Chapter 981: The Dragonkin and Jaxon

Temares strolled leisurely through the city.

He had already been doing so for several weeks, yet no one recognized him, and that was only natural.

Right now, he did not look like his usual self with lemon-colored blond hair and vertically split pupils, but rather like a drifter with an ordinary impression and brown hair.

Temares had been born a dragonkin, and like other dragonkin, he had awakened to various spells as naturally as breathing.

One of them was Epimorph, a spell that allowed him to freely change his appearance.

With that one spell, at times Temares fulfilled the duty of nothing more than a small fruit shop owner, and at other times he became a peddler or a mercenary.

Hundreds of duties were, in turn, hundreds of lives.

That was how he had lived, because only then did life have meaning.

Then what about now?

Temares questioned himself, explored, and pondered.

‘Absence.’

What did the word absence mean?

It meant there was nothing.

What was missing?

Duty.

For a dragonkin, that was an unbearable torment. It was the beginning of those two characters: wandering. Since the reason for life disappears, a ship that cannot drop anchor becomes a drifting vessel.

With no goal, one must wander and lose one’s way.

But that was not the case.

Even now, without an anchor, he remained in Border Guard, watching the world, and his heart was not uneasy.

‘Find a duty.’

The instinct that had once moved him had now fallen quiet. Silent and calm.

Was it time for him to die? Was it time to let go of duty and fade away?

Had the moment come to end a life that had endured for so long through duty?

Then why was his heart beating so fast? When had he last felt something like this?

‘The first duty.’

It had been to protect a small flower.

Not a flowerbed, but a single flower.

‘It is alive.’

It absorbed sunlight, again and again, until the vitality condensed within its petals writhed.

A flower in full bloom blossomed and vanished with the passage of time. It bloomed in abundance, then scattered and disappeared.

What others might have called a quiet cycle, Temares saw as a writhing force.

What difference was there between something leaping toward the sky with all its strength and a flower pouring out its entire life to bloom fully?

There was none.

In that first duty, Temares had felt the beauty of the world.

Without that moment, would he have endured the long years that followed?

No one knows the path they have not taken, but it was certain it would have been harder than now.

There is no life without reason. For a dragonkin, that meant there was no life without duty.

Several thoughts followed one another like a repeating refrain.

“A singular moment, a singular existence. Those things are enjoyable. When the moment comes for you to feel joy, you will understand the meaning of my words.”

Feel that ecstasy. Even making that your purpose in life is enough.

Now, he understood the meaning of those words.

The words his father had once told him in his youth felt vividly clear.

‘Ah.’

It was enjoyable.

Living for that one thing alone would be enough.

True enjoyment was watching something shining.

Even though duty had been absent, Temares felt a faint satisfaction in his current life. He remained detached, observing Enkrid and the others from a distance while reflecting on his own life.

He revisited his duties, soothed his past, and walked.

He walked and walked, thought and thought, felt and felt again.

The amusing thing was that when people knew of a dragonkin’s existence, they would all rush to find them, seeking to borrow wisdom or strength.

‘No one is looking for me.’

That, too, was amusing.

Everything was enjoyable.

And now he clearly understood why.

‘A singular existence.’

That was not just one human named Enkrid. It was the entire group he had created.

That was why even walking this city was enjoyable.

‘What do I want?’

The time had come, and he realized it. Because he realized it, the duty that had been absent returned.

It was a will more sincere and full than ever before, filling his heart.

The ecstasy born from enjoyment became the pillar supporting his will.

Temares closed his eyes and stopped walking.

Containing the surging emotion within him, he decided on his duty.

‘To watch.’

No, more than that.

‘To be together.’

To remain beside a single being for a lifetime, to enjoy that life and take it in.

Just like when he carried out his first duty, the same anticipation filled his chest.

The dragonkin chose his path.

When he opened his eyes again, they shone gold. His pupils were vertically split.

At the same time, starting from the roots of his scalp, his hair slowly turned lemon-colored. His face, his physique—everything changed.

“Oh my.”

A passing woman saw him and blushed.

He was that handsome.

People might have grown used to Enkrid by now from seeing him so often, but not this one.

And there was something about him that stirred a protective instinct.

Of course, a dragonkin had no need of protection from a passing woman.

“Why use that trick here?”

At those words, someone’s voice reached him.

A familiar voice.

Turning his gaze, he saw a man with reddish-brown hair and similarly colored eyes.

He appeared to be walking leisurely. Beside him stood a woman with orange eyes and curly blond hair tied back tightly.

At that moment, Temares was filled with elation. His will was overflowing, and everything in the world felt newly perceived. So the words came out naturally.

In other words, thinking of flowers, he admired what he saw and praised it.

“What is your name? You are beautiful. I would like to swim within your heart.”

To his eyes, the woman standing beside Jaxon was healthy and strong-willed. The dragonkin’s ability to read minds glimpsed her pure strength.

A strong-hearted woman is beautiful.

Thinking that, the dragonkin spoke.

Jaxon pulled the handle of the dagger hidden in his sleeve and gripped it.

That lizard-eyed bastard who had disappeared one day and returned was now throwing flirtatious remarks at his lover.

To put it in Rem’s terms, wasn’t this enough to justify killing him?

“Yena, get back.”

“So that’s the dragonkin. I heard he’s very straightforward.”

Despite Jaxon’s words, his lover Yenatrice did not retreat.

“It doesn’t sound like he’s asking for a fight.”

As always, she was wiser than Jaxon.

“A fight? Why?”

The dragonkin asked back.

In the meantime, more onlookers gathered to watch. To anyone watching, it looked like two men fighting over one woman.

Especially when both were so striking in appearance.

“Yes, you are beautiful as well. I would like to feel your touch.”

The dragonkin, who had once been indifferent to the world, had changed with the return of duty. Instead of merely observing them, he now spoke and acted to enter into their world.

As he grabbed the hand of a nearby woman who had been watching, her face turned bright red.

“This bastard—?”

A craftsman who had been developing a relationship with her clenched his fist. A member of Geor’s Dagger Guild who had been following him stopped him.

Though he looked somewhat foolish on the surface, this dragonkin was equal to a knight who could kill a thousand alone. If he rushed in, it would be his own death.

“Ah, I mean no harm. Yes, your hands are quite lovely as well.”

While being restrained, Temares also directed flirtation toward the craftsman. The man, an artist expressing his world and struggling between commerce and art, had hands that reflected that struggle. Temares found that pleasing too.

He then looked around, turning his gaze toward everyone he found appealing.

“You possess a beauty that could move the world.”

“Me?”

It was Vanessa passing by. The creator of pumpkin soup, the woman who had gathered coins to build a library, an innkeeper past middle age and nearing old age, with skin worn from long hardship, pointed to herself and asked.

Her cheeks also flushed faintly. His appearance was far too overwhelming for a woman to simply laugh it off.

Even saying he had good taste and giving him a playful smack would not be easy—his inhuman beauty made him difficult to approach casually.

Yenatrice understood the situation.

If left like this, half the city would end up as the dragonkin’s lovers.

“Jaxon.”

Jaxon quickly realized it too. Why had he suddenly gone like this again? The thought crossed his mind, but he also knew he couldn’t just leave it alone.

“Yeah, not something to stab him over.”

After stopping Jaxon, Yenatrice observed the dragonkin again and thought. If left alone, he would only cause trouble everywhere. That much was certain.

She recalled what Lua Gharne had once said about the dragonkin.

“If you give him something to do and keep his mouth shut, he’s useful.”

She had also said that he picked up clumsy jokes somewhere, and they were quite uncomfortable to hear.

Still, a dragonkin was a legendary being. Wouldn’t it be good to accept him as part of the knights, regardless?

Yenatrice had been the one who effectively led Geor’s Dagger during Jaxon’s absence.

Leading a group was no easy task. Yet she had managed it.

Partly because her partner was an exceptional assassin, but mostly because of her own innate ability.

There had even been times when Kraiss asked Jaxon if Yenatrice would consider moving into the castle.

That had been when work was piling up and they were suffering from a shortage of capable people. Now, thanks to Edin Molsen, the burden had lessened, and there was no longer a need for her to join them.

“Someone needs to handle outside matters. That would be better for that big-eyed friend too, wouldn’t it?”

She had said that, pinpointing exactly what was needed.

And she had been right.

If Yenatrice said tomorrow that the sun would rise in the west, Jaxon would simply nod and accept it.

To him, she was more than just a lover.

To add, it wasn’t only Enkrid who had been approached by matchmakers.

They had reached out to everyone, including Rem.

“Hey, I’ve got a wife and kid in the west.”

Even when Rem said that, they did not give up.

“Then you could have a wife and child here as well.”

Hearing that kind of response made everything obvious.

“Then everyone would die.”

At that, Rem calmly laid out a very realistic scenario of continental destruction.

Jaxon, being even more handsome, had even more matchmakers clinging to him.

Each time, Yenatrice told him it was fine, that he could even marry into a noble family.

“As long as you leave Geor’s Dagger behind.”

Which, of course, was just another way of telling him not to go.

Even if the sky split in two and monsters poured down like rain, Jaxon had no intention of doing that.

Even if the world ended, he was Yenatrice’s man. He needed no other woman. She was his lover, his family, his other half.

Yenatrice looked quietly at the dragonkin, then asked,

“You’ve got a lot to do today, don’t you?”

Today’s work—Jaxon had been in the middle of sorting out and eliminating the remaining subordinates.

Yenatrice was clever in a different way from Kraiss. She had an innate talent for handling people and judging what they were capable of.

‘A dragonkin stands alone.’

Then perhaps he wouldn’t involve himself in something like this? Though, judging by how he was currently flirting with everyone around him, that didn’t seem quite right.

It was a simple test.

And if that dragonkin needed to learn how to get along with others, there was no better teacher than Jaxon.

Why?

Because Jaxon himself was the kind of person who found it easier to live alone.

And yet now, he got along well with everyone. When he fought with Rem, they even seemed quite close at times. Of course, saying that out loud would earn him a glare from Jaxon.

‘Still, it’s kind of cute.’

Yenatrice was two years older, and having grown up together, the two were like both lovers and siblings.

“It’d be good if you came along with us.”

Yenatrice said.

“Why would I?”

Jaxon replied immediately.

“Now that servants of demons have appeared, things are going to get rougher, right?”

That was true. Jaxon acknowledged it inwardly, while outwardly he simply looked at his lover.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to have even one more capable person?”

As always, she was right.

And so Jaxon began traveling with the dragonkin. The dragonkin, for his part, seemed unconcerned with how things turned out.

“Servants of demons?”

“Yes.”

“That would be something that helps this city and Enki. And something that corrupts those beautiful things.”

Compared to before, his attitude was far more proactive. Yet his expression remained calm, making it impossible to read his emotions.

The two spent three nights together.

Temares’s mind-reading proved extremely useful in identifying and filtering out the remaining subordinates.

“We won’t need to search one by one. Brother Lizard.”

Audin said when they met.

“Yes, Bear Beastman.”

The dragonkin replied.

“...Are you trying to start a fight?”

“Me? Not at all.”

Jaxon taught him that if he didn’t understand something, it was best to keep his mouth shut, and only told him the titles used within the Mad Order of Knights.

Since Temares took those words at face value, he called Audin a bear. Jaxon, hearing their exchange, laughed.

Yeah, it was amusing to watch.

In any case, the dragonkin had returned.

While they were clearing out the subordinates and teasing the knights, a letter arrived from Kraiss. It was addressed specifically to Jaxon.

“He’s calling me. If the dragonkin has joined, bring him. If not, find someone to guide the way. Someone even better than a ranger who can cross the northern mountains.”

“Is he looking for me?”

Ragna stepped forward, but naturally no one paid him any attention.

“Looking for me? Then I should go.”

Instead, the dragonkin stepped forward.

Had Kraiss expected the dragonkin to join?

Not exactly.

In the letter he sent Jaxon, he had written twelve possible scenarios. He simply prepared for everything and anticipated it.

“He’s a truly interesting man.”

Yenatrice remarked of Kraiss.

The dragonkin nodded with the same indifferent expression and needling tone as before.

“If you step forward as a guide, many will suffer, mad swordsman.”

As he threw that blunt truth at Ragna,

Ragna swung his greatsword without hesitation. The heated sunrise dropped fire into the air as it fell.

Temares met it with his own sword, Baika.

A dragonkin without duty and a dragonkin who has recognized and accepted duty are different.

He proved that with his sword.

Ragna had not put his full strength into it, but he still saw his blade stopped cold.

Power, speed, proper distribution of weight.

Judging purely by skill, he would not fall behind anyone.

The dragonkin’s ability had improved.

Or more precisely, he was regaining the strength he had once had.

“Then.”

Just as the two were about to leave, Kraiss had wanted Jaxon for the king’s protection, and the dragonkin as a guide and a special card. That meant the two of them were enough.

“I’ll join as well.”

Another person stepped in.

Her name was Shinar Kirheis—the return of the fairy.

“I’ll meet my partner there, I suppose.”

She said, reflecting on the time she had spent apart.

No one tried to stop her.

Even if they had, she was not the kind of fairy who would listen.