Elqueeness – Chapter 39

=> Father Son Reunited

The snow, which had been coming down lightly, started to come down harder after I met Lapis. Eventually, a massive amount started to fall down, and we couldn’t see an inch in front of us. At a glance, it was a rare snow storm.

This inevitably changed my plans to climb the mountain and find the temple. Even if we excluded Lapis and I, Isana was a pure human, and he didn’t have the stamina to walk through the harsh snowstorm to climb the mountain. The sun was about to set, so it might have been a blessing in disguise.

“Elwien’s temple…What are you going to do by getting the crest of a new god? If a Spirit King asks, the Demon god will show up. Wouldn’t it be better if you received his crest?”

Lapis still didn’t know that the previous Elqueeness, Elwien, had already reincarnated. Lapis complained simply because it was annoying for him to go to the mountain.

He was still a newly born god…if Elwien heard him, he’ll probably send down a bolt of lightning Lapis. What face would he make if he found out the new god was currently more feared than the Demon god in the Demon world? I replied, while grinning.

“Why should we waste this opportunity when I have a personal relationship with him? Moreover, Elwien wanted to meet me, so I still have to go see him. Anyways…we need to go somewhere to get away from the snow.”

“Hmmm. Why don’t we go inside a restaurant? It’s time for dinner, so it shouldn’t matter.”

“I guess so…this place has several times more posters of Isana than the other places. I don’t want to go to a location where his face would be recognized.“

When I said this, Lapis made an expression as if to say that wasn’t a problem. Then he turned to look at Isana. When their eyes met, Isana flinched back in surprise. However, he was having less difficulty facing him compared to the first time they met. After staring at Isana without saying anything, he let out a ‘hmmm’… Then he swallowed the short groan, and he asked endless amount of questions. Isana and I were taken aback.

“What type do you like? Pretty boy? Teenager? Or a middle aged man? Red hair? Blue hair. Even if it is silver hair, it shouldn’t matter.”

“What, what are you talking about?”

“If your face is different, then they won’t recognize you. Therefore, I’ll change it right now with my magic. I’m trying to take in consideration of your preferences as best as I can. So hurry up and answer me.”

“He-eh…”

As I found out, he was talking about casting the Polymorph magic on him. Dragons were quite useful to have around. If it was going to be like this, maybe I should have just made a contract with him without thinking too much about it. I looked at Lapis’ praiseworthy deed with appreciative eyes.
“Why does everything have to be a handsome boy or a handsome teen? Wouldn’t an average face be better if we are trying not to stand out?”

“Rejected. This great being can endure a lot of things, but I can’t stand seeing something that isn’t beautiful.”

“…….”

Is that why your face is overly handsome? I swallowed the question since I was afraid to hear the answer. I painstakingly turned towards Isana to look at him. He decided for now that a too handsome face would be worse than an average face. This was especially true for humans with memory of having a below average face. The torment one would feel would grow unspeakably large. It would be like my current situation.

It wasn’t as if Isana was ugly,(he would belong in the handsome category), but I thought it would be better to go against Lapis’ recommendation.

“Give him brown hair and blue eyes. How about making him look a little bit tougher?”

“Brown is the color I hate the most. It makes me think of those dungfly gold bastards. They argue their color is gold. However, how can that be the color of gold? It is the color of dung. Hoo-hoot.”

“…then how about black hair?”

“I don’t like it since looks too dark and dull.”

“We can’t always cater to your preferences.”

“I’m the one who has to carry out the magic.”

“…….”

Eventually, after bickering for a while, I gave up.  I transferred all the authority to Isana. The magic will be casted on him, so he should pick an outer appearance he liked. I shifted the responsibility to him. After thinking over if for awhile, Isana chose to be a silver-haired handsome youth with pale skin and golden eyes.

Truthfully, it looked like Lapis’ preference would be reflected on him. Isana said he preferred being inconspicuous, but Lapis cheekily pushed back against the idea. Any form of protest was ignored from the early stages.

“Well, should we implement it? <Polymorph>”

After a blinding light was emitted, an unimaginably beautiful youth with snow-white silver hair falling to his waist appeared. He had big golden eyes that seemed to occupy half of his face, and he had pale skin. He went so well with the falling snow that he was giving of a fantasy-like atmosphere. He looked like a Snow Fairy that appears in fairy tale books.

He decided to be 16 years old, but once his appearance changed, he looked much younger. Still, one wouldn’t mistake him for a girl, and I was impressed he was able to pull that off. Lapis seemed satisfied with his changed appearance, and I could only open my mouth with a sour expression.

“….this is too eye-catching. Did my warning go in one ear and out the other?”

“Our looks will sufficiently be eye-catching.  Isn’t this pretty mild?”

“Even if we are already eye-catching, are you trying to draw more gazes to us? If it’s like this, then it would have been better to put on a hood instead!”

I couldn’t tell the difference between the hair and the snow. How is a silver hair suppose to be common! I tried to argue with him, but he refused to use Polymorph to change Isana to another appearance. I could only let out a sigh when I saw him stubbornly shake his head. Isana had an amazed expression as he started inspecting his changed looks.
“We have no choice, Isana. You’ll have to always wear your hood unless there is a special situation.”
“”Ok. But… Does this silver color really exist naturally? It’s amazing.”

“I’m not sure… I don’t think it is a common color.”

When he said this, Lapis answered with a haughty expression. He didn’t seem to care that he had made my stomach turn. He just seemed satisfied that he had gotten his way.

“If a Silver Dragon Polymorphs into a human, then they’ll have silver hair. Of course, they purposely change the color of their hair since it is too eye-catching.”

“I knew it! It really is too noticeable!”

Even dragons of the same race intentionally chose another color! You are the dragon that guaranteed you won’t cause any trouble! I glared at him with a dumbfounded expression. Before I could yell at him, Lapis answered in a very sure manner.

“It’s ok. He’s still less noticeable than you.”

“…….”

What words could defeat his argument? Since it had already turned out this way, I didn’t want to waste my energy bickering with him. The snow had already reached my ankle, so I started to look for a decent restaurant we could go in to. I ignored the unreasonable request of the dragon as he wanted to go to a high class restaurant.

Fortunately, we were able to find a decent sized restaurant not too long after. There were many people traveling, so each street had inns and restaurants catered to travelers. I had to find a nondescript location, and at the same time, it had to match Lapis’ preference. We entered a very clean store, and the serving girl hurried over to greet us.

“Ah, Welco…!! W, welcome!”

The girl, who let out a determined shout, met eye-to-eye with Lapis. Her face turned red like a ripe tomato, and she lowered her head. Truthfully, it wasn’t just the girl. Amongst the guests, most of the women, who looked our way, had turned red in their faces.

Of course, his appearance was much more noticeable since we were wearing hoods by his side. Women and even men were making a fuss about his looks, so I was able to understand how good his looks were. Well, his original form was a lizard….

“F, follow me. Are there only three of you?”

Even though, she was besides herself with embarrassment, she still held on to her professional demeanor. While the waitress guided us to our seats, her gaze remained on Lapis. Since he was the tallest among us, she must have implicitly decided Lapis was our group leader. (Well, she might have simply decided it based on his looks) The snow on his head and shoulders melted, and the water to started to drip. The girl hurriedly brought a dry towel from the kitchen, and she handed it to him.
“Excuse me…Please use this to wipe yourself.”

“Mmmm, thank you. This store’s service toward customers is great.”

Surprisingly, he gave the girl a sweet smile, then he took the towel she gave him. He leisurely looked around the restaurant then he started to ask us questions in a friendly amnner.

“What do you want to eat? Do you have something you want to eat in particular?”

“…….”

“…….”

He groused right up to the point we had entered the store, but now he was showing an affable manner. Of course, Isana and I froze without being able to say anything. Maybe he…he might be the type of guy, who acts all innocent in front of women? Isana and I looked at him an absurd expression. We were only able to come to our senses when he started pressing us for answers.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? What do you want to eat? What’s wrong?”

“…no, it’s nothing. I lost my appetite. Just order me a glass of water. What about you, Rai?”

“Mmm. Just give me anything I can eat easily.”

Then he ordered bacon, smoke lamb meat and beef stew with a graceful attitude. He gave a kind smile to the girl. When she ran back to the kitchen, his cold expressionless face returned. He was frowning slightly, so it seemed something wasn’t to his liking. The arrow of discontent was aimed straight at me.

“Why did you come into a restaurant if you want only a glass of water?”

“I can’t help it. I think I’ll hurl if I eat something.”

“Huh? Maybe you can only consume liquids?”

He asked in curiosity, so I nodded my head. To be exact, anything other than water wouldn’t go down. Once or twice I tried to forced myself to eat, but every time I swallowed it felt like my body was being contaminated. Why would I want to eat food when it gave me a nauseous feeling?

Maybe if I was still hiding my identity then I would try to keep up pretenses. However, my companions already knew I was a Spirit King. As if he had obtained a new information, Lapis nodded his head in amusement.  I bluntly asked him a question.

“What is up with your attitude change? You seem like an entirely different person.”

“I can’t help it. If I act like my normal self with this face, people mistake me for a noble. If possible, you guys wanted to stay under the radar, so I just treated her with a little bit more kindness.”

“I think you were more conspicuous, especially to that girl.”

Even while she was busily serving everyone, she kept glancing this way. When I pointed her out, Lapis frowned a little.

I thought I was being considerate in my own way, but it seemed he didn’t like me finding fault in his actions. He apathetically looked at girl, then he spoke as he lazily looked over Isana and me.
“In my opinion, both of you are more conspicuous. How long are you going to wear the hood dripping water?”

“…….”

Hmmm. I didn’t have any retort. We had entered the restaurant with wet clothes, and we still had them on. Of course, we would draw gazes. Isana must have thought the same thing, since he hesitatingly looked around his surrounding. Still, he had gone through the change with magic, so he didn’t want to lose the opportunity to reveal his looks.

Accompanying a rustling noise, the silver hair was revealed, and it was whiter than snow. I started to hear exclamations coming from various places. The surrounding customers were already focused on them after Lapis appeared, and now they were impressed by the pure beauty of Isana’s appearance.

“Huk…”

“Hoo-oop.”

“Ho-oh…”

Truthfully, Isana’s Polymorph appearance was emitting enough allure that I could get lost staring at him. Blue or red hair color was a rare sight in Korea, but silver hair seemed much more amazing. Was it because it was a color rarely seen even on a wig? Of course, everyone would be surprised by it.

When he initially took off his his hood, he flinched back when everyone became surprised by him. However, his expression soon returned to being peaceful . Then he waited for their foods to come out in a calm manner. It seemed he was used to these kinds of stares. This caused everyone to be impressed by Isana once again. I guess he was built for the stage? If he was in Korea, I was sure he would have become an entertainer.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to take it off?”

“Ha-ah. I understand, so stop nagging.”

I replied in a sure manner, but I was really hesitating inside. I had already been mistaken for a female numerous of times, so I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling. Wouldn’t I be labeled as a female toting around two handsome men? As a matter of fact, there were more females than men inside the restaurant, so I couldn’t help but be slow with my actions.

In the end, it seemed like Lapis would throw a tantrum since I wasn’t being fast enough. I let out a sigh then I reluctantly took off my hood. The inside of the restaurant had already quietened down from before.  I spoke as I tried to avoid the nefarious gazes from the women.

“Jeez. It shouldn’t matter if I’m wet. I don’t feel the water reaching me, so do I really have to take it off?”

“That’s just you. It’s stuffy for people looking at you. It’s more suspicious to hide your face indoors. This is so much better.”

“Hey, you…”

At that moment, the ordered food had come out, so they couldn’t talk any further. The waitress placed the food neatly on the table, and I felt a really scary and harsh gaze directed at me from her. Since I was born as a Spirit King, this was the first time I felt my throat go dry. Our gaze met, and I struggled to give her a smile.
I wanted to somehow lighten the mood, but was it a useless struggle?

When the girl met my smiling face, she immediately turned her head away. The only thing returned was Lapis’ sharp gaze. Shit. Why do I instill a sense of rivalry in women? I tried to drink the water, while feeling depressed. At that moment, the unhappy Lapis spat out some words, and I choked on the water.

“Don’t try to seduce a woman in your female form.”

“Koo, koo-luk- koo-luk, koo-luck! What, what are you talking about!”

” You are mine, so just look at me. If you turn your gaze onto someone else, then I won’t forgive. If you smile like that towards someone again, I won’t care if its a restaurant or anywhere else, I’ll destroy everything.”

“Huk….”

Let’s set aside the ridiculous misconception of me being in a ‘female form’…He treated me like an object and now he is threatening me?

If I left this alone, then I think his symptoms would get much worse. I decided to stop it. First, I’ll have to correct his most serious misconception

“I’m a male existence.”

“…what?”

“If you treat me as a female once more, I’ll break our contract then I’ll go into hiding.”

“…….”