Cecil decided to take his leisure time getting back, so he took a carriage to get back to the city. It took him 3 days to arrive back at the capital and he was now sitting together with Lucia in his dorm room.

During the 3 days he was away, the guild actually informed Lucia that Cecil had gone missing at the mines, but by the time the news had arrived to Lucia, the missing person in question just so happened to return to the academy right as she was about to go out and search for him. If he had arrived any later, the girl would've rushed over to the Liyang Mining Valley and completely turned it upside down just to search for him.

She was really angry at him and was scolding him because she had received news about his supposed disappearance when she went to the guild earlier, but after hearing about his recklessness when he was fighting the Orobos and the subsequent near-loss of his legs, her anger died down and the only feeling left in her heart was worry and relief that nothing serious happened to him. She didn't see the bracelet fall into the orange levels, but that was because of Cecil had deliberately manipulated his mana, so he didn't overuse it.

This was good and all, but since he could do that, it barred Lucia from being able to know whether or not he was in any sort of danger or trouble which greatly troubled her and it only served to make her start scolding him again.

"Hey, just because I won't know that you're in danger because the bracelet won't tell me, doesn't mean that you should put yourself in danger, you idiot!"

"I-I'm sorry, but I was just–"

"–training! I know! I know that you're training, but even training has its limits! What good is training if you're just putting yourself in harms way? That isn't training at all!"

"S-Sorry, Lulu..."

Cecil was helpless and Lucia kept on scolding him, he didn't have any way to retort since in other people's perspective, what he did was really dangerous and it wasn't in line with any sort of training at all. Fighting a SS-ranked monster while limiting yourself was beyond stupid. A small mistake and he would have been petrified and turned to dust.

Another reason why Cecil couldn't retort to Lucia was that half of his attention was on something else... it was towards the other girl that was present inside his dorm. Someone that Cecil had never seen before. A girl with long, azure-colored hair and dark-brown antlers on her head. She also had azure-colored scales decorating her cheeks and a long scaly tail growing from her rump that was currently wrapped around her waist like a belt. She was sitting next to Lucia like it was the most proper thing to do and quietly sipping on her tea like it was nobody's business. Cecil had wanted to ask Lucia who the...azure girl was, but he couldn't get a word in.

"Stupid! Are you listening! Stop staring so much at Yuna and look here!"

"Uweh?"

Lucia had stomped over next to Cecil and brought his face facing hers, she was glaring at him and he was now at a loss because his curiosity got over him as he tried to analyze the girl that was sitting next to his best friend.

"Uhm... Lulu, before you continue scolding me... you mind explaining who she is? And what's she doing in my dorm? And why she's sitting there like it's nobody's business? I'll let you scold or hit me all you want later, but please explain to me who she is first...please?"

"..."

"..."

The two stared at each other for a moment before Lucia released his face with a huff, "Hmph. Well, I guess I should tell you about Yuna first, but still... our business isn't over. You're getting another earful from me after this!"

"Yes, yes..." Cecil said as he rubbed Lucia's fox ears, which earned him a cute, blissful smile from the girl.

'Ah that healed me.'

Lucia slapped Cecil's hand away right after she regained her bearings from the unexpected show of affection. She thought that he was doing this to try and escape his punishment later, but obviously, she wasn't going to let it slide.

"Well, first of all, let me introduce you to my new friend! Her name's Yunaria! You can call her Yuna for short! Guess what Cel, she's actually an Eastern Dragon!"

"Oh... dragon... dragon? Eastern Dragon?!" Cecil lagged a little when he heard the word 'dragon'. He snapped his head to the young lady who was sipping her tea elegantly. "Woah! So you're a dragon? You sure don't look like one!"

"Hmph. How rude, this is just my humanoid form," Yuna said as she rose from her seat. "Anyway, nice to meet you, Cecil, I'm Yuna. I've been hearing a lot about you from Lucia...hrmmm... so I guess you're the master of the fenrir, huh?"

"Hm? Well, nice to meet you too! When did you guys meet?" Cecil asked turning towards Lucia.

"We met at the auction! She was actually going to be sold off, but I bought her instead!"

"...what?"

"L-Lucia! Please... don't talk about that anymore... what a disgrace... to be treated as an object like that... kuuuuhhhh..." Yuna's face blushed red in embarrassment. She started clenching her fists together. That was a pretty humiliating experience after all.

"Uhm... so like, you're a dragon right? How the heck did you get caught and placed as an auction item?" Cecil asked.

"..." Yuna's face turned dark and she showed a conflicted look before answering him, "A-Actually... I didn't get caught because I was weak or anything. I was actually taking a quick rest stop on top of the mountains close to this city. I fell asleep and when I woke up, I was inside of a cage..."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

After explaining herself with an awkward expression, she sat back down and began sipping her tea again, but this time, she was avoiding eye contact with the two. Cecil started laughing after seeing her act that way.

"Ahahah~ a dragon? Caught in her sleep? That's waaayyy to funny!"

"Sh-Shut it! Do you want to be blown to bits?!"

Hearing Yuna threaten Cecil, Lucia naturally had to speak up.

"Hey, Yuna."

"Hm?"

"...don't threaten him. He's stronger than me and he'll probably beat you to a pulp..."

"Huh???"

"Trust me... I don't want to lose a friend. The last guys that tried to threaten him... didn't come out so well..." Lucia said solemnly.

"..."

"Hey, hey! What're you trying to do, Lulu? Why're you scaring Yuna like that?! I'm not some devil! And beside we're only playing around!"

Yuna and Lucia have sparred with each other during the past couple of days. Yuna didn't want to, but Lucia wanted to assess her combat capabilities. To the dragon girl's surprise, however, Lucia was actually able to keep up with her and to her astonishment, she was actually forced to a draw when they were only comparing magical combat abilities. Yuna praised Lucia for being a young and accomplished mage, but the girl said that she was more of a melee fighter than a mage.

Now that this talented young girl had actually said that the boy in front of her was much stronger than she was... Yuna could only silently stare back and think, 'where did these two monsters come from?'

Magical capabilities rivaling that of a dragon and physical prowess that practically makes them superhuman, she first thought such a unique existence was only limited to one person, her pact master, Lucia, but now she found out that there was one more and an even stronger one at that.

"So...you're just like Lucia? But stronger?" Yuna asked hesitantly.

"Well... I guess you could say that. I did train her after all," the boy replied with a grin.

"..."

While Yuna turned speechless, Lucia was smiling proudly at the side.

"By the way, I hear that the dragons on Urrugdrasil are mostly those of the winged and large bodied type. If you're an Oriental Dragon like Lucia said you are, that means you have a long body like that of a serpent's, right?"

"Hm? Yes, that's exactly how I look like in my dragon form... what of it?"

"You don't happen to know anything about a place called Earth, do you?"

"Earth? What's that?"

"...never mind. Let me ask something else, the dragons on Urrugdrasil are mostly that of the winged type, so are the dragons like you rare or something?"

"Not really. In every 10 dragons, there will be at least 1-2 that are born with body features such as mine. We're not that rare. It's just we're a bit unique and after we've grown up, our kind mostly go out and live in the oceans or skies, rather than stay here on the ground."

"Ah! It's no wonder the auction house couldn't identify you!" Lucia exclaimed.

"...yeah."

"So, why are you here and not at your home Yuna?" Cecil asked.

"Well, you see. I was interested in the world as a whole. So I decided to go around traveling. I'm still young you know. I don't wanna live my life cooped up in the skies and ocean all the time."

"Ah, so you're just a wander-lust dragon then!"

"Uhmmm... adventurous is the better name!"

"Hahaha!"

"..."

"Great timing then, me and Lucia here, are planning to travel to the Midgard continent after we graduate!"

"Oh!! I lived in the skies above the Urrugdrasil Continent, so I've never seen the next continent over. Huhu~ it looks like I won't be regretting forming that pact with Lucia!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Lucia quipped after hearing Yuna.

"Ahhhh... finally I have something to look forward in this long life of mine..." Yuna happily hummed.

"Long life? How old are you Yuna?" Lucia asked, a little curious.

"Hmmm... ever since I was hatched... I'm at my 176th year!"

"1-176?!"

"...how is that... young?" Cecil asked incredulously.

"Hey! I'm still young! Don't you see that my humanoid form is close in age to you guys?! In your time scale, I'm still 17 years old! I'll soon be turning 18, but that's in another 4 years!"

"..."

"...well, whatever, I guess. You'll be sticking with us now, Yuna, but you're gonna have to wait another year or two before we set off for the Midgard Continent."

"No biggie, a year or two will pass by quickly for me~"

Cecil smiled slightly. With another member added to their party, it's going to become even more rowdy now.

"Ah! Yuna! Why don't you enroll into the academy as well? It'll be a good time killer and you won't have to wait on us when we go to class!"

"Oh? That does sound interesting."

"Right?! Then it's settled, we'll have you enroll here! We can go ask the headmaster to enroll you right away!"

Lucia quickly stood up and was just about to drag Yuna over to the headmaster, but Cecil stopped her.

"Hey, Lulu, wait a moment."

"Hm? What is it Cel?"

"Let's wait for everyone else to come back first. We still have to turn in our trial quests remember? We can talk to the headmaster then. It'd also be better for us if we introduced everyone to her before we approach the headmaster."

"Okay!"

"Wait... there's more of you?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, we have a party! We have 4 other friends with us!"

"D-Don't tell me they're all abnormally strong like you two..."

"Hahaha, no way~ they still have a long way to go before they catch up to us, but they're strong in their own right!"

"Oh...okay."