Chapter 14

“Sis, you have to come visit, okay? Promise?”

“I promise. I’ll definitely come.”

“Mm…… promise!”

Tears welled in their eyes, but the younger kids didn’t try to hold me back. That only made it harder to leave, in its own way.

My days off and benefits are guaranteed, so I’ll be able to visit the orphanage.

Though to manage that, I’d at least need to get Kazen used to taking food from someone other than me.

“I’ll write to you.”

“Think of yourself first, above all else. I’ll be right here, cheering you on.”

Leaving behind the Matron, seeing me off with a warm, gentle smile, and the younger kids waving their hands wildly through their tears as they begged me to visit, I made one last stop at the training center. My luggage had already been loaded onto the Albarant ducal house’s carriage, but I still had goodbyes left to say.

Seriously, three days? Wasn’t that a bit much?

In those three days I’d had to pack, announce my resignation, hand off the dragons I’d been managing, and explain the whole situation to their owners……

There’d been no way I could get through all of that in time, so I’d had no choice but to corner the Duke and beg him to stretch the deadline to a week. A sloppy, rushed handoff wasn’t something I could allow myself.

Fine. If you make sure it’s done properly, I don’t see why not.

The “we’ll see about that” look he’d given me had been a little unsettling, but I still had to do right by the dragons I’d already been handling, and by their owners.

“It’s not like I did anything wrong, anyway.”

Still, it was a relief that I only had two dragons left in my care. Since all I’d been doing with them was riding training, the handoff was simple, and their owners agreed without much fuss. That much, at least, had gone smoothly. I’d barreled through the whole thing at breakneck speed.

“It’s a shame to see you go. But still — good for you, becoming Duke Albarant’s exclusive trainer.”

“Not something I expected, honestly.”

“You finally got your chance. I’m really glad for you.”

“Go on and work hard out there.”

“I will.”

“Still, it’s a shame. I’ll miss having you around.”

“I’ll miss you too, senior.”

The seniors chuckled, something wistful mixed into their laughter.

“You were a lot better to have around than Thompson, strutting about on the strength of his backing.”

“Haven’t you heard? Duke Albarant filed a formal complaint. Thompson got fired.”

“Oh? Really? I was already thrilled just hearing he’d been hurt badly enough for a six-month recovery. Guess we need a dinner party tonight?”

“Didn’t we already empty a whole barrel of beer for Litia’s farewell party yesterday? You buying this time, senior?”

“……Ah, what the hell. I’m buying!”

“Ohhhhh!”

“Senior Jack says he’s buying drinks!”

“Yes!”

The mood shifted from bittersweet farewell to excitement over free drinks, but it only made me laugh.

“Senior Jack, isn’t that a little unfair? I won’t even get to drink any.”

“Hey now, kid — come visit the training center and I’ll buy you a round!”

“Oh?”

“In exchange, how about you pay for the drinks by telling us about the Agrix dragon?”

“I’ll tell you anything that doesn’t break the terms of my contract!”

“That’s the spirit! That’s our Litia!”

Laughing, I traded high-fives and handshakes with the seniors.

A heavy mood didn’t suit our farewell at all. With that migraine named Thompson gone, it was bittersweet, but mostly a relief.

“Ahem. Go on and work hard, then.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Director.”

The Director alone looked like he’d swallowed a lemon, but who cared.

“You’re late.”

“My apologies. I was saying my goodbyes……”

“If that’s how you feel about it, then go see to Kazen. For some reason, he seems to be in a foul mood.”

His cold tone made me shrink back without meaning to, but I deliberately straightened my spine and turned toward where Kazen was.

The mood wasn’t exactly pleasant, but the Duke was my exclusive client — and my paymaster. Now that the contract was signed, I could handle this much without complaint.

He pays well, after all.

Gold is the best! Thrilling! Never gets old!

All the complaints I’d quietly built up at the training center used to melt away just from fiddling with a few gold coins — and now I was getting paid like this! For this kind of money, I could put up with any amount of fussiness. Next time I visited the orphanage, I’d get to bring armfuls of gifts!

Leaving the Duke and his inexplicable displeasure behind me, I headed toward Kazen.

“……Kazen?”

“Grrrrrrowl…….”

Growling low, folding and unfolding his wings over and over, Kazen was making no effort to hide just how unhappy he was.

Every time his scales clattered against each other and his jaw twitched, his sharp teeth flashed into view.

“Hmm.”

As I approached, Kazen pointedly whipped his head away. The whole display made him look like a child making sure everyone knew just how sulky he was.

“Are you mad?”

“Grrh!”

At that, he thumped his tail against the ground hard enough that I had to swallow a laugh. It seemed he’d taken issue with the fact that I’d barely had my hands on him this past week, busy getting ready to leave for the duchy.

“Oh no, whatever shall I do. I had no idea Kazen could get mad.”

Saying it loudly enough on purpose for him to hear, I moved closer, and a few people nearby started to take notice.

“That’s the one who……”

“The one the Duke brought in from the Ashar Training Center……”

They seemed to be trainers belonging to the Albarant ducal house. I could feel their stares gathering on me — a mix of awkwardness, worry, and wariness.

With all those eyes on me, I walked up to Kazen. He flared his wings, scraped his hind legs against the ground, and clattered his scales together.

It was a sign of refusal. I stopped where I was and studied him.

Seeing him sit there without moving, head turned away, I let out a long sigh and shrugged.

“Can’t help it, I guess. Since you hate me, I’ll just go.”

Walking up to a dragon that’s clearly signaling refusal is an extraordinarily foolish thing to do. What looks like a small tantrum to a dragon can be a life-or-death threat to a human.

A trainer’s safety has to be the basic precondition for any training — because the whole point of training is to teach a dragon how to coexist with people.

“Grrooown…….”

Before long, Kazen let out a low groan. The clattering of his scales gradually grew quieter, until it stopped entirely.

“Hm?”

Then, seeing the dark red scales sliding in to block my path, I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.

Pretending not to notice, I went to step over his tail, only for him to yank me backward hard enough that I landed flat on my backside.

“Ow!”

Groaning at the sharp jolt of pain shooting up through my tailbone, I rubbed at the spot — and then Kazen’s head came nudging in over my knee.

“Grrrrr…….”

Snorting hot breath through his nose like a sulky child, Kazen narrowed his eyes, and something unmistakably smug radiated out of them.

“……Ha.”

The way he threw a fit whenever things didn’t go his way was no small problem. The Duke might be able to handle it, but anyone else would struggle to physically withstand one of Kazen’s tantrums.

“No.”

Dropping my voice low and saying it firmly, I watched Kazen flinch.

“……Grhh?”

His pupils wavered, as if he were flustered. Staring straight into those huge eyes of his, I got to my feet and brushed off my backside.

“Is this okay to do?”

I put some steel into my gaze as I spoke to him. He flinched and quietly turned his head away.

He seemed to understand that yanking me hard enough to knock me flat had been the wrong thing to do.

I was fairly sure I’d taught him basic discipline while I’d been handling him — and here it was, undone just because I hadn’t seen him for a few days.

I felt a headache coming on and sighed. I could practically see the difficulty rating of Kazen’s training shoot straight up into the red.

“Down.”

I pointed at the ground with my index finger and gave the command. Flinching, Kazen obediently lay down.

“……Gasp.”

One of the people watching drew in a sharp breath.

“You’re the one who refused me. Clattering your scales, refusing to even look at me.”

“Grrrooouu.”

“I told you, didn’t I — if you just do as you please, someone could get hurt.”

“Grrahh!”

“Are you upset? Don’t like that you’re not allowed to do what you’ve been getting away with?”

At my words, Kazen bristled his scales. He kept glancing at the other people around and let out discontented growls, but he didn’t break out of his lying-down position.

The fact that he still followed at least the minimum of discipline showed he hadn’t entirely forgotten our training. Which was exactly why I needed to push harder now.

Kazen was a clever dragon. Clever enough to tell the difference between people he could push around and people he couldn’t, and to vary his reactions accordingly.

That was dangerous. If his reactions changed depending on the person, that meant the instant he decided someone was an easy mark, there was no telling what might happen.

“Maybe you got away with it before, but not anymore.”

“Grrrrrkk.”

“If you give up on training, I’m leaving.”

It wasn’t a bluff. The whole reason I’d signed that contract was Kazen’s training — and if I couldn’t train him, the Duke would have no reason to keep me on.

“If that’s what you want, go right ahead and keep doing whatever you please.”

Kazen, who’d been growling his displeasure, fell abruptly silent. His golden eyes, tinged with red, darted this way and that, and his scales were gradually settling down.

Of course, if I actually had to quit right as I was about to leave for the duchy, that would be extremely, extremely bad.

My livelihood!

My own livelihood was on the line too, which is exactly why I pushed back even harder. If you lost a staring contest with a dragon — especially one from the medium-to-large breeds — the outcome was obvious.

Lucky, and you’d end up with serious injuries. Unlucky, and you’d be dead on the spot.

For my own safety, I had to lock down my position of dominance before it slipped any further.

“Grrrrrrrkk…….”

Kazen’s pupils kept contracting and dilating in turns. Watching the tension building in his forelegs, I realized he was weighing whether or not to attack.

I didn’t back down, holding his gaze steady. With every shift of his pupils, his golden eyes glinted with menace.

I won the staring contest. After our long standoff, Kazen finally lowered his gaze and closed his eyes.

“Grrrr.”

I stroked the spot between the eyes of the now-subdued, sulky-sounding Kazen.

“Good boy.”

Saying that, I pulled out the treat I always carried, and after eyeing it warily, he stuck out his tongue and took it.

Phew. I survived. I almost got chewed up and sent clean out of this world.