{Arthur's POV}

Arthur went outside the cavern into the setting sun. He had composed himself once more, and the sight of the horizon on this big a vantage point really helped to settle his nerves. Ignoring his goblin minions that looked to him when he stepped out, he took to the air. flight felt very peaceful. He had noticed many times, but he was focusing particularly hard on good things so his temper wouldn't flare again. The fly was Not as peaceful for the screaming elf in his left claw, but they would be fine. Arthur flew up a hundred feet before gliding slowly down the mountain, his eyes and ears open to any sound or figure below him.

He wasn't spotting anything so far, and he was sure the adventurers had seen him by now. His presence magic was wearing off the elf, who was resisting surprisingly hard for someone so high up. Arthur glided all the way down the mountain, where the elf told him their friends had waited. He didn't see anyone, as the foot of the mountain was surrounded by tall trees.

His expression grew calculating. Perhaps he could draw the others out if he threatened to drop their elf buddy here. He roared, still hovering a hundred feet off the ground. He growled out in a booming voice, "I know there are more of you. I wish to talk. If you don't come out, I will release this elf, and we will see if he survives, hmm?" He was getting good at sliding into the role of the evil dragon. There was silence, before he heard leaves crunching, coming towards him.

A human woman clad in purple robes ran out of the tree line, shouting up at Arthur, "STOP! stop. Please, your Majesty, we meant no harm!" Behind her was quickly followed by a quietly cursing dwarf and a half-orc. Arthur was holding the elf out, who seemed much more agreeable with staying still when they ran out. Satisfaction surged through his mind at his successful plan. Now, what to do with these guys? He was leaning towards just simply marching them back to town and explaining the situation to the town master, let him deal with it. Yes, he would go with that. But first, he would gather information.

Flying down to the ground, Arthur landed in front of this group, still holding on to the elf. He said to them, "I have had a very long day. Would you mind explaining why you intruded into my lair while invisible?"

The woman stuttered for a second, seemingly taken aback before weakly saying, "We were investigating.. you?" He fought the urge to roll his eyes. The dwarf looked sheepish, and the half-orc seemed to be sizing him up. The elf was silent, not moving within Arthur's grasp.

"As I have stated before to the town master of Mirfield, I wish no harm to come to the town or its populace. I took a quest there because I needed money and spell scrolls. you have INTRUDED...intruded on my lair. What will happen now is we will go to town and you all will explain what you did to the town master." Arthur felt a wave of anger roll over his mind when he said intruded, which he stamped down quickly. He wasn't this angry usually, he was noticing more and more that he would get spikes of anger he wouldn't normally be angry about. He chalked it up to him being a red dragon. He hoped these changes wouldn't grow as he stayed in this world.

The woman seemed flustered, blurting out, "But you took a slave! Why are you acting peacefully?!" She seemed to realize what she said a moment after saying it, looking fearfully at Arthur. He took a slave? When did he do that? It donned on him that they must be talking about Alek.

With a snort of smoke, Arthur said, "I did no such thing. Alek came with me willingly, and I even asked if he would like to be flown to another town. He refused and came with me to my lair. Now that that is clear, we are heading to the town, right now." He growled the last bit to get the point across. He started to walk forward, to which the group immediately backed up. The half-orc however did not.

"Turn around and start walking to town," he said to the orc, who was stubbornly not moving. The woman said to the orc to not do this, but the orc ignored them, staring daggers at Arthur, and growled out, "Let the elf go." He was slightly impressed this half-orc would stand up to him, they must be very brave. Or stupid.

"You have no right to tell me what to do. I will hold this elf to make sure you don't run and avoid the consequences." The orc seemed to ponder his words before spitting out, "Fine." and turned around briskly and started walking. The three of them seemed to get into a whisper fight, which he didn't bother listening into. Arthur and the nervous group, excluding the orc, walked to town, the trip itself taking fifteen minutes. They were quite fast, whether that was how they normally were or because of Arthur, he didn't know.

He once more saw guards scramble down their watchtowers, disappearing out of sight. "Wait at the gate." He said to them, releasing the elf. The elf stretched when he walked hastily over to his group, groaning. The dwarf seemed to cast magic, making the elf's expression relax. The elf nodded to them and said his thanks. Arthur saw the town master hustling once more to the gate, followed by a guard. How many times would he see that sight today?

The town master stopped at the gate and said, "Welcome back, Arthur! Erhm, what is the meaning of this?" He gestured to the adventurers. Arthur nodded his head in greeting and stated to him,

"These people planned and trespassed into my lair, while under the invisibility spell. They claim to be adventurers, 'investigating' me. I decided to leave them in your care." The town master was silent for a moment, staring at the sheepish-looking adventurers. The town master spoke up and asked,

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Is this true?" To the adventurers. The dwarf spoke up and muttered, "Aye. We thought the dragon had taken a slave, but we were proved wrong." The town master nodded at the dwarf's words. He spoke up to Arthur and said,

"Thank you for not slaying them, Arthur. I'm sure this was just a misunderstanding." Arthur nodded towards him saying with finality, "I would not kill for such a simple blunder. If that is all, I will take my leave." He took flight, leaving a waving town master behind. Arthur didn't feel like sticking around long, as it would only grow awkward. The town master could deal with it readily enough. As he was flying back to the mountain, Arthur was struck with a sudden pang of hunger from his stomach. Oh yeah, Arthur hadn't eaten since coming to this world. He veered off to the forest, looking down for his first meal since coming here. He glided down to get closer to the trees, slowing and taking in a deep sniff to see if he caught any scents. Arthur stopped and hovered in the air, getting a faint scent of an animal.

He headed down to the ground, following the scent. He plodded along, not trying to be too stealthy, as that was basically impossible in an open forest for him. The scent grew stronger as he approached a small cave, the ground littered with bones. It was almost overwhelming here, and as he peered into the dark cave he spotted a large brown bear that was rising from its prone position to stare at Arthur. It let out an involuntary whimper as he reached out to grab it, trying to run deeper inside the cave. It was too slow, Arthur dragging it out and slicing its throat to quickly put it out of his misery. He felt satisfaction at the easy and quick hunt.

The waft of blood that came out from the bear's dead body smelled absolutely delicious, Arthur almost taking a bite right there and then. He stopped himself, as he wanted to bring it back to his lair first before eating it. As he dug his claws into its body to better secure it while flying Arthur noticed an Elf suddenly standing above the cave. This Elven man was wearing a cloak that seemed to be made out of the forest itself, as green as moss. Their eyes were glowing with no pupils, and he carried some sort of gnarled staff.

Arthur turned to them fully, unhooking his claws out of the bear. The Elven man leaned on his staff and said in an echoey voice, "Hello, dragon. That bear you killed was saved by me as a cub, you know." Arthur blinked twice at his words saying hesitantly,

"Oh, I apologize. I was hungry and just-" He was interrupted by the half-elf Arthur realized on closer inspection, waving his hand and saying airily in his echoey voice, "Such is the way of life. That bear lived for many years, already passing on his generation. I felt its presence vanish rather suddenly so I came here to check what was up. And to my surprise, it is the new dragon who just moved in. I and the forest have been watching you for a while now, you know." He says wryly. "At first we were rallying to combat you, but you have proven yourself peaceful, exceeding all my expectations. I welcome you to my forest." He smiled and bowed slightly.

Arthur spoke up after a moment and said, "Thank you. I do not plan on starting fires as my kind usually does. I simply wish to live in that mountain, and I appreciate the welcome." The elf nodded again and said,

"That is all. I understand you are hungry and your minions seem to have no idea where you've gone, so I will leave you to your business now." The half-elf walks away out of sight and simply vanishes in a puff of leaves. Huh. Did he just meet some sort of powerful druid? He would definitely remember this.

He set out with his food, flying back at a moderate speed to his mountain. Once he reached his lair he could see multiple figures looking up at him, bugbears and Alek included. When he landed a bugbear approached and said to him, "I was about to send a squadron of bugbears to go to town when we saw ya flying back." Arthur nodded and explained to them,

"My lair was intruded upon by adventurers, but I resolved it peacefully. I also stopped on the way to get food for myself." He directed this towards Alek and the bugbear leader, and Alek spoke up and said,

"The bugbears managed to get a good haul on a pack of wolves, so I think we're fine on food. And looking at the sun, it's going to be night in less than half an hour. What should we do?" Arthur pondered for a moment. All of his minions had worked hard for him today, no matter if they were bugbears or goblins. The camp was looking really good, and at this moment there were even patrolling goblins. He decided to reward this long day with a big feast. A shame they didn't have ale, and Arthur didn't feel like going over to town again, It would be too awkward. But this would be a good break nonetheless.

"Let us have a feast tonight. Make a big fire and cook all of the meat. I expect every goblin and bugbear to attend." The goblins let out whoops of happiness, and the bugbears cheered. Alek had a big grin on his face. Arthur helped with the wood gathering, snapping smaller trees by applying his weight to them. In just fifteen minutes the whole group had collected a good amount of firewood that would easily last the night. Arthur dug a 5 foot by 8-foot pit which his minions placed the wood in. The bugbears gutted, skinned, and cleaned the bodies of eight wolves and the bear Arthur killed. There was also a big grub-looking creature which the goblins seemed excited about.

They used wooden spears like you would a marshmallow over a fire, sticking big pieces of meat directly over the fire. Everyone here could eat the meat raw just fine, except Maybe for Alek, so it would be fine if they weren't perfectly cooked. It just added flavor is mostly why Arthur decided to roast them, and because him being human all his life he naturally felt he needed to cook the meat. His dragon side seemed to appreciate the sizzling meat smell as well he found. Better not look too into that.

When it finally turned fully night, the meat had been cooking for long enough and Arthur gave the go-ahead to his minions. Arthur had most of the bear meat to himself, but he shared an equal amount out to the bugbears. The goblins seemed content with the raw bug and cooked wolf meat it seemed. When he finally took a bite, it was delicious. He savored every chew, struggling not to make sounds of approval. The goblins were messy, and the bugbears ate fast. Alek seemed the only one taking it slow, chewing normally.

The feast lasted a few hours into the night, after which Arthur ordered everyone to sleep, and a select few to stand guard the rest of the night. He himself secluded back into his cavern, resting his head on the gold as if it were a pillow. He sighed and closed his eyes, dreaming for the first time in his new body...