How To Tame an Academy Dragon

96. Flame-like love

“I-I’m going to vomit for a while.”

Joseph stumbles and disappears among the bushes in the back of the beach.

Not long after he disappeared, I turned my head to the disturbing noise I heard.

“How weak.”

We safely escaped from the underwater temple and arrived at the beach.

As soon as he landed safely on the shore of Kagera Island with the calm sea behind him, Joseph began to vomit.

“It’s because you treated it so harshly.”

If you feel good, make a full turn, accelerate quickly, and stop suddenly, then you’ll feel sick, even if you’re like me.

At my point, Doha shrugs and appeals that he is innocent. With her hands on her waist, she gazes at the horizon at the end of the sea.

“It’s calm.”

“Sure.”

As she said, the storm that disappeared and the sea with calm waves are dazzlingly beautiful.

“What will he do?”

“I’ll take you to the dock.”

“Is it okay if I just take him?”

What Doha is saying seems to be an alibi. She must be doing it because she could arouse suspicion if she suddenly said that she had picked it up from somewhere.

Before, I would have worried about our identities, but now, at least, I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about her identities.

I’m a demon tribe, so when my identity is known, people just get scared.

Still, it’s strange to say that a dragon suddenly rescued a person, so let’s talk about it appropriately.

“They say they picked up things scattered on the beach.”

“Yes, you do it yourself.”

Keeping an eye on the sea, Doha stretches her body.

“Are you passing it on?”

“Leave it.”

Doha looks back at me with her hand on the back of her head.

“Believe me.”

Do you think Ji is the heroine of some kind of love romance? She pretends to be pretty while talking cheesy… She’s pretty.

“Joseph! Let’s go when we’re done!”

I was embarrassed and shouted in the direction where Joseph disappeared.

“Go, go!”

***

“Yo, Joseph?”

“It’s Joseph!”

“I was alive!!”

When we arrived at the marina with Joseph, we were met with the surprised look of many residents.

There were still people gathered at the dock. That’s how much everyone was worried about Joseph. It was only that they were persecuted because the situation was not favorable, but I felt that they were all good people originally.

“Oh, you immature bastard! You have to rot your mother like that to get rid of it!”

“Oops!”

An elderly mother rushes over and slaps Joseph on the back, who is standing in a wrinkly state.

While many other people were throwing curses at Joseph and celebrating his return to life, I met eyes with Commander Barrod, who was staring at me from a distance with the soldiers.

Commander Barrod exhaled a long breath and bowed his head toward me in silence, and the other soldiers also bowed their heads along with the commander.

“Thank you very much for saving our son.”

As Joseph was supported by the people and returned to the village, his old mother came and bowed down to us.

“No. We only found someone who had collapsed on the beach and helped us.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Doha agreed with my words, and I helped my old mother, who was giving me an undeserved greeting, to stand up again.

Her wrinkled eyes alternated between me and Doha, and her pupils widened slightly and then narrowed.

“Indeed. Thank you very much.”

“No… That… Yes.”

Despite our dissuading, the old mother finally bowed down again to express her gratitude before stepping back.

“Caught?”

“Okay.”

Did they find out who we are? Doha shook his head as if he didn’t understand my question.

Besides the old mother, other residents came up to us and tried to ask us questions, but the soldiers rushed in and dispersed the crowd in the name of safety.

Thanks to that, we safely got out of the crowd and called a soldier to stop us.

“Have you not seen the strange old man who always asks after people?”

“Ah. That nosy grandpa? He went up to the village with the flower girl earlier.”

A flower shop girl must be a sister.

“Thank you.”

At my greeting, the soldier grabs his helmet and nods his head before disappearing on his way.

“I see you’ve gone home.”

“Shall we go there then?”

Follow the uphill back to the village and return to the house of Horkos at the end of the cliff above the mountain.

On the way up, the pleasant conversations of people whom I have rarely seen hit my eardrums.

Those who rejoice that the storm is gone, and those who talk about the miracle of Joseph’s safe return. Everyone is talking about a bright tomorrow in a hopeful atmosphere.

It’s not something I was aiming for, but it can’t be helped that my shoulders go up for no reason.

“Hmm~”

“How do you feel?”

Seeing Doha humming from the sidelines makes me laugh.

“Joe, that’s great! Go for a walk!”

Do-ha uses a bullsh*t to be ashamed of herself for exposing her loopholes.

“Tackling.”

Doha snorts without listening and walks forward.

Since I pointed it out, he hasn’t hummed any more, but it seems that he can’t hide his strangely cheerful steps.

After turning along the mountain road at a fork in the road, we arrived at a small space in Horcos where various flowers were still in full bloom.

“Horkos…”

The old man brought a chair to the edge of the cliff and sat down. Next to him, Sistar is standing side by side watching the clear sky.

The moment I quietly approached them. Horkos’s low voice flowed from him.

“You’re back.”

“Yes.”

“Welcome.”

Cista turned back at Horcos’s words and welcomed us. It was a very confused face before we broke up, but now it’s the same as the first time we met without any sign of that.

“Can you hear this?”

Horcos’s voice was also clearly gay and serious. Now it seems to have returned to its original spirit.

“A sound?”

Horcos stood up when Doha asked his question. Sistar tried to support the rising Horkos, but Horkos held out her hand and refused her touch.

Horcos walks forward, leaning on a staff he brought from somewhere with his hands on his hips.

“Can’t you hear the voices of the happy people?”

Standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the village, Horkos straightened his back and put down his staff. The old dragon returns with a majestic figure like a waist that gradually spreads out.

“My mission must end here.”

“Grandpa?”

Sister approaches Horcos, who looks up at the sky and utters a short chant.

Does she know the real face of Horcos who doesn’t suffer from dementia?

“Will you bring her to her?”

Horkos kept his mouth shut. The old man, who just stared blankly at the sky, didn’t know what she was thinking.

“Yes.”

Sistar and Doha looked at me at the same time as I replied without knowing what he was saying.

I turned and went into Horkos’s house and approached the little table next to his bed.

“Photos.”

Old paper that is more like a picture than a photograph. On the paper was a picture of a middle-aged Horkos and a woman clinging to his arm, smiling mischievously.

How long has it been since the edges of the paper have turned yellow and cracked? I was worried that I might damage the picture, so I carefully held it in its entirety.

“What is that?”

“Should I say portrait…?”

“Oh.”

When I show the picture to Doha and Sistar, who approach, both eyes sink sadly.

After passing by them, I approached Horkos and held out a picture frame in front of him. Horcos, who looked up at the sky to see if he had found the picture frame I was holding out, lowered his head and took over the picture frame.

“Ah. Elisha… You are still beautiful.”

Horcos, who opened the lid of the frame, lifted up their picture with slightly trembling hands. A weak wind blew the photo dangerously, and the old paper in the corner crumbled and scattered into the sky.

“Horkos.”

Worried that the photo might disappear if I overdo it, I cautiously called him.

“Too much. Too late. Now… Now…”

“The picture…”

Look at the picture he is holding with the warning of Doha.

“Horcos!”

Old photos that have lost the protection of frames eventually cannot withstand the wind blowing at the edge of the cliff and crumbles like powder.

I was startled and stretched out my hand, but nothing was caught. Wouldn’t his heartache be great?

“Forgive me too late.”

However, Horcos smiles lightly with a calm face. Suddenly, I had a hunch that this might be the last moment of Horcos.

With that thought in mind, Horcos stepped over the edge of the cliff. There was nothing in front of him to support his body.

“Grandpa!”

It was Sistar who reacted before me and Doha. Surprised, Systar called Horcos to stop, but it was too late.

Horcos’ feet, which had no place to step, collapsed, and the old man’s unbalanced body collapsed toward the bottom of the cliff.

“Grandpa…!!”

Booooong!!

The time when Sistar ran to the cliff and cried out for Horcos. A gale strikes from the bottom of the cliff.

“Kyaaah!”

“Get it!”

Sister is staggering in the fierce wind that makes it difficult to control herself. After yelling at her doha to keep her from flying, I grabbed Cista’s arm.

“Got it!”

Doha, who also grabbed her other arm, shouted.

And then the darkness came. The sunlight that illuminated the ground for a moment disappeared in an instant and night came.

“Not at night…”

Whoop!

Something gigantic climbs the cliff upside down right in front of our eyes and soars into the sky.

It’s not gone, it’s hidden. Leaves, flower petals, and light objects follow the giant body and are blown up into the sky by the gust of wind.

“De, Dragon?”

Wings wide open to the left and right. A tail with spikes similar to the Doha. As the dragon, which had covered the sun for a while, soared into the sky, sunlight returned to the ground and daytime came.

“It’s a dragon, right? I’m not mistaken, am I?”

Cista shouts as she sees the red dragon disappearing above the clouds.

“Answer me! Is that your grandfather? Did that dragon save your grandfather? Is it a guardian deity?!”

“All right.”

Doha gives a short answer to Sistar’s raging question.

“All right…”

Sistar, who was trying to argue with Doha, shut her mouth. You must have understood what Doha was trying to say.

The dragon who defeated the Great Demon King, the grandfather who asked how the villagers were doing, and the guardian deity who never forgot a woman in his heart all his life.

While me and Doha blankly looked at the place where Horcos had disappeared, Sistar took out a small blue flower from her bosom.

“What about that flower?”

“This is the flower my grandfather was looking for. It’s so rare that I barely got it a while ago…”

Sistar took the blue flower and walked to the edge of the cliff and knelt on his knees. And he planted a flower in its place.

“Thank you so much.”

Sista stood up and prayed in the direction Horcos disappeared.

“Shall we go back to the village?”

“Let’s do it.”

We looked up at the sky where Horkos disappeared for one last time before we left the cliff.