Dingdong

Hmm?

The sound of the bell rang throughout the manor, its sound muffled by the walls, but still loud enough to be heard from the bedroom. He checked the clock. One hour past midnight.

This early?

Raphael expected some townsfolk to come to him directly for healing, but he wasn’t expecting them to come this early. He had just returned to the town, after all. With severe reluctance, he got off his bed and in his pajamas waltzed straight for the front door.

He was in the process of unlocking the key when a second ring reached his ears.

Is it that bad? Or are they worried that I’m asleep? Must be important.

He opened the door, finding a dragon in front of his house.

Yes, a dragon.

The dragon had a length of ten pebs, his head standing high, passing the stone wall that surrounded the manor. His scales were of dark red color, a dark blue stripe running from the back of his head all the way to the tip of his tail.

“Good evening, Grand Mage Sir. I apologize for disturbing you at this hour.”

The dragon lowered his head before him. Raphael unlocked his keys and opened the gate. A ray of light came toward him. He looked to his left, finding a car stopped there. He motioned the dragon to move back.

“I’m terribly sorry." The dragon lowered his head toward the car and flew back. The car drove past them, heading somewhere.

“I wonder where they’re going…” Raphael mumbled as the vehicle drove away. The dragon looked at the car, following Raphael’s eyes.

“Should I find out?”

“Of course not.” Raphael held up his hand, stopping the dragon from doing anything dumb.

“So, what is it?”

“Grand Mage Sir, allow me to once again apologize for disturbing you at this hour.”

Raphael could only sigh internally. He didn’t really have the energy to start a fight with a dragon, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t mind. He really wanted to tell the dragon to cut to the chase, but he didn’t know this dragon. He couldn’t be frank with this one.

I wonder if he wants a picture of a dragon?

Dragons were mystifying beings. They didn’t have much contact with humans, albeit being able to speak the language. They lived longer than them, some going as old as two hundred fifty years. They were much more powerful as well, only certain humans could go up against one, although that rarely happened outside competitions or friendly battles.

They held their heads with pride, so it was rare for a normal human to see them in the flesh. If one came at Raphael, at this hour no less, something important must be going on.

Or so he thought.

“Please spar with me!”

“... Alright, wait for a bit…” Raphael let out a yawn.

“Thank you very much!” the dragon replied. Raphael went back into his manor and picked out one of his medicine tubes. He had several in stock that he planned on spreading locally to nearby clinics. Usually, the clinic's owner would pick them up. He took it out of its box and went back to the dragon.

“What is this? Ah, is this the great medicine we have been hearing about?”

“I’m not sure if it will work on dragons, admittedly, but I put extra attention to make sure it had no negative effects.”

“Thank you very much, Grand Mage Sir. How much should I use in a day?”

“Hmm? Just use it once. If the pain isn’t gone then you need to consult with a doctor. Oh, that’s paste. You can drink it if you want, but it’s more effective to put it where it hurts, assuming the pain isn’t internal.”

“I see… But what if I didn’t feel any pain?”

“Hmm? Didn’t you say you have a scar?”

“Spar, Grand Mage Sir. I would like you to have a spar with me.”

“Is that so? Sorry, I misheard,” Raphael yawned, accepted the medicine from the dragon, and returned it to the boxes in his laboratory. He came out again, heading for the empty field. He went to the corner of the field, and the dragon stood before him.

“... Wait wait wait,” he felt some kind of hammer just hit him in his head, knocking his brain back into function.

“What did you say!?”

“Thank you for your assistance, Grand Mage Sir. I shall learn properly.”

“Okay, it’s my fault I wasn’t concentrating when I accepted, but shouldn’t you at least tell me what’s going on? You know what, that doesn’t matter!” he declared, intending to end this as fast as possible. Someone had come to make a request of him. The fact that he failed to reject it was entirely his fault, so he would see this to the end. He made sure the end came quickly, though.

“Keep your voice down, okay? Don’t want to disturb the neighbors.” Raphael brought his index finger in front of his mouth.

“Do not worry, Grand Mage Sir. I will promise you minimal sound.”

“Great,” he didn’t have neighbors, though. In front of the manor was the empty field he owned, and all around it was the empty field he didn’t own. The closest house was a five-minute walk away. But still, a dragon stood in front of him. Who knew just how loud this dragon could be?

“We can begin,” Raphael said, and as promised, the dragon dashed straight for him, as silent as a floating leaf.

“...” Raphael slid a few pebs to the side, dodging the dragon. He didn’t even spend that much effort to move, yet the dragon missed, stumbling away as he passed him. Raphael imagined a stun gun in his hand. The dragon turned around, unwary of his thoughts. He struck again, yet he still missed. This one was worse, Raphael only needed to slide fifty centipeb to dodge.

What’s wrong with this dragon?

But that could wait. Raphael brought his hand toward the dragon, a stun gun materializing in his grip. He fired. A single shot was enough to knock the dragon down.

“Ouch!”

“Does it hurt?” Raphael approached, the stun gun disappearing as quickly as it appeared. He aimed his hands toward the dragon, using magic to heal him.

“I apologize for that terrible display, Grand Mage Sir!” The dragon bowed his head solemnly.

“It’s getting late. Meet me tomorrow after lunch,” Raphael said, waving his hand.

“Very well, Grand Mage Sir. Thank you for the time." The dragon bowed again and flew off. Raphael locked both the gate and the front door, before heading back to bed.

* ••

“Are you sure it’s alright?” Raphael asked, loading the cardboard boxes onto Fraone’s airplane. The blue skies were clear that day, making him want to hitch a ride and extend his own wings to the sky. He had the promise with the dragon though.

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“Hmm? You’re the one I’m supposed to be worried about.”

“Me?” Raphael pointed to himself. Fraone replied with a firm nod.

“This girl didn’t drink a lot of fuel, and I now got backers anyway. Don’t worry, I’m not selling your stuff.”

“I don’t mind you selling some, no, maybe just ten? Regardless, I don’t mind you taking a bit of profit, as long as most of them are free.”

“Nah, I love flying. That reason is enough. If anything, I need to thank you. You got some… less than desirable people off my back. I can fly freely now,” Fraone said, rather relaxed, not something you would expect to be coming out of a noble’s mouth.

Raphael may not be a social kind of person, but looking at Fraone gazing up at the distant sky told him everything he needed to know.

“I wish I could find something I’m that passionate about.”

“Are you not passionate about saving people?”

“It’s not-.” Raphael couldn’t tell him that the reason he was making medicine was because of his sense of duty. The words left a bad taste in his mouth, though. He wasn’t forcing himself to work for others, but at the same time he couldn’t really say that he was enjoying it, nor could he say that it was purely from the kindness of his own heart.

“So I’ll be seeing you later tonight?” Fraone asked to confirm.

“I’ll tell you if there are any changes.”

“Alright,” Fraone shut the rear door to his aircraft. He climbed into his cockpit, but before closing the door, he looked at Raphael closely.

“What’s wrong?”

“... Nevermind. See ya.” Fraone shut the doors. He turned on the engine. The plane went to the end of the runway, turned around, and took off, flying away. After seeing the plane off, Raphael went back to his manor to have lunch. He sat down at the table and thought about what he wanted to eat that day. He didn’t have much time, so he chose whatever came to his mind.

“Apaghetti would do.” He thought about the yellow noodle, sprinkling cheese on top. The food materialized on the dining table.

“...” It tasted bitter, much to his disappointment. It did have some tomato sauce taste mingled with it, along with the cheese, but they weren’t enough. He probably should have given the taste more thought. He couldn’t afford to take time cooking, so he dealt with it.

After he was done, he returned to his laboratory for a medicine-making session, only to be disturbed by the bell thirty minutes later. He put the three tubes in the box, labeled them, and headed outside.

“Good day, Grand Mage Sir,” the dragon lowered his head. He looked back at the double door. The dragon’s body wouldn’t be able to fit, so he stepped out to speak with the dragon. The two sat down on the grassy fields across the manor.

“So, can you explain what’s going on?” Raphael began the conversation.

“Very well, Grand Mage Sir-”

“Just Sir is fine.” To put it bluntly, he wouldn’t mind being called just Raphael. He didn’t particularly hate Carol’s nickname ‘Raphy’ either, but for some reason, most people just call him either Raphael or Rap. Being called Great Mage, or in this specific case, Grand Mage Sir, felt too long, so shortening it to Sir would be fine. He did, admittedly, like the sense of respect the word Sir had.

“Very well, Sir. Let me introduce myself. I am Koskiukoviaskeiseir Kalstaeteineamsne, or my human name, Koski Kalsta.”

“Umm… yeah, I’m Raphael Kaski, don’t expect me to remember your dragon name, though,” Raphael stated.

“Do not worry about that, Sir. It would be an honor for me to even be remembered.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Raphael scratched his face. Thanks to the difference in cultures and brains, it was common for dragons to have a very complicated and long name. Dragons rarely interact with humans, but when they do, they would give them their ‘human name’, a shortened version of their real name.

“So Koski, what’s going on?”

“It’s… the Mount Moluart Tournament.”

“Oh, yeah… there’s that.”

On the eighth month, there would be an annual fighting tournament between various races and groups of dragons. The events would start on the last Saturday, with the semi-finals and finals on the first Saturday of the following month. The event would be held in the crater on the peak of Mount Moluart. He visited the one kilopeb crater once, when he attended a past tournament.

“You know about it, Sir?”

Raphael nodded.

“Somewhat,” when he was a child, he went to watch it with his family and Carol's. In middle school, a teacher invited her students to come watch. His friends were frightened by the event. The idea of two or more dragons duking it out on the peak of the mountain scared them. Raphael felt indifferent to it, while the Rangers promised that they would keep watch over the event, making sure that no harm came to humans and beasts alike.

Carol wanted to see it, so she asked the teacher for a ticket. The Ranger managed to secure two for her.

“It had been a while. I still remember that day. It was fun,” Raphael muttered.

“You think so, Sir?”

Raphael nodded.

“So, you’re here to invite me to the event?”

“Truth be told… yesterday, I wanted to ask you to train me,” Koski twiddled his claws.

“But after fighting you, I realized just how weak I am.”

Raphael couldn’t deny it. He didn’t even need that stun gun, truth be told. He could probably knock this dragon barehanded, as weird as that sounded.

“My family has been losing every year, because neither I nor my brother are great fighters. My father isn’t that great, either. My mother has the best chance, but…”

“She couldn’t fight?”

“To put it simply, yeah.”

“Well…” Raphael felt certain that the way Koski was now, he had zero chance to go past the first round of preliminaries. He didn’t have the time to teach him, either. Even if he had absolutely nothing else to do, he doubted he could get Koski up to speed for the fight. He didn’t know why Koski couldn’t aim. This dragon in front of him may be hiding some great potential, but with what little time he had left, teaching seemed out of the question.

“Sir-”

“Sorry, I can’t teach you.”

Koski fell silent for a moment.

“... I’m not going to ask you that, Sir.”

“Huh? Didn’t you say you came to ask me for training?”

“Yesterday, yes. But now, I realize that I have zero chance. Sir, please replace me in the tournament!” Koski brought his head down.

“Ok- Wait, What!?” this time he managed to hold himself before he spouted something dumb.

“Wait wait wait wait. There’s no way!”

“But Sir, the tournament allowed for representatives!”

“Yes, but me!?”

“I know it will be unfair, Sir, but our family hasn't advanced through the preliminaries in the last twenty-three years! We’re the only family registered that has yet to pass at least once!”

“Is that true?” Raphael asked dubiously. Koski nodded frantically.

“Yes, Sir!”

“But they won’t remember you as the winner…”

“They’ll remember us as the family that managed to convince the Grand Mage himself to come and fight! Even that is a huge honor!”

“Let… let me consider it.”

“Sir, please!”

“I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”

“Thank you very much!” Koski bowed down to him. Raphael waved and headed back to his laboratory. He spent the remainder of his day concentrating on making medicine.

* ••

“Why not?” Fraone said as he stuffed the last of the cardboard boxes into his plane.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Just enter. If you lose, which is unlikely, you’ll gain valuable experience.”

“I would rather just lose, to be honest.”

“Then do it. If you do it, you won’t be bothered again, right? Besides, you’re a medicine-making mage, not a fighting one.”

“That’s… right…”

“Honor?”

“Huh?”

Fraone smiled toward him.

“What you’re worried about is honoring your enemy's determination, right? Gosh, that part of you didn’t change.” Fraone smirked. “Not even back then." Fraone looked up, recalling distant memories.

“You told me to not hold back, though.”

“Yeah, I wasn't expecting you to be that powerful. A gun from thin air, really? And that’s not cheating.”

“Are you angry?”

“Oh, I am. I really am." Fraone stepped forward, arms crossed. Raphael shrunk back.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, though. If I lost, that means I haven’t trained enough. Sigh. You’re in a tough position.”

“I know, right?” if Raphael didn’t enter, then the Kalsta family would continue in their losing streak. Power played a huge role in dragon society. If Koski could ask him to fight for them, even just that would boost their popularity tremendously. Raphael’s power guaranteed him to get past the first round easily, as long as he didn’t face the top four dragons.

However, that would mean destroying someone else's dream and ruining their chances. It would mean hurting them. But, if he didn’t go all out, it would hurt their pride as well.

“I would rather not be involved, to be honest.”

“You can’t back down from all the challenges in life." Fraone climbed onto his cockpit.

“You say some wise things every now and then.”

“I’m always wise.'' With a thumbs up, Fraone turned the plane and flew away. Raphael sighed and returned to his home.

* ••

Carol stared at his phone screen, reading the messages from his boyfriend.

‘What do you think I should do?’

‘Just enter. I think the dragons will see fighting you as an honor. I certainly will.’

‘Well, if you say so.’

Carol put down her phone on a table in front of her. She reached for the hilt of the sword on her waist and squeezed it.

I need to train as well.