Manuel's eyes danced around the trio of hunters and they eyed him back. It was clear that his presence here wasn't exactly desired, but they didn't seem too eager to chase him away either.

"You're cooking a Dracii?" the wizard eventually asked to break the silence between them. Seeing a member of the intelligent species roasted over the fire filled him with a feeling that would best be resolved with a bit of violence.

"Yeah! We don't want to let a perfectly fresh food go to waste."

Manuel raised one eyebrow. "Your comrades are also perfectly fresh, it seems. Why not cook them?"

One of the men chortled, mistaking Manuel's passively aggressive comment for a mere joke.

"They attacked us first!" the other man defended them.

"Of course. You trespassed."

"We came here for the dragon. They didn't want to let us through and attacked us. Their fault," the woman added a finishing touch to the argument.

"Ah, I see. Makes perfect sense, of course," the wizard continued. "And would you mind if I ask why didn't you simply bring a spear along instead of ordering it to the middle of the dragon's lair?"

"Your poster said you deliver anywhere. We just thought that instead of waiting an extra day before departing, we'd simply get going and you'd meet with us here."

"Hmm... perhaps I should specify that I don't do deliveries to the underground," Manuel muttered to himself and scratched his chin.

"Besides, this spear is anti-dragon! You can't just have that delivered through normal means. And we won't travel to the end of the world to buy it personally." the tallest of the group added. Those words piqued Manuel's interest.

"Anti-dragon? How exactly does an anti-dragon spear work?"

"It's made of a metal that can pierce its scales far more easily. Goes through them like butter."

That was it. The final straw. Manuel simply couldn't hold it in any longer. "Hahaha! Oh my god, you are such idiots!" he laughed at the party of adventurers. "Any spear can pierce a dragon! That's not the point! It's the magic you need to penetrate not his scales!"

His mockery jammed a blade into their fragile egos and painfully twisted it.

"Listen, courier, you did what you had to. How about you scram now?" The tall man towered over Manuel. At first glance, it seemed like out of them all, he had seen the most combat, given the scars on his face and chiselled muscles.

"Okay, how about a counteroffer," Manuel smiled at him. "I take the spear and give you your money back and you will return back home, so no blood has to be spilt today."

"Are you threatening us?" the woman growled at him, reaching for her knife.

"Threatening? No! Quite the opposite, to be honest." He pulled his hat into his face. "In fact, I'm showing you kindness you can't even imagine. You think the four of you stand a chance against the dragon? Don't make me laugh. Even you should know how ridiculous that sounds."

"Don't underestimate us. She's an archwizard," the shorter man nodded towards the woman beside him.

"Wow, an archwizard!" Manuel gasped with so much overacting even the dullest tool in the shed would notice it. He crouched down slightly so his eyes would be on the same level as the woman's. "Look at you! All so powerful and mighty! What a talented little nerd you are," he said, his voice riddled with fake softness, like he was praising a kindergartener for their first drawing, which in reality, was just a bunch of colourful scribbles.

The woman jumped up to her feet. A blade of brown aura formed in her hand and she aimed it at Manuel, who instinctively backed away.

"Whoa, whoa, careful, or I might feel threatened. And I'm no lizard to puff up my cheeks in danger. I bite back. Hard." Those words were enough to prompt the other two to ready their weapons as well. "Alright, alright, no need to freak out. I will not stand in your way, I promise."

"Try to protect the dragon from us and we will kill you as well!" the short man vowed.

Manuel smirked from ear to ear. "No worries. If that's your wish, I shall not interfere with your hunt whatsoever. But please, let me watch at least," he clasped his hands and opened his eyes wide like a puppy begging for a treat. "I promise I will not get in your way. I will just observe and not interfere at all."

The three looked at each other, exchanging a few shrugs. Everything about Manuel was somewhere between strange and disturbing, but in the end, this was the famous Manuel Luzardi. Entire governments trusted him in the past and it wasn't known that he would let them down.

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"Alright, you can tag along. But–"

"Splendid! Then please, lead the way, lead the way. I am so excited to see an actual dragon again!"

Oirun's lair was as beautiful as ever. This was one thing that Manuel envied the dragon. He was always a lot more creative than the wizard. While Manuel had a knack for practical destinations, the dragon was an architect at heart. His home wasn't just functional. It was gorgeous.

The three raiders gasped as they entered a captivating garden. The entire chamber was softly lit by the flowers themselves, which seemed to possess bioluminescence. They grew everywhere, from small patches on the ground, through the pots suspended on the walls, all the way to the ceiling from which some were hanging as well. While the trio looked around in awe, Manuel let out a soft sigh of satisfaction. The last time he was here, they were barely sown. Seeing them all in bloom like this was wonderful.

The sound of water led them forward. As they left the greenhouse and wandered deeper into the lair, it got louder and louder. Manuel leaned to one of the men and whispered: "You're gonna love this." What was an absolutely genuine sentence sowed seeds of fear into the man's heart.

They entered the oasis chamber. Pools of iridescent water were sitting one above another on both sides of the small path leading through the room. The water was flowing out of the ponds, forming waterfalls that crashed softly against the rocks beneath each pool. A small stream formed between each waterfall and the following pond. There, on small stones, stood tiny little bugs. They were waving their hairy arms through the water, catching whatever unwanted bacteria was swimming in it. Like this, the water passed through at least five ponds and five layers of filtration before it finally flowed into a beautiful ornate marble fountain sitting in the very middle of the room.

Manuel leaned over the edge and carefully scooped some of the water into his hands and drank it. It was cold and pure. The purest stream he ever tasted. Even with all his magic, he could never recreate a water so clean. The dragon understood something about the world that always escaped Manuel. At that moment, he thanked the heavens that he wasn't a god, for if he was, the world would turn utterly boring.

The trio looked at him with disdain as if he had just drunk the murkiest and most disgusting water in the world.

"Come on, don't you want some?" Manuel asked.

"Pass," they all replied and unison and didn't even slow down in their path.

"Hey! Wait for me!" he yelled at them and quickly caught up.

As they got closer to the dragon's bedroom, Manuel watched the steps of all three of the hunters grow quieter and quieter. He didn't understand why they would be sneaking around if they'd end up fighting Oirun either way, but he didn't want to ruin their fun. With a little bit of concentration, he coated his shoes with a soft layer of aura that allowed him to walk in the air without making a single sound.

The woman looked to the side at him and when she saw how he resolved the issue of sneaking, she did the same. Manuel had to admit that, at the very least, she knew how to mimic some of the basic spells.

The throne room, as Oirun would often call it, was simply a massive chamber in the hollowed-out mountain. Several granite pillars were holding up the ceiling. A massive pile of all sorts of different rocks stood ahead of them. It almost looked like an uneven pyramid with each of the bricks sporting a slightly different colour. Manuel smiled when he saw it. That was probably Oirun's greatest achievement. The pile was built out of every type of rock in the known existence. He personally fetched every single one. It was a collection like few others. There, at the very top, lay a massive pillow. Manuel long wondered how soft it was, but the dragon never allowed him to even touch it. Oirun was currently enjoying his afternoon nap on it.

"Is that it?" one of the men whispered to the others. "I thought he would be massive. And golden. Like the stories tell you."

Manuel smiled. Sometimes he wondered what it was like to be an idiot. What a blissfully unaware existence it must be, he thought.

The dragon was, indeed, quite underwhelming as far as first impressions went. He was barely bigger than a cow, and his scales looked like polished bronze. The stories he left behind were putting him on a pedestal. The gigantic golden dragon of legend simply didn't exist.

"You've got the poison?" the woman whispered.

"On it!" the muscular man replied and began quietly searching his backpack for it.

"How long are you going to pretend to be asleep?" Manuel whispered. The three adventurers slowly turned to him, their eyes glowing with hatred.

A wide smile spread across the dragon's face. "Manuel! You ruin the fun!" he complained.

The dragon stood up and stretched like a cat who had been bathing in the sun. Something stirred in the hearts of the hunters.

"So, you're robbing me now, Manuel?" Oirun growled. "You know, I really didn't expect you to do something like this."

"Are you kidding? I would never!" the wizard replied with a smile.

"I know, I know. So what brings you here then?"

"Just working as a courier now. Had to deliver something for those three idiots."

The dragon squinted his eyes at them. "Oh yes, I know about them. That spear, right? It looks fresh. Untainted by blood, unlike the rest of their gear."

"Yup, that's what I had to deliver. Careful though, it's an anti-dragon spear. It can pierce your scales," Manuel said, his voice dragging out certain syllables like he was telling a spooky story.

"Really? Oh dear. I'm already shaking. Not an artefact that can pierce my scales! There's only a handful of items that can do that! Needles, off the top of my head, are one of them," the dragon played along with Manuel's mockery.

"H-Hey, you said you'd stay out of it!" the shorted man shouted at the wizard while he poured a bottle of poison over the spear. "We'll tell everyone that Manuel Luzardi is a goddamn liar!"

Manuel smiled. Their naivety was truly comical. Their knowledge and wisdom were so low they didn't even realize that they were now in the most dangerous predicament in the world, pressed between two near-deities.

"Oh dear, it appears that you've misunderstood me. That's alright. Happens all the time. Mind giving me a minute Oirun? I need to explain it to them."

"Oh, not at all. Please, explain away. I always found your theatrics endearing."

"Ah, excellent. You see, two parts of what you said are wrong. First of all, I have promised that I would stay out of this, and I will. I am not standing in your way at all. You can proceed to attack the dragon to your heart's content. And I promise, yet again, that I will not do anything but observe, no matter how much you might scream and beg for help." His smile widened even more, sending a wave of shivers down the spines of the raiders. "And second of all, you will not tell anyone anything. But if you ask Oirun nicely, he might write your last words somewhere, hm?"