Dragonlord

Ep 189. Get Used To It. (1)

Ep 189. Get Used To It. (1)

After returning to Vulka’s grave, it didn’t take too long for Serenis to finish her examination of the area: the remaining traps were easily dismantled with their lack of mana, and reinforcing the ice to prevent a collapse was simple enough through the help of magic.

And, funnily enough, the sorting work inside also began to speed along once Raizel and Ilias were absent. With no bickering or interruptions to distract, the others continued to work apace – although Bruton visibly flinched with a mild frown every time they heard a loud bashing noise from above.

And when the only work that remained was carrying the sorted tribute outside of Vulka’s remains, Serenis once again took a brief leave – this time to bring other kin to their aid.

Initially, Bruton and Xerun had volunteered (although one was rather reluctant) to do the work on their own. Despite the large quantity, bringing the tributes outside wasn’t anything that couldn’t be done given a few trips back and forth.

But Serenis was quick to decline their offer, opting to call the rest of their kin to aid instead.

‘And I thought she only meant to lessen our burden, but…’

For a while now, Xerun had returned to standing cross-armed in the tribute chamber. A number of others worked about instead as the gold dragon stood by in case of emergencies to ensure his kin’s safety.

But truth be told, what he was really doing was observing his kin’s reactions.

While varying in severity, the dragonkin’s reactions to the pit’s innards have been quite consistent in theme – as was the case with the pair of younger dragons he was looking at this very moment.

“Blegh…a bit odd to think we’re in someone else’s corpse.”

“Then go back up, why don’t you? It’s not like this was an order.”Nôv(el)B\\jnn

“I’m just saying! The elders always spoke of this place as some cursed…forsaken place. I expected more than just bones and ice.”

“At least we know now.”

…At this point, the second lord’s remains had become something of a local attraction.

Truth be told, there were countless dragons who were all too eager to take up the dragonlord’s request. Most had spent their entire lives wondering what was in here; to them, the dragonlord’s request had been an exploration opportunity more than it was work.

And with that, one of the two younglings wrapped up the last of the tributes in a leather sack, slinging it over his shoulders with a brief scan around the chamber.

“Well…that seems to be the last of it. Though, where do we even use these glowing rocks? We can’t eat them, can we?”

“Apparently they’re worth way more than food to humans.”

“Really?...Can humans eat gems?”

“…I don’t think so? We see Eline around, and she’s never eating one.”

“Maybe we just never chanced on it. We always see her feeding that hatchling with her, but she never eats anything herself.”

“Huh…maybe you’re right…”

“…”

…5 seconds was all it took for their gold-horned supervisor’s fist to land upon each of their heads.

Smack!

“…Humans do not consume stone.”

“Ow! Wh- you could’ve just said so, you know!”

“I did. The blow’s to drive the point into your skulls.”

After some brief muttering under his breath – which were likely insults towards Xerun – the youngling soon turned away with their friend, flapping their wings to fly out of the frozen pit.

Once the chamber was emptied of both kin and tribute, Xerun quietly observed his surroundings once more, letting out a long sigh afterwards.

“…Quite the effortless work.”

After being recognized as their king, the first thing Serenis had done was to undo the kin’s mistaken traditions.

The very first on that list had been the second lord’s grave.

Of course, on the day she’d confronted Xerun, she’d already explained in detail what the truth had been surrounding her son’s remains. But…

‘Hearing the truth is certainly different than seeing the truth.’

At first, he’d thought that their lord was unnecessarily calling to her kin for work they could’ve done on their own – that it was insignificant work their kin wasn’t needed for.

But the truth was, it was because the work was insignificant that Serenis had called to the kin. That was exactly why even younglings that could barely fly were allowed to help, and why she’d been so keen on ensuring their safety.

 Once the truth behind their lord’s words was confirmed with their own eyes, the dragonkin’s doubts regarding Serenis were quick to die down, replaced with a newfound trust for their king. After all, no one could speak of the grave as a cursed kin or some forbidden seal after seeing what it was themselves.

Of course, while her kin transported the tributes outside, Serenis herself was keeping herself busy elsewhere. As much as she’d wanted to observe and help the others, she had assigned the task to Xerun to keep herself elsewhere.

In fact, she was attending to work that no other kin could do.

Which was…

“…Now, now. Settle down, the both of you.”

“…”

“…”

Just a short way from the frozen pit, Serenis stood between two seething younglings, surrounded by brand new craters of where they’d been throwing each other. Both of Serenis’ hands were stretched out: one holding Raizel’s cold, metallic fist, the other holding Ilias’ heated, flame-coated claws.

When she’d first met these two, Serenis had idled by as these two fought amongst themselves. She’d hardly met them, she hadn’t familiarized herself with the dragonkin’s current state of affairs, and most importantly, she’d been a stranger – a human at that – to the rest of her kin.

None of which applied anymore.

And, weirdly enough, stopping the two younglings from fighting was bringing more onlookers than they had been while they were actually fighting.

…To be fair, everyone had seen Raizel and Ilias fight plenty of times. But someone stepping in between them to stop the two by force? That was totally new.

‘Huh…she’s actually succeeding.’

‘Not sure if I should be surprised or scared by that...’

Minutes ago, before Serenis’ arrival, the two younglings’ fists had been landing on each other’s faces.

Now, they were firmly lodged in the dragonlord’s grip. Which was thankfully holding firm.

“You’ve both been at it for a while now. Any more and you’ll hurt each other.”

In response, Raizel slowly looked up, her glare fixed on the red dragon beyond her lord.

“…Not me. She’d be the only one getting hurt, I’m fine.”

“I swear I’m going to breathe fire on you, Raizel.”

“Fine, do it! I haven’t been using metals either, you know!”

“Your whole body’s metal, you metalhead!”

Before the two could continue their argument, the dragonlord quietly tightened her grip over the younglings’ fists with a visible frown.

And soon enough, both Raizel and Ilias dropped their gaze to the ground once more.

Once their fists completely loosened, only then did Serenis let go of their hands.

“…You both know very well what you’re each capable of. Not only could you two hurt each other, the ground itself may collapse, and there are others nearby as well; be mindful of your surroundings.”

“…Tch. Fineee...”

“…Okay…”

Hearing the dragonlord’s response, many of the onlookers wore a quizzical, confused expression.

Everyone agreed that Raizel and Ilias could level their surroundings. They’d seen it happen far more than Serenis had; that wasn’t the issue.

Instead, their confusion was regarding the dragonlord that was standing right in between the two younglings.

“First she toys with Xerun, now she gets between those two? How strong is she exactly?”

“Ah, that reminds me…pft. That was quite the sight, Xerun choking in her tail. Seems even our mighty steel dragon can’t do much against the king.”

“And some were saying the dragonlord was using Raizel as a shield…I guess that line’s never coming back.”

“I heard Raizel was sick though? Isn’t she weaker than us right now then?”

As the dragons surrounding them began to mutter amongst themselves, the anger Serenis had killed was slowly rising back up within Raizel.

And it wasn’t that long until the youngling would dart her head, growling at her muttering onlookers.

“ALL OF YOU PISS OFF!!”

…And that’s all it took for the crowd to disperse.

Suddenly left by themselves, Serenis quietly shook her head at the steel dragon.

‘…When will she mature, I wonder…’

Countless others had wondered the same, but even the dragonkin’s lord had no way of telling such things. Raizel’s temper had refused to die for decades which, paired with the steel dragon’s affinity to metals and violence, had turned her into the kin’s biggest icon of trouble.

“…”

Alas, Serenis soon met Raizel’s gaze with a faint smile.

Truth be told, Raizel’s maturity was hardly an issue in the dragonlord’s head.

As long as she remains as healthy as she is now, then…

Perhaps that’d be enough.