Monsters Wag Their Tails Only at Me

People gathered inside the tent whose owner was absent. Even though Noance still had not returned from searching for the river spirit alongside Kallen, the rebel leader’s quarters continued to serve as a meeting room.

Varen, Morpha, Theo, and I sat around the circular table. Silence drifted between the four of us who had arrived earlier than the appointed time.

There was no reason for comrades who had crossed the line between life and death together to suddenly become awkward now.

But Morpha kept shooting displeased glances at Varen.

Theo and I pretended not to notice while cautiously reading the mood. The one actually receiving the sharp stares, meanwhile, stubbornly acted oblivious.

At last, Morpha broke the silence.

“Lord Varen, I think it would be best if you remained somewhere quiet while I finish handling things.”

Faced with the sudden disciplinary order, Varen immediately answered in a dissatisfied tone.

“Why should I? I’m a Dravergh. Things can’t proceed without me.”

“Because every time Lord Varen steps in, everything becomes more complicated.”

“I don’t understand. We succeeded in obtaining the clue to that magic, didn’t we?”

“You could have retrieved it quietly as well. Without causing a disturbance by killing and disposing of dozens of dragon hunters.”

“We achieved the objective regardless. Didn’t we?”

“It was an objective achieved at the cost of Lord Varen’s safety. I cannot accept that happening again.”

The tension between the two dragons stretched tight.

I kept my mouth firmly shut, unable to take either side.

In the end, we had accomplished our purpose at the Aylos family estate.

Among the king’s weapons, the “death magic” had been completely shrouded in mystery and impossible to predict. We had dug up the roots of its true nature and even returned with clues that might unravel the magic itself. By every measure, the infiltration had been a success.

But it was also true that Varen had been put in danger during the process. Just seeing dragon hunters again for the first time in ages had dredged my own trauma back to the surface.

Thankfully, Varen had grown much stronger and dealt with them without much difficulty, but...

“News will reach the kingdom soon. There is nowhere in this world beyond King Laskar’s ears. Things that were already difficult will become even harder.”

If Phiren, the man holding the key to the death magic, vanished, and dozens of dragon hunter corpses were discovered around the Aylos family estate—

then it would not take long for people to uncover that Phiren had been attacked and stripped bare of his secrets.

And if that information reached the king’s ears, the royal palace—which had already been nearly impossible to infiltrate—would tighten its security even further. Morpha’s concerns were completely understandable.

I silently nodded.

But Varen glared at Morpha with a grave expression, as if he still could not accept it.

“So what? You’re telling me to quietly hide myself away somewhere?”

“The wording is aggressive, but yes. That is essentially what I mean.”

“Ha... Morpha. Could it be you’ve forgotten why I left Belzena in the first place?”

Even faced with his master’s colder voice, Morpha did not waver.

Then Varen actually bared his teeth in a growl.

“I will personally bring the war between dragons and humans to an end. That is the fate of the Dravergh.”

“But Lord Varen...”

“You followed me only to compensate for my shortcomings. You are not in a position to command me. Remember that.”

At the young king’s warning, Morpha finally fell silent.

Their eyes still held countless unsaid words, but after a moment they simply sighed softly and answered.

“Understood. I will follow Lord Varen’s will.”

Theo and I merely rolled our eyes around awkwardly and swallowed dryly.

In the vicious atmosphere of male magical creatures establishing hierarchy, the only two humans present shrank into ourselves.

Cold sweat slowly trickled down my back.

I glanced sideways at Varen, only to find him still staring coldly at Morpha.

His expression, his tone, even the atmosphere pouring from him felt so different from his usual self that it kept making me anxious.

As even I stayed silent, Theo awkwardly laughed and tried to lighten the mood.

“Ahaha... Morpha, don’t worry so much. It’s not like Varen’s a child. I’m sure he’ll handle things just fine.”

“Hmph. Obviously.”

Varen snorted in agreement with Theo’s words. Maybe he wanted to act mature, because he folded his arms and puffed his chest out broadly.

Encouraged by the reaction, Theo added a few more comments.

“Come to think of it, you’ve seemed pretty mature lately.”

“I was always mature.”

“I know that. I mean you seem even more so these days.”

Despite shrinking under the pressure of dragon royalty, Theo flattered Varen anyway. Whether he realized the praise was forced or not, Varen’s blue eyes sparkled brightly as the corners of his lips curled upward.

“Of course. I’ve been doing adult things every night.”

“......”

“Ah, come to think of it, it isn’t limited to nighttime.”

This time, the suggestive glance turned toward me.

The cold sweat running down my spine dried instantly, replaced by blood turning ice-cold.

There was no way the adults sitting here could misunderstand what kind of “adult things” Varen meant.

And considering I had been doing exactly that with him barely an hour ago, I wanted to slam my fist into his throat and scream at him to shut up.

Morpha grimaced irritably, while Theo shook his head as though the situation was hopeless.

Just as the heat flooding my face was about to make me explode, new people entered the tent and changed the atmosphere.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“We only just returned.”

The two young men who entered wore completely opposite styles of clothing, and the moods they gave off were equally different.

As I stared at them curiously, the pair introduced themselves in turn.

“I’m Sartis, currently working as an intelligence agent. Please call me Swan.”

The man wore white silk clothing suited to his codename. Swan primarily infiltrated noble society to gather key intelligence connected to the king and the military.

“Crow. Zark.”

The man who introduced himself in clipped words wore shabby black clothes. Crow worked in the exact opposite sphere, mainly collecting rumors from the streets.

I had already considered the rebels’ intelligence network one of their most useful assets, and now I was finally meeting its core members.

After the brief introductions, Swan turned to Theo.

“Where is Lord Noance?”

“He hasn’t returned yet. We’ve heard he still hasn’t made contact with our allies.”

“When will he return?”

“He’s not exactly easy to find, so there’s no telling how long it’ll take. Thankfully, we can communicate with that side in real time.”

Theo gestured toward me with his chin.

Swan’s gaze shifted my way.

He truly looked like the child of nobility—upright and elegant.

“You can communicate with Lord Noance in real time?”

“Yes, I can.”

Swan looked unconvinced.

Just as I started to flap my sleeve and call for Rami to prove it—

“Incredible. To think you can use communication magic.”

“...Well, it’s roughly similar.”

Hearing the admiration in his voice, I quietly lowered my hand again.

I almost embarrassed myself in front of someone I just met by cooing ‘there, there, little baby.’

Swan nodded toward me and asked that I relay the current discussion to Noance.

“The regional armies are moving strangely. Troops are relocating from the cities toward the outer territories. The most noticeable movement is in the north.”

He pulled a map from inside his chest pocket and spread it across the table.

The map marked the rebels’ current location, the capital where King Laskar resided, and the major regional military garrisons.

What Swan pointed to with his finger was the northern territory above the capital—the Silverian Plateau.

The familiar place name made my eyes narrow.

“The northern border defense forces already have the largest troop deployment in the kingdom. But recently, their numbers have increased noticeably. It appears that some forces were transferred from the west and east, but even that doesn’t fully account for the numbers.”

The Silverian Plateau was where Zed’s tower—the place where Kallen and I had been kidnapped—had once stood.

Beyond the cold northern plateau packed with conifer forests stretched an enormous desert.

And beyond that desert, there existed only one destination.

“They’re planning to strike Belzena.”

Morpha, who had clearly reached the same conclusion I had, spoke in a low, heavy voice.

Swan nodded once more before continuing.

“The strange thing is that we still can’t determine the scale of it. There have been no signs of recent conscription, so where exactly all these soldiers are coming from remains unclear...”

“Ah. So that’s where they ended up.”

Crow, who had been silently listening until now, finally spoke.

Contrary to his codename, his voice was low and rough.

Leaning crookedly in his chair with an arm draped over the table, he lazily swept his gaze over the map.

“There’ve already been ugly rumors going around lately.”

“What rumors?”

“That the kingdom’s been enthusiastically taking out the trash.”

When Swan questioned him, Crow leaned back comfortably in his chair and began scraping dirt from beneath his blackened fingernails.

Something about the man’s attitude strangely drew everyone’s attention, and the tent fell quiet.

Fwoo.

After blowing away the black grime with a puff of breath, the man casually dug at his ear with his pinky.

Right before everyone’s patience reached its limit, he finally tossed out the answer.

“What do you think counts as trash to the kingdom? Beggars have been disappearing lately.”

“...Beggars?”

This time Theo echoed the word under his breath.

Crow shrugged and continued.

“Men with no family, no connections, nothing but the bodies they were born with. Wondered where they’d all gone. Looks like they gathered them over there instead.”

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