My journey in dragon taming began with a quick visit to a pet shop in the outer parts of the city. I was, subsequently, thrown out of said pet shop for bringing a “terribly dangerous” creature into it. The guards were called. I had to slip away from them by jumping across rooftops like some sort of ninja. All the while Huggs continued to bite me at every opportunity. He was certainly tenacious. I could only imagine his inner monologue. He’s probably thinking things like, ‘Villain, release me! I am a terrible and frightening dragon!’

I couldn’t resist hugging him. His name was very appropriate. It’s unfortunate I can’t let him hug other people yet. I’ll need to officially tame him first so I can guarantee he won't bite. Not everyone has skin as tough as me. I’ll need to do research to see how big he’ll grow, too. It would suck to buy him cute outfits only to have him outgrow them in a year.

After wandering a bit more I finally found one of the few grooming businesses. The store building was, unlike the majority of the city, made of wood. The siding was old and gray, and the windows looked ready to shatter at the slightest wind. I could hear the sound of dog barks coming from out back. There seemed to be a full sized yard.

I entered the building, causing a small bell to ring, and I was immediately greeted by shelves upon shelves of collars, leashes, and chew toys. Not to mention a terrible cacophony of animal noises. Birds in cages lined one wall, cats in wooden kennels lined another, and a pen full of romping puppies was in the middle of the room. It took a lot of my strength to resist diving into the puppy pit. My resolve was genuinely tested at that moment.

“Hello! Did someone come in?” Called a woman’s voice from out of sight. I couldn’t pin it, but her voice sounded familiar. When the woman walked into view, though, I recognized her immediately. It was Melanie, better known as Mel! She was the quiet girl who was always hanging out with her gangster friend Sell at the Academy.

“Calliope?” Melanie stopped. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m trying to tame this guy,” I said as I held up Mr. Hugglesworth.

“That’s a Lime Dragon!”

“So I’ve been told.”

“Where did you find a Lime Dragon? They aren’t even native to Gransus. You’d have to cross the ocean past the Heaven’s Desert to get to their native land.”

Oh? I had been to the Heaven’s Desert before in order to level up, but I hadn’t gone beyond it. If I recall, I remember being told before that there was an ocean that way… Oh right, when I threw the crumpled up metal practice dummy!

“Are they native to an island or another continent?” I asked.

“They’re native to the Eastern Continent Calci. In the northern parts of the Calci continent there’s a terrible poison swamp where Lime Dragons and their subsequent evolutions live.”

I looked down at the adorable dragon furiously biting my arm. “You’re a long ways from home, aren’t you little guy…”

“Lime Dragons are really venomous, are you going to be okay with him biting you like that…”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. He can’t break my skin, at the moment, and even if he could I doubt his venom would be strong enough to hurt me. You of all people know what I’m capable of, Mel.” I said.

“Yeah, still… It’s just a bit strange seeing something as dangerous as this treated like a pet.”

“Oh, that reminds me. You’ve never met my other tamed beast, Sandy. If you want I can take her out of storage,” I looked around the store for a moment, “Not inside here though, there’s not enough room and she’d probably do something stupid.”

“Too big for inside… Calliope, what kind of monster is Sandy?”

“She’s just a simple Omega Hound,” I replied nonchalantly. Mel, of course, froze stiff. Her face got really pale.

“Y-you don’t need to show me! How about I just help you out with your Lime Dragon needs and you can be on your way instead!” Said Mel in a rush.

“Ah,” I sighed, “Okay. I need a leash, some treats he might like, a really rugged collar, and any information you have on his species.”

Mel set about her work rather quickly. To be honest, this was the most I’ve heard her talk since I met her. She was usually overshadowed by Sell’s more outgoing personality. I enjoyed seeing her a bit more relaxed and open.

Melanie quickly picked out a pink collar and leash, as well as a temporary muzzle. I refused to put the muzzle on Huggs, though. That just seemed cruel to me.

She also brought a large tub of meat flavored snacks for reptile pets. It seems taming dragons isn’t that unpopular, since they have the supplies for it. Unfortunately she didn’t have any handbooks on raising them.

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

What came next had to be my greatest challenge since coming to this world… Getting the collar on Mr. Hugglesworth. He bit me, he squirmed away, he tried to break the collar itself, and he even tried to hide in one of the cat towers in the shop. I’ve wrestled with Sandy, fought hordes of undead, and slayed World Dragons; but I’ve never encountered a beast as tenacious as Huggs.

After a solid twenty minutes of cat and mouse games, I managed to get the damned band over his face and onto his neck. The hardest part about it all was making sure I didn’t accidentally hurt him in the process. He was very young and, compared to me, terribly weak. One wrong slip and I could end up hurting him! This amplified the difficulty of the situation by a factor of ten at least.

With the collar and leash on him, I collapsed to the floor of the shop in exasperation. He was gnawing on my leg with all his tiny might. His high pitched growls made me laugh.

“Um, Calliope.” Mel peeked around one of the shelves. “I don’t mean to be rude, but could you take your Lime Dragon out of the store now?”

“Ah, it’s fine, Mel. I understand. He’s actually quite dangerous to you and the other animals here.” I stood up with a smile. “Thanks for the help, Mel. How much do I owe you?”

“Just 5 copper chips.”

I took a gold chip from my storage and flipped it to her. Her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head.

“Th-this…” She started, but I ran out the front door before she could finish saying anything.

“Thanks for the help!” I called as I left.

Huggs was still wrapped around my left leg, biting with all his might. He really didn’t like me. I thought young animals were supposed to be easy to get along with… I remember people saying puppies would warm up to you within an hour at most. It didn’t take long for Sandy to respect me. Maybe it was a racial trait of Lime Dragons?

I searched the memories I possessed of all the dragon souls I had within me, but I never found anything about obstinate children… In fact, it seems most dragon children were terribly complacent. It had to be something specific to Lime Dragons, then, or perhaps it was something specific to Huggs himself. It was a shame he was too young to speak the Ancient Dragon Language. I was now quite fluent in it after ascending.

Still, I’d finally had enough of Huggs bad behavior. It was time to begin the dragon training!

I carried Huggs outside of the city, being careful not to attract attention, and I came upon a glade several miles from the northern gate. I peeled Huggs off my leg and set him on the ground in front of me. I crossed my arms and met his eyes. He tilted his head to the side in confusion. I resisted the urge to hug him. Now was the time for training. I needed to become steel!

“Mr. Hugglesworth, sit!” I commanded in a loud tone. The dragon didn’t react. He just tilted his head in the opposite direction.

I pulled one of the treats Mel had sold me and tossed it to Huggs. He took one whiff and immediately dove on it, devouring the treat whole.

I took a second treat out from storage. Huggs immediately started yipping and chirping while looking at it. It was clear he wanted it.

“Sit.” I commanded while using my free hand to push his tiny dragon butt towards the ground. He resisted me and instead tried to climb up to steal the treat from my hand.

“No,” I reprimanded, “sit, Huggs.”

This pattern repeated for a solid twenty minutes. Occasionally Huggs would start to grow disinterested and I’d give him a treat or two to keep his energy up.

At the twentieth minute, after numerous attempts, we finally succeeded.

“Sit,” I commanded. Huggs followed the order. A sudden surge of mana began to leave my body. I could feel my soul being manipulated. It was being intertwined with the soul of the tiny dragon in front of me. I hadn’t noticed it before with Sandy, but the act of taming was more than just forcing an animal or monster to obey you… It was a bond. It was a bond set in the soul itself.

Huggs seemed overawed for a moment. He looked up at me and, in his eyes, I could see a deep respect. During the bonding process, it seems Huggs had come to understand my true strength.

I finally gave in to his adorableness and wrapped him up in an epic hug. He flailed about, trying to get free, and started biting at my ears. It would seem that the aptly named Mr. Hugglesworth hated being hugged. It was such a shame that he had been tamed by me, then… A terrible smile spread across my face as I nuzzled my little dragon.

He was not happy. It was so adorable!