How To Tame an Academy Dragon

18. As for me

“Calm down. Drink some water first.”

The commander of the guard led me to the captain’s office, gave me a chair, and had his subordinate take over blankets.

The guard who handed me the blanket stepped back and waited next to the captain of the guard at attention.

“Thank you. Ugh…”

I took a sip of the hot cup the guard captain handed me. They said that if you drink the heat from your hands as it is, you won’t be able to eat spicy food for a while, but I already put it in my mouth without thinking.

Is this what it feels like to put lava in your mouth and savor it? The water was so hot that I almost cursed at it, but I gritted my teeth and endured it.

Thanks to that, the roof of my mouth is tattered. The tongue tingled like it had been stung by a bee sting. After cursing inwardly at the guard chief who couldn’t even control the temperature, he set the cup down on the table.

“I see what’s going on. Please tell me when you calm down.”

I thought he was a very hot-tempered person because of the way he was annoyed by his subordinates, but unexpectedly, he didn’t say anything and waited quietly until I calmed down.

Oddly enough, looking at him calms my heart… Is this the sense of stability that public power gives?

In the first place, I was acting scared, and unless I was an actor, I couldn’t do method acting for a long time.

Obviously, I had all my plans in place when I came here, but I couldn’t continue acting because I felt comfortable in the warm air.

As the shabby performance approached the end, the expression that had been forcibly crumpled and the shoulders that had been shrunken widened gradually.

Around the time when you can no longer hold on to the rigid atmosphere. The captain of the guard spoke first.

I was worried that the smoke would come through, but the captain of the guard seemed to have judged that I was slowly recovering.

“So can you explain what’s going on?”

“That, that’s…”

What should I say? It’s okay to go according to plan.

I took a deep breath before answering the captain of the guard, and finally organized the plan I had engraved in his head.

“I had some business at the store, so I was about to come back.”

The captain of the guard, who finally saw me speechless, pulled another chair and sat down.

Then, he gave a chin gesture to the subordinate standing next to him, but the subordinate looked at his superior as if to say something.

The captain of the guard muttered with his teeth clenched, with blood vessels rising up in his temples thanks to his subordinate standing stupidly.

“Notes. Notes…!”

“Ah. Ah! Yep!”

Only then did the subordinate, who realized what the captain’s instructions were, hurriedly ran outside with a sloppy salute.

As soon as he left, a voice shouted to an unspecified number of people to quickly bring the notes.

This is a downer.

“Aww, you idiots.”

The captain of the guard, who was horrified by the level of his subordinate, kept a face full of annoyance from beginning to end while accepting the note and pencil that his subordinate returned.

“Sorry. Could you elaborate?”

Unlike when dealing with his subordinates, he has become much more friendly. Although his tone was businesslike, there was something trustworthy about him.

“I was on my way home from work…”

My false (?) Eyewitness story that led to that road. If you explain too much detail, you might think it’s strange, so I explained it in moderation.

“A kid went into the alley, so it’s dangerous these days. So I thought I should stop it… So I chased after it…”

After deliberately interrupting a speech without finishing it, he inhales and exhales irregularly, like a person having trouble breathing. She didn’t forget to pull the blanket even harder.

“What are these strange people?

“Have you seen it?”

The captain of the guard, who had been taking notes almost scrawled, repeated my words as if urging me to, poking at the note with a pencil and tapping it.

“Why don’t you open the sewer cover and take the child down…! Strangely, the child followed me without rebelling… I really didn’t want to do it, so…”

“Do you remember what that child looked like?”

“Me, not me! Just as the moon rose, I saw it with my own two eyes!”

Before I explained my impression, I remembered what I had seen on the bulletin board posters earlier.

“Orange hair, short stature, and, again… Right! He was wearing a hair tie!”

“A kid with orange hair. Braids…Kyle. Get the kids ready.”

“Yup!”

This time, a soldier called Kyle ran out quickly, as if he understood it at once, and like before, he heard the sound of scolding his subordinates.

“If you don’t mind, could you guide me to that place?”

“It is possible! I am very worried…”

“Thank you. You can rest assured that we will be dispatched immediately.”

It must be someone who has been rolling in the field for a long time.

The chief of the guard calmly sorted out the situation, and he calmly judged what to do next.

He told me to wait a moment, tore up a notebook, called one of his men, and ordered a higher unit to wire. And he packed his armor and weapons to see if he would go out.

“As soon as an emergency signal is fired, call for assistance.”

“Yes.”

Having two of his men stand by the guards, the commander of the guards gave them confidence.

“The rest go immediately!”

“This way!”

I led the captain of the guard and the four guards and ran towards the back alley where the sewer cover was located.

Standing in the lead and guiding them, I was amazed at the captain of the guard who managed to believe my words.

As I was moving, I asked why he could trust me so much, and the guard captain said without looking at me.

“That’s the guard’s duty.”

It was his crude words that didn’t even explain at length, but maybe that’s why I was deeply touched by what kind of mindset he went to the mission.

The back alley was not far. It was only when I arrived that I thought about this and that, so my steps slowed down, but I arrived really quickly as I ran quickly as the word dispatched.

Unlike the guard captain who didn’t even shed a drop of sweat, the guards caught up belatedly, gasping for breath.

“Check your surroundings.”

As if he already knew the fitness level of his men, the guard commander gave the next order without paying attention.

“Is this cap right?”

“Yes. Boo, it definitely went down there.”

“Not a single trace.”

The chief of the guard, who was checking the scene while kneeling on one knee, noted that there were no traces of footprints left.

“It’s real! Clearly a kid here!”

“I know. I would have been even more suspicious if there were traces left. If it had been barely enough to leave traces like this, it would have been enough to have been arrested a long time ago… Hey, come here and do this!”

Whew. Good thing you didn’t leave footprints.

I was wondering if I would take a picture of my footprints in case there was suspicion, but it seems I did well not to.

The crew members who ran to the call of the guard chief clung to the sewer cover, and when he lifted it with a signal, the heavy iron cover slowly began to move.

Thung.

As the guards set the heavy lid on the floor, the ground vibrated and dust rose.

“Whoa! Hey, bring the lantern.”

Shaking his hand to clear the dust, the guards commander handed over the lantern his subordinate was holding to illuminate the pitch-black sewerage below.

Modern sewage systems also have a serious filth smell, but medieval sewers don’t smell much. Is this some kind of magic?

“This is…”

The captain of the guard who ducked his stance and put his upper body down the sewer. Usually around this time, they are attacked by something unknown and dragged down.

“It’s a red hair tie.”

I was worried that I would see the exit scene of an extra, which I often see in horror movies, but the guard commander came back up without incident, holding a hair tie in his hand.

A red string that looked just like the hair tie attached to the bulletin board fluttered while being held in the hand of the captain of the guard.

“This must be the hair tie the baker’s daughter was wearing, right?”

“Yes. Yes, it’s clear. It looks exactly like the hair tie I wore earlier.”

The captain of the guard held out the strap to a soldier and showed it. The soldier carefully examined the hair tie and nodded his head and replied with a confident voice.

“Was the child you saw doing this?”

He followed his subordinate and showed me the hair tie.

What I saw was a child’s vision. She had no way of knowing what the child was doing. However, the highly sensitive sense of smell detected the same reverberation felt in the ribbon.

“That’s right. I’m sure.”

The chief of the guards even took my confirmation and handed his hair tie to his subordinate who was standing next to him.

The subordinate, who had received the evidence, looked back and forth between his hair tie and his boss.

“You take it and go to ask for support.”

“What about the captain?”

“I have to chase it before I miss it. I’ll leave a sign, so follow me.”

I’ll follow you directly. Surprised by the guard’s words, the members exchanged glances with each other.

They looked at the captain with an expression that they didn’t want to go even if they died soon, but the guard captain took the initiative and started going down the sewer ladder.

“Very, Captain! When support comes, we can go together!”

“It’s dangerous! Boss!”

“You idiots! If you miss it, are you guys going to take responsibility? Shut up and follow me!”

Because he was already half way down, his voice hummed even louder.

I wondered if I had to follow him quietly in order to chase him, but he was more professional than I was, so I believed he would do it on his own.

“f*ck…f*ck…”

“Ha. I didn’t submit a will…”

The soldiers lamented their lives, but followed the captain of the guard down the ladder one by one.

As I pondered whether I should follow them after the last guard went down, I heard the captain’s voice from below.

“It’s dangerous from here, so you can go home.”

“Thank you!”

The answer I’ve been waiting for.

A foolish protagonist with a burning sense of justice would have pursued them without giving up and gone straight to a bad ending, but I am a man who knows the subject.

Know your subject, act within your means, do not step out unnecessarily.

I’ve already been far enough, and I’ve stepped out enough. If you go one step further from here, it is called scratching and swelling.

I am not a superhero who shoots lasers and has a body of steel.

All that remains is to return home safely, wipe your feet, and sleep.

“A single dragon is too much for me…”

The sounds of the guards coming from under the open sewer cover are getting farther and farther away.

I have to go back to the inn. I wanted to get up right away and sprint home, but strangely my feet didn’t come off.

It was so small that I could hardly hear it, but I could still feel their presence.

Are you all right? I don’t want to die or get hurt. In a way, the result was that I had driven them to death.

I’m really glad nothing happens, and I’d be more relieved if reinforcements came quickly to join them.

What if my report causes an accident and they lose their lives?

Until a while ago, strange courage welled up, and I was alert with a sense of justice that I had to save my child.

“Let’s just wait until the real reinforcements arrive. I’ll just explain and leave.”

Should I say a bit of conscience? Surrounded by emotions that are difficult to express, I decided to stay a little longer and observe the situation.

If the Doha Prius were here instead of me…

‘Get out of the way! I’ll do everything for you!’

I had the illusion that I could hear her voice somewhere.

Unfortunately, I’m not a f*cking strong dragon, and I didn’t even have a Doha Prius here.

If I had the power, could I have solved it?

“It probably wasn’t here in the first place.”

If it was such a worldview, wouldn’t it have been exciting to slaughter humans at the forefront of battle by now?

While I was thinking about my life in another dimension, dark clouds gathered over the sky, and even the moonlight, which was scarce, was swallowed up by the clouds.

The city under the bluish moonlight has become dark as if it has been painted over with ink, and the only thing I can rely on is the exceptionally bright night snow.

A chilly wind that hadn’t even blown wrapped around my body, and a sudden chill ran up my spine.

The moment I felt like something was about to happen.

A sour yet sweet smell began to surround the surroundings. Unfamiliar sensation. Where did you get this incense?

The fishy smell of iron stimulating the olfactory cells kept the warmth that hadn’t cooled down yet.

It’s a sticky and unpleasant smell that stifles your breath, but it’s sweet at the same time, like touching melted candy.

Down?

No. From the sewer where the guards went down, only cold wind is blowing.

Illusion that the smell has a shape and wraps around me. It feels like being locked in an airtight room filled with a specific smell.

That uncomfortable feeling came from behind like a snake, coiling around me like climbing a tree.

The burning pain prickly stimulates the skin all over the body.

“I should go home…”

I’ll do it. I wouldn’t. Today, as always, the magic word that exerts its power made my stomach ache.

It was only then that regret for breaking his iron rule came flooding in like a wave, but to no avail.

When you think it’s too late, it’s already too late!

A quote from a celebrity I heard on TV long ago pierced my heart like a dagger, and I lost consciousness along with a sharp pain in the back of my neck.