As I’m walking through the woods, I find myself frustrated by the fog covering the terrain, which is definitely limiting my sight.

It occurs to me that evening is approaching fast, and that is when the wolves come out to hunt. And just like that, I’m now anxious. To my surprise, I feel like I can recognize most of the area around me, and I don't think I would get lost as easily anymore.

I try to pay attention to the smells around me, but they’re not as clear as they used to be, made even worse by the moisture from the fog. Geez, this magic depletion is no joke. All my senses are weakened.

I sniff the air, hoping to pick up Raya's trail, but I'm not having much luck. I’m starting to think that finding Raya is gonna be a bigger task than I initially thought.

I’m just gonna have to press on. If she’s out here after dark, she could be in some real trouble. Especially now that I can hear the wolves howling. And from the sounds of howling, one is quite close by. Those bastards are in my territory again!

Quickening my pace, I make my way toward the source of the howling. As soon as I spot the wolf, I attack. I’m not making the mistake of giving it a chance to call for help this time.

Somehow it hasn’t heard me approach, so I lunge at it, managing to latch onto its neck. To my surprise, victory comes easily as my teeth sink into the flesh of the wolf. I focus on clamping my jaws shut and I hear a snap. The feeling of the wolf's neck snapping under my assault fills me with thrilling exhilaration.

I let go of the wolf's neck and it drops to the ground. I look at the invader and hunger fills my mind. I feast on the corpse, refusing to let this meal go to waste.

Once I finish chowing down, I feel my senses growing stronger again, not where they used to be, but definitely stronger. The obvious conclusion is that I need to eat to keep my magic going. I can't say I mind that development.

Now that I've taken care of the wolf, I’m ready to look for Raya again. I feel anxiety returning as I think about her safety. Instead of focusing on that, I redirect my thoughts and try to come up with a plan. I could go deeper into the forest, head for my lake, or return to Tuiran.

I think I'm going to split the difference and move in a large arch ending at my lake. Who's to say I won't stumble upon more invaders.

As I move through the forest, I begin to find myself frustrated at the lack of progress. I'm not picking up her scent at all. I need to get a better look at this situation, so I'm going to just head directly toward my lake. Flying shouldn't be a problem with the magic I received from the wolf.

It feels good to actually know how to get places without getting lost all the time. The trip to my lake is far quicker than I'm used to, but it still takes longer than I want it to.

As soon as I reach my lake, I take off and I really shouldn't just fly around aimlessly. The fog would make it near impossible to spot Raya from the air. So I return to the gate guard to ask if he has seen Raya since I left. And to my surprise, he has something to say on the subject. “Yeah, she got back a short while after you left.” Oh, well. Guess I didn’t need to worry.

I’m still gonna look for her, but now my search area has changed and narrowed down! It’ll be super easy to find her now.

I bid the guard goodnight and make my way to Raya’s place.

As soon as I arrive, I knock very gently on the door. I didn’t even hear anything crash on the other side of the wall, so I’d say I’m getting very good at knocking.

Not that my improved skills are being recognized by Jeannie, she’s just screaming and collapsing again. I thought we were buddies after the flying and whatnot! So rude.

“Hey Kira!” Heya Raya! Since I’m very considerate, I make sure to ask her if Jeannie is okay, but Raya just shrugs and says, 'probably.'

I’m sure she’ll be fine. This time I’m definitely not at fault. Woo! Point to Kira!

“So, what’s up, Kira?” Oh, I don’t actually know. I didn’t have much of a plan outside of just finding Raya. I guess I just wanted her company.

“Come on, you overgrown lizard.” Now she’s giggling at me! The disrespect! “We’ll stop by a butcher and pick up some food, then the three of us can go to the forest's edge and cook some food."

That sounds like a magnificent plan! Oh! I’m gonna ask where they found all that leather for the flying.

Maybe I can even convince someone to create a satchel for me.

Raya seems to think for a moment as she stares at me. “Yeah, that might be a good idea. There’s a leathersmith on the way to the butcher, so we can see if they’re still open.” Excellent! My dreams of owning stuff may just come to fruition!

I haven’t actually looked much at the buildings around here, but most of them seem to be two or three stories tall and built for goblins. I guess it must be easier to have multiple stories when your people are very short.

Now that I’m looking at them, the buildings all have small differences and markings, so I ask Raya why that is. “Oh, that. Now that you mention it, I guess you wouldn't know about them.” Then she points to some markings on the side of a building.

“This first mark tells you what the place is used for, so here you have a red square, two lines, and a dot. The square tells us we’re in a crafting district and the red color means products from hunting.” Huh, that’s neat.

“And the lines and dots indicate how many buildings we are from the town square.”

What?! I could have found my way around that easily?! No one taught me that… I’m definitely gonna have to learn more about this direction sorcery.

We continue walking, and she starts telling me more about this stuff.

“So there’s one dot per building, and one line per four dots. But if you notice the lines, they’re thicker at one end than the other, that indicates whether they’re coming from the north, east, south, or west. So this one has two lines and three dots, which tells us that we’re eleven buildings southwest of the town square.”

Why can’t they just use house numbers and street names? Then I’d at least know what to look for.

“You should also know that a circle means people live there, but it probably won’t have a color. And a triangle means you’re in a business district. Well, maybe not you, you don’t fit into buildings.” Rude! I might just write a strongly worded letter to Turo and get this town updated for my needs.

Thinking about the markings, it occurs to me that I would probably consider crafting professions a business. So that seems confusing, but I guess the locals know what they’re doing.

“Next time you’re at Joras’ shop, you might notice a green triangle, the triangle means he’s in a shopping district, and the green color means he sells herbs and things made from herbs.” Huh… Never noticed that. But I'm pretty sure that's an example of a crafting profession being a business. This is confusing.

“So what kind of building is this?” Dang it, we’re doing quiz time now? Hm… It has a red square, so that was the first thing she mentioned. Hunting materials and crafting! I feel fairly confident that I’m correct about that, so that’s what I go with. For extra credit, I add in that we’re nineteen buildings from the square.

“Yeah! And even though this isn’t in a shopping district, we can still buy things here. The craftspeople usually bring their finished goods to a shop in a shopping district. That way, we keep jobs like tanning away from clothiers and the like.” That seems like a good idea, but I’d also imagine it brings a lot more demand in logistics.

Shortly after she finishes that sentence, she enters the building, I hear her mention needing a satchel for her friend, and a moment later, she’s back with a larger and muscular goblin in tow.

He’s quick to look me over. “Hm… Could do it... Gonna need measurements…” Oh! That’s promising! I might finally get some carrying capacity!

I almost get lost in thought thinking about all the trinkets and stuff I would be able to carry in a bag, but no time for that. This craftsman is already measuring me up and it isn’t comfortable.

I let out a growl before realizing it, but he doesn’t seem fazed at all. Instead, he just continues touching me and saying ‘hmm…’

“Can you touch your shoulder with your snout?” Weird question, but yes, I can. I just show him instead of answering, which earns another ‘hmm…’

“Day after tomorrow I’ll have it done.” That is fast. Geez…

Raya slips him a piece of wood, so I ask what it is. “Oh, it’s a token from Turo. I’m supposed to give them to anyone working or trading with you, then he takes care of the cost, so we don’t have to worry about it.” That’s very nice of him.

We leave the craftsman’s place and continue onward. A few buildings further down, there’s a butcher, and we’re getting closer. I can smell the delicious scents wafting our way.

“Hey! Watch the drool, Kira!” Oh, sorry Raya.

We make short work of the last stretch of road, and we’re finally at the butcher’s place. Once again, Raya is the one handling the talking, so I sit down and wait patiently outside. This time it takes longer, so I have a look around at the nearby buildings, and the symbols Raya mentioned are very consistent.

According to these, we are still in a crafting district and twenty-three buildings from the square.

As soon as I hear the door open, I get up and see Raya carrying a bunch of meat and an older goblin following her. “Could you lie down, Kira?”

Okay, but why… Turns out the why is so she can impale the meat on my spines. And just like that, my carrying capacity has been increased, but not the way I wanted!

I look at the butcher, and she’s grinning from ear to ear. She seems very happy, which I assume is because we're buying a lot of meat. Raya gives the butcher a token. And then we’re off. I’m curious how much meat I’m loaded up with, but who cares, it’ll be eaten soon anyway!

As we make it to the western gate, the guard notices us approaching and gives us a curious look. “Is all that meat for baiting wolves or something?”

That is not a bad idea… I might have to try that. Raya is quick to inform the two guards that we’re gonna grill it and the three of us are going to enjoy an evening together.

Wait, three? I look around and there's Jeannie! Has she been here the entire time? Geez, that's rude of me... I kinda wanna ask if I overlooked her, but that seems like a very easy way to embarrass myself.

“Can we join? It sounds like fun.” I don’t mind, but Jeannie looks apprehensive, which is what she normally looks like, as far as I know.

“Okay, but you’re in charge of fetching firewood.” Hah! Nice one, Raya. We don’t actually make it to the woods. Instead, we’re sitting some distance from the gate, about where I met Charo for the first time, actually. Seems appropriate to create some good memories here.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

As we settle down, I look over at the guards and I’m a little surprised at how fast they were to abandon their post, but who am I to judge others for ditching responsibilities. Thinking about my own responsibilities, I find myself remembering an obligation to attend school, but I haven't even seen a school since I hatched.

That line of thinking is unnerving, so I push it aside. I'm not gonna dwell on it when there are things to munch. Those guards need to hurry up with that firewood.

And they do! Turns out I was just being a little impatient. Now that they've returned, the two of them build a small bonfire, and now it's my turn to be awesome! I'm gonna light the fire. Oh! A thought! Can I light a fire with my nose? I’m gonna find out.

“Watch it, Kira! That’s dangerous!” Turns out that I can light fires with my nose, but the flames don’t shoot straight ahead. That’s definitely useful information. Fortunately for everyone, no one stood in the way of my nasal flames. And unlike Raya, the guards are cheering me on. They get it.

My second attempt at nasal fire is far more successful, and I manage to light the wood on fire. And now it’s time to grill some meat!

One of the guards approaches me and tugs on the meat, but he isn’t having much success for some reason. “It’s stuck.” Oh right. They’re impaled on my spines. Excellent excuse to lie down and let other people work, so I coil around the campfire, forming a large circle.

One of the guards climbs onto me and starts untangling the meat, handing it off to the other guard. They’re quick to make a small pile of it.

Raya, on the other hand, is very quick to pick her seat. Apparently, my arm is a perfect spot for her. Well, I don’t mind adding another excuse for me to stay lazy. Wouldn’t want to disturb my friend after all.

As I was busy paying attention to Raya, one of the guards has taken it upon himself to start cooking some meat. And as far as I can tell, he's doing a good job of it.

As the meat starts to look pretty good, I feel compelled to eat a chunk.

Luckily for me, my neck is long, so I can easily swing my head around and snatch the meat right from the campfire. “Hey! Don’t be greedy, Kira, everyone should get some!” Pfft, dragons are naturally greedy, so it would be weird if I weren't.

Apparently, my nature doesn’t stop Raya from cutting off chunks of meat hanging from my mouth, the little rascal! Those chunks were destined for my belly! And now she’s throwing the chunks to the others, as if we brought infinite food.

“You know, Lady Dragon, I was there when you first approached the village.” Huh, I don’t recognize him at all, but there were guards present back then. “My helmet got melted a bit, and it left me with a bald spot.” Oh, well, sorry about that, buddy. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone. I was just frightened and in danger. Yeah, that I’m apologizing for.

“Hah, no, no, you misunderstand, I brought it up not to complain, but because it earned me a commendation! The brave guard who stood up to the mighty dragon!”

As I recall, he just happened to be on duty and standing too close. That doesn’t really have anything to do with bravery, I’d say, so I point that out.

“You know that, I know that, but why would I refuse recognition? Hah! And the battle scar reminds people of how bravely I stood there.”

Yeah, he’s definitely a weirdo. Can’t blame him for it though, I would as well. Turns out he isn't quite done talking.

“Speaking of guard duty. Wolf attacks are down, bear attacks are down, people aren’t getting hurt outside the walls as much, even traders from the south are reporting fewer attacks. My family and friends are safer now thanks to you, Lady Dragon. So thank you.”

Right, I did agree to help Tuiran, which is a task I don’t feel like I’ve done much of on purpose so far.

Well, if I needed another excuse to hunt those dang wolves, there it is. I'm just gonna leave that subject hanging.

As the guards and Jeannie chat about this and that, they’re suddenly interrupted by a loud and ominous sound. Jeannie is quick to jump up, clearly startled. The guards, however, burst out laughing. Raya had fallen asleep and let out quite the snore. “What’re you laughin’ at?…” If the adorable little rascal hadn’t woken herself up, the laughing guards definitely would have.

“Dumb overgrown lizard…” What did I do?! I’m almost eighty percent sure I’m innocent here!

“You’re too comfortable!” What?! That’s so unfair! Of course I’m comfortable, I’m an awesome and mighty dragon!

“Don’t you growl at me.” I’ll growl at whoever I please, little one.

It seems the others have gone quiet, and Raya is looking around at them. As she’s staring at the guards, Melty leans over to the other guard and whispers to him.

“To think the Dragonbringer is powerful enough to command a dragon.” Hah, they’re awestruck by Raya, she’s gonna get so embarrassed. Fortunately for Raya, a quick distraction appears as Jeannie speaks up. “Lady Dragon, Kira, I’d like to thank you for the flight last week. It was amazing, even if it was very scary.” Yes, praise me more, shy one.

She doesn’t praise me more, which is very rude.

I guess I’ll bring up a topic now that we’ve heard from almost everyone else. So I ask who the shadow man is, but all that gets me are stares. Not a single answer in sight.

Turns out they don’t know any shadow man wandering the forest. I’m filled with curiosity now! Who is he, why is he giving directions to dragons, and is he edible? Questions for the ages.

Raya is still looking up at me as she asks how long ago I met him, and I give that a think. Yeah, I haven’t been keeping track of the days at all. If the flight with Jeannie was last week, then it was some days before that.

Hold on, by my count, it’s been almost two weeks since I hatched. How the heck am I this big after only two weeks?! That’s unreal. Geez. I haven’t really grown in the last few days, but if I get another growth spurt, who knows how large I’ll become. That’s a scary thought. I don’t think I want that, I’m enjoying being able to walk the streets of Tuiran.

Raya brings my focus back by speaking up out of nowhere, asking me a question. “So how long ago did you meet the shadow man, Kira?” I’m really not sure, but I think it was a week and a half ago. So that’s what I tell her, but she immediately retaliates with another question.

“What did he do?” Now I’ve ended up having to retell the story of deer hunting, wolf battles, and maybe getting lost a little bit. That’s when the kind shadow man pointed me towards my lake.

As I’m expertly telling my story, Raya falls asleep again! With a twitch of my arm, I startle her awake and ooh boy, does she look grumpy. Yeah, she did not appreciate that, and now she’s sitting on the ground next to Melty.

“May I try sitting on you?” Well, well, well. Jeannie coming in with a surprise twist. I’d have thought her too shy to ask for something like that. Of course, I agree to it, she seems nice.

“Thank you, I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” Oh, uhm... Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask if that’s my fault.

“Oh, no, not at all. It didn’t help, but I’ve always had problems, and I startle easily. Lately, it has just been worse.” Sorry…

She’s quick to climb onto my arm and get comfortable. She sits at my elbow and leans back into the crevice of my arm and neck. “Wow, this is really nice, it’s like I’m being cradled by warmth from all around.” I would ask how that works, because that seems weird, but she’s already asleep. If I had to guess, I’d say my scales become slightly heated by the warmth from the fire.

How am I that comfortable and why is the world so cruel that I can’t experience it myself? Maybe I should find a different dragon to snuggle up with. Probably not, that feels like it’ll only lead to problems.

As the meat reserves dry up, the two guards excuse themselves and head off. Something about a shift change, which seems odd, since I would have thought that getting off work would result in more free time. No matter, they can do what they want.

Just Raya, Jeannie, and I left, and they’re both asleep. I’m just gonna curl up with these two and join them in snoozeland.

————————

Suddenly I’m woken up by the sound of whimpering. Judging by the moonlight, it’s around midnight, so what the heck is going on now? I need to check that out, so I lift my head and that elicits a series of words from Raya. “That hurt, Kira, did you have to do that?!”

Turns out she was sitting with her back against my jaw, still asleep when I moved. So she fell backward. I wish I had seen it, but my focus was on Jeannie. Turns out she’s crying, and I don’t know why. I’m fairly sure that it isn’t my fault.

So being the caring creature that I am, I nudge her and ask what’s wrong. “Sorry, I… I just slept really well.” Okay, now I’m getting really envious that I can’t sleep on me. How does that even work? My scales are really hard, so they can't be that comfortable.

I wanna know more about this comfort skill I seem to possess, so I nudge her again and ask her to explain how my hard scales can be comfortable, which results in a gentle giggle.

“It’s just that they’re like warm tiles, and when you flex, they move slightly.” Oh, fantastic, I’m a heated massage chair! Great! Kira, the great massage chair of Tuiran, sought out by sore backs far and wide!

“And I feel safe with you here.” Oh, well, now I feel like a jerk for the massage chair bit.

Raya’s just nodding along with Jeannie’s explanation, but I’m worrying a bit about why Jeannie would feel unsafe under normal circumstances. I haven’t really seen anything that might be dangerous around Tuiran. Aside from the giant murder cat, I suppose. But the townsfolk seem to really look out for each other.

I think I’ll ask Raya about that on our next flight.

Raya’s looking at me with a sort of inquisitive look, which I’m not sure I like. “What is a ‘massage’ chair?” Well, I’m not gonna explain that, I don’t wanna have her calling me massage chair.

I find myself staring at Jeannie, so I’m gonna suggest that she sleep with me in the square, but she seems reluctant to accept. I’ll do what I can to protect my goblins, so we’ll see if she takes me up on my offer.

For now, though, I need to get a feel for how well I’m recovering, so I send some magic through my body to do just that. And just like I suspected, I’m still quite far from recovered, and my magic reserves continue to be low.

Oh no… A reason to eat a bunch of delicious things, the horror… Heh…

So I suggest we head into town and find a butcher, and they both agree that my plan is fantastic. Well, Jeannie just nods along, and Raya is smirking. “Glutton.” How dare you, Raya!

“What, you gonna eat me too, glutton?” Maybe I am! She’s surprisingly quick to run off, so I chase her, but as soon as we get inside the walls, she runs into a narrow alley and taunts me.

“Why did you stop chasing me?” Dang it, she knows why! Well, time to utilize some political might, so I order a guard to apprehend her for me, and he’s quick to get to it. I’m gonna win this one, Raya!

Or not… In barely any time at all, Raya has the guard on the ground and won the scuffle. How did that happen? “Didn’t know I could fight, did you?” No, I did not. I’ve saved her every time I’ve seen her in fights, except when she assaulted Joras. But then again, most of those fights were against very large opponents.

As I’m contemplating what to do next, the little rascal launches a fire bolt at me. The nerve! “I win.” What?! That’s not fair at all! She can’t just call out winning and expect to win.

Luckily for me, her firebolt hasn’t gotten any stronger, so it doesn’t even do any damage, but I do feel a slight tingle from the magic. Maybe I should have her shoot me lots of times to speed up my recovery, so that’s what I suggest.

“You want me to attack you to heal you? I’m not gonna do that.” But she's fine with shooting me to not heal me? I'm gonna point out how that doesn't make any sense!

"Lily told me that I have no talent for magical potency, so I won't ever be able to cast magic as a weapon." Oh, that's a shame...

Just gonna move past that for now. If she won the chase, then we need to find some food so I can win.

As Raya exits the alley, I see Jeannie coming closer, and she has a slight limp… I carefully broach the subject of the limp, and she mentions that it happened quite some time ago in a battle, but she says it’s fine since she got away. Well, someone’s getting eaten if I find whoever did that to one of my goblins.

“Do you want a ride to the butcher, Jeannie?” Wait, what? Am I being volunteered to be a taxi now?! Jeannie looks between Raya and me, so I lower my head, and Raya helps Jeannie up. Why did I do that?…

Oh well, she’s nice and doesn’t weigh that much, so it’s probably fine. With every movement of my head, Jeannie lets out a squeal of joy, and to be honest, that’s quite fun for me too. I may be moving a little more than necessary.

Our trip doesn’t take long at all, and as soon as we reach the butcher, Raya knocks, and as soon as the door opens, she speaks up. “Hello, we’d like to buy enough meat to fill a dragon's belly!” Now that sounds like a plan I can get behind. The old guy looks quite tired, but he just shrugs and starts fetching my breakfast.

As soon as he brings out the first cuts, I dig in and it’s delicious. The flavor fills every bit of my mouth and I’m confident that I’ll never get tired of this. But it can be improved, so with the next batch, I use my flames to give the meat a quick char.

I’m well into my fourth serving before I realize I forgot someone. A little shake later and yep, Jeannie is still sitting on me. Impressively enough, she managed to stay on for the entirety of my breakfast so far. And I’m not a gentle eater.

A quick apology later, and I lower my head to the ground, letting her climb off me.

“That was so much fun! You have to try it, Raya, it was so difficult to hold on!”

Just gonna finish my food and not immediately agree to that. A dragon has her pride, after all.

Instead, I focus on my magic and let it flow through my body again to assess how much I’ve healed, and… not enough. Geez. I haven’t regained much magic at all from all of this delicious food, so I might need to do some testing to figure out the best way to recover.

I notice Raya handing out another token, so I nudge her to find out how we’re paying for this, since my money is still up in a mountain, but she just says it’s taken care of. How is it taken care of…

“Turo told me he subtracts expenses like food from your tribute, but you get a pretty good deal.” What?! I need to read this contract and possibly renegotiate.

As a rational being, I realize it’s quite fair, but as a dragon, I’m a little upset about my wealth getting spent. Wealth is for me to hoard, dang it! All of a sudden, my deep thoughts are interrupted by Raya. “Oh, she’s okay, she just gets a little distracted sometimes.” That’s pure hearsay, not admissible in court.

“Well, if the Dragonbringer says so, I guess it’s the case.” Hah, another person calling her the Dragonbringer, she doesn’t like that one bit. So, of course, I take this opportunity to bow to her and inform the butcher that I do as the Dragonbringer commands.

I can feel the embarrassment radiating off her as she has to stay outside of bonking distance. And that’s when the butcher joins in! “Such fearsome power wielded by one of our kin must signify great change coming.”

I wish I had some chili, I’d quite like to see if her blushing from embarrassment would intensify with the blushing from the chili heat. She could become the first truly red goblin!

I wanna tease her some more, but Jeannie interrupts by suggesting we leave for the night, and Raya is very quick to agree. One stroll through town later, and we arrive at my square. Jeannie and Raya seem to be going different ways, so I’m gonna go a third way. I boop Jeannie goodnight, and Raya approaches for a goodnight boop as well.

It wasn’t for a boop at all! She hit me with a close-range firebolt again! And now she’s running off, the little rascal! I’m gonna have to think of even more things to embarrass her with.

But not now, I wanna get some sleep before daytime arrives.