Chapter 310: A Ruined Breakfast

When the glow finally faded, the colossal creature that had been standing before Mark was gone.

In its place now stood a much smaller, masculine figure.

Its body was clearly humanoid in shape, but there was something in its features that made it obvious this wasn’t a human.

It was a tall being, roughly eight feet in height, with a lean build, and its face was covered in deep scars.

It still carried unmistakably reptilian traits, subtle scales scattered across its pale skin, slit-pupiled eyes, a pair of membranous wings folded against its back, and a long tail swaying slowly behind it.

And curiously, even in that smaller form, it still had a clean hole running straight through its chest, right where the stalactite had impaled it.

But out of everything, what caught Mark’s attention most was its clothing.

The dragon was now wearing an elegant-looking black suit, sober and refined in design, one that probably would have looked quite distinguished in decent condition.

That, however, was clearly not the case; the clothes were disheveled, wrinkled, and fairly worn from use.

"Do you find it easier to speak with me this way, my lord?" the creature asked, in that same deep voice as before.

"Yeah..." Mark answered, finally able to look up without craning his neck. "Much better, thanks."

He studied him for a moment, and then, unable to hold back his curiosity, pointed at the suit.

"Sorry, but... can I ask why you’re wearing that? Not complaining, just curious."

The creature looked down at its own clothes, as if it didn’t quite understand the question.

"This, my lord?" it asked, touching the suit. "This is simply the shape my scales took. It’s not a garment as such; it’s part of my own body."

Mark blinked. That explanation didn’t clear up in the slightest why a dragon’s scales would decide to take the shape of a specifically disheveled black suit, but he decided that thread wasn’t worth pulling any further.

"I see..." he murmured, a little lost in thought.

He shook his head and got back to the main point.

"Anyway, stand up straight, no need to keep bowing," Mark ordered with a slight wave of his hand. "And tell me something..."

Mark paused for a moment, realizing he had no idea what to call his new subordinate.

"Sorry, but would you mind telling me your name?"

The creature straightened up, and seemed to suddenly realize its own rudeness.

"I beg your pardon, my lord. How unforgivable of me not to have introduced myself sooner," it said with a bow of its head. "My name is Bayle. And from this moment on, that name, and everything it represents, belongs to you."

"Bayle," Mark repeated, nodding. "Pleasure, I guess."

"The pleasure is mine."

Meanwhile, a few steps away, Alice and Aria had wandered over to the nest, drawn by curiosity.

The five eggs still sat there, stacked next to one another, and Aria, unable to resist, had rested a hand on the mottled shell of one of them, running her fingers over it in fascination.

"Wow... these are huge," she remarked, amazed. "And they’re warm."

"Let me feel," Alice said, placing her own hand on the egg as well.

Bayle, noticing what they were doing, turned toward them with obvious alarm.

"Ahem. With all due respect, ladies," he said cautiously. "I wouldn’t get that close to those eggs if I were you."

Alice and Aria looked over at him.

"Relax, we’re just looking," Aria assured him, pulling her hand back. "We’re not going to do anything to your babies, I promise."

"That’s not why I’m warning you..." Bayle replied.

Aria tilted her head.

"Then why—"

She never got to finish the question.

Because at that exact moment, the egg both of them had been touching shuddered, cracked open all at once, and the shell burst into pieces.

But no dragon emerged from inside.

What came out was a spider the size of a large dog, with hairy legs and multiple red eyes gleaming with hunger as it lunged, shrieking, straight at the two nearest women.

"WHAT THE—?!" Aria screamed, stumbling backward in fright.

"AGH!" Alice exclaimed.

Purely on reflex, Alice threw a punch and burst the creature apart with a single hit in midair, before she’d even had time to think.

The spider exploded in a shower of guts, a thick, sticky, greenish liquid flying out in every direction, drenching both Alice and Aria completely, covering them head to toe in the disgusting substance.

"...That’s why," Bayle said calmly, gesturing at the scene.

Alice and Aria stood frozen, green liquid dripping down their faces, processing what had just happened.

Mark, for his part, watched the scene with raised eyebrows, then slowly turned toward Bayle.

"I thought those eggs were your young," he remarked, thrown off. "That’s why I went to so much trouble keeping them intact."

"My young?" Bayle’s eyes widened slightly, as if that possibility had never even occurred to him. "Oh, no, my lord, not at all. Those aren’t my eggs."

He gestured at the four remaining ones.

"They’re food," he clarified, referring to the ’nest.’ "Cave spider eggs. I like to collect and store them here for whenever I get hungry."

Bayle smiled with pride.

"Believe me, my lord, they’re quite the delicacy freshly hatched."

Mark stared at him for a long moment, his mind blank.

"...I see," he finally said, in the tone of someone who wished he hadn’t asked.

Every ambitious fantasy Mark had of raising a squad of loyal dragons quietly crumbled inside his head.

Five potentially powerful allies... and it turned out they were nothing more than Bayle’s snacks.

Mark stayed silent for a few seconds before arriving at a fairly simple conclusion.

For the sake of his own sanity, it was best not to dwell on it too much.

Aria, meanwhile, was wiping the green liquid off her face with an expression of pure disgust.

"Gross... gross, gross, gross," she kept repeating, on the verge of tears. "This is disgusting!"

"At least you didn’t pop it with your bare hand..." Alice grumbled, shaking the guts off her arm.

Mark sighed and decided to leave that matter behind. After all, there was still an important question left to answer.

"Bayle, there’s something else I’d like to ask you," he said, turning back to the dragon. "Why did you attack the village I was in?"

At that, Bayle’s expression changed completely.

The calm, servile attitude he’d kept up until then vanished, replaced by visible tension and a flash of resentment in his eyes.

"Because of him, my lord," Bayle answered, pointing toward one of the darker corners of the cavern.