Cale was sitting on the couch in his office at the Henituse's main estate. The less than one-meter long dragon was curled up on his lap eating his new favorite snack, cookies. Though the dragon would actually eat anything and everything. It had an endless appetite and Cale encouraged it because growing children needed to eat a lot.
He was flipping through various files on buildings for sale in Huiss City. He was originally going to purchase a second building in either the Stan or Orsen territories but settled on the capital since the Stan territory is rather peaceful since the crippled older brother, Taylor, had successfully become the head of house thanks to his kindness and the crazy priestess, Cage. Cale shuddered at the thought of the wild, despairing, curse throwing woman. Meeting her on the battlefield once as she slaughtered Venion's men was a plentiful nightmare for Cale.
The Orsen territory could also wait. He will eventually need to get ears there but for now, there were more important places he needed to focus on. Taking care of White Star, the God of Despair, and the terrifying monsters was the top priority before the Hunters.
His new plan was to place ears in Huiss City, at least two in the Mogoru Empire, one in the Whipper Kingdom, hopefully at least three or more in the Eastern Continent, then he would think about other territories in the Roan Kingdom. Opening up this many businesses only seemed possible with how successful the first one was and it had only been open for a few months. The recipes that Beacrox had shared and the Eastern dishes that Ron had suggested were a big hit in luring in customers.
The door opened to reveal Ron. The butler had momentarily left to deliver the empty dinner dishes and used cutlery to the kitchens. "Shall I bring you the person I believe will make an excellent tutor for the young dragon, Young Master?"
"Yes." Cale didn't bother looking up as he read over the description of the building he was thinking of purchasing.
A few minutes later a knock was heard on the door. The dragon smiled brightly before turning invisible. The poor thing had waited a week for Ron to scour the servants to find one loyal enough to keep a secret and smart enough to help the young dragon in the beginning of his studies.
"Come in."
The door opened to reveal Ron with a bright benign smile plastered on. Behind him stood a nervous looking orange-haired man. Cale recognized him immediately. The servant was deputy butler Hans and he had given up his life to protect Basen during Cale's first life. Though his sacrifice had been in vain, Cale knew the man was at least loyal.
"Do you have need of me, Young Master?" Hans asked when Ron moved to stand behind the deputy butler.
"Who do you serve?" A simple question, one that Cale already knew the answer to.
"Par-pardon?" Hans looked to Ron behind him before looking back at Cale. "I serve the lord of the Henituse territory, the current head, your father, Count Deruth."
"Who do you serve?" Cale asked once again.
Hans' eyebrows furrowed down toward his eyes as he frowned. "I serve the lord of the Henituse territory. Is there a reason for these questions, Young Master?"
A cold smirk marred Cale's lips. "Who do you serve?" This time with the question, Ron subtly moved until he had a dagger pressed against Hans' throat.
The poor man looked at Cale with wide, shaky eyes. "Wha-what is th-the me-meaning of this?" His quiet voice carried even with the quivering of anger and fear. "I told you th-that I serve the lor-lord of the territory. Right no-now that is your father, Count Deruth. In th-the future, if I am still employed here, my master will be Ba-the next successor."
A trashy grin replaced Cale's cold smirk and he clapped at Hans's words. He was pleased even though he already knew that the man would act this way.
Ron removed the dagger from Hans' throat and released the man.
Cale stopped clapping, the grin still on his face. "You can say Basen. He will be the next lord so it is fine," he told the deputy butler calmly, still remaining seated. Hans' eyes widened with Cale's words.
"You pass," he told the servant brightly. "You can begin immediately."
Hans gawked at him while rubbing his throat. "Young Master, I may serve you as the young master of this family but you are not my master. I thought I made it clear where my loyalty lies."
"You did." He glanced down to the invisible dragon on his lap, a soft smile taking over his features. He looked back up at Hans. "You passed because you are so stubbornly loyal to a fault." Ron came over to where Cale was sitting and picked up a turned over piece of paper from the table before handing it to Hans. "The mistake you made though is that I will not be the master that you will be serving. That paper Ron gave you contains a list of subjects your new master wishes to learn."
The invisible dragon took that time to remove the spell before Hans had a chance to protest. A gasp was heard when a small black dragon with a cookie in its paw appeared on Cale's lap. "Meet the black dragon. He is a two-year-old who is in need of a tutor. He will be your new master," Cale informed Hans.
The dragon turned large, sparkling blue eyes onto Hans and smiled brightly. His tail and wings shook from excitement. "You'll be my teacher?" His cute voice stabbed right into the deputy butler's heart.
"Yes!" Hans gripped the paper tightly and stared at the dragon in pure adoration. "I would love to be cute dragon-nim's teacher!" Hans then turned his sparkling eyes onto Cale. "How did you come to possess a dragon, Young Master?"
Cale frowned. "I do not possess him. He is a child who was in need of a home. I merely offered mine to him."
The dragon nodded enthusiastically. "The good human saved me from bad humans! He promised to find me teachers! I am learning magic from nice Felicity! Human even gives me money!"
"You saved him?"
"Do you acknowledge your new master?" Cale asked instead.
"Yes!" Hans' reply was immediate. Cale was a little disappointed that Hans was able to be turned so easily but it was unfortunately a necessary corruption.
Cale nodded. "Ron can divulge the story later. Remember that everything about the dragon remains a secret from my father." He made to stand up and the dragon rose to the air and made its way towards Hans. "Ron will also give you Felicity's schedule. Work together with her to find the best time for you to teach the little dragon." He picked up the file of the building he wanted to buy. He will need to send someone to Huiss City to get into contact with the seller. "I will also pay you on top of your regular salary."
"What is your name, cute dragon-nim?" Cale heard Hans asked the dragon before he left the room. He paused, wanting to hear the name that the dragon had picked out for itself.
". . .I don't have one," the dragon finally said, his voice a dejected whisper.
"You don't have one? But a name is important!" Cale agreed with Hans' statement. Names showcased one's individuality. Cale was going to have to have a conversation with the dragon to help it figure out a name for itself.
He walked out of the room, the door closing with a soft click behind him. The walk to his bedroom was short and quiet. Grabbing the few things he needed, mainly just the things he rented from Billos that he kept forgetting to return. He placed the information page of the building he wanted, money for the building, and a short explanatory letter in the box that contained the equipment he rented from Billos.
On his way back to his study, he bumped into Lily, who must have just finished dinner with the rest of the family. Her already darker skin was starting to tan from doing laps out in the training hall every morning.
"Elder brother!" She smiled as she greeted him. "Are you going to tell me a story tonight?"
"If you wish. Let me finish up a few things and I'll be there." His answer had her smiling brightly before she bolted off to her room in excitement, a maid rushing along behind her.
Cale found a crying black dragon and a close to tears Hans upon his return to his study. Ron was standing against the wall by the door as he watched Hans trying to console the young dragon.
"Human!" The dragon cried as soon as he realized that Cale had returned. The dragon flew into his chest, slamming its hardened body into Cale's more delicate frame. He couldn't wait until he was older than sixteen so that his body would grow and hopefully be as fit if not fitter than it had been before he regressed.
Ron took the box out of his hands so that Cale could wrap his arms around the little creature.
"I'm sorry, cute dragon-nim," Hans apologized, looking at the dragon with wide, sad eyes.
Cale sighed and patted the top of the dragon's head. "Ron, explain how we saved the dragon." Cale looked down at the sobbing creature. "What's the matter?"
"I-I do-don't have a na-name!"
"Of course you don't." How could the dragon have a name when he had been imprisoned his whole life. The dragon's parents were most likely dead. There was no way it could have had a name unless Venion had named it, and there was no way he was going to let the child keep a name that a bastard had given him.
"That doesn't mean that you can't make up one for yourself," Cale tried to soothe the dragon when its cries became louder. "You can pick out a name for yourself. One that you like. And when you do, you can tell it to me."
The dragon stopped crying and looked up at him with large dark blue eyes. "Really?" It sniffled.
"Really." Cale glanced up at Ron, who was motioning for Hans to take a seat. "That needs to be delivered to Billos," he informed the butler. Cale didn't mind if Hans knew about it since it pertained to the dragon.
He then turned away from the two servants. "If you're settled down enough, do you want to join Lily and I?"
The dragon sniffled. It nodded its head. "I like storytime." It then flew out of Cale's grasp and turned invisible.
Cale walked out of the room with the dragon behind him. He really hoped that bringing Hans in wasn't a mistake. He'll have to keep an eye out on the deputy butler for a while.
He knocked on his sister's door.
"Come in!"
Lily was already snuggled up in bed. A chair was pulled up to the side for Cale to sit in. This had become their nightly arrangement with Cale only not being able to tell his sister stories from his past a handful of times since he had been back.
He left the bedroom door ajar, knowing that Basen would listen in from the hallway.
Cale plopped down into the seat, still somehow remaining graceful. The invisible dragon landed on the bed by Lily's feet.
Lily peeked nervous eyes at the invisible lump. She knew that something had been joining them in on storytime for the past week, and she couldn't wait until it trusted her enough to reveal itself.
Cale watched his sister in amusement. She had already guessed what her invisible friend was, even if she hadn't realized it.
That had been an interesting conversation. Lily had approached him just yesterday when the dragon had been in the kitchen with Beacrox. She had asked him if the invisible new member of their family was a mage and then began telling him about the conversation on archmages and dragons that she had had with her teacher.
"What do you want to hear about tonight?"
-"I wonder what little Lily will ask for!" The dragon's excited voice entered his mind.
"Um. . .have you met other races than Dark Elves? My teacher said there are a lot of other races out there." Lily played with the blanket, clutching it in her slender fingers.
Cale wracked his brain. Dark Elves, one necromancer, dark mages, mages, a wolf tribe member, the Bear Tribe, the Lion Tribe, the Red Flame Dwarves, and the punk bastard. He still wasn't sure what Choi Han was.
"Can I tell you a story about a tribe I heard about? I haven't met them but I did meet someone who had."
-"Yes!"
"Please?" Lily batted her eyelashes, eyes sparkling. "What Tribe?"
Cale smirked. "Whale." Lily gasped. Her sparkling eyes grew impossibly sparklier. Cale was going to have to try to meet a member of the Whale Tribe if his sister was going to be this excited.
-"What are they like? Are they strong?"
"The Whale tribe are the strongest species next to dragons," Cale began. "They're also said to be extremely handsome when in human form."
-"Human! Dragons are better! Just wait until I can morph into a human!" The little dragon chimed in his head and it took everything Cale had to not chuckle.
The creaking of the bedroom door alerted him to Basen eavesdropping. Cale wondered when his little brother would officially join them?
"The Whales' natural enemy are the Mermaids." Cale began recounting some of the stories he heard the other knights passed around. He was sure some were exaggerated, like Choi Han riding on a Whale. Why would a Whale allow a human to ride them? And weren't the Whales' strong, so how come the Mermaids were giving them so much trouble?