How to Survive as a terminally-ill Dragon

Chapter 13. Khan & Kani (2)

“Sigh…”

In recent days, the frequency of Lois’s sighs had increased.

“Master Lois… be strong.”

“Do you think you’d feel strong in this situation?”

“…”

Finn’s wings drooped in defeat after her attempt at consolation was met with Lois’s rebuke.

Trembling with frustration, Lois let out a roar of irritation.

“Why are those kids here instead of at their own home?”

It had been a week.

A week since the nuisance twins had decided not to return to their home and settled into staying at Lois’s place.

Lois, young as he was and already feeling his blood pressure rise, rubbed his stiff neck.

“Sigh…”

He had nicknamed the twins Nuisance One and Two, and they were indeed a handful.

For instance.

“Lois, what’s this?”

“…You’re how old and you still don’t know the ancient script of the Lophersia Empire?”

“Dad never taught us.”

“Idiot! This is…”

Whether they were interrupting Lois’s reading to ask about something they didn’t understand.

Crash-.

“Yikes! I spilled it!”

“Hey, klutz! What do you do when you spill something?!”

Like spilling the shaved ice they were having for a snack.

“Give it here!”

“No, it’s mine!”

“It’s mine!”

Rip-.

“Ah… it’s torn.”

“Lois is going to be mad…”

Or fighting over a book and ending up tearing it apart – such incidents happened without warning, and Lois was left to clean up the mess.

As the nightmares of the past few days came to mind, Lois’s body began to shiver involuntarily.

Then it happened.

“We’re hungry, Lois!”

“Hungry!”

The two nuisance parasites whined for food.

“Hey! Am I your nanny? Just go home already!”

“Wahh.”

“Boohoo…”

Faced with the pitiful expressions of Khan and Kani, Lois couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Sigh… What sins have I committed in my past life to… I can’t even get mad at kids.’

At 250 years old, these two hatchlings were still so immature, but it couldn’t be helped.

A dragon’s mind doesn’t fully mature until after their second sleep period.

Except for unusual cases like Lois, most hatchlings had a mental age similar to that of the human form they had transformed into.

In other words, the twins had the mental age of 8 to 10-year-old children.

‘It seems like their mental age is younger than that of their transformed bodies, but to leave them… leave them?’

Lois’s thought was interrupted as he suddenly shouted.

“Nuisance One and Two!”

“Huh?”

“Why?”

The twins scurried over, and Lois glared at them.

“Didn’t the uncle assign you a guardian?”

“He did!”

“Where is it?”

At Lois’s question, the twins casually replied.

“Asleep!”

“We were playing with it, and it just fell asleep all of a sudden!”

Their response caused Lois’s eyes to narrow.

He asked quietly, with a low tone.

“…Did you hit it?”

“Um… maybe a little?”

“I didn’t hit it! Kani did!”

“Khan hit it too!”

Watching the twins bickering, Lois was at a loss for words.

‘Have they broken their guardian?!’

The twins’ father was well aware.

There was no living guardian who could endure his children’s intense behavior.

For this reason, the twins’ father had chosen a golem as their childcare guardian, but even that hadn’t lasted the few days he was away.

While Lois pondered, the twins began to whine again.

“We’re soo hungry, Loiis.”

“We’re hungry…”

Listening to the twins’ whining, Lois considered a thought… perhaps they came to him because they had no one to feed them.

Heavy sigh…

With a deep sigh and resignation, Lois set out to feed the two parasites.

Just as he was about to start preparing the meal, he stopped.

“Wait a minute? Why am I taking time out of my day to look after these two?”

Even though he had lived a past life, Lois was still a hatchling himself, physically even a month younger than the twins.

Yet there was a reason Lois couldn’t refuse the twins’ requests.

“You wicked little things! How can I refuse when you look at me with those kitten-like eyes?”

Khan and Kani.

Though taller than Lois, they still had the bodies of young children.

And they were quite the beauties at that.

With pale baby skin, silvery hair, and clear eyes tinged with aqua.

Whenever the twins’ eyes shimmered with longing, Lois couldn’t help but clutch at his heart.

But even patience had its limits.

“If this continues, I won’t live to see my next birthday! This is all because the uncle coddled you too much! I’m going to make you act like proper dragons!”

It was the moment Lois resolved to undertake the education even the twins’ father had given up on.

From that day on, Lois’s behavior changed.

“Lois… what’s this?”

“Look it up yourself.”

“Won’t you just tell me?”

“No. I will not.”

Despite Kani’s questions, Lois consistently refused, instead throwing her a related book to find the answers herself.

“Lois, I spilled this…”

“There’s a mop in the kitchen. Clean it up.”

“Won’t you do it for me?”

“Listen, Khan. Your hands aren’t just for eating. Go get the mop and clean it up!”

“…Okay.”

From a nanny to a stern disciplinarian, Lois underwent a transformation.

After a few days of this new regime, the twins began to change their behavior.

The pair, who had always relied on Lois for everything, now began to take the initiative.

“Mm-hmm, good, very good.”

“Master Lois… you’re amazing.”

As Lois basked in the satisfaction of his achievements, Finn couldn’t stop expressing her admiration.

“To change those wild… I mean, the esteemed twins so much!”

“Of course.”

“Master Lois is the best!”

“Ha ha ha!”

Even Finn’s flattery, which Lois usually found cheesy, felt gratifying.

However, not all changes were for the better.

“Lois, I looked this up myself. Did I do well?”

“Yes, very well done!”

“Lois, I cleaned this up! Did I do well?”

“Of course!”

“Lois, I put this back where it belongs! Praise me!”

“…Yes, well done.”

“Lois, I didn’t break anything today! Did I do well?”

“Yes…”

Every time they did something, the twins would pop their heads out, seeking praise.

Each time, Lois obliged, patting their heads and commending them.

But as this pattern repeated, he began to feel that something was off.

“…Am I raising dragons or puppies?”

He found himself praising them for every little thing, reminiscent of training a puppy.

Giving them treats along with praise only intensified that impression.

Had the twins been in their dragon forms, they might have been wagging their tails energetically.

With that silly thought brushed aside, Lois allowed himself a wry smile.

“Well, it’s all good as long as the results are positive, right?”

Ultimately, the time Lois spent looking after the twins was drastically reduced.

Satisfied with his newfound personal time, he stepped outside to train.

“Let’s go together, Master Lois!”

“Go with Lois!”

“Take us too!”

As Lois left the house, Finn and the twins followed him like puppies chasing after their owner.

And so, another peaceful day passed.

Lois believed this peace would continue into the foreseeable future.

Until the day came.

* * *

A month after the two nuisance parasites made themselves at home in Lois’s place.

He was immersed in his training, pleased with how things were running smoothly on their own.

‘My own unique spell…’

Lois had been diligently working on elevating his space attribute to the top tier.

His efforts over the past 150 years had borne fruit.

An impressive space attribute at 1st tier.

When considering that what some consider talented humans couldn’t reach 3rd tier after a lifetime of practice, Lois’s achievement was remarkable.

Yet, he wasn’t quite at a full 1st tier.

‘It’s still not easy.’

The way to differentiate tiers was straightforward:

5th tier involved sensing and absorbing attribute power, accumulating it within the body.

4th tier entailed controlling the internal attribute power.

3rd tier was about externalizing attribute power beyond one’s body.

2nd tier was the stage where attribute power was condensed into a tangible form.

1st tier allowed one to freely transform tangible attribute power, creating an original and flawless spell.

You were only truly considered at the 1st tier when you created a spell not derived from others, a wholly original and perfect one.

Only then could one face the wall leading to top tier.

Thus, Lois had spent considerable time pondering and developing his own spells.

‘As a dragon, I can’t just use any old spell, can I?’

Lois had been investing much effort into creating space attribute spells.

This had been his main pursuit for decades.

Of course, he hadn’t neglected his other attributes.

Strength attribute at 2nd tier.

Time attribute at 2nd tier.

Mind attribute at 3rd tier.

Lois had diligently worked to raise his capabilities in other attributes as well.

Particularly significant was his progress with the mind attribute, which had been elusive, now at 3rd tier.

‘Who knew that philosophy books read on a whim would be helpful.’

Having turned to reading as a hobby after becoming a dragon, Lois read indiscriminately.

He stumbled upon a philosophy book that resonated with his mind attribute and engaged in self-reflection.

The result of this was achieving 3rd tier in the mind attribute.

“Phew… It’s not going well. Maybe I should practice with the sword?”

Struggling with the torment of creation, Lois took a deep breath, trying to relax.

A small dagger full of sharp energy appeared in his hand.

Though a dagger, it was quite long for Lois.

“When will I grow tall enough to wield a magic sword properly…”

Lois had hoped to master both spells and martial techniques.

But his dreams had been dashed by his physical limitations.

Short limbs did not inspire the enthusiasm to learn martial techniques.

Thus, he had switched his focus mainly to spells for the time being.

However, he hadn’t completely abandoned martial techniques for fear of losing touch.

Using his body in practice also helped clear his mind.

Just as Lois was about to begin some stretching and exercise.

Cling-clang-.

“Huh?”

Alerted by the sound of metal clashing, Lois turned his gaze in that direction.

There, the twins were locked in aggressive swordplay.

“Ha! Die!”

“You die!”

The duel seemed too vicious for siblings, making Lois wonder if they had been enemies in a past life.

The twins’ combat was fierce enough to make one worry about an accident, yet they seemed to enjoy it.

The smiles on their faces confirmed that the battle was a sort of play for them.

Lois watched the twins spar.

“Indeed… They are quite something. They may be brats, but they truly are dragons.”

Lois was impressed.

The twins, who were only slightly longer-limbed than Lois, handled weapons with ease.

Kani wielded a rapier and short sword, while Khan managed a bastard sword as tall as he was.

Matched with their restlessness, martial techniques suited the twins perfectly.

At a glance, their skill level seemed to rival that of 2nd tier warriors.

Watching them, Lois murmured with a hint of envy.

“…When I grow a bit more, I’ll have to learn martial techniques.”

After watching them for a while, a thought crossed Lois’s mind.

“Wait a minute… I could spar with them, right? I need the practical experience too.”

A month into hosting the two nuisance parasites, Lois finally found a use for them.