The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 440: The Other Half

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Previously on The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL]...

Crown Prince Rowan allows a suspected spy to escape, following Riley's unconventional plan to use the mole as a source of information. Riley reveals that the public war against the merfolk is a diversion, and the true target is the wyverns, who are after him. He intends to use himself as bait, allowing the wyverns to come to him while he simultaneously plans to visit their territory first.

What Crown Prince Rowan didn’t know, however, was that the plan he’d been entrusted with was merely the summarized version.

It lacked all the smaller details that somehow made Riley’s admittedly unhinged proposal far more understandable and, somehow, considerably more feasible.

It wasn’t because the elves couldn’t be trusted.

Rather, Riley firmly believed that if they wanted to fool their enemies, they first had to fool their allies.

As such, the complete plan was known to so few people that they wouldn’t even outnumber the fingers on one hand. Even among those trusted with carrying it out, not everyone knew the entire picture. Riley had intentionally divided the information between them so that, in the event someone was captured or subjected to mental attacks, there wouldn’t be a single person capable of revealing everything.

Orryn wholeheartedly agreed with that need-to-know approach because if anyone could attest to the dangers of having one’s memories rummaged through, it was him.

He was practically the poster boy for mental attacks, and from personal experience alone, he knew that knowing less could very well save everyone else.

Case in point, Rowan had absolutely no idea that, much like what happened back at the water park, Kael wouldn’t actually be out there fighting on some battlefield in Silvara.

Well, not exactly.

To be fair, Riley hadn’t entirely lied when he said the dragon lord would accompany the expedition.

It just so happened that this particular dragon lord had already retired.

As replacements went, however, they couldn’t have asked for anyone better. If anything, this one was far easier to work with and considerably less likely to incinerate someone just because they happened to breathe the wrong way.

Because if Rowan genuinely believed Kael Dravaryn would’ve allowed a plan this batshit insane to proceed without personally keeping his very own eyeballs on his mate the entire time, then he was gravely mistaken.

It was just that everyone, the Elowen heir included, needed to genuinely believe the battle against the merfolk would be the decisive confrontation, despite it being nothing more than an elaborate ploy.

And what better way to sell that illusion than by placing Kael at the center of it?

Seeing the head of the MBE preparing to face the merfolk firsthand, the Elven Prince would naturally assume that Riley—still known to most as nothing more than a mortal—wouldn’t have planned anything beyond gathering information firsthand. And the dragon lord’s aide had absolutely no intention of correcting that assumption.

It was already risky enough that Rowan knew as much as he did, and if they’d somehow overlooked another spy, then this was really the most Riley could afford to reveal.

As for the golden dragon himself...

The very first time Riley proposed the plan, Kael had nearly set his own office on fire.

Only after his mate had patiently explained that the entire point of the operation was to avoid fighting as many enemies as possible did the golden dragon finally calm down enough to think.

Most people imagined a continental war as something grand enough to be remembered for generations. They pictured armies crashing into one another across sprawling battlefields, powerful leaders clashing at the front lines, and countless stories worthy of being passed down through oral and written tradition.

Truthfully, Riley used to imagine the same thing.

Then reality happened, and instead of remaining a bystander or a student reading about wars in history books, he somehow ended up right in the middle of one as the unfortunate bastard who needed to win or they were all fucked.

Apparently, the role wasn’t nearly as glamorous as those historical accounts made it sound. They certainly neglected to mention the endless pacing, the sleep deprivation, or the sheer amount of cursing involved when everything insisted on going wrong at the same time.

More importantly, those old records always made it seem as though great leaders naturally inspired people to rally behind them.

Reality, however, wasn’t nearly so accommodating.

For one, Riley Hale wasn’t exactly the most charismatic person alive, despite what his parents and the children insisted whenever they were trying to make him feel better.

And if that was already true for him, then what hope was there for his even less pleasant husband?

They could go for popularity contests but not exactly congenial ones. Also, to be fair, Riley was aware that he had people in his camp. He wasn’t exactly THAT bad considering all else...

The problem was that, despite having gathered a considerable number of allies over the years, most of Riley’s closest relationships were with office workers, children and their caretakers, and a whole lot of very human, very mortal colleagues.

Clearly not war material.

So, as regrettable as it was, he needed to rethink their entire approach.

Yes, more and more factions had begun publicly siding with them, and he absolutely intended to make use of every resource people willingly offered.

At the same time, he wasn’t naive enough to believe that all of them would remain just as committed if he openly admitted, "There’s a very real chance you’ll die, and one of the reasons I’m asking you to fight is so I won’t end up very dead for everyone else."

That would’ve been a spectacular way to watch people reconsider their loyalties.

Because while volunteers sounded noble in theory, self-preservation had a funny way of reshaping convictions once death stopped being hypothetical.

So instead of building a strategy around throwing as many people as possible into one decisive confrontation, Riley built one around doing the exact opposite. He would accomplish everything he could with as few people as necessary while hoping to keep actual casualties to an absolute minimum.

If that was the goal, then perhaps it would be better if most of them never had to fight head-on in the first place.

After all, if beekeepers could harvest honey with nothing more than a little smoke, then why couldn’t he?

Crazy?

Definitely.

But at least in theory, it should work.

It just needed a few (a lot) of details ironed out before Riley would be comfortable calling it an actual plan.

The most glaring problem Riley needed to solve was one almost nobody else even knew existed.

At the moment, he knew exactly where the enemy was.

Under normal circumstances, that would’ve been fantastic news.

Unfortunately...

The enemy also knew exactly where he was.

And all of that was thanks to the blasted relic they’d somehow managed to split in two, not the carefully orchestrated surveillance they’d originally relied upon.

The broken halves practically acted like trackers that continuously pinged one another regardless of how far apart they were. As frustrating as that was, Riley couldn’t deny that the situation also came with two rather significant advantages.

The first was finally being able to pinpoint where in Wyrmfall the wyverns had established themselves.

The second was that it conveniently hid the existence of the other two relics he carried. Since the talon was already reacting to him, the Wyvern Queen would’ve naturally assumed it was because Riley possessed the other half she’d failed to take.

From her perspective, that would’ve been the only conclusion that made sense.

Fortunately, that wasn’t much of an issue while Riley remained inside the MBE.

Everyone already believed he was practically locked away under the Dragon Lord’s personal protection, so the relic continuously pointing toward headquarters wasn’t particularly suspicious but was even expected.

He even figured it helped keep the Wyvern Queen in check because, even if the relic wasn’t in her possession, she at least knew exactly where it was and where to find it if she ever grew desperate enough to reclaim it.

The real problem was travelling anywhere with all those relics with him.

How exactly was he supposed to leave when he was quite literally carrying the continent’s most enthusiastic tracking device? And lamentably for him, save for the damaged bracelet, the others wouldn’t even come off.

The moment he stepped beyond the MBE’s walls, the Wyvern Queen would know exactly where to look. After all, she was undoubtedly still salivating over the fragment she’d failed to claim in full, especially after discovering the unexpected benefit it had brought to her resurrection efforts.

Worse, if she really was as intelligent as Riley believed, she’d eventually start asking far more dangerous questions, like why Riley had been able to claim the other half of the relic in the first place.

And if he decided to leave the bracelet behind as a decoy, she’d eventually notice the appearance of additional signals, making the deception a spectacularly stupid one. In the process, he’d only expose the far more scandalous secret that he possessed the other two gifts as well.

That was one reveal he had no intention of having just yet.

Naturally, the Dravaryns immediately asked him how he intended to solve that particular problem.

Riley didn’t answer them.

Instead, he turned toward Lady Cirila.

"Mom."

The esteemed dragon lady looked up in surprise.

"I need your help."

Cirila didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

"Of course," she answered. "If there’s anything I can do, then I will."

She paused before frowning slightly.

"Although I honestly don’t think I’d be capable of concealing your presence from a relic left behind by the Primordial Dragon."

To her surprise, Riley immediately nodded.