Volume 1 - CH 17

Countless black balls appear in the sky in the grassy plain near the Royal Capital. The move was random, one by one they shot from the ground. The black ball was Ryuu’s dragon’s breath. The colour of the dragon and the breath was also black.

「Aah—, it’s getting pretty fast. 」

I was playing a mimic clay shooting with Ryuu. I prepared the target and Ryuu will aim at it.

When I praised him, he butted his head in delight.

「You’re already growing spoiled, huh? 」

It’s not that I dislike it, I lift Ryuu’s huge body and spin him around. The cat-like purring in his throat is really cute.

This is the story that I heard later in the day. Recently a dragon has been spotted spinning near the Royal Capital’s plain, while their roar shook the ground. The eyewitness reportedly nearly paralyzed with terror before running away.

There’s no mistake it was Ryuu, the eyewitnesses must’ve disliked animal. It’s like some people love dogs, and some are afraid of them.

Today I have a meeting with a dragon tamer. He agreed to meet, and I think Ryuu should have some friends.

Right now, there are three dragons familiar in the Balshine Kingdom. One of them is Ryuu, and the other two belong to the National Army.

Today I’m going to meet one of them. Usually, he was in a military establishment in the Royal Capital’s outskirts, considering the danger of their violent behaviour, the other day we were planning to meet at the grassy plain.

From my seat in Ryuu’s back, I can see our meeting place from the sky, they already arrived. There was a wingless dragon with earth attribute. Compared to Ryuu, he looks small.

A man in military uniform stands beside the dragon. He’s someone who hatched the dragon’s egg just like me.

「Ryuu, get off there. 」

As Ryuu began to descend, the dragon on the ground changed its appearance. The man tried to soothe the dragon that began to act violently, but it didn’t work. The dragon started to run, and by the time we landed, it had gone out of our sight.

When I jumped down from Ryuu, the flustered man approaches me.

「Are you Yumiela-san? It’s nice to meet you. 」

「I’m Yumiela Dolknes. This is Ryuu. 」

「My name is Roland. And the one who ran away is Gregory. 」

Roland was a middle-aged man with a gentle face. Since he hatched an earth attribute dragon, he must be an excellent wizard with earth attribute.

「What happened to Gregory? 」

I wonder if they are afraid of strangers or another dragon? Gregory-chan is so cute. They may feel embarrassed to appear in front of my handsome Ryuu.

「Apparently, Ryuu-kun… Are you okay? It seems they become scared of Ryuu-kun. 」

Can even a dragon get scared? I realize that I didn’t want anyone to look at my child like that.

「Did he ever gets afraid of other dragons? 」

「No, Gregory is a calm dragon, or how should I put this… He’s thick-headed? I haven’t seen anything like this before. 」

Roland-san scratched his head with a bitter smile. He worries about Gregory-kun, who was running away with great speed.

「Is it okay that we don’t follow him? 」

「Gregory can’t fly, and they are never going out alone. Will he able to return home… 」

Ryuu often goes out alone, but he will always return as soon as I called him, Gregory didn’t seem to be like that.

「Shall we ride Ryuu and looking for him? I don’t think he will run away anymore if Ryu doesn’t approach too closely. 」

「Thank you for your help. I’m sorry that this happened. I was hoping to deepen the friendship between the dragon tamers. 」

Roland joined her on Ryuu’s back, and their search for Gregory has begun.

After a short time flying following the direction where Gregory is running away, they found him. He didn’t notice Ryuu in the sky, and he still keeps running.

「It looks like he’s still running. When he stops, I want you to drop me off a little further away. 」

Then we must wait for Gregory to stop before we can approach, but it doesn’t seem that way.

「I see a village over there! 」

There are several small villages scattered in the Royal Capital’s outskirts. One of them was in Gregory’s travelling direction. At this rate, the village building would collapse, and the villagers will suffer the damage.

「That’s not good. Gregory, stop! 」

Roland shouts, but there’s no sign that Gregory heard him. Should I get down and guide it in another direction? No, there’s no point since there’s a village in that direction.

「I’ll get off here. Ryuu, drop off Roland-san a little farther away. 」

「Get off? How do you… Hey! What do you mean— 」

Despite his restraint, I jumped off from Ryuu. Adjusting my posture with magic jet to make sure I landed in between Gregory and the village.

As my speed steadily increased, the ground is coming closer. Just a moment before landing, I cast magic downward to compensate for the falling force. But it’s still not enough to kill the momentum of my landing, and the dust flew everywhere. At least there is no crater on where she lands.

Gregory, who was still in a state of fright, didn’t see his surroundings, he was rushing in my direction.

「Dark Bind. 」

Countless hands reached out from Gregory’s shadow, grabbing his body. He gradually became unable to move against the power of shadows.

It wasn’t long before Roland comes and calms Gregory.

「There, there. I know it’s scary, but Ryuu-kun isn’t here anymore. 」

Gregory gradually regains his composure but, in my heart, I was somewhat unhappy because it made it like my child was a bully.

When Gregory was no longer violent and calm, I removed the dark bind that restrains him.

「Thank you for helping. Gregory, who was supposed to protect the kingdom, almost hurt its citizens. But, please stop jumping off all of a sudden, it’s terrible for my heart. 」

「My pleasure. I don’t want Gregory-kun hurting other people. 」

Gregory was overall giving off the impression as a rugged and unrefined dragon with a gentle atmosphere.

「That’s true, though, he’s not good at fighting. He can’t fly, and he carries people and cargo in the military. 」

He is so modest; the speed and the amount of the cargo must be different from the normal carriage.

「What a good child. Too bad, it would have been nice if he could be friends with Ryuu. Um, can I pet Gregory? 」

「Aa, you can pet him. 」

When he permitted me to pet Gregory, I approached him slowly so as don’t startle him.

The moment I reached to pet him, he began to struggle and started running away.

「Hey, Gregory, what’s the matter now! Ryuu-kun isn’t here. 」

Roland-san chase and call after Gregory who keeps speeding without stopping.

「Gregory, stop! 」

I instinctively run up to him and grab his thick tail to prevent him from running away again.

When his movement suddenly stopped, he tried to roll his tail to escape from my hold, but neither his tail or body moved.

It took a while for Roland-san to calm Gregory again.

「Gregory-kun, what’s wrong? 」

「Aa—, maybe he’s afraid of Yumiela-san. If you don’t get too close… 」

I didn’t even consider the dragons would be scared. Well, wouldn’t it be scary if you’re restrained by someone who was falling in front of you?

That’s why Ryuu’s attempt at making friendships failed.

I’d like him to meet the other dragon, but the dragon is busy since he’s the only means of flying transportation for the National Army.

Later, according to the story I heard from Roland-san in the Royal Capital, the wind attribute dragon seems very nervous. It may be hopeless hoping him to get along with Ryuu, and they’re so much smaller than Ryuu.

「Hey, Patrick, do you know anyone who would be friends with Ryuu? 」

「I’m afraid to say that I don’t have any dragon’s acquaintance. 」

As usual, I told Patrick the whole story.

「It can be a person, as long as they can play with Ryuu. 」

「Well, I can’t do that. 」

Patrick turns down my offer to become Ryuu’s friend. He must be feeling uncomfortable being Ryuu’s friend.

「Isn’t it strange that your friends are your mother’s friends too? Oh, the idea that I become Patrick’s mother’s friend and stop being Patrick’s friend… 」

「Not like that. How about the dragon tamer that you met? He isn’t afraid of Ryuu, isn’t he? 」

Ahh, etto, what was his name again…

「Oh, Gregory-kun’s papa. Ryuu seems to think of him as a father, etto… He and Gregory-kun haven’t meet properly. 」

I totally forgot his name. He might have forgotten my name already. It’s enough to call us Ryuu-kun’s mama and Gregory-kun’s papa.

「Ryuu’s father? In that case, you are the mother… 」

Patrick burst into a panic, and I wanted to give him a peace of mind.

「It’s fine, you can be his father. Gregory-kun’s papa, etto… Is like Ryuu’s uncle? 」

We already shared the moment from the moment Ryuu was born. I think you can call yourself a father.

「I-I’m the father?! Then, you and I are like… No, I can’t think about Yumiela like that. 」

Patrick is losing his composure again. That’s a natural reaction when he was told that he becomes a father at the age of 16.

「What’s that? 」

「It’s nothing! 」

I think it’s a good thing to have friends. I hope Ryuu can make friends soon.