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Chapter 16
“Uhh…”
As the Goldmaster’s puppet trembled while receiving Ashuray’s scale, the red-haired man and woman kept glancing nervously at Elshunaine.
But whether they did or not, Elshunaine’s ears were ringing from the crowd of reporters swarming around her.
“W-Who are you, ma’am?”
“Can you tell us your affiliation?”
“Your status, please! You’re obviously a noble, right?”
At that moment, her eyes met with those of the two pale-faced redheads who had been sneaking glances at her.
“……!”
They flinched, clearly startled, and hunched their shoulders. Then, awkwardly, they slipped into the crowd of reporters.
“We’ve recognized you from the start! That dignity radiating from your noble self!”
“Yes, yes! We noticed right away!”
“Ahem, would you consider signing a contract with our Harwa Trading Company…?”
“If you have any more items like that, perhaps we could partner with you…?”
Just moments ago they had mocked her as a beggar. But upon realizing she was the owner of the scale, their attitude changed faster than the speed of light.
Elshunaine couldn’t help but smirk at the absurd turnaround.
Seeing her smile, the red-haired pair laughed along awkwardly.
“I’m not interested.”
“Pardon?”
But the laughter didn’t last long.
“I make it a point not to associate with people below a certain standard.”
Smile.
Her lips curved beneath her mask in a calm arc, and she spoke clearly, addressing everyone present.
“I’ll be watching to see if anyone is worth partnering with. I’m waiting for true talent. You said you were with Harwa Trading Company? You’re off the list.”
Elshunaine slowly pulled a scroll from the pocket inside her robe.
“A company that divides people by wealth and judges their worth doesn’t even need to be investigated. Their true nature is obvious.”
And as she unsealed the scroll, she whispered under her breath:
“See you again, Goldmaster.”
“……Kku?!”
From within the puppet came the startled cry of the Goldmaster. No wonder he was surprised—Elshunaine had never revealed that she knew he was inside.
Then, with a swish, her body disappeared—teleporting to coordinates she had pre-set near Hownberthje.
“W-Wait, White Mask!”
Someone called out after her, but that was the last thing heard as she left the auction house behind.
** * * * **
After Elshunaine’s disappearance from the Golden Tower, the newspapers were abuzz every day with stories about her.
– The White Mask Appears Like a Comet! She Presents a Silver Dragon’s Scale to the Empire!
– Who Is She? Could She Be a Silver Dragon Herself?
– “I’m Waiting to Invest in Talent!” The White Mask! How Much Did She Earn at the Auction?!
Headlines were plastered everywhere, accompanied by looping video clips of a white-masked woman smiling with a strangely wicked air.
“Wait a second… when did I ever smile that evilly?”
Elshunaine frowned at the footage, scratching her cheek. It looked a little too convincing.
“This world is so strange. Science is barely developed, but magic? It’s insanely advanced.”
She blinked a few times while staring at the strange, moving image on the magical paper.
Just then, Kylian, seated with his legs crossed and reading the paper, set it down with a loud thump.
“Elshunaine. Don’t you think it’s strange?”
“Uh, huh?”
Startled, she bit her tongue for no reason.
“W-What’s strange, Kylian?”
He was looking at the image of her in the paper.
To hide her trembling lips, Elshunaine lifted her steaming teacup to her mouth—too hot!
“……”
She burned her tongue. As she stuck it out to cool it, Kylian’s crimson eyes bored into her.
“Be careful.”
That look…
Was clearly the “How pathetic can you get?” stare.
With an awkward cough, Elshunaine nodded broadly.
“Haha. Didn’t expect it to be that hot. But… what’s strange?”
She blew on her cup and asked. Kylian gracefully picked up his own cup and answered.
“The scale of Ashuray. Why would it suddenly appear at the Golden Tower?”
Cough, cough!
She choked, this time spilling tea all over the back of her hand.
Ack! Hot, hot, hot!
“Sigh…”
Over her recoiling hand, a large, cool hand covered hers. It was Kylian’s.
“I told you to be careful.”
A white light spread between their joined hands—Kylian’s divine power. Her scalded skin quickly returned to its normal color, and the pain faded.
It had been a while since she’d felt Kylian’s healing touch.
Still so warm…
Despite his cold personality, his divine power was always so warm and… fluffy.
Then, just as she relaxed, she felt that cooling sensation on her lips.
“Huh?”
“Hold still.”
“……Mmph.”
It seemed he was now healing her burned tongue.
Startled, Elshunaine looked up at him. Kylian was calmly placing a hand over her lips, his face impassive.
“……”
A soft, cool, tingling sensation spread across her lips, and the stinging on her tongue eased.
“Um… Kylian?”
But why wasn’t he pulling his hand away?
She tilted her head in confusion. Only then did he slowly pull away—only to nonchalantly return to his seat and cross his legs.
Then he raised one finger and pointed at the paper.
“Here. This is the person who sold Ashuray’s scale, right?”
“……Hmm. Why do you think it’s Ashuray’s? It could be from another silver dragon, right?”
She tried to change the subject, but Kylian was firm.
“It’s his scale.”
“Why?”
“It looked suspiciously sleek and sinister.”
“……That’s your reason?”
Whatever happened between them, it seemed he could now recognize Ashuray just from a single scale.
“Should I be happy that you two got so close…?”
“The real reason is simple. Ashuray would never let this happen.”
“……”
“He personally handled the cleanup of the dragons’ lairs and remains…”
True. Ashuray was a perfectionist despite his bad personality. If he handled it himself, there should be no reason for a scale to show up now.
“Hmm. Then I guess it is his scale.”
“That’s what’s strange.”
“Why…?”
“Hmmm.”
Kylian tilted his head, then stared at her silently. His gaze turned thoughtful—then seemed to settle into understanding.
“Aah. Of course. You erased your memories. It’s natural you’d forget Ashuray too.”
“……”
“He wouldn’t just give his scale to anyone. And he definitely wouldn’t let anything related to dragons float around freely.”
“I-I see.”
Elshunaine nodded hard as if she had just realized something, even mumbling quietly to herself like she was committing it to memory.
“……So yeah. That’s why it’s so odd.”
“Haha. M-Maybe someone close to Ashuray… like a good friend… asked him a favor?”
“He doesn’t have any close friends.”
“……”
Fair point.
Just as she silently agreed, Kylian muttered something else.
“Except for one.”
“Huh?”
He set his teacup down on the table with a clink, folded his hands together, and looked at her directly.
“A person Ashuray would literally give his liver and gallbladder to… He had exactly one friend like that.”
“……?”
Wait. Ashuray had a friend like that?
Elshunaine tilted her head in pure confusion.
“That half-elf guy? Was it… Ferri…dot? You mean him?”
“……”
But Kylian didn’t respond. He just poured more tea into his cup. The reddish liquid, the color of his eyes, trickled out of the teapot.
He didn’t lift his eyes from the swirling surface of the tea for a long time.
“Want more cookies?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah. Sure.”
She had been staring blankly at his sharp nose and glossy black hair. Surprised by the sudden change of topic, she quickly nodded.
It was clearly a diversion. He was obviously dodging the question.
But Elshunaine couldn’t ask again.
Because the look in Kylian’s eyes had turned far too cold.
** * * * **
“Heh! Kku! A silver dragon’s scale! Kku!”
The Goldmaster—whose real name was Gold, the baby pig—was completely overjoyed.
“Never imagined I’d get my hooves on something this rare! Kku!”
Clutching the scale in his tiny arms, he rolled around on his miniature gold-plated bed, which was custom-made to fit his small body. The whole thing shook from his excitement.
It was quite some time before his thoughts finally turned to a certain someone.
“But still… kku…”
He flapped his tiny wings and plopped into a sitting position on the bed, still clutching the scale.
“Who was that person, anyway…?”
Hmmm…
He made a serious face and rested one hoof on what he assumed was his chin.
“She knew who I was. Kku.”
But he’d never revealed his identity to her… not even once.
Gold chewed on the inside of his cheek for a while—then broke into a wide grin and flopped face-first into his bed.
“For now, I’ll just enjoy it! Kku!”
Whoever she was, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that he had the scale now.
He had a weird feeling that he’d be seeing her again soon… but shook off the ominous chill that crawled down his back.
