The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL]-Chapter 303: Things That Feel Proper

One great, albeit small, golden dragon thought so too.

Everything looked right.

The sounds of his uncle and auntie carried clearly through the odd chamber, their voices mixing together and echoing softly against the stone. No one else spoke. No one interrupted. It was just the two of them, standing there, reading strange words that seemed very important, even if Orien did not fully understand why.

They kept looking at each other as they spoke. Not the crowd. Not the officials. Just each other.

Orien tilted his head slightly as he listened.

He didn’t really understand much of the actual implication of the words because what was this law when dragons were the law? But that didn’t seem to matter in the long run. Instead, what currently mattered was how everything felt.

It felt proper.

It felt settled.

And for reasons he couldn’t explain, the golden dragonling found himself nodding slowly, as if agreeing to something very serious.

Well. Maybe minus the fact that he could only see everything through the dark tint of the sunglasses currently perched on his face.

But of course he wouldn’t say that out loud.

Not that he could say anything at all even if he wanted to.

So he kept the thought to himself.

As he listened, Orien also found himself thinking about how tragic it would have been if he and the little sprite had missed something like this because of a few unexpected events...

See, the golden dragonling’s day had started out perfectly uneventful.

Which was good. Uneventful days were safe days.

Until Riley suddenly said they were going out on a trial outing to test a few things.

That sounded great. Wonderful, even.

At least until Orien learned that "we" only meant his uncle and his aunt.

"!!!"

The reaction was prompt. Maybe a little too prompt.

As one would expect, Orien was beside himself after hearing such dreadful news. Deeply aghast and appropriately incensed, the baby dragon filed several complaints and demanded immediate restitution.

To no avail.

The two unfair adults were really planning to leave him behind.

What if they experienced fun things without him and then never wanted to do them again because his uncle was just like that?

Worse, what if they went to the temple. Or the even bigger temple they were all supposed to visit together soon?

These were extremely valid concerns.

The golden dragonling huffed. He puffed. He glared. None of his issues were being addressed properly.

Eventually, they made a solemn promise not to do any such things. Riley even said that if his outside training worked and he managed to control his mana better, then maybe he could hold on long enough to visit smaller stores and bring home treats.

Hmph!

With a twitch of his tail, a flick of his wings, and a long pointed look complete with intense narrowing of his eyes, the golden dragonling finally agreed.

Fine.

And what do you know?

As if they were criminals fleeing the scene, the two of them didn’t even stay long. They left right away.

Clearly, something nefarious was afoot.

Orien could not be consoled. Not even when the little sprite suggested they play for a bit before training again. He remained firmly in a bad mood.

However, things began to change when Liam suddenly stopped and stared at him. Then he leaned closer and lowered his voice, whispering conspiratorially for maximum effect.

"Lord Orien," he said, eyes shining, "do you want to study what’s needed for the water park?"

Huh?

Liam didn’t answer right away.

Instead, the young child crouched down in front of Orien, warm brown eyes bright as he spoke in a careful, thoughtful tone, like this was a very serious matter.

He explained that some of the things from their house had been brought over little by little. Because of that, he now had more of his own items. Things meant for going outside. Things meant for places with lots of people. Things meant for water.

So if Lord Orien wanted to go to places like that too, then it would be better to get familiar with them early. That way, it would be easier to pass as human.

Orien blinked.

Why was there such a need?

Water was water. Outside was outside. If you jumped in, water would avoid you. If you stood under the sky, you stood. What difference did it make?

But then Liam, very seriously, began explaining.

Humans had to worry about their skin burning if they stayed under the sun too long. They had to put things on their bodies so that wouldn’t happen. They also had to shade their eyes, both on land and on water, or else it would hurt.

The little sprite then recounted how he once didn’t listen and he ended up looking like a tomato and stinging for a whole week.

"!!!"

Orien froze.

He was internally shaken from hearing something so absurd.

Burning. From the sun.

How odd. In fact, the practically fire-immune dragon was just surprised by the fact that there was a concern about burning at all.

At the same time, a strange sense of relief settled in him. The little sprite wasn’t just human anymore. Because if humans were really so weak that even the faraway sun could harm them, how did they survive at all?

And yet.

Humans had interesting things.

There were goggles that protected eyes underwater. Sunglasses that were meant to protect eyes from the sun. Or, as Liam corrected himself quickly, they were also meant to look cool.

Then Liam paused and tilted his head.

"Actually, Lord Orien," he said, holding up the sunglasses, "you don’t have to use it like that. See, if you wear this, no one would see your eyes change even if you couldn’t help it."

He pulled Orien closer to the mirror and lifted the glasses into place.

"Look. All I see are the lenses. If you wear this outside, people wouldn’t know. You would have fewer things to think about while controlling your human form."

"!!!"

Orien stared at his reflection.

Hmm.

He turned his head slightly. Then the other way.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

With renewed vigor, the golden dragonling decided that studying these things was, in fact, extremely important. He listened closely as Liam explained about floaters, more sunscreen, and how he should pretend to apply it so others wouldn’t question them or the adults around them.

The golden dragon learned many tricks from the knowledgeable little sprite.

And when the lesson ended, Orien faced a problem.

Liam no longer accepted gold nuggets as compensation. And Orien’s farm was still nowhere near as rich as Liam’s, so there was nothing to give that the child didn’t have.

That simply wouldn’t do. Dragons didn’t like owing anyone anything.

So Orien made a decision.

He went to his private hiding spot.

Under an inconspicuous tree in the courtyard.

He dug.

And right there was something he could give the little sprite.

Not only would it be enough to compensate for the lessons he received today, but it would probably be enough for a few more lessons. Moreover, this was something that Liam could use with the increasing possibility of the stork coming soon.

As expected, it was very well received.

The great Orien, who smugly thought about how clever he had been in finding a presen—no, compensation, received the favorable response with a simple shrug.

Like uncle, like nephew.

It was nothing.

"Wow! This is such a beautiful bead, Lord Orien! Where did you find this?!" Liam exclaimed, holding it up with both hands.

The fiery red bead was extremely striking, glowing softly even in the shade. Orien stood there with his chest puffed out, tail held just so, his entire posture radiating pride as he basked in the innocent praise. It really was beautiful, so Liam’s reaction was only natural.

Just as Orien was about to explain that it was something he had owned since he was young, something he had brought with him to the Dravaryns according to his grandparents, Liam lifted the bead higher to admire it better.

That was when it happened.

The bead flared.

Light burst out in a blinding flash and both of them yelped, instinctively squeezing their eyes shut.

Who knows how long that took, but it was at that very moment that Orien realized the reason those sunglasses existed. If he had been wearing one, then he would have been able to react to this flash bang!

But then—

Darkness.

When Orien finally opened his eyes, the searing brightness was gone. The room was still standing. Nothing had collapsed. He was still alive.

But just when he was going to check on the current most vulnerable being in the estate, the golden dragon stilled.

Something—

"!"

The figure standing where the little sprite should have been was glowing faintly, as if it had absorbed all the light that had just been taken out of the room.

Orien blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Because while everything else looked the same, the person in front of him definitely was not.

Then the figure spoke.

"L-lord Orien? W-what happened?"

"!!!"

The voice was familiar.

Too familiar.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"...L-little Sprite?" Orien asked slowly.

"Huh? Yes? Is something wrong? Are you alright?" came the anxious reply.

Good question.

Really.

Orien swallowed hard and somehow, in the face of said crisis, managed to say, "Um... Don’t panic—" before promptly passing out.

"..."

"!!!!!!"