“You wish to see the forest?” Meridith stared at Zane in confusion.
Zane nodded. “I’ve never been to a real forest before, so I’m curious.”
Meridith nodded and led Zane to the backyard of the mansion. Well, more like backfield, considering the size of the yard. “Would you like someone to accompany you, sir?”
Zane shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll just check it out.”
Meridith nodded once again before leaving Zane. He turned back to the forest, conflicted on how to proceed.
“Can I handle it alone?”
“Yes. Like the first, this dragon den has yet to fully turn into a dungeon. It should pose no threat to you.”
“More like an exploration then,” Zane commented as he entered the forest.
The first thing Zane noticed was the lack of animals. He spotted some insects, but no birds, frogs, or other animals that you would normally see in a forest. Despite the oddity, Zane shrugged it off. He has never actually been to a forest before, so he didn’t know anything.
For all he knew, this forest could be fake.
With Averin telling him where to go, it didn’t take long for Zane to arrive at the location of the dragon den. Looking around, the only thing unusual was a silver-colored tree. Zane touched the tree, noting that it felt like normal wood despite its color.
“How do I get in?”
“Uproot the tree.”
Zane did as he was told and attempted to pull the tree off the ground. “RAAAHHH!” Zane yelled as he pulled with all his strength.
The tree put up quite the struggle, but Zane succeeded in uprooting the tree. Tossing it to the side, Zane found a swirling portal on the ground where he pulled out the tree.
“Is this it?”
“Yes. Proceed with caution.”
“Roget that,” Zane replied before jumping into the portal.
Despite jumping down on the portal, Zane came out sideways, causing him to land on his back. With a groan, he got up and looked around the dragon den. The walls looked like tangled roots while the floor looked like a bed of leaves.
“Odd choices aside, the portal is a stupid design feature,” Zane grumbled as he headed into the dragon den.
It didn’t even take a minute before Zane encountered monsters. But he didn’t expect the monsters to look like babies. They were a foot tall and carried a leaf like it was an umbrella. They wore a skirt made out of flower petals and what looked like shirts made from leaves.
“... I don’t have to fight them, right?”
“No. Those are petal fairies. They have no combat abilities,” Averin replied.
Zane sighed in relief. He carefully walked past them, making an effort to now step on them. Most of them just walked past him, but a few stopped to watch him pass by. As he continued deeper into the Dragon den, he encountered a few more fairies, so carefully passed them once again.
“Definitely a lot easier than last time,” Zane commented. “By the way, are those fairies going to come out the dragon den?”
“Yes. Since the passage has been opened, they may leave the dragon den.”
“It won’t be a problem?” Zane asked in concern since the dragon den was near his new home.
“Like I said before. Those fairies lack any combat ability. The only thing they could do was slightly improve the growth rate of plants.”
Zane nodded in understanding. He didn’t mind seeing those little fairies around. Zane resumed exploring the tunnel made of roots until he arrived at a chamber with a tree in the middle of it.
The tree looked similar to the one he pulled off the ground, but instead of normal leaves, the tree in front of him had leaves made of swirling mana.
“Damn... I wish I had a camera. Right, I have a phone...” Zane patted his pockets and took out his phone to take a picture of the scene in front of him. He even took a quick video to capture the effect of the swirling mana. “Alright.”
Zane stored his phone and approached the tree to absorb the mana. This time, the mana wasn’t corrupted at all, so it felt quite pleasant as he absorbed it.
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When he finished absorbing the mana, Zane felt a familiar sensation. “Oh?”
“Star Messiah dragon.”
“You already examined the residual mana signature?”
Averin grunted. “I knew of her. She was a dragon beloved by humans. That’s how she got her title.”
“Title? Didn’t you say that your core abilities determine that?”
“It determines the form we grow to be. But our title is granted by the beings we interact with.”
“Wow... imagine if they gave you the title “bad dragon” out of spite.”
“That has happened before.”
Zane laughed. “That’s hilarious,” Zane commented before heading out of the dragon den.
When he went through the gate, he was shot out into the air. This time, Zane managed to land on his feet. It only took him a second to notice that he was surrounded by fairies laying on the ground in pain. A purple fog surrounded the area, likely causing the scene in front of him.
“What took you so long?” a man covered in runic tattoos hopped down from a tree branch. “I had to kill some ti-”
The man didn’t even get to finish as a white dragon punched him, sending him through several trees before flying up to the air. Before disappearing, it unfurled its wings, making it rain golden dust that began healing the fairies on the ground.
“Healing monsters? They were right. You are crazy!” the man yelled as he wiped the blood from his mouth. “You should have seen them. Those monsters were so excited coming out of the gate. Just when they thought they were free. Bam!”
Zane glared at the man as his arms transformed, scales reaching to his neck. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re not leaving this place alive,” Zan stated as the healed fairies began running away.
“You’re arrogant,” the man said as his tattoos began to glow.
The man started to fade until he was completely out of sight. For normal people, the man would have vanished without a trace and even Zane couldn’t find the man. But it was no problem for Averin.
“Five meters to your right.”
Zane leaped and his claws dug into flesh. The man screamed as Zane anchored one foot and then forced his arm upwards, causing his claws to tear through the man’s flesh.
“W-wait!” the man spoke, but Zane covered his mouth, his claws digging into the side of the man’s face.
“Like I said. You’re not leaving this place alive,” Zane crushed the man’s head.
“Your ruthlessness is surprising,” Averin commented.
Zane sighed as he tried to wave off the blood and grey matter on his hand. “He had it coming. Besides, I’m no hero.”
------
Sitting in a room provided by the mage association, Cassandra and Melissa sat across each other as they looked over the documents laid out across the table. After everything that happened, they had to sort out some paperwork. Like the transfer of the property to Zane’s name and the marriage certificate, even if it was simply filed as a business agreement for now.
Cassandra was not expecting the sheer amount of paperwork she had to deal with. “I can’t believe this...”
“Is there a problem?” Melissa asked in concern.
“It’s nothing serious. It’s just that a lot of the paperwork I’m handing in is having trouble being processed,” Cassandra explained. “Like the form registering you as Zane’s guardian.”
“I see...” Melissa replied. “I don’t think that would be necessary,” Melissa stated, making Cassandra look at her with a raised eyebrow. “I mean if both of you got married, wouldn’t your mother count as the legal guardian? And Zane’s already 18, he doesn’t need a guardian. I also don’t think it’s appropriate for me to be his guardian...”
Cassandra looked even more confused after hearing the last statement. “What do you mean?” she hesitantly asked.
“I think I may have caused an issue because of something I did... in the past,” Melissa troubled.
“Is it dire?” Cassandra actually felt nervous now.
“Well... I may have influenced his... taste in women...”
“Eh?” Cassandra blanked out.
------
Arriving back at the mansion, Zane drew a lot of eyes considering he was covered in blood. It wasn’t his blood, but the maids that rushed to him didn’t know that. “What happened sir? Are you injured?” Meridith asked. “Go call the physician!”
“I’m fine,” Zane assured. “Someone attacked me, but I've dealt with them.”
“I see...” Meridith didn’t seem convinced. “It’s still better to have the physician look over you,” she stated. “And we’ll have some people inve-” Meridith’s eyes widened when she noticed something behind Zane.
Zane turned around and saw that some fairies had followed him back to the mansion. They peaked their little heads from behind the fence, watching the scene carefully.
“It’s fine. They’re not hostile to humans,” Zane assured as he approached one of the fairies and patted it on the head. “They just help plants grow slightly faster.”
“Understood, sir. I just wasn’t expecting to see Petal fairies all of a sudden,” Meridith spoke.
“Oh? Are these little guys rare?” Zane asked.
“The species itself isn’t rare, but a person around your age not being hostile to all monsters is, sir,” Meridith replied.
Zane shrugged. “Well, I have more in common with them,” Zane commented before heading in the mansion.
“Sir, the physician is ready for you,” a maid informed him.
Zane nodded and followed the maid. He entered a room where a with short brown hair was waiting for him. “Please take a sit, sir,” the physician gestured to the bed in the middle of the room. “I’m Doctor Wanda. I’ll just do a quick scan of your body to check your health.”
Zane nodded and took a seat on the bed. The bed began to shift to accommodate his sitting posture.
“This will only take a second,” Doctor Wanda stated as a magic circle appeared above Zane and quickly vanished. The doctor nodded as the magic did its job. “There’s no issues at all, sir. I do recommend a shower, sir,” she gestured to Zane’s clothes that were stained with blood.
“Thank you. I’ll do that,” as Zane exited the room, he saw a different maid waiting for him.
“Your bath is ready, sir.”
“Huh?”
------
Cassandra scratched her forehead, not knowing how to react to everything Melissa told him. “Now I’m wondering if he even sees you as a mother.”
“It wasn’t a big deal when he was 10... and I stopped doing it for him after he turned 15...”
“I don’t know how to feel about this...”