LGT Chapter 2

The gold dragon quickly glanced around the prince’s room.  

The room was as luxurious as it had been the last time he saw it. There were tables that looked like they had been meticulously crafted by a master artisan, and a spacious bed that seemed like it could lull anyone to sleep just by lying on it. He walked over to a table set aside for entertaining guests, located in one corner of the prince’s room. The table and chairs looked as if they had never been used, spotless and devoid of even a single speck of dust.  

Since the dragon had been in his lair, he was dressed in comfortable casual clothes. However, even in his simple attire, when he sat in the ornate chair, it looked as though the furniture had been designed specifically for him, as if the artisan had intended it.  

The dragon’s eyes were drawn to a sword display on the wall of the prince’s room. There were decorative swords adorned with jewels, as well as a well-worn training sword that had been used so often that it bore the marks of frequent handling.  

The dragon began to inspect the tea arranged on the table in the prince’s room. Despite being a noble being, he enjoyed taking care of small tasks like this himself.  

Watching this, the prince slowly lowered the dragon scale he had been about to toss out the window. He held it carefully and walked over to his bed, closing the lid of a treasure box. The prince could hardly believe that the dragon, who had taken the form of Adrian Heather, was sitting in his room. He noticed that the dragon, a being he had only ever heard of in fairy tales, was now preparing tea in an unceremonious manner. The prince pointed his finger toward the bell in the corner of the room—a bell used to summon his servants.  

A clear ringing filled the room, and soon someone knocked on the prince’s door. The prince demanded tea from the servant but specifically instructed them to leave the tray outside without entering the room. Even as he gave these orders, his gaze never left the dragon seated in the chair.  

Though the dragon was undoubtedly the same being who had given him the scale, what was sitting in his room now looked disturbingly identical to his deceased friend, Adrian.  

Adrian from Basmiel Academy had also enjoyed taking care of trivial tasks himself and had been quite adept at it. Of course, the Adrian he had met at the academy had been a commoner, so it was natural for him to have such habits.  

The dragon noticed the prince’s confusion and smiled slightly, recalling their first encounter. The gold dragon waggled his finger toward the prince in the same manner the prince had when he had just rung the bell. But unlike the simple magic used to ring the bell, this was something else entirely.  

At the dragon’s gesture, the prince’s body moved against his will, gliding across the floor as if pulled by an invisible force.  

“Ugh!”  

In an instant, the prince found himself standing in front of Adrian, without any control over his own body. He felt the soft touch of furniture against the back of his legs.  

“Sit. The tea will take a while,” the dragon said, gently using magic to pull the prince toward the sofa on the opposite side of the room. He seemed content to wait quietly for the tea the prince’s servant would bring.  

The prince sat on the chair opposite the dragon, staring at him with a sullen expression. The dragon seemed to know exactly what the prince was thinking.  

Still as stubborn as ever.  

The prince was likely displeased that the dragon had used magic on him without his permission. He was no different from how he had been months ago.  

As the prince said nothing, the dragon was the first to speak.  

“So?”  

The prince lifted his head at the sound of Adrian’s voice coming from the dragon’s lips.  

“…What… what are you talking about?”  

For years, Adrian had been with Mikhail, but this was the first time he heard such a formal response.

As the prince met the gold dragon’s shimmering golden eyes, which flickered subtly in front of him, he finally realized that the being he had summoned was indeed a dragon. It truly sank in that he was sitting face to face with a legendary creature across the table.  

“Your wish. What is it? Don’t you know the legend?”  

The gold dragon wasn’t eager to elaborate on the legend tied to his scale, especially since he had been summoned against his will. His large, elegant white hand confidently rested against his chest.  

“You summoned me, so you must state your wish.”  

The gold dragon was bound by the duty to grant the wish of the human who had summoned him. Afterward, he would quickly replace that cursed missing scale back where it belonged. He hadn’t manifested in his dragon form for a while, so he hadn’t even noticed a piece of his scale was missing until now.  

All the prince had wanted was to know if the item he had bought today was genuine. He averted his gaze from the dragon’s beautifully gleaming eyes. Even though the dragon was said to be able to grant any wish, he wasn’t a god. The prince knew better than anyone that it would be impossible to ask the dragon to bring someone back from the dead.  

Just then, the sound of a tray being pushed and a knock came from the prince’s door.  

The dragon didn’t want to wait around idly for the prince’s servant, so he rose from the sofa. The moment he did, the prince quickly stood up, startled.  

“Why? Why… where are you going?”  

Mikhail, flustered, trailed off, which was unusual for him. His urgent expression reminded the dragon of the prince’s face a few months ago when he had desperately grabbed Adrian’s hand on the cliff’s edge.  

“…Wait. I just need to have a cup of tea first.”  

The dragon, striding confidently through the prince’s room as if it were his own, walked over and opened the door. Outside, as the prince had requested, there was no servant—only a neatly arranged tray with hot tea and desserts. The dragon picked up the tray and walked back to the table, with the prince watching him in confusion. Sitting in the chair, the grown prince looked somewhat pitiful, like a lost puppy, waiting for the dragon.  

The tea and desserts brought by the servant were perfectly to the dragon’s taste, as befit a royal guest. It had been a while since he’d been served such tea, and he was willing to wait patiently for the prince’s answer.  

The prince wanted to look at Adrian’s face for just a little longer before asking something outrageous like bringing the dead back to life and potentially angering the dragon. The face of the dragon sipping his tea was identical to Adrian’s, down to the last detail. The real Adrian, too, had made a habit of drinking tea like this every day at the academy dormitory.  

Until the tea and desserts were finished, the prince said nothing. The dragon raised an eyebrow, prompting the prince to respond, but he continued to pretend to be lost in thought, avoiding giving an answer.  

…I suppose I’ll give him more time.  

The dragon placed the empty tea cup back on the tray. After a brief moment of consideration, he slowly rose from the prince’s chair.  

“We can’t waste each other’s time any longer, can we? I hope you’ve thought of your wish the next time we meet.”  

Whenever that may be.  

The man with hair like molten gold and eyes of pure gold smiled as he circulated the mana within his body. In an instant, the mana responded, wrapping around the dragon’s form. It was a teleportation spell, with his lair as the destination. He planned to return to his lair and continue his work until the prince came up with an appropriate wish.  

The gold dragon’s hair, radiant as if spun with threads of gold, fluttered in the still air of the prince’s room. His golden eyes shone as brightly as the full moon at midnight, and the warm, swirling mana surrounding him caused the prince’s silvery hair to sway gently in its wake.  

The prince noticed a difference from the Adrian he once knew. The Adrian he was familiar with had been a commoner with no talent for magic, and his eyes had never glowed so brilliantly.  

It was at the moment when the gold dragon began to dissolve into golden dust, preparing to vanish, that the prince snapped out of his daze, captivated by the beautiful spectacle. He tightened his resolve, his stiff lips parting slightly to mutter, “No.”  

This was his chance—an opportunity to make a wish to a dragon, a noble being that defied the natural order. However, what weighed more heavily on the prince’s mind was the fact that the figure of Adrian, whom he had believed to be dead, was about to disappear again right before his eyes.  

The space where the gold dragon had stood was now empty, the golden particles of mana shimmering and fading away. The once glowing room of the prince fell into sudden silence.  

The dragon had used teleportation magic to return to his lair, a difficult and advanced spell that safely transported him back as always. Unlike the opulent room of the prince, his lair was more rugged, filled with furniture he had collected to suit his tastes, rather than the luxurious pieces found in the prince’s chamber. As he arrived back in his lair, he felt more at ease.  

Just as his hovering feet touched the ground, the dragon’s peace was interrupted.  

***  

The prince quickly grabbed the treasure box that he had placed carefully on the bed. Thankfully, the dragon’s scale was still resting quietly inside.  

Taking a deep breath, the prince lifted his hand, gently stroking the scale, which shimmered like Adrian’s golden hair. Suddenly, he sensed mana stirring in the air, casting a spell—but it wasn’t his own mana. It wasn’t unfamiliar either. He knew exactly where this mana was coming from.  

The dragon cursed under his breath. Being forcefully summoned twice in one day was irritating, to say the least.  

When he opened his eyes, he found himself back in the prince’s room.  

The prince was holding the treasure box that contained the dragon’s scale. As the prince had suspected, until the dragon fulfilled his wish, he could summon him again and again. The dragon smirked, curling his lips into a sly grin.  

Ah, so this is the kind of person you are, huh?  

The dragon had always underestimated the prince’s persistence—quite severely, in fact.