The salamander, clearly exhausted from guiding the humans for hours, had curled its tail and was blinking sleepily right beside them. Looked like it was about to take a nap.
The Gold Dragon glanced at the salamander, then realized it had been a long time since they skipped breakfast—and lunch was far overdue.
“It’s way past mealtime, huh? Aren’t you hungry?”
Adrian had been staring at the river for a while before he suddenly turned and asked the prince next to him. He had completely forgotten the prince had been sitting right beside him all this time.
“…Not really.”
Mikhail answered while gazing at the two school uniforms swaying on the tree branches. The wind had picked up, and with the sun shining down like that, they were probably almost dry by now.
“What about you?”
The prince shifted his gaze from the fluttering uniforms to Adrian beside him.
“…Me?”
Hmm… The Gold Dragon brought a hand to his mouth as if pondering. The prince often answered questions with more questions, and that habit really irked the dragon. Dragons didn’t really experience hunger, so he had only asked to match the prince’s needs—but he hadn’t expected the same question to be thrown back at him.
“I guess… not really.”
So he gave the same answer as Mikhail.
Adrian’s gaze remained absentmindedly fixed on the flowing river. He liked sitting quietly on the warm rock like this, watching the water while his clothes dried. The occasional breeze brushing against his face was refreshing, too.
The prince, sitting beside him, looked at Adrian’s subtle smile, then slowly stood up.
“…We should probably get moving. I’d rather skip another one of those tasteless potatoes from yesterday.”
“Yeah? Was it that bad?”
Adrian tilted his head at the prince’s grumbling but soon nodded in agreement. He had already forgotten—again—that this guy was royalty.
“I’ll go check if there’s anything edible nearby.”
“Alright.”
Adrian gave a small nod.
***
“Check this out.”
Mikhail pushed through the underbrush with a satisfied look and stepped into the simple rest area they’d set up. It had been hours since he told Adrian to handle the fire prep while he went off to hunt.
During that time, Adrian had flicked his fingers once and finished all preparations within seconds. When the Gold Dragon used magic, golden mana particles sparkled beautifully in the air. The salamander, sleeping nearby, twitched its nose at the tickling particles and let out a loud achoo. Adrian looked over and casually waved his hand, scattering the glowing specks.
Just as he was passing time like that, Adrian turned his head at the sound of someone approaching. The prince returned with a large deer bound by magic in his arms. The deer occasionally struggled, but with all four legs tied, escape was out of the question.
Hmmm—
The dragon crossed his arms, eyeing the deer slung across the prince’s sturdy frame. The deer’s wide, trembling eyes reflected the dragon’s cool, indifferent stare.
The prince gently set the quietly breathing deer down on the ground. It instinctively jerked its long neck up and down a few times, but with its legs restrained, that was all it could manage.
The Gold Dragon slowly knelt on the ground, facing the prince.
“Give it to me.”
Adrian’s clean, pale hand extended smoothly right in front of the prince’s chest.
“…What?”
Mikhail looked at Adrian’s long, white fingers for a moment before asking. He’d been looking at the deer, and now this sudden hand was reaching out—but for what, exactly?
“The royal dagger.”
“….”
Mikhail’s expression shifted subtly. That single sentence made him feel deeply suspicious of this guy he’d been sharing a room with for a whole month.
“…How do you know about that?”
The Gold Dragon, seasoned by countless games and mischiefs, could lie without even needing to pause and consider the truth. The words flowed smoothly, and they usually sounded quite convincing.
“The Hedera Trading Company deals with magical artifacts like that pretty often. They take extra care when it comes to royal enchantments. Whenever we do training sessions, the very first thing they teach is how to recognize those items in the ledgers.”
Do merchant guilds know even the minor traditions of the royal family? That question lingered—but there was something more pressing than verifying the truth of Adrian’s claim. Between them lay a trembling, whimpering deer, frail and pitiful.
The prince, still wearing a suspicious look, raised his hand to his wrist. Then, catching Adrian’s watchful gaze, he shot him a silent warning through narrowed eyes.
“…I’ll show it to you because of the circumstances, but under normal conditions, this is strictly forbidden.”
“Sure.”
Adrian gave a half-hearted nod, clearly just urging him to hurry up and hand it over.
Sssk—The prince placed two fingers against his wrist and murmured something under his breath. A magic incantation. Then, using his thumb and middle finger, he slowly drew something from beneath the skin of his wrist. As his fingers moved, a small dagger began to rise, glimmering with light.
It was the dagger of the Rustavaran royal family—a magical tool every royal child received, intended for self-defense in emergencies.
Mikhail glared coldly at Adrian, who held out his hand with the same enthusiasm as if asking to borrow a quill. Without answering, he bent down toward the ground and said curtly:
“I’ll do it.”
“You know how to skin it?”
Mikhail gave a slight nod. It was a far more subdued response than his usual confident demeanor.
And for good reason. Killing the animal and preparing the edible portions… that was no trivial task. He had seen it done during knight training a few times, just in passing. Even in training, the task of slaughtering a deer never fell upon the prince. But now, in this forest, with no one else to do it, Mikhail believed it had to be him.
Whimper… Nghh…
The deer, sprawled out on the ground, flailed its forelegs a few times and let out a weak groan. Adrian’s emotionless brown eyes landed on the creature’s struggling limbs and twisted expression.
Mikhail took a deep breath and swallowed hard. He then raised the dagger high above his head, about to plunge it down—but froze mid-motion.
Of course. He’s never killed anything before.
Adrian, watching the scene with arms crossed, finally spoke.
“Move. Go fetch more firewood.”
Their gazes locked, almost perfectly level. Adrian placed a hand firmly on the prince’s shoulder and pushed him aside. Meanwhile, the deer continued to writhe at his feet.
“What? I can—”
Thud! Adrian shoved the prince harder between the shoulder blades with both palms.
“Don’t try to help if you’re going to half-ass it. Just go.”
Mikhail stared at Adrian, who had resolutely pushed him away. Then his eyes shifted to the deer on the ground.
“……”
“Go on.”
The prince opened his mouth to protest again, but ended up grimacing and running a hand down the back of his neck. Annoying—but the dragon was right.
Reluctantly, Mikhail began to step into the deeper woods.
Adrian sat down on the grass, watching the deer lying helplessly on the ground. Once the prince had moved far enough away, the Gold Dragon finally spoke.
Of all the living beings, it had to be you.
“Unlucky, aren’t you?”
The deer trembled and let out a weak bleat at the gentle, compassionate voice of the noble Gold Dragon. But having been caught by the prince, its fate had already been sealed. The dragon gave the deer a wistful smile.
“Sorry… I can’t send you back.”
Adrian stroked the trembling deer’s head with a pale, flawless hand. That hand slowly came to rest on the creature’s forehead.
“But I’ll make sure you don’t suffer.”
From the Gold Dragon’s lips came a language incomprehensible to any human.
As he lifted his fingers from the deer’s forehead one by one, radiant orbs of light followed the movement, as if drawn out from within. Once every finger had lifted, his palm was filled with softly pulsing, glowing light. At that same moment, the deer—until then quietly breathing—fell still.
“Well done.”
The Gold Dragon gently closed the deer’s still-open, black eyes with his palm. Then he raised his hand into the air and released the ball of light. The soul would linger in the air until it found a new vessel for its next life.
He watched the glowing light drift skyward for a moment. Then, with the prince’s dagger, he began to carve the deer, reducing it to nothing more than meat for the prince’s meal.
