her head, Serenis stared at the growling youngling from the corners of her eyes.

Raizel was glaring at the orange-haired girl with a furious scowl. She was practically stuck to Serenis’ arm, and she showed no signs of letting go anytime soon.

And she’d been this way ever since Aymeia had accidentally referred to Serenis as ‘mother’ earlier.

“…Tch.”

“…”

Of course, Raizel’s odd behavior didn’t go unnoticed; it wasn’t like she was Serenis’ actual child, either. But everyone was taking it for what it was at this point.

Finally, Karas spared a brief glance towards the steel dragon, noting her clearly adamant will to never part with her lord again.

“…Alright, seems like Raizel will be staying with Serenis then. Now, as for you two…”

Karas’ gaze soon fell upon Ilias and Light. The red dragon immediately turned to face her little sister, who was staring back with worry-filled eyes.

“Light. Do you wanna go home?”

“…I’ll go where you go.”

“Mm…well…”

The half girl didn’t want to part with either her sister or her teacher; anyone could tell that much. Even if Ilias were to decide to return home with Light, the youngling could already see just how much her sister would ruminate about leaving her teacher out in the middle of nowhere.

And, in the millionth chance that something were to happen to Karas…

‘…Actually, let’s not think about that.’

Instead, Ilias beamed back at the half girl, rubbing her head between her twitching ears.

“Let’s stay together then! We’ve never been to Asarda, after all. Wouldn’t want to miss out when everyone’s off doing interesting things, right?”

Sighing in relief, Light nodded in agreement to the red dragon. And as the final two made their decision to stay, Karas cleared his throat to make his next announcement.

“It seems everyone’s keen on staying. Very well.”

‘Not surprised at all…nope, not surprised at all.’

‘Slaver, you’re sweating.’

‘Felicir, shut up.’

‘…’

“…Where next then? I trust you have a destination in mind?”

The professor’s eyes locked with Serenis midair. He quickly nodded in response to her question, gesturing towards outside.

“Although our main goal will be to awaken Aymeia’s memories, there’s no telling what or how long it may take – but we could do worse than to introduce her to her own people again. I plan to take her to the nearest Asardan settlement from here, and inform them of Lavnore’s death in the process.”

Light likewise looked towards the window. But from here, and even from what she’d seen yesterday, Telberk was surrounded by nothing but lifeless plains and a handful of mountains along their edge.

“…Nearest settlement? Is that far away?”

“Not exactly, no. It’s quite close in distance. Though, the Hayle Range separates Asarda from the rest of Astellion, which is the mountain range you see to the west; we’d have to cross it if we were traveling by foot. But…”

Karas spared a brief glance towards the others – specifically towards Serenis, Raizel, and Ilias.

“…As we can simply fly over the mountains, it shouldn’t be a problem. And the nearest Asardan settlement is just beyond the range.”

“Mmk…will we be okay though? We don’t need to prepare anything?”

“It’s quite cold, so I’d advise to dress warm…but that advice is probably lost on most of us.”

Once again, Karas spared a glance towards the dragons – as well as Aymeia.

Not a single one of them seemed to be bothered by the prospect of cold. And Ilias happily wrapped her tail around her little sister, patting the half girl on her head.

“Don’t worry! You can stick with me, Light. You won’t be cold at all!”

Karas nodded in approval. He could handle a bit of cold himself; he could also use magic if need be.

“If we were making travel plans in leisure, I’d also advise bringing food and money, but…we’ll have to make do for now. I’m sure we can find ways to procure what we need in Asarda as well.”

“? We have those though.”

As Karas looked towards his student with a quizzical gaze, Light casually pointed at the door with her thumb.

“I already ate from the kitchen here. There wasn’t anything fancy, but…there’s a lot?”

“…You did?”

“Yep. And if you go downstairs, there’s a bunch of chests with gold.”

“…”

As a teacher, Karas knew that he shouldn’t be praising a student for stealing food or treasures. In fact, he was considering reprimanding Light for suggesting it – and he would’ve if his mind was at peace.

Unfortunately, it was not.

‘Slaver, that’s low. You stole the emperor’s jewelry too. You’re the bigger thief here.’

‘Felicir, shut up.’

‘Besides, the dead have no right to anything. All they leave behind is for the living to take.’

‘…’

For once, Karas was internally agreeing with the Reaper. At least in this instance.

But then again, he’d never admit it out loud.