Varen flew with me clenched in his hand.
It was very stable, and because I didn’t have to use any strength, my body was comfortable. But for some reason the look of it felt shabby, which was a shame.
In the animations I’d seen, they rode a dragon’s nape in style and took to the sky.
This, what should I call it. Like a claw machine prize.
“Varen, doesn’t this look a little weird? Can’t you let me ride your neck like before?”
“What does the look matter. You don’t even have the strength to hang on.”
He wasn’t wrong. Right now I couldn’t put any strength into my forearms or thighs at all.
I’d thought my body just lacked fat, but apparently it lacked muscle too.
If I’m going to travel with a dragon, I should do some strength training. Ah, endurance work, too.
Once I put on some muscle, I’m definitely going to demand a cool ride.
Varen scanned below with care as he flew. The forest was a sea of fire and there was no proper place to land.
Just then the summit of a high mountain came into view. Fortunately there was a clearing big enough for a house-sized dragon to land.
Varen touched down very carefully. A sand-whirl inevitably kicked up, but as far as landings went, this was good.
When there was about a meter of air left to the ground, I jumped first from the dragon’s palm.
“Ugh... motion sickness....”
After bobbing in empty air for so long, the instant my feet hit solid ground, a kind of ground-sickness surged up.
My body, steeped in fatigue and worn down, couldn’t take it. I pressed a hand to my brow and rode out the dizziness.
Varen Humanized in an instant and strode toward me. With each step he took, a heavy thump resonated.
“...myaa....”
As he drew near, the white snake trembling in my arms let out a small cry.
The vibration in my arms surged out of control, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) and the creature slithered down my body with a slick whirl. Before I could catch it, it traced an S-curve and vanished into the brush.
“Hey— hey, baby!”
I hadn’t even thanked it properly for saving me.
I stared with a faint look toward where the white snake had disappeared.
It was a reptile too, after all, so a giant reptile would be scary. It already looked timid. So delicate—can it even survive in this brutal wild.
While my eyes were off the ball for the white snake, Varen had come right up to me.
When I turned my head to face him, I saw a face far more expressive than when he was a dragon, filled with impatience.
That expression wrung a dry laugh out of me.
Why does a face I saw barely half a day ago feel this welcome. I lifted a hand to greet him, but Varen moved first.
“Ceryl, come to me.”
Varen yanked me into his arms. Solid forearms clamped my torso tight.
My face was buried deep in a peculiarly thick chest. My body was pinned and there was no room to breathe.
I held out and held out, then like declaring surrender, patted Varen’s back.
“Hey, hey. I can’t breathe.”
“I’m glad you’re safe. Really... really glad. I was afraid you were dead... afraid I was too late....”
Varen wrapped my waist tight with one arm and cupped the back of my head with the other.
He seemed to be trying to keep the vow he’d made in the sky—that he would never let me slip away again.
Even standing still, my breath hitched, but the moment I heard a voice that sounded like it could cry any second, the strength went out of my hands.
Instead of smacking his back to make him move, I patted it.
“I didn’t die thanks to you, so settle down. I almost died, though.”
“Ceryl, I missed you.”
My hand froze at the sappy line that followed. Flustered, I pushed against Varen’s chest.
He seemed to give way, and then he laced both hands, firm, around my waist. Our lower bodies were pressed flush, but our upper bodies were a hand’s span apart in a strange posture.
I grunted and tried to put strength into it a few more times, but my wrung-out forearms failed to do their job.
Further wrestling would be pointless, so I gave up first.
“What do you mean, you missed me. We met again after barely half a day.”
“Half a day....”
Varen’s brows drooped in gloom. He let out a small sigh.
Because we were so close, when Varen drew a breath, that chest that had pulled back a moment earlier pressed against me again.
I squirmed at the discomfort, and Varen continued, face conflicted.
“For me it wasn’t half a day. Time flows differently in the Eterna Nest.”
I had completely forgotten, busy clearing ten brushes with death.
“Eterna Nest.” Our month of trekking through the forest had all been to get Varen there.
I snapped my head up, eyes brightening, and fired questions.
“Did you find the Eterna Nest? Did you get your home coordinates? Did you charge enough mana? What was the inside like? Can a human go in?”
“Ceryl, ask one at a time.”
The place where the legendary Dravergh was laid to rest with all its power. An unknown space only dragons could find. A dragon waystation.
Every epithet of the Eterna Nest got me worked up. Honestly, I wanted to go there more than Varen did.
Varen looked down at my expectancy-filled face with displeasure, but answered the barrage faithfully.
“I found the coordinates, and I charged mana. The inside is no different from the forest, and with me a human can enter.”
“I can go in too? Let’s go now. Right now.”
Varen narrowed his eyes and shook his head. Then he stroked my skull with a gentle hand.
“I was inside the Eterna Nest for a very short time. I checked the interior and came out to fetch you, and the little one popped out of your pocket.”
By “little one,” Varen meant Rami.
“Very short, you said?”
Even when I was dragged up the tower in the morning and bounced and rolled, I didn’t call Varen. It was only toward afternoon that I finally turned on a Rami link.
And yet for Varen that had been just “very short.”
While I blinked, bewildered, Varen sighed long again.
“The moment I left the Eterna Nest, I heard someone say you might die. I don’t remember much after that.”
Rami must have led with the word “danger” to convey urgency. Because of that, the crucial instruction to come in Humanization got buried.
When that golden dragon first showed himself, I was dumbfounded—but hearing this, I could understand a little.
Thump-thrum, Varen’s heartbeat hammered today more anxiously than usual. I laid my palm over his left chest and quietly patted.
“You must’ve been startled. Sorry, I got careless.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s my fault for losing you.”
As he said it, Varen’s forearm swelled. That iron arm, packed with force, showed no sign of loosening.
The blue eyes I met were filled with a certain resolve.
I had the ominous feeling his separation anxiety was about to get worse.
“Okay, fine, but first—let me go.”
I tried once more to slip out of his arms and, as expected, it was useless.
No, it backfired.
Varen squinted and stared straight at me. He was pouting with his eyes without saying a word.
But I couldn’t indulge him forever.
“Uh-uh, open those pretty eyes. Are you hurt anywhere?”
Surviving wasn’t the end. The real work started now.
He looked fine on the surface, but I kept worrying about Varen’s condition.
Was the hole in his wing okay; he’d taken a ton of crossbow bolts, had he been injured; and what about after-effects of the drug those humans laid.
No matter how unmatched a dragon’s recovery is, a living creature doesn’t take that much punishment and come out fine.
I went to check him over, but Varen popped his eyes wide and wouldn’t budge.
Because of the camaraderie of snatching each other from death, I’d meant to be gentle for a while.
“Hey, hey, hey! Listen when I’m talking, you brat!”
My voice was ragged, but I used diaphragmatic breath and barked it out.
Varen, blasted by a lion’s roar at point-blank range, flinched his shoulders and slowly loosened his arms.
Honestly. Say it nicely and he doesn’t get it. Is this why parents of disobedient kids get rough.
But I do have a kid who listens well.
I patted the inside pocket of my coat and summoned my number-one baby.
“Baby. Come to dad. It’s safe now...”
“Kii!”
As if it had been waiting for my call, Rami sprang straight out of my pocket. Like always, it slapped onto my face and sobbed hard.
Normally I would’ve let it “kii” to its heart’s content, but right now my mind was uneasy.
No matter how reliable Tymer was, the forest fire was too fierce.
I peeled Rami off my face and set it on my palm.
Its jewel-bright eyes were drenched in sorrow.
“Dad’s okay. Baby, you’re not hurt anywhere, right?”
“Kii!”
“Are the others okay? I mean Kallen and Margon.”
“Kii, kii!”
“What about Tymer? Did she run to somewhere safe?”
Rami bobbed its head with vigor. From eyes the size of pinky nails, even smaller droplets went tap-tap.
Only when I heard everyone was safe did my tension slacken. I stroked Rami’s brow with a fingertip.
“Baby, stop crying. I told you I’m okay.”
“Kiii....”
“Look at dad. Not a scratch, right? I’m fine, see?”
Its obsidian eyes rolled here and there. Dusty, but after confirming there was no major injury, the tiny head bobbed.
I tucked the relieved Rami back into my pocket.
“Rami, go back to Kallen for now and tell her my location.”
“Kiii....”
“Go on. Our baby’s good, right?”
Unwilling to leave me, Rami spun in circles and “kii-ed” inside the pocket.
Only after I patted over my clothes several times did the pocket go flat.
“Whew... seems the kids are safe. You, come here too. Let me check you.”
Varen, who’d been standing a few steps away, was glaring at me with burning eyes.
What’s it this time. A deep sigh leaked up from my gut.
Indulging the fussing of adolescent monsters drains an adult’s vigor.
But what came out of Varen’s mouth was not what I expected.
“A male’s scent.”
In his voice, gone cold, I could almost feel a hint of killing intent.
I tilted my head at the strange words whose meaning I couldn’t place.
“What scent?”
“You smell like a male.”
Well, I am a male too.
But why would a male smelling like a male be such a problem that he’s staring like he’s going to kill someone.
