Chapter : 31
“Dragon. Why?”
At Chase’s question, Lulu snapped out of her wandering thoughts.
It seemed Chase had been about to step out of the carriage.
“Chase, if you’re scared of going down the stairs, you can hold Lulu’s hand. But if you’re more scared of Lulu than the stairs…”
Gulp.
Lulu swallowed and whispered seriously.
“…Then go down the stairs.”
Chase nodded.
“The stairs are better.”
“Right?”
Without much thought, the boy stepped down from the carriage.
He was a little puzzled at the sudden change in the dragon’s behavior, but still, if they managed to get through this city, it meant he could check one thing off his bucket list.
His second bucket list item: going on a trip.
Of course, he still didn’t know why his spell would disappear when he came into contact with the dragon. But for now, he decided to be cautious.
After all, he didn’t even know what the spell carved onto his body meant—only that whenever he touched her, it dragged up horrifying memories of the past.
“I’ll finish my bucket list quickly, and then quickly end it all.”
For Chase, the beginning and end were nothing but death.
Lulu, who couldn’t possibly know this, simply kept chasing after the boy.
“Chase. If you ever need help, even just grab Lulu’s sleeve, okay?”
A situation where he’d need help from a dragon?
Impossible.
Chase quietly nodded anyway.
“Mm.”
“Lulu might look scary, but Lulu’s a good dragon who helps people. You know that, right?”
Chase had been about to answer that she wasn’t scary at all, but instead—
“I know.”
He just nodded. Better to avoid trouble than to talk back.
Just then, before they entered the actual checkpoint, Del raised his hand and suggested,
“From here on, it’d be better if we disguised ourselves. Robes alone won’t be enough.”
“Good idea.”
And just like that, Lulu’s excessive protection over Chase came to a pause.
“Now then, Lulu. Want a wig?”
Angela suddenly appeared in front of Lulu and plopped a brown wig on the child’s head.
“Ah.”
And then—her eyes began to sting.
“Owuuuh.”
Angela dropped a few drops of iris-altering potion into Lulu’s eyes, then gently rubbed her eyelids.
“It stings a little, but potions don’t have side effects, so it’s better than other methods. Now, want to open your eyes?”
“Mmmph.”
After rubbing for a while, Lulu opened her eyes—
“…Who are you?”
Lulu murmured without realizing it, narrowing her gaze.
In the mirror, a little girl with brown eyes and brown hair was glaring back at her.
Her features were similar, but somehow… she looked different.
Angela, now also matched to brown tones, turned to Chase as she put the drops in his eyes too.
“By the way, this iris-altering potion is really expensive. Even nobles rarely use it. Where’d you get it?”
Velix replied,
“Your Highness, you may have forgotten, but obtaining something like this isn’t difficult for me.”
“Oh, right. You’re a duke.”
“…And what did you think I was until now?”
“Rian’s older brother?”
“…Technically not wrong.”
At that, Del, who had just finished putting in his own drops, grinned widely.
“Transforming into brown-haired youths, it feels like we’ve become young again!”
“Indeed. From now on, not just our looks but even our ages, names, and identities must be disguised.”
Layton might be called a small city, but it still housed nobles and wealthy commoners.
Angela and Velix, as nobles, could easily be recognized if their true names slipped out, no matter how well they covered themselves.
“Let’s decide on fake names and identities first. What does everyone want?”
At that, Lulu, bouncing around, shot her hand into the air.
“Lulu, hand! Lulu wants to be a hero!”
“Lulu, that’s not an identity. That’s a nickname.”
And then—
“When strangers meet, who lowers their guard the most? …Family!”
Del’s suggestion drew everyone’s attention.
It seemed they were all leaning toward the idea of posing as a family.
At that time, inside the Twin Blades Guild headquarters.
“Hey, clean the bathroom properly. There are piss stains everywhere—are you cleaning or not?”
“Yes!”
A girl caught the kicked bucket with a smile and stood up.
Her shoes didn’t even fit properly, but she said nothing, quietly continuing to scrub with a rag.
“Over here too.”
“Yes!”
“And here. And there. What, are you blind?”
“I’m sorry!”
The girl tucked her messy hair behind her ear and moved quickly.
Once the bathroom was done, she had to clean the hallway. Then the lounge where the mercenaries had just been drinking and joking.
And whenever guests came, she had to be quick enough to disappear out of sight.
Breathing hard in a corridor corner, the girl lifted her head.
“Hey, I got us a good job today. Want to meet at the pub tonight?”
“Sure.”
One mercenary blew his nose into a tissue and tossed it aside. The girl darted forward and caught it before it hit the ground, then dropped it into the bin with a sigh.
“Daisy, let’s take a break and eat lunch.”
Just then, a middle-aged woman, who resembled her, hurried over.
“Yes, Mom.”
The mother and daughter slipped away quietly, avoiding the mercenaries’ eyes.
Through a back door—off-limits to civilians—a sharp herbal scent greeted them.
It was the garden where they grew Braksaweed.
“You’re here?”
“Good work. By the way, did you see this newspaper? It says the dragon not only kidnapped the princess but even ate little kids!”
“What? Did they find the dragon?”
“No. Some peasants living west of here claimed it.”
“Fake interviews. My mom told me not to fall for stuff like that.”
Daisy squatted down among the people tending the garden. She tore into a rough loaf of bread with her teeth.
“How’s the Braksaweed growing?”
“No idea. They want us to harvest enough for a hundred portions within a month… We’re not mages, how are we supposed to do that?”
“Exactly. If it weren’t for your mom, we’d already have been beaten half to death.”
At that, Daisy’s mother, Aceline, forced a bitter smile.
“Being a botanist is the only reason we’re surviving.”
But her smile was filled with loneliness and resignation.
Braksaweed.
The thorn-covered plant the mercenaries forced them to grow was poisonous—its pricks caused hallucinations.
They didn’t know why they were ordered to cultivate it, but it was clear it would be used for something bad.
Then one of the workers, threading carefully between the dangerous thorns, grumbled,
“Even if our fathers did something wrong, they were royal knights—”
“Stop.”
A sharp voice cut them off.
It was Daisy.
“Enough about the royal knights. What does it matter if my father or yours was one? They were…”
She shut her mouth for a moment, pressing her eyes shut as if holding back resentment, then stood.
“…Murderers.”
“…!”
“We should just be grateful the mercenaries haven’t reported us.”
“Daisy…”
“I’ll go.”
Leaving her half-eaten bread behind, Daisy fled out the door.
“Your father plotted to kill the queen so he could become a royal knight. If His Majesty the King ever learns of this, what do you think will happen?”
The mercenaries’ threats replayed in her mind.
There was a time Daisy had felt secure beside her father’s large, strong frame.
That was before he planned the carriage accident that killed the queen.
“…Father. Was being a royal knight worth more than us? More than the queen?”
Daisy wiped her tears with the back of her hand and wandered back into the building’s corridors.
Her hands, once used to tending herbs with her mother, now picked up trash in the hallways.
Meanwhile.
“Why does this city have no trash at all?”
“I’ve heard the Twin Blades Mercenary King has a bit of an obsession with cleanliness. This city is unusual—mercenaries have more influence than nobles here, so the city was arranged to his tastes.”
“A strange taste, but not a bad one. Still, whoever’s responsible for cleaning must suffer greatly.”
As they finally entered Layton, following the tracking artifact’s pull, the group looked around curiously.
Meanwhile—
“…The Mercenary King is up on a cliff?”
A pair of little ears perked up at the adults’ conversation.
“Mmm. A bad taste indeed…! That’s why they suffer!”
Even in the dazzling lights of the city, Lulu kept her eyes forward, unshaken.
After all, her older sister had given her a mission.
“Our little hero deserves an important task. Once we’re inside the city, Lulu must call me Mom, call the knight sir Dad, and call Sir Del Uncle. Got it?”
“Whaaat?”
“Do you know what infiltration means, Lulu?”
“Inf… infiltration?!”
“Mm-hm. To avoid being caught by bad guys, we transform!”
“Huhhh!”
That’s right.
She might look like a little mushroom under her robe now, but to survive this rough city, Lulu was essential.
