Ep 54. This Is Growing Pleasantly Out Of Hand. (3)

  “Absolutely not.”

  “But-“

  “Absolutely not!”

  “Listen, I-“

  “You’re fifteen, Zion! Fifteen! You think I’m gonna sit around and watch you bee a homeless deli?! You’re absolutely NOT dropping school!”

  Patrick was adamantly shutting off any and all opposition from his sibling this time. With both his arms and legs crossed defiantly, it was as if his entire body was screaming there was no room for debate.

  Not that Serenis was trying to make it a debate. If anything, she’d e to make an annou.

  “Patrick. Iris has informed me that-“

  “Iris? That reminds me. Who taught you to trust a stranger?”

  “…Stranger? I ot tell you the details, but she’s-“

  “I already talked to her while you were gone! I know what you did!”

  “…Do you?”

  ‘Because I do not.’

  Serenis frow her brother’s unmoving attitude. It was almost praiseworthy given his usual passivity – if it wasn’t against her.

  “And pray tell, what did she tell you exactly?”

  “That I fell unscious from her mana pills exploding. And that you begged her for information on findiies.”

  “…I did not BEG!”

  “Doesn’t matter! What’s a deity got to do with skipping school?! I don’t care if you’re a dragon or not, you’re still a fifteen-year-old kid to me! You are NOT dropping school for some wild goose chase!”

  An exasperated sigh escaped the dragonlord’s lips. She couldn’t evehered to care that Iris had lied to Patrick.

  Would her brother’s iron will make a difference? Absolutely not. Serenis erfectly capable of leaving the city, with or without Patrick’s approval.

  ‘…But I would prefer if he did approve.’

  “Will everything be alright as long as I’m not ‘dropping’ altogether?”

  “Yeah, you o graduate, you know! Whatever you do iure, you still least some education!”

  “Then your worries are ill-founded. Karas has spoken of making arras so that I stay enrolled. I believe he said he’d repce the current schedule with…a ’workshop.’”

  There weren’t any crickets chirping in the house, but if there were, now would’ve been a good time to chirp.

  Patrick finally broke the awkward silence, his head tilted in fusion.

  “…A workshop? Alone?”

  “Karas will be apanying me. Light and Ilias will be ing along as well.”

  “…That half girl and the red dragon?”

  “Precisely.”

  “…”

  Patrick didn’t need an expnation on what a workshop was. He’d attehe same institute, attehe same csses (sort of), ahrough the same program (kind of). Workshops were special opportunities given to exceptional students that guaranteed credits, as well as learning and work experience.

  And just like that, Patrio longer had an excuse to stop his little sibling.

  ‘…Well, shit.’

  Truthfully, he’d spoken out harder than he would for fear Serenis would wind up in something dangerous again. While it hadn’t resulted in anything serious st time, Eisenhoff’s case was a city-wide iion of monstrous halves; no sane person would allow a fifteen-year-old to handle such cases.

  Patrick sighed, finally groaning out something that wasn’t a ‘no.’

  “…Where’re you going? For this workshop.”

  “To the tral forests.”

  “tral? You mean Aldrid Forest? That pce is huge…yoing to search for a deity in the middle of nowhere? That doesn’t even sound safe.”

  “Acc to Iris, it is.”

  “…”

  A sed set of awkward siletled in as Patrick found himself at a loss of words.

  The mage had known Iris since his very first year as a student at the Magistitute. Although they hadn’t been close back then, she’d always e across as an oddball of sorts.

  But sending his sibling on a wild goose chase across the ti wasn’t just being an oddball. For a ck of better words, it was straight madness. Deities weren’t beings that one could just ‘meet’ out of the blue.

  At least, not in Patrick’s head.

  “…Not vinced. And even Professor Karas ’t guarantee your safety in a pce like that. People go missing in there every year.”

  “Patrick, in case you’ve fotte again, I am a dragonlord.”

  “…Sure, but you’re also my little brother. Sister. Sibling. Whatever. You’re fifteen.”

  To be fair, he wasn’t wrong.

  Patrice again groa their impasse. Deep inside, he khat Serenis would probably gardless of what he said – that much seemed clear, with how long the dragonlord was keeping this argument going.

  And, as per usual, it’d be him doing the promise.

  “…Fine. Let’s do it like this then. Sounds like yonna go whatever the hell I say anyways, right?”

  “In all fairness, if you were to cim that my sudden absence will result in a horrible death for you, I’d resider.”

  “Why the hell would I die a horrible death?!”

  “That’s exactly why I’d resider.”

  “…Sure. You know what though, I’ll just e with you. At least that way I drag you back out when I o.”

  “You? Drag me? How?”

  “What, you think I ’t?”

  “No?”

  “…Fine, I probably ’t. But it’ll at least be better than sitting at home wishing I could drag you out.”

  “Do you not have your own work to do?”

  “I’m on leave. I’m injured.”

  “…I thought you have fully reco-“

  “Kh! The burns are still!”

  Patrick cut off the dragonlord’s sentence as he twisted his body, dramatically gripping his bandaged side. He eyed Serenis from the er of his eyes, watg for her rea.

  “…”

  The dragonlord’s expression twisted into a ge at the obvious act.

  And Patrick did not care.

  “There, I’m sick. Happy?”

  ? ? ?

  “So…Zion, this is…”

  Iris warily sed all the people that had gathered around at the institute’s empty courtyard.

  Dragonlord Serenis. And…

  An institute professor, a little half girl, a red dragon attached to said half girl, and a fellow enforcer that’s supposed to be on injury leave.

  But Serenis only returned an indifferent gaze as she answered Iris.

  “It doesn’t particurly you, does it? You won’t be apanying us.”

  “…Well, no…”

  ‘If Aldrid tells Felicir that I’m up to something, things won’t go pretty. But…’

  Iris’ eyes focused on her coworker.

  Patrick was leisurely leaning on his staff with one arm ed around it. It was still being used like a e, just like yesterday when she’d lied her way out of his accusations of her murder attempts.

  Patrick curtly waved his hand.

  “Yo. Long time no see.”

  “…It’s barely been a day, Patrick. And weren’t you on leave due to your injuries? If you’re fully recovered, you should be returning to work, not-“

  “Ugh, my head! If only someone didn’t let their pills explode at my face…!”

  Iris’ eyes narrowed as her friend’s sudden pints of pain. Patrick had suddenly twisted his body, clutg his head in faked symptoms.

  Did Iris know Patrick was ag? Of course she did. The pills she carried weren’t actually desigo recover mana, but suppress it. They were deadly poison that could cripple a person’s mana reserve for life, and she’d stantly ed them to effectively hide her identity as Felicis.

  But she couldn’t say that out loud.

  And because she couldn’t say that out loud, she couldn’t question Patrick’s obvious act.

  And if she couldn’t question it, there was only ohing she could do.

  “…Sorry.”

  Patrick immediately fixed his posture upon hearing Iris’ apology. Shamelessly.

  “You should be.”

  Iris shook her head in dismay. Karma was getting back at her.

  She turo Serenis once mesturing towards the rest of the group aside from her coworker.

  “Then, these people are…”

  When Serenis looked to them, the group began to introduce themselves.

  “A pleasure to meet you again, enforcer. As you know, my name is Karas. I’ll be the supervisor for the length of Zion’s workshop. And this over here is Light, a fellow student that will be apanying us. The dragohere is…”

  Ilias wove her hand. After a night of work together and an afternoon of drinking, the enforcer was no longer a strao the dragon.

  “Hi, Iris! Good to see you again!”

  Iris returned a quizzical stare at the enthusiastic red dragon.

  “Ilias?...Why is a dragon…”

  The professor awkwardly cleared his throat, pulling Ilias closer.

  “She’s…here as a guardian and a safety precaution. For the two students.”

  “…Guardian?”

  ‘A dragon is a dragonlord’s guardian? Shouldn’t it be the reverse?’

  The enforcer hurriedly leaned into Serenis’ ear, whispering to make her words only audible to the dragonlord.

  “What in heaven’s name is going on? Weren’t you going alone? You couldn’t possibly need all these people with you.”

  “I don’t see the problem. Do human children not help their elders from time to time as well?”

  “…You’re fifteen on file.”

  “They know who I am.”

  “…”

  Whewo seemed to finish whispering each other, Light budged iween them, excitedly gng at her friend and the red-haired enforcer both.

  “Your name was Iris, right? Are you ing along too?”

  “Oh, no, I’ve…only e to give brief dires to Zion over here.”

  “Dires? From an enforcer? The professor said we’re gonna be looking for a deity, was that actually true??”

  “…It is.”

  Light’s eyes sparkled in amazement at the female enforcer standing before her.

  “Wow, enforcers know all sorts of things! Even Professor Karas said he doesn’t know where deities are!”

  Patrick was internally g at how the half girl tio highlight Iris’ job. Little did she know, he had the exact same profession.

  Oher hand, Karas also joined in, emphasizing Light’s curiosity.

  “I’m quite curious as well. If I may, where did the sector obtain such cssified infor-“

  Iris plucked out a piece of paper from her coat and shoved it into the dragonlord’s hand. She practically shouted her final ents as a portal abruptly appeared behind her.

  “As there’s a brand-new case I have to get to, here’s the paperwork you read on your way! Best of luck.”

  The enforcer disappeared moments after into her spell. As the portal closed back, Karas disappointingly kicked his tongue.

  “Hm. So much for that.”

  Ilias, Patrid Light all looked towards the professor in unison, sharing the same judgmental stare.

  “Aww, she ran away…”

  “Yep, totally an escape. I know her well enough to tell.”

  “Professor, how could you?”

  “?! That was my fault?”

  Serenis sighed as she opened up the crumpled paperwork in her hand. She only needed a brief skim to figure out their destination.

  “Enough. Let us be off.”

  Light quizzically stared at her peer, gng around the empty courtyard.

  “e to think of it, how’re we gono Aldrid Forest? Are we borrowing a carriage or something?”

  “? By flying, of course.”

  “…We are? everyone fly here?”

  The half girl gnced around at the people around her, specifically towards the professor. As far as she knew, Karas never used flight spells.

  Karas coughed nervously, looking away from the half girl’s expet gaze.

  “…While I use flight spells…there is a limit to keeping up with a dragon’s speed.”

  Karas then gowards his other, former student. Patrick also had the ability to use flight spells, but her he nor Karas had been born with wings or flew on a daily basis. There was no way either of them could keep up with the twons in party.

  Serenis betedly looked around. She hadn’t sidered this when agreeing to their pany.

  Just as the dragonlord began tret not asking the deity of mana to make a one-ortal to the forest, Ilias stepped up and tapped herself on the chest.

  “Don’t worry! I carry everyone!”

  Her little sister worriedly looked to the dragon.

  “Everyone?? Won’t that be tiring for you, Ilias?”

  “It’s fiiine, I’ve carried way heavier things before! But I’ll have to transform to carry everyone, and other people will probably get scared if I transform here, so…let’s get out of the city first?”

  When the youngling looked to Serenis for approval, she returned a firm nod at the suggestion. She was quite eager to get out of the city herself.

  ‘There wouldn’t be a reason to keep up this human ruse outside.’

  Praybird