I brushed the dirt from my knee, straightened, and stood. Then I smiled at them.
“Varen’s parents, right? Ordin and Neira.”
“How do you know our names?”
“I heard it from Varen. He said he was the child of Ordin and Neira.”
The blue-eyed man, Ordin, looked thrown.
The golden-haired woman, Neira, was full of suspicion.
As expected. A son they couldn’t find ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) even after searching the world had returned after twenty years—hard to believe.
All the more since a human—an enemy to their kind—had brought him. I could fully understand the caution of a dragon couple.
Keeping the most trustworthy smile I could manage, I walked to the cart I’d hauled.
I gently shook Varen’s shoulder, his face bloodless.
“Varen. Varen? Wake up. Your parents are here.”
On the way up I’d spoken to him dozens of times. I’d begged him to come to for even a moment and give me the coordinates.
But Varen had never opened his eyes. He only let out strained groans.
“Uu... ngh...”
At the word he’d waited for his entire life—“parents”—Varen’s eyelids quivered.
That seemed to be the best response he could manage for now.
“It’s a reunion after twenty years, but Varen’s condition isn’t great. Would you like to see for yourselves?”
The two traded anxious looks.
With only a glance they agreed, and Ordin came first. Step unsteady, he looked into the cart.
“......”
He stared at Varen as if he couldn’t believe it. The family meeting was quieter than I’d expected, and I shut my mouth and stepped back.
Ordin reached a careful hand toward Varen. As he neared his son, a faint light spilled from the father’s palm.
He moved his hand slowly as if examining Varen from brow to whole body.
After a long while, a breath blocked for twenty years finally burst out.
“It really is Varen...”
Having finished a dragon’s way of confirming his child, Ordin turned with a radiant smile.
Neira, who had been watching in agitation behind him, came up.
Glancing around at the stirred air, I realized we were surrounded by dozens of dragons. They wore human shapes, but the pressure each one gave off was heavy.
“C— Ceryl...”
A frightened voice whispered my name. Only then did Kallen and Margon come back into view.
The two of them were pressed together and shaking, as if they’d always been that close.
I flashed them a grin that meant there was no danger and nothing to fear.
“Why is my son like this?!”
Then a woman’s voice split the gorge. The mana in it stung like it would cut skin.
I looked up, startled—Neira was glaring sharp-eyed straight at me.
Varen’s mother was furious at her son’s state, clearly. A child found at last, returned half-dead—this, too, I could understand.
Even so, my heart sank. If this sight enraged her this much, what would she do when she heard what humans had done to Varen all this time.
Leaving old history for later, I lifted both hands to calm the mother first.
“Please, calm down, Neira. Varen is—ghk!”
Suddenly my breath stopped. My body was already in the air.
It wasn’t even the blink of an eye. It was a speed no human sight could catch.
“Was it you, human! You who stole my son!”
“Kh... khhk...”
Neira had one hand around my throat and lifted me skyward. The grip was nothing like the slender forearm suggested.
I grabbed her arm with both hands and kicked uselessly in the air.
“Ceryl!”
Kallen and Margon shouted together and lunged for me.
But Neira’s gaze froze them where they stood. Their eyes blinked, but not a finger twitched.
Subduing two humans with a look, the dragon turned those blazing eyes back to me.
“Answer! Or I will kill you!!”
You have to let go if you want an answer!
I hammered her wrist with a fist and only hurt my hand.
Somehow even this felt like déjà vu.
Back then it had been Kallen’s collar grabbed, and Elfera and Rami pinned by a dragon.
The oxygen was thinning. In the dimming edge of consciousness, guilt toward Varen rose.
Every time Varen flew off the handle I’d snapped, what is wrong with you, go learn manners from your parents.
So grabbing throats the instant you’re mad was hereditary.
“Kh—khk—”
Blood wouldn’t pass my neck; my face felt set to burst. The legs that had been kicking slowly lost strength.
They say even in a dragon’s den you live if you keep your head, but there was no keeping it.
My flickering consciousness was about to slip away when—
“Neira, let him go.”
It was the husband who stopped his furious wife.
Gripping Neira’s wrist, Ordin shook his head firmly. She frowned and unclenched her hand from me.
“Hkk, keh— cough...”
I dropped like a sack, crawled, and dragged breath into my lungs.
Kallen and Margon, who’d stood like statues, shook free of the spell. They rushed straight to me.
Kallen hovered, not knowing what to do, searching my face; Margon clenched a fist tight.
“What is this...!”
“Margon, don’t.”
Before Margon could throw himself at Neira, I stopped him fast.
A mere human, against a dragon—let alone—
“Ha... the queen of Dravergh...”
One of the highest beings among them—the queen of Dravergh—was not someone a human could rush.
Even under the glares of three humans, Neira only snorted.
The husband shook his head at his wife’s recklessness.
“Neira, he didn’t do this. Look closely.”
“Look at what. At my son dying?”
Maybe it was the extraordinary circumstance, or maybe she was simply sharp by nature—Neira even glared at her husband.
Ordin, by contrast, calmly looked between Varen and me.
“You’re wearing Varen’s clothes.”
At the unexpected words I unconsciously touched what I wore. Clothing wrought with a dragon’s power, white and fine.
I hadn’t thought about the clothes, but now the white fabric seemed too clean.
Varen’s blood-marked hands and the dirt-smeared pants the Spirit had given me made a stark contrast.
“Humans can’t wear Dravergh’s clothing. Varen dressed you himself.”
“...Ah!”
Only then did the puzzle fit.
The clothes Varen handed me wouldn’t close right. They kept slipping out of my hands and twisting on my body.
In the end Varen dressed me himself and tied the ribbon.
I’d thought I couldn’t put them on because they were too big; it turned out humans simply can’t wear Dravergh’s clothes.
“And I feel Varen’s power from that human.”
“...Ah!!”
Another groan escaped me.
The dragon’s power Varen had shoved into me to the point of foolishness. Dravergh’s energy handed over entire, unaware his own body was breaking.
That was serving as a pass right now.
With that realization, I stared at Ordin, mouth hanging.
Somehow his face felt different in that moment. The reigning King of Dravergh was nothing if not gentle and merciful.
“You’re the one who saved my son.”
Good grief—how could even his voice drip with dignity.
I forced my neck, eager to bow, to stay straight.
“Ha, nonsense. A human saved my son?”
Neira’s voice was only sharp. Her eyes on me still boiled.
The couple’s attitudes toward a human were polar opposites.
I’d never played politics even when I worked at a hospital. But quick survival instinct decided fast which side to align with.
I dipped my head slightly to Ordin.
“Yes. I saved your son.”
One of Ordin’s brows lifted. Interest flickered through the blue eyes.
Not a bad sign. I stood and faced him with my back straight.
“Varen’s mana was sealed and he was locked in an underground prison. He was being tortured by humans—I got him out.”
“Tortured in an underground prison?”
“Yes. And Varen hasn’t properly awakened a dragon’s power yet. He’s short on mana, and he can’t handle it well. So we stopped at the Eterna Nest, but...”
I hadn’t meant to boast, but the longer I talked the more wronged I felt.
No—truthfully, I was mad.
Bring back their precious child and they grab my collar instead of calling me benefactor?
I’ve been through hell. I’ve nearly died more than once because of Varen!
And it wasn’t just a collar—she blocked my airway. She was going to kill me! Ungrateful dragons!!
My anger at dragons ended in cowardice. I glared at Varen’s parents with all the confidence I could fake.
Varen likes me so much. Just let him wake up. I’m telling him everything.
“Pft...”
While I fumed and cursed inside, Ordin let out a small laugh.
He sobered quickly, embarrassed after chuckling.
“Ahem. It seems you’re precious to Varen.”
