The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 423: One Last Game

Riley looked up at the seemingly endless wall of materials that had apparently sprung up like mushrooms if he were to take the guardians’ words literally, and couldn’t help but wonder just how much time he was supposed to pour into studying all of this before he could make sense of anything.

Couldn’t they have shown these earlier?

Or was he simply destined to live a life of cramming?

Honestly, if that were the case, then he might as well have stayed in university. At least there he’d only have to worry about failing exams instead of accidentally failing an entire continent.

Just as Riley was trying to imagine what sort of miserable future awaited him, one of the guardians finally stepped forward.

"You were asking whether an ability capable of accurately locating dragon crypts exists."

The admittedly overwhelmed dragon nodded, only for another guardian to respond by casually tossing something in his direction.

"?!"

Embarrassingly enough, there’d been absolutely no reason to panic. The material turned out to be considerably less clumsy than he was, stopping itself neatly in midair while Riley almost reached out to catch it out of pure human instinct.

Right.

Magic.

He really should’ve remembered that by now.

Looking at it more carefully, Riley realized that instead of retrieving another book from the seemingly endless collection surrounding them, the guardian had produced an old, weathered scroll that now floated quietly before him. It slowly unfurled of its own accord, revealing rows upon rows of ancient script before the guardian calmly said,

"Then perhaps you should be the one to tell us the answer."

Had this happened under different circumstances, Riley would’ve been utterly fascinated. The side of him that had always loved forgotten languages and ancient records would’ve happily spent hours poring over every single character, carefully deciphering each line until the entire text finally revealed its meaning.

Only this time, the characters never became words.

Instead, they became memories.

Vivid ones too.

Each symbol felt less like something written on parchment and more like a spell activating inside his mind, every line pulling another vision to the surface before he even had the chance to process the previous one.

Memory after memory crashed into him in rapid succession until the distinction between reading and remembering gradually disappeared, leaving him unable to tell whether he was deciphering an ancient record or reliving someone else’s past.

At first, they were surprisingly simple.

A game of hide-and-seek unfolded before the unexpected spectator as young dragons scattered in every direction, laughing while trying to hide from a humanoid being so overwhelmingly imposing that Riley couldn’t help but feel relieved this was merely a replay rather than him physically standing there.

Then again, he also had to give props to those younglings, who didn’t seem to think such a presence was unusual in the slightest.

Their laughter echoed throughout the memory alongside words spoken fluently in ancient draconic, and oddly enough, that was what made Riley’s ears ring the most.

He had always been curious about the language, and with him finally getting his hands on his inheritance, he had instinctively learned it. But to him, and likely to most other dragons alive, it was already a language of the distant past. These days, it was primarily used to decipher old records, while the living had long since shifted to more centralized languages.

Somehow, though, hearing it spoken so effortlessly made it feel even older than anything he’d ever translated.

Then, without warning, the sight before him shifted.

The towering figure slowly turned toward his direction.

"!"

Riley instinctively stiffened.

He knew this was only a memory of sorts. He wasn’t actually there. And yet those ancient eyes seemed to settle directly upon him before the being smiled with a warmth that somehow softened that otherwise overwhelming presence.

"But children," the being said, the ancient words naturally translating themselves within Riley’s mind. "Wouldn’t it be unfair if I were always able to find you?"

"...?"

Before Riley could even dwell on those words, the vision abruptly changed once more.

This time there was no laughter.

Instead, the very same dragons, no longer children but adults, stood gathered beneath a massive tree, silently mourning someone who was still sitting before them yet somehow looked as though he no longer wished to remain. A large stone rested beneath the sprawling branches, and upon it sat that same towering being, though his floor-length hair now concealed most of his face. Somehow he no longer felt nearly as imposing as before. If anything, he simply looked... weary.

Even so, he gently reached out and patted the head of one of the grieving dragons.

"My apologies, children."

His voice remained gentle despite the cough that interrupted him.

"It seems... you won’t be able to play hide-and-seek with each other anymore."

Another quiet cough escaped him before the corners of his lips lifted ever so slightly.

"But on the bright side... at least now you’ll always know where each other are."

He paused again.

"And perhaps now... you’ll finally be able to race each other fairly."

"!!!"

Riley’s knees suddenly gave way beneath him.

A startled gasp escaped his lips as every vision abruptly vanished, and by the time he realized the memories had ended, he was already on the floor struggling to catch his breath.

Kael immediately crouched beside him, one hand steadying Riley before he could collapse further while quickly checking him over for injuries.

"Riley!"

The Dragon Lord’s voice reached him, but Riley hardly seemed aware of his surroundings anymore. His mind remained occupied by a single thought so completely that it felt as though he had to force the words out before they disappeared along with the memories.

Grabbing Kael firmly by both shoulders, Riley blurted out, "The primordial dragon."

His breathing remained uneven as he hurriedly continued, "The primordial dragon could do it!"

No sooner had those words left his mouth than the guardians quietly gathered together. To Riley, it honestly looked less like an ancient council discussing a revelation that could shake dragon history and more like a group of elderly librarians engaging in remarkably high-speed gossip.

Eventually, after what felt like an eternity of silent deliberation, they finally parted.

One of the guardians stepped forward.

"Then..." the guardian began thoughtfully before looking directly at Riley. "...doesn’t that mean the Great One’s body could do it as well?"

Riley simply stared at them.

But surprisingly, he didn’t look nearly as shocked as the guardians had expected.

Then again, how could he be when he’d just learned something arguably worse?

"Not sure about the body," Riley muttered before lifting his gaze to those golden orbs with unusual seriousness, "but now I’m certain about the gifts."

He turned toward Kael.

"Kael... the gifts can somehow locate each other."

If his vision was correct, then those children with such unforgettable features, especially their hair and eye colors, had likely been the dragons who originally inherited those gifts.

Two of them were already in his possession.

Which meant, by process of elimination...

That remaining birthright...

It had to be the primordial dragon’s talons.

The very same ones that had, unfortunately, been thought lost alongside the supposedly extinct white dragon clan.

But considering Riley himself was supposed to belong to the wiped-out black dragon clan...

How could he honestly claim it was impossible for even a single white dragon to have survived?

Though, if he were to be honest, her case didn’t feel like survival but more like the result of