Chapter 108.
Only Shio knows that Daphne is the black dragon, Celus.
Only Domit knows that Shio is the white dragon.
Only Shio knows that Domit is the red dragon, Kalid.
In other words, Shio knows the true identities of both Domit and Daphne, but only Domit knows Shio’s identity while Daphne does not.
Tracing this complicated relationship, Shio forced the corners of his mouth upward into a smile.
For now, let’s make sure Daphne doesn’t find out my identity, he muttered to himself.
<“Lady Daphne. Why are you here instead of at the training ground?”
“The warrior was being annoying…… no, I mean, what were you two doing?”
But her attempt to change the subject failed.>
Shio rolled his eyes around before reaching his hand toward the sprawled Domit.
The gesture meant “stop lying there and take my hand to get up,” but……
“Eek! Why did you hit me!”
……Domit, already scared out of his wits, flopped over dramatically.
He hadn’t even been hit yet, but he misunderstood and thought he had.
Shio broke into a cold sweat as he turned to look at Daphne.
She was still standing with her arms crossed, staring straight at him.
“You.”
Daphne frowned and asked.
“Were you a thug?”
Shio was caught completely off guard by the question and froze for a very brief moment.
“This guy deserved to be hit.”
“Is there anyone in the world who truly deserves to be hit? Even if so, isn’t it wrong to raise your hand first?”
Daphne shouldn’t be the one saying things like that.
A surge of injustice rose in his chest, but Shio exercised maximum patience and held it back.
He maintained the smile he had forced onto his face.
“Yes, I was wrong. Come on, Domit. Shall we take my hand and stand up?”
“Uh…… um…….”
“My. Hand. Take. It. And. Stand. Up?”
“Y-yes.”
Domit had been subtly scooting his hips backward to flee, but he couldn’t dare ignore the fire burning in Shio’s eyes.
Sniffling, he grabbed Shio’s hand and pulled himself up.
“But who are you?”
Daphne, who had approached unnoticed, asked.
Domit glanced back and forth between Daphne and Shio before quickly deciding — with remarkably high-level thinking — that he should first introduce his surface identity.
“I-I’m the aide to the Imperial Count…… Ack! Why did you hit me!”
“You look like someone who deserves it.”
“But earlier you said there’s no such thing as someone who deserves to be hit?”
“The Count’s subordinate deserves it.”
Domit, who had just received an extra kick to the shin for no reason, hopped around in place.
He already knew that Daphne Akion was no ordinary person.
But he hadn’t expected this level.
What kind of kid is this? Who said she became nice? If this is her being nice, what was she before — a demon risen from hell?
Whether Domit was thinking such things or not, Daphne paid it no mind at all and merely lifted her gaze slightly.
“How do you two know each other?”
Normally she wouldn’t pry so persistently.
Whoever meets whoever — why should she care? She would have just gone back to the training ground.
But right now……
‘Something smells off.’
An instinctive discomfort arose.
Her instincts were warning her, and if she ignored it now, she felt she would regret it for a very long time.
That was why Daphne had stopped Shio and Domit in the first place.
“Why aren’t you answering?”
Afraid of getting hit again if he delayed, Domit opened his mouth without thinking.
“We’re dra……”
“Ah! In the past! We had some connection in the past! Not anymore! We haven’t been in contact for ages, but running into each other here is so nice and all that! Haha! So can the two of us go talk somewhere?”
But what cut him off was Shio, who had spent the day being remarkably quick on his feet.
Huu.
He sighed and pinched Domit’s side.
Daphne’s eyes narrowed.
“Suspicious.”
“Not at all?”
“Really suspicious.”
“I don’t think so?”
Daphne stared straight up at Shio, who was trying to maintain a calm expression even though his eyes were clearly wavering.
She could tell this guy was hiding something…… but figuring out what it was seemed difficult.
She had a strong feeling he would absolutely never open his mouth about it.
So Daphne turned her gaze to Domit, who was still standing there hesitating.
“You.”
“Y-yes, I mean, yeah?”
“You’re wearing a fox tail, so why don’t I smell any fox scent?”
Shio’s eyes widened.
He recalled the fox scent that had wafted from Domit the moment he approached and shook his head.
“No way? It smells really strong?”
Daphne sniffed and replied.
“No, it’s not. There’s another smell. It’s like the fox scent was used to cover up that other smell.”
In that instant, Shio remembered what Teiti had once said.
-Reptile, but with a dog’s nose.
Really?
For real?
“It smells like burnt scales…….”
At that murmur, Domit’s mouth fell wide open.
He was a dragon polymorphed into a fox beastman.
Because he used draconic mana for the polymorph, it was near-perfect — so perfect that even other dragons wouldn’t notice, and in fact even fellow beastmen had believed he was truly a fox beastman.
But how?
How did she know?
Just as Domit’s eyes filled with shock—
“Kyaa!”
He realized his tail had been suddenly yanked.
“Are you really a fox?”
“Y-yeah! I’m really a fox! A fox beastman! So can you let go? Please?”
“Really?”
Daphne gathered mana at her fingertips.
Fox beastmen have multiple tails.
They keep them for life, and like a lizard’s tail, even if cut, they regrow.
But if this was disguise magic, then surely the tail would not regrow.
Daphne grinned.
“Then even if I cut this tail, it’ll grow back, right? Let’s try cutting it once.”
“Eek! Wait!”
Domit quickly counted the tails he had handed over to the Count before, and the ones he had sold off because he was short on money, then dropped his head.
Only two left.
If one got cut here, he might really end up looking like a suspicious fox beastman.
He was already struggling with low mana in this body, and if his identity got exposed too, it would become a major headache.
“Why are you doing this for real? I haven’t done anything wrong to you?”
Domit sniffled and appealed his injustice.
“I know.”
“Maybe there’s a misunderstanding…… huh?”
“I said I know. That you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then…… why?”
“Because it’s suspicious.”
But Daphne showed not the slightest sympathy for his grievance.
“The two of you feel suspicious, so I’m going to find out. You shouldn’t dare hide anything from me.”
At that moment Shio quickly jumped in.
Recalling the conversation he had with Daphne not long ago, he said,
“No, didn’t you say before that if someone doesn’t want to talk, they don’t have to?”
“That was only for you.”
Oof. Heart skipped.
Shio’s heart pounded for a split second before he shook his head and pulled himself together.
But Daphne was a little faster.
“But I can’t just leave such a suspicious guy alone. Come on, speak. What are you really?”
She was holding Domit’s tail and raising her hand like a blade.
If left like this, Domit’s tail would be cleanly severed.
“U-uh…….”
Domit, covering his face with both hands and stomping his feet, suddenly lifted his head as if he had made up his mind.
Honestly, he didn’t care if his identity was exposed.
The only reason he had hidden being a dragon until now was fear of running into Shio like today or getting caught by him — and since Shio already knew and he was going to get beaten anyway, there was nothing left to fear.
So he opened his mouth wide.
“I’m a dragon!”
But with the thought that he couldn’t die alone, he pointed at Shio.
“This guy is a dragon too!”
A crescent smile curved up Domit’s lips, while Shio’s face turned deathly pale in the opposite direction.
☆▪︎▪︎▪︎☆
