"Ha, what a clever little thing."
Akinbade naturally had no fear of a mere dragon.
For a wizard like him, among nearly all magical creatures still in existence, perhaps only a phoenix could draw a little of his attention—and only because phoenixes were special enough.
Raising a hand to stroke the Tree Bee's head and soothe it, Vaughn answered, "It's precisely because it's clever that I kept it, to keep the other dragon at home company."
Privately raising dragons was undoubtedly illegal—and under the laws of the International Confederation of Wizards, no less.
Yet Akinbade acted as though he had not heard it, just as he had witnessed Vaughn "torment" and "abuse" several werewolves, taking them apart into countless pieces before putting them back together.
The sight, along with their shrill screams, was enough to make any normal person's scalp tingle.
But Akinbade remained perfectly composed—both were wizards; who didn't have a few strange quirks?
He did not specifically ask what Vaughn was researching dragons for. After making a casual remark, he turned to the main subject. "Can those people be trusted? They have business channels here, making them the most suitable people we currently have to investigate the flow of magical creature trade without easily arousing suspicion. Since we're having them investigate, we'll certainly have to tell them some secrets. I don't want all our efforts to go to waste."
"Trust is a rather weighty subject."
Vaughn smiled. "But for the time being, the families they belong to still wouldn't dare offend me. And those dependent on such families—you understand—they have almost no freedom."
Akinbade nodded.
"I'll consider carefully what to tell them. Also, we're still somewhat short on manpower. To avoid alerting the Magical Congress of the United States, the International Confederation can't send any more people over