Bakugou's PoV

Red stiffened a little under Sero's knowing gaze and I put a hand on his shoulder as a signal that I was there for him. Sero's gaze wandered back and forth between us.

"Kirishima," he repeated. "Like the dragon tribe, yes?"

I frowned. "Denki said that you are quite far down in the service regulations. Why do you know the name of the dragon clan? As far as I know, this knowledge is known only to dragonslayers and a few high-ranking people in the military." I watched him closely.

But he smiled only mildly. "I was to become a dragonslayer. But I backed down just before it got serious. Nevertheless, I took some knowledge from my training with me. I don't want to judge hastily, but since your name is Kirishima, you're on your way with the missing dragonslayer and have to flee out of the city without anyone noticing, I assume you're a dragon's brood?" Even if it was a statement, the last part sounded more like a question.

I looked at Red, and I noticed he was getting even more stiff. "It's true," he said quietly and looked up at Sero carefully.

He sighed and rubbed his face. "Holy shit. Don't take it personally, but that's a tough one. Bakugou is easy to recognize. And now I should risk everything to protect a dragon's brood?"

I felt anger in me boil up and could hardly hold back from not immediately placing my blade on his neck. But before I could move, Denki spoke up surprisingly.

"Hanta. Kiri is all right. He convinced me and also Mina. He fucking convinced Bakugou of himself. What makes you hesitate?" he asked seriously. "Do you trust our judgement that little?"

Sero's dark eyes rested for a moment on his boyfriend before he answered. "I didn't say I wouldn't help them. But I want to know the whole story." He looked at both of us and I gritted my teeth.

But Red nodded and began to speak falteringly. He started from his life in the orphanage and how he had revealed his identity. I listened almost as eagerly as Sero and Denki. He had never told me about his time in the orphanage and it made me a little sad to hear how much he had to deny who he was. Even if it had been the safest way for him. Then he told of his escape and of our first encounter and how terribly our first meeting had ended. Somewhat ashamed I looked to the ground when I remembered that I intended to kill him. He came to the part about our fight and hesitated when he confessed that I had fallen off the cliff because of him.

When he didn't continue speaking immediately, I intervened and reached for his hand. "He saved my life even though I tried to kill him."

"You didn't really try. You had lowered your sword before your troop came," he said and winked at me.

"Aww!" made Denki and I gave him an annoyed look.

But Sero also looked at us smiling. "Okay," he simply said. "I will help you. After this story I can't help it. Forgive me that you had to tell all that."

Red grinned at him openly and revealed his sharp teeth. Especially because of the story from the orphanage that I had just heard, this open grin made me happy. But I also exhaled with relief when Sero agreed to help us.

The half dragon slipped a little forward on the stool. "And what's the plan?" he asked excitedly. I just shook my head. Our situation was serious, and he acted as if this was all fun. But I couldn't blame him. He always saw everything so positively and that was actually a wonderful quality.

Sero was absently tapping the counter with his fingertips while he was thinking. "I have a night shift at the west gate. But of course, we'll never do it alone, there're always two of us. And at night there are additional patrols to walk the inside and outside of the wall."

"Couldn't you distract or send away your colleague for a moment so that you are the only one who controls us," I asked with a frown.

"I'm afraid it's not so easy unless I'm working with a complete idiot. We can't leave our position. If we have to, we have to wait until there is a new replacement. The rules are very strict at that point."

I sighed. I almost figured that. The whole system of the royal military, even if it was only the lower Country Guard, had always been extremely strict."

"What is not so strictly controlled, however, is who enters the towers of the wall. From there everything is always organized. The patrols start there, and the duty rosters are discussed. In short, there are always a lot of people from the Country Guard, and nobody is checked too closely," he said thoughtfully.

"You mean if we went in there in uniform, nobody would pay any attention to us?" I frowned.

"I think so. I could also tinker with the duty roster so that the external patrol is taken over by two specific men from the County Guard. There are over a hundred of us in this city. If there are two names on it that nobody knows, nobody will think anything about it. You could take these posts. When the patrols move from inside to outside, there's a little ritual that every guard in this city knows. If you master that, no one will get suspicious."

I thought it over for a moment. "What can go wrong?"

"First of all, you must get into the tower without attracting attention. After all, no one must recognize you. But once you've done that, it should be a piece of cake. If you're lucky, it'll never get discovered."

I nodded and looked at Red and waited. He pulled his eyebrows together and nodded slowly. "Seems to me like a good plan," he said thoughtfully.

"Okay!" Sero said and clapped his hands. "Then I guess I'll have to change a duty roster! I'll pick you up tonight around five to give you the uniforms and take you to the tower."

Sero said goodbye to Denki with a short kiss before he waved at us briefly and walked towards the door.

"Thank you!" Red shouted after him.

"Thank me when you've left this city," he replied laughing before going outside.