[Not every mage is worthy of a Familiar.]

Tayl said to Johann. 

[There are people like you, Master, who treat us Familiars kindly. And there are people like Ingst Routte.]

Tayl trusted Rodemaine’s judgment. He wouldn’t have targeted Routte without good reason. 

At the mention of his name, Ruelle, still standing a distance away from Rodemaine, flinched. Johann also looked her way. 

The missing Familiar named Ruelle, who was suddenly human, the Familiars on Rodemaine’s side, and Rodemaine himself. The Familiar Thief’s true intentions. 

Johann felt a headache coming on. 

There were too many unanswered questions at once. 

And of all things, why did Tayl defend him? 

He felt a sense of betrayal. He spat out an accusation. 

“What’s your plan? Were you going to form a pact with them?!”

With his pistol snug underneath the owl, Johann prepared his hands, ready to cast magic if necessary. Rodemaine was mistaken if he thought a pistol was his only weapon. 

After all, he too was a mage. 

At that, Rodemaine threw his hands up in defense again. 

“Come on, now. It’s not possible to have more than one Familiar.”

Johann looked briefly at the trembling Ruelle again. 

Was she the key? 

“Don’t get the wrong idea either, Detective Halson.” 

Rodemaine spoke. His blue eyes flashed, as though demanding attention. 

“Take a good look. I’m not capable of forming pacts with a Familiar.”

Seeing mana wasn’t possible for humans. But sense was a different story. If a mage concentrated hard enough, they could vaguely sense the presence of mana. 

“….”

Johann thought Rodemaine was simply buying time, but he couldn’t help himself regardless. 

Except, he couldn’t sense anything. 

No, rather…

It was as though his sense kept disappearing, as if it was fleeting. 

Within Rodemaine…

‘It’s like a void!’

Was that how he did it? Severing the ties?

— I stole it. 

— The mana that binds a familiar and their keeper. 

Johann broke into a cold sweat, taking a breath and refocusing. 

“So you see. There’s no way I can form a relationship with a Familiar.”

“….”

“I always thought it was unfair. Gramps and I couldn’t have Familiars, but those who did only abused theirs.”

His sky-coloured eyes softened subtly as he mumbled to himself. 

If he had a Familiar, Rodemaine thought, he would have cared for it greatly. 

Tayl jumped up onto Johann again, nestling comfortably on his shoulder. 

[Johann, why don’t we leave him be? You probably can’t get him with magic anyway. He’ll simply swallow it.]

Rodemaine smirked slightly at that. Indeed, Detective Halson’s pistol was more of a threat. But the detective didn’t know that. 

At the same time, Johann hesitated briefly.

Rodemaine was not a dangerous criminal.

He wondered if he could accept that.

The familiars that had joined them also claimed that Rodemaine was someone who saved them. 

… It was true that the victims of the recent incidents had been short-tempered, quick-to-violence individuals like Ingst Routte. 

He glanced at Ruelle. 

She stayed behind Rodemaine, looking at his back like a shield. 

“Miss Ruelle.”

Rodemaine’s eyes twitched, narrowing.  

“Y-Yes?!” 

“Are you really a Familiar?”

He questioned her, keeping his eyes on Rodemaine.

“... I am.”

[She is. I can tell.]

Tayl confirmed it, making things more confusing. 

“How are you human?”

“....Mister?”

Ruelle whispered to Rodemaine who blinked at her with surprise.

“...It’s your choice.”

Ruelle thought for a moment. 

“I am a Dragon Familiar. Only dragons can become human.”

She admitted the heavy truth of her existence.

“A dragon…? Didn’t they go extinct?”

“Ah.., I’m the last one.”

The mood seemed to sour at her girl’s small voice. Even Rodemaine felt a sense of pity.

Really, how did Routte get their hands on the last dragon?

Rodemaine couldn’t help but sense something amiss. He watched the still-trembling Ruelle with concerned eyes. 

But his concern was quickly replaced by alarm. 

[Squeak! Someone’s coming! Someone else!]

Even Tayl turned to face the door while perched on Johann’s shoulder. 

“Tayl?”

“It’s Routte.”

Bam! 

Rodemaine’s front door, which had mistakenly been left ajar, was thrown open. 

A young man with a face as red as his hair and rage-filled brown eyes burst into the small and cluttered home. 

“Detective! Is she in this place?!”

Ingst shouted. 

Johann quickly stepped forward, alert. Then Ingst’s eyes fell on Rodemaine, and then Ruelle. 

“…!”

Rodemaine’s hand flew in front of Ruelle, before staggering to a halt. 

‘Damn it. I instinctively protected her.’

“You… You’re Ruelle, aren't you!”

They might have gotten away with it if Ingst hadn’t recognised her. 

“You turned into a human, after all? Even telling me that you couldn’t! Was it because of this man?!”

“Mr. Routte. Please calm down.”

Johann interjected. 

“Familiar Thief! Hand my Familiar back to me!”

Behind Rodemaine, Ruelle flinched terribly. Rodemaine looked at Ingst with a deep frown. 

When he made no moves to comply, Ingst turned his attention to Ruelle. 

“Ruelle. Come here this instant.”

He made a demand. But despite once having a Keeper-Familiar pact, Ruelle did not answer his summons this time. 

Realising it, Ingst felt a surge of anger and humiliation.  

He lurched forward, reaching for Ruelle. 

“…!”

Rodemaine moved quickly. 

He grabbed Ingst’s wrist, something like a crack sounded faintly. 

“Urgh!”

It was a familiar sight from just hours before. 

“Mr. Routte!” 

Johann pulled Ingst back, with the instincts of a policeman, restraining him. 

“Let go! Ruelle! Protect me, damn it!”

Ingst growled. 

“Tch.”

Rodemaine stepped back, closer to Ruelle who had shrunk behind him. She clutched at his cloak weakly. 

“I don’t regret separating them at all.”

He muttered. 

Johann shot him a look. 

Clack. 

The sound of handcuffs echoed. Johann held Ingst in place, locking his hands behind his back. 

“Detective, what are you doing?!”

“Ingst Routte, you are being arrested under suspicion of abuse and violence against your Familiar.”

The words were crisp and unmistakable. 

Ingst’s eyes shook. As he was about to exclaim, Johann grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. 

“I’ll be taking you to the police station.”

Johann looked at Rodemaine and Ruelle. His black eyes glinted. 

“Miss Ruelle. Is it possible for you to turn back into a Familiar form?”

“… Yes.”

“Will you agree to make a statement at the station? I understand it may be a difficult decision…”

Ruelle glanced up at Rodemaine. 

“Your choice.”

He said again. 

Ruelle glanced at Ingst, who was glaring at her intensely. She instinctively knew the meaning of that look, even if they no longer had a connection. 

He was demanding her to refuse. 

Ingst had always treated her like that. 

Like a bird trapped in a cage, a curtain drawn over it. Ruelle had always been in the dark. 

She looked forward to the days when Ingst summoned her to the material world. The days she could see the sun, feel the wind and hear the trees. 

But she was never able to feel those things. 

A tavern or a dimly-lit room with an intoxicated and bored Ingst. Tasks like attacking a civilian under the premise of protecting him, or bringing Ingst items because he was too lazy, or flying around and entertaining his drunken conversations. 

Arduously, tiredly, achingly. Even when he struck her for resisting his questionable commands, after he apologised for drunken mistakes. 

She listened to him with the hope he might one day reward her with kindness. She thought he might be different from his father, and his father before that...

Ruelle had been wrong. 

She realised it late. That the family that had managed to entrap her for generations could never become kind. 

So when the opportunity presented itself… 

— Want out?

— …How? Can you do something like that?

— I can. I’m a bit special, you see. 

She could see. This man who appeared out of nowhere was indeed special. 

There was something in him that made her hope. A hope that she could be free, that she had buried long ago. 

— Please help me. 

No sooner than she had agreed, she felt it snap. The connection between her and Ingst Routte had been instantly broken. Between them existed nothing. 

The absence of a pact was overwhelming, as though a part of her had died. 

But at the same time.

She had never felt more free. 

Ruelle left the human realm immediately, terrified that Ingst would try to capture her again. 

But that man never left her mind. 

The mysterious man who was capable of doing something unexpected. 

She wanted to repay him. 

And if he was in need of a Familiar…

Feeling warm at the thought, Ruelle set out in the morning, following the mystifying mana trail. It stood out amongst everything else she could see. In her iridescent view of the world, she clearly recognised the ominous and lightless trail of her saviour. 

Certainly, he was special. 

That was how Ruelle met Rodemaine. 

She looked at Rodemaine again. His blue eyes blinked at her. 

From the moment he met him, he was impartial about her. Even now, he seemed to say that whatever her decision was, it would make little difference to him, despite the risks. 

His aloof attitude made her hesitate at first, but she was determined to thank him properly. She didn’t want to be shooed away so easily. 

Only it resulted in chaos.

The detective’s Familiar found them, and Ingst had followed… 

The light in her eyes had long since dimmed. 

Maybe it was her fault that her savior had been caught. 

If she hadn’t come to find him, or if she had refused him in the first place…

No. Ruelle did not regret cutting her tie with Ingst Routte. 

She tugged on Rodemaine’s shirt, a tender look in her eyes. 

“Sorry, Mister. Because of me, you got caught.”

“…?”

“Still, I’m truly grateful. Mister Detective.”

She suddenly turned her attention to Johann. 

“I was the one who agreed to breaking the pact… Ingst Routte and his family have been abusing me for years. It was a very difficult time. I have no regrets.”

Johann silently listened. 

“I will agree to make the report against him. But I also have a request.”

“… What request do you have, Miss Ruelle?”

“Please let Mister Rodemaine go.”

Rodemaine widened his eyes. 

Why? Ruelle made a request on his behalf. 

When he stole her pact, he didn’t expect anything. He simply did it because he hated seeing the suffering caused by her keeper. He wasn’t even expecting any thanks. 

But now, that familiar, who turned out to be a dragon, was supporting him. 

“….”

“You—! Tsk, that wretche—!”

Ingst went red in the face. Somehow, his meek familiar had found courage from somewhere. To even rebel against him. Losing her was a big mistake. 

Johann shut him with a harsh tug, enough to not injure him. 

But…

At Ruelle’s words, he only felt more conflicted.

It would have been easier if Rodemaine were simply a criminal he could take down. 

Instead, he was a hero to these Familiars. He could even feel Tayl’s emotions at this moment. A feeling of trust and hope.

“....”

His black eyes shook slightly, as he made a decision he never thought he would make.

Not arresting a criminal that was right in front of him. 

“Mister Rodemaine. Are you aware that you have caused much trouble, for society, mages and the police? By doing something unprecedented like permanently separating Keepers and Familiars, where even the police don’t know how to deal with you.”

“Well… I apologise for that.”

“…With what right did you think it was okay to do something like that?”

He shot his bitter gaze away. Despite his words, he was beginning to feel it himself – that Rodemaine was not wrong. 

He had caught offenders of Familiar Law, abusers and assaulters. People that managed to slip by the police.

In his own hands at that moment was a person like that. 

“If you could do something like that…”

He muttered the words in a low voice. 

“You could have been a great force within the police department. As an ally to Familiars.”

“....”

Rodemaine wasn’t expecting those words, but he didn’t let it show. 

His whole life, he had been hiding away from humans, afraid that he would hurt them… even kill them. It wasn’t until he learned to control his powers by studying endlessly that he left the forests. 

Even then, he didn’t think that people in the towns would look upon him warmly. What was more, after witnessing their cruel true nature, he began to dislike them. 

People like Ingst who overpowered and abused their Familiar. 

But, there were still people like Johann Halson. 

“Rodemaine. Can you promise to stop your illegal actions? This is a matter of safety and security for those Familiars and keepers who have done nothing wrong.”

Those with morals and integrity, who protected Familiars. 

Rodemaine thought he could listen to such a person. 

“I won’t apologise for cutting the ties that I did. After all, the Familiars themselves are grateful enough to continue bothering me.”

[Squeak!]

“But I will agree to stop.”

“…”

Rodemaine shrugged. 

“I don’t particularly enjoy it either. Using that ability is quite straining.”

“Then…”

A look of conflict flashed briefly in Johann’s eyes. 

Was he making the right call? Letting Rodemaine go like this, and…

“Perhaps… we can find a more legal solution to this.”

“…!”

Rodemaine and Ruelle both understood. Even Tayl seemed to react, his tail swishing. 

[You mean to use his abilities to separate Familiars from offenders?]

“… It’s only a suggestion.”

Johann wiped his face tiredly, frowning deeply. 

“No… never mind. Let’s deal with that later.”

He looked up, black eyes landing on Ruelle. 

“Miss Ruelle, please come to the station with me, as a Familiar. With your testimony, we can make a case.”

Ruelle made a determined face. 

"... Yes!"

She looked at Rodemaine for a final time. 

A gentle smile rose on her lips, her glassy green eyes twinkling. 

“Then, thank you for everything, Mister.”

“….”

Rodemaine hesitated, then laughed softly. 

“It’s been my pleasure.” 

An amused smile. Rodemain had never expected that his actions would have led to something like this. 

A day had come where he received unwelcome guests, discovered the last of the dragons and somehow avoided getting arrested. 

He lifted Ruelle’s hand and placed a brief kiss on top. Ruelle beamed like a flower, satisfied.

Of course, with his blood boiling, Ingst watch all of it happen, unable to do anything. 

With Ruelle’s testimony, his life was virtually ruined. 

Only now did he seem to mature enough to realise it. 

Although, his regrets were meaningless. 

Johann shoved him out of the cottage. The forest was covered in an evening haze. 

“Then, Miss Ruelle. Please follow us.”

“Yes!”

With a brilliant display of sparkling energy, Ruelle transformed back to her dragon Familiar form.  

A small and elegant creature, eyes like emeralds, flew around. 

Rodemaine watched Ruelle with a small smile as she circled around him. An unexpected emotion welled up within him. 

He found himself wondering if he would ever see her again. 

Then suddenly—

Peck!

He felt the smooth surface of a certain creature’s snout brush his cheek briefly. 

Whoosh, whoosh. 

Ruelle circulated in the air faster, then flew after Johann and Tayl, leaving a trail of winking sparkles in her wake.