Chapter 441
The cool midnight air of Orario offered little comfort to a man who had spent over a week in the dungeon.
Exiting the guild, Draco quickly made his way home, his boots clicking softly against the cobblestone streets.
Within minutes, the gates of the Bahamut Familia estate loomed ahead, welcoming yet entirely inaccessible.
He stared at the structure and immediately realized his oversight.
He had no keys.
In his battle against Alfia, he had lost everything he had carried.
His new armor, backpack, his cloak, his spare money, and to a significant extent, his dignity had all been reduced to ash and rubble deep within the dungeon.
The only things left on his person were a set of rough, borrowed clothes and a small sack filled with magic stones and drop items harvested from the deep floors.
The clock tower nearby had already chimed past midnight.
Draco was bone-tired, his muscles aching in a way that defied his usual resilience.
More than that, he desperately wanted to avoid a confrontation with his Familia members.
He could already vividly imagine the theatrical drama, the screeching interrogations, the flying porcelain, and the throbbing headache that would inevitably follow if any of the girls discovered he had finally returned after days of silence.
No, discretion was the better part of valor.
He would sneak into his room, collapse onto the mattress, and sleep.
At least while unconscious, he wouldn’t have to deal with the impending reckoning until daylight forced his hand.
Letting out a long, exhausted sigh that ruffled the leaves of the nearby hedges, Draco easily hopped over the estate gates.
Landing soundlessly on the manicured lawn, he channeled a wisp of wind magic to completely muffle the sound of his footsteps.
Flying over the wall was a viable alternative, but his massive, draconic wings made far too much noise when beating at such a low altitude, acting like a pair of giant cloth sails tearing through the night.
Walking quietly around the side of the mansion, Draco stood directly beneath his bedroom window and began to climb the stone facade.
If anyone happened to be looking out their window right then, they would have been stunned, likely convinced that a giant, terrifying lizard-man was aggressively scaling the walls of the estate.
Draco’s silhouette in the moonless dark was just that intimidating, sharp-angled and imposing. Luckily for him, the streets and stalls were completely deserted, save for the occasional inebriated adventurer stumbling toward their next drinking hole.
Even if one of those drunkards happened to glance up and catch a glimpse of a horned shadow scaling a vertical wall, who in Orario would ever believe the feverish ramblings of a man three sheets to the wind?
Upon reaching the stone balcony connected to the second window in his room, Draco froze, his sharp eyes narrowing.
His bedroom windows were wide open, and there was distinctly someone occupying his bed.
He couldn't immediately make out who it was, as their entire body was completely hidden beneath blanket.
However, the initial spike of tension in his chest vanished almost instantly when a familiar, silver-scaled tail lazily slipped out from beneath the fabric edge and thumped against the woolly rug.
It was just his lover, the goddess Bahamut.
Pulling his heavy frame up and over the balcony railing, Draco slipped silently into his room, though he knew better than to immediately crawl beneath the covers.
His body was a map of minor aches, soaked in sweat and grime from the dungeon.
He needed a cold bath, a proper change of clothes, and a few elixirs to accelerate his internal healing.
His natural draconic regeneration was impressive, but it had limits, and the strain of his recent battles meant standard rest wouldn't cut it.
Hopping quietly into his private bathroom, Draco turned on the shower and stood beneath the freezing cascade of water.
He wasn’t worried about the faint splashing of the water waking Bahamut; she was notorious for sleeping like a felled tree once she drifted off.
As for the rest of the familia, their rooms occupied the first and second floors.
Only he and Bahamut claimed the expanse of the third floor as their domain.
After a thoroughly refreshing shower and trading the scratchy borrowed clothes for a soft pair of loose sleeping trousers, Draco felt normal again.
However, that physical refreshment still paled in comparison to the soothing burn of a high-grade elixir.
Opening his private medicine cabinet, he bypassed the rows of brightly colored potions and grabbed an elixir, swallowing it in one smooth motion.
The cooling sensation rippled through his chest, instantly soothing his battered bones.
Healed, clean, and feeling vastly improved, Draco stepped back into the bedroom and walked over to the oversized bed.
He reached down and gently pulled back the heavy blanket.
Beneath it, the sight of Bahamut was a mixture of hilarious and undeniably seductive.
Her petite body was curled tightly into a ball, resembling a stray cat napping in a sunbeam, with only the tip of her silver tail resting on the rug.
Clutched tightly to her chest was a rather odd-looking black dragon plushy, something he was seeing for the first time.
She wore a scandalous piece of black laced lingerie that contrasted sharply with her pale skin, perfectly complementing her silver hair, delicate white horns, and the dusting of silver scales along her tail.
It was a potent, arousing sight, amplified by the natural, unconscious pheromones drifting from her skin……a scent that a dragon-kin like him found nearly impossible to ignore.
Even more endearing was the dopey, content expression on her face, making him desperately want to reach out and pinch her slightly puffed cheeks.
Pinching his own arm lightly instead, Draco forced himself to calm the sudden, rising heat in his groin.
Right now, sleep was his primary objective.
He knew from painful, exhausting experience that once Bahamut was woken up and coaxed into an intimate mood, there was zero chance of sleep until well past sunrise, potentially stretching deep into the evening.
Climbing onto the mattress, Draco slipped in behind Bahamut and carefully pulled her smaller frame closer against his chest.
He wrapped his arms securely around her as if she were the very stuffed plushy she was holding, pressed a soft, lingering kiss against the sensitive curve of her neck, and closed his eyes. Darkness welcomed him, and he drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………
The night quickly passed, and morning arrived with an abruptness typical of Orario’s bright, unmerciful sun.
The golden rays were already streaming through the open window, high in the sky, when Draco finally stirred.
“Hmm…”
A light, groggy groan escaped his lips as his eyelashes fluttered open.
His vision adjusted to reveal a rather shocking sight: Bahamut was straddled across his chest, staring down at him with intense, unblinking eyes.
“Morning, love. Isn't a bit early for that sort of staring contest?” Draco greeted her, a soft, amused smile curving his lips.
It was genuinely comical to observe how hard she was trying to maintain her balance atop him. Her legs were spread impossibly wide, stretching far beyond their usual comfort zone to accommodate his broad, muscular frame beneath her.
“Morning, Draco. Just when exactly did you return?” Bahamut replied, her voice tightly controlled, maintaining a strained, challenging smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
“Oh, early in the morning. Didn’t want to interrupt your precious beauty sleep,” Draco teased smoothly, shifting slightly beneath her.
“Hmph!” Bahamut scoffed, her cheeks instantly puffing out into a comical balloon of mock indignation.
“Cute,” Draco muttered affectionately.
Before she could react, Draco's hands gripped her waist, and with a fluid motion, he flipped their positions, pinning her gently back against the pillows.
“Kyaaa!” Bahamut yelped, startled by the sudden reversal of gravity and position.
As she stared up into his face, hovering closely above her, a genuine chuckle bubbled out of her throat.
“I thought you just said it was too early for this?” Bahamut murmured, her voice turning instantly seductive.
Her hands reached up, her fingers awkwardly trying to find purchase around his neck.
“My horny little dragon goddess, while I would genuinely love to partake of your sweet fruit all day long, we both know there is a mountain of work waiting for us. However… I suppose we can carve out some proper ‘fun’ by the time night falls again,” Draco compromised, trying to slowly ease his weight off her, much to her visible disappointment.
“Fine. But you better not go back on your word,” Bahamut warned, reluctantly letting her arms drop away from his neck.
Her body plopped softly back into the plush pillows with a light puff, and her long, silky silver hair scattered messily across the linens like liquid moonlight.
“I would never,” Draco promised.
He leaned down and planted a deep, lingering kiss squarely on her lips, pulling away just a fraction of a second before Bahamut could greedily grab his face to deepen it further.
“Huff… huff… huff… what was that even for?” Bahamut gasped, blinking rapidly as she tried to catch her breath, her chest rising and falling dramatically.
“Just a little teaser to tide you through the tedious day ahead,” Draco replied with a wide, toothy smirk, hopping off the bed and raising his arms overhead to stretch his stiff joints.
“You absolute meanie,” Bahamut muttered, pouting heavily as she dragged her tongue across her moist lips, glaring daggers at his back.
As he rolled his shoulders, working out the remaining kinks in his joints, Draco decided it was time to address the elephant in the room……or rather, the angry girls downstairs.
“By the way… how were the girls and the rest of the Familia while I was away?” Draco asked casually, keeping his back turned.
“Well, at first they were furious that you basically ran off without a word. Then they spent a few days giving me the cold shoulder, acting all petty. But recently, they’ve been completely swamped, rushed off their feet with emergency city patrols due to that massive tremor five days ago. They’ve been so busy they haven’t even been home for most of the week, and they look terribly stressed. Thankfully, yesterday evening was the first time they finally took a break,” Bahamut explained, her tone shifting from playful to serious.
“Tremor…” Draco repeated the word quietly.
He froze mid-stretch, then involuntarily let out a sharp gasp as memory hit him like a physical blow.
He was, quite literally, the cause of the city-wide panic.
“Judging by that rather guilty reaction of yours, you were the cause of it, weren’t you? And let me guess…..that also neatly explains why your right horn is currently chipped in half?” Bahamut asked, narrowing her eyes into dangerous slits as she stared at the side of his head.
Draco awkwardly reached up, scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish grimace.
He had intended to come clean eventually, but the reality of the situation was crashing down on him.
Imagining just how infinitely more pissed off his familia members were going to be once they figured out that their grueling, exhausting patrol schedule and city-wide stress were entirely his fault.
It made his stomach churn.
Not only had he ghosted them for days, but he had accidentally given them extra paperwork and public safety duties from miles beneath the ground.
“How likely do you think it is that me making them a really nice breakfast will completely resolve all of this?” Draco asked, offering her an apologetic, hopeful smile.
“Are you seriously asking me that right now?” Bahamut replied, her expression twisting into a look of absolute perplexity at his silliness.
“Yeah, alright, forget I asked such a stupid question. I guess I’ll just have to bite the bullet and hold a very serious, very formal Familia meeting,” Draco muttered, rubbing his face with both hands.
“That would definitely be for the best. And while you’re at it, you’re also going to finally have to give clear answers to their confessions….at least the genuine ones. We can’t have the entire Familia structure collapsing from the inside out just because of your…….,” Bahamut's voice trailed, her gaze instinctively drifting downward, landing squarely on his half-erect crotch beneath his loose trousers.
“Hey! Pervert….. eyes up here, and you…….behave,” Draco snapped playfully, lightly scolding both Bahamut’s wandering gaze and his own disobedient crotch with a quick slap to his thigh.
“Ahem. Anyway, you need to clear the air with them. And after that, you need to pay a visit to Demeter. She came by the estate several times looking for you after she heard rumors about you and Hephaestus,” Bahamut added, her tone turning slightly sharp.
“Ah… suffering from success. Truly, my life is a tragedy,” Draco exclaimed theatrically, throwing his arms wide and falling dramatically backward onto the bed, landing flat on his back with a soft bounce.
“Don’t let your ego inflate your head too much, boy. Should you become arrogant, they might just lose interest out of pure spite,” Bahamut warned, crawling across the mattress to hover over him again, lightly pinching both of his cheeks between her fingers.
“You know I was just joking around. Besides, even if every single one of them packed their bags and left tomorrow, I know you’d still stick around,” Draco replied, grinning through the pinch.
“Hmph. Look at you, casually spouting cheesy lines like a cheap bard. Don’t let the other girls hear you say something like that, or you really will end up completely alone,” Bahamut scoffed, though a heavy, betraying blush quickly crept up her pale cheeks, warming her skin.
“I know, I know. But honestly… how many points do you think I scored with that line just now?” Draco asked, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
“I’ll give it a solid seven out of ten since we’re completely alone right now. But if you had said that with the others in the room? A hard zero. It would just make them feel like outcasts,” Bahamut answered seriously, despite knowing he was entirely playing around.
Beneath her playful demeanor, she genuinely didn't want to see him or the other women get hurt due to careless, poorly chosen words.
“Point taken. I’ll be careful,” Draco said softly, reaching up to gently cover her hands with his own, taking her advice entirely to heart.
A/N: Feel free to read ahead on pat3on, donate and read 2 extra chapters as a free member.