Ivan sat in his lawn chair, one foot crossing the other.Tentatively swinging the right foot that sat atop his left knee. With his sunglasses on, he ignored the desperate pleas echoing right beneath his feat.
"U-Um master, please if I may have a second of your time…" Tio was prostrated on the floor with a flushed face and teary eyes. She tilted her head up to see whether her master was acknowledging her existence.
"Haaaaah…" After a minute of complete silence, Ivan sighed. This sort of scene wasn't exactly something the homunculi should be seeing. Even if they had seen it a dozen times back home.
"So you intended on pointing us in Ehit's direction, accopying us so you may obtain the revenge you sought for the past couple centuries… Am I correct in assuming so?"
"...That is certainly true, master. When I first met you that was my only goal, if the heroes proved to have the capabilities then I'd join them if it meant slaying the foul god that has continuously destroyed this world's peace." With a dark expression, Tio snapped out of her playful mood and instead put on an expression of somberness.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say the whole reason she joined Ivan and Yue was so she could manipulate them into helping her take down the Evil God.
The same could be said for why she didn't leave the group even when meeting the heroes she originally set out for. She believed both Ivan and Yue could fulfill her desire. The same couldn't be said about the hero party, as after the incident in the Orcus Dungeon she clearly saw how unreliable they were.
As for why that was a problem—
"From what Yue said, the Dragonkin were– are, all about justice. Hundreds of years ago they accomplished the impossible, they managed to create a utopia in which every race lived in harmony. And that was in spite of the mockings from other races. With determination and hard work, they accomplished their goal. But… that peace didn't last for long. Peace wasn't what the gods wanted, they wanted to be entertained, and as Oscar said, they're just playing a game."
"Your peace was a detriment to that, and so they destroyed both the utopeia and reputation of the Dragonkin with slander and false accusations. An army was assembled, all bannering the marks of their own gods who had sent them a divine message 'The dragons evolved from monsters, one day they will turn back and cause carnage.' That was all it took for that peace to crumble. But despite the gods' meddling, the Dragonkin remained true to the very end, true of their own justice."
"Yes… we were raised to treat any race as we would our own. That the only thing that separated us from monsters was our duty to protect the weak, bring justice, and never allow harm onto others… we were supposed to be selfless…"
Tio spoke with a heavy tone. That was precisely what had gripped her heart, the Dragonkin were supposed to be selfless deliverers of justice.
But against that, she only moved forward with her desire for revenge. Her mother, her father, and the rest of her family that were murdered that day, she swore she'd take no matter how long to get her revenge. In her beliefs and that of her people, that was the very opposite of their own justice.
She winced and planted her head back into the ground. She couldn't dare to face the expression of his should he determine her activities as betrayal.
"Huh…"
But the lashing she was expecting never came, instead a palm gently rubbed her hair. It gave her warmth in her heart. She looked up to see her masters face, only—
"Gweh?!" The hand that had been on her head got considerably heavier, planting her face straight into the solid ice floor.
"Well that much was obvious, if I were you I would've done the same thing. Revenge I mean. While it is noble of you Dragonkin to put others above yourselves it is inevitable for cognitive beings to have a desire of their own. In fact your justice can be considered a selfish desire of its own, just as the gods' desire for entertainment. No matter what, people will come to make this decision at least once in their life: 'Should I pursue my dream even if it means crushing the dreams of others?'"
Ivan lessened the weight of his hand, allowing just enough weight to allow Tio to look up into his eyes.
"You could think of it as, 'Being a hero to one person means being a villain to someone else' Like Freid, everyone here hates him because he's the commanding officer of demons but at home I bet he's praised as a hero. And then the same here, I like to think I'm a well liked guy on this side of the world, but I got a feeling a couple thousand demons want to make sure I have an extremely painful death…"
He thought for a bit before nodding, it would seem he felt as though he was going off topic. He removed the sunglasses from his face and lessened the pressure even more, now Tio could tilt her whole head up to him.
"What I'm trying to say is that we all have a reason for going on this adventure. I want to learn new things, Yue wants to make memories with me, Claire wants to be the best maid possible, Ari wants to get strong enough to protect her people, as for Felis and Canis.. Well, the former just wants to have fun and the latter is likely just coming along just because she feels having more power would ensure she has a better sleep…"
"And you Tio, if anything I'd say your desire is more selfless than anything we have, aside from Ari… she's pretty selfless I guess. So go on, if you want revenge fucking take it, you're a part of this team. Just tell us ahead of time alright? So long as we're a team it's our duty to help each other out. Yeah, I said I'd rather not deal with the gods but that's seeming less and less possible as time goes on. That one apostle was just the beginning… it's only a matter of time before hell rains down on us. So if that's the case use me as much as you want. You want me to destroy a nation of demons? No problem~ Oh, a demon lord needs slaying? Consider it done! What's that, you want to eradicate a pantheon of gods? Well what are we waiting for, let's go~!"
His hand moved from the top of her head to her cheek.
"You're a good person, I know that for a fact. You've saved lives, not only of total strangers but ours too. Countless times you have guided this group toward victory, whether it be with your intelligence or great wisdom. Being with you has been a ton of fun! My journey with Yue has only improved since you're joining. So allow me to say this in simple terms. Please never leave the team, Tio Klarus! We need you— I need you!"
It was at this point that Tio felt as though her entire body had turned into jelly. In the past three hundred years, what Ivan said to her was most definitely the sweetest thing she ever heard. But most importantly, her master not only forgave her selfishness, he desired her company.
Despite her wobbly knees, Tio jumped up with startling speed. So much so that Ivan was barely able to perceive it. The last thing he saw before coming into contact with her was Tio's flushed face and teary eyes. And before he noticed it, her lips had locked with his own.
"Mmm…slrrpp…chuuu!"
The kiss progressed at startling speed. What had started as a rather chaste kiss turned into something more sultry. Before long the two had created a mist of steam between their bodies.
Though startled, Ivan stared back at her before closing his eyes. In the end he went ahead and reciprocated the loveable dragon's feelings.
================================================================
If you want to support me please follow this link! There's a couple new links added~: https://linktr.ee/ardoaleister
So, how'd I do? Feedback would be greatly appreciated! I'm always striving to improve. I wanna gain as much experience as possible to provide work I can be proud of. Oh yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and beg for stones, we're reaching the end. And as they say you should always sprint at the end. So please consider doing both of these things, I'm aware I'm asking for a lot.
Anyways, thanks for reading. Have a great evening. I'm going to write one more chapter before going off to play games. Stardew Valley of course. See you all later, and once again, thanks~!
If you want to support me and read ahead 10-15 chapters, you can check out my p.a.t.r.e.o.n right here: https://bit.ly/ardoaleister
Discord: https://discord.gg/tQ5TWbYd9t