After the brief walk, I took Eva back to the estate and noticed a carriage parked in front of the house.
It was my grandfatherâs well-known carriage.
Had he come again? I was a little puzzled when I entered the house.
âWelcome back, Mr. Matteo.â
A maid welcomed me, so I asked her.
âIâm back. Is my grandfather home?
âYes. The Grand Master is waiting in the lounge with a guest.
âAnother guest?ăOh, yeah! youâll get a cake every day starting tomorrow. Take it and bring it to Eva.
âYes, Master.â
The maid bowed her head respectfully.
and walked towards the living room with Eva in tow.
Itâs been a while, since I became the grandson of a nobleman, and Iâve picked up a few things.
Aristocrats, or people like me who live the life of an aristocrat, do not talk about paying for things.
This is because aristocrats do not pay for ordinary purchases.
In most cases, it is the servants who pay the money, and the nobles donât bother with the details.
It is considered a virtue not to do so, and if you try to meddle in the process, you will be thought of as a dullard.
Thatâs why saving money is a no-brainer.
As soon as I mention it, Iâll be seen as a weirdo.
If youâre not careful, you might be considered unfit for nobility, or your household might be on the verge of collapse.
Thatâs why nobles should not talk about everyday expenses.
Well, anyway, it is what it is.
Evaâs daily snack, itâs in the category of food expenses.
And this is the kind of thing that a working-class mainstay would have to worry about.
Hence I decided to leave it all to her.
In the process, I arrived at the lounge and stood in front of the door.
It was my house, but it was also my Grandpaâs mansion.
I knocked on the door and said, âThis is Mateo.â
I knocked on the door and announced, âIâm Matteo,â trying to keep my voice slightly â reserved.â
âMm, enter.â
âYes.â
I opened the door and walked in â I was taken aback.
There were two people and a pet in the room.
One of them was my grandfather.
He was sitting on the sofa as usual.
He was sipping on a cup of black tea with lots of sugar, served by the maid.
The other one seemed a bit strange.
In the room was â a huge lizard, even though itâs inside the room â a lizard thatâs probably bigger than a fully grown man when it is upright.
The lizard is seated, and a young man is on his back.
Why a lizard? And why is he sitting on his back?
In spite of my curiosity, the old man opened his mouth.
âLet me introduce you. This man is Leif Merton.
âNice to meet you, Mr. Merton. Iâm Matteo Lawrence Rockwell.â
I introduced myself and bowed my head lightly.
âIs that the Red Dragon?â
Iâm not sure if this is a good idea to speak about her but whatever.
âUh, yes.â
âIâve heard you can make it bigger?
âYes, I can.â
âTry it right now.â
âYeah, all right. But weâre indoors, so Iâm only gonna do part of her.â
âPart of her?â
âYeah, like this.â
I had a lot on my mind, but I trusted my grandfather.
So I agreed and touched Eva.
âPaws.â
I told Eva, then poured magic into her.
Then Evaâs paws became huge.
It was the adult form of a red dragon, with huge claws.
âWow, thatâs fascinating.â
âReally?â
âLet me examine it.â
âMmm?â
Eva freaked out.
Her paws quickly sagged and she reverted to her perfect little puppy form, hiding behind my back.
I could feel her little body shuddering as she crawled towards me.
I stroked the frightened Eva and looked at Leif in disapproval.
âNo, you cannot do that.â
âReally? Well, since itâs a unique case, weâll have to examine it no?.â
âNo, no, no, !!!'â
Weâve only known each other for a minute.
Still, I can tell â rather anyone can tell.
Leif Merton is apparently a man with a rather eccentric personality.
He even introduced himself and asked me to examine Eva.
This is not something a normal person would say or do.
The target of this âunbelievableâ had slipped from Eva to me.
âYouâre funny.â
âYouâre examination is rather more FUNNYâ
I shouted.
âIâm not going to conduct an examination⌠It was more like a joke to lighten the mood.â
âSoâŚNo?â
âNoâŚ!â
âMerton, you canât do that.â
Grandpa stepped to the side and interrupted him. He had been quietly watching over us until then, but suddenly he spoke up.
At the same moment, I was also frightened.
I felt as if the temperature in the room had dropped about ten degrees at once.
He looked like an assassin.
âBecause heâs my grandson.â
âYou told me he indeed is a grandson, but not a blood relation and you found him under a bridge, so heâs probably more like a stray cat or a dog.â
âA grandson is a grandson.
âHmmm⌠âŚâŚ I know that youâre old but why is it so hard for you to understand.â
No, no, no, itâs not just because heâs an old man.
Even normal people would react that way. Itâs just that the old man has a different temperament, but the essence is the same.
I think the one whoâs rather crazy is him.
âWell canât help it then. Iâve heard from my grandfather that even youâre unique, so Iâll examine you another time.
âUnique?â
âDonât you know?ăIt means special.â
â?? âŚâŚâ
I looked at Eva.
Iâm not sure if sheâs here because I touched the egg and it hatched out of nowhere, or why it can partially grow, or if itâs because sheâs a red dragon in the first place.
I donât know anything yet
Maybe Eva is a very special child, maybe the only one in this world.
I understand that, but âŚâŚ me too?
âThatâs why I asked Leif to come.â
The old man, who had stopped the killing intent, answered my question at the right moment as if he had read my mind.
Come to think of it, I still hadnât asked him why he brought this man here.
Mertonâs character was so strange that I had my hands full after greeting him.
âWhat was this all about?ăGrandfather.â
âDo you remember about your magic powers?â
âWell, you mentioned about the before>â
âYes. The person I called before couldnât measure your power, so I called him instead. Heâs a genius in magical engineering, despite his appearance. I told him about Matteo and he said he could do it.