SWDnovel Chapter 418: Three Dragons in a Closet
Chapter 418: Three Dragons in a Closet
Not that Riley had any plans of turning the current wyvern loyalists against their King anymore.Of course, the thought had crossed his mind at one point.
Because wouldn’t that be the easiest solution?
Remove the foundation, and the structure would collapse on its own, especially with their leader having his own existential problems.
Unfortunately, after seeing what had become of the average wyvern, he had to admit that convincing them to stage an uprising might be significantly harder than he’d originally hoped.
As demented as their methods were, the strategy employed by their leaders had worked to a certain degree.
They wanted a force that was loyal, obedient, and simple-minded enough not to question orders.
Well.
They definitely succeeded.
Still, Riley wasn’t about to spend his time complimenting the enemy.
The designated manipulator had much bigger problems on his hands now that this newest hypothesis had entered the picture.
Because if their guess was correct...
Weren’t they completely fucked?
It was one thing to have loyal followers.
That alone was already a point he reluctantly had to give to the wyverns. Somehow, that blasted King had cultivated a following willing to throw away their lives at a moment’s notice.
Meanwhile, the dragons didn’t really have that. One would assume they would, because, hello, dragons. But they really don’t.
Despite Kael’s position, the MBE employees certainly weren’t tripping over themselves to become meat shields for him.
Sure, they regarded him with respect and, honestly, a bit more fear. And they would likely follow his directive. But there was a world of difference between loyalty and blind devotion.
When things became truly dangerous, the people around them were expected to preserve themselves whenever possible.
Their faction had understood that from the beginning, which was precisely why most of their operations had remained confined to a very small group who simply had no choice in the matter.
Now, some people would argue that dragons definitely had fanatics.
And to an extent, that was true.
Unfortunately, most of those fanatics were better suited for moral support than actual warfare.
"Dragon’s for life!"
"Look at those scales! Take my money!"
"Did you see that? We made eye contact! We’re basically soulmates!!"
"..."
Yeah... no.
The students back at the university who would be willing to kiss the ground Kael walked on likely wouldn’t survive fighting a good old brawl with a black bear, so how could they be expected to last a minute against those stitched-up creatures?
Actually, Riley didn’t even need to look that far.
The number one fan was sitting much closer to home.
His baby brother.
At this point, Liam was probably the only legitimate fanatic Riley knew who might genuinely throw himself into danger out of pure devotion rather than obligation or fear.
The child’s dream had been to become a dragon knight.
And in fairness to him, that manifestation ability of his had been strong enough that he’d somehow managed to secure the dragon part.
Who would’ve thought the only issue would be the knight part?
The thought almost made Riley smile.
Almost.
Because for the sake of everyone’s collective peace of mind, they had absolutely no intention of allowing Liam to throw himself into danger ever again.
If injury and death were the inevitable future of being a loyalist, then they simply wouldn’t have loyalists.
It was easier to fight with a smaller group than to watch so many people getting hurt.
Dammit.
No wonder his ancestors had eventually let their most devoted servants go.
In exchange for lacking able-bodied manpower, Riley had spent most of his available time trying to figure out exactly what he could and couldn’t do as a black dragon.
Particularly where blood magic was concerned.
In his own opinion, he had been making good progress.
Not that there was anyone available for benchmarking purposes.
Being the last black dragon had a way of making performance reviews rather difficult.
Still, it felt better to focus on progress than dwell on how bleak everything looked.
Unfortunately, the scales they’d been trying to even out had just tipped again.
Because they had suddenly discovered someone whose devotion far exceeded anything healthy.
Not the kind of person who was loyal to a cause, an ideology, or even drunk on power.
No.
This was the ride-or-die kind.
The sort that made Riley suspect the masked figure couldn’t care less whether the wyverns conquered Eryndra or burned it to the ground.
Because fun fact, that one had already infiltrated the dragon estate alone and had even attempted to turn Eryndra into some sort of blood bank.
Yeah, what a way to show love...
With that kind of existence, everything else would be secondary to their beloved.
Ugh.
Endless fucking problems.
"..."
Not exactly the most encouraging odds when said devoted mate also appeared to be a resident psychopath.
Riley leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
Then he let out a long sigh.
Hah.
Like I wouldn’t be willing to do something similar if it were this guy trapped somewhere instead...
__
Riley’s gaze drifted toward Kael, who looked thoroughly out of place as they sat inside a cramped little room that no one would’ve imagined housing not one but three dragons at the same time.
And yet there they were.
The Dragon Lord.
The last black dragon.
And a red dragon who had spent years trapped as a human.
All squeezed into a space that looked more suited for storing old electronics than hosting some of the strongest beings in Eryndra.
Actually, the fact that Kael was currently surrounded by human technology was noteworthy enough to warrant documentation on its own. Under normal circumstances, Riley would’ve immediately started teasing him about it.
Today, however, was proving to be a rather introspective sort of day, one where everyone seemed far more interested in getting lost in their own thoughts than engaging in banter.
That included the red dragon, who had looked unusually pensive ever since they arrived. Seeing Orryn like that, Riley figured it would be better to exercise a rare moment of consideration and leave him to his thoughts.
Now, one may wonder what Orryn was doing there, but in truth, he was the reason they’d managed to find this place in the first place.
After all, he was the one who had introduced them to the room’s current occupant.
A certain man named Kurt.
Or more specifically, the same man Orryn had been commissioning all these years to investigate the mystery surrounding his identity and missing memories.
Though honestly, calling it an investigation almost felt unfair in hindsight. Because the whole thing would’ve been doomed from the very start.
Not because Kurt was incompetent but because Orryn himself was the most unreliable narrator there was. Like four times over.
Given those circumstances, it wasn’t surprising that no meaningful traces were found all those years since they didn’t even really know where to begin.
But A+ for effort.
Though to the young expert, that had clearly been a sore spot. For someone like him to fail to find anything of actual value despite being employed for so long had him going nuts trying to find ways to compensate.
Which was likely why the same man was now obsessively focused on tracing every single tracker they had scattered just earlier.
Though to be honest, Riley wasn’t certain what he’d do with the information they’d get.
Were they actually going to storm their hideout?