“Thanks for accompanying me today, Brown. I appreciate it.” Ryder smiled with levity as the duo strolled down the rather vacant market.
Brown, in her human form with short, ashen hair, flashed her signature faint smirk silently. She had an appearance of a pale teenage girl that, when paired with her tan crop top and chestnut skirt, gave those who glanced at her an unshakable impression that she was a free spirit.
“I wonder if Green and Purple are getting along outside. Purple promised he won’t cause any trouble, but would he actually stick to it? What do you think, Brown?” He tilted his head slightly over to his companion.
Brown still remained quiet, making the atmosphere awkward for the human.
Ryder let out a sigh inside his mind. Even though they had been traveling for a while now, he still had no clue how to converse with her. Despite her friendly demeanor, she didn't seem to be fond of unnecessary social interactions or be interested in much of anything. Sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if she was hiding her true self under this facade.
The dragon rider snapped out of his thoughts when his dragon tucked his shirt and pointed at a large stall. There was a variety of fruits displayed with their price tags on the table. They both promptly approached it and saw a middle-aged blue-skinned man in an opened vest standing behind the tables.
“Welcome to my humble stall! Where do you two come from? Oki? Pikola? Or Prope?” The stall owner warmly greeted.
“We come from a very far place. You probably never heard of it before,” Ryder replied with a stiff smile.
“Ahhahahaha! I see, I see! If that’s the case,” The grocer picked up a baseball-shaped fruit with yellow and orange stripes. “I recommend you two try this out! It’s our local specialty. Ya can't find it anywhere else! 10% discount if you buy three or more! Whaddya say?”
“Oh, a discount!” The human took a closer look. “And it looks fresh, too. What do you say, Brown? We get this stall’s fruit?” He turned to her and saw her sniffing at the general direction of the fruits. A few seconds later, she nodded.
“We’ll take it!”
“How many?”
“Uhm, all of it. We'll take everything in your stall.”
The stall owner froze and stared wide-eye at the duo. Seconds later, he burst out laughing. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he saw the duo still wore a serious expression, though Ryder looked a little embarrassed, and his smile faded. "Surely you jest? I have enough fruit in my stall to feed a banquet full of people, but you're dressed like an adventurer."
"Well... my companions have enormous appetites. I have enough money to pay for all of it, so please calculate how much I need to pay, stall owner."
The blue man was still skeptical, but he nonetheless picked up his 'pen' to calculate the total amount on a piece of 'paper'. Then, an idea entered his mind as his writing slowed because he noticed the duo weren't looking at the price tags or doing any calculations themselves. The edges of the stall owner's mouth curved upward as his fingers started trembling slightly.
Brown narrowed her eyes as her seismic sense faintly picked up the middle-aged man's increased heartbeat.
When he put his pen down, he raised his head up with a smile. "The total amount is-"
"Wait." The dragon stretched her right hand while her left stopped her rider. "Let me see the calculations you've written on your paper."
Sweat formed on his forehead. "You wouldn't be able to understand it, missy. My handwriting's pretty awful, you see. I assure you that-"
The dragon's glare halted him from speaking entirely. A chill was sent down the stall owner's spine as he felt like a sheep staring at a wolf's jaw.
"Hand me the paper." She demanded gently as she withdrew her glare. At this point, even Ryder had picked up something was going on.
The owner gulped while trying to stop himself from shaking.. "L-let me rewrite it t-tidily first." He speedily pulled out another piece of paper and scribbled. Once he finished, he handed it over to Brown.
She examined the numbers and compared it with the price tags. Moments later, she passed the paper to Ryder. "The calculation is correct. I apologize if I appear to be doubting an honest man like you."
"I-it's fine. Can't b-be too careful, right?" He smiled forcefully.
The situation finally clicked in the human's mind as he glanced at the biggest number on the paper. He then stretched out arm and aimed the back of his hand at the grocer's. The number on his hand went down while the grocer's went up.
The stall owner wiped his forehead and had calmed down significantly. “I appreciate your purchase, good sir, but how are you going to carry all of this?”
Brown swiftly formed a big dry mud basket from the ground. Ryder smirked and loaded the fruits into the basket.
The stall owner was incredibly tempted to throw a few more questions at the mysterious customer. But in this part of the land? He shook his head and packed up his stall.
The earth-dragon sealed the basket up once it was full and decorated it with spikes. Then, the basket slithered down the street in the direction of Green.
"Hopefully, the guards won't try to stop it," Ryder commented before turning around and advanced deeper into the marketplace. Once he was certain the two of them were out of the stall owner's earshot, he leaned toward his companion and whispered, "Thanks for helping out, Brown."
"You're welcomed, Ryder. Though, if you feel the need to whisper, you could've told me telepathically instead."
The human pouted. "Yeah, but it's more genuine if I thank you by mouth."
The edges of her mouth curved upward higher.
The duo continued onward, buying up vegetables, meats, and dairy products in a similar manner. The sparse amount of customers and stall owners barely gave them any attention, to the relief of Ryder.
"I hope we get out of this desert soon." The human sighed. "Relying on groceries to feed three- I mean, all of us, is such a hassle and a drain of money." He glimpsed at Brown and saw no reaction from her. "I never thought I'd miss gathering and hunting for food.”
Minutes later, they reached the end of the market and saw a small crowd gathering in front of a big water fountain. Ryder was curious what the crowd was staring at, but their bodies were blocking his view. Right as he was about to check it out, Brown tugged his shirt again and pointed at a spice stall.
He slapped his forehead. "Almost forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me." When he arrived at the stall and stared at the rainbow-colored spices in front of him, a resigned sigh escaped his lips. He recognized a few that he had tried before in other regions, but most were unfamiliar to him.
"Brown, do you know how some of these tastes-" When he turned to the dragon, he saw she was gazing at the thinned crowd. Most people there finally dispersed, and he could see what the commotion was actually about.
He first raised his arms in frustration as his eyes widened, then he threw them down while rolling his eyes, and finally, he stomped toward Purple with a groan. The purple dragon, in his humanoid form, was currently standing like a model for the residents there to awe at him. The dragon rider politely cut through the crowd and crossed his arms.
“Now, now, Ryder. I’m not causing any trouble. I am simply displaying my beauty for these lovely citizens to admire.” He winked at a young woman. Bafflingly enough, despite his scary appearance, the young woman blushed and looked away.
“How did you get past the guard? They were very clear about not accepting ‘undesirables’.” Ryder pouted.
“An artist brought me in here. The blue guy over there.” Purple pointed at a blue guy painting his canvas with magic a couple of meters away. The crowd was polite enough not to block the artist's view. “He was inspired by my majestic body, and begged me to fulfill his artistic vision. His words flattered me, and I decided to help him out of the goodness of my heart.”
The human rolled his eyes again while the crowd believed the dragon's words wholeheartedly. He was tempted to poke through Purple's lie and tell everyone he was just an egomaniac, but he just shook his head and went back to the spice stall.
"The stall owner said you're allowed to give the spices a taste test." Brown handed a small and curved wooden plate to her rider when he arrived. "She heard about our purchases from the other stall owners."
"Ah, thank you." He nodded with gratitude at the stall owner as he accepted the plate. "I see," he replied telepathically.
Ryder spent the next 30 minutes asking questions and trying the spices. By the time he finally wrapped up his purchase, the crowd had completely dissipated with the departure of the artist. With a big bag of spices under his arm, the rider approached Purple again with Brown. “Had your fun?”
The purple dragon casually lifted his feet from the cracked ground and made another crack with each step he took. “What kind of silly question is that, Ryder? There’s nothing more flattering than to be worshipped~”
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The human pointed at the cracks on the ground, annoyed. "Ah huh. You forgot to use gravity magic, again. If you want more meat, then stop making me pay for street damages!"
The dragon clicked his tongue with a scowl and didn't crack the ground when he took another step.
Suddenly, Ryder’s dark scaly left arm tingled before a faint black light glowed. The two dragons noticed it too, as the town’s sirens went off at the same time.
“Launching formation!”
"Ugh, really?" Purple grumbled.
"I already bought the meat you want, so just do it!"
The streets were hastily evacuated, allowing the trio to run through without interruption. The purple dragon spread out his humongous wings, and once they built up enough momentum, Brown slammed her legs down and the three of them were propelled through the air by earth pillars. Purple swiftly transformed into a miniaturized version of his original dragon form and carried his companions with his claws. While in the air, Ryder saw a tornado of dust at a distance. He also heard shouting from the streets below as they flew to the town's entrance.
A few moments later, Purple released his claws, letting the duo land next to Green, who was surrounded by mud baskets. Without their rider's input, Green and Brown immediately used their respective magic to build a small dome to protect their supplies.
Ryder, standing beneath the hovering dragon, shouted, “Purple, what do you see?”
“A mole dragon and a horde of bat wyverns soaked in miasma. Ho ho, haven’t seen any of those for quite a while.”
He wanted to ask more questions, but the shouting he heard on his left was getting louder and louder. Shifting his sight, he saw a group of panicked guards pointing at the dragon above them, as well as the horde at the horizon, and arguing with each other. Then, a few of them noticed the teenager and aimed their weapons in his direction. Green, upon detecting the guard's hostility, leaped to his rider's side and growled, causing them to clamor even louder.
Ryder quickly waved his hand. "Woah, hey! We aren't here to cause trouble! I-"
Thump!
All the guards promptly turned back and scrambled to line up. During the chaos, the human saw a guard with markedly better armor and a giant hammer marched speedily from the entrance gates toward the rest. That guard passed by her colleagues and didn't stop until she was staring down the teenager.
"You are the Dragon Rider, yes?" A deep voice rumbled from her blue throat.
Ryder tilted his head backward so his eyes could meet with hers. "Uhm, yes. I am. We aren't-"
“My name is Salay, the captain of the guards. Time is running short, so I'll cut to the chase. I would like to ask for your assistance to protect our town against the horde's assault. We'll reward you handsomely if you are willing to lend us your aid.”
“I was already planning to do that, but uh, thanks.” He smiled stiffly and patted Green to calm him down.
Salay blinked and laughed, startling him. Her laughter stopped abruptly, and she proceeded to explain, “My apologies, Dragon Rider. People in these parts rarely, if ever, extend a helping hand without compensation. If only we had someone like you here for the previous attack.” She glanced at the cracked walls.
“I see. Can you give me a second?”
She nodded.
The dragon rider lifted his head and exclaimed, "Purple!"
The purple dragon peered downward.
“Stall them for as long as you can! And remember, don't kill them!”
"Ugh. Must I?"
"Yes! You said they're covered in miasma, so this falls under our responsibility!"
The dragon snarled and soared towards the horde.
"Sorry about that." Ryder turned to the captain. “What can you tell me about this horde and the previous attack?”
“They appeared out of nowhere yesterday and attacked us. The mole dragon is the horde’s leader. It directed the bat wyverns to distract the guards first before it rolled toward the wall at high speed, smashing it repeatedly. We thought they wanted to tear the wall down, but we thought wrong when we deployed our mages. The wyverns immediately started picking on the mages instead, and the mole dragon kept us guards busy from protecting them. Once all the mages had been injured, they left as quickly as they came. Right now, almost all of our mages are still lying in the hospital, and our walls were barely repaired.”
“You didn't request additional help from the guild or other towns?”
“I did, but they haven't arrived yet. We're lucky that you decided to visit at this time.”
“I see.”
“Salay!” A guard approached them and saluted. “The horde is going to arrive soon! What should we do?”
She turned back to Ryder. “Do you have a plan, Dragon Rider?”
“Let me discuss with my dragons real quick.” He dashed back to Brown with Green and relayed the information.
“We could try to dig a deep hole for the mole dragon to fall into?” The rider proposed.
Green nodded his head, but Brown shook hers.
“A really, really deep hole...?”
Green shrugged while Brown still disagreed before explaining, “A mole dragon is sensitive to seismic activity. Any earth-based traps will not fool them. Additionally, even if they fall down into a hole, they will be able to burrow out of it faster than I could bury them. Brute force is the most effective way to stop them, but they will be severely injured, especially when they're under the influence of miasma.”
“What about Green’s sleeping spores?”
“They won’t remain in place long enough for the spores to take effect. My sticky mud likely won’t be able to hold down a mole dragon at full speed, if I can even hit it.”
“Then we need a way to make sure the mole dragon stays in one place long enough for the sleeping spores to take effect. Or we can change the direction of the mole dragon’s momentum so it flies off to somewhere else? No, that won’t solve the problem at all. How about...”
Green mimicked his rider’s behavior as the both of them racked their brains trying to come up with a strategy.
And then, an idea flashed in the green dragon's head. He growled to tell the other two about his idea.
“That's the slippery wood, right? It may derail the Mole Dragon’s course, but how would it--”
Green quickly drew a circle with his claw on the sand and showed a spinning motion while growling more. The other two promptly understood the idea, and the trio rapidly finalized their plan.
In the distance, Purple was getting annoyed distracting the wyverns. If not for his rider's order, he would've just killed them all. All he could do to slow the horde was by making them dodge his relentless attacks. However, the horde soon realized he wasn't going to actually harm them, so they ignored his attacks and charged at full speed.
“You better have a plan ready, Ryder, because they finally noticed I'm purposefully missing my attacks.” He spoke through the telepathic link.
“I said don't kill them, not don't knock them down! You can totally do that! In any case, just ignore the mole dragon and bring as many wyverns down as you can!”
“Wind or lightning?”
“Whichever you want! You just need to make sure they won't be able to help the mole dragon!”
“There's better be a feast later!”
“We can discuss that later! Just do it!”
Purple proceeded to flap his wings with incredible force and mumbled. Moments later, a small tornado formed among the wyverns, successfully preventing them from following their leader. Instead of stopping, the mole dragon picked up even more speed as it hurled itself toward the walls. As it got closer, it sensed there were activities underneath the ground in front. The dragon ignored it, believing that it would not be enough to halt its momentum.
“I hope your plan works, Dragon Rider.” Salay and her guards watched apprehensively, weapon in arms.
“It will work.” Ryder assured as he readied himself.
The rumbling sound of the mole dragon grew louder and more terrifying with each second passed, though it also meant he finally got a good look at the dragon's size. He grinned as sweat formed on his temple. "It seems like your estimation of the mole dragon's size was correct, Brown. This is going to work. This is definitely going to work. Please work."
When the terrifying ball of destruction finally arrived 50 meters away from them, the dragon rider bolted forward. "NOW!"
Brown, who had reverted back to her dragon form, slammed her tail, causing a small part of the ground to protrude in an angle that turned the mole dragon’s vertical rolling motion to a horizontal one as it zipped through the air. She then slammed her front paw downward, revealing a big hole in the ground with a ring of yellow wood within. Ryder leaped into the air and shot out a rock pillar from his draconic arm and hit the mole dragon, ensuring that it would fall into the ring.
The mole dragon initially wanted to expand itself back to its full form, but soon realized that would be a bad idea as his rolling momentum had remained the same in the ring. If it expanded itself now, its neck might get snapped in half.
Brown and Ryder swiftly covered up the ring and signaled Green to pump out as much sleeping spore as he could. Everyone could feel the ground shaking as the Mole Dragon circled around the ring. The shaking gradually decreased as time went on. Finally, minutes later, all of them heard a crash, which was followed by silence. The plant dragon made sure there were no more sleeping spores left in the ring before the cover was lifted.
The dragon rider gang and the soldiers saw the mole dragon’s body had lodged itself into the ground. Ryder jumped down and checked the dragon's condition. While doing so, he muttered a spell, and the miasma covering it evaporated. Once he confirmed the dragon didn't suffer life-threatening injuries, he exited the hole and ride on Green’s back. The duo ignored the guards’ celebration as they headed toward their purple companion.
The rider's heart sunk when he saw the wyverns' corpses littered around Purple, who was staring at him with a smug grin. He dropped from his partner's back and roared as he stepped toward Purple. “You killed them! I told you not to kill any beings taken over by miasma!”
“I didn’t plan to kill them. But, as I recalled never tasting bat wyverns before, and the amount of meat gathered here seems to match my appetite, I did what my stomach told me to. You said killing for food is acceptable, didn't you?” The purple dragon licked his lips with anticipation.
“You--” The human pointed at him and groaned frustratingly. A resigned sigh then escaped his mouth. “If you want me to roast them, you’re going to prepare the meat yourself.” He jumped back on to Green’s back, who glared at Purple for upsetting their rider.
Purple winked and showed an OK sign at Ryder before the human returned to town. It made Purple flip his OK sign a couple of times, wondering if he did the sign wrong.
“Dragon Rider! What happened to the wyverns?” Salay asked as Ryder descended from Green.
“They’re... dead. All of them were killed by my dragon companion.” His voice rang hollow.
The guards cheered loudly at the news, to the surprise of Ryder.
“The bat wyverns have been a nuisance to our town long before they show up with the mole dragon. We are grateful that your dragon killed so many of them.” She smirked with appreciation.
“You’re… welcomed.” Ryder sigh again.
“What do you suggest we do with the mole dragon, Dragon Rider?”
“The spores would probably keep them asleep for around 3 hours. Drag them as far away from town as you possibly can within that time. If they belong to a pack, killing them would cause their pack members to seek revenge. It's better to not take the risk. Sigh, I wish I have the time to examine it as much as I want...”
“Will do, Dragon Rider.” Salay patted his shoulder as comfort and barked a series of orders to her fellow guards.
Ryder absentmindedly sat down against Green’s body. The dragon rubbed its snout against his rider's body to cheer him up.
“Are you alright, Dragon Rider?”
“I’m just... tired.”
“If you need a place to rest, I can offer you a lodging. Your dragons are welcomed into the town too, as long as they do not damage public property. Once the sun sets, we will celebrate today’s victory with you as our guest of honor.”
Ryder stood up and dusted off the sand on his pants. “Lead the way.”