What even was going on?

I saw the people in the surroundings shriek in excitement, all cheering for Malz out of all people, and meanwhile, Malz. My temporary dragon companion. Stood there, as she returned to standing straight, confusion flashing through her face.

“Eh?”

Meanwhile, one of the men to the side called.

“Damn girl you’re strong!”

“Strong?” A woman to his side asked. “She’s stronger than you!”

And at that moment arguments erupted as Malz slowly backed, ending up next to me. She seemed nervous, almost uncomfortable.

“I know that it was impulsive to do that…” she began in a whisper towards me. “But, what are we supposed to do now?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I don’t even understand their reactions…”

“Maybe it’s because of what I said earlier…?” Malz asked quietly. “Maybe their way of being hasn’t changed⁠—”

“Hey girly!” A man called towards me.

I turned only to see a bald bearded burly man, one with half an armor and a big club. He was walking slowly, looking down on me as the passerby made way for his wide frame. His condescending gaze was enough to tick me off, but I simply stared back until finally he stopped before me.

“So, you must be stronger than the other missy if she’s your follower.”

I frowned. “She’s not my follower.”

He raised his brow and turned to Malz. “Are you not her follower?”

“It’s… complicated…”

I blinked surprised by her reply, but the man turned to me once more.

“Well there you go.” He grinned. “I challenge you to a duel, and if you lose then I want you to become my wife.”

My brain stopped for a moment, making sure I registered what had just been said to me. Finally, as the gears turned inside of my head all I could do was let out a confused sound.

“Ha? What?”

“What scared?” He smirked, stroking his beard. “Normally I wouldn’t force anyone to duel me, but with a beauty such as you.” His lascivious gaze made its way through my body, I shivered in disgust, my body tensing as he licked his lips. “I’ll make an exception⁠—”

I punched. My fist dented the armor, his chest caved in and⁠— the man went flying with a cloud of dust. He hit multiple people in the crowd and kept going, pieces of armor were flung into the air before finally he hit a building, sending a shock through the ground.

A sigh of relaxation left me as I stared at my somewhat trembling hand. That was annoying. My eyes closed and⁠— there were no cheers, just an eerie silence. Enough for me to feel like I had done something wrong. My eyes opened and saw people looking at me, their expressions weird, almost unsure of whether what I had done was good or not.

Finally a man pointed at me, his lips trembling.

“She has… she has defeated the strongest warrior of Lan-Ronar!”

Huh? However people still didn’t cheer, almost conflicted about what had just happened. I looked towards the rubble and failed to see the man⁠— had he been S Tier or something? Then finally, someone spoke up.

“S-She must be the Chosen One!”

“The Chosen One?” I asked in confusion.

What the fuck was even going on now?

People broke out into whispers, Malz seemed unsure of what was going on as she stood there, just taking the situation. The sand of the desert blew through the town as more and more people gathered asking what was going on; and once it was filled in to them they too would also stare at me with a mix of amazement and nervousness, engaging in gossip with the other people.

I took in the situation, so did my companion, before finally she spoke.

“I think it’s best we leave, we shouldn’t get involved with the locals⁠—”

“The Chosen One…” A hoarse voice echoed through the air, interrupting everything. “Is said to be a stranger, a foreigner from a faraway land whose strength is incomprehensible, and more than anything…”

People from the crowd began to split as I saw the burly man from earlier gripping onto his chest, his mouth bleeding and his back hunched, all while he was glaring at me.

[Bludgeoneer. Tier: A].

“Is a woman…”

The Chosen One is a woman?

I blinked. “Wouldn’t Malz be considered the Chosen One too?” I pointed at her with my thumb. “She’s more than strong enough to raze the entire town should she want to.”

My words sent a commotion across the people, all except for the burly man that was staring at me. Then slowly he shook his head.

“You are stronger than her are you not?” I heard his voice clearly.

“I am but⁠—”

“Then that means you’re the Chosen One,” he said simply. Then a moment later someone arrived with a potion and handed it to him. After drinking it, the man continued. “It’s all in the prophecy, in the sacred texts.”

I blinked as the people in the surroundings slowly quieted down, looking at the burly man who was the strongest warrior. The entire time his gaze was fixated on mine, before finally he shook his head.

“If you’d be willing to hear us out we will host a banquet with all of the town’s finest cuisines.”

He said lowering his head. My ears perked at what he just said.

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“It’s only a single request so if you would⁠—”

“I’ll agree.”

There was a pause in the air as the man looked up to see me.

“You didn’t even finish⁠—”

“I agreed to listen to the request, and if the food is good enough and the request is easy enough then I will agree to it.” I crossed my arms. “If that’s not fine, then we’ll just leave⁠—”

“That’s fine!” He hastily interrupted. “We will begin preparations far away, you’ll just have to wait an hour or two. We will provide a place to stay until then.”

I nodded, and we went along with things, all while the ‘strongest warrior’ began to bark orders at the other residents of the town.

◇ ◇ ◇

And so, Malz and I found ourselves in a home. She was sitting on a bed staring at the sandstone ground while I lazed around on a chair, laying back. Finally, after a minute of being alone, she spoke.

“That was really strange.”

“It is but, free food I guess.” I shrugged. “Though I do not understand what is going on nor anything about this country, so it makes no sense to me.”

“I mean, I know they take strength as the most important thing ever, so it doesn’t surprise me that we are treated as very important people.” Then she shook her head with a sigh. “However, this whole prophecy thing and Chosen One thing seems very strange. Are you sure it’s something we should get involved in?”

“Well, if it’s too hard we can just leave,” I explained looking at the ceiling. “It’s not like we owe this people anything, I only came here to explore a bit before going back. There really isn’t anything to feel bad about, the town has been thriving for probably many decades, us coming or leaving won’t suddenly make a difference.”

“You think so?” Malz decided to lay on the bed. “I guess I’m not used to this human stuff.”

“Maybe,” I mused, before recalling. “Why did you punch that man anyway?”

She jolted from her bed, looking at me with a frown. “Why shouldn’t I punch him?”

I paused, turning to her. “What do you mean?”

“He was disrespecting you, his remarks pissed me off.”

“Right, but they were made towards me, not you know…” I trailed off. “You.”

Malz frowned. “I respect you, letting you be disrespected in front of my eyes is like letting myself be disrespected.” She shook her head before lying back on the bed. “I don’t see what’s so hard to comprehend.”

Her words stung a bit, I didn’t know why but she seemed upset, so in the end all I could do was apologize.

“Sorry, though next time don’t do something as extreme.” I sighed. “It will cause trouble.”

There was no reply before I decided to continue.

“Sorry again, I appreciate you standing up for me.”

There was a brief silence before a sigh left Malz. “It’s fine, and yes it is extreme, I'll keep that in mind.” She flipped to look at the ceiling. “Let’s just change the topic.”

“Right, what do you want to talk about?”

Malz thought for a moment before nodding. “I’ve been thinking about it for some time, but…” she turned to me. “How come you consumed the flesh of the Dragon of Frost and look exactly the same? Every single draconic human in history has manifested scales, slitted eyes, and some even a tail, but you… you look the same.”

“Oh.” I blinked. “It was all thanks to my SS Tier skill, I just stopped any… external changes I guess? Forcefully froze them?” I asked myself somewhat confused about what had actually been done. “This lasted until the blood had been fully digested by my system.”

“So, you still gained all the effects from the blood?” She asked, raising her brow skeptically.

I smiled. “Of course, want to give it a try? We can do arm wrestling.”

Malz blinked slowly standing up, she seemed more curious than ever, she sat down in front of me across the table and smiled.

“Our physical strength should actually be pretty similar now then.”

“Perhaps.”

If I was honest, I didn’t know how much the biotoxin had changed me. It changed my body and tried to make me something else, it tried to make me not human. But I prevented that, and even right now I didn’t understand how much I had changed internally but I felt largely the same, perhaps slightly more energetic now.

I knew that perhaps, little had changed, as for how my physical strength compared to Malz in the past? I was supposed to be weaker just based on feeling alone. So, in the end, I tempered my expectations as she raised her pale white arm towards mine.

And we locked hands.

“So on the count of three?” She asked.

I smiled. “Yeah.”

“Three…”

My body tensed as I continued the countdown, gripping her hand.

“Two…”

We met each other’s gaze, and at that moment the door burst open. A man came in.

“The preparations are done⁠—”

“One⁠—”

And we both used all of our strength at the same time, in a single moment Malz’s arm was swung to the far left and slammed⁠— the table and wall next to it instantly shattered, an explosion of dust blowing through the room.

And I blinked as Malz pulled her arm back, massaging it with wide eyes.

“Huh…” I began. “I didn’t expect that.”

“That wasn’t even a contest.” Malz chuckled, and then, she began laughing.

All while the man stood there, completely lost on what had just happened. He looked at Malz, then at me, his lips quivering as he spoke very slowly.

“C-Chosen One, the ceremony is ready…”

“Oh.” I blinked. “Thank you, we’ll be right there.”

The man nodded and slowly left the room, which now had a collapsed wall. Then, Malz and I shared a glance before she spoke with a small smile.

“You are now stronger in every single way than me.” She met my gaze. “Should I say as expected of you?”

“Unsure.” I stood up. “For now we should go eat.”

“Alright.” Malz nodded.

And with that we left.

◇ ◇ ◇

The banquet was nice, the food was amazing. We ate a variety of meats and breads with lots of vegetables. They were nice. And Malz, seemed to enjoy the food as much as I did, her face lighting up with nothing but happiness with everything she tried.

Though, her appetite was…

“I want more of this meat!”

More than me. In the end, most of the banquet food was consumed by her alone, something that mortified some people, and other people just nodded in approval. Sometime later it came to an end, though I still made sure to much on some skewer of unknown meat as everything ended.

Finally, the so-called strongest warrior came to me, uneasy as he spoke.

“My name is Si-Arik, and I’d like to request for you to come.”

“Sure, can Malz come along?” I gestured towards her as I took a bite of the meat.

He nodded.

And with that we left, Malz took several skewers along which she idly munched as we walked. I didn’t know where we were going but eventually, we reached what seemed to be the very center of the town, where a monolith stood.

Si-Arik⁠ (?) stood there, touching its surface with his rugged hands. His physique towering over mine as I simply watched him run his hands through the hieroglyphics, then after a moment he spoke.

“It is said that long ago, primordial beasts roamed the land⁠⁠—”

“What is your request?” I asked, interrupting.

He sighed and turned to me. “A beast of old slumbers and is soon to wake. When that happens, the west of the republic, or possibly the entire republic will be in danger.”

He shook his head.

“We wish to wake it, and for you to fell this terrible beast.”

He turned back looking at the monument. Meanwhile my brain processed.

A primordial beast? Weren’t those SS Tier? I blinked feeling suddenly excited. That meant I could get some levels and a good fight out of it, no? I smiled.

“I know the request is a hard one but⁠—”

“I’ll do it.” I interrupted.

Si-Arik turned in confusion, meeting my gaze.

“Pardon?”

“I’ll do it.” I met his gaze with utmost seriousness. “Awaken it right now, I don’t have all day.”

The man shivered and hastily left to make preparations, all while my heart drummed with steady excitement.

I couldn’t wait.