The Dragon Lord's Aide Wants to Quit [BL]-Chapter 324: The Cost of a Bright Future

Worries upon worries.

One could just imagine the level of perseverance and persistence that one duo had shown in the past few days for the sake of their dreams and aspirations.

Liam, in particular, had shown tremendous growth at a speed that even surprised Renee.

Maybe it was the changes introduced by absorbing that little bit of Orien’s heart, but since the day they put everything into training, everyone slowly realized how much more exposure to dragon mana from his big brother’s sustenance Liam could suddenly take.

"!!!"

Even the golden dragonling couldn’t help but gulp at Liam’s explosive growth. And he especially panicked when his uncle said, "At this rate, he’d actually catch up to your current level by the end of the year."

What?!

While the great Orien was glad for the little sprite, as a competitive golden dragon with such a promising future, he couldn’t possibly lose out.

Also, what if he didn’t grow bigger fast enough? Would he be able to survive having such a little sprite defend him?

Unthinkable.

There was no way he would be left behind in progress.

Even when bribed by cake pops and even the golden flan, Orien and Liam would only gobble without speaking.

Normally, eating such tributes entailed a whole ceremony, but that wasn’t a possibility during desperate times.

It was frankly alarming and like a pain in the heart, but all their hard work finally bore fruit when Liam managed to shift back for the first time.

The young child couldn’t help but cry.

They actually jumped around because returning to his human form meant he could blend in with humans.

But most of all, it meant being able to come on the upcoming trip to the temple.

They did it.

They really succeeded.

Liam had flailed his arms and spun around in circles until he fell over. Orien screeched so loud that his voice cracked and then flopped belly-first onto the bed in a display of joy. Renee was teary-eyed.

Lawrence couldn’t help but look proud, and the other dragons patted Liam’s head while praising him for his momentous achievement.

It was one that was well deserved.

At one point, Orien even yelled, "Throw him in the air!" before realizing he didn’t actually have the upper body strength to do it himself, so he ordered the nearest adult to handle it.

The job fell onto Riley, but it had quickly been taken over by the golden dragon lord, who couldn’t possibly allow his mate to do such a thing.

Even with Kael’s scoff as Liam giggled in the air, it was a whole celebration.

But what do you know?

Just when they thought all their challenges were over, one golden dragonling in particular didn’t think he’d ever hear something so devastating as one single word.

Allowance.

Yes.

It was one word that should be mentioned with a side of tremors and maybe an avalanche.

Because just what in the hell was an allowance, and why was he, a rich golden dragonling, supposed to be subjected to it?

More importantly, his auntie said he had a bright future, but how come it currently looked as dim as the number of coins he was allowed to spend?

How could anyone possibly have a bright future with this?

He stared at the coin purse as if it personally insulted his ancestors.

Inside, there were clearly gold coins. Shiny ones. But it didn’t matter. Because to Orien, this wasn’t a golden vault. It was a small pouch. A miser’s pouch. A peasant’s pouch.

He looked at the figure next to him, who also opened his matching pouch with two hands, held it up to the light, and—gasped.

The little sprite blinked once. Then again. Then he beamed.

"Oh wow," Liam whispered like he had just seen a shooting star land in his hands.

He turned to Orien, eyes gleaming with joy. "Look! We actually get several golden coins?! How are we so rich?!"

Orien stared at him like he had lost his mind.

They were being financially oppressed.

They were being robbed of their potential.

And the worst part was that his co-victim had defected to the enemy’s side.

Truly, the world was a cruel place.

__

Orien, just as Riley had expected, was mortified about the idea.

In fact, the ex-mortal who was now a crazy rich half-baked immortal actually pitied the child who looked like he had immortality sucked out of him.

To think all it took was informing him about his spending allowance.

The child had survived everything, only to fall before the problem of money.

Who would have known about this glaring weakness?

Riley had to hold everything in because it was so hard not to laugh when he saw how Liam actually celebrated after being told he’d get an allowance for their upcoming trip.

Of course, his baby brother had been prepared to break his recently repaired piggybank open, but there really wasn’t any need for that when the kids deserved a reward for everything they had endured recently.

He even appreciated that the child had approached him secretly to say he would contribute to the waterpark costs, since it was his idea to tag along.

Riley was obviously surprised by the offer, but Liam had always been the kind of kid who was too nice that he could accidentally throw you under the bus.

The older brother simply chuckled and told him it was fine. And it really was because he actually owed Liam a whole lot more as compensation for things no children should have had to go through.

But as one might imagine, even this wasn’t received so well by one rich dragon who really had the same air as his husband.

His golden dragon, Kael, also narrowed his eyes at the amount. Surprisingly, even when annoyed by the children, Kael didn’t actually have a say in the amount of allowance the children ought to receive.

If anything, the guy was actually surprised about the amount despite quickly hiding that furrow in his brow.

But Riley had a reason for the amount. "If we go out and they’re carrying too much money, they’d attract the wrong kind of people and too much attention. Also, contrary to what Orien thinks, a gold coin alone was more than what regular human children would ever see in a month."

And the kids didn’t even get just one; each one actually received five.

Riley looked at the other dragons, who honestly had bugged-eyed expressions.

As beings who loved gold to a terrifying degree, he could understand why they looked like they simply couldn’t imagine the thought of subsisting on gold coins that didn’t even number to their combined fingers and toes.

Riley shook his head but told the children.

"That’s the emergency money. Or the money for when the vendors we meet don’t accept cards. But if you want to blend in, we’d really have to use cards."

Orien, who was in the middle of a crisis on the ground as a melted lump of golden depressed dragon, twitched at the words he just heard.

And in the middle of his melancholy managed to ask, "Cards?"

"Yes, cards."

"Liam, you’re aware of what it’s like to pay with a Prepaid Card, right?"

Liam jerked up at that and actually shuffled towards his bag, only to take out a small rectangular card that attracted Orien’s attention.

"Yes! This! Big brother, are you saying we’re going to use this?"

He raised the shimmering card that was colorful, something a certain someone would like, and it instantly had Orien in a chokehold.

Riley expected as much when the golden dragonling was already on his stubby legs in no time, wings flapping unconsciously in excitement.

"Something similar. We can’t use our current cards, but we do have ones that were made in line with how we’ll present ourselves when going out."

Riley produced a card in his hand. Orien looked at it with extreme interest but realized there was only one. Well, only one until Riley made a snapping motion, and it became two.

There were two originally anyway, just stacked together.

The golden dragonling gasped, and his tail flicked around even faster when he received the card with two paws.

Kael, who was watching from the side, couldn’t help but look at his mate.

How scary was his twig, who managed to subdue Orien with the same amount of money, but just in a different format.

With the child now unable to see literal gold coins and only a card that stayed the same regardless of whether it had money or no money, an ancient had been defeated.

The golden dragon lord realized he ought to be really careful lest he succumb to the same tricks.

Riley, who had been paid copious amounts of money for each hamburger, honestly would have choked at hearing Kael’s internal monologue. Then again, even when he didn’t want to get paid, his mate would give him money, so he had to make sure to settle things properly so he could at least compensate for those mounds of gold he kept on getting.

So what better way to do that than visit their first stop?