What!? I'm a Healing Dragon!?

Chapter 16: Never Enough Time.

So we are having a father to daughter talk now?

"I'm sorry for breaking a part of the wall."

"Apology accepted, but that's not the reason why you seem so dramatic."

It became silent for a bit. Dad and I just watched the sky and the nocturnal wilderness come to life.

"It's just, in my time away from the cave, I've realized just how quickly time can pass. Like you feel like you have plenty of time to spare, but it passes like I never had it in the first place."

"It's like that, sometimes." Dad nodded his head, "That's why I am spending what little time I have left to raise you and your siblings to the best of my ability, as I'm not going to be around forever."

"Why not?"

"It's just how the life of a dragon goes once they're old enough. Beings of other races see your experience and power as a threat to their own. In my time of living, I have seen empires and nations fall, peoples and religions fall apart or coming together countless times. Nothing lasts forever."

He lifted a hand and rested it on my back, rubbing his hand against it to comfort me.

"So when these humans come 3 months from now, I just hope that I have done the best that I could for you. To you, it might seem like you have a lot of time to prepare, but for me, that's just in a blink of an eye. I feel like it's not enough time. There is never enough time, no matter how long you live."

That's some pretty deep stuff.

We continued to stare into the now night sky for a while.

"...Dad?" 

I broke the silence,

"Yes, Setsuna?"

"Thank you." 

And thanked dad.

"You're welcome. Come inside, we have a big day tomorrow."

"Okay."

Feeling a bit better, I followed after dad back into the cave. 

...

"Hah, useless." With a sigh, a man with an extravagant crown and gown muttered a complaint as he read the piece of paper in his hands.

Exhaling, he set the paper down and leaned back against his chair.

"So, my Royal Guard failed, huh?"

The paper he had held in his hands was a report sent by the mayor of the insignificant village of Teress. The only reason the man knew of it's existence is because of a report that came in 2 months ago of an Ancient class dragon being spotted in the area.

The man was known as Emperor Archwatt Joule Tesla VII rubbed his face with his hands in a tiny fit of frustration.

"With the war with the Theocracy going on right now, there is no way I can spare the soldiers required to take down an Ancient class. That useless fallen noble Lux couldn't even come back with information on the dragon's current whereabouts, the fool."

What happened to him anyway? Useless as he was, there was potential in him. That's the reason he was even accepted into the order.

The tracking device that was planted in his teeth stopped working, so he couldn't figure out where he was. Corpse, or otherwise.

The Mayor of Teress had reported that a month and a half ago, Lux and most of the adventurers brave enough to investigate with him left into the forest where the dragon was last spotted, never to be seen again. No body or belongings were found.