“We’re going to be killing a what?!” Sylvie leaned forward, hands gripping the table between us, when she heard me describe the job.

We were currently sitting in the living room of Boy’s house, a quaint little place housed in an out-of-the-way neighborhood. I sat with Erani on a dusty couch while Entismo, Aliss, and Sylvie each sat in chairs they’d brought over so we were all around the central wooden table. Boy, once we’d arrived, soon wandered over into his kitchen and brought out all kinds of ingredients, preparing something that smelled delicious. According to Aliss, he was apparently an aspiring chef.

So with the faint sound of sizzling meat in our ears, we discussed the fine details of our agreement. Entismo was apparently the one who was considered the ‘leader’ of this group—though, really, it seemed like he surrendered control to Aliss whenever she spoke—so much of my discussion was with him. Which was obviously a chore. And once all of that was done and we were sure these guys had accepted, we finally got to disclosing what we wanted these people to help us do.

Entismo chuckled nervously. “We shall assuredly necessitate a more sizable team than, er, this, correct?”

Sylvie, on the other hand, stood from her seat, raising her hands in the air and pacing around the room. “That. Sounds. Awesome! A Young Dragon! Oh man, I’ve never even seen a Dragon before!”

“How do you know it’s there?” Aliss asked, leaning forward and placing her elbows on the table.

Entismo glanced over at her and hastily nodded, setting his own elbows on the table in clear mimicry of her gesture. “Y-yes. Verily, we must verify this…verification. Of the Dragon.”

“I have a Divination ability,” I explained, doing my best to ignore Entismo’s actions. “We were in the location on another job, and I found out about the Young Dragon from that. It’s a Level 22, and lives in a specific enough location that I’m confident we’ll be able to both hunt it down and get the drop on it.”

I did still omit specific information, like where they’d be able to find it, in case they tried to go behind our backs and complete the job on their own, that way they’d still have to rely on us to actually go and kill the thing, but at this point it seemed like they were committed to doing this job with us.

“Level 22...” Aliss looked down, frowning. “Together, we’re only just barely past the minimum strength required to hunt something like that legally. You sure about this?”

“Like I said before, we have one more person who’ll be working with us,” I said. “Should even things out pretty well.”

“What degree are they?”

I paused, unsure of how to tell them that this was a monster I was talking about, not a Human.

“She’s strong,” Erani spoke up. “No need to worry. At least the power of silver, but maybe higher. Could even be low gold, in my opinion.”

“Hm,” Aliss said with a nod. Then she looked up, behind us. “Oh, Boy, do you need help with that?”

I looked back to see him carrying out a tray with several steaming plates and bowls from the kitchen. Seemed like dinner was ready.

“I-I would be honored to assist,” Entismo leapt up from his chair and quickly walked over to Boy, taking a few plates from his platter. He looked back to Aliss. “No need to fret, my lady.”

“Oh, thanks for the meal,” I said, looking down at the table as they set the dishes down.

Boy nodded at me, face ever-unchanging, and set a piece of paper down on the table, as well, turned so it faced me and Erani.

“Gloomspur meat, rarity from least cooked on left to most cooked on right. Seasoned with herbs from garden and imported salt. Salad comes on side, should eat that first for best order of flavors. Side of potatoes as well, salt and butter in dishes on plate to use on potatoes, season them to your own taste. However I recommend a half-spoonful of each. Will give you exact recipe if you like.”

“Oh, wow,” I said, reading what he said. “You didn’t have to do…all this. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever had such a carefully-planned meal in my life.”

Boy nodded at what I said, then used a pencil to add another note to the paper. “Happy to introduce more to good food.”

Aliss was already taking her own plates from the tray, mixing her salad with a fork, while Sylvie dumped her entire cup of butter all over her steak and potatoes, licking her lips. Entismo brought a handkerchief out of his pocket and carefully laid it on his lap, sitting up straight in his chair and eyeing the food.

Index, you were watching Boy prepare this stuff, right? Any chance it’s poisoned?

“Nah, not that I could see. And even if it was, everything was all put in the same pots, so they’d all be poisoning themselves, too. And I can tell you that none of them have any sort of poison-based damage reduction Enchantments or abilities, nor are any of their Endurances so much higher than yours that they’d be able to meaningfully resist something you’d succumb to. In fact, most of them have a lower Endurance.”

I nodded subtly to Erani, who was clearly waiting for my signal that things were safe, and took a plate. It really did smell immaculate.

After the dinner, we headed out of town, leading the group of four down the road to exterminate this Young Dragon. We wanted to attack as it got dark so we could use the cover of night for our efforts at stealth—getting the drop on the thing would be best, and we wanted to avoid as best we could the Goblins warning the Dragon of our approach—so we decided today was as good a time as ever. No sense in giving other adventurers more time to find it before we got the job done, after all.

It seemed like the group quickly figured out the general location of the Dragon as we moved, realizing we were heading straight for the Goblins’ forest. It took some time, but eventually we got to the point where the trees were in sight a little ways further down the road.

I stopped and took a breath. “Okay. Our destination is in there. I’m sure you’re aware of the Goblins.”

“So we’re killing a Young Dragon that’s inside Goblin territory?” Sylvie asked. “That sounds like a horrible idea. I’m so in.”

“Why do you think it’s down there?” Aliss said, gazing up at the tall mountains that backed the forest. “I mean, Dragons don’t normally leave Empire’s Edge, right? I wonder what pushed it down.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“We’ve heard it was because of two other Dragons,” Erani responded. “We’re not entirely sure what started the conflict, but apparently they ousted the younger one from the mountains in a territory dispute. It happened after the invasion of Koinkar, though, so the conflict must’ve been started because of that.”

“I imagine the older Dragons would be able to remember the times when Humans could summon Demons,” Aliss mused, hand on her chin. “Perhaps they think we’re the ones summoning them, so the Demons aren’t coming here of their own accord. Could be attempting to solidify their positions in the mountain range and get rid of any other beings that could threaten their territory. If the Humans found a way to summon more Demons, after all, it would certainly be cause for concern from them. What do you think?”

I shrugged. “No clue. So you guys ready to head into the forest?”

“Could we perchance take a tad bit longer?” Entismo asked. “Sylvie requires preparation time before going into battle.”

Sylvie scoffed, rolling her eyes. “Ugh, I don’t need to. We’ll be fine.”

“You must not be unprepared, my companion, lest we be caught, er, unprepared.”

“You are such a flamin’ dumbass. Just quit it with that, I know you get tired of it.”

“Sylvie,” he hissed in her ear.

“Fine.” She plopped down on the ground and took a few arrows from her quiver, looking up at me and Erani. “I have a Talent that lets me prepare my arrows to cause them to deal a ton more damage when they hit something for the next twenty-four hours. It’s such a pain to do, though. Takes forever, since I can only do it one by one. So unless you’re in a hurry, we should probably take, like, an hour or two so I can do this.”

“Fine by me,” I said. “Could be beneficial to let it get a little darker before entering, anyway. Why’d you take the Talent if you hate it so much, though? Wouldn’t there be other choices that allow you to operate without taking so much prep time?”

“Entismo basically made me when we ran away,” she said. “He kept telling me it was the best choice, and it dealt so much more damage, and it’d help us out so much. Such a dumbass.”

“Ran away?”

“Oh, yeah, we’re both from noble families. Grew up as friends, but I just hated the life. I mean, you can’t even imagine what it’s like. Everyone tells you what you can and can’t do, how to sit, how to talk, who to talk to, how to sit while you talk, how to sit while you aren’t talking, how to do literally everything so you don’t offend someone. Whoops, you ate that dish using the wrong spoon, now we’re gonna get executed by some stuck-up nobody. So flamin’ dumb. Entismo wasn’t cut out for the life, either, so I asked him if he wanted to leave. He said yes, and we just ran off to become adventurers. Now we’re livin’ the life!”

“Really?” I asked. “Entismo, you ran away? I would’ve thought you’d have liked that. I mean, Sylvie I can get, but you…”

He shifted uncomfortably, sitting in the grass with us. “I do indeed upkeep my good habits. Though that sphere may not cater to my talents, my upbringing was nevertheless graced with refinement. ‘Tis the least I can do to respect the precepts I was raised with, if I am to bring my elders trouble by running off. However, I still must tend to my companion Sylvie.”

“Basically, he only came with me because he was worried about me,” Sylvie said.

“So is that why you talk…like that?” I asked. I honestly wasn’t entirely sure how to bring the topic up. It somehow felt rude to talk about, and rude to not talk about at the same time.

Sylvie laughed. “What, like the back half of a dictionary was run through the mind of an idiot?”

He elbowed her. “Simply because you do not understand does not mean I am an idiot.”

“No, dude,” she said, “I keep telling you, you’re using half of those words wrong.”

He opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything, after a moment just resorting to scoff and look away, arms crossed. Sylvie just kept laughing, her hands continuing to hover over the arrow in her lap.

“So,” Aliss looked to Erani after a moment of silence, “that Spell you’re using, it’s Distortion Strike, right?”

“Hm?” Erani said, looking surprised. Her voice, as always, came out as an ever-present whisper due to the Spell. “Yes, it is. Were you considering becoming a Sorcerer, too? Most non-Sorcerers don’t know it.”

“Oh, no, it’s actually offered to Wizards as well,” Aliss said. “Only after taking Demonic Pact, though, so obviously most don’t research past that point in the tree.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Erani said. “Are you really planning on taking Pact? It seems…suboptimal. I mean, chances are it’ll do nothing. And if it does, that’s just a wasted pick. Is there something past that point in the tree that makes it worth taking a useless Spell?”

“What do you mean? If I take the Spell and it does nothing, that’s not a waste. It’s valuable knowledge—despite the Demons being able to summon themselves here, us Humans can still not summon them.”

“But it still does nothing. I mean, in a fight, you’ll wish you had something else, right?”

Aliss just shrugged. “There’s more to life than fighting.”

“I-I do agree,” Entismo spoke up. For some reason, when he did, Sylvie giggled slightly. But he kept speaking, “There’s, er, if you acquire a Spell to contribute to the knowledge of the world, that’s a, um, b-beautiful thing. Perchance. I-I have heeded your words of the Demons, Aliss, and to sneap the importance of such a thing would be, er…bad. F-fallacious! It would be fallacious. To do so.”

“Mhm.” Aliss nodded. I could see her eyes just kind of glazed over halfway through what he’d said. Then she glanced over at Boy, who was currently cleaning off his battleaxe with a rag, calmly wiping off each side, one after the other. “Hey Boy, lady Milena still needs help this weekend, right? We’re still doing that?”

He looked up and nodded to her, then went back to cleaning.

“Milena?” I asked.

“Oh, she’s the owner of the orphanage he grew up in,” Aliss explained. “The conversation just reminded me of her. She’s been getting old lately, has trouble running it by herself. We’ve been trying to help out now that we’re in town, but…y’know. There’s only so much you can do. I’m hoping maybe I can find a way to do something about that. There isn’t anyone lined up to replace her, and it’s the only place in town those kids have to go.”

“Ah,” I nodded. “Good that you’re doing that. Giving those kids someone they can rely on is a great thing. I’m sure they’ll really appreciate you being there for them once they’re older.”

The time passed and we continued making idle conversation as the sun sank behind the mountains and the moon rose above. Since Erani still needed to take breaks occasionally to let her Mana regenerate from keeping Distortion Strike active constantly, we had to come up with a couple excuses for her to leave and go out of sight for a little bit, but it wasn’t too much of an issue. I still needed to give her the Arcane Spell Crystal, so when I gave her that to Rank up Angelic Shield, she took a break to go and do that, saying she just couldn’t meditate while anyone else was around. And, of course, she actually did need to go meditate and assign her Upgrade for the Spell anyway, so that got both things done at once.

Eventually, Sylvie finished up with her preparations—at least, she convinced Entismo that she had enough arrows to last the fight and she didn’t need to do any more—and we headed off once again.

We’d informed Ainash once we got close to the place, but she said she’d meet us once we got to the Dragon, and that she’d just ensure we didn’t run into any Goblins on our way there for now. She’d gotten good at understanding their movements, so by scouting ahead and carefully instructing us where to go and what turns to make, she could easily keep us from getting spotted. And with Index by my side keeping an eye out for traps, it actually made the journey quite easy.

The group was, of course, extremely curious of my ability to be able to know exactly where every pitfall and tripwire was, and even more curious of my ability to know where all of the Goblin patrols were, but I explained it away with the same story of the Divination ability that’d told me about the Young Dragon without us ever actually fighting it.

And in much less time than it should’ve taken, we eventually got within sight of the Goblin’s main base. It looked just as I remembered, the logs all strapped together to make those uneven walls, no roof so the Dragon could easily fly in and out.

“Okay,” I whispered to the others, “things are gonna get a little hectic. But follow my lead, and we should be able to get this done. I’ll explain the plan one more time, and then we start. You all ready?”