Twenty minutes later to the second, and Fefnir had arrived at the gate, clad in some light leather armor. When he walked out, Seph laughed a bit.

“What’s so funny?”

“You really think you’ll need that?”

“Have you really ever fought something that can kill you in one swipe…”

“I’ve fought frickin’ gods before, this ain’t nothing.”

“This isn’t anything.”

Seph sighed and rolled his eyes. He had what Fefnir sometimes called a hillbilly dialect, and he tried to correct Seph whenever possible.

“Whatever. All that matters about now is where we’re going. Eh, where are we going?”

“You didn’t even look at that?!”

“Well I thought we’d just head to the road and follow it for a while…”

“Are you serious… well it’s lucky I brought the book with me.”

Fefnir waved his hand and a personal space was opened next to him, the book popping out into his hands. Quickly he flipped to the correct page and ran his finger along the words.

“Looks like it’s around Stroggen… What is that, fifty miles?”

“Probably more like seventy.”

“Really? We’ll need a bus either way though.”

Seph shook his head in bewilderment.

“We got magic swords and shit but we still need a bus. Exorcists these days.”

“I hear some of the big guys have instant travel these days, some company mass produces travel beads for portals. Pretty nice.”

“Yeah but we can’t afford em.”

“True…”

As they talked they caught the attention of Clavicus, who had been passing by. Intrigued, he approached them.

“You going?”

Seph’s eyes shot to the left as he lied to the older quartermaster.

“We’re just headin out to kill a few leechers. Thought I’d bring him with me.”

His eyebrows rose, but Clavicus had either bought the lie or simply didn’t care enough to pry.

“Don’t die.”

With that he gave a curt wave and rejoined his group of warriors. He’d expected Clavicus to grill him more on where he was going, but it looked like he was going to get off scot free this time. Seph just shrugged and began out the gate again, signalling Feffy to follow.

“Hey.”

Seph froze, Clavicus having called him once again. He turned around, scared at what was likely to happen, but the man had jogged up to him, putting a small icy square in his hand.

“Ice wall. Useful against fire.”

“Oh, yeah. Thank you Clavicus.”

He simply nodded and let them go. Once they’d gotten out onto the road, Feffy took the square from Seph’s hand.

“An iced cube?”

“Is that what it’s called?”

“Yeah, it makes a wall of ice. Reusable too, you just have to take a little piece of the wall it makes. Best part is that it doesn’t melt.”

“Huh, pretty useful.”

“Yeah. Especially for this specific mission we’re on. You don’t think he…”

“Of course not…”

Without finishing their sentences to the two guys looked slowly back at the gate where Clavicus was shouting at men running towards the woods for daily training. Seph didn’t want to go and call the man a seer, but if he couldn’t see the future he’d be damned. Either way, he’d given them something useful and Seph would take it.

“So Feffy, where’s the bus stop.”

“Straight left.”

“How far we gotta walk?”

“Only a few miles.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Only?!”

“You gotten weak since you were last back here?”

“Nah, the guildsmen just treat me better’n Clavicus did.”

“Ah, I see. So fat then.”

“I ain’t fat dammit.”

They continued in friendly banter, coming upon the bus stop. Surprisingly enough it was waiting there and they got on. The government was really good about putting busses everywhere, the current administration trying to give cheap and easy transportation to all. In fact, the president had run on that platform if Seph could remember right… Only problem was that Feffy…

“Oh god…”

He was a little motion sick. It came in different ways. Sometimes he would throw up, and other times he would fall practically into a coma, unable to be woken up. Sadly this was a bad sign that it would be the sickness side…

“I don’t feel very good…”

“Hey driver can you hand me that trash can?”

The bus was already moving, but the nice driver handed Seph the trash can near his feet, giving it in turn to Fefnir.

“I wish I could get over this stupid sickness… I’m fine on horses!”

“Yeah yeah, we all got a weakness, it’s fine.”

“No it isn’t. I’m supposed to be a great warrior. How can I ride to a battle if I’m throwing up in a damn bucket!”

“Ride a horse?”

“Everywhere?!”

“I dunno, if you have the drive you can do anything, right?”

“Sometimes…”

Seph just snickered and continued to rub the smaller man’s back. It really had been a while since he’d seen him. The exorcists had taken up most of his time, and since they practically worshipped him it was certainly strange to go back to his home like this. Maybe he had gotten a bit slower and fatter since last being back.

“Oh god here it comes…”

Seph was still thinking to himself as Fefnir unloaded his stomach into the small bucket, thinking about the time he’d spent with Lawrence and the others. They were so damned hard to understand. Lawrence went so hard just to save the fox and all that, and she practically didn’t even need any help. It was weird as hell. Those guys were dysfunctional as shit. Either way, they’d welcomed him in. That wasn’t so bad. They were on his mind a lot these days, and while he certainly liked his home and Clavicus and even Feffy there was something about that stupid inn. Something perfect about doing menial chores for a place to live. Eh, maybe he’d understand it someday, but they were arriving in Stroggen. It was a fairly ancient town, houses packed together and lined up on a narrow street, most of them covered in vines. A few people milled about, but most were preoccupied with chores and Seph could see smoke rising from almost every chimney. It was an old fashioned place most definitely.

The bus dropped them off at one of the designated stops and they were soon sitting down at a small cafe. Feffy needed a few minutes to get back on his feet, Seph had practically dragged him here after all.

“Man… just get me… a coffee…”

“You think coffee’ll help?”

“Can it really make me any worse?!”

“Not a bad point.”

Seph called for a waitress and soon they were served two coffees. He was somewhat surprised, he’d half expected half of the city to be scared that there was a dragon around, but nobody seemed to care at all. The feeling in Stroggen wasn’t tense, it was just like another quaint town. The next time the waitress passed he stopped her.

“Hey, the town seems pretty quiet don’t it?”

“Quiet sir?”

“Yeah, calm and stuff.”

“Why would it be anything else?”

“Well there’s a dragon around here you know? Shouldn’t there be a bit of alarm?”

Why would we be scared of the dragon?”

Seph blinked once and tried to process what she was saying. They weren’t scared of it? They were just ignoring a frigging dragon on the doorstep of their little down? If it had half a mind to it could wipe this hamlet off the face of the Earth and be back to it’s nest in minutes. What the hell wasn’t there to be scared of?!

“Well ma’am. It’s a dragon. Dragons tend to cause a bit of distress.”

“Oh? Well not this one. The dragon is absolutely lovely!”

A man a few seats away from suddenly called for the waitress and she bowed slightly before walking over to the man’s table.

“Sorry sir I need to see to the other customers, thank you.”

“No… problem… Feffy did you hear that?”

“Ugh… yeah… It sounds like the people here aren’t scared of the dragon. That’s fairly unusual.”

“I know right? I think we’d better go see what he’s up to. You think he’s beaten em into submission?”

“If he did wouldn’t you think she would have mentioned a battle? Maybe some burned down buildings too?”

“Good point… but what, should we just walk right up to him and say hello? Ask him why the people are so content with him bein’ here?”

“Sounds like a… urg… wonderful idea. Just after I finish my coffee…”

They sat there for a few more minutes, planning out their assault on the cave a half mile away from the town, and when Feffy was finally able to get up on wobbly knees they set off. Within fifteen minutes they were approaching mouth of the cave. It was very menacing, stalactites covered the whole of the cave and bats could be heard from inside. It was a classic dragon’s den. Seph gestured to Fefnir.

“After you.”

“Don’t like caves?”

“Don’t like the first one being roasted.”

“How caring of you.”

“Of course, if I wasn’t we wouldn’t be friends.”

A small noise was heard in the distance and bats tumbled down around them, the cave ceiling being uncovered. Suddenly, a light filled up the cave and both of them covered their eyes. After their eyes adjusted to the light, Seph noticed the light wasn’t some sort of dragon fire, but the ceiling was covered in some sort of moss. The moss created a dull white light that covered the entire cave fairly brightly, and Seph could see around quite well. In the corners were personal items, a dresser, cabinets, even a table and chairs. A sink?

“What the absolute hell.”

“Seph, is this really a dragon?”

Feffy pulled the book out and began leafing through it. Finding the page it appeared that a dragon most definitely lived here, though what type was beyond them.

“What kinda dragon lives in some sort of house, huh? You think he can use a sink with talons this big?”

Seph kept his hands far away from each other, showing the length of most dragon claws, and continued looking. This was certainly strange.

Suddenly, a noise was heard from across the cave towards the entrance and Feffy quickly drew his sword. They could vaguely see a form near the front, which looked human.

“Huh?”

“W-who are you!”

Seph couldn’t believe his eyes.

It was literally too much to take in.

The dragon was practically a little girl. Seph blinked in bewilderment.

“You have to be fucking kidding me.”