Dragonlord

Ep 57. Just Like Before. (1)

Usually, nights tended to be peaceful around Otoka’s cabin. Just yesterday the old man’s evenings had comprised of nothing but leisure teatime shared by an occasional animal guest at the porch of his cozy home.

Unfortunately, the archmage found nothing of the sort tonight. Whenever he’d bring the teacup to his mouth, a brand-new gasp of excitement and surprise from inside the cabin would shake his drink. Or his nerves.

What was going on in the cabin? Well…

“You’re a deity?!”

“Mhm! Nice to meet you, little one. My name is Aldrid.”

Light stared in awe, scanning the blonde woman from head to toe. It was nothing short of rude, but Aldrid paid it no mind as she watched the half girl look for any clues that would give away the deity’s identity.

Aldrid responded in kind, holding out her hand as a small, tiny seed materialized into the palm. The seed then split open as a budding stem reached outwards, soon blooming into a beautiful white poppy that was handed to the half girl.

Meanwhile, Patrick was stressfully leaning his chin onto his hand. He’d checked several times to see if he’d been dreaming.

‘…Am I being dumb, or were deities always this easy to meet?’

Aldrid, deity of life – commonly dubbed as Mother Nature herself, said to have birthed all life that exists on the star. She was better known than most of deities, and popular enough to even have a forest named after her, but nowhere in her stories did it say she literally lived in it.

Karas wasn’t much different, mirroring Patrick’s disbelief and confusion. Despite having identified Aldrid herself, he wasn’t expecting her to be THIS easy to find.

When the deity noticed their bewildered expressions, she returned an apologetic grin towards the two mages, bowing her head slightly.

“I apologize if I don’t quite appear as a deity. I do usually keep it to myself, but…I really couldn’t with all the kin’s guests we received today. If it’s not too much trouble, please do keep it a secret that I’m here.”

“…Uh huh.”

“Of…course.”

Aldrid beamed a satisfied grin back at the two. She rose from her seat and looked to the archmage sipping on his tea, clapping her hands as she urged him up.

“Now then! It’s getting late, Mr. Lairaff. We better eat before it gets too dark!”

The old man was smiling on the outside, but he was grumbling, pouting, resisting, and reluctant on the inside. Nevertheless, he rose to his feet to prepare for dinner.

The preparation would hardly be for himself tonight.

✧ ✧ ✧

Archmage Otoka Lairaff. An individual whose age was now tallying beyond its third digit, he was an unquestioned expert in the field of plant- and earth- based magic, a pioneer of the field that designed numerous spells, and also a former headmaster of a school of arts.

Although, now he was just an old man doing chores at the back of his yard.

The archmage grumbled as he rubbed his aching back, slamming his staff into the ground. Mounds of dirt, wood and stone seemingly sprouted from beneath, building upwards as they gradually formed walls and pillars, windows and doors.

As he did so, Otoka couldn’t help his eyes from constantly looking over towards his cabin, picking up on the occasional bits of chatter going on from within. Being kicked out of his own house was one thing, but right now, he was glad not to be in there with the rest.

‘…Good heavens.’

It wasn’t hard to imagine how crowded it must be in there.

Usually, the cabin’s dinner table was only occupied by Otoka himself; on occasion, Aldrid would accompany him. But somehow, it’d ended up with a grand total of five tonight, being occupied by two dragons, an enforcer, a professor, and Aldrid herself. And even that was only because the table didn’t have room for Light and Ilias, who were instead sitting on feathered cushions.

Ironically, the profound unease of the archmage outside went unnoticed; as dinner went on, Aldrid was even beginning to forget the man’s existence. She was too busy marvelling at all her guests that had come to visit, specifically towards the white-haired dragonlord before her.

“So, your name was…Serenis? Is that correct?”

“It is.”

Aldrid delightfully nodded her head. She glanced over the cabin’s interior, noting all the people that had accompanied the dragonlord.

“You have a very interesting group with you! A human, a half, monster, dragon…”

“…I did mean to come here on my own, but…”

“Not at all, I’m glad you brought so many others with you. We rarely see guests, so having such a crowded dinner table is a welcoming surprise.

Otoka would’ve liked to disagree about visits being pleasant; being sandwiched between dragons in his own home was nothing short of terrifying, even for an archmage. But then again, he was outside, so what do we care.

The deity excitedly continued her chitchat, unaware of her old friend’s internal turmoil.

“And to think we’d have dragons as guests! It’s hard to come by even one in a hundred years. I do hope the food is to your liking.”

Upon hearing the comment, Serenis looked down to the numerous dishes prepared across the table. While they were filled to the brim with all sorts of fresh foods from the forest, among them was a peculiar soup that contained numerous vegetables – but its most notable part was the peculiar scent of its orange broth.

Slowly, her eyes drifted over to Karas, pointing at the soup in specific.

“Karas. What do you call this dish?”

The professor looked to the dragonlord in surprise. It was the first question she’d ever asked that he found difficult to answer.

“...I must admit, this is the first time I’ve come across such peculiar broth. I’m afraid I do not know its name.”

Serenis briefly glanced towards Patrick, but the uncertainty in her sibling’s eyes said much the same. They didn’t know what this dish was.

When the dragonlord’s eyes fell back to the blonde woman, Aldrid was worriedly staring back at the dragonlord.

“What’s wrong? Is it not to your liking?”

“…No. It’s nothing like that.”

Serenis remembered this scent. She may not have tasted the actual broth as often, but once upon a time, it’d been quite easy to come by – in the depths of her nest, among the dinner tables shared by kin and man alike.

‘…I can understand that a mere recipe would be lost in time. But to think a deity would remember it…’

Iris’ assurance had proven right: even when Serenis revealed her identity, Aldrid seemed to pose no ill intent – at least on the outside – towards her. In fact, the deity of life even seemed to have a strange attachment to dragons and their old customs.

However, a sudden cough marked the end of their conversation.

“Ahem!”

Before Aldrid realized, Otoka had entered from the back to once again stand by the deity’s side. He loudly cleared his throat to gain her attention, reporting the results of his work.

“My lady. The preparations have been complete.”

“Oh my, that was rather quick. Thank you, Mr. Lairaff.”

Aldrid turned back to Serenis, sparing a brief glance towards others in the process. Everyone was just about finished with their food.

“It’s getting late, so why not head to sleep for today? It’s a bit rushed, but we’ve made some preparations to accommodate everyone.”

“…”

The archmage internally grumbled at the deity’s remark. The ‘we’ part was questionable.

✧ ✧ ✧

And sometime later, outside the cabin…

“Wow! A whole house is here now!”

“And it’s huge!”

Light and Ilias excitedly approached the new structure behind the cabin, scanning the sudden appearance of the wooden lodge left and right.

The archmage was proudly rubbing his beard as the two girls marvelled at his work.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all.”

Karas also stepped outside as the lodge came to view. The professor curiously opened his mouth, glancing between Otoka and the lodge.

“Is this…magic?”

“Why, yes.”

The archmage met Karas’ gaze. At least someone here could appreciate what his work truly was as he excitedly added additional explanations.

“It’s merely a slight alteration of existing spells. Plant, earth, what have you.”

“I…don’t believe this is anywhere near ‘slight’…”

“Haha. What else would a retired man do in with all the time he has? This just happens to be what I waste my days on.”

Karas’ curiosity only grew at the answer. As far as he knew, there was no spell that came even close to creating a proper shelter like this.

Moreover, all spells were temporary. While the effects caused by magic may last forever, spells themselves were ever fleeting. Naturally, this wooden lodge, too, should’ve been bound to disappear.

“Is it not a heavy strain on your mana to maintain such a spell? I can’t imagine you’d be able to keep something like this overnight.”

“Ah, a sharp conjecture. What you fail to realize is that while I did use magic to make this lodge, the materials are genuine.”

“…?”

“Magic replaces the work, not the materials.”

Karas slowly nodded his head as he appreciated the lodge’s design once again. The explanation was beginning to make sense – although, that would mean that Otoka had used magic to collect and process all the materials from the environment, which sounded much, much more difficult.

“…Interesting. I will do well to remember it.”

“Good. Now, off with you lot.”

The professor made a respectful bow as he followed the rest of the group inside, trailing after everyone as they opened the door to reveal a huge, intricate design of the lodge’s interior.

A couple audibly gasped in amazement. However, Patrick remained unconvinced as he scanned the others in dismay.

“…Okay seriously, I can’t be the only one who’s shocked by all this. Cool spell, sure, but is that really the issue here? We were all tired and hungry, I get that – but why does no one seem surprised that we just met a deity?”

Raizel scoffed at the question as she threw herself flat onto the floor, beginning a series of answers that followed.

“Who cares what that girl is? She had food and it didn’t taste like crap.”

“…For once, I agree with Raizel. She gave us dinner, she’s a nice person.”

“At least she wasn’t a jerk like Zion when I first met him.”

“I thought you’d be used to this by now, Patrick. Serenis herself is an anomaly of a being. The Twelve have been historically confirmed to be real numerous times, while demonlords have amounted to myths and legends.”

The enforcer shut his mouth; these people were all crazy. Then again, some of them weren’t even ‘people.’

As everyone explored the lodge’s interior and found their own spaces and rooms, Patrick remained in the lobby, glancing towards the closed door. Someone wasn’t here yet – someone rather important.

‘…Speaking of, where did our anomaly go?’