140 Draconic Disaster
“Get the hammer!” Mira said, looking at Arad hammering hinges into the wall with his bare hands, “I know you can do it. Now use the hammer!”
Arad looked back at her, pushing a nail through the door frame with his thumb, “What did you say?”
“Aella, what do you feed him?” Mira asked, staring at Aella sticking the handles on the doors.
Aella thought for a moment, “My blood?” She replied with a smile.
Mira sighed, “With how thick his arms are, I shouldn’t be surprised,”
Arad looked at his arms, thinking, ^I’m a dragon, a wyrmwolf, and a vampire on top of that. I guess the pale look is justified.^ His skin seemed a bit on the pale side.
“It’s getting quite late,” Arad said with a smile, Looking at Mira.
“We need to finish the job. It’s been like this for the past week,” Mira replied, hanging the door in its frame.
Arad glared at Mira. He cared less about the door and more about spending time with Aella. ^We have time. Let’s finish hanging those doors as quickly as possible,^
They finished hanging all the doors by dawn, the night was already over, and the workers would come at any moment.
Arad sighed, walking outside and staring at the rising sun. ^Should I visit the guild?^
[Want to take a job?]
^I was thinking of Jack. I haven’t seen him.^ Arad scratched his head.
[He will be fine. I bet he’s spending some time with Lydia. Focus on finishing the house first. We need the workers out so we can start setting up the lair,^
Arad nodded, walking around the garden, “Mira, did you see the wood axe?” He shouted.
Mira stared out the kitchen window, “It’s there right beside my bench. Why do you need it?”
Arad replied, “I’m going to cut some trees off. The worker said they need a few logs, didn’t they?”
“The wood needs to be dried first,” Mira said, “You should probably buy it from the city. You can cut trees, but we don’t have a place to dry them here,”
Arad looked back at Mira, “Fine, I’m off to the city then,”
“Wait! What about breakfast?” Mira pointed at him with a kitchen knife.
Arad remember the knife the bandits hit him with, “I don’t need dinner,” He started walking.
“Stop!” Mira quickly reached him, pulling him by the arm back to the house, “Breakfast is important. How are you going to stay healthy if you don’t eat well?”
“Fine,” Arad sighed, getting dragged back home.
On the breakfast table, he noticed two distinct sides. A green one filled with plants before Aella and a ton of meat in front of Mira. “Eat,” Mira pushed the meat to him.
“Enjoy,” Aella pushed that large bowl of grass toward him, and he stared at it, “Yeah,”
After about an hour, Arad finally managed to leave the house, heading to Alina. On his way, he met someone he haven’t seen in a while.
“Alcott!” Arad yelled, seeing Alcott and Ginger heading toward the city in an old carriage.
Alcott slowly turned his head, seeing Arad running behind them, “Slow down,” He waved to the driver.
Arad caught up with the carriage, “You’re finally returning,” He asked.
Alcott smiled, “Yeah,”
Arad sighed in relief. For some reason, he could feel at ease with Alcott in the city. Probably since the mages won’t act while he’s around.
“How did the quest go?” Arad asked, hopping into the carriage to get a ride to the city.
“Badly,” Ginger was the one to reply, “The dragon who had to deal with this time was nasty,”
“Yeah, it was a complete disaster,” Alcott scratched his head, “It’s an ancient red dragon,”
“Did you fight it?” Arad asked, wanting to know if an ancient dragon would fight.
“The quest was to persuade a dragon to leave a city alone. His name was Qindeduth, an ancient male red dragon with a slightly larger frame than normal,” Alcott sighed. He then started telling the story of how dealing with a dragon went extremely badly.
***
Qindeduth asked the city of Fortkeen for sacrifice and gold, typical of a dragon. He only looked for young women, no older than thirty, and gold coins. As confirmed by the city, the dragon used the women for food as he would kill them on the spot and hand the head back to the city so they could bury it. And the gold he hoards in his lair.
After over fifty years of giving the dragon his sacrifice every six months, the city grew tired. One life and some gold to keep monsters and bandits away seemed worth it. The city had been known as the safest place in the kingdom due to that.
In a normal city like Alina, bandits would kill, kidnap, torture, and use multiple people for their whims. The number could exceed one hundred in six months, yet Fortkeen had only one casualty, the sacrifice offered to the dragon.
The dragon didn’t seem to care about where the sacrifice came, from or how it was as long as it met his requirements. A non-muscular woman of less than thirty years, so her meat would still be soft.
The people banded together under the church and wanted to hire Alcott to talk to the dragon. They wanted him to drop the sacrifice and take more gold instead. They were willing to triple the amount.
Alcott and the city lord argued against that, saying that they are already sorting the women from prison and criminals from other cities, and till now they hadn’t sent an innocent one.
The church and the public called the lord greedy, saying that no matter the cost, human life is priceless.
Alcott stepped forward, saying it isn’t about money or sacrifice. It’s about stability. As long as the dragon is happy and calm, doing his job, they best leave everything as it stands. Any small change could set the beast off, and lead to a disaster. He argued that dragons are like babies, they are calmly chewing on a dirty stick, but when you take it off to give them milk, they start crying.
The people insisted and forced Alcott to speak with the dragon.
“This is a bad idea. That’s a red dragon,” Ginger said with a worried face.
“This might turn ugly. Please stay alert,” Alcott replied. And then went to meet the dragon in the forest.
Surprisingly, the dragon was much more civilized than anyone expected. He showed up, made sure not to damage the forest, and talked nicely.
Qindeduth said that he only asked for a single sacrifice since he knew how hard that would be for humans. But to a dragon, they are a part of the diet.
After an hour-long argument, they managed to convince the dragon to take the money instead of the sacrifice.
Alcott and Ginger returned to the city, scratching their heads. That conversation was weird. A red dragon usually keeps shouting and screaming. They are known for rage and being unreasonable.
Alcott informed the city of the negotiation’s success. And he will deliver the first payment tomorrow.
***
Ginger looked at Arad, growling, “We were wrong,”
***
Arad and Ginger retreated to their room at night. But they heard a massive explosion in the city. They rushed out to see the church crumbling ablaze, the dragon flying over the city.
“You bastard!” Alcott shouted, and the dragon flew down, blasting the city blocks with a breath.
Ginger pointed her hand at the sky, [Giant ice lance]. She flung the spell toward the dragon. Swosh! The ice melted as soon as it got close.
The dragon glared toward Alcott and Ginger, “Dragon meditator, or should I call you a slayer?” The dragon growled.𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
“Stop! You bastard, why are you attacking the city? We agreed just this morning!” Alcott jumped from the street, landing on the tallest house in a single leap.
The dragon glared at Alcott, his scales burning with flames as his large muscular flame hovered, “You can’t go all out in the city, can you?” The dragon said those words, and Alcott understood his plan.
The dragon knew about Alcott and Ginger’s powers, so he pretended to agree in the forest. All so he can attack them in the city where neither Alcott nor Ginger could use their full might.
Alcott growled, veins popping on his neck and arms, clenching his fist on his sword, “And you dare kill innocent people?” He could feel his teeth tingling, his back cracking, and his blood pumping. This was a bad place to let loose. He can’t have people see him rage.
SWOSH! Ginger flew to the dragon, [Lightning strike] CRACKLE! “Fucking Lizard, get down from my sky!” She shouted, trying to get the dragon to chase her.
The dragon glared at Ginger, “You’re strong at night, but only when using your blood,” He smiled, “You’re weaker if you tried suppressing it, aren’t you?”
Ginger growled, clenching her lips, “Bastard!”
Ginger is a high lord vampire, her blood magic is at its strongest at night, but that weakens her other magic. Because most of her mana is getting mixed into her blood.
Any spell strong enough to hurt the dragon is like her shouting she is a high-lord vampire. Everyone in the city would know. Alcott is the same, he could rage, but people would know what kind of monster he is. The dragon chose to fight in the city so both of them can’t go all out.
The dragon smiled, diving down and ravaging the city.
“STOP!” Ginger shouted.
***
“The dragon ignored us, focusing on killing as many people as he can,” Ginger growled.
“He aimed at churches and medical houses. Then schools, densely populated area, and the lord’s mansion,” Alcott snacked his fist on the carriage floor, “He burned Fortkeen to the ground and killed almost all of its residents in less than five minutes.”
“We cornered him, but his mate showed up, and together they managed to escape. They even set the forest around the city Ablaze, preventing everyone from escaping,” Ginger growled, “It was a complete disaster,”
Alcott sighed, “But at least. A silver dragon appeared late. He put the forest flame down with his cold breath and helped the survivors escape.”
Ginger looked at Arad, “A hundred thousand people large city, and only seventy people survived the dragon attack,”