“Didn’t expect the mayor to give us such a hefty bonus. Even if Purple eats a feast every other day, I think we have enough to last the next couple of months. Maybe even half a year.” Ryder glanced at the number on the back of his hand with a smirk and whistled.

  Green growled cheerfully.

  “Good for ya, Ryder!” Findir beamed.

  “I’ve returned the sheets, Ryder,” Brown informed as she arrived at the entrance of the Guild.

  “Thanks. Well then, I think that’s all we needed to do.”

  “Shall we visit my grandfather now?“

  “That we shall. Although, before we do, stretch your hand out.” The human hovered his palm in the air.

  The yellow-ear glanced at his friend for a quick second before realizing what was going on. “Oh, no. There’s no need, Ryder.”

  “We wouldn’t have succeeded without your help. You deserve a cut.”

  “Bein’ able to help ya out is already a reward in itself, Ryder. Additionally, ya had helped me achieve my goal of following ya in the first place! Now, I have enough material to weave an epic ballad that’ll be my next hit! And, lastly.” The musician made eye contact with the rider and smiled. “Ya became my friend. After I first heard ya name, about how ya defeated the Black Drag’n, I never stopped hopin’ that, one day, I’ll run into ya and befriend such a cool hero. And here we are!”

  “You really have a way with words, Findir. I’m glad to have met you too. Although, at the very least, let me treat you to a meal or two. Otherwise, I’ll feel bad. Or if you want a new instrument or something that’ll help you travel around easier, I can buy those for you too.”

  “I see! If that’s the case, I shall think of somethin’ as we make ar way to where my grandfather is.”

  “Lead the way~”

  And so, the gang headed to their destination. The rider and his friend went back and forth about the cat-man’s gift before settling on visiting the most prestigious restaurant in the city, where big musical stars would visit and display their skills. As they approached the building, which turned out to be a restaurant, they spotted two familiar figures speaking to an old man with yellow ears.

  “...My deepest apology, Mr. Toygir. We only managed to procure the sheets from the youngest sister, Syrinx Miuzika. When we visited the descendants of the other two sisters, they had their own reasons for not selling us the sheets.” A lean man with white ears spoke.

  “But! We’ll be able to procure the sheets from Thalia Miuzika’s granddaughter later now that the Onyx Knight has been vanquished!” The fat man, also with white ears, assured.

  “And Aria’s daughter?” The old man questioned as he carefully placed a stack of paper into a delicate wooden case.

  “We-”

  “Grandfather!”

  The three men turned their attention to the origin of the voice, to which two of them immediately began sweating bullets.

  “You little rascal. If I have my bodyguards with me right now, you’ll be getting dragged back to the estate!” The old man scowled, making his thick, well-trimmed mustache look intimidating.

  “Oh yeah? Then I’ll just poke ‘em in the eyeballs, kick ‘em in their groins, and run away! Whatcha gonna do then, huh?” Findir scowled too.

  Both of their scowls grew more intense until it became cartoonishly intense before they burst into laughter. The two then hugged and slapped each other’s back as loudly as they could. As they did, the old man widened his eyes at the dragon rider gang, much like the other customers in the spacious restaurant.

  “Who are these fellows, Findir?” His grandfather let go and asked.

  “These're my new friends, Grandfather!” The cat-man placed his arm around the teenager’s shoulders and pointed. “His name’s Ryder! He’s the famous Drag’n Rider!” Then he pointed to the dragons. “And these are his companions! They’re actually both dragons!”

  “Oh? It’s been a while since I saw a shapeshifted dragon.” The old man then changed his attention from the dragons to the human. “I hope my grandson hasn't caused any trouble for you.” The old Felmier reached his hand out and shook the human’s.

  “Quite the contrary, actually. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Toygir.”

  “You can call me Mr. Plutus when the both of us are around! Else it’ll be confusing who you’re referring to.” Plutus chuckled.

  “Will do.” Ryder retracted his hand back.

  “So, Grandfather, why are ya talkin’ with these two crooks?” Findir grinned menacingly at the two white-ears.

  “Crooks? You must be mistaking them for someone else, Findir. I employed these honest men to buy Dion’s music sheets from his descendants.”

  “I know these men, Grandfather, and they aren’t as honest as they claim, especially when they broke into Elisha Klawe’s house to steal the sheets! If it weren’t for Ryder, they would’ve succeeded in their thievery!”

  Plutus widened his eyes. “Truly?”

  Ryder replied, “Yep, but they escaped before I could catch them. They were also harassing Alin, Thalia’s granddaughter, to hand the sheets over to them.”

  “Do ya have any evidence to back up yer claims?” Gibol smirked strainingly.

  “Y-Yeah! Ya accusin’ us when we did nothin’ of that sort!”

  Ryder clicked his tongue and couldn’t offer any retort.

  “There you are.” An unfamiliar voice rang from behind. When all of them turned back, they saw two guards approaching them.

  “What seems to be the matter?” Plutus asked.

  “We’re here to apprehend these two men here. We have reasons to believe they attempted a break-in two days ago. Are you all acquaintances of theirs?” The brown-ear guard asked.

  The dragon rider gang and Findir shook their heads.

  “Not anymore. These two have just been fired from my employment. You may take them away, officers.” Plutus waved his hands at his former employees dismissively.

  “Ah, I see.” The guard then turned to the two white-ears, who had their jaws dropped at the sudden turn of events. “Well then, please return with us to the station without resisting.”

  The other guard promptly cuffed the two crooks and made them stand up.

  “How can ya do this to us, Mr. Toygir?! Did ya really expect we could retrieve all the sheets in the short amount of time ya gave us?! Ya left us no choice!” Gibol clamored.

  “You two were the ones that advertise yourselves as competent and honest workers. You got no one but yourselves to blame, twats.” The old man snorted.

  The two men continued to shout as the guards dragged them out of the shop and out of their sight.

  “They didn’t hide any of the sheets they obtained from Ms. Miuzika, did they?” Findir turned to his grandfather and asked.

  “They better not, else they’ll be in more trouble than they already are. Now, are you gonna tell me why you arrived earlier with your friend?” Plutus gestured to all of them to take a seat. Since their table was right next to the entrance, Green didn’t have to watch from a distance.

  “Ya heard about the Onyx Knight already, Grandfather?” The musician sat and spoke.

  “Everyone in the city couldn’t stop blabbering about it, almost to the point of annoyance.” The old man smirked. “But, I’m glad it finally happened. If I come across the heroes who broke his curse, I’d thank them personally with a pouch of jewels.”

  “Well, ya see…”

  “We’re the ones that broke the curse.” Ryder grinned.

  Plutus’s eyes widened at the rider before turning to his grandson. “You’re not kidding?”

  “Nope! Are ya finally proud of me, Grandfather?” Findir snickered.

  The old Felmier slumped in his chair and ran his hand across his face with a shocked expression. “To think my grandson ended up being the one to break my brother’s curse. Fate is truly an unpredictable mistress.”

  “I knew it!” The rider snapped his finger. Brown wasn’t surprised, though Green was.

  “Attis is yer brother?! But ar family name isn’t the same as his!”

  “Because I changed it after moving to Portseus.” Plutus sighed. “After everyone in my family had died or disappeared, the name only brings me pain.”

  “But why didn’t Ms. Miuzika- Syrinx and Thalia’s granddaughter mention ya at all? They told us all about Attis and Sappho, but never once mentioned yer name!”

  “Hell if I know.” The old man snorted. “But if I have to guess, it’s probably because I rarely hung out with them or the Miuzika family.”

  “I… see.”

  “If I may ask, Mr. Plutus, why did you hire those two men from earlier to buy the music sheets?” Ryder asked.

  “Well, you see, I’m turning 80 in three days, and I meant to buy those sheets as my birthday present. When I was young, I, like many others in the city, adored Dion’s songs. I even tried learning how to play them, but I couldn’t, thanks to my parents forcing me to help with their shambling business.”

  “What about the song ya always played?”

  “I only learned it because my brother practiced his wedding song every single day for months when I was living with him. It was carved into my memory so deeply that I could play it without even seeing the music sheet once. At the time, I found it annoying because he was disturbing my sleep. But, when I moved to Portseus, it was the only song by Dion that I could listen to until Elisha made her debut. However, she only ever played a small collection of her grandfather’s songs. I thought it was because the rest of the sheets were lost during the failed invasion.

  It wasn’t until recently that I was informed the other sheets existed and, for some reason, they weren’t played by anyone, not even Elisha. It would be a great shame if those sheets are just gathering dust in the homes of his descendants instead of being preserved as cultural relics so his music can be played by future musicians. Thus, I hired those two men to convince his descendants to sell them to me, but it seemed like only Syrinx was moved by the money I was offering.”

  “They didn’t want to sell the sheets because it was the only key to breaking the curse. Well, except Elisha. She just didn’t want to sell her inherited property,” the human explained.

  “Oh?” Plutus raised his eyebrow. “Well, now that I’ve answered your question, young man, you must tell me how you break the curse with my grandson.”

  “Ya in for a thrillin' story, Grandfather.” Findir grinned. “Ya see, it all started with…”

THE END