How To Break Qaq If The Dragon Catches The Wrong Person? Chapter 18

“Seriously, a dragon?”

One of the men sounded skeptical, finding the claim too absurd.

“Of course! It’s the real deal! That kid just escaped from over there and told me himself. How could it be fake?” The man swore confidently, then paused, his tone turning strange, half-sour with envy. “That place is getting stronger and stronger…”

“It certainly is,” the person sitting next to him slammed his mug onto the table with a clang, agreeing with a mix of frustration and emotion. He added, “But no matter how strong they are, they’ll never be stronger than us in Velen!”

Another man across the table seized the opportunity to interject, “I actually heard a bit about it too. They say Prince Kairis personally went to retrieve the people… otherwise, they’d still be living like neither humans nor ghosts right now.”

“As expected of Prince Kairis!”

“Yes, yes, our Crown Prince is so wise and capable. He will surely continue to lead Velen to even greater strength!”

The alcohol, mixed with pride for their country and reverence for the Crown Prince, surged up. The conversation naturally shifted, and everyone began praising the Royal Family, their chatter turning to the recent incident where the Prince led his Personal Guards to the outskirts of the Royal City to resolve a disturbance.

Thus, the brief mention of the Dragon Race was lightly dismissed, as if it had never been brought up.

But Mian’s mood could no longer return to ease.

He frowned, recalling the words they had just spoken.

What about the Dragon Race… what companions?

He had arrived mid-conversation, so the dialogue felt fragmented, but Mian instinctively felt they were discussing something important to him.

Subconsciously, he tried to connect this matter to something he knew, but he couldn’t find a breakthrough.

Just as he was hesitating whether to ask those men, a voice suddenly sounded beside him, pulling back his thoughts.

“Hey.” Miya had jogged over, clearly urgent and slightly out of breath, but his eyes were bright as he looked up at Mian.

“Did you find my sister?”

The Gemstone Tavern was very busy today. Miya was running ragged in the Palace Kitchen, unable to even pause for a drink of water. He had genuinely felt, without exaggeration, that he might die of exhaustion there today.

Then, he suddenly remembered that he still had no news of his sister.

Miya silently worked even harder.

After so many days without hearing from Mian, he had long assumed that Mian had failed to find Annie and had stopped holding onto hope.

He had simply started working longer and harder shifts at The Gemstone Tavern, hoping that one day the owner would let him work in the front. Many influential people frequented the tavern, and perhaps he would meet someone who could help him find his sister.

That was his plan until the Royal Steward came looking for him.

People with green eyes and black hair were rare. Miya had never seen a second person like that in his life, so as soon as he heard the description, he knew the person looking for him was Mian.

He immediately dropped the rag in his hand and rushed out of the Palace Kitchen to find him.

“Yes, I found her.” Seeing Miya’s urgency, Mian skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point. “Loria has taken her in as a playmate, and she is doing very well. She asked you not to worry about her, and she also told me…”

Miya stood by, adjusting his breathing, and listened quietly until Mian finished.

When Mian’s last syllable dropped, Miya let out a heavy sigh, as if a huge stone had been lifted from his heart.

He took a moment, then sincerely thanked Mian, “Thank you for bringing me news of my sister.”

Heaven knew how many worst-case scenarios he had imagined and how many days he had worried while waiting for an update on Annie.

Miya looked utterly exhausted. He sat cross-legged on the ground nearby, looking up at Mian. His tone was much lighter, though still weary, as he complained, “It’s been so busy today. There are far more people here than on a usual Sunday…”

The matter that had been delayed for several days was finally settled, and Mian felt much lighter. Hearing Miya’s comment, he asked curiously, “Is this considered very busy? Why?”

He had never been to this tavern. When he entered, he was surprised by the crowded scene, but then, considering this was the Royal City, he thought it was reasonable and assumed it was always this packed.

“You don’t know? Today is the tavern’s annual Gemstone Exhibition.” Miya was surprised Mian didn’t know this. He thought for a moment, pulled a poster from his pocket, and handed it to Mian, then gestured toward the wall of gemstones not far away. “Do you see that wall?”

Mian nodded. “I see it.”

Not only had he seen it, but he had been staring at it for a long time.

He opened the poster. The illustrations were exquisite, featuring many beautiful gemstones of various shapes and colors, along with many words he couldn’t read.

After a pause, Mian casually folded it shut.

“Now you know,” Miya said, pointing at the poster, and began to explain. “The owner of this tavern is very wealthy. He used to be a famous gemstone merchant. Once he made enough money, he opened a tavern in the Royal City to retire.”

“He doesn’t conduct external transactions anymore, but he holds a gemstone exhibition once a year, and it’s very famous throughout Velen.”

“Because they only sell once a year, on this day, in addition to the usual patrons, the tavern is filled with people coming to buy gems and those just joining the excitement. Many nobles who can’t make it even send people specifically to purchase items.”

Miya shook his head and sighed. “I don’t know how long we’ll be busy today.”

Mian’s attention, however, had quickly drifted.

“You mean,” Mian looked at the gemstone wall, “those gems can be bought?”

Miya hadn’t expected that reaction. He was stunned and stammered, “O-of course they can… Are you going to buy some?”

“Yes,” Mian answered simply, then asked, “How much money is needed?”

Miya: “…”

After a brief silence, he began to explain to Mian.

“The ones displayed on the wall all have fixed prices,” Miya said, then thought for a moment. “The most expensive one here would probably cost… three of those gold ingots you showed me before. That much!”

“Oh, good,” Mian nodded, his eyes brightening slightly. “That’s good. I can exchange for a lot.”

Miya: “…???”

Why was his reaction different from what Miya expected? Shouldn’t he think it was expensive?

Had gold become something you could just pick up on the side of the road now?

Little Miya was thoroughly defeated by the unfairness of the world. He grumbled, “Alright, you can look for yourself. Thank you for bringing me news of my sister today. I’m still very busy, so I’m heading back to the Palace Kitchen.”

After watching Miya leave, Mian’s gaze quickly returned to the gemstone wall, which seemed to be glowing.

The main task he set out for today was successfully completed, so he wasn’t in a hurry to return to the Royal Palace.

Shiny, beautiful things like gemstones naturally held a fatal, bloodline attraction for the Dragon Race—especially a wall of gemstones this large.

Moreover, human-designed and carefully cut gemstones were even more beautiful than the Dragon Race’s natural ones.

Within his line of sight, every facet of the gems on the wall reflected light under the tavern’s specific lighting, making them sparkle brilliantly. Mian felt an urge to take them all home.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought many gold ingots with him this time, so he probably couldn’t buy the entire wall.

Before leaving, Miya had slipped him a small booklet listing the prices of the displayed gemstones.

But he couldn’t read it.

He roughly estimated that the gold ingots he brought could only buy a small portion.

Mian felt a bit regretful.

In that case, he would choose the ones he liked the most and exchange for those.

Thinking this, Mian returned to the wall.

Miya had mentioned that the official sales wouldn’t start until the evening. There were quite a few people gathered around the wall, mostly admiring the display. Mian struggled to squeeze into the crowd, planning to select the ones he wanted by cross-referencing the booklet.

He finally reached the front row, only to be bumped by a couple arguing next to him. In the jostling, he accidentally collided with an attendant carrying a glass display stand.

The crisp sound of shattering glass rang out, and the scene instantly fell silent. Everyone’s eyes turned to the floor, and after a moment, they collectively looked at the three people responsible for the commotion.

Mian: “…”

Looking at the scattered glass shards on the floor and the ruby lying amidst the broken glass, Mian was silent.

He wondered what was wrong with him lately to be so unlucky.

The man reacted first, his face flushed and his neck thick as he pointed at the scene on the floor, preemptively stating, “This… this wasn’t us! Everyone saw it, it was this little brother who bumped into the attendant!”

The woman beside him was his fiancée; they were preparing for their wedding.

The woman had specifically brought her fiancé to the tavern’s gemstone exhibition today, hoping to select a gem to buy and turn into her wedding ring. However, the man disagreed, finding the gems here too expensive, so they had started arguing.

Seeing the situation escalate, she put aside her anger. Although she knew they were partly at fault, she still backed her boyfriend. “Yes, yes, we didn’t touch him! He fell down himself!”

The ruby on the floor was large and of excellent quality; clearly, it was something they couldn’t afford. She didn’t want to pay for the damages, so she quickly shifted all responsibility onto the boy who looked like he came from a wealthy background.

The incident happened too suddenly, and most people’s attention was still focused on the wall of gems, so few had clearly seen what happened.

The attendant ignored everything else and quickly picked up the ruby. Then, looking at the mess on the floor, he was distraught. “Each of these display cases is custom-made, and now there are none left to use.”

He looked at the three of them. “This display case is worth fifty silver coins. If none of you are willing to take responsibility, then I’ll have to ask you to come with me to see the owner.”

Mian felt helpless, but he didn’t want to cause further trouble. He told the attendant, “Give me the one in your hand.”

That ruby was quite pretty; he happened to want it.

Thinking this, Mian pulled a gold ingot from his pocket, then reconsidered and exchanged it for a handful of gold coins, which humans found more acceptable—he had learned this from the fairy tales Kairis read to him.

“Is this enough?” he asked the attendant.

“Enough, of course, it’s enough!” The attendant’s eyes widened. Snapping back to reality, he immediately bowed and reached out to accept the payment.

The surrounding onlookers were also stunned by the shocking wealth of this unknown young master and were momentarily speechless.

“Why should he be responsible?” a voice suddenly rang out.

The next moment, a young man walked up to the attendant.

He wore a black robe cinched with a silver belt. His skin was pale, and his hair and eyes were a pure, unmixed black. His features were handsome, but his overly detached expression robbed them of some vibrancy.

As he spoke, he pulled out a mirror with intricate patterns on the back, which seemed to be faintly glowing, and handed it to the attendant.

The mirror clearly showed the entire process of Mian being pushed by others, causing him to collide with the attendant.

The footage was recorded from a slightly side-rear angle, so the faces of the people involved weren’t perfectly clear, but it was enough.

The couple’s faces turned white when they saw this. Although they hadn’t seen the mirror, they could roughly guess the scene displayed within.

After watching, the attendant thanked the young man, then walked over to the couple and said politely, “Sirs and Madams, the total cost for the custom display case and the loss of sales opportunity for this gemstone is seventy silver coins. How do you intend to pay?”

The couple, looking miserable, were led away by the attendant to settle the bill.

A few servers came forward with brooms to clean up the glass shards, and the crowd, having finished watching the farce, dispersed.

Mian finally had a chance to thank the young man.

“There’s nothing to thank me for. I just…” The young man looked at Mian casually as he spoke, but the moment he saw him clearly, he froze.

He stopped, staring at Mian. The expression that usually resembled stagnant water suddenly cracked open.

Mian: “?”

The young man looked him up and down in disbelief, his voice filled with shock. “…How are you here?”