After passing the first checkpoint at the southwestern territory, Ryuu found himself staking out in the forest near the mansion four days later. The place was pretty empty with only a few guards outside; as per the information, there weren't many inside either. 

But the prince supposedly hired a personal guard recently, and the guard was rumored to be stronger than the king's personal guard team combined. Ryuu thought that was an obvious exaggeration, but who knew? There was a dragon egg inside after all. There were still about 26 days left until the deadline, so being cautious was the best move. 

Well, that was what he thought initially. After staking out in the forest for two days, Ryuu regretted his decision. Although the observation was going well, a separate problem had arisen. 

The world of KS was diverse in every possible sense. From people to animals, terrains to lifestyles, there were countless differences. Some forests were filled with deathly poisonous plants, some with monsters, some were said to be haunted, and so on. The one Ryuu was hiding in was on the opposite end of the spectrum and had no known dangers other than being too dense for scouting. 

The density attracted some annoying creatures to this place…such as the royalty who made a castle at the forest's edge and the cotton fairies swarming around him. Moreover, he couldn't even kill off these creatures like mosquitoes because they were harmless on top of being adorable. The latter that is. 

Multicolor cotton fairies followed him around the place no matter where he went. The largest one was two inches, the rest fluctuated between half to 1 inch. The cotton-like creatures were soft to the touch. On top of that, they were on the intelligent side. Despite being unable to talk and such, they could assess a person's strength and personality and were wary of most people. So, being the center of such a large group's attention was an honor for most people. 

Ryuu Aoi wasn't 'most' people. He was an assassin here on a mission. Being under the gazes of these intelligent creatures was a pressure for someone on a stealth mission. He wasn't soft enough to welcome these creatures into his circle, nor harsh enough to scare them away for no reason. So the last two days had been an endless cycle of him waving away cottons from his way as he went about his daily schedule. 

To add to his dismay, his observation for these two days was utter failure. Although he'd been taking advantage of the trees to spy inside the castle openly, there wasn't much to gather other than the price's daily routine. His guard followed him around most of the time, but nothing about the guard was discernible from the distance. Their whole body was covered in a dark cloak much like the one he used and their movements left no gaps. Ryuu wouldn't be surprised if the guard was an assassin as well. 

For the record, all the assassins in this continent were under the same organization. This information was cleared up when the game was launched. Although some worked alone and some whose identities weren't even clear to the organization, all assassins were part of GREY. If the other person were an assassin, even if he worked for the other side, Ryuu would have been informed beforehand. 

That being said, there was no way for him to assess the said individual. Otherwise, he would have snuck inside the castle by now. If he had to wait another few days like this, he'd be driven to the craze by these swarms of cotton and later killed off by a dragon because he failed to meet the deadline. 

But luck shined down upon him that evening as the prince along with his guard left the mansion for some business and they didn't seem to have the dragon egg on them. This wasn't just speculation. Moving around with a dragon egg wasn't an easy feat. Looking aside the size, the unborn creature emitted an aura that drew in many troublesome creatures. So, the idiotic prince would have to go much lower on the idiocy scale to do something like that. 

Hoping for the best, Ryuu infiltrated the castle. Just as he had thought, there was no one inside. Not a guard, maid, or cook, which made Ryuu wonder how the prince was getting by. Overworked employees or not, the royalty was still royalty. 

Due to the lack of personnel, the castle was dusty and full of spiderwave, as if left unattended for a year or so. Only the places the prince usually ventured to were in livable condition. It wasn't long before Ryuu found where the dragon egg was being kept. 

The room was cleaner than the other ones in this castle as if cleaned every day with utmost care. At the center of the room, a dark round blue object was placed on top cushions. So, the prince hadn't gone below the threshold of idiocy. 

Now, it was a question if he could carry this thing back to its destination. If he took this thing like this, it was sure to draw in trouble no matter how stealthy he was. A few cotton fairies that followed him this far were already circling the unborn dragon. 

After thinking up a storm, he finally approached the egg, deciding to think about the rest later. But before he could pick up the egg something flew by his nose—no, if he hadn't moved back by reflex, it would have gone right through his head. 

"Who are you?" The prince shouted aggressively as he walked in, with the guard who threw the knife right behind him. 

'Do I need to kill him? That's not part of the job, but if it—' Ryuu's train of thought came to a halt as his eyes focused on the guard. Specifically, the guard's familiar face. 

Although clad in a robe similar to his, it only hid him from people looking from the sidelines. From the front, Ryuu could finally see the mystery bodyguard.

While he was busy staring at the guard, the prince ran towards the cushions and picked up the egg. 

The three of them stood opposite to each other as if wondering what to do next. Ryuu was very surprised to find his game friend from the past at this place but didn't give in to impulse as his job required him to maintain utmost secrecy. 

On the other hand, the prince didn't waver from his act of hugging the dragon egg to destruction. "Your Highness, I don't know what you're thinking, but that egg needs to be returned or no one on this side of the continent will be alive to see another day." 

"What do you know?" the prince was agitated…or rather emotional at this point. "This egg will hatch to become a beautiful dragon and it'll save me from the royal society." Ryuu had the urge to tell the 25-year-old child that it didn't work like that, but didn't.

The royalty did have it pretty bad, huh? Ryuu hadn't encountered the royal families in the game before because of his job class. But they had this unhealthy desire to escape from their bloodline. Everyone knew it, but it was passed around like a joke about how the king had to tie his firstborn to the pillar to crown him.

"K- Mr. Guard, you should understand what I mean. This can't go like this." It didn't look like any of Ryuu's words had reached Kai, the guard's, ears. He continued to stare at him with a blank expression. 

Ryuu was 98% sure about the guard's identity. He had met the guy in the game countless times. There was no doubt about it appearance-wise. The last 2% was the benefit of the doubt. 

But it wasn't the best time for a reunion.

They better raise my pay. The situation was quite bizarre. A prince who'd rather have himself killed by a dragon than sit on the throne. A king who couldn't enforce his power because he had to keep his heir safe. A guard, who happened to be his close friend in the past, stood there like a statue. There was a deadline to be met for god's sake. At this rate, the continent would be destroyed way before Kyros could lose his temper. 

System: [ Circumstances have brought a change to the threshold. Updating.] 

Ryuu turned his attention to the screen. 

System: [Kyros is about to lose a key act because of the dragon race. If left unattended, the dragon race would meet a pitiful end by his hands. Your survival might be compromised.]

'You think I don't know that?'

System: [Mission: Reshape past relationships and find a way to save the prince for the future of this kingdom. Your secrets needn't be yours alone when the continent is in danger.]

Translation: We don't care what you have to do. Get your friend on your side and get the dragon. To hell with your assassin identity. 

The wheels in Ryuu's brain hardly worked, but it was quite well maintained. The combination worked hard to find a solution. 

He walked up front to Kai and pulled down his mask when he was at an angle where only Kai could see his face. There was a good chance this guy wouldn't recognize him, but an equal chance that he would. Because although it wasn't the same character, he looked the same as he did in the game and reality just with a different hair and eye color. Moreover, the system told him to do it. So it was worth a shot. He could always find a disguise if it backfired. 

The other guy was staring at him more intently than a few minutes back as if wondering whether to kill or not. 

"Kai, now's not the time to stare me down. This is a matter of life and death!" Please don't backfire. Please don't fail.

The dark eyes shook for a moment so short, that even Ryuu didn't notice. "You...Ryuu?"

Ryuu smiled widely hearing his name. This was the only person who knew him by this name here other than the system. That meant he succeeded so far. 

He pulled up his mask. "Help out an old friend, ok? We can talk about the details when the kingdom isn't being targeted by an enraged dragon." Ryuu paused, "I know this is asking for too much, but if this goes on, everyone will be doomed." 

Ryuu wasn't counting on Kai's help, but his indifference. If he just looked the other way, Ryuu could find a way to snatch the egg and leave. So his next words were unexpected. 

"Hand over the egg to him." The prince backed away with the egg in his arms. Ryuu didn't expect he would go against his employer so easily.

"I won't. Over my dead body!" Kai was about to take his weapon out but Ryuu stepped up. 

"Your Highness, you can't keep a dragon. Even if you insist that it will be your escape, it'll just cause the continent to suffer great harm. The dragon might kill you as soon as it hatches," Ryuu paused, thinking if there was a better solution. "Maybe I can help you find a different way to escape from the throne."

For a moment, the prince seemed to have believed him, "You say you can, but what can you really do? I—"

"I can most definitely kill you." His next words threw everyone off guard. A dead silence fell onto the room for a moment before Ryuu coughed and added, "I can make it seem like you're dead." 

Despite being taken aback, the prince inquired back. "Can you really? If—" But the words didn't find their end, interrupted by a cracking sound. All three eyes shifted to the blue object. 

"Oh no…" Ryuu's voice was low.

"That's unexpected." 

However, the one closest to the object—slash that—lifeform, was quietly looking at the egg as if looking at a natural phenomenon. Ryuu had seen some zoology students looking at bird eggs like that. 

A small paw broke out of the shell. Ryuu tried to go forward, fearing the worst, but Kai stopped him. One by one all four paws broke out of the shell, followed by the tail and at last, the head. The blue shards dropped to the ground, and a blue reptile emerged from within, still in the arms of its thief. 

'Forget faking death. He's already dead," Ryuu thought. But the person in question didn't show any rash movements, and stood calmly, with the newborn in hand, looking at it with fascination. 

Ryuu was about to jump in but was stopped again. "Wait." 

The dragon slowly flew into the air and looked down at the prince. The two stared at each other like that for a while before the blue reptile flew down and settled onto the other's head. 

And that's that. It was in a sense comical, and confusing. It was comical how the hatchling used the closest thing to a nest, the prince's head, to sit down instead of the arranged roll-proof bed. Confusing as to why he did so.

"What just happened?" The prince finally spoke up after a few minutes of dumbfounded silence. 

What happened was pretty obvious. Imprinting was common for many creatures. Taking the first animal or person they see as their guardian and following them around, was perhaps a genetic habit for those. However It was very rare for intelligent creatures, almost impossible for dragons, but it wasn't out of the question. 

The prince just had half of his wish fulfilled. Whether the young dragon had accepted him as a guardian or a plaything, he would still be under its protection.

But this didn't solve Ryuu's or the kingdom's problem in the slightest. 

A notification popped up at that moment. 

[System: A rare phenomenon has happened.]

You just realized that now?

[System: However, the problem is yet to be solved. But it hasn't gone out of hand. 

Quest: Figure out a way to pacify the situation. 

Good luck.]

Ryuu wanted to break the screen that liked to speak the obvious in times of crisis. Alas, that wasn't possible.