Chapter 168: Chains
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 168: Chains
Gomodo knows nothing~
I thought I might be able to get away with playing dumb.
But the Red Dragon before me had a completely different aura than the one I’d known.
“White fur… There are no beasts like this around here.”
“Gek…”
Honestly, I thought the Red Dragon and I were pretty close.
Even if she didn’t see me as an equal, she seemed to consider me a similar species, and she’d even taught me some of her techniques.
She shared her food with me and would gently stroke my head.
I knew for a fact that she didn’t think of me negatively.
Sometimes she would rearrange her treasures and move me to a different spot, but I’d always thought of it as a sign of affection or intimacy.
That’s why the danger emanating from the red dragon in front of me didn’t quite register.
“Little one, let’s talk while I’m still asking nicely, shall we?”
Perhaps my subconscious, not wanting to make an enemy of a being stronger than myself, was making me think this way.
No, seeing as my Danger Detection and Killing Intent Detection were screaming at me, it was true that the Red Dragon had never intended to harm me before.
The reason she was reacting this way now was, as she said, because I smelled different.
It was only natural.
Wild animals would attack even their own offspring if they carried an unfamiliar scent.
“Judging by the feel of the fur, a wolf? And with a hint of cold energy… a spirit beast, I presume?”
This was dangerous.
Not just for me, but for Baek Rang, too.
I had to hide her, no matter what.
“You’re not going to make the excuse that it’s just the fur of your prey, are you?”
“Gek…”
But it didn’t seem like that would work.
The Red Dragon had always been gentle, often acting as if everything was a bother.
At those times, she seemed endlessly mellow, but right now, she was incredibly sharp.
“If you don’t, I might just have to hunt down and devour the owner of this fur.”
My whole body trembled.
This was unmistakable killing intent.
There was a high chance she wouldn’t touch me, at least.
After all, I was Baek Yeon-yeong’s disciple.
And the Red Dragon knew Baek Yeon-yeong; from what I’d heard, she couldn’t surpass her in power.
But Baek Rang and her wolf pack were a different story.
To the Red Dragon, they were nothing more than prey.
“Oh, right. You can’t talk yet, can you?”
The Red Dragon clapped her hands as if she’d just remembered.
Who knew my inability to speak would become an advantage?
Since it wasn’t like I was deliberately keeping my mouth shut, there was nothing she could say about it.
“Hmm… Your face has gone a little pale, and you’re avoiding my gaze. It seems my little one has something he wants to hide, doesn’t he?”
Tap.
She placed a finger on my cheek.
For a moment, I considered biting it and running, but that was a ridiculous thought.
Having seen the Red Dragon’s true form, I knew such an option was completely out of the question.
“Little one. Do you know what I like and what I hate?”
She grabbed my face, forcing our eyes to meet.
“What I like are shiny treasures. Just looking at them makes me feel like my frozen heart is melting, if only for a moment.”
Her vertical pupils, characteristic of a reptile, narrowed menacingly.
“Even if it’s just for a little while. That’s why I collect treasure.”
Her greedy eyes scanned me from head to toe.
It was only then that I understood.
This dragon saw me as treasure.
“So, what do you think I hate?”
I was the Red Dragon’s treasure.
One might think that meant I was being treated well, but the reality was different.
Even if I was a treasure, I was still just an object.
No different from the golden statue over there.
An object that, if it fell into the lava, she would feel a moment of regret for before immediately finding a replacement.
“Thieves who steal my treasure.”
Red dragons are inherently greedy creatures.
Even if an item has little value, they will fly into a rage the moment something from their hoard goes missing.
She called it a rage, but with the Red Dragon’s power, it would be enough to lay waste to the entire area.
“Big sis can forgive you, little one, if you just help me catch that thief.”
Absolutely not.
It was obvious what she would do to Baek Rang.
“Are you going to tell me?”
I kept my mouth firmly shut.
Not that I could speak anyway.
“Just tell me where to find them, and all your problems will be solved, you see?”
“Grrrrr…”
I let out a low growl of refusal.
“Pfft, right. I knew you’d be like that.”
…Do I have no choice but to fight?
It was safe to say my chances of winning were nonexistent.
Fighting was not a good option.
The best course of action was to divert the Red Dragon’s interest elsewhere.
Of course, there was no way to clear up the misunderstanding that I was about to have my treasure stolen.
She seemed to have already lost her senses, so no explanation would get through to her.
The only way was for her to lose interest in me.
She couldn’t kill me, so if I just kept my mouth shut, she would eventually get bored.
“What makes you think you can just stay silent? Do you know what I’m capable of? Well, fine.”
This was the only way out.
“But do you really think I’d be rough with my adorable little one?”
The Red Dragon took the pelt of a Fire Rat from a corner and draped it over me.
“I’m just worried I might not be able to control my strength.”
Fwoosh.
Flames erupted.
The heat was so intense that if it weren’t for the Fire Rat’s fur, I would have been burned instantly.
“Let me know whenever you feel like talking, alright?”
Was this the Red Dragon’s true nature?
It was highly likely, but something still felt off.
Her sudden personality shift was suspicious.
It might just be wishful thinking, but what if the side she’d shown me until now was her true self, and this was all an act?
…Then again, this level of killing intent wasn’t something you could fake, and even if it were true, it wouldn’t change anything.
*
“Awooo…”
Baek Rang let out a sad howl.
How many days had it been? The black lizard was nowhere to be seen.
Seriously, if you promise to come every day, you should keep your promise, shouldn’t you?
Does he think I have all the time in the world?
In truth, it wasn’t a simple matter for Baek Rang to climb the volcano to see the black lizard. The volcano’s fire energy was deadly to her, and she endured it every day to make the trip.
Of course, the help from the Bicorns made it somewhat bearable, but there were many other problems.
Leading the pack during the day, climbing the volcano at night.
Her time was already tight just from moving around.
That was why she had slept with the lizard.
“…Does he even know how hard this is?”
Hmph, whatever.
I was only going to help him cool down a bit. It’s his loss.
As she walked around, a familiar beast came into Baek Rang’s sight.
“Polygamyyyyyy!”
“Black Sun! Black Suuuun!”
It was a Bicorn.
Baek Rang wasn’t very good at understanding the Bicorns’ language.
Even between different species, there should be some level of mutual understanding, but the Bicorns were a special case.
She could understand the words themselves, but she had no idea what they meant.
They would chatter on about fur when they saw her wolf pack.
Sometimes they would honk and run wild.
They were words Baek Rang simply couldn’t comprehend.
Still, she knew they weren’t bad creatures.
After all, she herself had been helped by them.
“Polygamyyyyyy!”
“…Alright, alright.”
Baek Rang muttered as if she had no choice.
For some reason, the Bicorn seemed to know she wasn’t going to look for the lizard.
“Seeing things like this, you must be spirit beasts… but you guys are so weird.”
She was annoyed at the lizard for disappearing again without a word, but she figured she could give him one last chance.
After making thorough preparations, she headed for the cave.
“There’s plenty of food, so don’t fight and share it. Got it?”
She gathered Ilrang through Chillang and gave them a lecture.
“And try not to go outside at night.”
“Awoo.”
“If you see a strange lizard, don’t acknowledge it.”
“Awoo? Awooo.”
“…If a lizard you know comes, just bite its tail and hold on.”
“Awoo!”
Even without Baek Rang, the seven direwolves wouldn’t get pushed around.
Ilrang and Irang, in particular, were nearly the size of tigers and could lead the pack in her absence.
There was no need for Baek Rang to worry.
But just in case, she gave the pack a stern warning.
Normally, she would have been at ease, but ever since meeting that lizard, the wolves seemed to have gotten strangely soft.
She felt she had become a bit like that, too.
“Watch the den, alright?”
Just as she was about to leave her home.
“Whine… whimper…”
Chillang suddenly tucked her tail and rubbed her face against Baek Rang.
“What’s wrong, little one?”
“Whine…”
She cried pitifully, as if telling her not to go.
“Well, it has been a while since we’ve seen that lizard.”
“Nnngh…”
“Alright. This time, I’ll give him a good smack and then drag him back to our den.”
Baek Rang reassured Chillang with those words.
But as she left, the youngest wolf could only whimper endlessly while watching her go.
*
In the end, Baek Rang climbed the volcano again.
But this time, too, the lizard didn’t come.
“…He could have at least said something.”
She felt a little down, but then another thought occurred to her.
Was that lizard the type to not show up without a word?
…He did seem a little like that, but she had warned him last time, so he surely would have left some kind of message.
But there was no trace of him.
Could it be that something was preventing him from coming here?
That was the conclusion Baek Rang reached.
“The sun’s already set, so it should be fine, right?”
Even on a volcano, a chill was bound to set in once night fell.
The Red Dragon she was wary of would be somewhere else, just as the lizard had told her.
In other words, it would be fine to go look for the lizard herself.
Baek Rang headed up.
After walking for a long time, a different sight entered her eyes.
Countless treasures, glowing faintly.
Gold and silver coins, of course, but also a pile of weapons favored by humans.
And in the center of all that treasure was a single black lizard.
“Geez, what is he doing?”
Baek Rang sighed once and trotted over to the lizard.
The lizard’s eyes were closed.
“Why is your fur…”
She was briefly surprised to see white fur, similar in color to her own, but she soon realized it was the pelt of another animal.
“Right, there’s no way you’d grow fur.”
Even so, a part of her felt disappointed.
“…Hey, are you sleeping?”
She nudged the lizard with her tail, swishing it back and forth.
“Gek?”
At her words, the lizard opened his eyes.
“If you can’t come, you should have said so…”
“Geeeek!”
The black lizard shouted urgently.
“Huh? Something’s wrong with you.”
“Gek-gek-gek-gek!”
He was thrashing his body, trying to tell her something.
Baek Rang’s eyes widened.
Looking closely, she saw that the lizard’s body was bound in chains.
Chains that radiated a powerful fire energy.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Baek Rang frantically shook the lizard.
“Gek-gek-gek-gek-gek!”
The lizard cried out, as if in agony.
Baek Rang struggled to remove the chains.
The lizard hadn’t been sleeping.
The chains had pierced through his scales.
Blood was splattered everywhere.
He had been tortured and had only briefly passed out.
“Who did this? Was it that crimson bitch? No, no. First, let’s get these off. So stay still…”
Rage boiled up from within her cold body.
She thought that woman was treating this lizard well, but the moment she looked away, she had done something like this.
“Geeeeeeek!”
What on earth had happened to make this sly lizard do nothing but scream like this?
Even so, Baek Rang felt a sense of unease.
The lizard’s cries were a little strange.
It sounded less like he was screaming in pain and more like he was trying to tell her something.
“Gek-gek-gek! Gek-gek!”
It was a cry that seemed to be telling her to run.
And by the time Baek Rang realized it, it was already too late.
“So it was you?”
She felt an intense heat from behind her.