Chapter 16

"Ha, so gentle in your refusal. That's one of your charms," Viretta commented with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, come on. Look carefully. Iola’s practically saying he’s two people—one side willing to get engaged to Viretta," Lanken quipped.

"Incorrect."

Iola watched the two as they sat side-by-side, exchanging wrong answers in quiet chatter, and smiled warmly at them. He tapped his chalk against the blackboard with a cheerful grin.

"It’s alright. I'll explain again, so please take your seats. The uncertainty of unobserved outcomes is..."

20 minutes later

"...which is why the cat in the box is both alive and dead until you open it. Do you understand?"

The blackboard was already covered in white chalk marks. Iola tapped the few remaining blank spaces, and both Viretta and Lanken nodded.

"Applying the same theory, Viretta, you are both my fiancée in a future sense and not my fiancée. Do you understand?"

"Got it. So... the cat is immortal, right?"

"No, the cat is... a living corpse."

In other words, they hadn’t understood at all.

Iola, his smile unbroken, erased part of the blackboard with a cloth.

"It's alright. I’ll start again from the beginning."

"No! That’s okay! You've explained it seven times already!"

"Yeah! Just accept it—we’re hopeless!"

Having heard the explanation about the cat in the box seven times, Viretta and Lanken frantically waved their hands to stop him. Iola’s impromptu, twenty-minute lecture had been a bit much.

And since they still didn’t understand after hearing it seven times, it was indeed a predicament.

"It’s okay to stop now. I wouldn’t want the poor cat to have to die an eighth time," Lanken muttered.

"Why are you killing the innocent cat? It’s immortal, so it can’t die," Viretta said defensively.

"It’s a living corpse, I’m telling you."

"Neither of those, actually, but that's fine. A true teacher should be willing to explain the same thing a hundred times if the student doesn’t understand. The joy of teaching is in the repetition."

Realizing they were on the brink of another lecture, Viretta slammed her hands on the table and stood up.

"No need! I completely understand! I get the main point now!"

"Exactly!"

Lanken, eager to escape, also stood up and slammed his hands on the table. Viretta put a hand to her chest, reflecting on Iola’s words.

"So, I might still be engaged, or I might not... Right, I understand that much."

"Precisely."

Then, with a sudden realization, she shouted enthusiastically.

"So, you're saying we need to kill the dragon with everything we've got to avoid remaining engaged in the future. You could have just said that from the start. I'm all in!"

"Yeah, my life’s only worth about fifty silver coins anyway, so let’s bet it all! I’ll make us complete strangers, so let’s cut the fancy talk!"

Once again, they’d reached the wrong conclusion, and neither seemed to be in the right state of mind. This was clearly another cue for Iola to say, "Shall I explain again?"

But with Viretta's firm resolve and Lanken swept up in the energy, both were shouting about slaying the dragon with everything they had. They were brimming with enthusiasm to risk their lives on the hunt.

Taking a deep breath, Iola declared wholeheartedly, "Yes! I’ll stake my life, too! Let’s set off right now!"

He was, admittedly, something of an opportunist.

While the first Dragon Hunt Strategy Meeting was progressing tumultuously, the Medleridge estate was in the midst of chaos, like a small boat caught in a storm.

With two days until the engagement ceremony, guests from all over had gathered and were staying at the estate and nearby inns, but the bride and groom were nowhere to be found.

Even Cadellen’s married daughter and his son, who had been away studying in the capital, had returned, yet the bride-to-be and her fiancé were missing.

After scouring the estate and grounds in search of the engaged couple, Cadellen and Monain stumbled upon a single note.

[Dear Father, I am off to hunt a dragon with my beloved fiancé.]

The contents of the note were baffling, to say the least.

"..."

"..."

A dragon? Why? And with her fiancé? Just two days before the engagement ceremony?

"Is this some kind of code, Cadellen? Perhaps merchant slang? Does ‘dragon’ stand for something else here?"

"I wish that were the case..."

Cadellen trailed off with a mournful tone.

No matter how he broke down the words, it made no sense, but such was the nature of Viretta’s letters.

With the situation already spiraling, there was little choice. Clearing his throat, Cadellen gestured for Monain to take a seat.

"Monain, there’s something I haven’t told you about my daughter."

"Go on."

His tone was razor-sharp.

"Viretta is a bright, lively, and healthy girl who can get along well with her fiancé. I guarantee it. However, there’s one... small issue—she’s just a bit, well, a tiny bit prone to exaggeration."

Viretta’s "tiny bit" of exaggeration had, indeed, led her to set off on a dragon hunt.

"Are you saying she’s a habitual liar?"

"No, no, of course not. Lying is malicious. My daughter’s exaggerations don’t harm others and don’t lead to any real trouble. Viretta’s exaggerations are more mischievous. If she saw a large hawk, she’d say she saw a giant bird the size of a house."

Cadellen wasn’t just saying this out of fatherly bias. The Medleridge family had tolerated Viretta’s exaggerations because she mostly embellished her own experiences and tales from the outside world for fun.

After all, no one was really inconvenienced if Viretta went around claiming, "I beat eight wolves and saved a princess!" or "I’m off to find my soulmate from a past life!" or even "I’m going to hunt a dragon!"

Conveniently forgetting about Lanken, Cadellen continued.

"In short, she’s the kind of child who could announce she's going dragon hunting over a simple outing. It’s a minor flaw."

And yet, he had concealed this fact throughout the entire engagement process.

Cadellen braced himself for Monain's reproach, but surprisingly, the latter looked somewhat guilty. Lowering his voice, Monain spoke.

"Cadellen, there’s something I haven’t told you about my son, either."

"Oh?"

Now, Cadellen was the one feeling apprehensive.

"Iola may not be suited for mercenary life, but he is both skilled and intelligent, and his character is commendable. But there is one issue. He is... incredibly trusting."

"And that’s a bad thing?"

It was certainly better than vices like gambling, drunkenness, or other harmful habits.

"It means he might genuinely believe Miss Viretta’s talk of dragon hunting."

"Ha ha... Surely not."

"Moreover, he’s been talking about wanting to visit a dragon’s lair for about half a year now. So, he might actually be on board with Viretta’s plan."

"..."

"..."

An uncomfortable silence settled between the two. You could almost hear the sound of cold sweat trickling.

In that instant, each man realized that the other had concealed a crucial flaw. It was the experienced merchant, Cadellen, who broke the silence first.

"Well, everyone has a few quirks. That’s only natural."

"Ha, ha ha. Indeed."

"Ho ho ho, yes, of course."

"Ha ha, ha ha ha..."

"Ha ha ha, heh ha..."

Both men suddenly felt as though they’d been swindled.

Meanwhile, Viretta and her party were deep in the mountains. They climbed higher, pushing through the thick trees and dense underbrush.

"Aren't we heading directly to the dragon?"

"I said we’re going, but that doesn’t mean we should rush. Also, it occurred to me that we need to address a rather large concern first."

"The inevitable march of time that drives us toward death?"

"We’ll worry about that later. Right now, there’s something more pressing."

"Is it the widespread structural exploitation and oppression of the people?"

"No, it’s the concern that my father might end up killed by Monain’s sword. If we skip the engagement ceremony, both of them will be seriously concerned."

While a bit of worry was understandable, a swordfight breaking out would be disastrous. Viretta wasn’t ready to give up her relationship with Iola just yet, so she couldn’t allow her potential father-in-law to go on a rampage. Besides, disciplining a beloved father with violence wasn’t exactly ideal.

Looking around as she adjusted her pack, Viretta continued.

"So, let’s hunt a smaller beast first and send it as a gift. That way, they’ll think we really are hunting a dragon and feel at ease."

"And what about the horrifying sight of a bloody carcass arriving in the middle of an engagement party?"

Lanken commented drily as he adjusted a clawed rope.

Picturing the scene of a beast’s carcass in the center of the party, Viretta reconsidered her plan.

"That’s... a problem. Maybe we’ll just send the head instead."