-Alphonse POV-

""..."" Our thoughts probably align thinking that the dragon hates her now, but she ignored his scornful actions.

"Shaila, hold on up there and let me ask the dragon some things." Feeling better already, Sir Lester readies his bracelet telling his little sister which nods and hold the dragon's horns firmly while sitting.

"Keep the questions simple, Sir, otherwise it would confuse him." Accepting my advice, he nods and finishes powering the bracelet.

"Will you hurt the person on your head?" He asks the most pressing question while doing an staring contest with the beast, but it shakes his head sideways making Sir Lester breathe a sigh of relief.

"Duh! I knew that already~" Said Miss Shaila looking at her sister on the ground.

"...You were right he even knows how to say no." My boss said walking to my side. "Do you want to stay here?" He turns to the dragon asking, and it nods this time. " The collar off?" Sir Lester's question is affirmed with another vertical shake. "We can turn off its restrictions and just use it to talk..." The Beast ponders about the question for a bit and nods. "You can speak to us now, but it will be very uncomfortable." The creature considers how annoying it will be but doesn't answer. "Because the restriction forces are still active, and need to call someone to remove it."Lester elaborates, and the creature accepts. "Collar needs to be closer to your head, feed it your magic and push something inside of it." Sir Lester explains the brain scan function to calibrate thought interpretation of magic waves detection when the individual is thinking.

"I'll help..." Miss Shaila said turning around and sitting as if riding a horse then started patting the dragon's head.

The dragon lowers his head for the collar to roll down his neck until Miss Shaila grabbed it then he crouched next to the woman on the ground and crossed his forelegs to rest the neck there. It looks like they are both tired, but she is having the time of her life though the dragon is going to have to struggle to deal with the low magic he has since his core is blocked and the collar will consume a lot for the scan that he has to do. He stayed concentrating in that posture while the afternoon approached and the little miss fell asleep on his head...then the dragon sends his first message.

"Hi..." The dragon sends a short message after a long time thinking, opens his eyes and raises the head waking up the little miss above in the process.

"Too short, we almost got sunstroke waiting!" Sir Lester crosses his arms admonishing unreasonably. "So, what do you want?" He asked the beast narrowing his eyes.

"Her." The dragon says making the girl on his head bounce up and down.

"Uwaaa...I'll fall, I'll fall!" Miss Shaila said gripping his hair fibers.

"HAH?" Lester froze on the spot glaring daggers at the dragon with narrowing his brows, hoping it sent the wrong message.

"Pet job." The dragon shows his teeth with an arrogant smirk saying.

"..." Sir Lester stares at the shameless dragon with a puzzled look for some time until I couldn't hold it anymore watching the tease.

"Pfft... hahaha...Too funny! He said it like that on purpose hahaha." I laugh looking between the two while boss facepalmed himself with an audible sound that will probably leave a mark. "Hah~ that was too good, I never get bored of this place..." I said wiping the tears from the corner of my eyes. "See? I told you he wanted to freeload with us, but this is what you wanted, is it not? No, this is even better." I reminded him about buying the dragon as a playmate for the miss.

"And you believe that..." Sir Lester said raising an eyebrow while glaring at me. "I don't know who's weirder here, but can we trust him?" He probes my reasons for trusting the beast while the beast to his left is playing with the white haired girl.

"He seems to be either a child of an Ancient or with an excellent bloodline, the former are extremely rare considered even legends, but I have heard of close encounters before while the latter usually comes from high ranking dragons and we should be able to trust him if that's the case." I elaborate watching the dragon extending the left wing over his head to cover the girl.

"This little weak thing?" Lester said Incredulously pointing at the beast getting his wing grab by the girl. "Why can we trust him then?" He crosses his arms unconvinced after what I just said.

"Mutual benefit..." I let the words register and elaborated before he thinks it's just as a pet for the Miss. "They possess knowledge about magic passed down from ancient times which is coveted by greedy people willing to wage wars for it, and that's why he need us to hide him, at least until he awakens his affinity then people won't be able to tell his age since not all dragons have the same growth. Besides, he looks like Land-dragon which don't grow that big so we shouldn't let him be seen yet and also...kill anyone who could leak information, but I'll take care of that tonight." I tell him and walk away to pick up my knives on the ground. A wild beast hardly ever approach others to form a relationship of mutual benefit, but an intelligent animal is different since it can make that choice, even contradicting instincts if deemed necessary.

"You mean... we just got another Shaila!?" Sir Lester opens his eyes wide in panic after hearing the dragon to be even more valuable than the miss who is already driving all the nobles crazy with greed.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the cleanup, I'm not a former Royal Spy for nothing." I stare back at him assuring to take care of everything while omitting the rest of the story then pick up the last two knives.

If you are already panicking this much then it's best not to say any more yet since you might try to get rid of the dragon, but this is a great opportunity for this family and well worth the risk considering the present state of affairs. In one of my scouting missions on the other continent, I saved a couple magicians mistaken as spies, and they were kind enough to tell me about their hidden village with a white Dragon Ancient child that helps them in return for keeping his secret. Those people don't make good spies since they spilled the beans too easily and they really shouldn't be allowed to leave their village if they are not prepared to die to keep the screts. In exchange for giving them some tips to move around the land without being detected by other spies, they shared some secrets with me that wouldn't compromise their village location.

At first, it didn't make sense to me why a dragon would need the protection of some puny humans when they are powerful enough to take care of themselves, but my mind quickly changed when they told me that Divines and descendants from bloodlines are being persecuted behind the scenes for hundreds of years. It seems that whoever initiated the massacre of dragons almost a thousand years ago has followers trimming dragon population from becoming too powerful, but is it to stop them from seeking revenge from whoever destroyed their society? Makes me wonder why someone that powerful would need even to do that in the first place, but only intense hatred for dragon-kind comes to mind. In any case, I'll have to tell this dragon in private later.

"Even if you are sure... is it even worth the risk?" He asks raising an eyebrow and watching me fix my knives back in their place.

"Sir Lester is brave... thinking to separate those two." I shake my head pointing behind him at the two playing.

"Ugh... I'm just worried about Shaila."Sir Lester turned around while bringing the bracelet closer to his face. "Dragon, are you sure about being her pet?" The dragon stopped moving leaving the girl hanging in mid-air.

"Deliciously cute." The dragon said nodding with his eyes closed as if appraising. "Married her." Then placed the struggling girl back on his head while staring at his reaction.

"..." Sir Lester stares daggers at the shameless dragon who reveals his tease with rows of teeth making a smirk.

"Pfft...Is that supposed to be a compliment from a dragon? Where did this beast even come from? " I ask containing my laughter under my boss's glare.

I wonder if he knows that if she reaches Divine Rank and turns into a white dragon, or him into a human, then it won't be a joke anymore. Once Divine Rank is achieved, the soul can exist without a vessel allowing to change your body for another, like throwing away a dragon body then make a human, but changing from a person to a dragon is far more complicated which is why nobody does it. I wonder what happens when they throw their beast bodies away after making a humanoid... maybe freeze it in ice to preserve and use again? Perhaps remake it by sacrificing a lot of animals for their biomass or grow up again slowly...what if there are divine dragons living as humans in order to avoid getting killed? Divines can manipulate life blocks, but not instantaneously, maybe a demigod can switch back and forth in a blink of an eye since they do pretty crazy things, like that Dragon Demigod who controls the entire species across the world during mating season while hiding.

"...It was first sighted coming from the left side of the volcano then Lucious caught him stealing a slave and got auctioned." Sir Lester was pondering about something then asked the dragon. "Were you born in the volcano from the Big Red dragon?" At the question, the dragon stopped moving and turned serious.

"I left." He said nodding towards us with the girl riding on his snout facing the opposite way.

I don't think those clothes are appropriate for riding, but at least her underwear covers well. I move my gaze away recalling the nefarious Red Dragon.

"Big Red is known to be a bad parent by both humans and dragons, but since good bloodlines take longer to hatch... was he unlucky to have been born there or lucky to be alive?" I scratched my head presenting the question. Pretty much all offsprings of that dragon have died prematurely, and if he has brothers up there, then they probably will die too since they all jump west, but that place is between two territories of high-ranking beasts which are no problem for big dragons.

"Yeah out of all the dragons in our kingdom..." Sir Lester ponders then talks to the bracelet again. "Dragon, how long do you intent to stay?" He asked then waited for the answer while the beast thinks.

"Strong enough." He replied giving shade with a wing to the sprawled girl who ran out energy again.

"Don't dragons take years to grow up?" My boss turns to me inquiring. "That would mean willingly be a pet for years..." He said turning back to the beast again who stares back through the slit pupils.

"What does it matter a few years with a human for a long-lived race that can literally watch the landscape change with time?" I reply with a question crossing my arms. "Furthermore, our kingdom is not hostile to wild dragons, and there is one living right there in our backyard..." I said pointing behind me to the volcano in the distance.

"Feed me." The dragon demands food already.

"Ugh, Why do I feel like his servant already..." Sir Lester commented curling his lips while I try to contain my laughter.

"Dragon, the person who captured you is also from this house." Sir Lester said making the beast surprised. "Hurt her, and you die." He threatens the dragon while pointing at the little Miss.

"Deal. No magic. Rest." The dragon accepts and asks for a place to rest.

"Uh...there..." Sir Lester points to the space between the Stables and the Granary that has shade. "Oh, we need to to take Shaila inside for a bath since she's tired, so hand her over." He demands the dragon that is already walking to the place indicated. "Oh, and this is Alphonse, who will bring you water and food." My boss points at me while the beast lowered his head and handed over the tired girl for me to carry inside the house.

"...You should probably remove the magic lock on him as soon as you can." I advised while taking the white haired girl across the courtyard towards the house.

"Sighs...I already planned to since talking in those short sentences is annoying." He said shaking his head and pacing on my left.

"...It's about the spies from different families that have been flooding the town lately, it's as if something has started to move after a year of stillness...." I revealed the pieces of information collected in yesterday's drinking bout.

"Your spy friends huh..." Sir Lester stopped walking and started pondering. "You want the dragon to protect her, but hes too weak." He fastens his steps and looks at me with an interrogating look.

"He can help in more ways than one, but we'll have to see how fast he can rank up after removing the lock. In any case, the bigger numbers are from the SilverSteins, followed by Bidlakes, but not even the spies know the next move. They are waiting for orders, which is why I say trouble is coming. "I explain the overview of the situation.

"What would SilverSteins want with us?" Sir Lester asked opening his eyes wide in surprise at the far away family. "Ugh, we are short on gold...I splurged a lot on the dragon, and how long do I have?" He asks for my conjecture to make preparations.

"Indeed with all that gold, hiring high-ranking guards is possible, but that's also a problem or do you really think they didn't see that coming? It's very likely for any new guard we hire starting today to be a spy and the dragon will be far more trustworthy. " I explain my reasons for helping the beast learn magic as soon as possible instead of hiring guards in a hurry.

"The Bidlakes are probably sent by Grandmother to watch over us if she probably noticed something as well and at least somebody from that family supports us since Mother just wants to have Shaila marry off to increase her own value as a noble..." He explains the family troubles while feeling distressed.

It's normal for this whole thing to be weighing down on him since hes only eighteen, but this is the reason why I retired from being a Royal Spy in the first place, to come work here to help them after that disaster a year ago. I own my status to his father despite my inferior talent which is why I can understand Lester's mother that was born talentless in a family of geniuses. By participating in Faust's strategy during the naval war, I achieved recognition despite never making it to Rank 5 in Darkness affinity which was demanded of me by the Elite Spy units since I was a good spy but not a very talented magician. Talent is indeed an unfair thing and I wonder how far this dragon will reach after getting the restrictions off since he's a little too smart for his age even for an Ancient's child or how is a dragon with the brain of an infant so smart in the first place...?

"Ah! We forgot sister on the ground..." Lester says looking back at the sleeping woman sprawled on the sandy ground.

"I'll carry her after, or you can ask a guard by the barracks since they are probably bored, but she's probably healing her wounds there..." I recall the dragon stepping over the woman when going to the spot that was assigned to him.

Liana is gonna be in a bad mood for getting her skin ripped on the breasts, but as an Auramancer she can heal that, and at the end, everything turned out well. However, Faust should have been watching the dragon and was probably hesitating to kill it when it did that to Liana because Shaila looked so obsessed with it...why is she like that though? It wasn't long since she was a doll with dead-looking eyes, and before pets did make her happy at first, but she killed them every time...perhaps this is what she wanted, and Faust understood that already huh. I look up towards the glass windows in Faust's room then opened the door and went inside the house.

-Afternoon. Dragon POV-

I went to sleep satisfied after being fed tasty meat different from what they gave me at the pen before and a soft impact woke me up to remind me of an old headache that still plagues my existence. I open my eyes to see thin arms on each side of my snout, and the smell tells me a familiar crotch is on my nostril again, then after making her squirm with my sniffing, raised my head, bringing the passenger along. Do you really have to tackle things like that every time? If you hit the wrong scale, at the wrong angle, you will get cut, though there's probably healing magic in this world since nobody cared for that woman who's chest I gripped with my claws, and her scent is coming from this girl, so they probably took a bath together. Well, she did signal me to stop when I was experimenting how boobs feel with the claws, and the result is that they are terrible for groping, that's what! Bah! I need ice on my head for these migraines, not a loli, though she smells nice and since there's soap in this world, I want a bath to clean under the scales.

With the descending sun behind the tall west wall, casting a shadow on us, she started saying something that was probably to let her down, and after lowering my head, she separated then started using the bracelet to talk.

"I have you all to myself now~" She said to her bracelet while beaming a broad smile.

Scary, that's what I said to things before eating them...

"I forgot to give you a name earlier." She said in a cute pondering pose wearing a black dress.