A dragon attacked a town which made Flare contact Captain Noel. We traveled a bit and I found out that they knew the dragon personally. Her name was Coco and she was supposed to be a friendly dragon.

While waiting for information on the dragon’s whereabouts, I met Artia, a mage who was investigating a strange energy which was causing monsters to become more aggressive. I suspected that the strange energy was affecting Coco.

My suspicions were proven correct when the dragon attacked us when we were attempting to talk to her. Captain Noel and Flare were doing well in fighting her so I investigated another source of the weird energy.

And now a bandaged man wearing robes was touching my forehead with his arm that was coated with darkness. If my theory was correct, he would be attempting to give me a bit of that strange energy. I don’t know what the effects on humans would be but I had no choice but to find out the hard way.

“Release yourself”, he said.

But nothing happened.

The man was so surprised that the chains wrapping around me weakened and I could move again. I broke the chains and I swung my sword. My strike hit his torso and I managed to wound him...

However, instead of blood, darkness oozed out of the wound. That was creepy. The man didn’t even look in pain and was looking at me in confusion. I backed away and pointed my sword at him.

“To be unaffected by the Dark Corruption.... What are you?” he asked me.

What am I? Wasn’t it supposed to be a “who” instead of a “what”?

“Although I only heard it from them, the Dark Corruption is supposed to affect humans too. But seeing you unaffected by it... How interesting”, he said.

The eerie feeling returned as a dark aura emerged from the man. He was probably serious now. I could feel a cold sweat running down my face. The bandaged man faced his palm towards me and a wave of darkness surged out of it.

It covered a huge area and I couldn’t possibly avoid it. That was why I braced myself for whatever pain it would bring.

However, there was nothing. It felt like having a breeze blow through me. What kind of attack was this?

The wave of darkness disappeared and the bandaged man looked at me.

“Even that amount of darkness did not faze you... What exactly are you?” he asked.

His eyes looked straight at me. He seemed to be analyzing everything about me.

“This was fun... But I have to take my leave now”, he said and a magic circle appeared on the spot where he was standing.

“Wait!” I charged at him.

“We will definitely meet again. After all, you are an interesting existence”, he disappeared after a flash of light.

Tch. He teleported. What was he doing here?

I then felt the strange energy near Captain Noel become stronger. Ah crap... I totally forgot about them!

When I arrived at the place where they were fighting, I saw an impossible sight. The dragon was lying on the ground while Captain Noel was panting with her right fist raised.

She had dirt and soot over her clothes and the area around them was filled with debris. Her armor was removed and I found it weird. They probably had a tough fight while I was busy with the bandaged man.

“Captain Noel!” I ran towards her.

“Mikage...” she had a grim expression.

“How’s the dragon?”

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“It’s no use. No matter how many times we tried to talk to her, she only attacked... Something is definitely wrong with her”, Flare said.

I looked at the dragon and she was weakened. She was probably trying hard to fight the strange energy inside her. I could feel her life force getting weaker and weaker.

“If we leave her in this state, she might cause more trouble... I don’t want to kill her but...” Captain Noel held her mace.

The dragon was their friend so I could understand what they were feeling. If only I could do something...

I walked towards the dragon and touched her head. Then, I felt something flowing to my arm. It was like getting injected by a syringe or something.

“Mikage! What are you doing?” Captain Noel asked.

I didn’t even know it myself. For some reason, a dark aura was coming out of the dragon and was transferring to me. The strange energy inside her weakened... Was I draining the energy out of her? I focused and tried to take all of the strange energy inside her... If this was the one causing her to rampage, then things would get fixed if I take all of it.

Smoke came out of the dragon. And in front of me was a naked woman...

Before I could fully process what was going on, I got smacked in the face by Captain Noel and passed out.

###

When I woke up, I found myself inside a tent. I could still feel a sting on my cheek. A ranger saw me and immediately ran... She must be going to inform Captain Noel and Flare that I already woke up.

Three people entered the tent. They were Captain Noel, Flare, and an orange-haired woman. That woman was tall and had horns coming out of her head. A tail was coming out from her behind... Where have I seen her?

“Coco, this is Mikage Kamishiro. Mikage, this is Coco Kiryu”, Captain Noel introduced us to each other.

“Thank you for saving me”, the woman said.

I then remembered where I saw her. She was the dragon who transformed into a woman,

“I didn’t even know what I did... Glad I could somehow help”, I replied.

“We were about to talk about what happened to her when you woke up”, Flare said.

“You see... I don’t remember much from a day ago. One day, I was just chilling in the mountains when a weird man approached me”, Coco said.

“Weird man?” Captain Noel asked.

“He was wearing a robe and was covered in bandages. Even his entire face was wrapped with bandages. I could feel that he was dangerous.”

A bandaged man?? Could she be talking about the man I just fought?

“He took me by surprise and before I knew it, I was chained up. The man unwrapped the bandages on his hand and his arm was emitting darkness. When he touched me, I felt strange and I could no longer remember much. All I know is that a strange force was inside me and was controlling me. I tried to fight with it and it disappeared when Mikage touched me”, Coco said.

“Which brings us to this: Mikage... What did you do?” Captain Noel asked.

“I met a mage named Artia. She was investigating a weird magic that appeared in the area near Westa. When we met, there were wolves with a strange energy inside them. Artia said that the strange energy was making monsters more aggressive”, I answered.

“So that explains the increased monster attacks”, Flare commented.

“As for saving Coco, all I did was take all of that strange energy from her body... Although I don’t know why I could do that.”

“You said that the strange energy would make monsters aggressive. Even Coco, a sentient dragon, attacked a town... How are you after taking all of that energy?” Captain Noel asked.

“I don’t feel any different. Even that man’s attacks were ineffective to me.”

“That man?” Flare asked.

“I fought a bandaged man while you and Captain Noel were busy fighting Coco. I found him since I could feel another source of that energy and when I fought him, his dark attacks didn’t affect me.”

“Could that bandaged man be the same man that attacked me?” Coco asked.

“Unless wrapping yourself in bandages was fashionable, I think it’s the same man.”

Flare had a serious expression and even Captain Noel was deep in thought.

“Mikage... When we get back to Westa, we’re going to examine you”, Captain Noel said.

“Will it be painful?” I asked.

“I will forbid any painful procedures... But you will be undergoing many examinations... Also, we need to keep an eye out for that strange energy and the bandaged man.”

“We’ll keep an eye out here and we’ll tell you when something happens”, Flare said.

“Okay... How about you, Coco? What are your plans?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have enough energy to transform back into a dragon so I’m going to be in a human form for a while.”

“You can live with me in Westa until you recover. Also, we need to examine you too since you’ve been exposed to that strange energy”, Captain Noel said.

After everything was finished, we decided to stay the night in the encampment. When morning came, the three of us went back to Westa.

We will definitely meet again. After all, you are an interesting existence, the bandaged man’s words echoed in my ears...

I hope that the examinations will reveal something about me... Judging from his reactions and from how I could feel that weird energy, I think I was no longer human...