Long-Awaited Desire (3)

When Rurin, who had introduced me to her mother for far too long, finally let go, the lunch that had just been made at the restaurant had completely cooled down.

There was no microwave, so I had to eat it as it was.

I opened the cold lunch.

Seeing the food, our dragon’s mood changed, and she quietly sat down, starting to devour the lunch.

“By the way, aren’t you curious about how we’re going to approach the criminal?”

“The criminal? You mean you! Do you know who the criminal is?”

I asked her this because she had followed me right away when we were going to avenge someone, but didn’t seem curious at all. Rurin stopped eating, her eyes lighting up excitedly.

“No, no, not yet. What I mean is, aren’t you curious about how we’re going to find the criminal?”

“Oh, that. Nom nom.”

Rurin resumed eating her lunch, as if she had no interest in the matter.

“Well, isn’t it solved just by staying close to you? You said you would catch the criminal.”

So, you’re leaving it to me completely, huh?

There are times when trusting too much can backfire. They say “trusting the axe can cause you to step on your own foot”. So, do you want me to step on your foot?

I glanced at Rurin’s foot. It was very white.

Hmm. I don’t really feel like stepping on it.

“Well, anyway, as I said before, I’m going to use this for the decisive moment.”

Since I couldn’t step on her foot, I calmly took out the Red Dragon’s orb from my pouch. It was one of the orbs I had obtained from Greek Mountain, kept specifically for bait.

As soon as I took out the remaining orb, Rurin glanced at it and replied.

“Really? I don’t like that it’s almost red, but I used it too… Well, hmm, nom nom.”

Yes. We used it well.

Thanks to that, we became incredibly strong.

Rurin also became strong enough to handle one or two dragons.

Anyway, this bait was used, and the fish has already bitten. Now all we have to do is reel it in.

I didn’t scatter the bait. It was the information that Rurin and I had obtained the Red Dragon’s orb.

I had asked the Black Dragon Elder Medidana to spread the word. And just recently, that bore fruit.

Suddenly, through Medidana, the Elder of the Red Dragons invited Rurin and me to their territory.

The invitation came shortly after Medidana spread the information.

The Red Dragons were the first to react.

There’s definitely something fishy about it.

Of course, the reason they invited us to the Red Dragon’s sacred ground sounds convincing.

They said they would apologize and compensate for the trouble caused by the Sereina incident.

But if you think deeply about it, it’s laughable. The timing is suspicious, and the one who suffered the most, Sereina, wasn’t even mentioned.

In the end, their goal is probably the Red Dragon’s orb we obtained.

If we accept the invitation, that’s good, but if we don’t, they’ll use another method. It’s such a suspicious proposal that I actually accepted it gladly. I can feel that they’re looking down on Rurin and me at this point.

The more they look down on us, the better. The more suspicious it is, the better.

Because if we dig into that suspicion, we might find the truth we’ve been looking for.

The most suspicious part of the incident with Rurin’s mother, without a doubt, is the Red Dragon’s leadership. Not all of them, but at least the Elder, High Dragons, and the leadership are definitely involved.

As if they had been targeting Rurin’s mother, a messenger from the Red Dragons happened to visit the Black Dragon’s sacred ground at just the right time.

After that, the response seemed too perfect, as if it had been planned. Everything was clearly to the Red Dragons’ advantage.

Usually, when investigating a murder, the person who stands to gain the most from it is the first to be suspected.

Therefore, the Red Dragons’ leadership, who gained the most, are the ones who make me the prime suspect.

And I don’t need evidence. The fact that they did it is enough. Even without proof, that fact alone is sufficient.

So, I gladly welcome the invitation to the tiger’s den, or rather, the dragon’s den.

The Red Dragons’ biggest mistake is…

They think my strength is still stuck in the old days of the war.

During the Sereina incident, the Red Dragons retreated first. So, only the Black Dragons have seen the power I’ve recently gained.

So, doesn’t that make this invitation even more interesting?

“Ugh.”

Rurin, who had been devouring the cold lunch, slightly furrowed her brows. It seemed like she was choking, so I took a thermos out of my bag.

“Rurin, it’s already cold, so eat slowly. Here, drink this.”

I poured tea from the thermos and handed it to Rurin. Now that I think about it, I should have packed the lunch in a thermos too.

The tea I poured from the thermos was still steaming.

Rurin took the thermos without hesitation, pressed her lips to the lid, and gulped down the tea. Soon, the tea went down her throat.

No, she should have swallowed it more carefully. She should have!

Pfffphhh!

“Ahhhhh!”

But it was the opposite. Rurin spat the tea she had drunk straight onto my face.

Rice grains and hot green tea dripped down my face.

“Hey, you!”

“I…it’s so hot!”

Rurin jumped up from the mat and started running around the old lair, ignoring my shouts.

She kept running around in circles.

Now that I think about it, I never explained what a thermos was.

She probably didn’t expect it to be hot.

After hopping around for a while, Rurin stuck her tongue out like a dog and sat back down on the mat.

“Ughhh. I thought I was going to die! Why are you trying to kill me?”

“Are you really going to die from that? A dragon? You should have been careful since you could see the steam coming out.”

“My throat was blocked!”

I shook my head and quickly wiped off the rice grains on Rurin’s mouth and the water that had spilled from her mouth with a handkerchief.

After wiping her face, Rurin looked at me with a confused expression, while I ended up with a clean face by myself.

Once I finished cleaning her up, Rurin opened her eyes and blinked at me.

“Why is your face such a mess?”

“…What?”

Her comment was absurd. She made this mess, and now she’s asking why it’s a mess?

“You’re so careless! Anyway, you can’t do anything without me, though I’m the same!”

Then, she spoke a sweet line that didn’t fit the situation and took the handkerchief from my hands, starting to wipe my face.

Well, this part was an improvement. I never imagined Rurin would wipe my face like this before.

“There’s rice on your face too.”

“That’s the rice you chewed.”

“Then I’ll eat it again!”

“What?”

Rurin threw the handkerchief aside and came closer to my face. I could hear her breath almost right next to me.

Our noses were almost touching.

“I’m going to eat it again, so stay still, my dear.”

After saying that, Rurin lightly stuck out her tongue. Her cute tongue, which had been panting earlier because of the heat, now moved in a different curve toward my cheek.

“Yum!”

Rurin’s tongue touched the edge of my cheek. She removed the rice grain with her tongue and swallowed it.

It felt a bit ticklish as her tongue gently touched my skin.

And all of this was happening right in front of my nose.

“Hey, Rurin? Wipe it off with the handkerchief. Don’t eat it with your hands. What are you doing?”

“It’s not dirty. I ate it, and since it’s on your face, it’s actually clean!”

My face isn’t that clean, is it? That’s a bit of an overestimation.

Rurin, with her absurd belief, brought her tongue back.

Then she touched the rice grain near the corner of my mouth. It was right next to my lips. As her tongue touched it, a shiver ran down my spine, something soft yet warm, almost like a tremor.

And the sound of Rurin’s breathing continued, along with the strange expression she made when she stuck out her tongue and licked.

No, it was more than just strange.

She seemed like she had no particular thoughts, but it was intriguing, almost seductive.

Once she finished, Rurin gently took hold of my cheeks and stood up, looking me over. After a moment, she nodded in satisfaction.

“You can’t even give me a kiss first, but you’re doing this so casually?”

“What does kissing have to do with this? I can give a kiss first, just not anytime!”

She let out a snort and shouted, then nonchalantly began eating the lunch again.

So, I also resumed eating. I couldn’t stay eating lunch forever, so I tried to hurry up.

After filling my stomach without any further incidents, I packed up the mat.

There was nothing more to do here.

Just like visiting a parent’s grave before heading into battle, now that this was done, it was time to head to the Dragon’s den.

“Rurin.”

Earlier, she said that staying close to me would help her learn about the criminal, and now she was already holding tightly onto my arm. She had become like gum sticking to me.

She looked up at me with an expression as if asking why I was calling her in that state.

“Let’s go to the Red Dragon’s sacred ground. We’ve been invited.”

“Invitation?”

At the mention of Red Dragons, Rurin narrowed her eyes. The words “Red Dragon” always ignites her fighting spirit, so it was natural.

“Yes. An invitation.”

“How can you talk about an invitation when we’re avenging my mother? A Red invitation like that should be torn apart!”

“That might be true, but this time, we can’t do that. The leadership of the Red Dragons are the suspects.”

“Red ones?”

At my words, Rurin’s eyes wavered. Soon, there was a surge of hostility and murderous intent in her gaze.

“Wait, Rurin? Calm down.”

I nervously embraced Rurin from behind, who was trembling with murderous intent, and spoke.

“No, not yet. They are just suspects. Once everything is revealed, we can make them face judgment. For now, the purpose of this invitation is to confirm that, and making a scene will ruin everything.”

“…But!”

“Rurin? You said you trusted me?”

“I trust you.”

“Then we can’t mess this up, right? You promised you’d stay close to me, right? Until the truth is revealed?”

“I did.”

“Then you have to keep your promise.”

She nodded.

Reluctantly, Rurin nodded. I held her nose firmly.

“Just stay expressionless until the truth is revealed. Don’t show anger. And…don’t blow your nose!”

I grabbed her nose, and thinking I was reminding her to blow it, she snorted. I added one more line, and she responded with a snort.

“Okay, I got it. I’ll stay still.”

“Then let’s head to the Red Dragon’s sacred ground.”

“My dear.”

“Yes?”

“I’ve never been to the Red Dragon’s sacred ground.”

“……”

Well, that’s true.

Of course, Rurin has never been there. I didn’t think about the most basic thing before we left.

Heh.

“Hahahahaha.”

What a foolish moment.

“Why are you laughing like that? You look like a fool. Laugh like you usually do!”

“No, this time I really did something foolish. I should have just asked Sereina to tell me the location.”

It was foolish, but it wouldn’t make much difference if I had gone directly.

“Alright, let’s go then!”

Rurin tightened her grip on me and cast teleportation magic. Soon, we were enveloped in darkness.

“So, that’s the Red Dragon’s sacred ground?”

“It’s similar to our sacred ground. Well, I don’t like our sacred ground either, but I dislike that place even more.”

“I see. Don’t say things like that when we get there. Just keep quiet. I’ll do all the talking.”

She nodded.

I held Rurin’s hand as we looked down at the Red Dragon’s sacred ground spread across the vast valley below the mountain.

Since we were invited, we weren’t uninvited guests.

I wondered how they would react.

Soon, a massive red dragon flying above the sacred ground spotted us, flapped its wings, and landed.

“Who are you two?!”

And without any warning, it shouted at us.

I had felt it since the Sereina incident; these guys are truly hopeless.

Sereina, who had nothing to do with this, coolly told us the location, saying she didn’t care even if we beat them all up. After all, she probably lost all affection for her own kin since she was dying and no one cared.