Thump—
Thump—
Thump—
An inexplicable banging sound echoed, and a surge of irritation welled up in her heart.
'Who is it!'
Furiel roared in her mind, unwilling to wake up.
But the banging continued, causing her to instinctively lash out with her fiery-red draconic tail toward the source of the noise.
Boom!
The immense force shattered the floor tiles of the palace, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The world fell silent. Just as Furiel breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to go back to sleep, the annoying banging returned.
This time, she could no longer endure it. Her fiery-red vertical pupils snapped open, and she immediately saw an alchemical creation bumping into her.
"Roar!"
She roared instantly, her massive dragon claws about to descend. In this moment of crisis, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"Chrono Lock!"
In the next second, a massive ice-blue clock face rapidly expanded, and time in the area froze instantly.
When her senses returned, her massive dragon claw slammed into the ground, causing the floor tiles in the room to shatter layer by layer as stone fragments flew everywhere.
Seeing her strike miss, Furiel glared at Jonavili standing nearby, sparks flying from her eyes due to her intense rage.
The sound of teeth grinding in extreme suppression could be heard.
"Jonavili, I believe I need an explanation, or else..."
Crackle, crackle. The dragon claw pinned to the ground clenched tightly, making the sounds of dragon bone and stone grinding together.
Jonavili ignored Furiel's barely contained fury. Instead, she jumped in front of her with a smile, lifting herself up to look the draconic Furiel in the eye.
"Hehehe~ Furiel, look at the results of my year's work."
Saying this, Jonavili took out her little alchemy dragon and waved it in front of Furiel as if sharing her joy, though her smug expression clearly showed she was bragging.
Furiel stared at the little girl waving the little dragon in her hand, and the irritation and anger in her heart gradually faded, replaced by a sense of helplessness.
'I really can't seem to stay mad at her.'
"It's ugly as death, just like you."
Hearing this, Jonavili's expression collapsed, and she spoke petulantly.
"What are you saying? It's so cool, how could it look like me? Wait, no, I mean I'm so good-looking, it doesn't look like me at all."
Jonavili felt like she was tangling her own words.
"No, no, it's not like me—wrong! I mean it's not ugly at all, and I'm very good-looking too, you know."
Watching Jonavili almost fail to untangle her own logic, Furiel found it amusing, thinking that this miniature human version of Jonavili was actually quite cute.
"Fine, I have no interest in hearing this. Tell me, why did you wake me? I don't believe you're that bored."
Jonavili's words faltered for a moment before she said with a smile.
"Hehe! You guessed right."
Furiel looked as if she had expected as much, waiting for Jonavili to continue.
"I really am that bored."
Furiel's expression froze, and she felt speechless.
"How boring."
Furiel lay her body back down, preparing to have a good nap.
"Hey, hey, hey~ Wait, wait, wait! Furiel, you can't do this. Is your long dragon life really nothing but sleeping?"
Furiel gave her a look that said, "Isn't it supposed to be like that?"
"What else? Should I go be a dragon-slaying hero instead of sleeping?"
"Ah... I actually have no response to that."
"Fine, fine, go play by yourself and don't bother me."
Just as Furiel was about to bury her dragon head, the little cutie Jonavili rushed to her chin and held it up with one hand.
Furiel lowered her dragon eyes and asked helplessly.
"What do you want now?"
Jonavili wore a mischievous smile.
"Heehee, since we're bored anyway, do you want to go out and have some fun?"
"Not interested, get lost."
Furiel's tone carried a hint of anger, but Jonavili acted as if she hadn't heard.
"What if we go mess with Gris?"
Hearing this, Furiel's movements paused, and her dragon eyes darted around.
"How boring. But I do feel a bit hungry."
Jonavili gave her a look that said "So you're that kind of dragon too" and said.
"Heeheehee, although usually only green dragons like pranking, doing it once or twice can be a nice change of pace, don't you think?"
While red dragons generally considered pranking to be the behavior of weaklings and a waste of time, it wasn't an absolute rule; after all, there were bound to be exceptions.
Furiel naturally wouldn't admit that she, as a red dragon, would do something so boring, but the excitement in her heart was hard to suppress, giving her a tsundere appearance.
"I'm not interested at all. I'm just a bit hungry, that's all."
"Fine, fine, let's go with that."
"I'm really hungry."
"Mhm, mhm."
"You!"
"Mhm."
"Forget it, I won't argue with you."
...
Inside the bustling card room, the dragon-blooded gnoll sitting across from the young boy cautiously reminded him.
"Lord Gris, it's your turn."
Opposite him, Gris frowned, his face showing impatience.
"Hurry, hurry, are you rushing me to my grave?"
Gris's words made the gnoll across from him shudder.
This wasn't really his fault; he had been waiting for over ten minutes, and Gris hadn't made a single move.
At this moment, Gris was still silently reciting the rules to himself.
"The knight moves in an L... the elephant moves in a square..."
Gris scratched his head.
"Sigh, forget it, whatever."
As he spoke, he picked up a 'knight' and moved it randomly. Seeing where the 'knight' landed, the surrounding audience was stunned, and the gnoll across from him was completely dazed.
"What? Aren't you going to move?"
Gris urged him. The gnoll hesitated for a few seconds before giving a kind reminder.
"Lord Gris, this... you moved incorrectly."
Gris frowned in dissatisfaction.
"What's wrong? I moved it exactly as I said."
"There's a 'cannon' next to it, you're blocked."
Gris slammed the table, causing the pieces on the board to jump high before landing back down.
"Blocked my ass! I say it moves like this, so it moves like this! My big sister invented this. If I want to change the rules, I just have to say so. From now on, this 'knight' thing can move however I want. I say..."
"Little brother, what did you say?"
Before Gris could finish his sentence, Jonavili's words reached his ears.
Gris shuddered in fear, losing his balance and stumbling several times before falling off his stool and onto the ground.
Gris's mind was buzzing, filled with thoughts of "Did big sister hear everything? Since when has she been listening?"
He stood up in a panic, ignoring the gazes around him as he began to frantically scan the surroundings. When he didn't see that familiar figure, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew—it's okay, it's okay. Just my imagination."
But then, Gris realized how embarrassing his behavior had just been. He brushed the dust off his clothes and coughed a few times to ease the awkwardness.
"Ahem."
Then, pretending as if nothing had happened, he said.
"Let's continue. I just stumbled for a moment."
Rate on N.U.
