After Zaleria made sure all the bandits have been wiped out, she flew back up with a roar. The people watching stood in awe except for a certain man who scorned the dragon’s existence.
The man silently put his hood back up and rushed toward the northern mountains to report what he had seen. Zaleria was dangerously close to his lady’s resting lair.
…
“My lady, I have spotted Zaleria at the lower hills. She has destroyed the bandit group responsible for collecting bodies.” The man said with a quiet voice, he needn’t yell in the lady’s presence.
“Zaleria is here, why so soon? Was she alone or was a man with her?” The massive skeletal dragon growled, necrotic energy dripping from its rot-smelling bones.
The man bowed down, “She was holding a man in her claws, which is for sure!”
“Was he white-haired? Did he use magic?”
“That I don’t know my lady. Zaleria was so violent I wasn’t able to get close enough for fear of being stomped. I also haven’t seen a shred of magic except for her flames.” The man replied with a fearful face.
“That’s fine, keeping your life to report this to me isn’t a thing I will get mad about. The power she holds with that man, it is a thing that even I fear.” The skeletal dragon replied calmly.
“Even the lady?” The man gasped.
“They were the ones who robbed my life of me, that man is especially a problem. I dare say even more than her.” The Skeletal dragon growled as it remembered its demise.
“What should we do?” The man asked, looking back at his comrades lining behind his back.
“Watch and report. Remember to never say my name out loud outside this lair for she might hear you. We’re doomed if she came before I’m fully ready.” The skeletal dragon declared.
All the men there bowed down, they have heard their orders. “We will follow your words! Lady Morena!”
The skeletal dragon nodded at them, “Now go!”
After all, men left, the dragon looked at the piles of gold around it. “Sister, look how low I have fallen. Even though my power is slowly rising, I have lost my draconic pride. I shall pay you back a hundredfold, both you and that accursed mage.”
Darkness fell over the came as the dracolich fell asleep to absorb more corpses and magic into his phylactery.
…
“Is that it?” Zaleria asked with a curious gaze.
Chad looked down as hard as he could, he recognized the neighborhood instead of the house. “That might be it, get down and make sure not to step on it,” Chad said with a serious face.
“The place looks pretty much destroyed, are you sure this is the right place?” Mei asked with a worried face.
“In the past a rebellion that weakened the country happened, Ruris kingdom took the chance and invaded. They managed to win but due to the long distance and the still hostile citizen, they failed to establish a ruling government and were forced to retreat.” Chad replied.
“Shouldn’t they be able to just use force? Like ~will kill anyone that speaks against us~ Type of policy?” Mei asked but Chad smirked.
“They tried, but people weren’t afraid of death. Even children took every chance to stab an invading soldier.” Chad looked down upon the ruined remains of Alseria.
“Such hard-headed people, they lost if they lost. The order needs to be upheld even if by an invading force. In all cases, it’s always better than utter chaos and disorder.” Zaleria growled. In her mind, they should have put up with the invading kingdom for some years and prepared for a rebellion in secret. That would have been the safest option for them.
Thud! Zaleria landed in the outskirts and let Chad and Mei down. After that, she quickly shifted back to her human form and stretched her arms.
“Let’s hurry. We still haven’t reached the house yet!” Zaleria said. She had landed quite far away so she won’t smash the abandoned houses. She could smell people living in there, even if it was ruined. This was more like a slum than anything else.
The trio walked slowly toward the house, Chad kept spotting people closing their doors or hiding behind the windows. They weren’t the same people they saved earlier so they were wary of them.
“Do they always treat guests like this?” Mei said with a sad voice, she expected them to be a tad bit livelier than rats crawling around.
“A big dragon has just landed close by. it will be strange if some of them dared to speak. It’s always best to let such creature pass by.” Chad replied. They were scared of Zaleria, to them, letting her do her things and leave was the safest option.
After walking for a bit, they finally reached the house Chad mentioned. The door was closed.
“Do you have the key?” Zaleria asked.
“I should be able to fly inside and open it!” Mei suggested.
Chad stared at the handle, “This thing.” Using just a bit of his strength, Chad pulled the door off its hinges, “Kya!” He heard the voice of a woman gasping inside.
“The door was locked with magic to allow me inside without a key. This isn’t my door, someone has taken over the house!” Chad declared.
“So this was your house?” Zaleria looked at him with a surprised face.
“What? Did you think we were going to rob something?” Chad stared at her in disbelief.
“Well, honestly even I expected to dig the royal treasury or something. This is a fallen country after all.” Mei said with a guilty giggle.
Chad sighed, “We can do that later, for now, let’s find who took over my house.” Chad walked inside the hall, keeping an eye on his surroundings.
“I smell a woman!” Chad declared with a serious face.
“You what?” Zaleria gasped at the weird sentence. Even she a dragon can’t tell the difference between the scent of a man and a woman.
“That was just a metaphor, we heard her voice earlier and I can sense a faint human magic inside,” Chad replied.
“That was confusing for a moment. Is it a mage?” Mei asked as she wanted to get ready, if the intruder was a mage she should be ready to fight.
“No, she should be a mere human.” Zaleria said, “And there are five of them, they all smell alike so I say they are sisters.”
“You can say if they are siblings but can’t tell a man from a woman?” Chad called her out.
“Shut up, let’s get this done with quickly,” Zaleria growled as she stepped into the kitchen.
“I will go upstairs.” Mei floated away. “Can you fight?” Chad asked her.
“I can so don’t worry about me, It might not be obvious but I’m really strong!” Mei puffed her chest and smirked. A wooden spear as tall as her (One foot) appeared in her hand.
She stabbed the air and smiled.
“Staby stab, murder murder! I killed more than you can imagine!” Her eyes glowed green in the dark.
“Scream if anything happened, we will rush to save you in that case,” Chad said as he walked away. He didn’t seem to believe her claims.
“Humph! Wait and see!” Mei pouted. All those who underestimated her have ended up dead.