Help, I'm in Another World and All the Men Are So Hot! [BL]-Chapter 171: Loyalty and Survival

Although Damien sometimes felt the urge to hug Ithnan for doing such a great job, he resisted. Once, when he’d given in and hugged Ithnan, the Dragonewt had fled, disappearing for the rest of the day. Damien resolved that next time, he’d corner Ithnan somewhere with no escape before attempting it.

For now, though, Damien pushed those thoughts aside and prepared himself for another afternoon of wrestling with numbers.

...

At lunch, Damien found himself with a rare bit of free time and joined Theo for a meal.

"By the way," Theo began.

As Damien watched Zima swiftly pick up the spoon he had dropped and replace it, Theo suddenly spoke, as if recalling something.

"The loyalty of your retainers maxes out almost instantly, doesn’t it?"

By "retainers," Theo seemed to mean not only Leonide and the others but especially the recently arrived Zima and the Dragonewt siblings.

"I think it’s just because there are fewer of them, so they have more opportunities to interact with me," Damien replied casually.

Still, when it came to loyalty, Damien knew his household couldn’t compare to Theo’s. He could never forget the shock of seeing dozens of Theo’s servants bowing and remaining completely motionless during Damien’s first visit to the mansion.

It was terrifying.

Sure, Leonide and the others might pull it off, considering they used to serve in Theo’s house. The Dragonewts, too, probably wouldn’t hesitate. From what Damien had heard, they remained perfectly still and silent like statues when standing guard outside his door.

Zima, currently in the room, had already demonstrated this behavior. Until the moment he picked up the spoon, he had been stationed against the wall, not moving a muscle.

Wait... are my retainers more impressive than I realized? They’re amazing kids, aren’t they? I should pamper them more!

"By the way," Theo added, "the one standing guard at your door earlier asked for my name again."

"Oh, they did that again? I’m sorry. I’ve told them not to do that."

The guards stationed at Damien’s door, like Ithnan, wouldn’t relay messages unless the person identified themselves by name, even if they were familiar faces. Though Damien had never seen this himself, being inside during these incidents, Theo confirmed that not even he was exempt from this rule.

Damien had once heard that even Sebas, Theo’s steward, had been made to state his name. Feeling it was far too rude, Damien had strongly instructed the guards to stop doing this.

Although they had promised to comply at the time, it seemed they were back to their old ways. He’d need to remind them again.

"No need to apologize," Theo said, waving it off. "I’m actually quite impressed."

"Their refusal to fawn over anyone but their master is admirable," Sebas chimed in with an approving tone.

Should Damien take this as a compliment? He wasn’t sure. Still, he felt uneasy about Theo being inconvenienced and hesitated to praise Ithnan for his stubbornness.

"Do you think physical closeness deepens their loyalty?" Theo suddenly suggested with a smirk.

"Theo!" Damien exclaimed, startled.

"I haven’t done anything like that with Ithnan!"

"Ah, my mistake," Theo said with mock sincerity. "Still, he does seem lonely at times. Perhaps you should consider it?"

Damien was at a loss. His lover was far too casual about the idea of him fooling around with someone else.

"I’m not the type to take advantage of someone’s vulnerability," Damien said firmly.

That said, lately, he had noticed something peculiar in the way Ithnan looked at him.

No, no, no. Not happening.

At least not until Ithnan said something himself. Until then, Damien decided, he would wait.

But what if Ithnan did say something?

Damien sighed. Well, my motto is to never turn away someone who comes to me.

...

His name was Devyat Yashcherolyud.

He always been called Devyat, until recently, Master Damien had given him new name of Tis’a.

The Yashcherolyud tribe, to which he belonged, had lived far away in a place called Chyornyy les Forest.

The Chyornyy les Forest was home to many tribes of Dragonkin, and in the past, they often clashed with one after another.

However, some time ago, the previous chief—Tis’a’s father—had defeated the other tribes. By the time Tis’a hatched from his egg, the forest had already become a peaceful and quiet place.

That peace ended during this year’s New Year festival.

As part of the usual celebrations, the subordinate Solnobory tribe brought tribute offerings, but when the box containing the supposed tribute was opened, it was filled with human soldiers.

The armed humans, violating the rule that no weapons were allowed at the banquet, attacked the leaders of other tribes and Tis’a’s father’s retainers. They then opened the gates of the mansion to let in even more human soldiers, along with members of the Solnobory tribe.

What happened after that was a blur for Tis’a, as he desperately followed his Second Brother.

However, one thing he remembered clearly was his father, dressed only in ceremonial banquet attire and wielding a single sword, standing against countless soldiers to ensure their escape.

...

About a week had passed since they fled the Chyornyy les Forest.

In the end, only Tis’a, his Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, and Sixth Brother had managed to escape together.

At first, they had been accompanied by retainers and other family members, but the retainers sacrificed themselves to protect them, and the rest of their family had scattered while fleeing from the soldiers.

Some, Tis’a had witnessed being killed, but he wanted to believe the others who had been separated were still alive somewhere.

The five of them continued to run, hiding in rocky crevices and under bushes.

They knew staying in such an exposed area was dangerous, but the forest was the Dragonkin’s territory, and if they entered it, they would be discovered immediately.

With no way to forage for food, they had to "borrow" provisions from human homes to survive.

As payment, they left behind gold ornaments, which seemed to hold value even among humans.