“The thieves must’ve been planning this for a while. They coated their shoes with a powder that dragons can’t stand, which was why Green and Brown had to stop tracking them after a few minutes. As for the officers,” Ryder gritted his teeth. “They say they’ll only come to investigate tomorrow morning because they were busy with ‘official matters’. Bullshit. They’re not even pretending to hide their discrimination.”

  Estria, who had been sitting in front of her destroyed legs since she returned to the workshop, still remained silent. The lamplight on the table flickered slightly, barely changing, yet ever present, much like the sound of her breath.

  After an uncomfortable period of silence, she grabbed a bag next to her table with her left hand. Then, with her right hand, she swept all the parts, both broken and not, to the edge of the table and into the bag. Once the table was empty, she swiftly tied the bag up and turned around, facing the rider with a smile and closed lenses.

  “Well, I’ll just have to design a new pair of legs!”

  Green widened his eyes while his rider furrowed his eyebrows. Even Brown lifted her eyebrow.

  “Aren’t you sad that your legs were destroyed?”

  “Of course I am! Well, I did. I’ve been working on these legs since I started my journey as a blacksmith years ago, after all. But there’s no point crying over spilled juice! Besides, some of the parts are undamaged. It’ll be less work for my new legs!”

  Ryder peered at her silently. He doubted that she had emotionally moved on from a project so close to her heart so quickly, but he wasn’t thickheaded enough to question her about it. Still, he was concerned about her mental well-being.

  Estria’s smirk faded with each passing second. Then, she solemnly removed her goggles as the giant hands behind her retracted to the back of the wheelchair and hung itselves there. Fiddling her goggles, she spoke with a bitter smile.

  “I’m sorry for lying to you, Ryder. I had a feeling when I crafted the first Camptosium parts, but I tried to ignore it, tried to fix it. However, as the days went by, I knew my suspicions were right.” She took a deep breath.” The issues were unfixable. The legs were never going to work.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I was naive, and maybe even arrogant, when I started this project. I thought I could design a pair of sophisticated, mechanical legs with Camptosium parts while armed with only theoretical knowledge of the metal I obtained from books and my master. I wonder why he didn’t stop me from carrying on with such a foolish endeavor. Maybe he wanted me to learn a lesson? In any case, Camptosium had a lot of subtle differences from what I knew, and that wrecked the entire design at the most fundamental level.”

  The blacksmith looked away, tightening her grip on the goggles.

  “That’s why… That’s why I was relieved when someone destroyed the legs. Even though I knew it wasn’t going to work, I couldn’t give up on it. I spent countless nights dreaming of the day when I’m finally able to travel to the wondrous places my master spoke of before. I had no idea when an opportunity like this would come by again, so I forced myself to make it work. It has to work.

  If… If the legs weren’t destroyed, I think I might’ve spent the next few years obsessing over it. No doubt I’ll be even more devastated, which is why I’m glad someone came along and made the decision for me, even if they did so with malicious intentions.”

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  Once the goggles returned to her face, the giant arms sizzled back to life. The sorrow and bitterness in her expression faded away. “It wasn’t all that bad. Some parts were intact, and I’ve still got a little bit of Camptosium left. I’ve learned a lot too, and I’m confident I’ll get it right next time!”

  Ryder lowered his head and appeared to be deep in thought. His dragons stared at him, one concerned, one calm.

  “I know Goddess’ warriors can’t stay at one place for too long, so I won’t-”

  “I’ll help you complete your legs, Estria.” His eyes, reflected with empathy and resolution, met hers abruptly.

  “What? But, your mission-”

  “The Goddess doesn’t put that tight of a leash on us. Besides, you deserve to have your dreams fulfilled, Estria. You said it yourself, you’ve no idea when someone else will come along to grab more Camptosium for you again. I have the power to help you right now.” He raised his draconic arm. “It’s not hard to guess that a lot of townspeople probably don’t treat you well. I know how horrible it feels, to do everything in your power to achieve your dreams, and watch all your hard work amount to nothing at the callous whims of others. I’ll help you complete your legs, Estria. All of us will.”

  “I… I don’t have enough funds…”

  “Then we’ll do a non-monetary exchange.” He smirked. “There’s bound to be a few things in the shop that we’ll find useful.”

  Estria lowered her head and took a deep breath. The silence lasted for a few seconds before she turned the knob, revealing her teary eyes. “Aside from my master, no one else had treated me with such kindness before. I wish I had the words to describe how grateful I am for your help. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Ryder. Truly. I promise I’ll repay your generosity in full and more.”

  “Watching you walk with your fabulous legs would be quite the reward in itself.”

  “Apologies for interrupting, but how much Camptosium do you need?” Brown suddenly spoke up.

  “Err…” The blacksmith scratched her head. “I need to complete a blueprint first to know the exact amount, but I probably need no less than a full container of it this time.”

  “Okay, then.” Ryder nodded. “We’ll bring you as much Camptosium as we can find while we wait for-”

  “What about our lodging, Ryder? We likely need more than a week to find another vein and extract the amount of Camptosium she needs, but we only have a few days left there.”

  “I’ll pay for it,” Estria offered.

  “Problem solved.” He clapped his hands. “I bet Purple will be quite happy to hear that. Do you have another container for us to carry the Camptosium?”

  “Yes, but it’s smaller.”

  “Great. We’ll come by tomorrow to pick it up as usual then! See you tomorrow, Estria.”

  “See you tomorrow, Ryder. Thank you again for your help.” She approached the shutter and lifted it up.

  Brown bowed slightly while Green and the rider waved goodbye before they stepped out of the building. Once the shutters closed, the gang strolled back to the lodging with a heavy heart.

  The green dragon let out a depressed sigh halfway through.

  “Ack, I completely forgot about your polymorph training!” The human slapped his forehead. “I’m so, so sorry Green. But, I already made a promise to her, and I can’t really do the mining with just Brown…”

  Green pouted and used his vines to poke his rider’s temple.

  “I know, I promise I’ll try not to take on a request that’ll distract you from your training next time.”

  A coarse grumble was heard, which was followed by another depressed sigh.

  “But being softhearted is exactly why both of us ended up traveling with each other, no?” Ryder patted his dragon’s head.

  There was a mix of resignation and cheerful affirmation in Green’s growl.

  “Let’s hope our next vacation won’t be too far away.”

  The dragon nodded. The trio didn’t utter another word as they arrived at their lodging, entered the biggest room on the first floor, and slept like a log when they fell on their mattresses.