Ep 54. This Is Growing Pleasantly Out Of Hand. (3)
“Absolutely not.”
“But-“
“Absolutely not!”
“Listen, I-“
“You’re fifteen, Zion! Fifteen! You think I’m gonna sit around and watch you become a homeless delinquent?! You’re absolutely NOT dropping school!”
Patrick was adamantly shutting off any and all opposition from his sibling this time. With both his arms and legs crossed defiantly, it was as if his entire body was screaming there was no room for debate.
Not that Serenis was trying to make it a debate. If anything, she’d come to make an announcement.
“Patrick. Iris has informed me that-“
“Iris? That reminds me. Who taught you to trust a stranger?”
“…Stranger? I cannot tell you the details, but she’s-“
“I already talked to her while you were gone! I know what you did!”
“…Do you?”
‘Because I do not.’
Serenis frowned at her brother’s unmoving attitude. It was almost praiseworthy given his usual passivity – if it wasn’t against her.
“And pray tell, what did she tell you exactly?”
“That I fell unconscious from her mana pills exploding. And that you begged her for information on finding deities.”
“…I did not BEG!”
“Doesn’t matter! What’s a deity got to do with skipping school?! I don’t care if you’re a dragon or not, you’re still a fifteen-year-old kid to me! You are NOT dropping school for some wild goose chase!”
An exasperated sigh escaped the dragonlord’s lips. She couldn’t even be bothered to care that Iris had lied to Patrick.
Would her brother’s iron will make a difference? Absolutely not. Serenis was perfectly capable of leaving the city, with or without Patrick’s approval.
‘…But I would prefer if he did approve.’
“Will everything be alright as long as I’m not ‘dropping’ altogether?”
“Yeah, you need to graduate, you know! Whatever you do in the future, you still need at least some education!”
“Then your worries are ill-founded. Karas has spoken of making arrangements so that I stay enrolled. I believe he said he’d replace the current schedule with…a ’workshop.’”
There weren’t any crickets chirping in the house, but if there were, now would’ve been a good time to chirp.
Patrick finally broke the awkward silence, his head tilted in confusion.
“…A workshop? Alone?”
“Karas will be accompanying me. Light and Ilias will be coming along as well.”
“…That half girl and the red dragon?”
“Precisely.”
“…”
Patrick didn’t need an explanation on what a workshop was. He’d attended the same institute, attended the same classes (sort of), and went through the same program (kind of). Workshops were special opportunities given to exceptional students that guaranteed credits, as well as learning and work experience.
And just like that, Patrick no longer had an excuse to stop his little sibling.
‘…Well, shit.’
Truthfully, he’d spoken out harder than he would for fear Serenis would wind up in something dangerous again. While it hadn’t resulted in anything serious last time, Eisenhoff’s case was a city-wide infestation of monstrous halves; no sane person would allow a fifteen-year-old to handle such cases.
Patrick sighed, finally groaning out something that wasn’t a ‘no.’
“…Where’re you going? For this workshop.”
“To the central forests.”
“Central? You mean Aldrid Forest? That place is huge…you’re going to search for a deity in the middle of nowhere? That doesn’t even sound safe.”
“According to Iris, it is.”
“…”
A second set of awkward silence settled in as Patrick found himself at a loss of words.
The mage had known Iris since his very first year as a student at the Magic Institute. Although they hadn’t been close back then, she’d always come across as an oddball of sorts.
But sending his sibling on a wild goose chase across the continent wasn’t just being an oddball. For a lack of better words, it was straight madness. Deities weren’t beings that one could just ‘meet’ out of the blue.
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At least, not in Patrick’s head.
“…Not convinced. And even Professor Karas can’t guarantee your safety in a place like that. People go missing in there every year.”
“Patrick, in case you’ve forgotten yet again, I am a dragonlord.”
“…Sure, but you’re also my little brother. Sister. Sibling. Whatever. You’re fifteen.”
To be fair, he wasn’t wrong.
Patrick once again groaned at their impasse. Deep inside, he knew that Serenis would probably go regardless of what he said – that much seemed clear, with how long the dragonlord was keeping this argument going.
And, as per usual, it’d be him doing the compromise.
“…Fine. Let’s do it like this then. Sounds like you’re gonna go whatever the hell I say anyways, right?”
“In all fairness, if you were to claim that my sudden absence will result in a horrible death for you, I’ll reconsider.”
“Why the hell would I die a horrible death?!”
“That’s exactly why I’ll reconsider.”
“…Sure. You know what though, I’ll just come with you. At least that way I can drag you back out when I need to.”
“You? Drag me? How?”
“What, you think I can’t?”
“No?”
“…Fine, I probably can’t. But it’ll at least be better than sitting at home wishing I could drag you out.”
“Do you not have your own work to do?”
“I’m on leave. I’m injured.”
“…I thought you have fully reco-“
“Kh! The burns are still!”
Patrick cut off the dragonlord’s sentence as he twisted his body, dramatically gripping his bandaged side. He eyed Serenis from the corner of his eyes, watching for her reaction.
“…”
The dragonlord’s expression twisted into a cringe at the obvious act.
And Patrick did not care.
“There, I’m sick. Happy?”
✧ ✧ ✧
“So…Zion, this is…”
Iris warily scanned all the people that had gathered around at the institute’s empty courtyard.
Dragonlord Serenis. And…
An institute professor, a little half girl, a red dragon attached to said half girl, and a fellow enforcer that’s supposed to be on injury leave.
But Serenis only returned an indifferent gaze as she answered Iris.
“It doesn’t particularly concern you, does it? You won’t be accompanying us.”
“…Well, no…”
‘If Aldrid tells Felicir that I’m up to something, things won’t go pretty. But…’
Iris’ eyes focused on her coworker.
Patrick was leisurely leaning on his staff with one arm wrapped around it. It was still being used like a cane, just like yesterday when she’d lied her way out of his accusations of her murder attempts.
Patrick curtly waved his hand.
“Yo. Long time no see.”
“…It’s barely been a day, Patrick. And weren’t you on leave due to your injuries? If you’re fully recovered, you should be returning to work, not-“
“Ugh, my head! If only someone didn’t let their pills explode at my face…!”
Iris’ eyes thinned as her friend’s sudden complaints of pain. Patrick had suddenly twisted his body, clutching his head in faked symptoms.
Did Iris know Patrick was acting? Of course she did. The pills she carried weren’t actually designed to recover mana, but suppress it. They were deadly poison that could cripple a person’s mana reserve for life, and she’d constantly consumed them to effectively hide her identity as Felicis.
But she couldn’t say that out loud.
And because she couldn’t say that out loud, she couldn’t question Patrick’s obvious act.
And if she couldn’t question it, there was only one thing she could do.
“…Sorry.”
Patrick immediately fixed his posture upon hearing Iris’ apology. Shamelessly.
“You should be.”
Iris shook her head in dismay. Karma was getting back at her.
She turned to Serenis once more, gesturing towards the rest of the group aside from her coworker.
“Then, these people are…”
When Serenis looked to them, the group began to introduce themselves.
“A pleasure to meet you again, enforcer. As you know, my name is Karas. I’ll be the supervisor for the length of Zion’s workshop. And this over here is Light, a fellow student that will be accompanying us. The dragon over there is…”
Ilias wove her hand. After a night of work together and an afternoon of drinking, the enforcer was no longer a stranger to the dragon.
“Hi, Iris! Good to see you again!”
Iris returned a quizzical stare at the enthusiastic red dragon.
“Ilias?...Why is a dragon…”
The professor awkwardly cleared his throat, pulling Ilias closer.
“She’s…here as a guardian and a safety precaution. For the two students.”
“…Guardian?”
‘A dragon is a dragonlord’s guardian? Shouldn’t it be the reverse?’
The enforcer hurriedly leaned into Serenis’ ear, whispering to make her words only audible to the dragonlord.
“What in heaven’s name is going on? Weren’t you going alone? You couldn’t possibly need all these people with you.”
“I don’t see the problem. Do human children not help their elders from time to time as well?”
“…You’re fifteen on file.”
“They know who I am.”
“…”
When the two seemed to finish whispering each other, Light budged in between them, excitedly glancing at her friend and the red-haired enforcer both.
“Your name was Iris, right? Are you coming along too?”
“Oh, no, I’ve…only come to give brief directions to Zion over here.”
“Directions? From an enforcer? The professor said we’re gonna be looking for a deity, was that actually true??”
“…It is.”
Light’s eyes sparkled in amazement at the female enforcer standing before her.
“Wow, enforcers know all sorts of things! Even Professor Karas said he doesn’t know where deities are!”
Patrick was internally crying at how the half girl continued to highlight Iris’ job. Little did she know, he had the exact same profession.
On the other hand, Karas also joined in, emphasizing Light’s curiosity.
“I’m quite curious as well. If I may, where did the sector obtain such classified infor-“
Iris plucked out a piece of paper from her coat and shoved it into the dragonlord’s hand. She practically shouted her final comments as a portal abruptly appeared behind her.
“As there’s a brand-new case I have to get to, here’s the paperwork you can read on your way! Best of luck.”
The enforcer disappeared moments after into her spell. As the portal closed back, Karas disappointingly kicked his tongue.
“Hm. So much for that.”
Ilias, Patrick and Light all looked towards the professor in unison, sharing the same judgmental stare.
“Aww, she ran away…”
“Yep, totally an escape. I know her well enough to tell.”
“Professor, how could you?”
“?! That was my fault?”
Serenis sighed as she opened up the crumpled paperwork in her hand. She only needed a brief skim to figure out their destination.
“Enough. Let us be off.”
Light quizzically stared at her peer, glancing around the empty courtyard.
“Come to think of it, how’re we gonna get to Aldrid Forest? Are we borrowing a carriage or something?”
“? By flying, of course.”
“…We are? Can everyone fly here?”
The half girl glanced around at the people around her, specifically towards the professor. As far as she knew, Karas never used flight spells.
Karas coughed nervously, looking away from the half girl’s expectant gaze.
“…While I can use flight spells…there is a limit to keeping up with a dragon’s speed.”
Karas then glanced towards his other, former student. Patrick also had the ability to use flight spells, but neither he nor Karas had been born with wings or flew on a daily basis. There was no way either of them could keep up with the two dragons in party.
Serenis belatedly looked around. She hadn’t considered this when agreeing to their company.
Just as the dragonlord began to regret not asking the deity of mana to make a one-way portal to the forest, Ilias stepped up and tapped herself on the chest.
“Don’t worry! I can carry everyone!”
Her little sister worriedly looked to the dragon.
“Everyone?? Won’t that be tiring for you, Ilias?”
“It’s fiiine, I’ve carried way heavier things before! But I’ll have to transform to carry everyone, and other people will probably get scared if I transform here, so…let’s get out of the city first?”
When the youngling looked to Serenis for approval, she returned a firm nod at the suggestion. She was quite eager to get out of the city herself.
‘There wouldn’t be a reason to keep up this human ruse outside.’