Bartke wanted to say something, but when he saw the unfriendly look on Geli’s face, he held back in the end.
“If this White Dragon has nothing else to say, let’s get back to business. My daughter is about to hatch, so I’ll be waiting here for a while.”
With that, he pulled out a ball of Golden Liquid with his claw, which floated in the air and flew toward Geli.
“Go wait outside.”
After taking the item, Geli left these unhappy words, then turned and headed to the incubation room.
Bartke didn’t care about Geli’s attitude, twisting his huge dragon head to look at Genas and Aish.
At this moment, Aish had mostly recovered, but still seemed a little dizzy.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Listening to such utterly clueless words, Genas felt his anger rising.
“No wonder Master doesn’t like you.”
“You! I… Hmph!”
With a cold snort, Bartke turned and strode out the door, making it clear he didn’t want to waste more words with Genas.
“Tch.”
Genas didn’t bother with Bartke, instead checking on Aish.
“How are you feeling? Any discomfort? Your brain’s not broken, right?”
Rubbing her eyes, Aish put down her claw and shot Genas a look.
→_→
“I’m fine.”
“Oh, good.”
Seeing that Aish was all right, Genas finally relaxed.
“Who was that Gold Dragon just now?”
“Him? Master’s loyal lapdog.”
Genas gave a simple account of Bartke’s situation.
“He’s the father of that Golden Dragon egg. I remember Master said that’s our junior sister.”
“That’s what Master said, but it’s still too early to say anything—anyway, let’s not worry about it for now. But… Eh? Why do I suddenly feel so much better?”
“You get happy when something happens to me?” →_→
“Ah, no, it’s just… I actually like it when others are annoyed with me but can’t do anything about it, jejeje~”
Watching the mischievous grin on Genas’s face, Aish stared at him speechlessly for a while.
Then, she saw him lean in close.
“Aish, do me a favor.”
“Hmm…”
After whispering in her ear for a moment, Aish showed a helpless and complicated expression.
“Are you sure this is okay? That guy doesn’t seem to have a very good temper.”
Genas waved his claw nonchalantly.
“Don’t worry, he just looks scary, but with Master here, he wouldn’t dare do anything to us.”
“Mm… I don’t think this will work.”
“I think it’s actually fine.”
“What I mean is, I’m not sure my skills are good enough to affect him.”
Seeing Aish so unsure, Genas narrowed his eyes.
“Just do your best. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have Old Witch do it.”
“But…”
“I’ll make you a new flavor of ice cream later.”
With a swoosh, a fire of determination blazed in Aish’s eyes.
“Leave it to me!”
Some time later~
The main door cracked open, and a sneaky Genas poked his head out.
Blasted by the icy wind atop the towering peak, he shivered, then hurriedly scampered toward the Gold Dragon ahead.
With a thud, he slammed into an invisible barrier. Bartke, who had been lying on the ground resting, lifted his head and saw him.
“Hmm?”
He opened a gap to let Genas in. Although he still found Genas a bit disagreeable, at least there was no more hostility.
But for some reason, Bartke seemed… somehow a bit more transparently foolish?
“Kid, what do you want?”
The barrier blocked out the cold, and Genas recovered a little before stating his purpose.
“Ahem, I think I know why Master doesn’t like you, so…”
Bartke suddenly loomed close, the gust almost blowing Genas away.
“What did you say?”
“Don’t get worked up, ahem, let me finish—basically, you’re just too blinding! What in the world did you eat to end up like this?”
This blindingly shiny Gold Dragon was absolutely not what a normal Gold Dragon should look like. Genas was intensely curious.
“Blinding? Hah, laughable. This is the mark of my noble bloodline—the proof of my Dragon King Bloodline.”
As he spoke, he lifted his head even higher, looking as smug as could be.
“No wonder…”
Genas’s eye twitched speechlessly.
He didn’t know whether Geli liked this or not, but Genas himself definitely didn’t.
The problem was, Bartke saw it as a source of pride, and their different perspectives meant he’d never understand how others felt.
“Uh… I know you’re proud, but hold it in for a second. Has no one told you this makes you really annoying?”
“Annoying? Who dares… Hm… Are you saying—?”
“Yeah, exactly what you’re thinking.”
Genas nodded solemnly, but he didn’t directly say Geli found Bartke annoying—let Bartke make of it what he would~
“Hmm… Then what should I do? You must have some idea if you came to me, right?”
“That’s right~”
Wearing a comical grin, Genas pulled out a bottle of Black Potion refined by Aish.
“This can cover up your shine, but it does have a little side effect.”
Bartke shifted into human form and took the bottle.
“A potion to change the color of my scales?”
With his own identification skill, he learned the potion’s effects and kept questioning:
“What’s the side effect you mentioned?”
“This was refined by Aish—the White Dragon you nearly blinded just now. Her technique isn’t great yet, so we don’t know what color you’ll turn after drinking it.”
“Hah? White Dragon Alchemy? Are you kidding me? How could a White Dragon… Oh~”
Halfway through, realization dawned on him, and Genas nodded in confirmation.
“That’s right, Aish is—”
“Geli is a good teacher, even a White Dragon can learn Alchemy now. Hiss, then how come you’ve never shown me any skills? Don’t tell me you haven’t learned anything at all.”
Bartke completely misunderstood, and threw Genas a contemptuous look.
“What are you talking about! What is that supposed to mean! Are you drinking it or not? If not, give it back!”
Annoyed, Genas jumped up, trying to snatch the potion back, but Bartke dodged with a wave of his hand.
“I’ll drink it, of course I’ll drink it.”
Saying that, he opened the stopper, but was stopped by Genas.
“Hey, wait! I’ll say this upfront—her skills still aren’t refined, so if you don’t like the color you turn into, don’t blame us.”
“Don’t worry, you’re just trying to help. Even if I turn your color, I won’t blame you.”
“I…”
Hearing this, Genas felt both angry and relieved. For Gold Dragons, red seemed to be the least acceptable color.
But could Aish really not control the color? Heh heh~
The more Genas thought about what color Bartke would turn, the more he wanted to laugh.
As Bartke raised the bottle and was about to gulp it down, he suddenly paused.
“Eh? Why aren’t you drinking?”
“The way you’re looking at me gives me a really bad feeling.”
“Ahem, I’m just happy for you! Come on, drink up, let’s see if it works.”
“As long as it doesn’t harm my body, any potion will work on me. No need to worry—I can control it. But the exact effect will depend on the quality of the potion.”
After saying that, he downed the whole bottle and closed his eyes, as if focusing on absorbing the potion’s effects.
Right after, under Genas’s watchful gaze, Bartke’s entire body—skin, dragon scales that turned into hair, his robe—
All turned into maiden pink.