Sara stood, about to go see Arad herself. She looked down, and her clothes looked decent enough for a meeting. “I will speak to him personally. You make sure no one gets in his way.”
“I already did that. Everything should be fine as long as he doesn’t look for troubles.” The butler bowed. ^I saw his strength and temper firsthand. I don’t want him killing anyone else.^
“AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” They heard a happy cry fill the hallway. “Someone invaded the Arena! Who is the new challenger? Will he become a new food for our monster?” It was the commenter from the Arena.
Sara felt a chill down her spine. Right now the Basilisk fight was taking place. Only her brother and Arad are stupid and strong enough to jump in.
“Follow me to the VIP room. I bet that him,” Sara rushed out, running till she reached the VIP room, panting as she looked from the balcony.
She was right. Arad was standing between the Basilisk and the man it was fighting.
Sara felt her head pounding. She looked at Arad, smiling, “He isn’t getting petrified.” She gasped. The man behind Arad was already a stone.
***
A few moments earlier, Arad finished his talk with Roberta and was about to leave. “LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOO!” He heard a scream in the distance, stopping in his track.
“Did you hear that?” Arad looked at Roberta and Gerald.
“Heard what? The monster growing in the Arena?” Gerald looked at Arad, “Want to go watch the fight?”
“I don’t like those,” Roberta sighed, “People might die,”
Arad closed his eyes and listened. He could hear the monster roaring, but there were some words in there. “WHY ARE YOU RUNNING!”
BAM! Arad ran across the hallway, leaving Roberta and Gerald in the dust as they tried to catch him.
He could see a faint light at the end. Thud! Running into the light, Arad found himself running down a stadium filled with people cheering as they looked at a large ring in the middle.
BAM! He jumped, skipping everyone and falling straight into the middle of the ring, right between a large lizard and a half-petrified man.
The crowd went silent, glaring at the bizarre event.
CREEK! The man was fully petrified, and Arad glared at the giant lizard.
The giant lizard, the basilisk stopped moving and glared back at Arad.
“You were screaming a lot,” Arad said with a smile, and the basilisk roared at the top of its lungs. 𝒆𝙣𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝙚𝙩
Sara started sweating. “He’s the real deal. He isn’t getting petrified even though they are glaring at each other eyes.
***
The basilisk glared at Arad, confused. ^Who is this human? It doesn’t matter. Gets petrified. I need food.^
[Petrefying Gaze]
At that moment, the basilisk could feel it.
The immense presence standing in front of him. Like a ghostly figure, he could Arad’s draconic form standing behind him as that was what he tried to petrify.
^A dragon? It’s him. I felt his aura before. The dragon ruled this land.^ Before getting captured, the basilisk lived in Alina’s forest, and he recognized Arad’s draconic aura. “LET ME OUT OF HERE!” The basilisk roared, shaking the whole arena.
“Calm down. I don’t know how to do that now.” Arad replied with a smile. He was the only one understanding the basilisk’s words.
Thud! Arad and the basilisk started circling around, glaring at each other.
Arad was the first to stop moving, and he looked at the petrified man. “That’s an amazing ability.” Arad smiled and looked back at the basilisk. “Will you work for me? I need someone strong to guard a house.”
The crowd got confused even more, hearing Arad speaking with an unintelligent monster.
The basilisk weighed his options, either remain here, starving, and fighting for a single bite every now and then. Or serve the dragon ruling the land, the choice was obvious.
The basilisk lowered its head, standing down.
Arad approached the basilisk and patted its head, “Good, let’s head back inside where no one can see us. I will feed you there.”
Arad walked the basilisk back to the gate where it came from, and they walked all the way to its cage, away from the crowd.
BAM! Arad dropped a yeti that he hunted in the mountains for the basilisk to eat. “Eat well, I need you to remain strong.” He couldn’t wait to put it at the garden door in his house. Or have it act as a guard for Mira when she wants to get out of the forest.
The basilisk started munching on the yeti corpse, and Sara came rushing across the hallway with ten armed men. “Arad!”
Arad froze, glaring back, “Sara? What are you doing here?”
Sara stopped, panting, “That’s my question. What are you doing here?”
The two looked at each other.
“Master, should I petrify them? But, note that I already tried that woman, and I can’t turn her into stone.” The basilisk growled, but Arad understood its words.
“I came here looking for Gerald and Roberta, merchants. I did find them but heard this one crying when I was about to leave, so I came to check.” Arad smiled, pointing back at the basilisk.
“A-rank monster, the basilisk. They are dangerous creatures due to their ability to petrify people and their jaws that can crush stones.” Sara looked at the basilisk and got even more terrified seeing a yeti’s corpse on the ground. “Where did you get that?”
Arad looked at the yeti corpse, “I was on a walk with Aella in the mountains, and he screamed at us. So I killed him.” Arad smiled. But that didn’t answer Sara’s question about how did it get here.
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat. “To answer your question. I own this place. The arena, the black market, and auctions are all businesses that I created. Simply so such activities could be monitored by the lord’s house, instead of foreign hands.”
Arad looked at the basilisk. “I’m taking this one with me. How much is it?”
Sara could feel her skin crawl and her knees shaking. Her stomach turned as she struggled to open her mouth. Her devil instinct told her this wasn’t a negotiation.