Jack walked the streets in a white suit. At his right, buildings of all kinds aligned in a row. And at his left, his wife Elicia, dressed in an elegant night dress.
Labyrinth City’s life bustled with excitement and sensational attractions. Merman prepared all kinds of sea foods at the lakeside, cat-people jumped and danced around, and the strong roars of a lion-men heated up the military parade.
Soon, fireworks illuminated the area.
- Mommy! Mommy! Pietro hit me!
- No, I didn’t! Liar!
The little wyrmling Sandra ran to her parents while in her human form, while Pietro, the middle brother, tried to find a way to avoid being punished.
Sandra had been around for only a little time - speaking in dragon years’ time, of course. She had been born around ten years after the war against the Goblin Empire, so, she was the youngest - fifteen years younger than her middle brother, Pietro.
- Calm down you two. We aren’t children anymore, behave!
At that moment, a young lad apparently no more than 15 made his debut. He wore a set of pants which resembled jeans and a loose white shirt on top.
Had it not been for the gold watch in his wrist and the few golden rings in his fingers, and people would think he was a player eccentrically working on the docks or something.
Sandro, being the older of the three, didn’t had much to do besides watching his brother and sister and making sure they behave.
A total of 110 years had passed since the war. Sandro, being 130 this year, was already a fresh Teenie, while Pietro, at 115, was still a Juvenile Red Dragon. As for Sandra, being a little over 100 years old, well, she could be considered a Juvenile as well.
Truth be said, none of the three could be considered to be completely out of the “children” classification. Still, the Great Years in which a dragon “jumped the bridge” to another level were very important, as they would receive a big boost in strength, intelligence, and all other aspects.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Jack and Elicia smiled complacently.
- Mom! Say something, please! - Sandro said, while looking at both his brother and sister.
- [ Ah, don’t worry son, it’s all fine, it’s all fine! I will see what to do with your brother once we get back home, okay?]
-… mom, please?
Jack looked at the skies, wondering why his children had no respect for him.
***
- Ladies and gentlemen! - At an elevated platform over the lake, the figure of a middle-aged man could be seen. His smile was alluring while he looked at the people under him. - At this date, a hundred and ten years ago, we, proud members of Labyrinth City, were properly rewarded by Her Majesty Queen Elicia with the benefit of being perpetual owners of the first 18 levels of this Dragon King’s Dungeon!
Cheers and applause rang all around, while Jack scratched his head.
“Wait… wasn’t I that gave them the titles and stuff?”
- I know, I know! Ever since that day, our town has prospered monumentally, no Empire or Kingdom ever daring to lay their eyes on us!
“Isn’t that because I got Carlos to sign a Mutual Protection Pact with me …? “
- And that is why, on this eleventh Labyrinth Independence Day, we celebrate to our heart’s content! Let the Labyrinth Independence Day begin!
Yrwin’s speech ended in a small blaze of glory, soon overshadowed by the loud chit-chat of the crowd.
Jack sighed at this moment, a small gust of wind coming out of his mouth and blowing some of the leaves out of the ground.
- What’s the matter hon ? - Elicia asked, while wiping Sandra’s mouth with a piece of cloth.
- [ Ah, every decade I feel like people have forgotten me more and more.]
- Well, if you want to, then I can let you set today’s business. You just need to take the Dungeon back, how about it? - Elicia said with a somewhat stiff smile on her face.
- [ Ah… haha, I just remembered! Today is the day the sell those ‘Dragon King Skewers’ isn’t it? I’ll be right back!]
It was Elicia who sighed this time. Her husband could be a lot of things, but a hardworking man surely wasn’t one of them.
Indeed, on these past 110 years, the only time he did something other than feasting, digging for gold and strolling around the city was at the 100-years-celebration party, when Yrwin asked them to be part of a parade around the 18 floors.
And even then, he only laid back on his chair!
All of the work of managing the Dungeon had been on Elicia’s back for a hundred years already.
- Let’s go. Momma has to go meet Uncle Yrwin.
- Okay! - Sandra was the first to answer, while Pietro followed suit.
- Sandro, are you coming? - The little man looked at his father’s running direction and a glint of contempt could be seen - Sure, right now.