It was already evening when we left the mine, but it wasn’t that late yet. I already knew that going back to Hirvant on foot will take about two hours, so I thought we should eat before going back. We had a few Rhaki’s meat pieces left, so I used my Campfire skill to start the fire and cooked the meat for us. After we ate, we made our way back to town. It would’ve been good to get a lift back, but the road was quiet and we didn’t encounter any travelers going from or to Hirvant on the way. It was quite late by the time we have reached the town, so we went to Navirei’s inn right away.

“Rockin, hi. Welcome back,” Navirei greeted us, her face brightening up upon seeing me. It was unusual to see her being behind the reception counter so late in the evening and she had a strange facial expression on her face too.

“Hi Navirei. Is everything ok?” I asked her right away.

“Ah, well. Sort of. I am really glad you are back,” Navirei spoke to me.

“Ok,” I said.

“Excuse me, Miss Navirei. How is my mother doing?” Lilfira couldn’t help but ask.

“Lilfira, hello and welcome back. Your mother is doing very well, Lilfira. She’s such a hard worker. I sometimes have to order her to go take a break or else I won’t pay her for the day’s work,” Navirei told her, covering her mouth with one hand to suppress her chuckle.

“Oh my, that’s my mother alright,” Lilfira laughed as well.

“If I may ask, how is Rockin treating you, Lilfira? He’s not too hard on you, is he?” Navirei asked, lifting her hand to cover part of her mouth in order to hide her mischievous smile this time.

“No, no. Master Rockin is very kind to me. Although, he did insist on me fighting the monsters inside the mine by myself so I could get fighting experience, but I know it was for my own good,” Lilfira told her.

“Oh my, Master Rockin, hmm…” Navirei said, her eyes starting to eat me up.

“Yeah, well. I think we will go to sleep now. It’s pretty late and I’m dead tired too. Good night, Navirei,” I said, wanting to disappear.

“If you don’t mind, Rockin, I do need to talk to you about something. It’s… rather important,” but Navirei stopped me.

“Ah, is… that so?” I asked, trying to think up some sort of excuse to refuse but then noticed a genuine worry lurking in Navirei’s eyes. “Yes, ok.”

“Thank you, Rockin,” Navirei said, showing a relieved smile.

“Why don’t you three go upstairs without me? I’ll come up as soon as I finish talking to Navirei,” I told the girls

“Ok, Master Rockin. Purr…” Ranalaiya said, pursing her lips, her purring sound giving away what she thought about it too.

“Yes, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin on the other hand, agreed without any complaints.

“Well then… good night, Miss Navirei,” Lilfira added before going upstairs together with Ranalaiya and Sylfrin.

“Did something happen?” I asked right away after the girls were gone.

“How about we talk in my office, Rockin?” Navirei offered instead of answering my question.

“Sure,” I agreed before following her lead.

“The dragonkins had visited my inn,” Navirei told me the moment we arrived at her office.

“Right,” I said, dropping my head. I had a hunch the matter involved Lilfira the moment Navirei wanted to talk. “Wait, did Lilfira’s mother…”

“She’s fine. They didn’t take her away, but…” Navirei said, making a pause before continuing. “One of my employees got hurt. He was the person who was working behind the counter at the time. The dragonkins threatened him to reveal where Lilfira or her mother were and when he refused to tell them, the dragonkins became rough with him.”

“Was he injured?” I asked.

“He didn’t sustain any serious injuries, but he won’t be able to work for a while,” Navirei said.

“Right, I’m really sorry for what happened,” I said.

“I know it’s partly my own fault for what happened and I do wish to help Lilfira, and her mother, but if I am completely honest with you, Rockin, I am slightly frightened myself,” Navirei showed a smile, but I could tell she wasn’t lying about being scared.

“Come,” I said, stepping closer and extending my arms to offer Navirei a hug.

“Rockin,” Navirei pressed herself at my chest and I could feel her body shiver for a moment before she relaxed.

“I’m sorry about what happened. I’ll get it sorted, ok?” I reassured her, holding her in my embrace for a while longer.

“Thank you, Rockin,” Navirei said, lifting her head to show me a smile.

I wished Navirei a good night after that and went to my room. Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira were inside the bathroom, probably washing themselves. I wasn’t gone for too long, so they weren’t finished washing yet. I thought I’ll hang the hammock up while waiting for them in the meantime.

“Huh? Master Rockin?” Sylfrin, who came out of the bathroom first, gasped upon seeing me in the room. She had her pajama dress on, which was slightly wet on her shoulders due to her hair and her ears not being dried well enough.

“Yes?” I asked, turning to face her.

“You’re… here?” Sylfrin said, her words sounding like a question too.

“Of course, I am. Where else would I be?” I asked again.

“I just…” Sylfrin spoke, not finishing her sentence for some reason.

“You thought that Navirei and I will have sex, didn’t you?” I asked, showing a sarcastic frown. “You know, sometimes women want simply to talk to me too.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin said, lowering her head and becoming embarrassed. Sylfrin would rarely become embarrassed, so it was cute to see her blushing.

“Humph. You look really cute right now,” I told her to tease her more.

“Huh? Master Rockin,” Sylfrin said, raising her head to look at me, her cheeks dressed in charming red.

“Mind helping me hang the hammock? We’ll be going to bed, after all,” I asked, winking to her.

“Yes, Master,” Sylfrin instantly agreed. I would’ve finished hanging hammock by myself, but with her help, it was so much easier. By the time we were done, Ranalaiya and Lilfira came out of the bathroom too.

“Huh? Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya exclaimed in surprise upon seeing me, her reaction not surprising me one bit, however.

“Surprise,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Hmph,” Sylfrin chuckled, seeing me do that.

“But I thought…” Ranalaiya was about to say what I expected she would.

“Ok, the hammock is ready,” but I interrupted her when she made a pause. “Hop on and make yourselves comfortable. I’ll go wash myself now.”

“Master Rockin, wait,” Lilfira tried to stop me to say something.

“Get inside the hammock and go to sleep. We have something important to do tomorrow,” I told them before disappearing behind the bathroom doors.

“Master Rockin came back so early,” Ranalaiya said after I was gone, staring at the closed bathroom’s door.

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“Yes, I had a similar reaction too when I saw Master Rockin inside the room after leaving the bathroom,” said Sylfrin before adding.

“So, did Master Rockin and Savirei…” Lilfira started asking a question but stopped before finishing it.

“Sometimes women want simply to talk to Master Rockin too,” Sylfrin said, sounding happy for some reason.

“Oh, yes, of course,” said Ranalaiya, her tail curling and twisting playfully, as if showing it was happy for some reason.

“They simply talked?” Lilfira asked, brushing her still slightly wet hair to the side.

“I believe Navirei told Master Rockin something important. He had a very serious look in his eyes when I saw him the moment I came out of the bathroom,” said Sylfrin.

“Oh,” Ranalaiya said, tilting her head to one side.

“I think we should get inside the hammock and go to sleep. I wouldn’t want to make Master Rockin upset,” Sylfrin added before climbing inside the hammock herself.

“Right,” said Ranalaiya, swiftly hopping inside of it too.

“Ok, oops,” Lilfira was the last one to get in, making the hammock swing a little too. “So, good night?”

“Yes, good night,” said Sylfrin.

“Good night,” added Ranalaiya.

I didn’t take too long to wash myself, but by the time I got out of the bathroom my three beautiful companions were already sleeping. The hammock was big enough to fit four people in it, and the girls left some space for me to lie in it too, but I didn’t want to disturb them in case I would wake them up, so I made myself comfortable on one of the beds instead. I was proper tired, so even if I was lying in a normal bed, I fell asleep pretty quickly.

{the next day}

“Where are we going, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked after we left Navirei’s inn in the morning.

“We’ll go eat at Savirei’s diner, of course,” I said, trying to sound playful.

“Can I have Tarkee wings, please?” Ranalaiya asked, almost letting out her purr sound too.

“Yes, you can,” I said with a smile.

“Thank you, Master,” Ranalaiya exclaimed happily before clinging onto my arm.

“And before you two ask, you can order whatever you like as well, Sylfrin and Lilfira,” I told them.

“Thank you, Master Rockin,” Sylfrin smiled.

“Thank you, Master Rockin,” Lilfira was happy too.

Once we were at Savirei’s diner, Savirei approached me the moment she saw us. She said she needed to talk to me about our clan’s issue, but I had a hunch there was more to it, just like with Navirei. I left Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira at the table we sat down at to eat by themselves and went to talk to Savirei.

“Why don’t we sit down at the table over there, darling?” Savirei suggested, pointing at the table with no other patrons sitting at the nearby tables.

“Yeah, sure,” I agreed.

“Here are the applications from people who want to join our clan, Rockin,” Savirei told me, placing a small stack of papers on the table.

“Ok, thanks,” I said, picking them up. “I see Luise and Ronnie filled out their application forms as well.” I added after taking a look at the first few.

“Yes. Here are the application fees from them,” Savirei said before placing a small stack of coins on the table.

“Thank you, Savirei,” I said, picking the money up and putting it inside my storage. “The dragonkins showed up again?” I finally asked, seeing Savirei hesitate to tell me about it herself.

“Huh? Ah, yes. Sorry, I was just…” Savirei finally admitted.

“Did anyone get hurt?” I asked.

“Well… none of my staff, but… a few regular patrons were scared off and stopped coming,” she said.

“Right,” I said, leaning back and letting out a sigh.

“Just so you know, I am not blaming Lilfira or anyone else for it,” Savirei told me, showing a smile.

“Maybe so, but from the looks of it, the dragonkins won’t simply leave us alone and delaying confrontation with them will make things worse going forward,” I said.

“You don’t intend to fight them, do you, Rockin?” Savirei asked, a worry jumping in her eyes.

“Of course not. I’m not strong enough to take on the whole clan on my own,” I said.

“That’s… not what I meant,” Savirei said, covering her mouth with one hand to suppress her chuckle.

“Yeah, well. I will figure something out. I’ll look over the rest of the application forms later, but you can tell Luise and Ronnie they will be accepted into our clan,” I told her.

“That’s wonderful. Now, I wasn’t able to ask you the last time I saw you, but what about our clan’s ID Badges?” Savirei asked me.

“ID Badges?” I asked, my eyebrows jumping up.

“Yes. Each clan usually issues some sort of identification badge for their clan members to prove they belong to it,” Savirei said.

“Right,” I mumbled, making a frown.

“Sorry. I know you have more important matters to deal with right now,” Savirei said.

“It’s ok. I know I’m a noob when it comes to running a Clan,” I said with a bit of a smirk.

“A… ‘noob’?” Navirei found the term puzzling.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, smiling sillily. “Any idea where I can get those badges made?”

“The Guild should have all the information you need about that,” she said.

“Ok, thanks,” I said, standing up. “I’ll go to the Guild to sort it out after I eat.”

“It’s no rush, really,” Savirei said.

“I will have to sort it out sooner or later anyway,” I said, adding a shrug before going to join Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira.

“Is everything ok, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya asked.

“Yeah, sort of. I need to go to the Guild to sort something out. Also, those dragonkins had shown up at Savirei’s diner again while we were gone,” I said, deciding not to keep them in the dark anymore.

“What? Did anyone get hurt?” Lilfira asked, becoming worried.

“No according to Savirei, but one of Navirei’s employees did,” I said.

“Oh no,” Ranalaiya gasped.

“So, that’s what you were talking about with Miss Navirei, Master,” Sylfrin realized.

“Yes,” I said with a nod of my head.

“It’s… it’s all my fault. People are getting hurt because of me,” Lilfira said, covering her face with both hands, starting to cry.

“Hey, it’s not your fault, ok?” I told her, taking her by the hand and away from her face, Lilfira looking at me with her teary eyes. “Don’t blame yourself, Lilfira. If it’s anyone’s fault, it is your father’s who didn’t take responsibility for you.”

“But…” Lilfira said, lowering her head.

“Listen, I will find a way to deal with those dragonkins, ok?” I said, not letting Lilfira’s hand go.

“But how? They are red dragonkins and my father’s tribe is one of the strongest dragonkin tribes out there,” Lilfira said with a sob.

“It doesn’t matter. I said I will figure something out and that means I will. Of course, I will need your help with it, Lilfira,” I said.

“My help?” Lilfira asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

“Yes. However, right now I need to learn more about the dragonkins themselves, so why don’t you tell me all that you know about your father and the dragonkins in general while we eat, ok?” I asked her.

“Oh, ok,” Lilfira said, wiping her tears away.

During our breakfast I was all ears listening to Lilfira talk about her father and his tribe. In addition to telling us about dragonkins and their customs, Lilfira would sometimes deviate to talk about her life now and then as well. It was amazing, as well as, unbelievable to listen about what she had been through. However, when she spoke about her life with her mother, she was always smiling and was looking happy. It was evident she was loved by her mother and Lilfira loved her mom too.

I was amazed by both, Lilfira’s knowledge and by how dragonkins lived, not that I agreed with certain things about them, like having a hybrid race child was basically a taboo among their kin. For one, it is never a child’s fault for being born whether his or her parents had planned to have a child or not. One thing has struck me when she mentioned something about the red dragonkins, however. They were a proud race and they had the right to be proud too. However, the more Lilfira was telling me about the red dragonkins, the more I was becoming convinced that they wouldn’t kill people for no reason. They had their code of honor too. The issue with Lilfira was much deeper than it looked from the outside.

Right. So, if I understood Lilfira correctly, the dragonkins would never kill their children for no reason. However, being such a proud race that is driven by proving their strength, and being a race that looks down on other races, it is the biggest shame for them to have a child that has blood of a weaker race. Although, there are other strong races beside dragonkins out there as well. I’d consider the Night Sky Panther and Frost Bat races to be pretty strong too. I sat there, thinking in my head after Lilfira finished telling me about dragonkins. Strong, eh? Humph. I smirked when a certain thought flashed in my head.

“Huh? What did you think about just now, Master Rockin?” Ranalaiya who was able to notice a change in my facial expressions pretty well by now asked.

“I think I thought of a way on how to make your father, as well as, the rest of the dragonkins leave you alone, Lilfira,” I said, showing a grin.

“What? Really?” Lilfira asked, becoming very attentive.

“How can we do that, Master Rockin?” Sylfrin asked too.

“From what you told me, Lilfira, the dragonkins would respect someone who can prove their strength. So, if we show how strong you are, the dragonkins won’t have a choice but to accept you as equal and then leave you, and everyone else here alone,” I said.

“Prove my strength? But I am not nearly half as strong as a pure-blood red dragonkin,” Lilfira gasped.

“No, you’re not… yet,” I said, adding a cheeky smirk.

“Huh?” Lilfira found my facial expression puzzling.

“Yes, if we get Lilfira level up, she will become so much stronger,” Ranalaiya was able to understand what I had in mind.

“Level me up?” Lilfira wasn’t sure about it, however.

“You have mentioned something called Rites of Strength. If I understood it correctly, it is some sort of test to determine how strong someone is, right?” I wanted to confirm.

“Yes. Every dragonkin has to pass it or else they won’t be acknowledged by the tribe’s chief or accepted into the tribe for that matter,” Lilfira told me. “But I’ve heard the Rites of Strength is really tough even for dragonkins themselves. I honestly doubt I will be a match against a pure-blood dragonkin.”

“So, you basically have to fight against someone?” I asked.

“Yes, that’s basically what the Rites of Strength is. However, those who take on the Rites of Strength have to fight someone who had already passed it before and they would usually be several levels higher than the challenger themselves. But the scariest part of it is, the challenger can even lose their life and nobody would blame the one who killed them,” Lilfira revealed a detail which was rather disturbing.

So, that’s what it is. I leaned back in my seat, becoming a little worried about it.

“I see,” I finally said. “Listen, Lilfira, I will not force you to do it and I will do all I can to protect you, granted you wish to stay with me. However, and you probably know this by now, your father won’t leave you alone, nor the red dragonkins will let you or your mother live a peaceful life. Worst case scenario, they will kidnap you and force you into taking the Rites of Strength, and you know how it will end even if you refuse to fight.”

“Yes,” Lilfira said.

“Well…” I scratched my cheek with a finger, thinking what else to say.

“I’ll do it,” Lilfira added. “At least in this way, I will be able to protect my mother and it will prevent other people from getting hurt too.”

“Ok then. However, if you do it, you need to do it for yourself and not for somebody else. It is you who needs to prove your strength to your father,” I told her.

“Huh? Yes, I understand,” Lilfira was surprised at first by my last words, but then got it, a burning determination lighting up in her eyes.