Amelia handed me a mug.

“Thanks.” I said accepting it. She smiled in response.

The heat of the mug soaked into my hand. I was pretty resistant to the cold but the warmth it gave felt surprisingly good.

Amelia yawned stretching her arms up.

“I’m going to bed, you guys should get some sleep as well,” she said. “It’s best we leave early so that we can get plenty of daylight. Trust me, you don’t want to fight a dragon at night.” she said half jokingly but only half.

Wulf grunted in response.

I nodded. “I’ll head of to sleep soon.”

Amelia curled up in a pile of furs against the wall and was soon fast asleep.

I took another sip of the liquid.

Wulf was bent over the table examining papers. His eyes fixated in front of him. It was clear to me that he didn’t reach an S-Class rank through just luck or god-given talent. He had worked his way up.

Light glinted on his face. I had never noticed it before but a long thin scar ran down the right side of his face. The scar’s luster blended It curled from his eyebrows down to his chin. I thought back to what Edith had said at the orphanage.

“Many of the children here including Wulf were experimented on in the holy empire. They were deemed failures and cast aside to die.”

“Hey Wulf,” I asked to my surprise. “Why did you become an adventurer,”

To my further surprise Wulf responded.

“To become strong,” he said not looking up.

“ That was my main reason,” He went on. “Edith probably told you but I was born in the holy empire. My parents sold me off because they had too many mouths to feed. I was cast aside after my experimentations. I escaped to Ariadne and on my way-”

Wulf’s words had halted mid sentence. One of his fists was tightly clenched, it was shaking slightly from the exertion.

He continued after taking a moment to collect himself.

“I came to realise that strength is the only thing that matters in this world, there was no other path for me than to become an adventurer. My travels took me out of Ariadne but I came back around a month ago, I hadn’t been here for years. I never thought I would come back to be honest. But when the Holy Empire attacked I had no choice.”

I froze mid sip. He didn’t mean . . .

“ I thought I left my revenge in the past but I still had things I cared about. The heroes!” spat Wulf. “They attacked us in the name of god. Killed, pillaged, burnt families to the ground. It was then I made up my mind. I would kill every last one of those heroes. ”

“I’ve heard the heroe are summoned from another world, don’t you think they might be manipulated by the empire, is it really their fault?” I said.

“Maybe so but they undoubtably have blood on their hands. And the only sure fire way to protect what’s important to me and avenge the lost lives is to end them once and for all.”

With those words he turned back to the desk.

His words drifted in and out of my consciousness as I fell asleep.

…

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

We woke up as the sun was rising. We trudged through the snow until we were at the foot of a cliff. Above our heads was a large opening. We had made it to the dragon’s nest.He had carried the heavy object all the way here from the hideout. It’s not that I had expected anything else but I was still surprised nonetheless. Wulf, Amelia and I nodded at each other in understanding. Wulf lowered the contraption onto the ground just under the cave-opening. It thudded into the ground.

“Ready,” said Wulf.

“Ready,” said Amelia and I.

Wulf smashed a hand into the side of the mountain. With a roar the dragon flew out of the cave. In the moment were the dragon cleared the entrance the contraption launched hooked chains at it, the metal squealing against itself as it shot into the air. It wrapped itself around the wings of the dragon tightly binding it. The dragon fell out of the sky.

Wulf pounced on top of it, pummeling its hard scales.

It opened its mouth firing a blazing inferno at Amelia. I stepped forward creating a wall of air. A wall of air might have been the wrong description. It would be more accurate to call it a wall free of air. By manipulating the air to flow to the side of me it created an area with low oxygen. By manipulating the extra air I could theoretically divert the fire to were I pleased. The flames split in front of me and surged out at my sides.

“Thanks for the help!” said Amelia.

“No problem,” I responded. Wulf wrapped his arms around the reptiles neck. Wrenching the creature’s face away from us.

It rolled over grinding Wulf into the ground. The chains strained as they wrapped themselves tight around the dragon. The dragon heaved and grunted against it. I heard the unmistakable crack of metal. The dragon shot forward as the chain-link broke. It pivoted of the ground and leapt into the air to escape.

“Amelia!” shouted Wulf.

Icicles formed around the dragon’s feet. They grew larger and larger weighing the creature down. It wasn’t enough though as the dragon was still able to get away although it was significantly slowed.

It disappeared into the distance.

“Dammit!” shouted Wulf, smashing his hand into the ground.

“We were so close,” he said with a frustrated groan.

What happens now?” I asked Amelia.

“We’ll probably have to go back to Ariadne for repairs,” she responded.

…

We went back to Ariadne after that. Without the machine there was nothing more we could do.

I don’t feel much regret or frustration to be honest. I feel like I’ve been distant for a while. I have been wandering aimlessly maybe just trying to forget. Ariadne has a central wall around the outside made of large stones that forms pillars that are almost ornamental. Cobblestone houses line the streets. After splitting up I spent the rest of my day lounging around in my room at the inn. The next day I thought it would be a good idea for me to go outside and get some fresh air. That and there was something or rather someone that I wanted to check on.

The spires of the church were the first sign that I was close.

I neared the gates of the orphanage. I knocked on the door. I heard footsteps approach the door.

To my surprise it was Amelia that greeted me at the door.

“Hello sebastian!” she said. “ Fancy seeing you here.”

“Yeah,” I nodded. ““What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Oh, I help out every now and then, the orphanage needs as much help as it can get,” she said.

“Anyways, come in, come in!” she said ushering me in. I said hello to Edith who was in the kitchen while Amelia led me in.

To my surprise there weren’t any of the children around.

“What happened to the kids that are here?” I asked Amelia.

“Oh yeah, they’re outside right now, probably delivering packages,” she said.

“Packages?” I asked.

“Funding has always been low so in order to get money the children help around by doing odd jobs like delivering packages,” She explained.

“I see,” I said.

Just then I heard a knock on the door.

“That’s probably then!” Said Amelia. The door opened and out flooded several children.

“We’re back!” they shouted.

“Oh, it’s him!” they exclaimed when they saw me.

I waved politely to them.

I felt a tug on my sleeve. I looked down. It was the girl that I had rescued from the Aicrons on my previous quest. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her. She smiled back at me.

“She seems to have taken a liking to you,” said Amelia. “She doesn’t really interact with anyone,” she went on.

I nodded.

“When are we making the candy?” asked one of the boys.

“Right about now,” said Edith from the kitchen.

“well , I should get going,” I said.

“Wait, are you sure you can’t stay, it’ll be fun?” said Amelia.

My only goal was to see EmmaI hadn’t really planned to do anything after so I guess I had the time.

“I guess I can stay,” I said.

“Yay!” shouted the children.