This guy! You knew all along, didn’t you! Now that I think about it, there’s no way you wouldn’t know! Eira clenched the pebble that had toyed with its master in his hand. Hearts, slightly larger than usual, tumbled down between his fingers. Like the sorrowful tears of a spirit scolded by its master, they scattered.
[Tip: Spirit GM always wishes for the player’s success on a smooth path!]
It seemed like the spirit had hidden it for Eira’s sake, but he still couldn’t shake off the sense of betrayal. Squeezing the pebble as if wringing a soaked sponge, Eira took a deep breath.
“Janus, I have something to ask. Are you… close with Nilma Argan?”
He almost blurted out, Are you that dragon? but barely held back. His heart pounded wildly. With his exceptionally sharp hearing, Janus must have picked up on the rapid beating of his heart, as he cast a curious gaze at him.
“The one you were avoiding earlier—was that Argan?”
For a moment, Eira considered telling Janus that Nilma Argan was a scoundrel pestering him, just to drive a wedge between them. But he quickly dismissed the idea. He didn’t know how close Janus and Nilma Argan really were. Stirring up unnecessary trouble might backfire, so instead, he came up with another excuse.
“Back when he stayed at the Solar lord’s castle, I saw him a few times. Seeing someone who works at the Solar castle wandering around Volni would seem suspicious, wouldn’t it?”
“Hmm, that makes sense.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie. That was, after all, the reason he instinctively avoided Nilma Argan earlier. Eira still didn’t want to reveal to Janus that he was the lord of Solar. And if Janus was a dragon, then all the more reason to keep it a secret.
“I wouldn’t say we’re close. He’s more like a wealthy underling who’s easy to use.”
That was a relief. After all, a rich but unattractive pushover subordinate couldn’t possibly compare to a competent and handsome mage boyfriend… Right? Taking another deep breath, Eira steadied himself and calmly asked. His heart pounded madly.
“Then, Janus… are you a dragon?”
At those words, Janus halted. He raised the arm wrapped around Eira’s waist, pulling him closer as he chuckled. His voice was composed, as if stating something trivial.
“That’s what humans call my kind.”
Then, as if something amusing had just occurred to him, he looked at Eira with a mischievous glint in his eyes and teasingly asked,
“Why? Do you want to cut me open and see what my organs look like?”
Eira mentally let out every curse he knew. He suddenly recalled talking about dissecting a dragon’s belly for experiments back in Dalum Gorge. Forcing an awkward smile, he hastily denied it.
“Haha… how could I dissect my own boyfriend? That’d be insane…”
At last, he understood why the pebble had hidden Janus’s identity from him. If he had known Janus was a dragon, he never would have spoken so carelessly about his curiosity regarding a dragon’s organs.
And then this perverted dragon’s affection wouldn’t have increased either.
Ignorance was bliss in this case. While he regretted not holding back from hitting him with an iron marble earlier, another part of him was thrilled to have gathered data on a dragon’s defense and durability.
A dragon! No wonder his HP is 9,999,999!
Eira carefully scrutinized Janus’s appearance. Messy red hair, sharp almond-shaped eyes, a sleek, well-defined nose, and a smirking mouth—he looked entirely human.
However, those rare survivors who had encountered a dragon’s true form all swore that these human-like creatures were anything but human. Those who had seen that form recoiled in horror at the mere memory, dreading its return in their nightmares.
Even now, in his human guise, there had to be some inhuman quality about him. As he examined him, his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the scratches Misio had left on his arm. The dried blood, once beaded over the wound, had turned into dark crimson scabs.
Haa… if I had known earlier, I would’ve secretly taken a drop of his blood.
The innate curiosity of a mage made his fingers twitch with regret. Janus, who had been quietly observing him, tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes.
Hearing his heart race like a startled rabbit’s, Janus asked, “Are you scared, now that a dragon is in front of you?”
Only then did Eira realize how fast his heart was beating. Janus’s fingers brushed the nape of his neck, as if to directly feel his pulse.
Eira kept his mouth shut. Me? Scared? Before him was a being powerful enough to not only take his life in an instant but also destroy his entire territory… Looking down absentmindedly, he saw that his fingers were trembling.
Like one would soothe a frightened young beast, Janus gently took his hand and studied his face before his eyes sparkled with amusement.
“…No, that’s not it.”
Caressing his lover’s cheek, Janus spoke in a delighted voice.
“You’ve fallen for me all over again because I’m a dragon, haven’t you?”
Eira’s head snapped up, and he sharply inhaled.
From Janus’s perspective, he wasn’t afraid of him at all. Though his hands were shaking, his body wasn’t cold—if anything, his temperature had risen slightly, and his cheeks were faintly flushed. His gray eyes shimmered with excitement, like a child who had finally received a long-awaited gift.
Seeing those eager eyes, Janus found himself in an unusually good mood. Looking at those flushed cheeks, he felt a sudden pang of hunger and quietly licked his lips. If he bit down, they would be soft, tender, and delicious—his red eyes gleamed momentarily at the thought.
Completely oblivious to how accurately Janus had read him, Eira turned his head to the side.
“That’s right. Because you’re a dragon.”
As if implying that anyone would react this way, that everyone feared dragons while also yearning for them as partners. But both Eira and Janus knew that wasn’t the real reason.
Janus smirked knowingly and let it slide, then smoothly changed the subject.
“Right, we were talking about Solar getting destroyed earlier. Where did I leave off?”
That snapped Eira back to reality. The thrill of meeting the very being he had long wished to see disappeared like mist, replaced by a creeping sense of dread.
At that moment, Eira was truly reminded that Janus was a dragon. He recalled the sight of Janus effortlessly slaughtering the Ocampania group. A dragon alone could wipe out an entire human city. Eira, watching him warily, carefully asked,
“You said you’ve been searching for a lover for ten years and it’s been frustrating and annoying.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“Exactly?”
“So, Solar is going to be destroyed.”
Janus chuckled as he spoke, as if he were talking about a shop in town closing down.
Eira momentarily fell silent, processing what he had just heard. His mind went blank. Slowly, he repeated back what he had just understood.
“You mean… because you haven’t found a proper lover, you’re annoyed, so you’re going to destroy Solar? You’re saying you’re going to kill Solar’s people?”
Tilting his head slightly, Janus soon nodded cheerfully.
“Well, in a way, yes.”
A chilling sensation spread through Eira’s chest.
Solar wasn’t falling because of debt or a political scheme. It was far worse than that.
It was doomed because the most violent and merciless creature in existence had grown impatient. A dragon.
A dragon was a being of pure destruction. They massacred humans for no reason, reducing villages and cities to ashes. Then, upon encountering another dragon drawn by the carnage, they would fight each other for days, sometimes killing one another, or if they survived, they would move on to slaughter more humans before vanishing without a trace—only for another to appear and resume the cycle.
Survivors of dragon encounters were extremely rare. Perhaps a labyrinth filled with the world’s strongest and most insane mages, a transcendent knight capable of slaying dragons, or a great territory where a dragon had already settled could stand a chance, but a small domain like Solar? Absolutely not.
A realization colder than ice ran down Eira’s spine, sending shivers across his body. And yet, in that moment, the thought that filled his mind wasn’t I need to flee to the labyrinth immediately.
Instead, he thought of the overworked administrator Ginas, who was doing everything to keep Solar afloat, of Botello, who had lived in Solar his entire life, of Bloom and the other retainers, and of the common folk under his rule.
Even though he knew there was no reasoning with a non-human, Eira found himself asking:
“Why? Why go that far? You’ve lived in Solar for ten years, haven’t you? You have plenty of people you’re close to.”
Janus had many acquaintances. He laughed and drank with them, clapped them on the back, called them by name like a brother or a friend. Eira had never thought it was an act. He had believed Janus truly liked them.
Janus nodded in agreement. “Yes. They’re good company.”
“Then you’ll kill them? You don’t feel anything about slaughtering people you’re close to?”
Just like how he had killed Mishio without hesitation?
As the excitement from facing a dragon drained away, Eira’s hands grew cold. Janus spoke as if he were soothing a stubborn child.
“It’s not that I feel nothing. It’s just… a little unfortunate. They are fun to be around.”
“Unfortunate? That’s it? Just unfortunate?”
“Hmm, well, I suppose it’s hard for a human to understand. Let’s put it this way…”
For the first time, Janus sounded slightly exasperated, as if he had explained this many times before.
“It’s like raising ducks or pigs. If you want a particularly good breed, you feed them, nurture them, and wait. Besides, they’re fun to watch, and they taste good too. Sometimes, you might even grow fond of a few of them. But in the end, they’re meant to be eaten. It’s a little unfortunate, but if I want to pick the best, there’s bound to be some blood.”
Eira finally understood why Janus had killed Mishio so easily.
Misio had only been a friend in name. To Janus, he had never been an equal. He had simply been one of many well-groomed livestock, perhaps a particularly shiny and amusing ant among countless others.
Janus wasn’t a psychopath. He simply wasn’t human.
And all dragons must be the same. That was why they massacred without hesitation. Just as a wolf hunts a deer and humans slaughter pigs, dragons saw no difference between humans and livestock.
All except one—their mate. The only human that mattered.
Pinky says: What will the upstanding (totally gay) citizen do? Find out next week on Total Drama Island!
Little Pink Starfish 
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