[Richter's POV]
I have lived long enough to not care about physical beauty when it comes to women, but that doesn't make me immune to it.
However, Grayfia Lucifuge drew me in due to her mystery. There were too many things about her that I didn't know that I desired to know, but at the same time... those mysteries added charm that I had hardly found in any female before my late wife.
This entity behind her is compelling, her mysterious race which doesn't exist anywhere else in the multiverse of Helius is compelling.
Her silver hair which resembles my sister is dragging. I feel like I'm falling into a trap and it felt, thrilling.
Holding her in my arms as if she was mine while she shivered afraid for her life, even though I knew I wasn't going to do anything to her, was so vanity-inducing.
She has been cleaning my caves for days and not for a second I have taken my senses away from her, I told her I'd sleep, but I haven't. She neatly arranges everything and cleans with a smile on her face as if she's enjoying it.
She's incomprehensible. I killed her before. Why would you want to do something for anyone else free of charge?
'I assume devils in her world are like divas here, they're good in nature'.
...
As I looked at my treasures neatly arranged; I have to admit inwardly... they do look better this way. As if she knew of my presence, Grayfia took an item in her hands and spoke.
"What is the story of this golden egg?" She picked up a golden egg from her third consecutive cave.
I remained silent, if I speak now she was going to know that I have been looking at her, I can't allow that. The Golden Dragon God must remain aloof, I don't chase females, they chase me!
"By the way, Richter-sama... why do you have so many eggs? d-don't tell me… did… you lay them?" She asked with a gaze that continued fear.
!!!
"I DIDN'T DAMMIT! I'M MALE!" My body materialised right beside her with outrage! How dare she suggest such a heretic thing!?
There goes the Golden Dragon God's prestige and menace.
Grayfia got a little frightened by my sudden arrival, looking me up and down before her lips curled into a smile that resembled more of a smirk.
"What are you laughing about?" I asked ominously.
"Nothing~ if you didn't lay them, then why are there so many?" She continued arranging them, ignoring my presence, I have noticed that when it comes to doing her job; she's quite dedicated.
"Those are obviously other Dragon's eggs. For a Dragon, our offspring is even more important than our treasures. That's why taking another dragon's eggs is as high of an achievement as it is to steal their treasures." Since the cat was out of the bag I decided to just sit down beside her and watch her.
She held the egg for a while before sighing.
"Why is that? why are eggs so valuable?" her expression was sad as she asked.
"Because depending on the dragon's strength, it might be easier to plunder a whole country's worth of treasures than to lay an egg… or IN MY CASE to impregnate my mate and have her lay an egg. The stronger the dragon, the more difficult for them to have offspring; hence, the more valuable their eggs are"
I explained to her one of my deepest predicaments. After a hundred thousand years, I had merely a single offspring, and not because I haven't tried.
In the case of Dragon Gods, they simply were unable to impregnate their mates, but in the case of Primordials, that wasn't the only issue.
She shot me a sidelong glance with those silver eyes of hers that I couldn't help but get mesmerized on.
'I like her eyes...' I shook my head grumpily.
"I see, so these eggs?" Grayfia took more than fifteen eggs and placed them on the racks that she created.
"I took their eggs and transformed them into my trophies, their treasuries filled my caves and continue to do so for thousands of years. The egg you currently hold in your hands is the progeny of a red lightning dragon called Placidusax, a Dragon Emperor who managed to escape from me after I left him battered. Who knows where that dog is now? perhaps he perished" I lay sideways lazily, scratching my stomach.
"…" She gulped audibly, perhaps wondering how strong Placidusax was and placed the egg beside the others, in every single one she had cleaned there were at least twenty eggs.
...
"Are there any dragons in your world, Grayfia?" I asked her suddenly, she yelped a little, perhaps not expecting me to begin the conversation, but there were many things I desired to ask her.
"Yes... we have many, but... I don't know if they're as powerful as you are" She smiled warmly while polishing one of the eggs until it was shinier than a baldy's head.
"You will find it difficult to encounter a Dragon Stronger than me. In this multiverse there are only four, as for whether they're stronger than me, that's undecided." I boasted with a smirk as she rolled her eyes.
And it would remain undecided for a few million years more, a fight between Primordials wasn't worth it. No matter how much I hated that bastard Crush, none of us would benefit from it, I knew I couldn't fight him and protect my Treasury Realm the first time. Likewise, he couldn't fight me and protect his dimension.
'There would be other ways for me to take revenge on him, like impregnating one of his daughters, yeah... that's a perfect idea actually' I scratched my chin. You may ask, why not his mate? well, that's because I already failed... she wasn't strong enough to hold my seed.
Grayfia coughed slightly when she noticed I was in my own world, thinking which of Crush's daughters it would be.
"We have Evil Dragons, Dragon Kings, Two Heavenly Dragons and Two Dragon Gods" The silver-haired maid didn't stop her endeavour, she spoke to me as she worked.
"I see, go on"
"Evil Dragons are strong dragons with vicious temperaments, they're extremely wicked beings hated in the whole world. I'm not particularly acquainted with any, and hope to never meet one" she shivered at the thought but then stole a glance my way as if concluding that I was way worse, I didn't take offence.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Is that so? I'd hope to meet them~ those are the sort of dragons that's more enjoyable to break their wills" My words merely confirmed her thoughts, I'm worse.
She refrained from commenting upon the truths of my mouth, I had broken several of those alright? Crush is my next target, and his daughters too... why would I decide between one or the other? I'll take both.
"The Dragon Kings are respectable beings, as an Ultimate Class Devil, my strength can barely contend with theirs. The ones I know of are Tiamat, Vritra and Fafnir... Uhm, now that I think about it" She looked at me up and down again.
"Fafnir resembles you a lot, Richter-sama..." She trailed her words.
"Oh?"
"His scales are also golden, but... he can't compare with you, after all, Richter-sama~ you're bigger... way bigger and mightier, and more beautiful." when those words left her mouth, she stopped what she was doing to regard me deeply.
Our gazes met for a while in silence before she continued doing her job, giggling here and there, 'What's wrong with this woman?'
"Moreover, he isn't nearly as strong as you are." She added in the end, stopping her creepy giggles before taking a few weapons and placing them in customized racks of her creation neatly.
"..." I refrained from uttering another word and continued to contemplate her working silhouette, thinking about the words she just said and wondering if I really liked to be addressed as 'beautiful' it was a compliment I received often, but I didn't like it.
"Next are the Heavenly Dragons, they're-I assume, equivalent to the Dragon Emperors in this world. In my world, there are only two: The Red Dragon Emperor Dgraig and the White Dragon Emperor, Albion. They're immensely strong and problematic, always fighting each other. They were sealed in the last war by the Biblical God, they're perhaps even stronger than the one you petrified last time" She stated, drawing my attention once again.
"They can't be that strong if a mere god managed to seal them" I boasted, although Gods were generally stronger than Dragon Emperors, for a God to seal a Dragon Emperor, perhaps even a Dragon King, was way harder than killing them.
"Perhaps..." Grayfia didn't agree or disagree.
"Lastly, the two dragon gods, their existence is almost mythical and if not for ancient records, we wouldn't even know they exist. Infinity Dragon God, Ouroboros and the True Dragon of Dreams, Great Red, also known as the apocalypse Dragon... they live in the dimensional gap, none dares mess with them".
My eyebrows frowned profusely, 'Infinity... that must be a ridiculously strong concept to harness' I thought inwardly, there are no Primordials of infinity, I have also never seen a God or Dragon God with this authority.
Likewise, the 'Dragon of Dreams' if his or her authority is 'dreams' what is the extent of their powers? I immediately grew interested in these two entities.
"Dimensional gap, a parallel dimension?" I raised my eyebrows, parallel dimensions weren't common in lower realms.
"Yes, in my world there are several separate dimensions parallel to the main one, the place I hail from -the underworld, is one of them... there is the dimensional gap, the heavens and different mythologies tend to have such spaces as well like Olympus and Changri-La, the Netherworld, and some more. But the dimensional gap is unique, it is filled with nothingness and can't be traversed unless specific methods are used".
"Interesting".
**
**
The two spent time like that, unknown of how long... Grayfia told him about her world, he told her about his as they became unknowingly closer and closer.
When Grayfia finished that cave, she turned around to see him laying on his side, snoring.
'He fell asleep like that~'
She approached him and crouched down, looking at him up close, blushing.
A finger trailed his cheek until it landed on his lip.
Richter's eyes opened to look at Grayfia, for several seconds there was no noise between them, she got caught, but she didn't care.
"What are you doing?" He asked, not moving her hand away but frowning.
"Nothing, I just found you sleeping... I'm heading to the next cave, Richter-sama" Grayfia stood up regally, standing by his side like a loyal maid, even if she wasn't his maid... yet.
"You don't need to work that hard, you've got a hundred years to do this" Richter floated to his feet and scratched his golden hair.
She smiled warmingly; caressing his cheek once again surprising him with her warmth, "Are you concerned about me?"
"No... I just don't want you to complain that I'm exploiting you like those damned slaves", He huffed and turned around, ready to leave.
'That already speaks a lot about you, Richter-sama' she thought before she once again walked forward to hold his hand, preventing him to depart.
"Hmn?"
"If that's the case... would you come with me to the next cave? I still want to know more... about the story of those items" She was interested in them indeed, but even more so, she was interested in his companionship.
"Okay..." Richter accepted, unaware that he just discarded his beloved slumber, in order to spend more time with this lady.
**
**
They headed to the next cave, Richter looked at her hand that was grasping his, dragging him along and didn't say anything.
As she kept organizing, Grayfia asked him for the background of every single item, forcing him to research deep inside his memories.
"That's the sword of general Ferhum from the Primal Army."
"That's a mermaid-drop talisman, quite valuable".
"That's the heart of a legendary dwarf; he used to be a friend of mine… put that somewhere visible."
"This… I had forgotten about it, it is one of my mother's claws, please put it aside".
They spent so much time going around items and items that he had forgotten he possessed until today. Treasures from his fallen dynasty, remembrances of old battles and important moments in his life.
Grayfia's gaze turned warm every time he'd just stop and look at a single item for almost ten minutes as if he was reviving the moment in his mind, she longed to see them but was unable to.
"And this?" She presented him with a small ring, but his reaction was unexpected.
Richter gasped and his crimson-slitted eyes quivered; he held the small ring as if it was his greatest treasure.
She was immediately curious!
'Monique, this is your-' he thought, only to be interrupted by Grayfia
"Richter-sama?" Grayfia's voice took him out of his trance.
Without saying anything a light flickered in his hand and the item disappeared, it was the last item in this cave that needed to be arranged, it was right at the bottom of the pile.
"What was that?" Her eyebrows lifted in unprecedented curiosity, he was evading it, which only made it worse.
"Something important to me, let's go to the next one, unless… you want to take a rest?" He began walking to the exit, but she stood in front of him.
"Don't change the subject, aren't you going to tell me?" She asked rather insistently.
"No." Richter frowned into her silver eyes and Grayfia gasped slightly in apparent shock before she clenched her hands and evaded his gaze.
'That's right, we're not anything... I don't have the right to demand an answer' She thought, mocking herself for going ahead of her bounds, their relationship was approaching steadily and she didn't want to mess it up.
But it filled her with apprehension to know that like pieces of a puzzle coming together slowly, the silhouette of a woman became more and more visible. This woman was still in his heart, fiercely occupying a spot even though she wasn't present.
Seeing his denial, Grayfia relented and stepped aside, but he could tell she wanted to press further. Still, I had no desire or need to answer her enquiries. However, it made me feel warm, that she was so curious.
[Dragon God's Affection +3]
Grayfia gasped at the sudden notification and watched him start to leave, her saddened expression morphed into a sunflower smile.
"Before we leave, can I try something?" She said, extending her hands outwards.
"Uh?"
"This cave… it is rather rudimentary, I know how to make it look better~" Grayfia stood in the middle of the room and a frosty aura was released from her.
The aspect of the cave… was that of a cave, no more no less… the only difference was that everything was made out of polished gold rather than soil and rocks.
Grayfia didn't fancy it.
Ice began to flow around the room, forming walls, royal patterns, flooring and a roof… a few minutes afterwards, everything was turned into gold due to the curse; giving the whole cave an aspect of a renewed mausoleum filled with treasures.
Richter's eyes widened, impressed. Everything looked a hundred times better now.
She extended her hand to either entrance of the cave and two gigantic ice gates appeared; eventually transforming into gold.
"Doesn't it look better like this, Richter-sama?~ it will also be more difficult for intruders to enter this way?" She asked Richter, standing fairly close to him; for some reason she bent forward, flashing him with her exposed cleavage beyond the golden horizon of her dress. Seeing his astonished gaze, she giggled and pointed at the doors and he nodded in agreement.
Richter nodded and pointed his hand in their direction before several layers of gold compressed to form even a sturdier door that Grayfia then locked.
"Yes, it does… thank you" Richer smiled, liking the hard work she was putting into this, truly improving every corner with her ideas. It made Richter wonder why he hadn't done this himself before instead of spending all his time slumber for nothing.
"You like it?~ then I'll do the same with all the caves, that way it will look like something more fitting of you".
"Fitting of me?".
"Fitting for the Primordial Golden Dragon God, Richter Golden-Haze, right?~".
Grayfia began to walk towards the next cave, unaware of the astounded gaze he was throwing her way, eventually, a smile resurfaced on his lips before he placed his hand in his pockets and followed her, whatever he was thinking, only he knew.
[Dragon God's Affection +10]