TGBAP 16

“Ah, damn it. I finally made it.”

After wandering the forest for half a day, the man saw the mansion far in the distance and finally let out a breath.

If he went by his feelings, he wanted to fly there in his original form, but if he did that, his mother and the elders would nag him until his ears grew calluses, so he endured and suppressed his irritation as much as possible.

“Seriously, I’m basically an adult now. I didn’t even set the forest on fire, and I got here safely, didn’t I?”

Praising himself, the man lightly headed toward the mansion.

“Ria…… Ria…….”

But somewhere, he heard a young voice. The man stopped and looked around.

His green pupils changed like a snake’s, and he spotted a boy a kilometer away.

“A human kid?”

He’d never seen humans wandering around this forest. And such a small child, even more so.

Curiosity sparked; the man went boing! and jumped in place.

His hair scattered in the sky as he moved to the boy’s side in an instant.

More precisely, he went ten steps behind him so the boy wouldn’t notice.

“W-where is this? Ria, I’m sorry……!”

The boy the man was watching was Lucian. Crying as he walked, he’d gone deep into the forest, and was completely lost.

As time passed and he still couldn’t return to the mansion, anxiety crept up from his ankles.

To make matters worse, he’d tripped over tree roots and his whole body was a mess, and because he’d cried so much, the corners of his eyes were swollen.

“It hurts…….”

In the end, Lucian stopped dead and sank down on the spot.

He was hungry, his whole body hurt, he felt gross because he was dirty. He missed Ria.

Even though he knew Ria couldn’t enter the forest, he kept calling her anyway. Because of that, his voice was hoarse.

Even to the man, who couldn’t feel any emotion toward a mere human, Lucian looked particularly wretched.

The man, who’d been going to ignore him and go, ended up standing before Lucian.

Seeing the man suddenly appear right in front of him, Lucian was so startled he hiccuped.

Hic!

“Hey, kid.”

“Hic! W-who are you?”

“You don’t need to know. What are you doing here right now?”

“……I got lost.”

“Where do you live?”

“Are you going to take me?”

At the shining eyes, the man said curtly.

“Depends on what you do. So where do you live?”

“In the mansion near the forest. It’s a two-story mansion, and the roof is black, and the bricks are…… ah! There’s lots of moss!”

Listening silently to Lucian’s words, the man felt a sense of déjà vu. It sounded like a house he might know.

“You don’t live in the village?”

“No, I don’t live in the village.”

“Then who do you live with?”

“……Why do you keep asking? Are you…… a robber?”

As the man kept asking personal questions, Lucian felt something odd.

He remembered the fifty precautions Ria had told him before going down to the village. She said among people who approach you warmly, there are those who try to fleece a naive person clean. Their trait is that they keep asking personal questions.

Lucian stiffened and took a cautious step back, ready to run at any moment.

“Who are you calling a robber!”

“Aaah!”

When the man shouted, Lucian bolted on reflex.

Seeing Lucian already far away, the man blinked.

“What’s with that kid. I was trying to help, and he just ran.”

It looks like he’s going deeper into the forest…….

“It’s none of my business.”

The man immediately dropped his interest in Lucian and headed toward where the mansion was.

After about thirty minutes, the mansion appeared.

“How many years has it been.”

Four years? Five? Recently, he’d gotten into cold regions and holed up in an ice cave, so he hadn’t realized time passing.

If that rude bastard hadn’t kicked him out, he might have stayed longer.

“Still, I’m back at my nest, so it’s fine.”

If he said that, he could already imagine the ghost going off on a stone tablet about how this is her house.

The man giggled and stepped lightly toward the mansion. He looked forward to how the ghost would greet him.

* * *

[Lucian, you bastard! You’re really not coming back in?!]

Ria, fuming, planted herself right in front of the main gate and waited for Lucian to come.

It had already been two hours since he ran off into the forest, but he still hadn’t come back.

She thought he’d crawl back in by dinner since it would be mealtime soon, but then she worried what if he tried to be stubborn like when he went down to the basement.

[No! I can’t lose. I keep coddling him, so he throws tantrums again this time.]

She couldn’t understand Lucian stubbornly insisting even though he clearly knew he couldn’t use the sword.

She stopped him from holding the sword because he might get hurt, and he threw himself on the floor, bawling like the world had ended, making a huge fuss.

The shock was even worse because he’d been such a good, gentle kid.

[Just wait till he comes in. I’ll give him a real scolding.]

Creeeak—

Then, the door opened. Ria unwrapped her crossed arms and approached him like she’d been waiting.

[You! Do you know what time it is, coming in now! Did you do wrong or not— huh?]

“Ta-da! I have arrived!”

Ria, who’d started nagging because she thought it was Lucian, widened her eyes at the unexpected person.

[Kaiser!]

“Haha! Happy to see me? I know, I know. I brought all sorts of things this time. So hurry up and welcome me.”

Kaiser. He was someone who had been coming and going since Ria had lived in the mansion for about fifty years, and once every four to five years, he would visit and tell her stories of the outside world.

As she’d expected, he wasn’t human.

[You lizard brat! Why are you coming out from there!]

He is a lizard…… no, a red dragon. That dragon, long vanished from the world and now known to be extinct.

Kaiser, with red hair fluttering, was basking in self-admiration. Ria, dumbfounded only briefly, brought over the stone tablet she’d kept nearby and wrote.

“Ooh! She writes, she writes.”

For reference, Kaiser can’t see Ria. But he knows of her existence, and they would converse through what she wrote on the stone tablet.

-What brings you here?

“What brings me here! I came all this way because I thought you’d be longing for me day and night.”

[Longing, my ass.]

-You got chased out again after barging into another lair, didn’t you?

Seeing what Ria wrote, Kaiser’s shoulders twitched. Sweating, he awkwardly looked away.

“Ahem! Do you think I’m some snot-nosed hatchling? I’m grown now! In five years, I’ll be an adult dragon!”

[Look at him acting up.]

He’s only 295 years old and he’s already full of himself.

“My house, and I can’t come to my own house? You’ve got a problem with that?”

[Your house, my ass! Want me to kick you out again like before until you’re crying your eyes out?!]

As Ria scribbled furiously, packed with anger, Kaiser giggled.

Still, since it had been a while, it was nice to see him. Before Lucian, he’d been the only one she could communicate with.

Of course, since he couldn’t see her, they could only talk through the stone tablet, so there were limits to communicating.

“I brought a ton of gifts! Look!”

Kaiser plopped down where the sofa was and opened his pocket space, spilling out various items.

Starting with bizarre objects, there were accessories, magical tools, and all kinds of books.

“Man. You wouldn’t know how much I suffered to get here. Can’t you tell I’ve become a little more adult just from the fact that I didn’t burn the forest down?”

-If you burned the forest down, you’d be locked in your mom’s lair until you’re an adult dragon.

“Ugh, you know me too well.”

Kaiser grumbled about whether it would kill her to praise him.

“Ah, right. On the way here, I saw some human kid?”

Ria, who’d been listlessly rummaging through the gifts, stopped dead at his words.

“He looked like he got lost. I was trying to help, but he just ran off.”

Ria’s hand trembled. She tried to scream, then hurriedly grabbed the stone tablet and scribbled.

-What did the kid look like?

“What did he look like? I didn’t really look, so I don’t know.”

[Hey! Why didn’t you look! You should have looked properly!]

“Ah, come to think of it, he said he lives in a mansion near the forest. A two-story house with a black roof, and bricks with lots of moss…… huh? Isn’t that this mansion?”

[Lucian!]

Ria sprang to her feet. As she got agitated, the gifts nearby floated up into the air all at once. Startled, Kaiser curled the finger he’d raised.

-You! Where did you see that kid? Is he still in the forest?

“……What’s wrong with you?”

Not understanding, Kaiser only stared blankly, and Ria’s insides burned.

-Shut up and answer!

“Mean as hell…… I don’t know where he is now. I told you, he ran when he saw me. He’s probably bear food by now, isn’t he?”

Crack!

The glass windows nearby fractured. Not only that, the candles lighting the area repeatedly went out and flared up, making the whole house flicker ominously.

Sensing something was off, Kaiser rolled his eyes around.

-Bring that kid back right now.

“Why? Is he someone you know?”

-Yeah. I know him very well. So bring him back quickly.

“Hmph, no. Why would I. What a hassle…….”

Clang-!

Seeing the knife graze his cheek by a hair, Kaiser snapped his mouth shut.

[Go while I’m asking nicely.]

-Otherwise I’ll fold you in half.

Only after Ria snapped the stone tablet in two did Kaiser finally move.

He shouted and screamed that he wasn’t going because he was scared, but his legs honestly trembled and shook.

Whether he did or not, all of Ria’s attention was on Lucian in the forest.

Before she knew it, the sun had set, and night had fallen.

All she could do was pray that he would be safe until Kaiser got to him.

* * *

“Damn it, why do I have to do this for some ghost…….”

Kaiser grumbled, but entered the forest under Ria’s command.

Since it had come to this, should he deliberately drag his feet and show up late?

-Yeah. You’re saying you want to die by my hand.

As if the phrase would write itself on the stone tablet, he immediately shook his head.

Yeah, let’s not get cocky. That ghost isn’t someone you gain anything by messing with.

“To dare make this body do errands! A lowly human!”

His mother was right—there’s nothing good that comes of getting involved with humans.

Kaiser ground his teeth as he recalled Lucian’s face, already blurry now.

A crying sound more chilling than a beast’s echoed, and sparks flew at the corner of his mouth.

At the same time, his pupils turned like a snake’s. Then the dark forest became bright like midday.

Since it had come to this, he decided he might as well find him quickly and be done, and scanned the forest area.

Ria……!

“Found him.”

From far away, he heard the child’s voice. Kaiser jumped from where he stood at once.

Boing-!

A small gust blew, and he moved right to Lucian’s side.

Just in time, Lucian was in danger. A pack of wolves had surrounded him.

If Kaiser had been even one minute later, Lucian would have ended up as wolf food.

At Kaiser’s appearance, Lucian barely lifted his eyelids weighed down by tears, and the wolves lowered their tails and trembled.

“How dare mere beasts look up at anyone.”

Kaiser’s dragon speech pierced their minds. Half the wolves foamed at the mouth, and half let out screams like they were being torn apart, scattering in terror.

Only after the beasts had completely retreated did Kaiser withdraw his killing intent.

When he turned around, he saw Lucian—more of a mess than he’d been an hour ago.

“Hey, kid.”

“……Ria?”

“Who’s Ria? If you’re going to call me, I am the noble red dragon, Lord Kaiser— h-hey! Hey!”

He was about to tell him to bow his head and pay respects, but Lucian suddenly toppled forward. Startled, Kaiser caught him right before he hit the ground.

“What the hell, he’s burning up?”

This was worse than he’d thought. Dehydration, bruises and scrapes all over his body, and even a fever.

“……That ghost will go berserk if she sees this.”

Somehow he had a bad feeling. Kaiser debated lying and saying the kid died like this, but then thought, screw it, and lifted him up.

“Seriously! Who the hell makes a dragon run errands!”

Kaiser shouted until the forest rang, then spread the wings he’d shrunk in his polymorphed state.

With a single beat of his wings, he burst out of the forest in an instant.

The forest the dragon left behind gradually regained its calm.