I couldn’t take my eyes off the dragon’s face. Varen avoided my persistent gaze and turned his head. Which only meant he was now showing me his profile.
Above the sharp, streamlined muzzle were ears that looked far too cute for his massive size. They stood upright, then folded back. Every flick revealed his tangled emotion outright.
Was praise unfamiliar to him? I scratched my head and stepped back a few paces. I wanted to look at his wings.
His wings, neatly folded, were almost the same size as his body. Even they weren’t just bound in chains—heavy weights were fixed at the tips of the wing bones.
“...They really tied you up like this, didn’t they.”
“Child?”
That was the highest pitch I’d heard from him so far. He whipped his head back toward me, blue eyes wide.
“How dare you address me so!”
“Sorry, sorry. Just a habit of mine. Did it bother you?”
His pride was no small thing. I apologized quickly, but he still snorted sharply {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} through his nose.
“You are truly a peculiar human.”
As though he no longer wanted to speak, Varen turned his body back into the darkness.
It had just started getting fun. Clicking my tongue with regret, I checked my wrist out of habit. Of course, I had no watch.
I couldn’t know the precise time, but my body’s clock was clear enough. After staying awake for forty-eight hours straight, I felt like I could collapse at any moment.
“I’ll get going. I don’t think I’ll be able to come tomorrow. I’m telling you now so you don’t wait.”
I picked up the basket of carrots. First, I needed to sleep. Then I could deal with the rest.
“Dragons can survive without eating, sure, but that doesn’t mean you never feel hunger.”
“I can endure.”
“Don’t endure. I’ll get salmon. Fresh ones.”
I looked over the chains again. Unless I blew up the wall completely, there was no solution yet.
“I’ll figure out a way to deal with those.”
“.......”
“It’s really late. Good night.”
On the surface, the morning sun was probably already up, but in this dark underground, “good night” felt appropriate.
Clink—chains rattled, and I stopped mid-step. Varen said nothing.
***
I had thought everything was progressing smoothly. I believed the biggest problem would simply be how to acquire red salmon.
“How goes the monster taming?”
“In progress.”
“And the Monster Handler’s Guide?”
“Also in progress with my aide.”
Honestly, I had completely forgotten. I’d only rushed in when Kallen sent that SOS... and since then, my mind had been full of nothing but the dragon.
“So. You appointed Kallen as your aide?”
“Yes. Among the junior handlers, she has the deepest knowledge of monsters. She is a very capable aide.”
I added extra praise just in case my personnel authority was in danger.
But Jed stared into me with those cold gray eyes. He excelled at choking people with silence.
Under interrogation pressure, I mentally reviewed what I had done wrong.
Smuggled Rami out?
Stole the keys to the underground one night?
Made unauthorized contact with the dragon?
Or... was the food storage theft discovered?
There were too many possibilities. To avoid showing nerves, I clasped my hands behind my back.
“Something quite interesting was found in the forest recently.”
Oh no.
“The monsters we executed... their corpses had been laid out neatly. But as far as I know, those were meant for the dragon’s feed.”
I had underestimated the search radius of the staff. If I had known, I would have spent days digging and burying them instead.
I swallowed dryly and raised my head. Jed looked like a hyena scenting prey, waiting for my slip.
Focus. He called me here because he suspects, but if he had proof, he wouldn’t be circling.
I controlled my breathing and hardened my expression. I lifted my chin and looked down at Jed.
“That is peculiar. I doubt dead monsters walked there themselves.”
“Indeed. As far as I know, no monster has come back to life yet.”
“If one has, we must certainly tame it.”
I replied with a shamelessness I did not feel, speaking in the awkwardly formal phrasing of this world. I even shrugged as though relaxed.
If my brain had a motor, it would have been overheating. During every pause in the conversation, I calculated my next move.
“I suspect someone visited the dragon’s underground cell. Ceryl, what do you think?”
“A reasonable hypothesis.”
“Isn’t it?”
Jed smiled faintly and lifted a fine porcelain teacup. The quiet sip echoed.
Drinking tea so calmly. If that cup emptied... would that be the moment I died?
“Ceryl, do you know why I called you here?”
“...That is what I’d like to ask.”
“Haha. I do not suspect you, so relax.”
Then why the hell did you call me.
The irritation burned—yet I stayed silent. I held no advantage.
“Coincidentally, the red salmon all disappeared a few days ago. A large quantity—without a trace.”
“I heard. Someone with quite the appetite, it seems.”
“Do you think a human ate it?”
Jed drank again.
“One red salmon can feed five. Ten disappeared. That’s food for fifty.”
“.......”
“We searched the facility and the surroundings. Not a single bone or scale left. Someone fed them to something in one night. Tell me—do you truly think a human did that?”
For a dragon, one salmon was two bites. It barely counted as a snack.
Jed was connecting the corpse cleanup and the salmon theft—suspecting the same culprit. He was sharp. Sharper than the other administrators, at least.
“I think someone stole the keys from my office, cleaned the dragon’s chamber, and brought the red salmon as feed.”
“...That is possible.”
“So who could it be? I have no idea, and thus, I called you.”
He lowered his half-empty cup and smiled—a predator’s smile.
A chill surged under my skin. He was circling the point to tighten the noose.
“If I had someone to interrogate, things would move quickly.”
“.......”
“Will you lend me your mind, Ceryl? I find my judgment grows dull with age.”
I had not yet cleared myself of Rebel suspicion. If I confessed here, it would be execution.
Which meant he wanted a scapegoat.
“How do you think the keys were stolen?”
“...Someone familiar with your office layout and the key’s location.”
“Hm. Then it must be one of the people involved in managing the dragon.”
My heart hammered. I breathed shallowly—quietly.
There were two kinds of dragon handlers:
Senior administrators who tortured Varen under the guise of research.
And junior handlers who delivered feed.
“Also, someone who handled all those monster corpses.”
“...Someone accustomed to monster remains.”
“Then a junior handler who delivered feed, most likely!”
My mouth was dry—too dry to swallow.
Jed looked delighted, like this was entertainment.
“But why red salmon? How did they know the dragon liked red salmon?”
“.......”
“Well? Answer, Ceryl. Most junior handlers would not know.”
You bastard. So you want me to say it.
My fists trembled. I wanted to flip his precious desk and punch his smug face.
But the man held my life in his hands. I had been civilized long enough to know better than to lunge.
“...It must be someone with exceptional knowledge of monsters.”
“Ahaha! Yes. A junior handler with exceptional knowledge of monsters!”
“.......”
“That narrows it down to one. Conveniently, someone you yourself appointed.”
The trap snapped shut—beautifully, perfectly.
There were plenty of idiots in this facility—yet all suspicion pointed to one person.
“Kallen Rossein!”
The name hit like a blow. I squeezed my eyes shut.
I’m sorry, Kallen. I didn’t want to do this to you.
“Well done, Ceryl. You’ve just solved a problem that plagued me for days.”
“.......”
“Let’s summon Kallen for interrogation, then. You’re dismissed.”
The pulse in my entire body hammered at once. My neck stiffened—I couldn’t bow to this bastard.
If I left now—if I protected myself—I would be safe for a while.
Kallen would probably survive interrogation. Probably. And if not—well... I’d be sorry.
She was one of the few competent people here. She helped me adapt. She made this place tolerable.
Without her, I’d have to handle all monsters alone, with the other idiots. Just imagining it made my blood rise.
No one would ask if I’d slept.
No one to help with treatment.
No one to eat with.
Without her—
“...Fuck it. It was me. Me!”
I was losing it. Maybe the air here was wrong. Or the gravity.
Why did I keep acting unlike myself?
“Yeah, it was me! Not Kallen—me! Satisfied now?!”
