As I exit the basement, the old man starts talking about a bunch of stuff for some reason.

“If the scholar Caspariel is to be trusted, the bright yellow color of your flame would indicate that you’ve reached a fledgling maturity, how curious. What would you determine your age to be, Kira?”

I don’t know, like two or three weeks, I guess. I have not done a good job of keeping track of that. Now that I think about it, I’ve been a very busy dragon.

“Hooh… Your growth appears not to match your age. It is much too fast. Judging by your size and the coloration of your flame, history tells us that you should be closer to two or three years old. Additionally, your mind is far too developed for your youthful nature.”

I knew I was mature for my age. Just goes to show how great and mighty I am.

“Are you a traveler?”

I guess I travel all over the place, mostly by flying. I’m not sure how that relates to my growth, though.

“Hm, not what I meant… In this world, the cycle of life is known to all. When a life is extinguished, the soul moves on to the next world to be reborn. Such is our cycle for eternity. Though it happens that souls become lost in the flow and find their way out of the cycle. These souls are what become known as travelers. While not a common occurrence, it has been known to happen frequently enough to influence our societies.”

That sounds unreal… I guess Turo mentioned something that sounds familiar to that.

“With the arrival of a traveler, a great disruption to the world’s balance follows. Though disruption is often seen as something to avoid, many travelers have brought necessary change.”

He seems quite serious about this whole thing, but as far as I know, I’m not disrupting anything, and I belong here. So I guess I don’t qualify for this traveler nonsense. Wreyn raises an eyebrow at me, he doesn’t seem convinced.

It feels like a subject I should learn more about, but I also don’t want to, so I’m gonna ask about Raya instead. His eyebrow still hasn't lowered, but he is quick to tell me about how Raya fought off two ruffians on her own and that’s really impressive. She’s growing so fast. I should find a treat for her.

“Though they weren’t all that strong, she should not have been able to overpower them, much less win the fight without much difficulty. There’s more to that goblin than I am able to detect.”

Yeah, she’s awesome is what she is. And she’s mine, so he can’t have her. Leaving behind the gang’s hideout, Wreyn motions for a guard to approach and gives the guard some quick orders.

“Fetch the ignis corps to deal with the remains. The ambient is too high.”

Huh, that sounds interesting, I ask about it, but he just waves me off.

“A topic we shall delve into at a later date. For now, I must say I’m curious as to what sort of pact you and Raya have. If you wouldn’t mind sharing such details, that is.”

No pact that I’m aware of, we’re just friends. He just gives me the suspicious side-eye, but I really don’t know what he expects.

“I could take a look if you would allow it.”

If there’s no risk to me or Raya, I don’t mind, I guess. Placing a hand on my arm, he mutters a quiet ‘interesting’ before passing out. Oh, right, the magic drain thing. Well, that was a nice and juicy boost to my magic, but I can’t really pick him up without hurting him.

Wondering what to do in this situation, I'm interrupted by two guards appearing and picking him up. Neat! I’m gonna assume they’re accustomed to his shenanigans. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have to put up with such an impulsive person. I’m kinda surprised that they didn’t raise their weapons at me, but I appreciate that they seem to understand it wasn’t my fault. And then I won’t have to defend myself, so that’s a win!

The two guards carry him off toward his manor as far as I can tell, and I’m gonna follow behind and meet up with Raya. Well, I was gonna follow behind them, but they’re very slow walkers.

Geez, Raya walks faster than that… Giving them a growl, I indicate for them to put Wreyn on my back, which just results in a glance between the two, so I get a bit more insistent, and they comply. Excellent, now we can get moving. With Wreyn safely nestled between my folded wing and my spines, I can set the pace so we may arrive at his manor today.

In barely any time at all, we arrive at the manor and-

“Hey Kira, catch!”

Ooh! Flying snack! I chomp it out of the air and ignore the thump I hear behind me. Delicious meat. Raya seems to be in a very good mood, which I get. Winning fights is amazing. I’m curious how she managed to beat up two thugs like that, I’m sure she has quite a story to tell.

With a wide grin, she gets ready to regale me with the story of her heroic battle!

“Stabbed them.”

Okay, that’s a little more abridged than I expected, but well done! Looking over the thugs, I can’t help but notice that one of them is a little more crispy than the others. I give Raya a look, and she just shrugs.

“Also burned that one.”

I bet that surprised him! Raya is turning into quite the spitfire. Ooh! Maybe she can hunt wolves too now. Then we can really get them out of my territory.

As I'm thinking about all the things she'll be able to do, thoughts of the ways she can get hurt flood my mind, and I’m pulled out of my excitement for Raya by the thoughts of how quickly these bastards acted. It couldn’t have been a spontaneous thing, we simply haven’t been here long enough. Someone coordinated it.

Feeling just about ready to burn this place down, I ask Raya to get on, so we can get to Tuiran, she's quick to comply, but then taps me on the head. “I’m fine, Kira. They didn’t hurt me.”

They could have! And I won’t allow it to happen again! I’m done playing nice. I take off and we head back to Tuiran. I want Raya to be as safe as she can get, and the only place for that is at home.

Pushing more magic into my wings, we speed up and make short work of the trip. Landing in the square, I demand to see Lauren, and some helpful bystanders point me in the right direction. With Raya still on top of me, I run toward Lauren’s location as I tell Raya that I’ll be leaving to take care of something I promised to do.

“Kira! Please stop! You’re too angry!” I’m not angry enough! I haven’t been getting angry enough, and it keeps coming back to bite us!

As soon as I see my target, I tell Raya to jump down. Running a little faster than I intended, we approach Lauren and Joras. Good, she smells afraid, and she damn well should be.

“Kira, what’s going on? Why are you back already, and whose blood is that?”

I don’t have time for that nonsense, I need Lauren to show me who ordered their assault. As I make my demands, Joras is quick to inform her of it, but she shakes her head. Doesn’t matter, she knows what I want and I will get it.

Clamping my jaws shut around her, she screams in pain as I start climbing a building. I can feel her healing herself, a smart move, then she won’t die before I get what I want. As we reach the top of the building, I spread my wings and get ready to take flight.

“Kira! Wait! She doesn’t deserve that!”

I don’t care. We’re finding the bastard who started this. With a jolt, we’re flying. I can see her face as blood covers her, and I give her a growl to point me in the right direction. She’s aware of what I want and points toward the southeast.

Flying hard and fast, I keep getting distracted by Lauren screaming whenever I jostle her a little, and it’s growing annoying. I’m tempted to just drop her, but she’s far too useful for that. Before too long, a town comes into view, and she points again.

It looks like I’ve got a destination. With more power flowing, we make it to the outskirts of the town in a short amount of time, and I land, dropping the healer. She’s writhing on the ground, trying her best to heal the wounds, but my venom interferes with it.

There’s a sadistic glee in watching her efforts, but it appears that it is working. Somehow she’s overpowering my venom. Impressive, but it's something to deal with later.

“Please, henwa tona du saifwa. [Please, don’t hurt the town.]”

I never did learn that language, but she seems ready for the last part of the trip, but I can’t have her blocking my mouth when I set this shit on fire. As I approach her, she holds out her arms, gesturing for me to wait. Growling is all I feel like doing in response, but she takes it as an invitation to fetch a stick.

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Pointing at the ground, she makes a digging motion and points to me. I’m not sure why, but I rip up the ground and she’s quick to get to work patting the fresh dirt. Then she uses the stick to draw a circle with houses and points to one larger than the others and spits on it.

Does she want me to just burn that one? Well, I can start with that one. As I get ready to grab her again, she does her little hand dance again and moves to the side of my face. Yeah, I’m not letting her ride me. Instead, I take off without her, flying in a semicircle, I come back and pick her up.

She may not be riding me, but she is coming with me. Flying toward the largest building in town, I control my flight with magic, and as we close in, I get ready to land on the roof.

The tiles of the roof look sturdy enough, so I’m just gonna drop down. My estimation appears to have been correct and it can hold my weight. I ditch Lauren up here as I claw my way through the roof. As soon as I get through, I’m met with fancy furniture. I hope this jackass has insurance because there’s about to be a house fire.

I torch the entire attic and rip my way through the floor. Being large has its perks, as I can climb down to the next floor.

Shortly after reaching the floor, a cluster of guards turns a corner, but that’s a problem easily solved with more flames. Most of the guards fall to the onslaught of my wrath, and the few survivors are quick to run.

They’re not why I’m here anyway, so I don’t particularly care. I need to find the lord of fools. I hadn’t really looked, but it appears I’m at a junction with three ways to go, where the guards came from and two other ways I can’t figure out where they lead. Coming to a decision, I’m about to move when Lauren lands beside me.

What the hell is she doing here?! She’s throwing more healing around, and then she motions for me to follow. Fine, lead the way as we burn this asshole’s world to ash. She guides me through some corridors, and I make sure to light some more fires. Everything will be lost to this person.

It doesn’t take long before we’re in a large room full of tables, chairs, and tapestries. Generally some very flammable stuff. Of course, it’s all being set on fire. Everything here will burn. Lauren coughs a few times, but that’s easily taken care of with some healing.

She’s looking around, searching for something, and as soon as she spots it, she’s off. Rushing toward some small wall, she rips open a door and points down some stairs. I’m so tired of small architecture, but at least I have a solution.

Once more I dig my way through the floor and I quickly hit dirt. The packed ground gives way to my claws with little effort and before long, I find light ahead. I’ve hit some basement, and it reeks of rot. Seems like I’m not the only one who has an interest in dead things. I see six people gathered here, none of them will survive.

In the room are several devices that don’t look comfortable at all, coated in blood and shit. I hear Lauren throw up, but she’s quick to recover and point toward one particular person. Excellent, a target.

Dropping down, they’re quick to act and throw spells at me. I’m hit by fire, ice, and rocks, but I unintentionally shielded Lauren, and she’s quick to heal as many of my injuries as she can. In return, I torch two of the people, and as they writhe in burning pain, I rush at another one. Whatever this thing was, it tasted amazing.

I can’t focus on snacks just yet, there are still three people alive that shouldn’t be. Flinging my tail around, I take out another, making sure not to hit the one Lauren pointed out. The screams of my playthings soothe my fury, and I’m almost done here. Jumping the last pathetic underling, I rip it to shreds, but as I turn to find the bastard, he’s gone.

Where the fuck did he go, Lauren?! I want him dead!

She’s quick to point to a small doorway that I hadn’t seen, and I don’t fucking fit! I push her through it, and she’s quick to get the message. While she tries that way, I climb out of the basement and try to find the other end.

———————

I need to find this fucking lord for the Dragon. It’s the only chance to soothe her rage. Running up the stairs, I hear the footsteps of someone ahead, it’s definitely that fucker. I have no idea how I’m supposed to stop him or bring him to Kira, but I have to do something!

Reaching the top of the stairs, I can feel the heat of his burning manor, we’re outside. By the fucking hells, what did we unleash on the world... That monster was content to just rule over a small piece of land, and we fucked it all up... And now we might have an Originator Dragon on our hands again…

“Stop following me, you stupid bitch! Can’t you see that you’ll die too?”

Found him. And he’s probably right, but at the very least, I’ll know I tried. Merciferus is gonna be fucking pissed when she finds out I got myself killed.

Too bad, right now, I need to get this guy killed. Caught up in my thoughts of what to do, I’m struck by a sudden pain as a large icicle digs deep into my stomach. It’s almost funny how little it hurts compared to being carried in the mouth of a Dragon.

“So, little lord, what do you want to do now? You’ve pissed off something very dangerous, it’s coming for you, and now you’ve left yourself vulnerable out here in the open.” A laugh escapes me at how absurd this whole thing is.

“Fuck you! You brought it here! You were just supposed to kill some goblins. How useless are you?!”

That’s a funny question. The two people I loved have died and I’m repeatedly healing the thing that killed them. I hope when the Dragon finally kills me, she’ll do so quick and most of all, I want to meet up with Kello and Reinfold in the next life.

“Kira! We’re over here!”

“Shut the fuck up! It hasn’t found us yet!”

“Kiiiirrrraaaaa, you dumb monster, come and get uuuus!” She has found us now. How interesting, I’m looking forward to this. I don’t know whether I want to watch this guy suffer, or just have Kira finally kill me, but I’m so tired. She’s flying towards us and he’s quick to start running. I wonder how far he’ll- Never mind, she caught him.

Huh, she picked him up and now she’s coming toward me. I can say from experience that she is not the best at carrying people. I’d like to think I’m tougher than this guy and didn’t scream as much, because he is really fucking going at it with those lungs.

A weight is suddenly lifted when the icicle falls out of me. I guess I forgot about that, I think I might be somewhat affected by bloodloss. A quick heal and I feel better, but it doesn’t return the blood I’ve lost, so I’ll have to contend with the dizziness.

The giant lumbering oaf brings over her quarry and drops him in front of me, and she’s quick to growl out a healing command. That one I picked up real fucking fast, hah…

“Please, Dragon! Spare me! I’ll give you gold, jewels, whatever you want, just let me live!”

As if that’s going to work. Dragons may be famous for loving wealth, but it’s important to remember they’re also famous for being prideful assholes. So trying to bribe a furious Dragon is- Well, that. One crunch later, and he lost half a leg. What an idiot.

Well, I guess it’s time to do my part. With a small chant, I use my magic to stop his bleeding, but that venom is quite impressive. It’s practically useless against simple spells, but fucks up complex spells like it has a divine mission.

“Hrreaal!…”

“I did heal him, dummy.”

She doesn’t seem satisfied with my response because she just bumps into me in that way of hers. Oh, I’m still bleeding. I guess I wasn’t very thorough earlier. Not that it really matters, I’m almost out of magic.

As I look up, I notice that she isn’t paying attention to me anymore, and for just a moment, I’m a little offended, which is fucking funny to me. Pay attention to me, giant murderous monster. Merciferus take me, I’ve really lost it.

Just like that guy is losing parts. He’s down both legs and an arm so far, I guess I should heal him again. Well, as much as I can. Dumbfuck deserves to die. Everyone has some skeletons in their closet, but who the fuck has a torture dungeon beneath their house…

“Please, save me! I’ll pay you anything! You’ll never have to work a day for the rest of your life, just don’t let this Dragon kill me!”

“Hah! That’s fucking funny, dipshit. What makes you think I have a rest of my life after you’re dead? I was part of the fucking team you sent into that hellspawned bitch’s home! That’s why we’re here, moron!”

Oh, I might get why Kira likes to play with her food, watching the hope drain from his eyes was thoroughly enjoyable. I should probably avoid that in the future, I’m not sure Merciferus would approve.

In a last-ditch effort to survive, he seems to have decided to throw every bit of magic he has into one spell, and a frankly giant icicle strikes deep into Kira’s side as she falls. Oh fuck! That could be lethal! Rushing to her side, I grab the chunk of ice and pull. The moron seems to find the whole thing funny.

“Hahaha! I fucking did it! I killed a Dragon!”

Yeah, not yet. I can still save her! Fucking hells, this shit is cold, but I have to get it out of her. With all my delirious strength, I grip the icicle as firmly as I can and pull. I barely move the thing, but it is moving!

It’s not moving, I’m just rocking it back and forth! What the fuck do I do here?!

“Kira! Fucking help me get this thing out of you! Give me a fucking hand here, I can’t do it on my own! Help me and I’ll do whatever you want!”

I have no fucking idea what to do here, so I just keep trying to pull.

“Lousy first aid kit…”

A second wind hits me and my strength returns, I manage to move it slightly. I think it’s melting because it’s getting lighter. Bracing myself with a foot against Kira’s chest, I really put my back into it and pull. It comes loose! I fucking did it!

And then a terrifying realization strikes… I heard her voice in my head… FUCK! I’m so fucked! Ooh, good job, Lauren. Make a promise while delirious and be bound by it when it makes you lucid. Way the fuck to go!

I’m gonna need some help with that later, but right now, I need to heal Kira. Why the fuck am I healing her? She's infected by the Corruption! I can’t deal with any more shit right now, I’ll heal her and whatever happens today happens. Not my fucking problem.

As I press my hands to her wound and get ready to chant my spell, I notice the burn marks on my hands are gone. What in the hells… Another thing for later, if there is a later. Chanting my spell, I push healing magic into Kira’s wound and it closes up quick. She roars in pain and I feel it reverberating in my skull. What in the hells is going on here?!

“Oh shit, I almost forgot about the guy! Well, if he didn’t deserve to die before, he certainly does now that he’s shot me!”

Oh by the Gods, I hope this isn’t permanent… If I have to hear that Dragon in my mind for the rest of my life, I hope it ends today... She rushes off and I follow her with my eyes, turns out while we were dealing with the icicle, he started crawling away. What’s the fucking plan, crawl away slowly and hope neither of us notices?

“We didn’t notice, Lauren.” Ah, fuck, she knows I can hear her… Just kill me now…

“Just kill him fast, Kira, I’m tired.”

Huh, she does kill him fast… somewhat… Crushing his body one section at a time until reaching his head is faster than what she was doing, I guess. And now she’s eating him… She’s so fucking gross…

And now she’s coming back to kill me, no doubt. Well, about fucking time, honestly.

“Don’t be silly, Lauren, I already told you I wasn’t going to kill you. I… was just a bit upset earlier, but I feel better now. Well, kinda.”

“Praise be to Merciferus, Goddess of Health and Vitality, please break whatever magic is allowing this Dragon into my head or just fucking kill me…”

Yeah, that didn’t work…

“Wanna take out the adventurers too?”

“No, I don’t want to fucking take out the adventurers! We aren’t some evil entity to be purged, you rabid beast!”

“Wanna go home then?”

Yeah, that's a fucking loaded question... As far as I can tell, I don't belong anywhere. The only place I ever felt at home was alongside Reinfold and Kello, but they're gone... I've felt so lost ever since that day...

“Sure, Kira, let’s go.”

She lowers her head, and I don’t know what to do with that.

“Get on. Unless you prefer my mouth.”

Fuck me, if this is one of the hell worlds, they’ve done a great job of torturing me... I don’t feel like I have much of a choice, so I just get on, and she takes off.

“Why are you so nice to me all of a sudden?”

I don’t get much of a response, but I do feel a sense of remorse. I’ll take what I can get.

Flying over Plainshold, the fire seems to be limited to Lord Shitface’s manor, but the townspeople are coming together to put it out. For a moment, I consider helping, but somehow I doubt that bringing the arsonist back to them is the best choice…

"Thank you for leaving the townspeople alone, Kira."