Ryuu was very surprised to find his game friend from the past at this place, but didn't give in to impulse as his job required him to maintain utmost secrecy. On the other hand, the prince didn't waver from his act of hugging the dragon egg to destruction.
Ryuu was the first to speak up after regaining his composure. "Your Highness, I don't know what you were thinking, nor do I want to know. But the egg needs to be returned to its rightful place. Otherwise, no one in this part of the continent would survive."
[Please do not speak in one breath.]
He spoke calmly, albeit without any proper explanation, as they should know that much. But the system seemed to have a problem with everything he did.
"What do you know?" The prince said, accusingly. Emotions were clear on his face. "I'd rather die than give it up? Dying by a dragon's hand would be an honor!"
'Dragons have hands? I thought they had claws or forelegs?'
[You don't need to nitpick about every detail.]
'You think so? YOU?'
[. . .]
"Like I said, I know nothing except that you cannot keep the egg in either case," Ryuu said flatly. "Die if you will, but why take the whole country with you?"
"If there's no kingdom, there's nothing to rule."
'What kind of logic is that? You'll be dead anyway!'
Ryuu wanted to tell the 25-year-old child that it didn't work like that, but decided against it. 'Arguing with him will be a waste of time.'
He understood that the royalty had it pretty bad, but was that even a real problem? People joked around about how the king had to tie his firstborn down to the throne. They had this unhealthy desire to escape their bloodline. The crown prince, Askr, was standing as proof of it.
If people could joke about it, how can it be considered a real problem? Like, first-world problems were not pitiable.
But whatever the case, this was something too extreme. "K- Mr guard, you should understand what I mean, right?" Ryuu turned to him for opinion, or rather, support. "This is a self-destructive act. It can't go like this."
It didn't seem like Ryuu's words reached his ears. He remained as he was, as if none of it was his concern.
Ryuu was 98% sure about the guard's identity. He had met the guy in the game countless times. There was no doubt, appearance-wise.
But now wasn't the time for a reunion.
'They'd better raise my pay.' Ryuu didn't have the patience to deal with this bizarre situation. He didn't know how to without shedding blood.
But he didn't want to hurt his friend, who was protecting the target, either. The target who would rather get killed by a dragon than take the throne.
'There's a deadline to be met for God's sake!'
'At this rate, the continent would be destroyed way before Kyros loses his temper!'
[Circumstances have brought a change to the threshold.
Updating.]
Ryuu turned his attention to the screen.
[Kyros is about to lose a key act because of the dragon race. If left unattended, the dragon race would meet an end at his hands. Your survival might be compromised.]
Ryuu frowned. 'What are you saying in the middle of what? I thought I was saving the kingdom?'
'And when was my survival not compromised? You think I don't know that?'
The system ignored his complaints.
[Mission: Reshape past relations and find a way to save everyone. Your secrets needn't be yours alone when humanity is in danger.]
Ryuu stared at the screen for a while, trying to make sense of it until it finally clicked.
'Wait. Are you telling me to reveal my identity?'
[If necessary, yes.]
'Just how severe is the case that I have to jeopardize my safety for it?'
Ryuu weighed his odds before approaching the guard in swift motion, landing right in front of him, and pulling down his mask before he was attacked.
There was a good chance he wouldn't be recognized, but an equal chance that he would. After all, although it wasn't the same character, he looked the same, minus the hair and eye color.
'Though I doubt he pays attention to how people look.'
And the system told him to, so it was worth a shot. If it backfired, he could always find a disguise.
"Kai," Ryuu called out.
The other person was staring at him more intently than a few minutes back, as if trying to decide whether to kill or not.
"You might not remember me, or recognize me, but now's not the time to stare me down," Ryuu said, whatever came to his mind.
'Please don't backfire. Please don't fail.' Ryuu began to pray inwardly.
The dark eyes looking down at him shook for a moment so short that Ryuu didn't notice. "You…Ryuu?"
An unknown kind of weight lifted off his chest after hearing the low voice, and he smiled instinctively.
This was the only person in the whole of KS who knew him by this name other than the system. "Thank goodness! I thought you wouldn't remember me." He pulled up his mask. "Help out an old friend, ok? I can't fulfil my mission otherwise. I know I shouldn't bother with your tasks, but if this goes on, everyone will be doomed."
"Because of the dragon?"
"Yeah." Ryuu wasn't counting on Kai's help, but his indifference. If he just looked the other way, Ryuu could find a way to snatch the egg and leave. So his next words were unexpected.
"Hand over the egg to him." Kai raised his sword towards the prince. Ryuu didn't expect him to turn against his employer so fast. Askr backed away.
"I won't." Askr didn't seem shocked by the betrayal. Kai was about to attack, but Ryuu stepped in.
"Your Highness, you can't keep a dragon," he remarked. "You probably think that by raising a dragon you can escape from your duty. But even if you insist on that, the dragon might just kill you as soon as it hatches."
"You're just assuming things!" Askr retorted.
"Denying it doesn't change the fact that it's possible. We can't let you risk the whole kingdom for your speculation." Pause, "Maybe I can find you a different way to escape."
For a moment, the prince seemed to have believed him, "You say you can, but what can you really do? I—"
"I can most definitely kill you." His next words threw everyone off guard. A dead silence fell onto the room for a moment before Ryuu coughed and added, "I can make it seem like you're dead."
[. . .]
Despite being taken aback, the prince inquired back. "Can you really? Would you do that for me?"
'No, I'll do it for the mission.'
"If—" But the words didn't find their end, interrupted by a cracking sound. All three eyes shifted to the blue object.
'Oh no…'
"That's unexpected." Ryuu agreed with Kai's words.
However, the one closest to the object—slash that—lifeform, was quietly looking at it as though all else had vanished. Like they weren't talking about his survival a moment ago.
Ryuu had seen a similar gaze somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
A small paw broke out of the shell. Ryuu tried to go forward, fearing the worst, but Kai stopped him. One by one, all four paws broke out of the shell, followed by the tail, and at last, the head. The blue shards dropped to the ground, and a blue creature emerged from within, still in the arms of its thief.
'Forget faking death. He's already dead.' Ryuu was worried. A tiny bit about Askr's safety, but mostly about what would happen with the mission and how he was supposed to get it done now.
But the person in question didn't show any rash movements and stood calmly, with the newborn in hand, looking at it with fascination.
Ryuu was about to jump in, but was stopped again. "Wait."
The dragon flew up, shrugging off the remaining shards.
'It can fly so soon?'
The dragon looked down at the prince, as if analyzing him. Askr also didn't look away. The two stared at each other like that for a while before the blue reptile flew down and settled onto the other's head.
And that's it. There was no freaking out. No attacking. It was, in a sense, comical, if anything. The hatchling used the closest thing to a nest, the prince's head, to sit down instead of the arranged roll-proof bed.
"What just happened?" The prince finally spoke up after a few minutes of dumbfounded silence.
'Is it what I think it is?'
Imprinting was common for many creatures. Taking the first animal or person they saw as their guardian and following them around was perhaps a genetic habit for them.
However, it was very rare for intelligent creatures, almost impossible for dragons, but it wasn't out of the question. Choosing a human as their guardian, though? Ryuu wasn't sure.
He wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion if the screen hadn't appeared again.
[You have witnessed a dragon's first moments of life.]
[A rare phenomenon has happened.]
The prince just had half of his wish fulfilled. Whether the young dragon had accepted him as a guardian or a plaything, he would still be under its protection.
But this didn't solve Ryuu's or the kingdom's problem in the slightest.
[However, the problem is yet to be solved. But it hasn't gone out of hand.
Quest: Figure out a way to pacify the situation.
Good luck.]
Ryuu wanted to break the screen that liked to speak the obvious in times of crisis.
Alas, that wasn't possible.