The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 420: An Ordinary Afternoon

Under the cover of night.

At least, that’s how Riley imagined this sort of thing was supposed to happen.

Shadows stretched long and thin across damp ground. Thick fog rolling over the ridge and swallowing the tree line whole. The kind of suffocating darkness where three figures crouched behind a rotting wooden wall, scarcely daring to breathe as they listened to the low, gravelly whispers of hooded figures passing only a few feet away.

One dropped pebble, one misplaced breath, and everything would be over, yet the secrets slipping through the darkness would go on to reshape the continent.

If only.

Because none of that happened under the cover of anything.

Instead, all of it happened in broad-daylight.

Honestly, Riley wasn’t sure whether that made the situation more anticlimactic or significantly more horrifying.

After all, the fact that such nefarious plans could now be discussed openly in public felt far more unsettling than some dramatic midnight conspiracy. Were they really so confident in their sickening plans that they no longer cared about security, or were they simply that mindless?

Then again, who exactly was going to report them when these monsters had practically leveled an entire mountain village before Riley, Kael, and Orryn managed to reach the area?

The smell of smoke would’ve been better.

Not good by any means, but better.

Far better than the stench currently assaulting his senses and making him gag reflexively.

This wasn’t like the Dark Elf territory.

Back then, the wyverns had at least limited themselves to skulking around among the original inhabitants while carrying out their filthy business. This time, however, what greeted Riley and his companions was blood, flesh, and an unsettling silence that seemed to cling to everything around them.

Not a good sign.

a good sign.

The slain beastmen lay scattered across the ground, and what disturbed Riley most wasn’t the bloodshed itself but the expressions frozen on their faces.

They hadn’t known.

Most of them looked as though they had absolutely no idea they were about to die.

There was no terror. No panic. No desperate attempt to flee. Some looked mildly annoyed, others distracted, while a few still wore the sort of mundane expressions one would expect from people simply going about an ordinary day.

Only...

For these people, there would be no tomorrow.

"..."

Judging by the condition of the bodies, their deaths had been frighteningly efficient. They’d been taken from behind and killed in a single, swift motion before they could even process the danger.

These people didn’t even get to scream.

Riley’s stomach twisted.

Was it better that they didn’t have to suffer for longer? Or was it worse knowing the fact that they didn’t even get the chance to fight back?

Just how bad would it get before things could get better?

Maybe therapists would have great answers for this, but at this moment, he knew better than to say that to anyone affected by this.

He understood grief. He understood the need to screech, to cry, and to break down when confronted with something this horrific.

Which was precisely why he could only hope that the two people whose mouths were currently covered by his hands could postpone that process until later.

Because hiding behind a wooden shed while desperately trying to keep a horrified woman and an equally horrified child from screaming their lungs out wasn’t exactly the sort of epitaph he wanted carved into their gravestones.

Especially when the monsters responsible were still close enough that a single shriek, or even an out-of-place yelp, would likely alert every last one of them.

to be fair, as a dragon with an even more draconic and thoroughly livid husband looming just behind him, Riley would probably survive the ensuing disaster.

Oh, they would win against these lackeys. That part was actually for sure.

Unfortunately, that would also mean everything they’d been working toward would be exposed long before they were ready if they were discovered. And apologies to his ancestors and everyone else who had bravely fought in the Great War, but Riley’s preferred strategy was to nip these sorts of problems in the bud before they ever had the chance to turn into an actual fight.

Not only did they lack the manpower after years of peace had lulled people into complacency, but, in more honest news, Riley was also self-aware enough to admit that he wasn’t nearly heroic or martyr-like enough for another full-blown war where he, as the last black dragon, would probably end up sacrificing himself for the sake of Eryndra.

And for that admittedly insane plan of his to succeed, every single one of them needed to play their roles well, which meant no screaming and absolutely no killing, even if Riley had already drawn blood inside his mouth from biting down so hard just to suppress the overwhelming urge to incinerate everyone himself.

Steadying himself, Riley turned his attention back to the two survivors they’d managed to chance upon alive amidst the carnage that had shaken this small mountain village.

The brunette woman’s arms were wrapped tightly around the young boy, holding him against her chest with the sort of desperate strength that only came from believing that the moment she let go, she’d lose him too. The child’s wide, terrified eyes stared blankly ahead, unfocused and hollow, while his tiny body trembled so violently that the movement carried straight into the woman’s equally shaking arms.

They both looked at Riley.

Their breathing hitched.

Their eyes silently searched his face for...something.

Hope.

Answers.

Anything.

Riley squeezed his eyes shut for the briefest moment.

Honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to say to them later.

For now, they simply needed to remain quiet.

But once this was over...

What words could he possibly offer people who’d been forced to hide for dear life while everyone they probably knew and loved lay dead outside on what had probably begun as a perfectly ordinary afternoon?

And perhaps the more difficult question was what he was going to tell himself later tonight.

Just how was he supposed to convince himself that these people hadn’t died because they hadn’t arrived earlier?

Maybe if they’d reached the village sooner, these people would’ve survived.

Maybe they could’ve evacuated everyone before the wyverns descended upon the settlement.

Maybe those children would’ve continued playing instead of lying motionless among the dead.

Maybe.

He certainly had a lot of maybes today.