“Ahhh huhu, my arm, my arm! No, this is not important right now.”
Yul whimpered sadly, but came to his senses when he saw Lucky’s golden scales still falling.
He grabbed the hem of Mikael’s clothes with his wobbly arm.
“Mikael, Mikael! Look at Lucky. Lucky’s scales are strange.”
As if to prove his point, there were scattered golden scales all around Lucky. In addition, the golden body was mottled to the point where there were more black scales.
“Hmm… That’s definitely weird. Caleb, bring Jacob.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Mikael ordered Caleb to bring Jacob, the zookeeper in charge of the animals in the residence.
In fact, he wasn’t as worried about Lucky as Yuri was. He had never raised a dragon, but it was common knowledge that it was a species that shed scales.
However, molting meant that Lucky had grown to that extent.
When dragons grow enough to shed, each individual exhibits unique abilities. The most common were those that spew fire, poison, or acid. Rarely, there were also dragons that showed abilities such as invisibility.
He didn’t know what kind of ability Lucky has, but if he had the ability to breathe fire, it could be deadly to Yuri.
In addition, now his size would grow to an incomparable extent and become gigantic. Then, no matter how much Yuri liked Lucky, he couldn’t stay with him.
Mikael was already scratching his head at the thought of Yuri, who would cry and make a fuss if he and Lucky were to be separated.
“Oh, and Caleb.”
“yes?”
“… After you send Jacob over here, go home and get Liena.”
“… Yes.”
No matter how much Yuri drove people crazy, he couldn’t let him live with a wobbly arm, so he had to treat him quickly.
The arm was partly torn and the cotton came out. The wound looked like a lost cause, but fortunately Liena was available. If it was Liena, she’d be able to heal that wound well enough. Mikael felt relieved when he remembered Liena’s ability to mend his belly that had been pierced by an arrow.
“Yuri, you sit quietly here.”
“Hey, what is this?”
Mikael sat Yuri at the table. Then, he took out about three dolls that looked just like Yuri from the box and sat them side by side next to Yuri.
When he saw a doll that looked just like him, Yuri’s expression turned into astonishment.
He knew at least that at the festival he had bought an overabundance of these dolls for Mikael. However, a chill ran down his spine when he was surrounded by things that looked just like him.
“Your friend.”
“Huhh? My friend? No, no matter how much I look like a doll, I’m not a real doll! How can I make friends with these guys?!”
The answer that came back was appalling. What doll friend. He couldn’t make friends with an inanimate doll, even though he himself had the appearance of a doll.
“Anyway, keep quiet.”
Mikael cut off Yuri’s protest sharply.
Meanwhile, Jacob appeared. The slender man had a pale face with a hint of tiredness. Yul felt a pang of sympathy wash over him as he recognized his former self, locked away in the lab.
“Did you call, Archduke?”
“That dragon, check its condition. It looks like it’s shedding because it’s growing up, so let’s see if it has a unique ability.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Jacob knew at least that the Archduke was raising dragons. He’s a dragon bestowed by the emperor, and he’s said to be quite an eater.
In reality, the dragon he saw looked much cuter than he thought.
It looked a little strange because it was changing from brilliant golden scales to black scales, but it was clear that it would become a peerless attractive dragon when shedding was completed.
As evidence of this, unlike other black dragons, this dragon’s black scales reflected and shimmered in five colors depending on the light.
“I’ll go inside and see.”
“You may.”
As soon as permission was given, Jacob opened the fence door and went inside. Then Lucky said, ‘Bii? Bii?’ and tilted his head. Maybe Jacob was very unfamiliar with him.
He approached Lucky with a cautious but deft step. Then he carefully examined the fallen scales.
“Huh.”
“What is it.”
“Is this real gold?”
“Is it?”
“Yes. It may not be pure gold, but it is definitely gold.”
It was common knowledge to those who knew dragons to some extent that the scales that fell when a golden dragon changed colors were mixed with gold.
He licked his lips at the golden scales that fell all around him. In terms of amount, it seemed that the first year’s salary was more than enough.
“I see.”
But whether Lucky’s scales were gold or not didn’t matter to Mikael, who already had enough gold to go around.
Yuri’s thoughts were different.
Yuri’s blue eyes were greedily shining at the words that fallen scales were gold.
He himself didn’t know, but it reminded one of what Yuri said about Chucky and Annabelle. Right now, Yuri was soaked in greed and looked quite scary.
“And its ability?”
“I will check it out.”
The important thing for Mikael now was not gold. What was Lucky’s unique ability, and whether it harmed Yuri.
In an instant, Jacob grabbed Lucky’s mouth with both hands and opened it. Lucky tried to pull back, but he couldn’t escape Jacob’s grip, a skilful animal keeper. In the end, he was caught and had to keep his gaping mouth wide open.
He studied Lucky’s mouth carefully. It was because a dragon that spewed fire, poison, or acid had a part called a pocket in its mouth.
“Well, first of all, it is not an object that emits something.”
""
“… That’s good.”
Mikael muttered heartily.
The most dangerous possibility that could harm Yuri was ruled out for now. He didn’t know what the other abilities were, but just not hurting Yuri was reassuring enough.
In the meantime, Jacob took out the mirror he had brought earlier and looked at Lucky’s body everywhere.
If transparency is an ability, in the early days, the body would look blurry or translucent depending on the angle of light.
Jacob, who had been looking around in the mirror for a while, tilted his head.
“Not even invisibility.”
“Then, do you have any other abilities that stand out?”
“Let’s look a little further.”
After Jacob said that, he looked closely at Lucky.
He checked not only the shape of his claws, but also the tiny holes at the tips of his claws to see if they were leaking poison. He stroked his back to make sure that there would be no sharp thorns or sprouts. He looked carefully to see if there were any other problems, such as the strong high-frequency waves generated by crying, which confused the hearing.
“… I don’t see anything special.”
“Could that be?”
“Usually no, but this guy doesn’t seem to have special abilities.”
“Are you sure?”
“… After the molting is complete, I will take a look again.”
“I understand.”
In response to his reply, Mikael sighed briefly before replying.
That part was fortunate because he didn’t see any dangerous abilities right away, but since he said he couldn’t find any abilities at all, that just made him worried.
It was because one day, the ability could suddenly manifest and harm Yuri.
First of all, he sent Jacob back while contemplating whether he should separate Lucky from Yuri until his abilities manifested.
“Mikael, Mikael! Is that all gold? Really?”
As soon as the door closed and footsteps receded, Yuri asked, his eyes shining.
He didn’t want to say such a thing, but the fact that all the scales that had fallen off were gold, he didn’t seem to notice. He could clearly see the inside of my round head, full of thoughts of picking up fallen scales and selling them.
“Yes. It’s all gold. Take them all.”
“Ahh, great!”
Yuri jumped in place and was delighted. As a result, his arm trembled greatly. Seeing that scene, Mikael felt a pang inside.
“Mikael, Mikael. Then the reason why the scales are falling is because of molting?”
“Mm. It is a natural phenomenon that appears as the dragon grows.”
“Ah… thank goodness!”
Yul let out a sigh of relief. He felt a little embarrassed that he’d been shuffling his feet and worrying without realizing it, but whatever it was, it was good enough that Lucky wasn’t sick.
“Lucky, I’m so glad you’re not sick! Dad is so surprised.”
“Don’t come closer. No access near the fence from now on.”
“Arghhh, let me go! Let me go!”
Mikael said firmly and grabbed Yuri’s head. Yul, floating in the air with his hair caught in his grasp, struggled hard, but Mikael only clicked his tongue and did not let go of Yuri.
