The knight captain had decided to follow Count Lorton and Lone back into the estate's mansion so he could protect his lord should Lone turn violent.

His lord didn't seem to like the unneeded protection since he knew Lone could kill them all whenever he chose, making the escort pointless, but he didn't chastise the knight and simply continued walking.

The foxkin in question hardly cared. It wasn't like the man could do anything to him regardless, so he ignored the displeased looks that were being tossed his way by the armoured knight.

Before long, the three men found themselves to be in the count's study. Lone got himself comfy while Count Lorton immediately jumped back into his paperwork.

"You look tired as fuck," Lone noted very rudely. "I've been there before. Hey, before we talk about the dragon, want some energy juice? I'll even restore your body if you'll let me. Consider it a service for the shitshow outside."

The knight captain was very upset with Lone for his casual demeanour around his lord, but he had already been warned for his rash actions tonight, so he chose to hold his tongue.

"Restore my body? Energy juice? How and what?" the count asked emotionlessly as he sighed while staring at a particular sheet of paper.

"It'd be easier if I just showed you," Lone claimed with an indifferent shrug.

He waved his hand making several aluminium cans of caffeinated drinks appear on the count's desk. Lone then stood up and placed a hand on Count Lorton's shoulder. A second later, he removed it.

The count opened his eyes widely. His body felt... renewed. "How is this possible? I've never heard of magic like this. And these... bottles? I've never seen anything like them." For once, Count Lorton was truly surprised.

Lone smirked. "I rebuilt your body from the ground up in that split-second. In fact, I did it so fast that there weren't even any noises. I'm quite proud of that. It seems that the time that I spent three weeks recreating Swind's body really improved my technique." He was mumbling near the end, but count Lorton still understood what he had said.

Standing up, the count stretched his left leg and wore an amazed expression on his face. "My leg doesn't ache anymore..."

"Yup. I also realigned your spinal discs." Lone suddenly frowned. "I know you're a noble and everything, but you should really lose some weight. I bet your BMI is total garbage. Take up swordsmanship or something. Swinging a weapon around for an hour or two a day will work wonders for your health."

The count returned to his seat and shook his head. "I appreciate the sentiment, but I cannot. Sparing even a single hour for my health would leave so much work undone."

Lone shrugged. "Fuck the work. What would be better for you; doing as much work as you can until you die of a heart attack or something in a few years, or taking care of your body and being able to work for another fifty or so years? Then again, you could always go all-in on gaining strength and extend your lifespan by ranking up, but regardless, that'll cost you your 'precious work time'."

"A heart attack? Hmm... You make a good point," the count replied as he picked up one of the energy juice cans. "And this? What is it?"

'Not even gonna thank me for curing your exhaustion and fixing you back and leg? To be fair, I guess he never asked me to,' Lone thought before he answered, "It's like coffee, but more centred around boosting your energy in short bursts. I'm planning on selling them soon in Mystopolis and I wanted you to guarantee their efficiency."

"I see." The count passed a can to the knight captain and said, "Before you go to bed, drink this. Confirm if it's poisonous, if it does as Lone claims, or if it's just an empty lie."

The knight's face paled. He wasn't exactly keen to be a drink tester, but he hardly had a choice. "As you wish, Your Grace."

Nodding, Count Lorton returned his attention to Lone. "Now that those things are out of the way, the dragon. Explain."

Lone smiled as he recounted exactly what had happened in the Silian Canyon.

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"I see. A spell of pity, is it?" Count Lorton asked rhetorically after hearing Lone's explanation. "Well, keep the creature out of my county and I shan't care what you do with it."

He got up and cracked his neck. "My body feels at least five years younger," the seven-foot tall man muttered to himself.

He clasped his hands behind his back and gestured with his head for Lone to follow him. "You didn't slay the dragon, but I'm not so unmoving as to consider your quest a failure."

Lone got up and peacefully strolled alongside the nobleman. The knight captain wanted to follow, but a sharp glare from Count Lorton told him that he should go and deal with his men instead of fussing over himself for any longer than he already had.

A short while later, the count and Lone had reached an ordinary enough door. Count Lorton took his keychain off from his belt and fingered through it until he had finally found the correct key. Once it was slotted into the door's lock, numerous runes and magical symbols lit up before they faded away.

"An enchantment?" Lone asked curiously.

"Indeed," the count replied curtly. He stepped through the door and stood to one side. "The armour is there in the centre. Choose whatever two dwarven trinkets you desire. I'm a man of my word."

Lone felt his inner adventurer grow excited as he saw the numerous magical items and ancient tomes that littered this room. "I might take a while. Wouldn't you rather go do your paperwork?"

Count Lorton shook his head. "I'm a man of my word, but who's to say that you are? I shan't let you clear out my personal treasury just because you are powerful. Consider me watching over you as my first step towards losing all of this weight, hmm?"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Lone smiled wryly. "I'm a rude cunt, but I've been pretty honest, haven't I?"

"Honesty is easy to fake. Hurry it up, Adventurer. Every second longer that you take, my county loses roughly thirty gold. As much as I detest paperwork, it keeps the local economy flowing and in check," the count claimed in a serious tone.

"Fair 'nuff," Lone replied in defeat as he began raking through the various mechanical and steampunk-esque items that made up about thirty-percent of the treasury's content.

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[Unnamed] Dwarven Bulb Ring Description

Created by the beginner steamforger, Filroy Undersbane.

This ring is designed to use the host's MP to light up the Pure Crystal it is decorated with.

Rank Rare Stats Durability: 400/400 Weight: 1 Abilities Allows the host to consume 50 MP to light up the ring's Pure Crystal for 5-minutes.

It was a curious trinket, but one that Lone absolutely adored. It was certainly far from the most valuable dwarven creation in this treasury, but he could see its usefulness and potential. 'If I can reverse engineer this 'Pure Crystal' thingy, then I can make infinite light sources I'm pretty sure. It'll take time and work, but I'm pretty pumped to work on this.'

Lone's second choice was far more complex than the first one, however.

[Unnamed] Dwarven Ocular Implant Description

Created by the master steamforger, Brisbane Rockhoof.

Designed to perfectly replace the eye of an average dwarf. It is incredibly intricate, and due to this, only a fellow master steamforger has the capabilities to implant this device into a person's skull safely.

Rank Epic Stats Durability: 567/1,000 Weight: 2 Perception: 50   Abilities Grants the host enhanced sight in the replaced eye socket. Can be zoomed in up to 16x magnification. Has a toggleable night vision mode. Has a toggleable heat vision mode.

Again, this steamforged artefact wasn't particularly valuable since it was half-broken and wouldn't even fit most skulls.

'It's perfect. With this, I can learn more about these dwarven gizmos. It's so much more intricate than my glasses... Man, I wanna take it apart right away.' Lone's love for dwarven technology was starting to sway his reasoning.

Count Lorton found Lone's choice of steamforged artefacts to be interesting, to say the least, however, he didn't care enough to inquire why he had chosen the items that he had. "Well, take the palladium armour and leave me, please. I'll consider your proposal regarding your 'energy juice' once I've had its effects confirmed."

Lone snapped back to reality after hearing the man's words. "Right." He shoved the ring and the eye implant into his trouser pockets before he touched the armour in the middle of the room. The next moment, the suit of shiny metal had been sucked into his Dimensional Storage.

'I forgot about it, but yeah, this armour's pretty cool. Palladium's pretty weak for armour, so it must be ceremonial or some shit, but I still haven't ever worked with any palladium. Now that I have some, I should melt it down and experiment with it. Maybe it works differently here than it does on Earth.' Lone was a very happy man.

"Well, I guess I'll seeya later then. I'll just take my dragon and get out of your hair," Lone said in a friendly tone.

"I'd appreciate that," Count Lorton replied bluntly.

Smiling without moving, Lone sent Sophie a telepathic message. A split-second passed before the heavily-armoured girl appeared in the centre of the treasury. She grabbed Lone's hand and then teleported away without even casting a side-long glance at the nobleman in the room.

"Hmm. What an odd couple of adventurers. 'The Wanderers', was it? A group to remember, it would seem," the count spoke aloud before he locked up the treasury and returned to his office.

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Sophie had given control back to Soph since she had no confidence in being able to handle the mental pain associated with teleporting herself, Lone, and a ten-foot-long Rock Dragon. Naturally, she also got out of her armour and changed into more comfortable clothing.

Soph was on the verge of passing out when they had finally arrived a few miles away from Mystopolis.

The girl leaned into Lone's chest as the two of them sat on the baby dragon's back. "I can't... do.. any more..."

Lone kissed her head and hugged her waist. "Go back to The Summoning Room and cuddle Garadia and Kyuubi or sleep, okay? You've done great."

"Mmm... Love you..." Sophie mumbled as she squeezed a few tails for good luck.

"Love you too, Soph," Lone replied and then unsummoned the girl.

"That wasn't teleportation, was it?" the baby dragon asked with that gravelly voice of its.

Lone shuffled about to get comfy again as he replied, "Yup, it wasn't. It's a unique skill that opens a kind of pocket dimension. It's pretty complex and pretty unexplainable at the same time."

"... I don't understand," the dragon said honestly.

"You don't need to." Lone pulled out the dwarven ring and began playing with it. "By the way, what gender are you?"

"I am genderless. Rock Dragons have their gender decided for them by the Primal element of Land once we are five-year-old," it answered.

"Huh. That's different to Radiance Dragons. Your voice is deep though, so I'll treat you as a guy for now if you don't mind?" Lone suggested.

"If that is easier for you, I do not mind," The baby replied very maturely.

"Gotta name?" Lone asked as he brought the ring's crystal up to his eye.

Lone felt a rumble as the dragon shook his head. "No. I was called Rockinfant while I was still a part of the tribe, but Rock Dragons do not have traditional names like humans do."

"Is that so? Let's go with Infa then. It's short for Infant," Lone named the creature very casually.

"... If that pleases you." Infa did not care at all. Right now, he was incredibly worried about approaching a human city as carelessly as he was.

Lone frowned. "Another fluctuation. You worried? Don't be. I'll take care of everything."

"...Okay... It is hard to fight my instincts, though," Infa admitted.

"Fair enough. I can't fault you for that," Lone said as he returned his focus to his new trinket.