“Let me be honest with you, I don’t know if it’s because I’m tired or it’s just that you’re bad at telling stories. I still need more explanation!” Cain was just pretending, he did understand what she wanted to say and just wanted to know more about her past.
She recited what she said before.
A century ago she bore a human child but had to leave on a farm right after birth because she was going to hibernate.
She did name the child Harvey, taking that family name he would be Harvey Lawrence. Zaleria’s lost son who later proceeded to build his family and end up with Sofia at some point down the line.
“I was sure she didn’t have any draconic bloodline, she is a pure human,” Cain said as he looked at Zaleria.
“I did consult with other dragons who had human children, they noticed that none of them had draconic bloodline until the parent dragon died. Most likely it’s how the world stops us dragons from creating an army of Dragonoid over our lifespan.”
‘Dragons usually live for thousands of years. Dragonoids are no less than their parents and they will pose a problem if an army of them appeared Cain imagined a dragon fathering hundreds or thousands of Dragonoids and building an army.
“That’s aside, you said you know about witches’ tattoos. I would like to know more about them.” Zaleria looked at him with interest, he smiled wryly as if that was a problem.
Witches’ tattoos don’t exist yet, in his past life, Zaleria was the one to create them. It was weird negotiation with them. “I can teach you how to draw and engrave them, in exchange I want you to teach Sofia how to fight like a witch.” Cain laid his condition but Zaleria looked at him with a questioning gaze.
“If she was really my descendant then I intend to care for her as my own child, I will pass my magic to her and have her learn how to fight and live proudly. Ask for something else in exchange, as I don’t intend to learn from you for free.” Cain listened to her as she spoke, he could remember that interrupting her was dangerous as she can get a bit violent. ‘Dragons are proud creatures, especially the red and gold, they will take it as an insult to give them something for free. To them, gifts are the same as a spit in the face, unless it came from their partner then they can tolerate it sometimes.’
“Then would you like to help me stop a dungeon break? It will happen in about two months and I think you will be a great help.” Cain tried his luck, but it wasn’t guaranteed that Zaleria would stay for that long. Even teaching Sofia might just be giving her some instructions.
“A dungeon break? Is it an S-rank by any chance?” Zaleria’s face twisted as if she remembered something unpleasant.
“It is, the monsters are mostly high-ranked undead,” Cain replied immediately as Zaleria seemed inpatient.
“Last year Sister Morena came to try and get my help to break a dungeon, I refused her but if I remember correctly it was an S-rank undead one. Could it be that you’re talking about the same one?” She asked changing her poster, “If that was the…” Before Zaleria could finish, The horses interrupted her as they violently stopped.
“Those bastards, I felt their approach so I let my presence out and they won’t back down!” Outside a band of bandits have stopped the carriage led by Leyla.
“Two full carriages, you must be loaded! All men get out and line by the roadside if you want to live. Women and children stay put in place!” One of the bandits screamed, his friend licking his daggers as he tried to approach the horses.
Nobody moved, Dragon’s fang members who were on the second carriage didn’t bother to move as they could sense it. Unlike the bandits who cannot sense magic, they could feel the terrifying presence inside Cain’s carriage. They even saw the thing fight up close, those bandits had no idea what horror is lurking inside.
“What is this, are there only women and children?” The bandit leader mucked them as he gestured for Leyla and Miko to come down, as they were the ones driving.
“Le…Leader look!” One of them screamed as a gargantuan creature blocked the sun. The massive being towered over the carriage and looked down at the bandit leader.
Bump-Dump! Bump-Dump! Bump-Dump! Bump-Dump! Zaleria didn’t move her wings to not damage the carriage but her rage was apparent from her accelerating heartbeats. In a matter of seconds, it went from Bump-Dump! To a Boom-Baam! Sounding like explosions loud enough that the bandits could feel it shaking their insides.
“I…It’s a dragon, RUN!” He screamed as Zaleria opened her Jaw and blazing flame started building up. The entire bandit group started running.
“Stop, Cain is asking you not to use fire. You would burn the forest!” Zaleria looked at her back to see Gracie climbing up her side, “I know, I’m not stupid to do that. I was just scaring them!” Zaleria growled as she used her claw to help Gracie climb to her back.
One of the bandits looked back and his face twisted, “A-A maid is riding the Dragon!” He cried as he saw Gracie point a finger toward them, “It’s better to capture them alive!” Gracie said and stood on her back legs and opened her jaw again and started inhaling with a loud sound.
A faint gust of wind started being sucked inside her. The bandits who were running started to feel a chilling breeze. That breeze quickly turned into a freezing cold wind and their bones shuddered. The grass around them formed Ice and the road was frozen.
Zaleria then exhaled a pillar of flames toward the sky, “I’m a fire dragon, the same way I can breathe fire and heat I can suck them away. Countless fools died when they expected me to only attack with fire.”
Cain who was inside the carriage giggled, he now got the explanation about why she was stronger than her older sister was. Zaleria was just creative with her abilities and magic, always finding a way to make her enemies cry in despair.
“So you can use both Ice and fire?” Gracie asked as she looked down at Zaleria’s face.
“No, What I master is heat. We fire dragons and use magic inside our bodies to heat the air we’re about to exhale to generate our dragon breath. We can use the same magic to absorb heat and turn it into magic power for us to use. This was the main reason why fire dragons usually live in volcanos as they provide a constant source of magic for us.” Zaleria explained as she helped Gracie to get down, “Now how are we going to carry those idiots?” The dragon wondered as it turned back to a human.
“Daraku is saying that we should be close to the city…(Do I need to say that? Won’t she kill us?) You can carry them to the city if you want.” Miko relayed what Daraku said, the man was laying inside the second carriage by Takeshi’s side barely able to speak as he had a punctured lung from the fence. Takeshi had most of his bones broken when Morena’s wings slammed him. He was lying unconscious inside by Yamauba’s side, she had her left arm ripped off and managed to close the wound. She did manage to find her arm and preserve it in her magic storage until they can reattach it back at the church.
The reason they were rushing back without even having a proper rest was that they need to get healed quickly. Miko and Alice don’t have enough Mana to hear everyone in time, the best they could do is stabilize them and stop the bleeding. Zaleria didn’t have any healing magic so she was unable to help.
In this world, the churches where healers gather are used as hospitals. For a price, you can have up to a fifth-tier magic cast on you. This was because getting low-level healing spells were relatively easy with a certain level of devotion to a god. Religious people get a blessing.
Higher tier magic (From sixth to ninth) was hard to get just like other types of magic. That was because it required a higher level and was generally harder to cast with a small MP reserve. Now that Miko can use seventh-tier magic she should be able to command the church’s father as he only gets up to Sixth-tier.
There was one thing that worried Alice, she was a devil so she shouldn’t be able to enter church ground. Miko suggested that she would stay outside while she take care of things but it didn’t sit well with her. Alice could remember that Amaterasu said that she should not enter a church until she met Cain, which means that she should be able to now.
“I’m going to try getting in, I think I could do it!” Alice resolved herself with a tight fist.