Chapter 249

“Oh my, Dragon King-nim? Have you perhaps run into some kind of concern? Or maybe some sort of problem?”

“……”

A voice suddenly came fluttering into his ear and tickled it.

Dragon King Verkis turned his head.

Only then did he notice him.

There was a human standing there.

Diligently rubbing his palms together.

Hiding his greedily licking tongue.

Wearing a bright, friendly smile.

Verkis tilted his head.

“…What are you supposed to be?”

“Yes?”

“Who are you, exactly, standing in front of me like this…”

“Oh dear, I’m Lloyd Frontera. A pleasure to meet you. As things happened to turn out, I gained the qualifications for your sponsorship, Dragon King-nim, and so I rode here on a manticore, didn’t I? Do you perhaps not remember? A few days ago, I covered you with a blanket and gently fanned you. Ah, and this too.”

“……”

“In case you were thirsty when you woke up, I fetched this for you. Why don’t you start by having a nice refreshing drink?”

“……”

What was with this guy?

Verkis looked at Lloyd with a strange gaze.

Now that he thought about it, he did remember something.

‘Right. A guy like this crawled into the dungeon a few days ago.’

A human who had, after a long while, gained the qualifications for Dragon King Sponsorship.

He remembered the guy arriving on a manticore.

Had it really been nearly a hundred and fifty years since the last outsider came?

Dealing with him had been a bother.

Talking had been a bother.

Even the effort of rolling his eyes to look at him had felt wasteful.

So he had simply slept.

Just as he had done to the handful of heroes who had come here before.

He had figured that if he just slept and ignored him again this time, the fellow would leave on his own.

That he’d eventually give up on Dragon King Sponsorship and everything else.

Thinking that, he had gone right to sleep.

But now that he looked?

This fellow showed no sign whatsoever of giving up.

And yet, unlike the other heroes he had seen before, he also wasn’t clinging to him.

He wasn’t demanding the benefits of Dragon King Sponsorship.

He wasn’t insisting that the Dragon King keep his promise like a Dragon King should.

He wasn’t openly making any such demands.

Rather than clinging or begging?

He was actually standing there with lips slicked up as if he wanted to help instead.

Verkis swallowed a quiet laugh.

He accepted the cup of water Lloyd offered him. Drank it. Then asked,

“You? Helping me?”

“Yes, Dragon King-nim.”

“How? Are you saying you’ll listen to my worries or something?”

“Oh dear, if listening would help, then I’d do it a hundred times over.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Lloyd nodded firmly.

This was his chance.

He could feel it instinctively.

‘Honestly, I was starting to get a little anxious wondering when exactly the Dragon King would wake up, but luckily the opportunity came sooner than I expected.’

Lloyd had spent the past few days enjoying his staycation in the Dragon Cave.

But it wasn’t as though he had been fooling around with complete peace of mind the whole time.

In truth, he had been keeping his senses tuned to the Dragon King’s presence twenty-four hours a day.

Even while rolling around on the king’s bed.

Even while going on exciting tours through the Dragon Cave’s trap zones.

Even while roasting sweet potatoes because he got hungry.

At all times, without letting his guard down for even a moment, he had kept watch over the Dragon King’s movements.

At the same time, though, he had been quietly worried.

‘Because it looked like the Dragon King’s sleep was going to last longer than I expected.’

At first, he had thought that surely, no matter what, the Dragon King wouldn’t sleep for several straight days.

But the more he watched, the more he realized that wasn’t the case.

At minimum, the guy looked like he might sleep like this for several months.

So Lloyd had been thinking it over.

Should he wait a little longer?

Or should he find another method?

‘But then, with perfect timing, the Dragon King wakes up like this. Oh, thank you kindly.’

And the Dragon King hadn’t just woken up normally, either.

He looked to be caught up in some enormous concern.

Which meant this was an opportunity.

Possibly a chance that would be hard to get twice.

Thinking that, Lloyd shifted his tongue into full-speed-ahead gear.

“I am prepared to listen to any concern Dragon King-nim may have. Trouble? None at all. How could this possibly be troublesome? A world where we help one another! Warm goodwill toward each other! Could that perhaps not be the beautiful future we should all strive to build together?”

“……”

“My apologies. I got carried away by emotion for a moment.”

“No, never mind that. So you’re saying you can listen to my problem, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then have you ever been married?”

“……Pardon?”

“I asked if you’ve been married.”

“I have not.”

“Then do you have a girlfriend?”

“I do not.”

“You’ve never had one in your life?”

“Yes.”

“What exactly have you even been doing with your life?”

“……”

Dragon King-nim.

Why are you suddenly breaking a man’s bones with words?

Lloyd hurriedly blinked away the tears that were threatening to bead up at the corners of his eyes.

But Dragon King Verkis was cold and merciless.

“So you’ve never been married and never even had a girlfriend. Then I don’t think you can listen to my problem. Do you even know the hardships of a married man?”

“Ah, I know a little!”

“How?”

“I was always the one giving my father advice whenever my mother got upset.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. Then maybe you can help, just a tiny bit, with this terrifying emergency involving my little one getting upset?”

“Who is your little one?”

“My wife.”

“Your wi… ah, the Dragon Queen?”

“Yeah.”

“Then please, say no more. I will listen with all my sincerity.”

Lloyd dropped to his knees at once.

He leaned his upper body slightly toward Verkis.

He even desperately moved the muscles at the back of his head enough to make his ears twitch a little.

A full-body performance saying, I am prepared to listen to your worries with utmost devotion.

That attitude moved Verkis a little too.

“…Tch. It’s simple enough. My little one is upset.”

“The Dragon Queen is upset?”

“Yeah.”

“How on earth did that happen…?”

“She went on a trip this time. Took my mother with her. And our daughter too.”

“Your… mother and daughter, Dragon King-nim?”

“Yeah.”

Verkis continued.

“You may not know this, but my little one is ridiculously diligent. Beyond imagination. For the past several hundred years, she hasn’t skipped a single day of cooking or cleaning here.”

“Ah, then could it be… because of that diligence, your mother suggested the Dragon Queen go on a trip with her?”

“Oh. Correct. You’re sharp, aren’t you?”

“I just picked up on it.”

“Anyway, that’s right. She said it wasn’t good to only do housework all the time, and that it was a pity to live being that sincere day in and day out, so she should go out and get some fresh air for once. Then she whisked her away, saying they’d go off and play for a year.”

“Your mother took the Dragon Queen?”

“Yeah.”

Verkis nodded.

“And so I got left behind here by myself. Which made this a perfect opportunity.”

“Exactly. A rare once-in-a-lifetime chance. Stay behind alone, do everything you want, loaf around…”

“Exactly. You really do get it.”

“Ahaha.”

“Anyway, thanks to that, I was planning to sleep to my heart’s content, really settle into it, you know? But my little one had already seen through my intentions. So she assigned me homework.”

“Homework…?”

“She told me to wake up and contact her every morning.”

“……”

“To quote her exactly, she said, ‘My dear husband? This maiden has, for the first time, left your side to go out and see the world. And so this maiden worries greatly for the husband who remains here alone. Therefore, my husband, do please rise every morning and send word to this maiden.'”

“…Ahaha. That’s dripping with honey.”

“But isn’t it terrifying?”

“Yes. It is.”

Lloyd readily agreed.

Now that he thought about it, there was definitely something rather fearsome hidden inside that soft, lovey-dovey request.

‘Those soft-spoken requests are always the scary ones.’

He suddenly remembered the way his father used to get worn down sometimes back in South Korea.

Come to think of it, Dragon King Verkis had a very similar expression to his father back then.

“I genuinely don’t understand. She wants me to get up every single morning and contact her. What kind of life—no, dragon life—does a person have to live to be able to wake up on their own every morning without fail? Is that actually even possible?”

“Ah, that certainly isn’t easy for all humans either.”

“Right? I’m not the only weird one, am I?”

“Of course not.”

Lloyd bantered along.

Then he got straight to the core of the Dragon King’s problem.

“Then… surely you haven’t been contacting the Dragon Queen all this time?”

“Yeah.”

“For how long?”

“I don’t know exactly, but I think it’s been at least a month.”

“…Then did you try contacting her today?”

“Of course I did. With communication magic. But it failed.”

“Don’t tell me…”

“You’re quick on the uptake.”

“She blocked the call, didn’t she?”

“Yeah. Help me. How do I resolve this emergency?”

“……”

Lloyd shut his mouth.

How was he supposed to help with this?

And if he did help, what could he squeeze out of it?

He analyzed the situation.

Calculated it piece by piece.

Weighed the gains and losses.

And finally reached a conclusion.

“Excuse me, but may I ask one thing… You haven’t considered going to find the Dragon Queen yourself, have you?”

“Of course not. Why would I go running over there just to get nagged at immediately?”

“Fair enough.”

That was only natural.

Walking right up to a sulking wife without reading the room?

That was basically the same as shouting, Please kill me.

So first, you had to calm her anger before approaching.

That was clearly the very point the Dragon King was struggling with.

How to soothe her anger.

Fortunately, Lloyd already had the answer in mind.

He said confidently,

“Then come to my estate.”

“What?”

Verkis tilted his head.

“You want me to go? To your estate?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds bothersome. Why?”

“Because I can give you a wake-up call.”

“A wake-up call?”

“Yes.”

This was the important part.

Lloyd slicked his lips.

Then he fitted an even gentler, fresher smile onto his face.

And spoke in a voice overflowing with trustworthiness.

“Dragon King-nim, just think about it for a moment. You said it yourself earlier, didn’t you? What kind of dragon life does one need to live to be able to open one’s eyes every single morning, all bright and sparkly, and wake up on one’s own?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“I feel exactly the same. There is nothing more difficult or miserable than opening your eyes every morning of your own free will. However, what if it weren’t you doing it on your own, but someone else waking you?”

“Someone else? You mean you’d wake me up?”

“Yes.”

He nodded with absolute certainty.

Then, with his tongue loaded full of the honesty, trust, and reliability of a full-blown insurance scam ring, he said,

“Every day, at a fixed time, every morning, I will wake you up. So that Dragon King-nim can contact the Dragon Queen.”

“Hmm. But what if my little one keeps refusing my calls?”

“Then you must keep contacting her anyway.”

“Would that really work?”

“It will.”

Lloyd declared it firmly.

“Isn’t the Dragon Queen angry because you broke your promise to contact her every morning? Of course, you cannot undo the past. You cannot erase that mistake. But the moment you think it is too late is actually the earliest moment possible. So from now on, every day, every morning, without fail, you must contact her diligently.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Of course, at first the Dragon Queen may ignore several of your calls. But if you continue contacting her steadily, then eventually her heart will soften. Why? Because you will be showing her that you reflected on your actions and became diligent. Even if the calls themselves did not connect.”

“Ohhh. That sounds convincing.”

“Yes. And I will help you with that.”

“You’re saying you’ll wake me up every morning?”

“Yes. Dragon King-nim need only spend the whole day loafing arou… no, sleeping, and then simply open your eyes when I wake you and contact the Dragon Queen.”

“And then I can spend the whole rest of the day sleeping again? Until you wake me the next morning?”

“Exactly. And furthermore—”

Lloyd’s confident sales pitch continued.

“Wouldn’t simply showing that you’ve come all the way out beyond the Dragon Cave for once also earn you extra points with the Dragon Queen?”

“So that’s why you’re insisting I go all the way to your estate.”

“Yup, exactly.”

A smile full of trust spread across Lloyd’s lips.

A smile full of satisfaction spread across Verkis’s.

‘Good.’

Verkis and Lloyd.

The Dragon King and the crafty human.

The exact same thought rose in both their minds.

‘This guy might actually be useful.’

Hope flickered in Verkis’s eyes as he looked at Lloyd.

Now that he thought about it again, the proposal the human had just made wasn’t bad at all.

To begin with, Verkis himself would not have to exert any effort.

He would simply keep sleeping as usual.

Then when this guy woke him, he would open his eyes and contact his little one. That was all.

It would solve the very thing he had regretted most while being left alone in the Dragon Cave.

‘That manticore fellow felt burdened by the idea of waking me. He still finds me scary, after all.’

And now that itch looked like it was about to be scratched all at once.

On top of that, Verkis couldn’t see a single downside for himself.

He was pleased.

That was why.

All at once, Verkis’s gaze sharpened slightly.

“So then, you must want a lot from me.”

“Yup.”

“Not even going to pretend humility?”

“You already saw right through me, so what would be the point of pretending to be modest? All that would do is force Dragon King-nim to ask a few more questions to pin me down, and that much more bother would just fall on you.”

“Ohhh. I like that.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Fine. I’ll give it to you.”

“…Pardon?”

Lloyd froze.

Then, in that very moment—

Dragon King Verkis snapped his fingers.

Snap!

“There. One extra life. And access rights to the Dragon Cave. I’ve given you both.”

“…Pardon?”

“Those were the benefits of Dragon King Sponsorship, weren’t they? I gave them to you. All of them.”

“All of them?”

Lloyd felt dazed.

The Dragon King had just snapped his fingers once.

And yet he was saying the benefits had all been granted already.

It didn’t feel real.

Verkis furrowed one eyebrow.

“What, were you expecting some flashy shining thing, huh? Some sparkly-dazzly effect? Why would I bother adding glittery effects like that? That’s annoying.”

“S-so that’s how it is.”

“Of course it is. From now on, you’ll be able to enter and leave this Dragon Cave freely. No traps will catch you. So you can take whatever junk is lying around here and use it as you like. As for the extra life…”

“Yes.”

“There’s no way to confirm it right now. Hmm, I suppose you’d know if you died once. Want to try?”

“…No, thank you.”

“Good decision. Besides, you were already calculating the benefits of keeping me in your estate, weren’t you?”

“Yup.”

“If I caught you, at least pretend to be embarrassed.”

“Ahaha.”

Lloyd laughed awkwardly.

The Dragon King’s point was true.

At minimum, for the next year.

That was how long he would get to bring Dragon King Verkis to his estate and attend to him.

During that time, he would be able to flatter Verkis more every morning as he woke him up. He would be able to cater to his mood. He would be able to score points that way.

And Lloyd believed the connection he built like that would help him for the rest of his life.

‘Because he’s the Dragon King. The richest unemployed bum in the world!’

To repeat it again, people like that had to be kept close.

If the opportunity arose, then by whatever flattery necessary, one had to maintain a constructive and close relationship and treat them like a big brother.

That was how life became comfortable.

‘Besides, the effort it’ll take to help the Dragon King like this won’t even be much.’

Just once every morning.

All he had to do was wake the sleeping Dragon King.

Quite literally, it was less effort than taking a dog for a walk.

‘With that tiny amount of effort, I’m getting a connection to the Dragon King. I absolutely have to go for this.’

Ten million tons of profit gained from one gram of effort.

Lloyd was not the sort to let an opportunity like that slip by.

“Then, if that’s settled, may I attend Dragon King-nim from now on?”

“You mean you’ll carry me?”

“That way Dragon King-nim’s legs won’t have to exert themselves, will they?”

“You really are my type, aren’t you? Still, that’s a bit creepy, so let’s skip that. We’ll just teleport.”

“Yup, understood.”

Lloyd immediately agreed.

Verkis prepared a teleportation spell.

It was the moment when the interests of the crafty human and the lazy Dragon King aligned with perfect precision.

And as he silently watched the scene from beside them, the silver-haired knight, Javier, thought to himself,

‘That scammer.’

That human called Kim Suho.

In his original world, perhaps he had truly been a scam artist.

And perhaps Javier was standing here now, protecting just such a man.

With doubt welling up inside him in heavy waves, Javier packed for their return to the estate.

And so it was decided.

The two humans and the Dragon King would head for Frontera Estate.