Dragon's Lair

"That was so not cool man."

Ron patted Ale on the shoulder with a disapproving look in his face as he shook his head.

"Sorry?"

Ale looked confused as he asked what he was talking about. He had just gotten back from the underground palace after solving a huge disaster, as well as saving and bringing back with him all the rescued people inside the submarine that HE had designed.

If anything, he should be the definition of cool by now. Or so he thought.

"You. Falling down the ship. So not cool man."

Ron answered his question like he was replying to a toddler as he shook his head one more time. The others, including even his own teammates, looked at Ron like he was the biggest idiot they had ever seen.

This guy still hadn't caught up on the fact that Ale went down there on purpose. By the way he was looking down on Ale, it was pretty damn obvious that he still thinks Ale fell 'by accident'.

"Ah.. haha.. Yes.. Yes indeed."

Ale managed to somehow maintain a neutral face as he agreed with Ron.

'Did he exchange his intelligence with strength? If so, it makes sense.'

Ron was one of the strongest members of Rudy's team, almost on par with Rudy in some cases as well.

But when it came down to the matter of the brains, he was no smarter than a seven year old.

"I still can't believe it."

Stuart, the smartest of the bunch, was touching the walls of the submarine that they currently were in with a mesmerized look on his face as he mumbled, garnering everyone's attention.

"Did you really design something like this?"

He asked, barely being able to take his eyes off the machine and looking at Ale. But the look on his eyes, the look of surprise, astonishment and admiration, it didn't fade.

If anything, when he looked at Ale, his eyes shined even brighter than when he was looking at the machine.

"Uhh.. It's not really that big a deal. Just something I saw in one of my dreams."

Ale scratched the back of his head as he replied, feeling a little burdened. He always felt bad when these things happened. It felt like he was stealing someone's credit.

"And it's not complete yet either. We'll need the help of a dwarf to create an engine that's capable of steering this thing."

Ale pointed out as he said those words.

Indeed.

Right now, the whole thing was being maneuvered by Rudy's mana alone. But this was no practical way of using this thing. Not everyday will you get to use a Main Character as a steering machine.

Stuart looked at him like he was looking at something absurd for a second before he went back to admiring the Submarine once again.

"What should we do with those people?"

Ale asked, trying to change the topic. Rudy seemed to be in thought for a while before he finally answered.

"Since this wasn't in our plan, shall we just hand them over to the authorities?"

Instead of just deciding by himself, he asked for Ale's opinion instead. It wasn't very Rudy-like if someone were to ask Ale.

"Sounds good. Since we'll be landing soon, where should we go next?"

Ale asked so naturally as if it was only natural for him to know these facts and accompany them. Kevin looked at Ale with a slight frown as he continued trying to guess what exactly his young master was cooking this time.

"The Dragon's lair."

"D-dragon-?? There's a dragon on this island?!"

Ale knew the future. But he didn't know everything. There were cracks in his memories and missing parts in his dreams that he couldn't remember no matter how much he tried.

Theirs was a world full of mythical beings and magic. Dragon, Phoenix these were beasts from history, seen by humans from a long, long time ago. But they did exist. Proof of their existence, proof of their destruction could be seen in many ancient cities.

'But there's a dragon here? IN OUR ISLAND?!'

Ale looked genuinely shocked as he asked. But along with that shock, there was also a hint of excitement in his tone. Like a three year old, his eyes shined with tens of stars.

"No, silly. It's just an empty lair. How could there be a living dragon in an island full of humans?"

Rudy answer casually and almost flicked Ale's forehead before he remembered that this guy was the son of the Duke. He was a noble, and Rudy was a commoner.

This was a fact that he could not change no matter how much he tried. This was also something he had to keep in mind no matter how friendly Ale acted or how close they became in such a short time.

Ale, who had instinctively hidden his forehead with his palms after seeing Rudy almost flick his finger, peeked from the gaps of his finger as he waited but felt no pain in his forehead.

"Ahem.. Anyway, it's just an empty lair."

"If empty, why go?"

Ale asked, tilting his head sideways.

"... Just.. some personal business."

Rudy looked a little hesitant as he answered.

"Personal?"

Ale kept pressing the matter without thinking twice because he got too excited after hearing the word 'dragon'. But Kevin soon came to the rescue. He dragged Ale back to his room with the excuse of giving him a bath.

It wasn't completely an excuse either. The guy did have sand and seawater in his clothes. Also, his clothes were ripped in multiple places. It was definitely not a look the son of a Duke should have.

"Aww.. Why did you drag me in here? He was talking about dragons!"

Ale pouted as he let Kevin take off his jacket.

"Young master, I know there are only a few things in the world that's capable of surprising you."

Kevin spoke in a very calm and sophisticated tone as he started preparing Ale's bath.

"And I'm sorry for dragging you away during one of those rare times."

Ale took off his shirt and stood in front of a mirror. He kept listening silently to Kevin's words as he observed the small cuts all over his body. They did look quite hideous.

"But the expression on that man's face was not one of comfort back then."

"And of course, I also reached my limit. I could no longer watch you walk around in that state."

Kevin finished his sentence as well as the preparation for Ale's bath and slowly got up. He was initially very shocked as he observed the amount of detail Rudy had put into making this Submarine.

The mirror, the bathtub, the glass window, the designs on the wall, everything was so beautiful and sophisticated at the same time. It was hard to imagine that a commoner did this.

Kevin wasn't biased. Just surprised with Rudy's talent given how less fortunate he must've been being born as a commoner.

"Well then, I hope you have a pleasant bath."

Kevin gave a small bow and was about to leave the room. But he stopped, took another look at Ale's body and sighed.

"Can you not heal those wounds now? It's painful to look at."

He spoke in a tired and sorrowful voice. It did indeed cause some pain in his chest every time he looked at Ale's scars.

And the worst thing was, this guy could easily heal them in the blink of an eye but was choosing not to.

Ale hadn't even realised how much pain he was causing the people around him by being so carelessly ignorant about his own health and safety. That guy simply didn't care enough about his own self to do something so small as healing those scars.

"Ah.. these? Should I?"

He answered in a careless manner just as Kevin had predicted. Ale looked like he could care less about those scars. It was such an unbothered expression that it caused something to boil inside Kevin.

'Is he really broken? If so.. who or what broke him like that?'

Kevin asked himself for the thousandth time. But there was no answer. No matter how much he looked into Ale's past, how many bribes he gave out to gather information, there was nothing he could find that could explain Ale's behavior and change.

That's why, Kevin finally decided to give up searching for the answer and simply decided to keep looking at him. He was simply going to watch and observe and try to figure out what was wrong with Ale all by himself, without anyone's help.

"Yes. Please heal them."

He answered firmly this time, looking Ale directly in the eyes. Seeing that spark in his eyes, Ale nodded his head with a soft smile.

"Okay."

With that affirmation from his master, Kevin finally left the room. Ash took off his clothes and dipped his tired body into the warm, medicinal bath.

"Haah.. this feels so good."

He channeled some of his mana into the bath water, letting the water heal his scars slowly as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Right next to the bathtub was the box that he sealed his sword in. A string of black mana slowly started creeping out of the box and heading towards the sleeping Ale without his knowledge.