IJIV 19

Chapter 19

After escorting Ibria back to the lodging, El loosened his sword and stared at the mirror hanging on the wall.

His features were delicate. If his hair were long, someone might even mistake him for a woman. Now that he had grown taller, from a distance he looked like a proper young man. But up close, anyone who saw his face would be shocked and ask if he was really the El Roitz they’d heard rumors about.

He had realized early on that his appearance didn’t match the image people usually had of a strong knight. His older brothers teased him every day, calling him a girl. After training, when he bathed and changed, they often hid his clothes and left a skirt instead. When he protested in tears, they laughed, saying he looked like a girl and even spoke with a girlish voice.

It wasn’t until much later that he understood this was their way of challenging the youngest sibling with the greatest talent. As he grew taller than his brothers and surpassed them in swordsmanship, the teasing naturally stopped.

But no matter how much his body grew, his delicate, refined features didn’t change. A knight couldn’t hide his face, but he could control his voice. So El spoke as little as possible, believing that was the way to appear knightly.

Then Ibria said something unexpected.

“—Your voice is really nice.”

He had been startled by her words. No one had ever said that to him. Was Ibria teasing him like his brothers did? Considering her usual behavior, that seemed likely.

“Why do you live without speaking when you have such a nice voice? If it were me, I’d be talking all day.”

But the tone that followed seemed sincere. Her words and sharp expression were typical of Ibria, but there was no pretense in her tone.

Noble and proud, Ibria Oberon usually spoke with carefully chosen words, indirect and refined. Direct speech was considered crude, so she always circled around her point.

But lately, Ibria had changed. Whatever she said, it was direct.

‘Even the conversation with Ridon was like that.’

As El blankly replayed the conversation in his mind, the lodging became noisy. The knights who had gone to scout the Black Forest returned. Originally, Baron Insectia had planned to provide Ridon and El with private rooms. But El insisted on staying with the others, saying he shouldn’t have a better room than the knights.

“Commander?”

One of the returning knights called out to El, who was standing still. As El’s blurry eyes slowly focused on him, the knight quickly bowed.

“All returned safely. Should we tell everyone to go inside and rest?”

The knight had a simple trick for talking to the taciturn El: ask questions he could answer with a “yes” or “no.” El would then nod or shake his head.

But this time was different.

“My voice…”

“Yes?”

El spoke for the rarest of times, and the knight, startled, repeated himself. Seeing the knight’s wide eyes, El pressed his lips shut and shook his head—indicating it was nothing.

“Then shall we tell everyone to go inside and rest?”

This time El nodded. The knight’s face brightened at the confirmation.

“Everyone, go inside and rest!”

As the knights busily moved, El remained standing as if nailed to the spot.

—Your voice is really nice.

Ibria’s words kept echoing in his mind.

“Today I’m sleeping in, so don’t bother me in the morning. Got it?”

I warned Harry, who had returned to his human form and sprawled across my bed. Having gotten used to taking up space even as a dog, he now claimed the bed in human form as well.

At first, I tried to push him away. But neither words nor strength could persuade him. Demons were strong and stubbornly persuasive. Once Harry decided to insist, I could only surrender. I could force him with magic, but constantly doing so was exhausting.

‘The bed’s wide anyway.’

With a resigned sigh, I let Harry have one side of the bed. Since then, he often claimed the bed before I even lay down.

‘Has he actually become a dog when he transforms? He’s that loyal to his owner.’

Harry always slept beside me like a young puppy.

‘As long as he sleeps on the same bed, most of his whining is gone.’

Thinking about it, he really was like a dog.

But today, even without stopping him from sleeping in the same bed, he seemed grumpy. True enough, he sulked and rolled on the bed with a pouty face.

“Well, today your owner’s dog is in a terrible mood. Might accidentally bite me while I’m sleeping.”

“What? Why are you so eager to get me? I even let you hunt wyverns—50 of them!”

“Now you can’t do that anymore!”

‘Of course he’s angry about that.’

I had sided with the wyvern leader, preventing Harry from enjoying the hunt he loved. Without properly appeasing him, he would be troublesome for a while.

I approached the sulking Harry and met his gaze. He quickly turned his head away. But I wasn’t giving up. I moved around the bed and met his eyes again. He turned away once more.

So what did I do? Naturally, I followed him again.

Harry avoided, I pursued.

“Harry, going back and forth like this is dizzying. How long do we have to do this?”

He muttered quietly after thinking.

“…Just once more. If I stop immediately after you say you’re dizzy, it’ll feel like I lost.”

“Alright, one more time.”

As soon as I said yes, Harry turned his head once more. I quickly approached and met his eyes. As promised, he didn’t look away.

“Feeling like talking now?”

Harry clicked his tongue.

“You were probably a fox in your past life.”

“No way. I was human back then too.”

Before becoming Ibria, I was definitely human. Harry snorted at my certainty.

“Then a fox-like human, I suppose.”

“Uh…”

‘That assessment’s not wrong, though.’

Because of that, I often handled all the troubles. Every contract dispute or complaint was my responsibility.

‘The problem is that it happens daily.’

Normally, accidents happen rarely. But in trade, incidents occurred every day.

‘Miscommunications leading to contract mistakes, miscalculations causing huge losses, offending someone due to ignorance of their culture…’

Just thinking of them, I couldn’t count on my fingers.

“Then what kind of conversation is our fox-like owner planning?”

Harry narrowed his eyes. I wracked my brain to calm him, but how could a normal human understand a demon’s mind? I decided to ask Harry directly.

“How can I calm you down?”

“Contractor, I want only one thing—pleasure. That’s why demons exist. If I can’t get it, I might go berserk at any time.”

Harry’s eyes sparkled threateningly. It wasn’t just a threat—such a strong demon could easily tear my neck out.

“I’ll find a way. If we explore the continent, we might find something you can hunt.”

There were many other beasts besides wyverns. While wyverns were the main problem, trolls, goblins, and orcs also existed.

The issue was territory. Wyverns lived in the Black Forest, the duke’s domain. Other beasts belonged to other noble estates.

‘If an accident happens hunting there…’

The Duke of Oberon wouldn’t stay idle. Within his domain, the duke’s authority was like a king’s. Ibria could handle accidents, but outside, even the duke had limits. That was the law.

‘Even if the duke could manage it, better not risk it.’

Having already been exiled to the countryside, another accident could ruin me completely.

‘Then all the Oberon wealth—my rich future—would fly away like a mountain bird.’

‘I can’t let that happen.’

“Then until you find a solution, what should I do?”

“How long do you think you can hold out?”

“If I don’t use my strength, a few months. But…”

Harry had to stay transformed, using his energy constantly.

‘How long did he last this time?’

I called Harry out to estimate how long until he would go berserk.

‘Not even a month, probably.’

Filling a demon’s need for pleasure was like satisfying human hunger. Lasting that long was a small miracle.

“I’ll find a solution within a month.”

“And if you don’t?”

“If not…”

My mind went blank. I sighed.

“Do we really need to think that badly already?”

“Just preparing for the worst.”

“If we think positively, we’ll find an answer. I don’t want to be killed by Harry, so no worst-case thoughts.”

I shivered, and Harry’s eyes went wide.

“Why would I kill you?”

“If you go berserk, won’t that happen?”

“You said not to think of the worst, but your imagination is scarier. What I imagined was just…”

He trailed off, staring at me.

“Just what?”

I urged him. He silently got up from the bed.

“Anyway, me tearing your neck out would be the absolute last worst-case scenario. Don’t worry too much.”

“Thanks for protecting my neck….”

I wondered what he imagined as the worst. But he avoided my gaze and changed the subject.

“Forget that. Tell me about the achievement you were talking to that prince about. What do you plan with the wyverns?”

“Oh, that.”

I was about to ask for Harry’s opinion, since he knew this world well. I had concluded it was possible, but I wanted someone else’s certainty too.

“Have you heard of Dragon Knights?”

Not in Lady Catherine, but I had seen them in another story.

“Dragon Knights?”

“Yes. Knights who ride dragons into battle.”

“You mean humans riding dragons—or wyverns—into battle?”

Harry frowned, skeptical.

“How’s that possible? Wyverns won’t calmly let anyone ride them.”

“But I rode one back.”

“That’s because you have the leader’s scales.”

“What if I asked to have knights ride and fight with me?”

Harry fell silent. The wyvern leader had promised he’d do anything if Harry stopped the slaughter. Riding knights into battle would be feasible.

“If humans don’t want to kill wyverns, we need to show that they can coexist. If wyverns become members of the knights, that’s proof.”

“Do you really need to go that far? The promise with the leader was just to stop killing wyverns. You weren’t promising everyone else wouldn’t kill them.”

“That’s true….”

Humans and wyverns could communicate. Couldn’t they negotiate mutually beneficial coexistence?

Wyverns lost eggs annually. Humans were injured or killed annually. Both suffered.

‘Ugh. This obsession with mediating deals…’

Humans don’t change overnight.

‘And if wyverns and humans get along, Erel won’t need royal aid.’

Tying up annoying capital connections nicely. Not a bad deal.

“So the achievement for the prince is the Dragon Knights? Wyverns loyal to the knights?”

“That’s too extravagant. Riding wyverns is for our Frost Knights.”

Why give the royal knights more power? Becoming Dragon Knights strengthens our Frost Knights.

“The Frost Knights? Then what does the prince get?”

“The right to take the bones and claws of wyverns who die naturally.”

Wyverns have lifespans. Once dead, they wouldn’t care about their bones or claws.

‘That’s very valuable to humans, though.’

“In exchange, he must promise to stop wyvern hunts.”

The hunts were because wyverns harmed humans. If the wyverns joined the Frost Knights, the hunts would no longer be justified. Plus, he gets the rare resources. The crown couldn’t refuse.

“Normally, resources from killing beasts go to the crown, but that only works if wyverns can be killed. Smuggling happens often. Peaceful resource acquisition is a good thing for the crown.”

The only concern would be the balance of power.

“The Frost Knights under Oberon having Dragon Knights—isn’t that too strong? But would the crown doubt Oberon’s loyalty? Probably not.”

Harry listened calmly, then looked skeptical.

“Why? Does it seem impossible?”

“No, the royal family will accept it. But if Frost Knights in Erel ride wyverns…”

“Right. Why?”

“The Frost Knights have ‘that one.’”

“Ah.”

Harry didn’t name him, but I immediately knew who ‘that one’ was.

Lionel Dilph. Him riding a wyvern into battle.

“…I really can’t imagine it.”

“Right?”