After spending a night soaked in tears like that, we prepared to leave Belzena.
Margon decided to come along under the pretext of protecting Ceryl’s body, and I gave up on sending Kallen back to her hometown. I’d thought it was a safe place, but it was actually an area where Rebel looting was frequent—I couldn’t send a kid there.
The one saving grace was that our first destination was a fairly large city. If we found a decent place, I could send Kallen to a school with a dormitory.
And Neira—her health restored—would sit on the Dravergh throne. She had led the people beside Ordin her entire life, and she made an excellent leader.
More than anything, Varen’s duty right now was heavier than a throne.
Neira, Varen, and I sat together in a small conference room. I pointed to a spot on the map spread across the table.
"We’re going to Bellorian. It’s a commercial city near the capital. They said the Rebels have a base there."
Strangely enough, after hearing Kallen’s story, Varen changed his mind and decided to make contact with the Rebels. It was paradoxical, but the fact that they were humans who looted humans earned them a dragon’s trust.
Margon knew quite a lot about the royal army and the Rebels. It was what they’d picked up over more than ten years working as a guard for a noble house.
According to Margon, the Rebels had their base in a commercial city with a high flow of people coming and going. It was the perfect location for a secret organization that needed to hide identities.
"At this distance, you can make it in a day if you fly. Wear this."
Neira spoke and made a small gesture. The conference-room door opened, and a short-haired boy came in.
They carried several cloaks. The pale silver fabric was thin enough to see through. But when I draped it over my shoulders and pulled the hood down, my body blurred and sank into the background.
"...This is insane. An invisible cloak."
"How tacky. It’s a Night Veil."
I couldn’t hear Neira’s barbed voice anymore. All that washed over me was awe at the fact that I was wearing an item straight out of a legendary fantasy novel.
I’d been worrying how we’d ever get to Bellorian on foot. If I wore an invisible cloak and flew on Varen’s telekinesis, we could reach the destination safely and quickly.
Neira flicked their gaze toward the boy who had entered. The black-haired, pale-skinned boy bowed his head to Varen.
"I am Morpha Elysion. I have been assigned to serve you, Varen."
The boy—who looked even younger than Kallen—spoke in a youthful voice. I gave a strained smile and looked at Neira.
Even the loyal retainer who had stood by Ordin for life had betrayed them, so not even dragons were easy to trust. That was why Neira had carefully selected their son’s aide.
And the result was a child like that. Great. Another kid to babysit.
I sighed to myself at this unwanted life of a guardian, and Neira added an explanation.
"The House of Elysion has historically handled negotiations between Dravergh and humans. It’s a bloodline that cannot betray dragons from the beginning."
"...Negotiations."
Neira spoke with a shrug, but my expression hardened even more as I looked at Morpha.
Thirteen? At most fifteen? I couldn’t picture that baby face sitting at a negotiation table.
I scratched my cheek with a face full of distrust. Catching my gaze, Morpha stared straight back at me. Those pitch-black, clear eyes looked like they would bore into me.
It was embarrassing, as an adult, that I hadn’t hidden my feelings. I slid my gaze away, then cleared my throat and looked back at Morpha. I was about to say I looked forward to working together.
"Aaaagh! Aagh!! Who are you?!"
A pot-bellied middle-aged man stood where Morpha had been a second ago. Sun-darkened skin, a mustache, bulging eyes, and even a deep scar carved into the cheek. The pale-skinned boy was °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° nowhere to be found.
As I clutched my pounding heart and panted, Neira burst into hearty laughter.
"Ahahaha! You look like you’ve been struck by lightning!"
With Neira’s cackling as background noise, I looked at Varen this time. Varen’s eyes were startled too, but they seemed to be holding it in because their mother was here.
And the middle-aged man who had appeared out of nowhere merely shrugged one shoulder.
"I am Morpha Elysion."
"...M-Morpha...? The kid from before—th-that child?"
"I am usually in the form of a child."
I couldn’t hide my twisted expression. Their manner of speaking made it impossible to guess an age.
I could only gape in disbelief, and then Morpha changed again right in front of me. Their back hunched, and they became a small, frail old woman.
"M-Mor...pha...?"
"Hng. As expected, being old is... uncomfortable."
Morpha patted their bent back a few times. As I stared with my mouth hanging open at the dragon who was neither clearly him nor clearly her, I noticed one thing.
They had shown me three forms in an instant, yet one thing hadn’t changed at all.
"Uh... you can’t change your eyes?"
"You’re a perceptive human."
Morpha’s wrinkled mouth curled upward. They changed again, returning to the young boy I’d first seen, and briskly dusted and straightened the rumpled clothes.
"That’s right. Eyes are the window that reveals the soul."
Even after the shocking transformation show ended, I was still dazed.
When I didn’t react at all, Varen looked at me with concern.
It took me a long time before I could move. I raised both hands and started clapping.
Morpha gave a laugh like it was ridiculous, and Neira frowned like it was beneath them. I didn’t care.
Fantasy was the best. Fantasy ruled. It had been a long time since I’d felt something like this.
***
In the dead of night, when the full moon lit the world, we each draped an invisible cloak over our shoulders and stood at the edge of the cliff. Kallen and Margon stared down at the drop, their legs trembling with tension.
"Don’t look down. Just think of it as letting your body ride the wind."
I offered advice like I was some senior flier, but it didn’t help the terrified humans at all.
Only Neira and a handful of dragons came out to see Varen off. Most were Varen’s relatives, and the only one who wasn’t Dravergh was Brinel.
Brinel held out a small pouch to Kallen.
"You used the herbs well last time. This is a magic medicine dragons use. I wrote each method of use down, so it should be helpful."
Kallen looked back and forth between the pouch and me with dazed eyes. When I smiled and nodded, Kallen snatched what Brinel offered and bowed at the waist.
"Thank you! Truly, thank you, Dragon!"
"Oh my, what a kind human. I hope you stay healthy."
Maybe medical people had their own language, because Brinel and Kallen looked at each other and smiled brightly.
Then Varen and Neira exchanged their final farewell. Holding hands and pressing foreheads together, the mother bestowed a blessing on the son’s path ahead.
After the long prayer ended, Neira looked up at Varen with eyes wet with tears. When a light embrace ended, Neira turned their gaze to me.
"Aylos, please... take care of Varen. Take care of my son."
"Yes, absolutely. Don’t worry about that."
I replied with a playful smile. Varen looked back and forth between me and Neira with dissatisfied eyes.
"Mother, I’m not a child—"
"Baby, don’t get hurt, and come back safely. If you truly can’t do it, come back to your mother. Understood?"
Varen, who had tried to talk back that they weren’t a child, pressed their lips shut. Only the rims of their ears flushed red against pale skin.
Only after Neira patted their butt did Varen reluctantly answer, "Yes, Mother."
With a send-off full of worry and affection, we finished all preparations. Morpha would lead, Kallen and Margon would fly in the middle, and Varen and I would bring up the rear.
Morpha bowed politely to Neira, then pulled the hood of the invisible cloak down. At their signal, Kallen and Margon hurriedly pulled their hoods down too.
The silhouettes of all three vanished right before my eyes. But I could still feel their presence through the sharp screams pouring into my ears.
"Kyaaaah!!!"
"Aaaah!!!"
Kallen’s high-pitched shriek and Margon’s heavy roar echoed through the gorge, fading as they grew more distant. They couldn’t be screaming like that outside Belzena. At this rate, I might have to gag them.
"Let’s go too."
Then Varen came to my side. Telekinesis would have been enough, but they wrapped an arm around my waist anyway.
When I glanced up, a handsome face full of resolve looked down at me.
"Ceryl, you don’t need to worry about anything. I’ll protect you."
I followed Varen and pulled the hood of the invisible cloak down. Now I didn’t need to hide a mischievous smile anymore. I hugged Varen’s waist back and whispered.
"Baby, let’s go."
"...Damn it."
Muttering in displeasure, Varen lifted lightly into the air. Our bodies rose together, and with the full moon as our backdrop, we cut swiftly across the gorge.
