I feel like I'm in a haze, almost in a dreamlike state when I hear very aggressive arguing. I open my eyes and it looks almost as if there is a fog covering the entire room. Slowly I realize I'm in a chair and sitting at what appears to be a CEO's desk in a very finely decorated Victorian style study. The voices are of a man and woman arguing. The woman shouts,

"Silus you fucking asshole! I thought you died centuries ago! I watched you die... and I hoped you finally would be sent back home to..."

There is a deep growl and Silus says in a low voice,

"We have ears present who should not be privy to certain information."

Finally, my vision focuses and I see two finely decorated chairs. In them sits Silus, and in the other the green multi-armed woman without a face. Even without a face, I can tell she is pissed at me. I give a nervous wave and I say casually,

"Don't mind me. I'm just the owner of this body... that's all."

Silus lets out a hearty laugh and tells me,

"Oh don't worry about it, Isa. We were just discussing how you didn't die! Normally drinking her blood or eating her flesh would kill you in less than five seconds, but because of our little... arrangement you and me by extension survive another day!"

I shake my head and then ask the brown dragon in a serious tone,

"Tell me... we made a deal. What is it you want in return."

Silus scratches his chin for a moment before saying,

"Well... I didn't really give you much of an option and my survival is kinda based on yours so how about I throw in a once-in-a-lifetime deal."

I tilt my head and ask,

"What do you mean?"

He shrugs and explains,

"Well...as of right now you are affected merely by my curse. It makes you weaker overall, but in exchange it makes magical attacks do reduced damage to you, excluding physical enhancements."

My eyes go wide and I exclaim,

"You mean all the bullshit I dealt with was easy mode?"

He nods and then motions toward the green dragon explaining,

"Well yes. Every dragon's curse is a sort of deal. Think a bad thing for a good thing. Hers is that you would die from her hemorrhagic poison in her flesh, but in exchange, if you survive, are now immune to all poison. I was gonna take something for that one-time boost in power but I think I'll be nice and still take my prize but offer you something else in return. "

I nod and say,

"What is it?"

He nods and clears his throat with a loud rumble before saying,

"Well... I kinda like your skin. No... I'm not gonna skin you alive. I simply wish to take possession of some of it."

I sigh and ask,

"What is that gonna do?"

He shrugs and says,

"Probably brand you with my mark, but that's something you can handle. I am taking that prize regardless because I have to, just simply what it is and I cannot avoid the collection of my toll, but I am adding on top as an extra, enhanced resistance to magic. Simply put, you'll not be made extra crispy upon getting hit with a fire attack, of course, you will get a little crispy as I cannot grant temperature resistance, but the magically produced flames will have a hard time getting to you. Is that alright?"

I nod understanding that it's the best deal I am going to get, if what he says is true. I then ask,

"So... with the resistance and stuff is that why I've been so successful against magic people so far."

He nods and says,

"There is a reason the Frontiersmen fell, aside from the treachery. If magic was only as potent as it is against you it probably would've died out centuries ago. I hate to discredit the capabilities of your kinsmen but... they never stood a chance."

I nod a little upset at this, saddened by the hopelessness of that whole situation. I then ask the green dragon,

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"Soo... welcome to my head... I hope you are enjoying yourself..."

She crosses three pairs of arms and says in a very bitchy tone,

"I wanted you dead... but here we are. Congratulations on being immune to poison now... fuck you."

I grin and say,

"Awww... is someone upset they got their head cut off by a retard with a sword?"

She just huffs and looks away. I shrug and then ask,

"So Silus I was wondering... when Mekare looked me in the eyes that one time and acted like she was in pain... was she doing some magic?"

This makes both dragons burst out laughing for a moment before Silus responds,

"No no... mental magic is something my curse cannot resist, it just so happens I exist in here too, and well... I don't care much for false demons!"

I furrow my brow and ask,

"False demon?"

He nods and explains,

"No real demon would ever admit to being a demon even under threat of death... because it is not something even they want."

With that statement, the green dragon asks Silus,

"So... Mr. lazy pants... why didn't you take his soul as your toll?"

Silus sighs and responds,

"Because He already laid claim to it."

I watch the green dragon tense up for a moment and before I can ask Silus says,

"Oops look at the time. Bye, Bye Isa! See you later!"

Then I am pulled back into reality...

I wake up with a start. I am in a very nice room, clearly one of the royal palace apartments. I feel like utter shit, everything aches especially my legs. I think that when Silus took the reigns I broke a few bones. Next to the bed is my armor which is completely tattered, and most likely useless now. I look around the very nice room and spot a palace maid cleaning something. I call out to her gently,

"Hey, miss... tell me... did my companions, Sertean and Henna survive?"

I have to make sure they are still alive. Especially Sertean, I don't want to lose anyone else important to me. I still ended up startling the poor maid but she rushes over quickly and with a bow replies,

"I do not know Lord Isa. I can go find someone who might know."

I smile at her and reply,

"Please do. I would be very grateful."

She hurries out the door and I begin trying to move myself out of bed. It feels almost as if I just completed a full body max-day during weight lifting mixed with the healing of broken bones. It sucks. I am capable of standing on my own though and I see very quickly I am in nothing but my underpants. I remember something Silus said so I walk over to a mirror. My front has nothing new, just the old patchwork of scars. I turn around and see my back now has a tattoo on it. In between my shoulder blades is a highly detailed tattoo of Silus' skull. It's just in black ink it appears, but I am marked all the same.

I inspect it further and find nothing else of note when the door opens and in walks the Princess with some servants in tow, including the maid from earlier. She at first appears relieved to see me up and walking, then she gets a good look at my body. I cover myself with my hands and scream in a high-pitched voice,

"PERVERT!"

Once I am dressed she enters the room once more a little miffed at my joke. I had to assure her that although I am embarrassed at how I look, I am not as shy to be actually upset about it, well not anymore at least. I chuckle to myself as she takes a chair and sits down with her arms crossed. She sighs and says,

"No matter what happens I literally cannot predict or get a fucking read off of you."

I reply,

"Not very princess like to swear like that."

I can see she thinks about getting up and doing something about my statement but remains seated and says,

"I'd come over there and make bacon out of you... but you did just slay a dragon... I doubt I'd get the chance to."

We share a short laugh before I ask,

"Tell me. What the hell happened?"

She sighs and replies,

"Well... a relief force luckily came and collected us, found us all in pretty bad shape, luckily green dragon poison is cursed so it lost most of its effect as soon as you killed it. Everyone that wasn't cut to bits or immediately killed survived. A death toll of ninety... all royal knights and almost all of your frontiersmen... we were rushed to the nearest temple where we were healed... you were the only one not to wake up.

It's been over two days... we thought you were gone for. Luckily, well you're awake now."

I nod in understanding and ask,

"So... what's the move from here?"

She nods and replies,

"Well right now you deserve a reward so ask away!"

She smiles at me happily and I reply sheepishly,

"Well... fuck... I hate to ask you this... but can I ask you for your name... without you getting mad?"

She looks shocked, not mad. She then asks carefully,

"What do you mean by that?"

I sigh and reply,

"Well... I know you are Princess Alrius... but I don't know your name. No one told me and I've gotten away with just calling or referring to you as princess since you are an only child."

She stifles a laugh with a snort and stands up with a curtsy,

"Well... my name is Princess Godiva Alrius... the first I guess."

I nod and thank her. I then say,

"Well... I'm up and the dragon is dead... so... let us throw a fucking party!"

Four hours later I'm dressed up, piss drunk on hot beer, and singing a fairly raunchy song with Sertean and Henna. We sway together as we sing the lyrics describing a rather tender moment between a drunk and various different wild animals. Luckily we sang in our mothers' tounges so no one else but we understood.

Blake is passed the fuck out on a couch after losing to me in a drinking game. Princess Godiva is about on her way to sleep as she halfheartedly raises her cup of wine to the song. She has trouble keeping her eyes open as the keg of wine is now almost empty. Even the king took part in the festivities. He and the queen sit in a quiet corner whispering about something.

Around the end of the song, we three Frontiersmen begin stripping to our underwear and begin to wrestle, as is customary to do during parties. This revitalizes everyone in the room as they cheer us on. I mess up and end up pinned losing the match to Sertean who for his reward gets the last of the beer and a big ol kiss on the lips by Henna. We all cheer for his victory and go back to drinking and merrymaking... until finally, the night has to wind down when Blake wakes up, pukes and then rolls into his puke.

The next morning is hell. I wake up with a headache and dying of thirst. It takes me until past noon to recover. Once I do, I am immediately met with some bullshit...a messenger from a foreign kingdom had arrived this morning... and the king has summoned the entre Heros Party to deal with the contents of the message...