Dragonlord

Ep 56. This Is Growing Pleasantly Out Of Hand. (5)

A golden sunset illuminated the forest as Ilias descended by the lake’s northern edge. When all her passengers were safely on ground, the youngling shrunk to her usual humanoid appearance, gripping her grumbling stomach.

“…I’m hungry.”

“You’ve been flying for hours, after all. Here!”

Light rummaged through one of the baggage as she produced a piece of dried meat from within for her sister. It wasn’t enough, but it’d do until they settled down to camp or otherwise.

While the dragon powerlessly chewed on the food, others were studying the surrounding landscape. One particular stream was stretching northwards from the lake, leading deeper into the forests.

Patrick narrowed his eyes as he noticed the cleanliness of the riverbank leading upwards. Strangely enough, he could see a pebbled path alongside the riverbank, lacking any vegetation whatsoever.

“Looks like we’re at the right place. Just up this stream should be where we’re looking for. We can walk the rest of the way, shouldn’t be far from here.”

When the enforcer beckoned to others, Serenis simply nodded as she began to walk wordlessly along the trail. Ilias was dragging herself along, with Light pushing the red dragon from behind with what strength she had.

Meanwhile, Karas observantly studied the surrounding as the group made their way up the stream. Despite the decades it’d been since his last stay within a forest environment, old habits were slowly creeping back as he sniffed the air.

‘…Something smells rotten. As if…’

“Ew, is that fish?”

Patrick’s disgusted comment made everyone look to the side. A giant fish, almost the size of an adult male, was rotting by the riverbank. Smaller animals and insects were beginning to feast on its remains.

Karas narrowed his eyes as he tried to make out what it exactly was. Despite its bloody underbelly, the head remained intact for the professor to discern its species.

“…A rivergill?”

Patrick curiously turned to Karas, raising a brow at the comment.

“That’s a rivergill? Isn’t it too big? I thought those were supposed to be the size of your fingers.”

Upon the enforcer’s questioning response, Karas took a brief moment to realize it was an opportune time to fulfill his role. Although everyone could hear him fine, he specifically turned towards Serenis and Light as he spoke.

“Since this is a workshop, let’s go over some forest habitat that concern mages. As Patrick just mentioned, rivergills often grow no bigger than the size of an adult’s finger – but in fact, this is due to the numerous predators that seek them for food. When left in an ideal environment, rivergills have been confirmed to grow indefinitely.”

Ilias glanced over to the fish as they walked by its carcass. Right now, the only thing she could think of was finding another one of that size and eating it.

“…Are they good?”

However, the professor shook his head.

“Rivergills are known to have a very peculiar taste. As they grow older and larger, their growth in size renders them impossible to live on small amounts of fish and insects – they instead tend to consume clumps of dirt whole, digesting what nutrient there is and expelling components they don’t need. So, to answer your question…”

The professor took a momentary pause as he looked towards the starving dragon.

“…Bigger rivergills tend to taste like dirt.”

“…Oh.”

Light burst into laughter at the red dragon’s evident disappointment. She then looked towards her professor, pointing at the river beside them.

“Do they still get hunted when they grow so big though?”

“Larger rivergills are often captured by hunters. Although their taste isn’t anything remarkable, their nature-friendly diet make their livers good components in alchemy practices. A rivergill’s liver is, in fact, a primary ingredient in recovery concoctions, as well as various medicine.”

“So, that big one died to a hunter too?”

“I can’t say for certain, but it isn’t too likely for that one. A hunter should’ve skinned and procured their remains instead of abandoning the carcass like that.”

“Eh? Then what killed it?”

“Good question.”

The professor shook his head. He shrugged, and looked towards the darkening depths of the forest surrounding them.

“I don’t know.”

✧ ✧ ✧

“Is this the place we’re looking for?”

“Looks like it? I mean, look at the size of that tree. I can’t even see the top from here!”

As Light and Ilias conversed, their gaze slowly rose upwards to see the towering height of the giant oak tree in the clearing. It was taller than any building they’d seen, its bark seemingly conjoined by roots of multiple different plants.

Meanwhile, Patrick’s eyes drifted from the two chatting sisters, then to the tree, then to the wooden cabin that shared the clearing with it. A definitive manmade structure, and if memory served true, Archmage Otoka Lairaff’s home.

‘Guess I’ll try talking to him first. Wonder if he’d remember me though…’

But just as Patrick approached the wooden door to give it a few knocks, a series of metallic thudding noises drowned out the enforcer’s knocking. The noise grew louder and louder, and the door soon swung open, revealing a silvery figure within.

Her neck shrieked in metallic screeches as she stretched, expression filled with annoyance.

“What’s with all the damn noise? What do you want?”

“…Uh…”

‘I don’t know who you are, but you’re louder than any of us here.’

Patrick blankly stared at the grey figure that had suddenly appeared before him. The only thing he knew was that this woman wasn’t the old archmage he was looking for.

Meanwhile, Ilias cringed her eyes at the sight. She pulled on her right cheek until it ached in pain, letting go once she’d confirmed that it wasn’t a dream.

Light frowned as she watched Ilias torture herself.

“Ilias? What’s wrong?”

The silvery figure darted her gaze as a familiar name slipped out of the half girl. Only then did she spot the red dragon in the party, mirroring the disbelief in their eyes.

Finally, Serenis poked her head from behind Patrick to spot the familiar dragon at the door.

“Oh. Hello, Raizel.”

?

The metal dragon blinked and rubbed her eyes several times. But no matter how many times her vision darkened and returned, the dragonlord remained standing in place, staring quizzically at the youngling before her.

“…Lord? What’re you doing here with humans?”

“We’re searching for a human by the name of Otoka Lairaff. Though, I could ask you the same – this isn’t your nest, is it?”

“…No. But some weird human dragged me here.”

Slowly, Ilias’ mouth opened up as she looked at her friend, her eyes still muddled with disbelief.

“Really? The great Raizel was dragged here by a human? Sounds like a pre-tty bad joke to me.”

A crunching noise of metal rang out from Raizel as she gripped her hands into a fist. She was grinning – and not in a pleasant way.

“Ilias, I will literally bury you.”

“Pft, as if you can!...Actually maybe you can, I’m starving right now…”

“If you want some fish, there’s one by the river.”

“Oh, that was you? The professor said that fish tastes like dirt though…and it was already rotting.”

“That’s the point.”

“Wait, what do you mean?! You wanted me to eat dirt?!”

Light, Karas and Patrick backed off as they watched the dragons bicker. The half girl looked towards her professor, pointing at the three by the cabin door.

“Professor, do you have some sort of dragon magnet? Weren’t dragons supposed to be rare?”

“I believe Serenis is the magnet. And we just happen to be accompanying said magnet.”

“Yeah…what he said.”

The three simply waited for the dragons to finish their fighting. However, another pair of footsteps rustled from behind, and the group turned to see two others approaching the clearing.

A strange woman was accompanied by an elderly mage, holding a basket of small fish to her side. She widened her eyes in surprise at the unexpected party.

“Oh, my. It seems we have even more guests, Mr. Lairaff. Dragons too!”

The old man beside her groaned in internal pain. His small paradise was turning into a dragon’s lair, and he wasn’t liking a single part of it.

“My lady, I…don’t believe we can accommodate so many guests…”

Translation: please kick them out.

However, the old man’s unspoken wishes went unheard as the woman replied to him.

“Please, don’t worry, we’ll find a way. It’s been all too long since we’ve had so many guests.”

Karas immediately narrowed his eyes at the two approaching them, specifically towards the blonde woman. She may not have seemed particularly remarkable to others, but he could vaguely see the similarity between her and the scriptures he’d read time and time again.

Besides, no sane forest inhabitant would walk the depths of the woods in a robed attire like that. Or wear jewelry on their ears. Or be barefoot.

When the woman noticed the professor’s gaze, a benevolent smile curved her lips as she came to a stop before the feathered individual.

“Can I help you, lifeless one?”

“…Deity. Aldrid, yes?”

“Oh?”

The woman’s eyes briefly fell on Patrick and Light, then back towards Karas. An amused expression began to appear on her face.

“Aren’t you an interesting one? A lifeless being who knows the deity of life.”

“…”

Karas lowered his stance, his gaze sharpening into a glare. He hadn’t expected the deity to single him out as ‘lifeless,’ but if that was grounds for her to not be fond of his presence, then that could only mean trouble.

Even the dragons’ bickering died down as they began to take notice of the two strangers that had appeared. When everyone fell silent, Aldrid slowly began to raise her hands.

‘I wasn’t expecting to we’d find the deity this easily…if she attacks, then-‘

The deity clapped her hands together, beaming in joy.

“Looks like we’ll need a much bigger table tonight! Please, come on in.”