Ep 55. This Is Growing Pleasantly Out Of Hand. (4)
Splash!
“Groorgh!!”
“Die!
Crunch!
With a predatory gleam in her grey eyes, Raizel’s head slowly emerged from the river’s surface. A gigantic fish was attached to her arm, its underbelly skewered by the arm buried within it.
The dragon kicked her tongue as she slowly dragged her feet across the water. Even in her morphed human form, her affinity made it impossible to swim; instead, Raizel was forced to slowly walk the riverbed ashore.
Hopefully, this fish would prove worthwhile.
A trail of blood and water followed as the steel dragon trudged unto solid land once more, seating herself on the rocky riverbank. After ripping her arm out her prey, the fish squirmed a few additional times with what life it had, but the dragon nonchalantly bit into its flesh.
A clump of meat was torn off as the dragon began to savor her hunt. But it didn’t take long for Raizel’s expression to twist in disgust.
“Tastes like dirt.”
A distasteful glare met the fish’s soulless eye as Raizel began an unwarranted staring contest with the dead animal, internally cursing her hunt for its poor taste. However, the cursing came to an abrupt end as she heard the rustling of bushes nearby.
Raizel darted her gaze over her shoulders.
Contrary to her expectations, it wasn’t a wild animal that had chased the scent of blood. A blonde woman was instead peeking at the dragon from behind a tree, her blue eyes glimmering in excitement. When she noticed that the dragon was looking at her, she let out a nervous laughter, scrambling for something to say.
“Oh. Um, hello!”
“…The hell?”
Raizel squinted her eyes, studying the strange individual. For others, it might’ve been strange to see someone wearing a simple robe without any baggage in the middle of the wilderness; Raizel, she could care less. It was just another ordinary human in her eyes.
The dragon’s eyes then fell on the fish that was as big as their spectator. Soon, she offered it towards the nervous stranger.
“What, you hungry? If you want, you can have it.”
“Oh, no no, nothing like that. It’s just…I was surprised to find a dragon outside the valleys. May I ask what you’re doing in a forest like this?”
The dragon sarcastically rolled her eyes at the question.
“Great, now even humans are trying to decide where I can go. What, am I not allowed here?”
The woman softly shook her head as she stepped out from the tree, approaching Raizel to stand only a few steps away. Offending the dragon was the last thing she wanted to do.
“Forgive me, of course you’re free to come and go as you please. I was just curious.”
Raizel didn’t mind the distance, instead returning to eating her dirt-flavored fish. Disgusting or not, food was food, and she was hungry. She spoke again with a mouthful of meat.
“Valley this, valley that…I don’t know how the old bones manage to hole up in there for centuries. There’s a whole world outside of that place.”
At first, the dragon’s words seemed to surprise the woman. But her lips soon curved to a smile as she began to nod in agreement.
“Haha…you’re right! It seems I was being thoughtless. Do excuse me.”
A few minutes passed without further words being exchanged. The steel dragon continued to eat her meal, and the woman continued to stare at the dragon in silence.
‘…?’
The steel dragon glanced back at the stranger with a perplexed gaze. As far as Raizel was concerned, the woman should’ve long fled by now.
Admittedly, with Raizel’s lack of draconic features in her human form, there were times when others mistook the dragon for a human hunter – but this wasn’t one of those times. The woman had clearly referred to her as a ‘dragon.’
“…Aren’t you gonna leave?”
“Ah, does my presence bother you? It’s just, it’s been a very long time since I’ve last seen a dragon…”
“How did you even know I was a dragon? I don’t look like one in this form.”
“Hm…I just know. It’s a special trait I have.”
Raizel narrowed her eyes as she studied the strange spectator.
“…You’re quite unusual for a human. The ones I find run away at the slightest sight of blood.”
“Violence, too, is part of nature. One cannot expect a predator to live without hunting, lest they die of hunger.”
“Yeah? And what if you’re the next hunt?”
The woman only let out a playful giggle at the threatening question. Despite Raizel’s unnerving tone, she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.
“Mm…while I don’t think it’ll happen, if I do end up as a dragon’s hunt…then I’ll have to fulfill my role as prey, and run for my dear life as best as I can.”
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The dragon snorted in amusement at the answer. It was the last thing she’d expected to hear from a human.
“You talk like our old bones.”
“Oh? Is that a compliment? Thank you.”
A faint smile appeared on the steel dragon’s face as she studied the woman grinning back at her. Raizel returned to her fish, but continued to converse.
“…If you aren’t gonna leave, then sit down. It’s distracting when you’re standing like that behind me.”
“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
The woman quietly took a few steps closer as she seated herself beside Raizel.
Correction, not just ‘beside.’ She sat right beside the steel dragon. To the point where their arms were touching.
Raizel stared at the stranger in disbelief. At this point, the woman’s gall was praiseworthy.
“…What’s wrong with you?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“What kind of human…you know what, screw it. Never mind.”
The steel dragon elected to ignore the woman’s lack of care for personal space or safety. Whether it was bravado or a mindless lack of fear, the dragon could not bring herself to care.
Unfortunately, the woman seemed determined to not let herself be ignored, her hands beginning to caress Raizel’s upper arm.
“My, your arm’s so tough. It doesn’t feel like hardened skin, but it’s not scaled, either…is steel your natural affinity?”
Raizel choked on the meat as clumps of it came flying out of her mouth into the pebbles below. When the dragon continued to cough, the woman worriedly rubbed her back.
“Oh dear, are you alright? Here, have some water.”
Normally, one would expect an offer of water in a bottle or the like.
Instead, the woman hovered her hand over the ground. A tall, smooth green pillar suddenly sprouted forth; if not for the occasional leaves clinging on its sides, Raizel wouldn’t have been able to tell it was a tree. The woman snapped the bamboo in the middle afterwards, offering a piece of it to the steel dragon.
When she saw clear water trickling inside the hollow innards, Raizel snatched it out of her grasp, gulping it down. Only when she finished did the dragon find her voice again.
“Pff…the hell are you? A minute sitting down and you can tell my affinity?”
“Haha, I’m quite knowledgeable when it comes to dragons. I’m sure I know more than most scholars.”
“…Hmph. You mages and your fancy antics.”
“Oh? I’m not a mage, though.”
“Huh?”
The dragon quizzically tilted her head, flicking her chin towards the broken bamboo tree.
“Then what the hell’s that weird tree? Isn’t that magic?”
“Oh, that’s…let’s say it’s something like sorcery.”
“…Peculiar, aren’t you.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
“It wasn’t a compliment.”
“Oh, it wasn’t? But simply receiving recognition from a dragon is something to celebrate.”
Raizel slowly began to realize what it might’ve felt like for other dragons to talk to her. There was just no way to get through to this woman’s head.
“…Sure. You can celebrate being recognized as the most daring human I’ve ever seen.”
“Haha, forgive me if I’m being bothersome. The people find me rather uncomfortable to speak to, you see.”
“You talk as if I find you comfortable.”
“Oh? Are you uncomfortable?”
“…Never mind.”
“If you’re not uncomfortable, then…”
“? Then what.”
“Would you mind I feel your hair, just once? I really want to know if your hair is as tough as your skin!”
“…”
✧ ✧ ✧
A red dragon soared across the skies in her fullest form. Three people hung onto her back, and another individual was flying at her side with wings of their own.
Karas studied the scenery around him from Ilias’ back, then Serenis who was flying beside them. Their sheer speed was one thing to be surprised about, but the dragonlord’s proper form caught his attention even more.
Light was also at his side, her eyes fixed on the dragonlord flying beside them. With proper wings and horns and all, added onto the ornate dress she wore, her peer really did seem like a dragon now.
“Zion really was a dragon, huh? I think that’s actually the first time I’ve seen him in something other than the institute uniform.”
The professor squinted his eyes as he looked to his half student. She was the only one that still treated the dragonlord as a male, human peer.
“Light, I believe Serenis has told you her proper name and identity?”
“Yeah, he did. But he said I can keep calling him Zion if I want to.”
“…Really?”
“Really.”
Mild curiosity began to form within the professor’s mind.
‘Wait. Then what does Patrick call Serenis? Does he still refer to the dragonlord as his brother?’
But when Karas’ eyes found Patrick, he soon realized that the enforcer was much too occupied to be answering his questions.
Patrick was hugging Ilias’ scales, lying down flat as he tried to absorb her warmth. He was keeping a dome-like barrier with magic to prevent any of them falling off of the dragon’s back, but freezing to death seemed more likely than falling to death now.
“…I can’t believe how cold it is up here.”
Light audibly laughed at the shivering mage. Having flown with Ilias from time to time, the altitude wasn’t nearly as bothering to her.
“You’ll get used to it!”
Meanwhile, Serenis was also glancing towards the red dragon and her passengers, checking their state from time to time. When Ilias noticed her lord’s eyes staring at her, the youngling looked back with a puzzled gaze.
“Lord? What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothing. I was merely thinking that I had never seen your true form until now.”
“Ohh. Yeah, I get easily hungrily like this, so I don’t transform that often. But right now it’s a necessity, so!”
“A necessity…”
‘You’re able to call accommodating three others, all of different races, a ‘necessity.’’
Serenis beamed a proud smile back at the youngling.
“You’re right, child. We’re very fortunate to have you with us.”
“Hehe. By the way, where do we go once we get to the forest? Did Iris give you a map or something?”
Serenis shook her head. She’d take out the document and show Ilias, but the paper would likely rip from the all the wind rushing against them.
“They were directions to finding an individual who could provide us with further guidance. We first need to reach the northern edges of a large lake in the forest, and…from there, find a cabin underneath the tallest tree in the area.”
“Ooh, ‘tallest tree’? Sounds like a place where a deity would be!”
“Perhaps.”
When Patrick overheard the ongoing conversation between the dragons, he peeked out from Ilias’ back as he chimed in.
“Wait a second, tallest tree by the lake? If you mean Eterra Lake’s northern boundary, that’s…”
Serenis glanced towards her contemplating sibling.
“Patrick, do you know of this location?”
“Yeah. I think that’s…where Mr. Lairaff lives?”
The dragonlord failed to recognize the name. However, it did pique the professor’s interest as Karas looked to his former student.
“Lairaff? Are you referring to Otoka Lairaff?”
“Yeah, him. I found out by coincidence too, he apparently lives in a cabin just up the lake.”
Light quizzically tilted her head, sharing the dragons’ confusion.
“Otoka…Lairaff? Who’s that?”
Karas turned to Light, clearing his throat once before he began to answer. Teaching habits never went anywhere.
“Light, you know that three archmages currently reside within our continent, yes?”
“Mhm. Our headmaster’s one of them, right?”
“Precisely. One of them is our Headmaster, Gio Dugrin. Mage Association President, Alma Seine, is another. And the last of the three is a mage named Otoka Lairaff. His whereabouts have been a mystery after his retirement, but he was once a famous mage uncontested in the field of plant-based magic.”
“Eh…a person like that is living in a forest cabin? Why??”
Karas shrugged. He looked to Patrick once more to answer in his stead, but even the enforcer didn’t have a plausible answer, only speaking of what he remembered.
“…Don’t look at me, I’ve no clue either. I just happened to see him there by coincidence. He didn’t exactly seem fond of talking, and I couldn’t really stay for long because I was on duty.”
Light puffed her cheeks at the rather disappointing answer.
“Then I guess we’re on our way to seeing this ‘Otoka’ person then? Not the deity of life?”
Only one person could answer the question, and that was the person that had read the directions Iris gave. When Light looked to Serenis, the dragonlord spoke her answer for everyone to hear.
“…It’s one or the other.”
“One or the other?”
“Either this archmage knows how to meet the deity of life, or…they are the deity of life.”