The trio sat in a circle on the floor as the newborn dragon slept on the heap of cushions. It had been an hour since the shocking turn of events. It took the whole hour for the prince to feed and coerce the dragon to bed. During that time, Kai had 'borrowed' Ryuu for a conversation, more like an interrogation. His glares continuously sent shivers down Ryuu's spine.
'What did I do?'
"Long time no see. How have you been?" Ryuu attempted to lighten the mood. "I wasn't expecting to see you here." 'Here' as in that particular place.
Ryuu had not come across other players during the last few months. Other than the vague description from the system, he knew very little about the overall situation.
But considering the number of people, if they were to be spread out across the continent, bumping into each other was a one-third possibility. Ryuu was about to say as much, but Kai interrupted him.
"What happened to you?"
'What exactly are you asking?' A lot had happened after all.
"Nothing in particular. I'm here for my mission," Ryuu said, "It's not going well, as you can see. But I think I can manage. How—"
"But you were a hunter. Why would you be—"
"Well, I technically am, but not really. My job class changed after the fiasco. I'm effectively an assassin now," Ryuu spoke with a frown. "My luck has always been the worst. Anyway, why are you here?"
Kai was a mercenary back in the game. They met on a quest that involved both hunters and mercenaries. Mercenaries weren't allowed to be royal guards. Unless he also had a class change.
"It's not what you're thinking. I'm still a mercenary. He hired me secretly because he couldn't trust the royal guards." Oh.
Irresponsible. The prince was totally irresponsible towards royal conduct. He shouldn't even be considered for the throne. "This must be why I couldn't find you in the main hunting grounds," Kai muttered.
"Huh?" Ryuu hummed. They had met the night before the transfer for a short while, after Ryuu managed to rank up. Though rankings can change, Kai likely guessed Ryuu was here as well; he was sharp after all. Ryuu felt touched, realizing someone had looked for him despite the circumstances.
"Yeah…But anyway, it's nice to see you again," Ryuu said with a wide smile. "It was pretty lonely for the last few months."
. . .
Back to the present, they were busy thinking about how to fix this issue.
After a while of pondering, Ryuu came up with an idea that could solve everyone's problem, if it worked out that is. Kai was indifferent about all this and spoke of nothing.
Askr, however, was sweating up a river. His guard went against him, and an assassin was glaring at him as though he had committed treason. He couldn't see the person's face, just his fiery red eyes, which made the impact more powerful.
"You're Highness," Ryuu spoke, "I was given a deadline by the employer, the child's parent. There's less than 25 days left." The first prince, Askr, looked down. "If I fail, I'll get killed even if you survive."
The room suddenly fell cold.
[Warning.
Please be mindful of your conduct.]
Am I not being polite enough?
[Mindful words can save worlds.]
Get lost.
"However, I don't want that. All this has nothing to do with me anyway, and I don't want to be subjected to treason when I'm not even getting paid for it."
'So you would have if you were being paid.' The thought was written on Askr's face.
"My best option is running away, but I can't just leave the kingdom to burn."
[Your talent for lying is improving.]
Ryuu ignored the comment. The fact that he had below-average moral value was a known fact, at least to the system.
"On the other hand, you don't have the resources to raise a dragon, as he is now, without help from the kingdom. That small creature can't bear your burden, do you expect it to?"
[Emotional manipulation: In progress.]
'I'm no manipulator!'
[Sure.]
Askr fell for it after all. "Of course not! I just—I—" He couldn't finish. Anyone could tell that he hadn't thought this far.
"If you want to raise it, you'd need power of your own, which in your case, means the throne, which contradicts your initial purpose." Pause, "Yet that won't guarantee anything."
Dragons were free creatures. Whether they imprint on someone, find a lover, a job, or whatever, they'd end up moving on to the next thing soon enough. It was possible to hold its attention at least for as long as its adoptive guardian lived, but because of the circumstances of the current royal family, that was not an option.
"So I have an idea to solve both our problems." Probably. "Just like I offered, I can make it seem like you were killed, that way you can escape."
"But I don't do favors. In return, you must return the dragon to its parent and ask for forgiveness. They'd still be furious, but there'll be hope." Ryuu finally sighed after his long speech.
However, Askr looked confused, "But how am I supposed to find the parents?"
Ryuu looked at him questioningly, "The southern mountain, where you found the egg."
"But I found it lying around on the outskirts of Isle forest."
Ryuu grumbled internally. Why would a dragon egg be lying around in the forest? If Askr was telling the truth, there had to be a middleman in the incident. After all, a dragon would never abandon its offspring.
But there was no time to look into that. "I'll lead you then." Ryuu already received a checkpoint where he was supposed to return the egg from the system. "You just have to take responsibility for your actions. Clear?"
With a nod, the deal was done.
***