“Hm? A dragon marriage ceremony?” I asked. Tilting my head.

Xara nodded.

“Valentina invited me to watch her uncle’s son get married and I wanted you to come along.”

“Why would you need me for that? Isn’t this Valentina girl your friend? Wouldn’t it be weird if someone she doesn’t know shows up?”

“Don’t worry! She said I could bring a plus one if I wanted so I'd like you to come along!”

“Hm. I don’t know.”

If I remember correctly, Valentina was the leader of the club Xara belonged to. I think it was called the Interspecies Cooking Club. A club that specialized in cooking all sorts of recipes made by different species.

I didn’t really know what exactly to think of it, but Xara seemed happy while she was there, so I had no room to say whether she belonged there or not.

But leaving that be, I’m pretty sure Valentina, the leader of the club, was the princess of some royal dragon clan.

I didn’t know all the details since I didn’t interact with her too much, but she was apparently a pretty easygoing girl who was really fun to be around and despite being a dragon, had a human form she used to communicate and enjoy the company of other students at school.

Though that’s all I heard from other people. Primarily Xara. So I had no idea whether she was actually like that or not.

Which is why I think that even if I did end up tagging along, she wouldn’t mind me being there. Even so, I was still skeptical.

“Come on Axel! You have to come with me. If you don’t, I’ll…I’ll punish you for leaving me alone a whole day last week!”

“But I already told you where I went. Not to mention I got you that souvenir.”

I pointed to the bracelet with a crane game on it that Xara had on her arm.

“That’s still not enough! I need you to come with me, otherwise I’ll never forgive you!”

“Geez. Alright. I get it. I’ll go.”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I slumped my shoulders and accepted my fate.

Geez. Who would’ve guessed she’d be so pushy about this?

That’s why, practically against my will, the two of us set off to go to some dragon wedding ceremony.

“Xara!”

“Valentina!”

Arriving at the land of dragons not far off from our school, we were met with none other then Valentina who awaited Xara with open arms and a smile on her face.

She was a girl who looked to be a bit older than us and had orange hair tied up into pigtails and her body was covered in a mix of skin and scales that were noticeable on the parts of her that weren’t covered up by her clothes. And to wrap it all up, she had sharp black horns resting on her head and a red scaly tail falling from her rear.

She really did look just like a dragon in human form. Right down to the fact her clothes looked like they were covered in scales.

Once Xara and Valentina finished their hug, Valentina turned to me.

“Say, who’s this you brought with you?”

“Oh! Let me introduce you two!”

Xara got between us and introduced each person in a rather dramatic fashion.

“Valentina, this is Axel Savoncho! He’s my boyfriend who I’ve told you about before! And Axel, this is Valentina! The leader of the Interspecies Cooking Club! She helps me when I struggle to cook things and has really supported me during my time at the club!”

Once Xara introduced us, both Valentina and I held out our hands and gave each other a firm shake.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Savoncho!”

“Same here Miss Valentina.”

I tried responding politely, but when I did, Valentina let out a laugh.

“Just Valentina is fine. Any friend of Xara is a friend of mine I say.”

“Uh…Okay. Then it’s nice to meet you, Valentina.”

“Heh. The feeling's mutual. Now then, would you guys like to come in? The ceremony doesn’t start for another hour or so, which means we can just relax and enjoy some snacks for the time being.”

“That sounds amazing! Lead the way!”

“Alright. Follow me.”

Despite speaking quieter, Valentina looked like she was bursting with energy as she talked with Xara.

Thus, the three of us entered the dragon domain.

And while we walked, Valentina started explaining what exactly was happening.

As she did so, I looked out at the scenery.

The whole place seemed to be made entirely of stone. Yet despite that, it was no different from a regular country. It really gave a mix of both prehistoric and modern which made it hard to pin down my feelings when looking at it all.

Even so, the sight of all the different dragons flying around was really a sight to behold.

While some were moving around in their human forms, there were others that flew through the sky while letting out loud roars. And even though I knew dragons were dangerous, seeing one was truly an awesome sight.

But leaving that be, for now, I guess I should explain what Valentina was saying.

Basically, while it’s pretty normal for dragon royalty to go out and search for their own countries to form after they’ve turned a certain age, when said dragon finds a partner they wish to spend the remainder of their years with, they return to their homelands and do something known as a dragon marriage ceremony which shows the two dragons accepting each other and vowing to become partners for life. And while that seems a bit ridiculous to me since dragons in this world, at least according to Nia, can live up to six hundred years, which makes the idea of dealing with a partner for that long seem like a bad idea, I didn’t really have much of a right to judge. I was, after all, just a human. So I couldn’t really understand the feelings of a dragon even if I wanted to.

So moving past that, according to Valentina, the ceremony continued through the entire night and wouldn’t be finished until morning. And once it was over, the dragons would return to their countries where they ruled over everything until they birthed their next offspring who would then move off to start their own countries.

One fascinating part about all this that I learned, is apparently after the descendants move off to start their own country, the parents will decide if they want to keep running their own country or leave it until the next child comes around. This means that depending on how many kids a dragon has, they can decide how much they want to spread their name around the globe. And once they’re happy with how things turn out, they’re allowed to disband their own country and send their citizens to their children's countries while their own ceases to exist.

I don’t really get how all that works myself. But it’s actually a pretty interesting bit of dragon culture that I had no idea had that much depth.

But basically, that’s how this whole dragon culture works. And as of today, one of Valentina’s cousins was about to get married and set out on this journey himself.

All in all, this whole thing might just be worth the trip here after all.

Arriving at the food court, we were met with a rather shocking sight as plates on plates of meat and vegetables were scattered all around the place and any dragon that was eating there was chowing down like crazy.

“Well okay. This is…a bit much,” I muttered while looking at the sight. To which Valentina bowed apologetically.

“Sorry. Most common dragons tend to be a lot less mindful of their manners than royal dragons. So you’ll have to deal with their behavior for the time being.”

“I..see…”

I mean, I got it. But that didn’t make the sight in front of me any less nasty.

“Ah! Sister!”

Hearing a muffled voice, we turned our heads to find a boy who looked to be a bit older than Valentina standing there chowing through some meat.

“Greetings Brother. I see you’ve already started helping yourself.”

“I can’t help it! The only time we get this much food is when events like this take place or when the yearly story festival rolls around!” shouted the boy Valentina called her brother.

“Hm? Story festival? What’s that?” I asked.

Valentina turned to me and explained.

“Well, you see, every year the dragons hold a competition where we all tell stories about the things we’ve been through in the past year. And the winner gets a ton of meat!”

“Really? That sounds kinda interesin-”

“And the one who has the weakest stories has to die,” Valentina’s brother added on.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Wah!? Why!?” Xara asked. Shocked at such an extreme punishment. To which Valentina explained.

“We dragons pride ourselves on our tales of vigor and strength. Which is why we need to prove just how well we’re handling ourselves out in the world. And if all a dragon can talk about is how much they’ve failed, there’s no point in keeping them around.”

“Even so, death is kinda extreme,” I said. Scratching the back of my head.

Valentina’s brother nodded.

“You’re not wrong. Even so, that’s how it’s been in our family for generations. So as terrible as it is, there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s why we need to try our best to avoid that outcome. Which we do by accomplishing as many crazy incredible tasks as we can. We’ve gone this far, so we just need to keep moving forward.”

Valentina’s brother seemed pretty keen on just trying to accept the tradition. Even if he didn’t like it.

For me personally, if I were put in the same position, I’d probably fight the tradition and try to make it better. However, such things aren’t my battle. So while I hate the way that stupid tradition sounds, there’s not exactly much I can do to really put a stop to it.

“It’s still awful. I mean, if I heard Valentina died because she didn’t tell some interesting story, I’d get really freaking mad!” said Xara. Looking rather disturbed by what she was hearing

“Heh. Well, you have no reason to worry about that Xara. I still have plenty of time before the festival so getting a story showing off my strength and vigor should be easy enough to accomplish. So you don’t have to worry.”

“O-Okay. Just let me know if you need help and I’ll get you a story that will send you right to the top of the best story charts!”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Valentina smiled as Xara gave a determined look before both started laughing.

Meanwhile, her brother stepped close to me.

“So she says. But she’s always been close to the bottom. It’s only a matter of time before she’s killed.”

“Is that so? And what will you do when that happens?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’d try and save her.”

“But what about the thing you said before? About only continuing to move forward?”

“I’m just saying that to sound impressive. Honestly, I hate the tradition. And the fact that our father just continues to support it really gets on my nerves.”

I see. So he’s completely against it. Interesting.

“Well, we’ll just have to see where things go.”

“...Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

After that, we chilled out in the food court until we were stuffed.

With the ceremony starting in about half an hour, Xara, Valentina, and I were just talking about random things when Valentina’s brother burst into the room.

“Sister! Come quick! I’ve just been told an engagement duel was just issued!”

Valentina immediately jumped up from her seat.

“An engagement duel!? Really!?”

“Yeah! Come on!”

“I’ll be right there. Just let me talk with my friends for a bit.”

“Got it! Just don’t be late! Or you’ll miss out!”

After saying that, Valentina’s brother closed the door and we were left utterly confused.

“Uh, Valentina. What’s an engagement duel?” asked Xara.

“I don’t have much time to explain it. But basically, if there’s another dragon pining for the heart of the one getting married, they challenge the opposing party to a duel where they fight it out until one comes out on top. And the winner gets the losers bride or groom. It rarely ever happens, so this is a pretty big deal. So with that said, we need to get going now! Otherwise, we’ll miss it!”

With that, Valentina burst out the door and urged us to follow her.

Turning to Xara, she had a sparkle in her eye clarifying she wanted to go. Thus, I was left with no choice.

“Alright. Let’s get moving.”

So with that, we made our way out to where this engagement duel thing took place.

All the while I tried to hide the fact I was actually pretty excited to see this.

So, in order to save time and make it to the fight faster, all three of us flew toward the duel location.

Both Valentina and Xara opened their wings while I used wind magic to make myself fly.

And with Valentina to guide us, we arrived at the duel arena with just five minutes to spare before the match started.

We landed at the entrance and once some guard person at the door saw us, they nodded and let us inside. Making it clear we were allowed to enter.

Once inside, we saw the whole thing was one large dome and any dragon that wanted to see the fight had transformed into their human forms so they could sit in the seats.

A few watched from above in their true forms, but since it was pretty hard to see up there, the seats in the arena were a lot better for a good view.

Despite being mostly made of stone and brick, the ceiling of the dome was made entirely of barbed wire which while I wasn’t sure, I think was enchanted with some form of protection spell to keep the dragons from smashing through it.

The inner arena of the dome was massive enough to fit two massive dragons inside and had sandy ground which would be easy for the dragon's claws to sink into.

The whole setup, despite being quite restrictive, was actually kinda awesome and it was really interesting to see just what kind of fight awaited us.

And then, after a few minutes, a man with horns and a dragon tail walked into the center of the arena and muttered some sort of spell that amplified his voice throughout the whole arena.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to this duel between two souls pining for the same woman! Who will come out on top in this all-out brawl of strength and vigor!? The only way to find out is by pitting the two souls against each other here and now. So, it is with great pleasure that I’d like to welcome our first fighter. He’s the man of the hour and the leader of the country known as Giyu, it’s Garb Yanadal!”

Cheers erupted from the crowd as a dragon with black scales and yellow pupils stepped through a giant door looking at the crowd with a serious expression. Making it clear he wasn’t here just to goof off and show his skills to the crowd.

Looking at him myself, I didn’t really feel like he was someone who’d normally pick a fight. So something like this duel probably wasn’t what he wanted to do at all. Even so, it was some kind of rule among dragons so he had to obey it. Even if he didn’t fully agree with having to fight for the woman that he wished to marry. Which, while I may not fully get it, still respect him if he is thinking that way.

But leaving that be, for now, the announcer continued with what they were saying.

“And his opponent, the creator of the Titatsu empire, Floid Titasu!”

While not as many cheers, there were still plenty of dragons that clapped when this guy stepped in the ring.

He was a bit smaller than the other guy who I think was called Garb and had pure white scales along with pitch-black eyes.

Grinning, the dragon the announcer called Floid started posing.

“That’s right! Floid is here is take home another wife! Are you all ready!?”

The response he got was a few cheers but nothing more.

“So that’s who challenged my cousin to a duel,” said Valentina.

“Hm? You know him Valentina?” asked Xara.

Valentina nodded her head in response.

Floid Titasu is a wife wife-stealing tyrant who is always trying to steal the lovers of other royal dragons. He’s a truly despicable person and despite having stolen four wives already, he’s come here for his fifth. He’s the scum of dragon-kind. Even so, he still follows the rules. So as much as we wanna kick him out and remove his title, he hasn’t done anything wrong. So we have no choice but to let him have his way.”

Wow. Take about a weirdo. Just what did he have against other royal dragons that made him wanna steal their wives? Actually, never mind. I don’t really care.

“You said he already has four lovers. So does this mean the guy’s strong?”

Valentina shook her head.

“Far from it. He’s one of the weakest royal dragons out there. But even so, there are some he sees as weaker than him. So he makes sure to target those people specifically.”

“In other words, he thinks he can beat your cousin,” states Xara as she looks down at the battle about to take place.

Meanwhile, I kept my eyes on that Floid guy.

I know that Valentina said he obeyed the rules which kept them from kicking him out of the family, but there was just something with the look on his face that felt off to me. Like he had something up his sleeve.

Thus, I waited and watched. Ready to see what exactly would happen.

Noticing my weird silence, Xara looked at me with a confused expression.

“Everything alright Axel?”

“Yeah. I’m just really excited to watch this match and see how it turns out.”

“Hehe. Same. I hope Valentina’s cousin wins though. I mean, if he found a girl he wants to make his wife, I think they deserve a chance to be happy. Don’t you?”

“...Yeah. They should.”

That was all I said before returning my focus to the field.

As things stood, I was foreign to all this stuff involving the dragon race. So while I don’t fully understand how things work around here, I wanna see how it goes.

And all I can hope for is that Valentina’s cousin comes out on top.

“Ugh. Why did this have to happen?” I thought as I looked at Floid who was making all sorts of weird poses for the crowd.

My name is Garb Yanadal. And I was supposed to have participated in the marriage ceremony with my lover Giyu today.

However, as I had anticipated, Floid the wife stealer challenged me to a duel. And seeing as how I was a member of the Yanadal bloodline, it’d be rude to turn down a duel request. Even if it’s something this ridiculous.

Glancing at the crowd, I noticed Cousin Valentina was watching the fight.

Next to her was a succubus girl who seemed to be holding a conversation with her. I assume the two of them were friends, and if so, I’m glad to see she’s made a connection at that school of hers.

However, the one that caught my eye the most was the boy who sat next to the two of them.

He clearly wasn’t a dragon, but that greyish-white hair and those crimson-red eyes really stood out. Making them hard to ignore.

Not only that but as he examined the battlefield, I could tell he was keeping an eye on Floid. Meaning he was just as suspicious of my enemy as I was.

Most people knew that, despite being scummy, Floid followed the rules. But there was something off this time. And that’s because he was challenging me.

I don’t mean to pat myself on the back, but the only one in my family who is stronger in a fight than myself is my father. That’s something I can say for certain. So considering Floid always goes for weaker opponents, this match-up is weird, to say the least. Which is why I have my suspicions that something isn’t quite right.

“Are both fighters ready!?” shouted the announcer. To which we both nodded.

I still wasn’t certain what exactly Floid had up his sleeve, but even so, I wasn’t about to give up Giyu that easily. She and I have been together for almost sixty years. And now, I’m finally ready to take the next step. So no matter what trickery I have to push through, I’ll see this through to the end and make Giyu my wife. I swear this on my very grave.

“Alright! Fighters get in position!”

As the announcer said that, the two of us moved to the opposite sides of the ring. Watching each other's movements to see how they planned to strike once the match started.

With my claws at the ready, I let out a low growl while thinking of what attack Floid might throw at me first.

Based on the previous battles I’ve witnessed, he tends to fight with three different styles. I just have to figure out which one he’ll use at what time and use my own abilities to counter it.

It’s fairly simple when you think about it. Even so, it’s said that sometimes if something seems simple, then it is most likely isn't.

“The duel will begin at the count of three. Ready?”

Finally prepared to fight, I took a deep breath.

“Three!”

Keeping my sharp claws up, I dug my feet into the ground.

“Two!”

As soon as that count was done, it was time to show this man that I was not someone to mess with.”

“One!”

I was ready. It was time to make my father proud!

“Begin!”

Mere seconds after the announcer said those words, I pushed myself forward to attack.

“Too slow!”

Before I even had time to realize what had happened, Floid appeared in front of me with his wings spread wide before slamming his tail into my body. Sending me flying into the nearby wall. The battle had begun and I was the first one to take a hit. Starting this match on a rather bad note.