Late Afternoon - Early Summer : Bahamut Estate

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- Chloe ~

My name is Chloe, a pale-pink-scaled dragon from southwestern Bahamut.

Around 20 years ago, a couple years after I hatched, my parents were caught in an extremely bad situation with accumulating debts and ended up having to sell me off.

Thankfully, I was still far too young to become a slave, so I was instead sold to a noble family to be a general-purpose servant. At the time, I had no idea what was happening, and although I was told it was the Ragnarok Family, I simply didn’t know who they were or what to expect.

It wasn’t until several years later, once I was nearing finishing my maid training in Emporio, that I finally learned about them.

During my lessons, I would always overhear the other young maids talking about me behind my back and mentioning the fact I was to serve the Ragnaroks, but looking back now, I’m certain some of it was jealousy.

-I still remember not believing myself when I first learned about their history…- After all, what were the chances that an orphan sold into servitude would be picked up by such a well-known family with bottomless wealth and influence. -Even now, I wonder who I should thank for this blessed fate…-

A few years after that, not long after I turned 13, I had my adolescent dragon sleep and awakened my mana.

With three attribute nodes, all with great affinities, and a large mana reserve, I was told that I would be destined to become a great knight, but before I could turn them away, they returned saying I had a condition known as Stage 2 Mana Insensitivity. In short, it meant that I had an extremely low sensitivity to mana, which would make controlling my magic extremely difficult.

The next and final class I was to take was a mana training class, where I would be taught some basic spells, including transformation magic, but this three-month class took me two years.

It was a real pain, but eventually, I managed to pass the final test with just above the minimum requirements.

But that didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was that I could finally leave the academy and head to the estate I would work and live at for many years to come.

It wasn’t actually until I arrived that I started to get anxious.

I remember thinking to myself, 'How could people live in such a huge estate,' but to my surprise, after getting used to the layout, it no longer felt that big and eventually even felt cozy.

The next few years were absolutely incredible. Although the Ragnaroks weren't actually in the estate, we still kept the entire building spotless and practiced constantly to be able to handle emergencies and take care of them once they arrived.

But then, one day, we got caught off guard by an unexpected visitor. Her name was Asimi Ragnarok, an absolutely gorgeous white dragon with an aura so strong I could feel it without even trying.

She was only around for a couple hours, but she came to let us know that her daughter would be coming soon, and since then, we had been making sure everything was perfect. In all honesty, everyone, including myself, was super excited.

Last night however, I was sent out to Emporio to change our order of food and supplies because something was wrong with it but it ended up taking much longer than expected.

The merchants made a big deal about it since they already sent a group out to retrieve the incorrect part of the order, but a day and nearly 20 gold later, I finally got it worked out.

At current, I was on my way back to the estate, curiously wondering what the Ragnarok family would be like, and trying to suppress my nervousness about putting my years of practice into action.

My heart was beating quickly with excitement, but I needed to calm down. "Hooh…" -I shouldn't be so nervous...-

Continuing to fly for several more minutes, the estate finally started coming into sight.

But something was very wrong. -W..what.. happened?-

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My heart sank as I saw the massive doors to the estate broken and lying on the ground surrounded by rubble, but as I got closer, I noticed there were knights still at their posts all around the outer wall.

-It doesn’t look like someone attacked the estate, so.. what happened?- Quickly picking up the pace, I flew down and landed at the gate.

"Identification please."

I quickly held up my front right leg, which had a metal band around it with a white dragon insignia on it.

The unfamiliar knight took a short moment to look at it before nodding and opening the gate. "Thank you; you may enter."

-Where is Alistair?- Quickly making my way inside, I changed to my humanoid form and went inside through the gaping hole in the estate where the door used to be.

"Ah, you have made it back, Chloe."

Immediately turning to the voice, I saw Galen, the old head butler of the estate looking at me. "Yes, I got the order fixed as Antonia instructed." -He never talks to me.. did something happen to Antonia?-

"Great, we need all hands on deck currently. You said you could resist aura well, correct?"

"Yes, I have pretty extreme mana insensitivity."

"Right, well, let's hope you can handle it…" He gave me a slightly nervous look before continuing. "I need you to go to the son's room and check on him. Everyone I've sent to check on him, including myself, can't handle his aura, and it's becoming quite a troublesome situation... His name is Vasilias Ragnarok, in room 2."

-Even you couldn’t handle it?!- I immediately tensed up, but without giving it much more thought, I gave another maid my things and got ready to head down the hall, not knowing what to expect.

Thankfully Galen noticed that. "Chloe, please wait a moment."

"Sorry, sir." I instinctively bowed and apologized from habit.

"Some important information before you go; when he was a newborn, he touched an artifact that changed him in.. a few ways. He also has a pet Fenrir, so be careful. Just please keep in mind that he is a Ragnarok."

-What does that mean?- "Yes, sir." Deciding not to question it, I gave a light bow and started making my way down the hall.

As I was walking though, my mind started to wander. -Why did Galen look so flustered..-

He was a normally emotionless man I could never understand, but seeing him so stressed was a little nerve-wracking.

"Hooh.." -I'm sure it will be fine..-

Quickly making it to the door, I took in a deep breath and gripped the handle of the human-sized maid’s entrance door. -I’m sure it’s alright… I got this!- With a little pep talk, I finally pushed in the lock and opened the door.

*Click* *VWOOOOM*

As soon as I opened the door, a wave of aura washed over me, unlike anything I had ever felt before.

I tried to remain calm, but the simply unfathomable amount of mana was indescribably suffocating and made me pale almost immediately.

-But.. It’s nothing.. I can’t handle…- Slowly taking a moment to try and get used to it, I stood in the open door for nearly a minute before finally walking inside.

At the center of the room was the familiar stone platform, but on it was some kind of cloth-covered cushion with a massive black dragon laying on it.

The dragon itself had void-like black scales, but wrapped all around it was a dark fog that seemed to replicate the night sky.

-How.. beautiful…- I can’t even remember how long I stood there and stared, but after what only felt like an instant, I felt a strong wind blow past me from behind.

*Sniff*

-Was that.. a.. breath?- My whole body tensed up to the point that I couldn’t move. -Am I.. dead?- *Sniff*

But after the second breath, it stopped. -Is it.. done?-

Before I could think of an answer to that question though, a massive, pure white fenrir with shiny golden irises casually stepped over me.

It moved across the room in an instant before walking up onto the stone pad and jumping into the middle to be completely encompassed by the dragon laying there.

-W..what the hell…- I couldn’t do anything but stand there, completely stunned, as questions ripped through my mind. But after what felt like a few minutes passed, I eventually managed to make my way back outside, slowly and quietly so as to not wake him. *click*

*thump* The moment the door closed, I fell to my knees with shaky legs and felt out of breath. "Hah… Hah…"

"You’re out! Are you alright?" A young friend of mine ran over to me almost immediately. "He didn’t do anything bad to you, did he?"

"Huh?" I gave her a confused look. "N..no, he was asleep…"

"Huh?" She immediately turned troubled. "Then what were you doing in there for three hours?"

I immediately tensed up. -W..what?- Looking back toward the door, I started to question everything even more. -There’s no way…-

"Chloe, are you alright?" She quickly squatted next to me with a worried look.

"Y..yeah… I.. think…" I had never doubted what I saw so much in my life.

"If he was asleep.. what were you doing in there for so long? If he did something to you, please tell me…"

"I.. don’t know what I did… I just.. stood there and stared…" I felt truly embarrassed, but as I looked toward the door, I wanted to go back inside.

Although his aura was horrifically overbearing at first, after a while, it caused this mind-numbing silence and comfort to overtake my mind.

It was a blissful sensation that sat at the forefront of my mind.. and without even realizing it.. I wanted to feel it again. "Do you think.. I could be his personal maid?"