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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: The Dragon's First Tear
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Ria and Lucian jumped in surprise.
[W-what! Why are you crying!]
“A handkerchief! A handkerchief!”
Seeing the flustered Ria and Lucian, Kaizareu burst out laughing.
When Lucian, who had procured a handkerchief from somewhere, tried to wipe his tears, Kaizareu stopped him and pulled a small vial from his subspace.
Then, he collected his tears in the vial.
“Wow. I can’t believe I’m actually crying. You know what? This is my first tear.”
Of course, he’d cried all the time when he was younger, but he hadn’t cried since he’d developed a sense of reason and grown up a bit.
In the first place, he had no reason to cry, and dragons, compared to other races, were less emotional and didn’t react much to trivial matters.
That was why a dragon’s tear was precious. Though it was just a tear, it was valuable enough to be used as an ingredient in powerful potions.
The tear of an older dragon, in particular, was worth a sky-high price.
As if he had never been crying, Kaizareu held up the vial of his tears and jumped around in excitement.
[But why did you suddenly start crying? Did you miss me that much?]
At Ria’s question, Kaizareu stopped in his tracks and tilted his head.
“Hmm. I don’t know either.”
Question marks floated above Ria and Lucian’s heads.
“I don’t know why, but seeing your face just made me incredibly sad.”
Hearing the weight in his words, Ria swallowed the retort she had been about to make.
“And I missed you a ton! But it’s amazing how normal you look.”
[What do you mean, ‘normal’?]
“Well, you’re a ghost, so I didn’t think you’d look intact. I thought maybe you’d be missing an eyeball, or have an arm dangling off, or your whole body would be rotting?”
The content was gruesome for such a cheerful tone. Lucian must have imagined it just as he described, as his face turned pale.
“You’re pretty.”
[…Both you and Lucian keep saying I’m pretty.]
How embarrassing.
“Right! Ria is super pretty! But she doesn’t believe it, you know?”
“Huh? You can just look in a mirror. You’d know if you’re pretty or not. Of course, your beauty doesn’t compare to mine, but for a human, you’re quite pretty.”
[Be serious. Have you ever seen a ghost’s reflection in a mirror?]
“Ah, you can’t?”
[Of course not. And it’s not like it affects my ability to exist.]
Kaizareu and Lucian chattered on, saying they were the ones who were disappointed and that they wanted to show Ria her own face.
“Oh! Lord Kaizareu, do you know how to draw? If you’re good at drawing, you could draw Ria!”
“Hmph, Lucian. This great one, you see, does not perform such trivial tasks. Dragons are beings who make other races do the work for them.”
[That’s a long-winded way of saying you can’t draw.]
As if stung by her words, Kaizareu’s shoulders flinched. He soon puffed out his cheeks and trembled.
“You’re so mean! So mean! You said you’d be nice to me! Why are you only saying mean things! I’m gonna tell my mom!”
[Ugh, what a mama’s boy.]
“Grr. Hey! Don’t tell me you’ve always been saying things like that to me?”
When Ria averted her eyes, Kaizareu froze.
He once again threw himself on the floor, causing a scene and wailing about how mean she was. Seeing this for the first time, Lucian had a moment of self-reflection.
“…I’m sorry, Ria. I won’t throw any more tantrums.”
It seemed he had realized just how pathetic Kaizareu looked throwing a fit. It was an unintentional opportunity for Lucian to mature.
* * *
Once the commotion died down, Kaizareu returned to normal. The three of them sat around the sofa and chatted amiably.
“But really, why can I suddenly see you? Does this mean I can see other ghosts now, too?”
Kaizareu said, crunching on a cookie he had brought.
[Hmm, I don’t think so. A few ghosts passed by the estate the other day, but Lucian couldn’t see them.]
Lucian, who had been cautiously eating a cookie while glancing at Kaizareu, jumped in surprise and froze.
“Th-there are more ghosts?”
[Yeah. But it’s better if you don’t see them. It’s rare to find a ghost who looks as intact as I do.]
“In other words, you can see ghosts?”
[Well, I’m a ghost too. Look, there’s one over there in the distance right now.]
When Ria pointed to a tree visible outside the window, Lucian and Kaizareu visibly tensed up.
They scanned the area around the tree before letting out sighs of relief.
“Hey, I don’t see anything.”
[But it’s true.]
There really is a ghost there. A female ghost with two dangling arms, at that.
Because her own energy was strong, other ghosts tended not to enter the estate. The ghost that had been peeking this way soon headed elsewhere.
“So that means we can only see you, Ria. Is there a special reason for that?”
[I’m not sure, but this much is certain. You both started seeing me after eating food I made.]
“Now that you mention it…”
“Ah, definitely. The moment I ate the soup, I heard your voice.”
Both of them nodded, agreeing it made sense.
“Perhaps your cooking has become the medium that connects us.”
[You think so?]
“Yeah. And you! You know how to use magic? I just thought you were a strong ghost who could lift things!”
Kaizareu’s eyes gleamed as he declared that a ghost who could use magic was a subject worthy of research.
“So no one besides us has seen you until now, right?”
[That’s right.]
If she had known that feeding someone her cooking would make them see her, she would have tried it long ago.
But what kind of ghost would ever think to cook?
This wasn’t a mere coincidence; it was something that happened because Lucian’s arrival had brought a change to her daily life.
Ria looked at Lucian and stroked his head. Not knowing why, Lucian simply beamed.
Watching this, Kaizareu pushed his head forward, asking to be petted too. Ria roughly ruffled his hair and pushed him aside. Kaizareu’s eyes narrowed into triangles.
“How about we run an experiment?”
[An experiment?]
“Yes, to see if other people can see you after eating your food.”
“Ooh, that’s a good idea. It doesn’t make sense that we can see you when you haven’t done anything weird to the food. There must be some other condition that has to be met.”
[I don’t mind, but are you sure?]
“About what?”
“What?”
[Who are you going to experiment on? There aren’t any other humans here besides you two.]
Faced with the most crucial problem, the two put their heads together.
“Oh! What about James?”
[The errand boy?]
“Who’s James?”
“He’s an older guy who comes once a month. We can give him food that Ria made. Then we can find out.”
[I see… that could work.]
She had actually taken quite a liking to this James fellow, and now they were casually making him a test subject.
Ria watched as Lucian and Kaizareu chattered on, perfectly in sync.
They were already plotting what kind of experiment to run on James.
From what she’d seen, that human seemed to be afraid of ghosts and whatnot…
[Well, it’s probably fine.]
It wasn’t her problem. And it wasn’t even certain he would be able to see her.
All she could do was pray for the soul of their unwitting test subject.
Ria silently offered a prayer for James.
At that very moment, James, who was working at the palace, felt an inexplicable chill and shivered.
* * *
“What! You want me to run an errand?”
Kaizareu recoiled when Ria asked him to run an errand.
[It’s not like you have anything better to do. Besides, you said you were bored. Go to the village with Lucian and buy some things. I’ll give you money.]
“Hmph! I have my own money, you know. And why should I listen to you! If you want to order someone around, order him!”
His whining in his child form was better than when he was in his adult form, but somehow, it was twice as annoying.
It made her want to smack that mouth of his, which always said ‘no’ first whenever she asked for anything.
“Wh-what’s with that hand! Hit me if you can!”
Oops, it seemed her hand had risen on its own.
The sight of him sticking out his bottom and trembling was so pathetic that it made her laugh.
Ria shook her head and pointed to Lucian.
[Lucian has never been to the village before. I’m worried about sending him alone. You’re the great dragon, aren’t you?]
Kaizareu, who had been crossing his arms to show his refusal, perked up his ears at her words.
[The world is a scary place these days. He could run into a pack of wild dogs, a kidnapper could appear, or someone could try to scam him. But if you’re with him, nothing dangerous will happen.]
“Ahem, because I am great…?”
[Exactly. Who on earth could possibly defeat a great dragon? If you just go with him this one time, Lucian will be able to go by himself from then on.]
Kaizareu tried to suppress the twitching corners of his mouth and glanced at Lucian. Lucian played along.
“Let’s go together, big brother! I’m curious about what the village is like!”
At the words ‘big brother,’ the corners of his mouth twitched again. Perhaps because their mental ages were similar, the two had started calling each other brothers at some point.
Having no siblings, he particularly liked it when Lucian called him brother.
No matter how hard he tried to calm himself, the corners of his mouth were turned up in a wide grin, showing it was only a matter of time before he gave in to her words.
“…What do you need me to get.”
Yes.
Ria and Lucian unknowingly clenched their fists and fawned over Kaizareu.
“So I just need to buy the highest quality of everything, right?”
It would have been a disaster if she’d just sent him. For a moment, she had forgotten about dragons’ sense of money.
[You don’t need the highest quality. Just go to a normal shop and buy them. I’ll give the money to Lucian. After you buy everything you need, you can use the leftover money to get whatever you want to eat.]
Seeing her hand 5 gold to Lucian, Kaizareu narrowed his eyes.
“What in the world is that supposed to be enough for?”
[Humans don’t spend money like water the way dragons do. And once you become an adult dragon, you’ll want a life of leisure, so wouldn’t it be good to learn about human society now?]
“…Tch, fine.”
Kaizareu stopped grumbling for a moment, hopped in place, and returned to his adult form. Seeing this, Lucian tilted his head.
“Why did you change your form?”
“A lot of people look down on you if you’re a kid. And my beauty is quite exceptional, right? If you’re young and beautiful, it’s easy to attract pests…”
Kaizareu trailed off and looked at Lucian.
Lucian blinked his round, golden eyes, looking adorable.
Skin as white as jade, hair as white as the first snow, and beautiful golden eyes.
Lucian’s hair and eye color alone made him stand out, but he was also exceptionally handsome.
Perhaps because he was still young, if you put him in a dress, he could be mistaken for a girl.
Kaizareu said to Ria with narrowed eyes.
“I see why you were worried.”
[Right?]
“Why? What is it? Is there something on my face?”
“It’s nothing. But it looks like it might be a little dangerous for you to go out as you are. Even if you’re not on my level, you have quite the eye-catching appearance.”
Kaizareu snapped his fingers, and mana swirled around Lucian, changing his appearance.
His striking hair and eyes turned a plain brown, and a hat was placed on his head to hide his beauty as much as possible.
When Ria showed him a mirror, Lucian’s eyes widened as he touched his hair and cheeks.
“My appearance changed! Did you do that, big brother?”
“Yes.”
“Amazing! You’re great at magic too, big brother! I want to learn magic soon, too!”
As Lucian chirped about how cool he was and how he could become like him, the corner of Kaizareu’s mouth twitched again.
Now, there was no chance Kaizareu would abandon Lucian and come back alone.
* * *
[Well then, have a safe trip.]
“I’ll tell you everything that happened when I get back!”
Lucian waved to Ria, who was standing by the door, and scurried after Kaizareu, who had gone on ahead.
Since Kaizareu had polymorphed into an adult, there was a big difference in their strides.
Seeing Lucian constantly hurrying to keep up with him, Kaizareu slowed his pace a little.
“Lucian, you have the note and the money, right?”
“Of course! I put them right here in my inner pocket!”
“The village isn’t far from here, but it’s still a decent walk, so memorize the way. From what I hear, it seems you’ll have to go back and forth by yourself from now on.”
“I can do it by myself! I’m eight years old now.”
“…Humans are really so young.”
Kaizareu tried to remember what he was like when he was eight, but it was so long ago that he couldn’t recall much.
