Dragonlord

Ep 185. Atta Boy. (2)

Ep 185. Atta Boy. (2)

By next morning, a party had gathered outside the pit for an expedition into the second lord’s frozen remains.

Serenis, Bruton, and Ilias were all present, having already gone within the pit once before.

Karas and Light were likewise present to inspect the tributes within. One of them was quite well-versed regarding historical artifacts, and the other…had nothing better to do.

Eline was also present, having offered to help smoothen the process. After all, she’d been one of the main reasons why this venture even begun.

And lastly, there was Xerun.

‘…?’

Out of those that had gathered for the expedition, the majority were looking at a particular member, thinking along the same lines in silence.

‘Wait…why’s Xerun here?’

Even Light and Karas knew who the gold-horned dragon was. Despite never having met in person, they’d heard too much of how things had gone down between him and Serenis.

And when the staring became excessive, Xerun let out an audible sigh.

“…There’s no reason to look at me so. I’ve merely come in my father’s place. As the descendant of our second king’s advisor, managing their remains is a natural-“

“Excuses, excuses. Elder Ardion forced you to come.”

Xerun’s eyes immediately twitched at the remark. His head soon turned toward the source of the underhanded remark – towards the red-haired herbalist who was tauntingly smiling at him.

“…Nonsense. How would you know such things?”

“The elder told me. Just before I came here, actually.”

“…”

“He also said he’d make you sleep outside if you don’t behave.”

Despite being an elder himself, Xerun had never been referred to as an elder once by Eline; in fact, the gold dragon felt like she almost treated him like an equal at times.

He wasn’t surprised to find it continuing today.

Eventually, Xerun simply turned away from Eline to face the dragonlord instead. Despite how grim of a start he was off to, it was too late to turn back and fly away.

“Ahem. Let’s…get to work. I’ve heard that our task is to empty the remains of all the gold within?”

“That, as well as assessing other items of their origin and worth. Considering the amount of tribute we’d seen inside…it may take some time.”

“Hm? If there’s a considerable amount, then why not bring others to assist? The entire kin is at your disposal.”

“I did, child. That’s why you’re here. You’ll be taking care of the drudgery.”

“…”

Despite all his staring, Xerun found it impossible to discern whether the dragonlord was joking or not.

And, seeing the evident confusion creeping up on the gold dragon’s face, Serenis snorted in amusement before clarifying.

“…I kid. There may yet be dangers we aren’t aware of, traps or items or otherwise – until we’ve established safety, calling the others won’t be necessary. We’ll be inspecting the innards and its items first.”

“…So a mere preliminary search? Then correct me if I’m mistaken, but it sounds like I’m not needed at the moment.”

“You aren’t. If you’d rather leave and disappoint Ardion, then…by all means.”

“…”

With that, Serenis summoned her wings before leaping into the pit, diving towards the hollows of Vulka’s eyes. Ilias and Bruton soon followed, each with Light and Karas in their arms, respectively.

And, as for Eline…

“Come on, Xerun. Let’s go.”

Once again, Xerun uncomfortably shifted his gaze towards Eline – who was now holding her arms out wide towards him.

“…Are you seriously expecting me to carry you?”

“I don’t see anyone else here that can.”

Whenever Eline was around, Xerun often found himself questioning his very belief on how a human-dragon interaction should go.

This was one of those times.

“Do you not have a sense of fear, human?”

“Oh, please. It’s not like you’ll be carrying any treasures outside, everyone knows you’re too frail for that. At least carry me and make yourself useful.”

“?! I am not frail!”

“Are you sure? Everyone’s been commenting on how physically unfit you are. Wait…maybe you can’t even lift me up.”

“That is NOT true. I could lift you with a single finger if I so wished.”

“Really? I don’t know, maybe you shouldn’t. You’re getting old too, you might hurt your back…”

“Hah!”

Following suit, Xerun swiftly wrapped one arm around Eline before lifting her arm, placing her above his left shoulder. His wings soon spread out as the dragon leapt forward, carrying the two into the depths of Vulka’s grave.

As the two descended into the pit, Xerun turned to the herbalist with a triumphant grin.

“As I said, lifting you is-“

Xerun’s sentence came to an abrupt stop as he noticed the mischievous, accomplished smile Eline was making.

In fact, her smile grew even wider as they locked eyes.

“Atta boy. You can do it after all.”

“…”

“You were saying?”

“…”

The rest of their descent was in complete silence.

Although, one of them was enjoying the silence far more than the other.

✧   ✧   ✧

Before long, Serenis once again found herself in the depths of Vulka’s remains – though, it wasn’t alit as it was during her last visit. The ice had lost their brilliant glow, as well as their unreasonable sturdiness from before.

As the group descended into the dark, everyone was wading through the darkness for a while. Their hands grasped at the frozen, bony walls, feet sloshing through small metals beneath their feet.

Finally,  Serenis summoned an orb of light to float above them, illuminating the space they were in.

And in turn, the newcomers couldn’t help but widen their eyes in shock.

“Oh hey, I had a reaction like that before. Good times.”

“…Ilias, you jumped in and swam.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, father.”

Despite Ilias and Bruton’s quibbling, both Light and Karas had their attention fixed on the vastness of the chamber before them – and the items that filled it. The same went for Xerun and Eline, who arrived shortly after.

The group found themselves in a large chamber – although, the word ‘chamber’ didn’t exactly seem fitting when it was rivalling the size of a regular house’s interior. The entire floor was flooded with gold coins, and no matter where they looked, a pile of treasure was laid out before them. Various gems and items were buried amidst the gold and silvers, glowing in an array of different colors.

Slowly, Karas began to turn his trembling eyes towards Serenis.

“Wait, so…this is all…tribute?”

The dragonlord indifferently nodded back at the shocked academic.

“It is. Though, I suppose it’s only a fraction of what once was.”

 “Fraction?...Not even Denon’s largest vaults would carry this much treasure…”

While Karas struggled to believe what he was seeing, Eline hopped off of Xerun’s shoulder, bending down to pick up a gold coin from the floor.

It wasn’t particularly fancy, to be fair; in fact, the coin was devoid of any design whatsoever save the illegible rune that was carved on one side. It was just a flat, circular chunk of gold otherwise.

However, Xerun was quick to peek from behind, reading aloud the rune that was inscribed on the coin.

“Star?”

“What?”

“That’s what it says on that coin you’re holding. The rune reads ‘star.’”

Eline soon turned to give Xerun a quizzical look. Apparently, being an elder did come with some wisdom, at least.

Then, Karas held up a coin himself – only to realize that, despite his relative expertise in ancient history, he didn’t even recognize the rune on it.

The professor soon turned to the gold dragon as well, giving a second quizzical gaze towards Xerun.

“…You can read this? What rune is this, exactly?”

“The dragonkin’s runes. What else?”

“…”

Hearing the gold dragon’s reply, Karas then proceeded to turn to Ilias.

“…Dragons had their own characters for spoken language? Did you know this, Ilias?”

“Of course I did!”

Hearing her daughter’s confident answer, Bruton immediately interjected to clarify what she meant.

Or, to be precise, shoot her down.

“She knows we have them. She doesn’t actually know them.”

“Aw, come on! Did you really have to say that?”

“After all those years Aether and I spent trying to teach you? Of course I did.”

“Hey, Raizel never learned them, either! At least I know how to read and write human letters!”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Time and again, Bruton tried to sit down the two younglings to teach them the kin’s language – and every time, the two would find a way to escape. Or just not be home from the beginning.

In all fairness, not knowing it hadn’t impeded their lives.

Why would it? They’re hardly around other dragons to begin with.

“…”

But when Bruton squinted his eyes in evident annoyance, Ilias’ voice soon died down, her eyes falling to the floor in shame.

When they were little, Ilias had enjoyed her escapades with Raizel. It was fun to foil Bruton’s plans of sitting them down to teach them things – mostly because they were so good at it.

But at the same time, it’d always been her parents who’d cleaned up after the doors they broke.

Or walls they broke.

Or dragons they broke, if they happened to bump into one while running away.

And by now, Ilias was well aware of how much trouble she’d caused for her parents.

“…Sorry.”

“Will you learn them now, then?”

“…No.”

“…”

As the two red dragons came to a rather unsatisfactory end to their quibbling, Serenis cleared her throat to garner the group’s attention.

“…Karas, Light, Eline – as those more familiar with mankind’s items, I’ll leave it to you three to sort through the tribute. There’s no need to examine crude gold or the like; just the peculiar items that you may come across. Bruton, Ilias, Xerun – I trust you’ll keep them safe.”

While the rest of the group returned an affirming nod, Xerun alone gave a curious stare towards the dragonlord – especially towards her wings that still remained summoned, spread apart as if readying to fly.

“It sounds like you won’t be present with us. Are there other chambers to see to?”

“Perhaps. I plan to search through the rest of the grave.”

“Huh. Well, that certainly sounds more interesting than sitting here staring at human relics. I’ll come with you.”

Before Xerun could take another step forth to join her, Serenis held up a hand, stopping the gold dragon in place.

“Stay, Xerun. If anything happens, Eline will need you to carry her outside.”

“?...But Bruton could easily carry all of them if he wished. I don’t-“

Before the gold dragon could finish his protests, Serenis took into the air, disappearing from sight in seconds.

Frowning, he then crossed his arms before turning to face Eline.

“Well then. It seems she’s quite concerned for you.”

“Yeah…”

‘…Or she just left you here because you annoy her.’

For quite some time, Eline considered saying the thought out loud – and she almost did.

But in the end, she didn’t have to.

Bruton said it for her.