TEB Ch 6

Liev pointed towards the Rocky Mountains in the distance visible through the window at the top of the attic. Renard, who had grown to the size of a medium-sized dog, scratched the window lightly with his claws. 

huk  

Even though he didn’t apply too much force and only lightly scratched the glass, a large scratch was left on the glass. It was a noticeable scratch on the smooth glass. Then Renard wriggled lightly in Liev’s arms and reached his hands towards the window. 

“Liev! That! That!” 

It seemed like he wanted to keep looking out the window to see why the wind was blowing. But if he kept pressing against the window, the glass would not remain intact. Liev thought for a moment, then fetched a ladder and decided to open the window. When he opened the window leading to the outside of the attic, a flat space that allowed sitting on the roof was revealed. Rather than breaking the glass, it seemed better to briefly go outside and show him around. 

With Renard in his arms, Liev climbed onto the roof, and a refreshing breeze welcomed them. 

“How is it? Isn’t it cool?” 

Although it was in the attic, it was about three stories high in modern times. With this small body, falling from here would probably result in serious injuries, but it offered a great view of the surroundings. Of course, the ridges of the mountains beyond the dense forest were even more visible. 

“You’ll grow up to be like me later. When you grow that much, you might even fly on your own.” 

Pointing to the giant mountain again with Renard in his arms, Renard tilted his head, making a whining sound. Was the sentence still a bit difficult for Renard to understand? Liev chuckled lightly and stroked Renard’s forehead. 

“kkiing…” 

“Haha….” 

Renard made a satisfied sound and closed his eyes, accepting Liev’s touch. It was an extremely peaceful day. However, Liev knew that this peace would not last long. 

Since hatching from the egg, Renard has grown to almost twice his size in no time. Now, with wings that were nearly three times the width of his body, he would soon be able to fly. Baby dragons naturally started handling mana as effortlessly as breathing when they began to fly. Once that happened, the Count would no longer sit still. 

Perhaps it’s time to start training for poison resistance… 

Dragons are naturally invulnerable. Unless there’s a problem causing weakness, their scales cannot be pierced by any substance in this world. However, internal injuries were still fatal. 

So, what the dragon hunters came up with was a method to artificially make dragons sick. Attacking weak spots such as under the eyes, claws, or under the wings and poisoning them with deadly venom. This was the most well-known method of dragon hunting. 

Of course, dragons are not stupid, they possess intelligence beyond that of humans and have lived for thousands of years, so they easily defeat those who target their weaknesses. 

According to the setting revealed by the author, there are only about thirty dragons in the story. Over the years, only four dragons have been killed by humans, and those killed by the dragon-hunting methods were ancient dragons that had already lost the will to live. It seemed that they had seen too much and wanted their existence erased. 

In any case, Count Vasil was not leaving even the slightest risk of danger. From the time Kevades would use magic, the Count would constantly inject poison to build up his resistance. And he would probably now assign this task to Liev. 

“If you think of it as a kind of vaccination… 

It wouldn’t be an entirely useless task to help Renard’s future. Since he will change the future of the original work, overcoming the common weaknesses of all dragons wouldn’t be a bad thing. However, I felt sick, knowing that the process wouldn’t be smooth. 

“How do they even inject poison through these scales in the first place?” 

As a veterinarian, he had academic doubts from his professional perspective. It was not impossible to perform surgical procedures by cutting the skin of a snake, so injecting it with a strong needle would be possible. But this one wasn’t just a reptile, it was a dragon. I was lost in thought, filled with many questions. 

“Kkyu, kkiing….” 

While lost in thought, Renard, who had slipped out of Liev’s arms, was crawling on the roof with his thick legs. While he was wondering why he was going there, a handkerchief from Liev’s pocket flew away with the wind and fell down the roof.  

“It’s dangerous!!” 

At that time, I was nervous that Renard might fall down. 

“Renard!” 

Renard leaned over and threw himself off the roof without any time to stop him.  

No, wait a minute. Of course, even if it’s a baby dragon, it’s still a dragon, so there shouldn’t be anything wrong with falling from this height! 

Startled, Liev looked down, and suddenly, something large and black rose from below, with enough wind to blow his bangs. 

“…..!?” 

When he looked at the sky again in surprise, something black and large came down from above my head. Then it soared up again, and with a fluttering sound, Renard appeared in front of his eyes. 

“This is it! You can fly now!” 

He circled around Liev with a proud look on his face, and before he knew it, Renard’s fully spread black wings came into view. The wings, completely unfolded, were so dark and beautiful that they seemed to swallow up all the surrounding light. The pitch-black silhouette freely soaring in the sky felt awe-inspiring. 

“Since when? It’s not difficult or anything?!” 

When Liev asked with a somewhat dumbfounded expression, instead of answering, Renard bit a handkerchief and flew around Liev, making a gurgling sound every time he got excited. The sight of the beautiful creature joyfully flying, causing admiration just with its presence, was so mesmerizing that it was hard to take his eyes off him. 

“Wow… Oh wow….” 

Liev found himself involuntarily expressing admiration, but he then realized that it wasn’t something to be pleased about. It meant that the cruel orders from the Count as seen in the original work would soon begin. 

*** 

It wasn’t long after that Liev learned how to inject poison into a dragon. 

“Hmm….” 

It was a morning like any other when Renard was asleep. He would snuggle into his arms again and the scales and horns pressed against his skin felt cold and painful. When Liev opened his eyes, he found bruises and marks all over his body. Almost instinctively, Liev pushed Renard away, causing Renard to make a startled sound. 

“Oops, sorry. I didn’t fully wake up.” 

In response, Renard blinked his eyes like a pitiful puppy and then bit Liev’s palm like he was grumpy. 

“Ouch! That hurts, wait a moment!” 

It was more than just pressure, it hurt so much that tears almost came out. Though still a baby, the teeth that could chew and swallow meat down to the bone made Liev instinctively pull his hand out, almost screaming. Astonished by Liev’s unexpected reaction, Renard also widened his eyes and froze. 

“Ah, does it hurt!? Is it really hurting?” 

His appearance was so pitiful. Afraid that he might be abandoned, like an anxious kitten, Liev endured the pain in his palm and replied,   

“Human skin is soft, unlike scales, so you shouldn’t bite it like that. It causes wounds like this.”  

Then, showing the bleeding palm where the fangs had bitten, Renard’s innocent face became even more shocked. 

Although there were no similarities besides eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Renard’s expression was surprisingly remorseful. 

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you! Don’t hate me, okay?” 

Then with a completely depressed attitude and perhaps fearing that his sharp scales and horns might hurt Liev again, Renard curled his body into a ball. 

Liev’s heart felt heavy every time Renard feared he would be hated. It was all because of the imprint. For a young individual, being rejected by a guardian meant survival failure and death, so it was just instinctive to resist it. He understood that in his head.  

However, as the moment when he would part ways with this little dragon approached, Liev couldn’t shake off the feeling of guilt. It felt as if he was deceiving Renard.