Ep 117. Long Time No See. (6)
“…?”
When Serenis returned to the throne room, a rather shocking scene was unfolding before her eyes.
“I’m going!”
“You are NOT going!”
“I’m going no matter what!”
“You are NOT going, no matter what!”
Last time Serenis had seen Ilias, the youngling was being scolded by her parents – in a rather docile manner.
Now, she was relentlessly talking back to her mother like the world’s most rebellious child.
And as if too afraid to pick a side, the others – Bruton, Light, Eline, and Theolus – were huddled up some distance away from the two arguing dragons, watching the argument ensue. Though, as soon as Serenis returned to the chamber, all eyes turned towards her instead.
In fact, Ilias enthusiastically called out her name, approaching the dragonlord in hurried steps.
“Lord Serenis!”
“…Yes, child?”
“I heard you’re going after some bad guy! The…emperor? Right?”
“I…suppose. What of it?”
“Take me with you!”
“…Take you?”
“Yes! I’m sure I can help in some way. Please?”
“…”
Serenis weakly studied the others within the room. Other than Theolus who didn’t seem to have an opinion on the matter, everyone seemed to be against the red dragon’s proposal.
“…Why do you wish to come? You must’ve barely been a hatchling during the empire’s invasion. Your parents don’t seem to approve, either…”
“But they said this emperor’s the one that took Raizel’s wings!”
“…”
‘To be accurate, the one who took her wings is right there...’
When Serenis slowly shifted her attention over to Karas, the professor stared back at the dragonlord with a conflicted gaze.
He cleared his throat to say something – but was soon stopped by Raizel who held his beak in an iron grip before proceeding to answer in his stead.
“In your dreams, Ilias. The emperor’s MY prey. I’m not giving it to you.”
“Who said anything about stealing your stuff? I only said I’d help! This emperor was supposed to be super dangerous, right?”
“You’re not wrong. But we still don’t need you.”
“Why not?!”
“Why? Cuz…”
Before answering, Raizel gave a curt glance towards the two elders behind Ilias.
Technically, the red dragon had just said the reason herself. It clearly wasn’t apparent to her though.
And proceeded to reply in an annoyed, lazy tone.
“…You didn’t get permission from your parents.”
“What the heck?! And you did?!”
“Uh, yeah. For your information, my mom told me to live however the hell I want to before she died.”
“Huh? Wait, I didn’t mean…”
As Ilias trailed off her words at the unexpected reply, Raizel let out a small snicker. After tapping the red dragon on the back twice, she turned away to head towards the chamber’s exit.
“I’ll be back. Gonna take a look outside in case anyone’s coming.”
With that short announcement, the steel dragon left the room – mostly to allow Ilias to deal with her parents herself.
But even after Raizel had left, Ilias remained in place with a dazed expression, staring at the chamber’s exit. And she would’ve continued to had Serenis not spoken to her.
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“…I’m sure Raizel only means you well. You needn’t worry about us, child. We’ll be fine on our own.”
“But…if it’s fine without me, doesn’t that mean it’s fine with me too?”
“…”
“Why’s everyone so against me going with you two? I get that they’re worried, but I’m worried too...what if something happens to Raizel?...”
Everyone remained silent.
To Bruton and Aether, Ilias was their only daughter; to Light, Ilias was their only family left. And Eline couldn’t openly support the red dragon’s decision to challenge Lavnore simply because she knew too much about the Akeian emperor.
Serenis let out a small sigh. It’d been obvious before, but she was seeing the difference between the two younglings all over again.
Everyone worried about Ilias’ well-being. They feared that she’d do something dangerous, feared they’d lose her in some unexpected accident. One could even call them overprotective considering that Ilias was far more capable than they were in battle.
But strangely enough, no one seemed to worry about Raizel – other than Ilias herself.
Perhaps it was for fear the youngling would lash out at them.
Or perhaps it was due to their conscience – that they no longer deserved to tell Raizel what to do.
Neither Bruton nor Aether could act the role of Raizel’s parent anymore. Not when they’d realized the youngling knew what they’d done to her.
‘To grow under the care of those who abandoned your family…’
The elders hadn’t meant ill when they’d abandoned the steel dragons. After all, the entire kin had abandoned them to flee from the emperor’s reach.
But asking a child to understand such a decision was ridiculous.
Then, the only reason why Raizel hadn’t grown completely out of line – the only reason she’d retained at least some form of goodwill – was probably because she’d still had one friendly dragon, treating her with an honest, open heart.
Finally, the dragonlord opened her mouth to return an answer to the red dragon.
“…Alright, then. We’ll do it like this, child.”
✧ ✧ ✧
Serenis beamed a warm smile towards the two elders standing before the glowing portal.
But unlike the dragonlord looking at him, Bruton’s expression was quite far from being comfortable.
“Lord Serenis. Perhaps I should remain to assist in your endeavors…”
“It’s alright. I’d rather you protect the valley instead. Should the enemy manage to escape and attack the kin once more, I trust you will…”
As she trailed off, the dragonlord’s expectant gaze fell upon the elder dragon.
Bruton solemnly lowered his head, finishing the statement for her.
“I’ll do all within my power to protect the kin. This time, I…”
“…”
“…I’ll never leave anyone behind again.”
“Good.”
Next, Serenis shifted her attention to Aether. The elder’s eyes were seemingly glued to her daughter, unable to turn away.
“You’ve nothing to worry about, Aether. I’ve spoken to Ilias – I will be sending her back to Partivine shortly.”
“…Is that so? Perhaps you should send her back first…?”
Serenis shook her head.
“Partivine’s much farther than the valley from here. The order must remain this way, lest I risk using too much mana and disturbing the spell’s design.”
“Oh…I…see? A, alright then…farewell, Serenis. And Ilias, come back home soon, okay?”
“Take care. Eline, Theolus, both of you as well.”
“Bye mom! Bye dad!”
Aether had absolutely no clue how human magic or human machinery worked. Standing before an amalgamation of the two, she was relying purely on the dragonlord’s words regarding its functions.
And to be fair, it was difficult not to trust someone after they’d rescued dozens of their imprisoned kin.
Swallowing their remaining doubts, the two elders stepped across the portal to return to their home. Eline and Theolus accompanied the two, waving goodbye towards those that remained.
The portal soon disappeared after the four’s departure. Serenis had let go of the wires in her hand, cutting off the machine’s mana supply.
And Raizel, who’d since returned from her tour outside, remained quizzical about the whole conversation that had just transpired.
“…Lord, was that true? You can actually use too much mana?”
“Did I say that? I must’ve misspoken. Such a thing could never happen.”
“…Why’re you smiling like that?”
“No particular reason.”
“…”
After making a mental note of how easily Serenis had tricked the elders into leaving, Raizel then turned to face Ilias – who was standing right beside Light and Karas. According to what Serenis had said, those three were supposed to be going back now, too.
‘…But that’s not happening, is it?’
She’d obviously ‘misspoke’ on purpose. Serenis had no intention of sending Ilias back in the first place.
And if to prove the steel dragon’s suspicions correct, Ilias began to state why she should stay – followed by Light and Karas thereafter.
“What?! I’m not going back! I can’t just leave when I know you’re gonna go and get in trouble!”
“If Ilias isn’t leaving, I’m not leaving.”
“Ahem…I must say, given that Lavnore is involved, I find it difficult to take my leave as well.”
Raizel frowned as she listened to their sudden rant. She then looked at Ilias in specific, shrugging at the red dragon.
“You do realize you’ll be in a shit ton of trouble, right? Aether hates you going behind her back.”
“S, she won’t know if I don’t tell her!”
“…I could tell her then?”
“Hey, I covered for you a bunch of times before! It’d be nice if you returned the favor at least once!”
“Pft. I’m just messin’ with ya. It’s about time you started making your own decisions.”
Ilias swallowed down her desire to say ‘and you started making your own decisions way too soon.’ She instead took a deep breath, answering in a rather apologetic tone.
“…I’m sorry if I made you angry. You must miss your own parents. I just…I keep thinking we’re family.”
“…”
On the contrary, Raizel didn’t really ‘miss’ them. After all, she’d just seen them a ton – albeit not exactly in an ideal way. She’d even urged another dragon to carry her parents’ destroyed corpses back home.
Admittedly, when she’d first encountered her dead parents, Raizel had felt an indescribable amount of longing.
But when she’d destroyed their corpses herself, what filled her mind wasn’t longing alone.
“Well, I don’t know if I really miss them anymore, but…you sure you can handle it, Ilias?”
“Huh? Handle what?”
“If you and I are family, that means I’m HER family too.”
When Raizel’s gaze fell on Light, the half girl’s expression visibly twisted. She reflexively took a step back, shaking her head in dismay.
“Blegh…that sounds awful…”
“See? She hates it.”
“L, Light, wait! Raizel’s not all that bad. Um…she’s, uh…sometimes…nice?…”
Watching the three children playing(?) amongst themselves, Serenis beamed a warm smile.
“It’s a blessing to have others who care for you.”
Karas silently nodded in agreement.
Although it felt like Ilias’ notion of ‘family’ was expanding further and further…well, it’ll work out. Probably.
Pushing the thought aside, Karas turned to the dragonlord with his next question.
“Serenis. Then, your next destination is…?”
“West. I believe the name was…”
The Akeian emperor – Aymeia – and even the assailant that had mistook her for the star deity – they all lied west of here, at the boundary between Asarda and Akeia.
“…Telberk.”