novelraw Chapter 43 : Chapter 43
Chapter 43 : Chapter 43
Chapter 43. Turmoil (12)
Riman rubbed his eyes and looked again.
Even looking again, it was a dragon.
A long snout, slightly protruding fangs, black scales, and even antlers.
Though its size was quite small, it was undoubtedly a black dragon.
Riman carefully opened his mouth.
“…Saya?”
“Sahyaaaaa!”
Whoosh!
The guy jumped onto the bed in a single bound.
Then it started hopping and rolling on the bed.
The sight of a reptile about 1.5 meters long acting affectionately like a puppy gave a quite fascinating feeling.
“…You are Saya, right?”
Riman turned his gaze under the bed.
There, broken eggshells and torn egg sacs were scattered.
Seeing the traces of the broken egg, Riman finally sighed in relief.
“It is Saya.”
Hatching , the egg breaking.
This was exactly what Riman had aimed for from the beginning.
When he took the injured Saya to Ji Byeong-seo’s house, Riman had said this.
There is no way to cure Saya.
But there is a way to save Saya.
Those words referred exactly to this situation.
Not curing Saya while in the egg state, but making her break the egg and proceed to the next stage.
Changing from a winged egg to a baby dragon.
This is exactly Hatching.
The first moment a dragon becomes dragon-like.
Riman had crawled all the way into the spider den to get the egg sacs for this.
Egg sacs.
Ordinary people only know the purpose of egg sacs is to protect the eggs.
That is half true.
But the mission of an egg sac is not simply to protect the egg.
For an egg to create new life, it must be broken.
An egg is completed by breaking, and the egg sac ultimately exists for this.
Supplying everything the egg needs until hatching.
That was the true purpose of the egg sac.
And that effect worked similarly on dragon eggs too.
But just blindly wrapping a dragon egg with egg sacs doesn't cause hatching.
Dragon eggs decide the timing of hatching themselves.
It is unknown exactly what the criteria are, but there are signs to know that the time for hatching has come.
Specifically, the eggshell becoming thin.
Because it needs to break the egg and come out, the eggshell changes to be thin.
This was the reason Saya was critically injured even by ordinary gunfire.
Because the shell had become thin.
Riman realized this was a sign that hatching was approaching, obtained the egg sacs, and safely progressed the growth until hatching.
And the result was successful as seen.
Because the result was jumping around happily on the blanket.
Riman stroked Saya’s head and said.
“You suffered.”
As if understanding Riman’s words, the guy’s bright eyes were shining.
“By the way, this room, you did this, right?”
The condition of the hotel room Riman was staying in was originally a mess.
Damp blanket, moldy floor, cigarette smell soaked in the wallpaper, etc.
But not now.
The air became dry and fresh, and the moldy and cigarette smells disappeared completely.
Moreover, the room temperature had also cooled down pleasantly.
Riman knew.
That this was Saya’s ability.
“Hiss-hiss-hiss!”
Saya flew up and circled around the light.
It was a strange movement as if swimming in the sea of air.
Saya’s species is a dragon (Yong).
Often confused with a dragon (Western dragon), but the two were distinctly different creatures.
Except for being reptilian, there were almost no common points between a Western dragon and an Eastern dragon.
Western dragons exist as incarnations of destruction.
On the other hand, Eastern dragons exist as symbols of harmony.
The attribute symbolizing Western dragons is fire.
On the other hand, the attribute symbolizing Eastern dragons is water.
So there is a difference in abilities too.
A Western dragon’s main ability is breath, the breath of fire spewed out.
But an Eastern dragon’s main ability is ‘control of climate’.
Climate is basically defined by the harmony of temperature and humidity.
From there, heat and cold, dryness and moisture, rain and snow, floods and droughts extend to embody the phenomenon called climate.
Therefore, an Eastern dragon can cause typhoons and lightning, but can also create fair winds and warmth.
Of course, Saya cannot wield such a powerful force yet.
Since she was a baby.
But she could control the climate of this hotel room at will.
The result was exactly this.
Saya adjusted the humidity, temperature, and wind flow of this room to transform this room like this.
“Oh my, what a praiseworthy thing.”
When Riman stroked her head, Saya lifted her head high and rubbed her cheek against his palm.
“Ah right, wait a moment, maybe there’s still some left.”
Riman opened the refrigerator.
One cool beer can that hadn’t been opened yet was there.
“Want to drink?”
As soon as she saw the alcohol, Saya flew over hurriedly.
When he opened the can for her, the guy drank well holding the can with her short front paws.
“Is it because dragons are close to water that they like alcohol…….”
Or is it just her taste?
Riman blankly watched Saya drinking beer.
After watching Saya shake out the last drop of beer into her mouth like that.
Riman stood up to throw away the empty can.
At that moment.
Clank—
A sound was heard from outside the door.
A familiar, yet ominous sound.
It was the sound made when a sword worn at the waist moves.
Originally, it was a sound almost inaudible to human ears, but Riman’s sharp senses captured it.
‘Don’t tell me…….’
Riman recalled the night raid he experienced a while ago.
That day when Ork Corporation’s forces invaded the hotel where Riman was staying.
Riman felt a strong déjà vu.
‘Did Parakel send them? They wouldn’t have left evidence at the spider den site?’
Tzzzz—
Riman sucked in the surrounding mana and began circulating it in his body.
At the same time, he activated sensory sharing with Saya.
After a few seconds of tension lingered.
The person wearing the sword finally reached Riman’s door.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell rang.
At the same time, a question mark passed through Riman’s head.
Pressing the bell?
‘Not breaking the door and entering?’
When Riman didn’t respond because he was spacing out for a moment, the opponent pressed the doorbell once more.
Ding-dong—
“Hey! Riman!! Are you in there? Huh?!”
Riman.
The moment that name was heard, Riman’s eyes wavered.
Currently, Riman’s public name is Leman White.
Therefore, very few people knew Riman’s real name and would call him that.
And that voice was…….
“Ah shit, should I break the door…….”
“Wait! There’s a person inside!!”
Riman withdrew his mana and hurriedly opened the door.
Outside the door stood a man wearing a sword at his waist.
Riman knew who he was.
Kyle Carlson.
Agent belonging to the World Federation Special Forces.
The one who witnessed the pledge between Lancelot and Riman in Mugan.
Lancelot’s close junior.
And above all, the one who rushed to kill Riman inside the transport plane coming to Korea.
He had come to find Riman out of the blue.
Riman said.
“…Kyle?”
“What, you were here?”
“What brings you here?”
“What do you mean what brings me? Hyung-nim sent me.”
“Lancelot……?”
“Yeah. Well anyway, it’s a relief. If you had run away somewhere, I would have had to chase and kill you. Things became easy.”
“Wait, run away?”
Riman pointed to the tracking necklace on his neck and said.
“This is on me, run away where?”
“I thought you took it off and ran away.”
“I mean why…….”
“You just stayed still in one spot for nearly ten days. Anyone would have thought so looking at it on the screen?”
“Ah.”
For the past ten days, Riman didn’t go out of the hotel room at all.
From the monitoring perspective, it was understandable to misunderstand that Riman might have taken off the necklace.
“So… you thought I took off the necklace in the hotel room and ran away……?”
“Right.”
“Look.”
Riman lifted his left arm wearing a brace and said.
“My arm is broken. There were many battles recently too. So I was stuck inside recuperating.”
“Then what about when you suddenly disappeared in the middle?”
“Disappeared?”
“There was a time your signal disappeared for a few hours. Phone didn’t work either. What on earth were you doing?”
“Ah, you mean ten days ago?”
Riman seemed to know what Kyle was talking about.
“Ten days ago, I went into a cave where Demonic Beasts live. I needed to get something urgently.”
“Demonic Beast den……?”
“To be precise, a cave where spider Demonic Beasts live. But electronic devices don’t work inside Demonic Beast dens. Probably that’s why the signal cut off.”
“Aha…….”
Kyle nodded in acceptance.
Because he judged Riman was telling the truth.
Kyle only said ‘signal cut off’, he didn’t say when the signal cut off.
Of course, he knew the day the signal cut off was ten days ago.
But he deliberately didn’t say it.
To distinguish whether Riman was lying or not.
And Riman said exactly ten days ago.
It matched what Kyle knew.
So Kyle judged Riman was telling the truth.
“…But why did you go into the spider den? Was an escaped convict there too?”
“It’s a long story… I needed an item to save that friend urgently, so I went in to get it.”
Saying so, Riman turned his body to show the inside of the hotel room.
Precisely to show Saya.
Kyle saw the long reptile sprawling on the table.
Kyle asked.
“…Pet? You raise a snake?”
“It’s a dragon.”
“Quite a grandiose name.”
“No, I mean a real dragon.”
“Talk sense…….”
“Saya!”
When her name was called, Saya flew to Riman in a single bound.
Whoosh!
And coiled around Riman’s body and climbed up.
Seeing that, Kyle’s mouth dropped open.
Movement flying as if swimming in the air without any wing flaps.
Flight that seemed to ignore laws of physics.
No pet could move in this way.
Kyle asked.
“…It’s a real dragon?”
“I told you it’s real.”
“Were you a summoner?!”
“Not that.”
“No, how… Mages who handle dragons would be counted on one hand in the whole world?!
How did you…… a dragon?”
“I bought it with money.”
“What?”
Buying a dragon with money?
Was that possible?
“Anyway, I went into the spider den to get an item needed for her treatment. Anything else you’re curious about?”
“…No.”
Actually, he wanted to pry more, but feeling that only stranger words would come out if he asked more, Kyle stopped.
Anyway, with this, what Kyle had to do was all finished.
He confirmed Riman didn’t run away, and knew what happened in the middle.
Kyle said.
“I’m going.”
“Since you came, want to eat something?”
Riman said something he didn’t mean.
Kyle shook his head.
“I have to return to the country immediately.”
“Aha. Then go well.”
Kyle turned his back and walked, then suddenly stopped again and said.
“Ah, right.”
“……?”
“Do you happen to know about ‘Red Chips’?”
“Ah.”
Of course.
The worst addictive drug in history, Red Chips.
“That started being released into the market again, so I wondered if you knew anything.”
“I’ll look into it.”
Actually, there was nothing to look into.
That guy, he was in Korea right now.
But Riman didn’t say it.
He didn’t particularly want to share the credit for catching that guy with Kyle.
Kyle said.
“Anyway, good work. You’re the one who caught the most escaped convicts so far.”
“Oh.”
“I’m going.”
Leaving only those words, Kyle went to the elevator.
Riman closed the door.
And let out a short sigh.
“…Whew.”
Riman, whose tension relaxed, leaned against the wall.
Kyle came personally.
And sent by Lancelot at that.
If he was curious about Riman’s whereabouts, he could have called, but he sent an agent of Kyle’s level personally.
What this meant was simple.
If Riman was moving differently from his thoughts, he would kill him.
Lancelot still didn’t trust Riman even a bit.
‘...Well, it’s natural not to trust.’
Riman Solaris.
He was strictly a criminal imprisoned in Mugan too.
Even the charge was mass murder.
No matter how hard he catches escaped convicts, such a guy cannot be easily trusted.
Of course, Riman’s personality now wasn’t the original Riman.
But convincing them of that was impossible.
“…Well, whatever.”
Anyway, what Riman wanted to obtain from the beginning wasn’t trust but freedom.
There was nothing to be disappointed about.
Well still……
‘Good work, he says.’
Whether trust or not, at least it seemed he was acknowledged.
Splash—
Riman took a shower, packed his bags, and went out.
But he didn’t come out to catch the Red Chips manufacturer right now.
Because there was something to resolve first before catching that guy.
“Saya.”
“Sahyaaaa?”
“Let’s go. To get a new house.”