The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL] Chapter 450: Free Fall

Meanwhile, as if equally certain that his husband would actually abide by his promise to finish everything on time, Riley had practically thrown himself out of the hovering helicopter, his arms spread as he plummeted toward the wasteland below.

And yes, he was silently praying that whatever had worked perfectly fine for the two golden dragons would also work for him.

Unlike Kael and Lady Cirila, who’d at least had the opportunity to practice the ridiculous maneuver outside the MBE beforehand, Riley hadn’t exactly been allowed the same luxury.

The entire point of keeping him inside the headquarters until the last possible moment was to convince the Wyvern Queen that he was still there, so having him wander off somewhere just to practice jumping from extreme heights would’ve defeated the purpose.

Besides, black dragon or not, the former human inside him still had very strong opinions about voluntarily jumping from somewhere this high without a parachute.

It was stupid.

But launching a parachute would’ve been even worse, considering there was a very real chance they’d simply end up tangled in it because of Wyrmfall’s naturally chaotic conditions.

Then again, who’d been the one to insist that they needed to get as close to the wyvern base as possible before Riley left the box’s effective range?

Right.

Him.

Because as terrifying as the current drop was, there’d been an actual reason for doing it this way.

They needed the transition between Riley being completely undetectable and suddenly reappearing on the Wyvern Queen’s proverbial radar to be as seamless as possible. Ideally, by the time the other half of the relic started responding to him again, Riley would already be standing right in the middle of the wyverns’ territory.

That way, their enemies wouldn’t have enough time to prepare for his arrival, much less position themselves somewhere along the way to intercept him. Even the guards stationed around the base wouldn’t have enough time to run off and inform their Queen before Kael and Lady Cirila dealt with them.

Of course, pulling that off meant the helicopter had to hover close enough to the hideout while Riley remained within the box’s range.

But only until after his jump.

The moment Riley was safely out, Orryn needed to get the helicopter, the box, and Mr. Winston as far away from the immediate battlefield as possible.

Having that nullification field anywhere near them once an actual fight broke out would’ve been far too dangerous. One wrong estimate of its effective range and any of the dragons could suddenly find themselves without access to magic while standing directly in front of an enemy who’d been just far enough away to keep theirs.

So the red dragon’s job after dropping them off was to fly Mr. Winston and the box to a designated safehouse before returning to help with the fighting.

Well, at least, that had been the original plan.

Part of the reason was simply that they couldn’t leave Mr. Winston anywhere near the battlefield. The master jeweler was a non-combatant who’d already done far more than anyone could’ve reasonably asked of him, and the only reason they’d dragged the poor dwarf all the way to Wyrmfall in the first place was because they needed him nearby in case something went wrong with his creation during the journey.

But by the grace of everything that was holy, they’d actually managed to get there in one piece, which meant they could now safely send the kind artisan back together with the box.

Given all that, Riley would’ve liked to say that most things were thankfully going according to plan.

Unfortunately, just as the sudden return of his mana made his skin feel like it wanted to jump right off his body, his thoughts drifted back to that last-minute conversation with Orryn mere moments before he’d thrown himself out of the helicopter.

__

"Hey, you promised your kid, you know?"

Riley remembered how the red dragon had looked back at him at those words, appearing rather embarrassed about being called out so suddenly.

"Yeah," Orryn said after a moment. "I won’t disappoint him this time around."

Riley stared at him for a beat longer before sighing, already knowing exactly what the man was probably planning to do the moment the rest of them jumped out of that helicopter.

"Then if you’re telling the truth, you should know that there’s that gate we used at the Ministry. It’s by Kael’s personal hideout. If you’re really set on going back to the MBE, then use that to escape when you’re done with whatever you want to do."

The initial embarrassment on the red dragon’s face being so abruptly replaced by shock would’ve been hilarious under less serious circumstances, but the ex-mortal didn’t really have the time to think about that.

"W-what? H-how did you know?"

"How could I not?" Riley asked, looking at him as though the answer should’ve been obvious. "You may seem a little calmer... but clearly, you’re still Orien’s father. How could I not predict what you may have planned on doing?"

And really, Riley didn’t think it had been particularly difficult to figure out.

He’d already considered the problem himself and knew that after dropping them off, Orryn would eventually realize that racing all the way back to Wyrmfall after bringing Mr. Winston and the box to safety would waste far too much time.

Without the nullification field allowing the helicopter to pass through the damaged leylines as easily as it had on their way in, returning through non-magical means wouldn’t exactly be convenient. And while Orryn could certainly return as a dragon, what were the chances of him not acting as a beacon for everyone else to spot?

On the other hand, there was somewhere much more useful he could go.

The MBE.

If Orryn returned there and continued putting on the appearance that something important was still being heavily protected inside the headquarters, then they might be able to keep the Wyvern Queen and her forces deceived for several minutes longer. And right now, even a few additional minutes could mean more time for Riley, Kael, and Lady Cirila to accomplish what they’d actually come to Wyrmfall to do.

So when Riley saw that determined expression on the red dragon’s face earlier, he’d already realized that Orryn had probably reached the same conclusion.

Their conversation was less Riley discovering Orryn’s plan and more him confirming something he’d already suspected.

"But Riley," Orryn eventually said, still looking surprised that he’d been caught so easily. "You’re not going to stop me?"

Riley almost found the question funny.

"No. Because since when has it ever been easy to stop a dragon whose mind has already been made up?"

He should know.

He was currently standing by the open door of a helicopter preparing to throw himself out of it because of an insane plan he’d personally orchestrated.

"And how hypocritical would I be when I’m the one who came up with all of this?" Riley added. "But just because I can’t stop you doesn’t mean I won’t tell you how to increase your chances of surviving, or remind you why you’re actually doing this in the first place."

That had Orryn falling silent.

Riley looked at him thoughtfully before his expression softened.

"Your son may say all those things, but even if you somehow turned into a worm, I can tell that he’d still accept you. Maybe a little begrudgingly, but lovingly nonetheless."

He couldn’t help chuckling at the thought of that particular golden dragonling.

Knowing Orien, the kid would probably complain the entire time, demand an explanation for why his newly acknowledged father had somehow become a worm, and then build him the most unnecessarily elaborate enclosure known to Eryndra while insisting that none of it meant he particularly cared.

"Riley..."

The black dragon simply nodded at the stunned Orryn before deciding that there really wasn’t anything more he needed to say.

"I’m going. Just remember to pick your battles well."

Then Riley turned toward the other person who’d been dragged into this entire mess and offered the master jeweler a sincere smile.

"As for you, Mr. Winston, thank you so much for your help. We wouldn’t have been able to get this far without the two of you."

The dwarf still looked like someone who hadn’t completely processed how his ordinary life had somehow led to him sitting inside a helicopter in Wyrmfall with several dragons and a box capable of suppressing primordial relics, but he nevertheless managed to return the sentiment.

And the last thing Riley remembered hearing from the two of them before he jumped had been simple.

"See you soon."

Admittedly, Riley had liked that much better than any goodbye they could’ve given him.

Still, it didn’t make him feel nearly as good as what he saw when his rapidly sharpening vision finally focused on the ground below.

There, standing amid the bodies of the wyverns he’d cleared away with Lady Cirila, was Kael.

And the golden dragon had his arms stretched out toward him.

Riley didn’t even bother pretending that the sight didn’t immediately make him feel better.

Objectively speaking, there was probably nothing romantic about descending into a wasteland surrounded by dead wyverns, with blood staining the ground and a smell that was only becoming increasingly offensive the closer he got.

But after spending the entire trip trapped inside a literal box, unable to properly feel his mate or use any of the abilities he’d grown accustomed to, the sight of Kael waiting below after personally cleaning up everything that could’ve threatened Riley’s arrival somehow felt like one of the most romantic gestures he’d seen lately.

Maybe his standards had become questionable.

Or maybe that was simply what romance looked like when one happened to be married to Kael Dravaryn.

Either way, Riley wasn’t complaining.

His lips curved upward as his descent finally came under his control, his returning mana rushing through him as he dropped straight toward those waiting arms.

Well.

What a way to start his very personal war.