Drakan Rider, Pay
Even though I know it’s a selfish thought, I wish he would value me—Pay—more than Dot, the sister he believes is real. I want to throw at least this much of a tantrum too.
Truthfully, I’ve already endured far more than anyone should have to. The moment I realized time had rewound, I fought desperately just to survive!
‘Have I lost my mind? What am I even thinking?’
Pay pressed her lips together, mortified by her own thoughts. This level of childishness was beyond help. He didn’t even know who she truly was, yet here she was, demanding he care for her more than his supposed sister.
Fortunately, Cassel seemed oblivious to the shift in her mood.
“Lady Pay, aside from your training at the Magic Tower, is there anything else you wish to do?”
“…Hmm, I’m not sure. Oh! I do have a Drakan with me. It’s not exactly a huge secret, but please don’t spread it around.”
Cassel’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpected revelation.
“A Drakan? You mean those lesser dragonkin, inferior to true dragons?”
“Yes. I borrowed it, but I was told I could use it for life. I can’t fly too high yet, but I can ride it for short distances. Even walking on the ground, its sheer size creates tremendous pressure on the earth.”
“Remarkable things truly happen at the Magic Tower.”
“Puh-heeeng-chuu!”
Momo, who had been sleeping quietly in the basket behind her, let out a loud sneeze, perhaps because they were talking about him. Cassel didn’t even flinch.
“It seems Lady Pay also keeps a strange-sounding baby bird.”
“……”
Pay struggled to suppress the awkward smile tugging at her lips.
Cassel’s eyebrows twitched before he asked seriously, “Don’t tell me… that’s it?”
This was the Magic Tower, after all. Keeping a massive Drakan shrunk by magic was hardly surprising.
She answered willingly. “Yes.”
Cassel looked genuinely impressed. “I’ve only ever read about Drakan Riders in books. To think one actually exists… Lady Pay, if you wish to serve as a Drakan Rider, I will report it to His Highness the Crown Prince immediately.”
“Me?”
“Even without engaging in direct combat, simply possessing a Drakan Rider would greatly elevate the Empire’s military strength and prestige. Of course, rumors will spread once it becomes official. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?”
She spoke words she never could have imagined months ago. “Yes. If the opportunity arises, I’d like to try.”
“Very well. I will inform His Highness and arrange a meeting soon. Please keep your schedule open.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
After parting with Cassel, Pay closed her eyes briefly. Was I always this proactive? I don’t dislike the way I’m changing after returning from death.
She wasn’t trying to get close to Cassel simply out of jealousy toward Dot.
‘I need to expand my influence in the Imperial Palace. Even if the holy power has faded, the Church’s influence remains strong.’
To get closer to the truth behind the Saintess…
‘The Grace Monastery is practically under their control anyway. I need to gather more allies.’
Now that Dot had been recognized as the Klein daughter, visiting the ducal house would bring Pay nothing but trouble. Her once-cold family was surely completely taken with Dot by now. Dot’s cunning words would only drive them further apart.
I have no intention of trying to win their favor either.
‘Enjoy your time as the fake lady. Until the day you realize how hasty you all were!’
With her resolve firm, Pay decided it was time to practice with Momo again.
The next day, while studying a map to decide where to go without Lucius, the door suddenly burst open.
Silver hair flew in like a battle flag caught in the wind. To Pay, it was a welcome sight. To Momo, dozing lazily in his basket, it was the harbinger of war.
“Ppyu-pii!”
“…Lucius?”
“Pay. You said you were going to the Imperial Palace on your own two feet?”
Lucius stormed in with a flushed face and demanded an answer.
Pay nodded obediently. “Yes. I introduced myself as a Drakan Rider. My skills are still lacking, but if I go to the palace and train more honestly…”
“You really want to go to the palace? Unlike last time, you’re planning to establish yourself there? Think carefully. Even just completing a one-time request has already tied you to the palace. Of course it would be advantageous for the Empire to have a Drakan Rider that appears only once in centuries! But your intentions and theirs might not align.”
Lucius was the only one who would passionately argue for her sake. Seeing his reddened face somehow put her at ease.
Lucius wasn’t tired of me or disgusted by me after all! I still don’t know why he was avoiding me, but…
Feeling better, Pay answered readily. “I’ve decided to go to the palace, Lucius. Are you perhaps uncomfortable with me taking Momo there to help the Empire?”
“Of course not! It’s just that I…!”
Who exactly was he angry at?
After shouting, Lucius stared intently at Pay. The fresh green of her eyes remained unchanged—filled with a mage’s curiosity, courage laced with fragile fear, and reckless determination to walk an unknown path. He knew he should dislike and avoid her.
He had approached her deliberately to understand the situation and stop her if she ever became a threat to him. Yet here he was, a great dragon, doing what exactly?
Blaming that damned Drakan for teasing him and running away from a mere human woman!
Could he still claim the pride of an ancient dragon after this?
“……”
He had no choice but to admit it. Whenever Lucius looked at Pay, his heart stirred strangely. He couldn’t tell whether the emotion was hatred, pity for a human living a fleeting life, or emptiness.
Pay. There’s something I want to say to you. I can’t let you go to the palace alone, not knowing what dangers might lurk there. More precisely, I don’t care where you go or what you do—as long as you stay within my sight. Until I can fully understand this strange feeling I have for you and look at you with indifferent eyes… can you wait for my hesitation until then?
‘That’s right. It has to be me. I have to defeat you in human form and escape the nightmare of the past. I can’t keep being dragged around by that arrogant descendant of Caron’s bloodline forever. That’s all I want.’
After another round of self-justification no one else would understand, Lucius spoke quickly. “Understood.”
“Yes? What exactly did you understand?”
Pay had been listening calmly despite his outburst, paying no attention to the turmoil in his eyes. She had no way of knowing why his words came out so abruptly after his long deliberation.
Lucius glared at Momo—who was poking its head out from under the basket cloth, ready to sing—and declared, “I’m not letting you go to the palace alone! We’ll go together like last time, and you can explore the inside as you please. That way it’ll be worth it.”
“…Worth it? Lucius, did you make some kind of investment in the palace? You know so many things and so many people—you’re really well-connected. I should learn from you and work harder too. Someday I want to be able to help you with my own strength.”
At this point, it wasn’t a lack of awareness—it was sheer stubbornness. Lucius’s petty, ungenerous heart was on the verge of flipping over.
He stomped over and snatched Momo’s wing without warning. “Fine! Until right before we go to the palace, we’ll do intensive flight training. Every moment except eating, sleeping, and washing! You can do magic training in your dreams.”
“Yes.”
Even though he spoke harshly, Pay answered obediently once again.
‘Aah, seriously! Is this really the right thing to do?’
Wanting to ignore the lava boiling in his chest, Lucius wished he could go to some mountain peak and roar—not in human form, but in his true body, loud enough to make Pay’s eardrums ring.
‘I…! You…! So… you…! You…!’
Damn it, I don’t know! I don’t know!
The day they were to return to the Imperial Palace arrived. Through the urgent letter Cassel had sent the previous evening, Pay received an unexpected proposal: they wanted her to demonstrate Drakan flight in front of the Crown Prince, right there in the palace.
“…Does that even make sense? The palace grounds are wide, but what if this guy breathes fire?”
Surprisingly, Lucius was worrying about someone other than her. Pay asked seriously, “Can Drakans breathe fire?”
“Of course not! Breath is a sacred authority unique to dragons. How dare those ugly, pointy things try to imitate dragons?”
“I didn’t read anything like that in the books.”
“Hah, they might be able to exhale some foul breath from their stomachs, but that’s it. Just thinking about it makes me sick!”
Lucius seemed to hold dragons in great reverence. Well, he had tamed a dragonkin, after all.
Pay thought to herself, ‘Long ago, dragons supposedly captured elves and made them slaves.’
She still firmly believed Lucius’s race was elven.
‘As expected… So that’s it. Even the great Lucius fears dragons. It’s fortunate they’re nearly extinct.’
Misunderstanding his words completely, Pay stroked Momo and nodded.
She had trained relentlessly without a single day off, but whether it would work the same way inside the palace remained uncertain.
Since the real owner, Lucius, was accompanying them, Momo wouldn’t make mistakes. The real problem was Pay’s “Drakan piloting skills.”
Momo would crawl, walk, and fly in the direction and speed Pay wanted, so she had to stay focused.
‘If I miscalculate the height and graze a building… Aaaah.’
“I see.”
After reuniting with Cassel and impulsively deciding to go to the palace, she hadn’t felt nervous at all. But now she had to show herself riding the Drakan’s actual body inside the palace…
When Pay’s lips twitched slightly from tension, Lucius spoke seriously. “If you don’t want to go, then don’t. If you really think you can’t do it, let’s just drop everything and go somewhere else.”
“…Yes?”
Pay’s eyes widened at the sudden suggestion.