Arc | Chapter. 46: Forgotten Places (Patreon)

Chapter. 46: Forgotten Places

I didn’t know what I expected, that was for certain. Somehow, I had faith that Regis wouldn’t just expose his identity like that. Could I have tried to gaslight the Guildmaster? Probably. But I also felt like it would’ve made things a lot more suspicious and weird as a whole. In the end, I just had to have faith that the bizarreness of the circumstances would be enough to come across as a delusion.

Finally, after a few minutes we found ourselves in the inn room, it was private for the most part but I still covered the entirety of the room in ice and shoved Regis in. Needless to say, I was annoyed. Annoyed that I had to deal with a lizard that had no subtlety. Ceylon was left out of things, I wanted it to be private.

“I get it, I made a mistake, I just need not to do that again.” He said somewhat irked. “Ceylon clearly explained it to me, I won’t get it wrong.”

“No, you do not understand.” I said frowning. “Your pride as a lizard will continue to get in the way of things, your necessity to feel superior.”

“I don’t feel superior to you, and don’t call me lizard!” Regis said, crossing his arms.

“Yes, but you feel superior to other people,” I continued. “Of course, I do too, but you know the difference between you and me? I know that given my circumstances, it’s best to keep my mouth shut in situations like this. You could’ve just said that the name was like the Dragon of Flames because your parents thought it was nice or something, but instead you blabbered it out. Because you’re proud to be the Dragon of Flames.”

“Of course I am proud, are you not proud to be the Heroine of Frost?”

“No, so I cannot relate to your pride.” I crossed my arms. “But you will have to swallow that for as long as you are my companion, you won’t be the Dragon of Flames, but Regis. Just like how I am Arc, and not the Heroine of Frost, and just like how Ceylon is Ceylon rather than the child of a famous noble family.”

Regis frowned for a moment, before turning away. “I guess I can do that, but is this fixation to stay hidden really that important to you? Why can’t you just join a Hero organization? You’re clearly strong enough, the only flaw I’ve noted is that your mana consumption is over the roof due to every single skill you have being SS Tier.”

I managed to parse the reason for my mana struggles, but it didn’t mean anything right now, not in this situation.

“I cannot join because I like my freedom, who knows if they’ll force me to be an underling or some bullshit.” I spat. “So yes, it is extremely important, who the fuck wants to do whatever a group tells them to do just for some mayor benefit you actually don’t care about? I sure don’t.”

I crossed my arms in a huff. It was stupid, the fact that my identity as a hero placed me in a potentially precarious situation was stupid. The duty assigned by the System was long gone, so I should’ve been able to do whatever I wanted, but instead I had to deal with the issue of my strength being found out by the wrong people.

Did I want to pretend to be weak? Not exactly, that would hurt my pride. At most I could try not to do flashy things in front of others, but that was about it. It was just annoying. And ultimately, I had a feeling that it was all because I was a hero, even if I was S Tier instead of SS Tier I’d have this problem. The problem lied within my title, not my strength, and that was the stupidest part of it all.

A sigh left me as I realized Regis had yet to reply.

“So? Will you⁠—”

“You’re right.” Regis breathed. “Who wants to do whatever some group they don’t care too much about tells them? I sure don’t either, but yet I am here because of the other Grand Dragon Elders.”

“Yes, you’re in the exact same situation I want to avoid.” I pointed out. “So, I’m sure you should now understand why I got so damn annoyed at you.”

He nodded. “I do, and I’m sorry, you’re right my pride at least in this situation has potentially landed you in trouble.” A sigh left him. “I think I needed to hear all of this in order to be better.”

I raised my brow skeptically. “Will you⁠—”

“Yes.” He nodded, no trace of his previous emotions gone. “I wouldn’t wish to drag you into a situation like mine. So, please forgive me for my childishness.” He bowed lightly.

Then, he turned to the walls, quietly gritting his teeth.

“I do not understand how to behave or act as a human, it’s frustrating. There is no way for me to exercise my authority, I can exercise it sometimes like I did in the guild, but there is no sense of respect; no sense of admiration. I’m just another human in the eyes of others, and it’s infuriating.”

And a long sigh left him.

“Sorry, I guess all of this is just weird to hear is it not?” He shook his head. “I guess in the end, I end up overreacting or behaving in a childish manner; or it comes across like that since I have no other way to react or socialize…”

Finally he turned to me, doing a deep nod.

“I’m sorry for what I’ve put you through, while I did have honest intentions with the landing, I do think it was in retrospect absolutely stupid. So, please forgive me, I’ll strive to be a companion you can keep around, not for my status, but for who I am.”

I blinked looking at Regis’ sincerity. For a moment, I found it hard to believe that this was the same dragon I perceived as stupid, but it also made sense. For as much as I looked down on him, he was still someone that was actively sought after for their wisdom. So, I chose to trust him as I nodded.

“Then, I hope you’re my companion for many years to come, as for your dragon problems…” I thought for a moment, placing a hand on my chin. “I could maybe try to help if given more context, since they want you to recruit me, do they not?”

Regis paused, he blinked with surprise and then nodded very slowly.

“Yeah, but it’s going to be a bit difficult.” He scratched his head. “There is also quite a lot to discuss if you wish to help me that way.”

“I see.” I nodded before dismissively snapping my fingers and turning around.

The ice all over the room evaporated into nothingness, leaving the place completely dry and untouched. Then, I opened the door and gestured Ceylon to come in, she looked at Regis only to see him seemingly at peace, which confused her.

After I closed the door before freezing it over once more, though I didn’t freeze the entire room since it was overkill. Then, I took a deep breath and turned around.

“Regis, let’s talk about your situation.”

He paused for a moment. “Already? I thought you’d think about it for some time…”

“His situation?” Ceylon asked, confused as she sat on a chair.

Meanwhile, I sat on one of the beds while Regis was on the other one.

“Basically, I want to help him out with the dragon duties forced onto him.”

“Oh, the Grand Dragon Elders…” She nodded understandingly.

Regis slowly nodded as if nervous. “It really isn’t that easy, are you sure you don’t want to think it over?”

“I mean, I just have to join you, no?” I asked, confused.

He nodded. “But then the Grand Dragon Elders will begin trying to force you to kill heroes.”

I raised my brow. “Can’t I just say no? Or at least say that I’m not ready?”

There was a brief period of hesitation before he nodded. “I guess they’ll allow it but once they get desperate⁠—”

“They’ll try to kill me?” I raised my brow. “Don’t they really need me to topple the balance in the realm or whatever?”

Regis paused, and then went into deep thought, closing his eyes. This lasted for a few seconds before a long sigh left him.

“Yeah, I guess they have no certain way to force your hand… but…” And he took another breath. “What will you do then? Just mind your own business?”

“Of course not, I’ll get the most I can out of them.” I smiled. “You mentioned a blood ritual, did you not? It sounded like a benefit, what would it do for me?”

Regis paused. “I don’t think that’s⁠—” Then he shook his head. “No, while I’m on the side of the dragons, what they are doing is not something I agree with. As for the blood ritual, it doesn’t give any levels.”

“Then what does it do?” I raised my brow.

Regis smiled. “But, thinking about it, it should still help you massively. It makes you a dragonkin, a higher race than a human. It will make you much stronger, especially in physical attributes and durability.”

I nodded. “That does sound like something I’m interested in, what other benefits are there for joining the dragons?”

Regis blinked. “Well my servitude was supposed to be part of the benefit, but…”

“But you’ll be here even if I don’t join,” I finished for him. “So, what else?”

He frowned. “I suppose knowledge is one, and perhaps since you like fighting I’m sure you could get at least someone to agree to fight you, but it certainly wouldn’t be to the death⁠—”

“Then that’s boring,” I dismissed it. “There has to be something the mighty dragons have that no one else can offer, aside from wealth⁠—”

“Actually I’m the only wealthy dragon.” Regis chuckled. “It’s a bit hard to say what can be offered. Perhaps the Dragon of Frost would be willing to try to teach you Frost skills, which would certainly help you.”

I thought for a moment before shaking my head. Not only did I have plenty of skills to use, I felt quite certain I could even come up with new skills on the spot. I had already managed to replicate Jake’s ability to draw skills out of a weapon, and I had quite a few ideas on how to use it.

“What else?”

This time Regis frowned, taking quite a lot of time to think. Time passed, perhaps close to a minute before he spoke hesitantly.

“This is my idea, but I thought about what you said in growing stronger… and if I can enlist the help of the Grand Dragons I might be able to help you with your problem. And if I do successfully manage to do what I was thinking about then…”

Regis took a very deep breath before meeting my gaze in a serious manner. The room seemed to come to a halt before finally he spoke.

“You’ll be able to gain levels, not just one, or two, or three, but multiple, enough to at least possibly step into the middle echelons of SS Tier, and it all begins with the forgotten places.”

“The forgotten places?” I asked, now more interested than ever.

He nodded, taking his time. “It’s not like the age of oblivion vanished without a trace, it was a period of slaughter and legendary beasts, where SS Tier was the common rule. Something like that, even after millennia, still has its traces. And those traces are known amongst dragons as the forgotten places. Places that are meant to be forgotten by the world, places that shouldn’t exist, places where…”

Regis met my gaze with utmost seriousness.

“Places where the corruption exists.”

I paused, Ceylon just blinked, uncomprehending of what Regis was saying.

The corruption…?

For some reason, hearing Regis say that gave me a sudden bad feeling. And then, I sensed it; a presence. Spiders piled⁠—accumulated in front of the door making a blob of arachnids.

Regis rushed to protect Ceylon, and a moment later, a full figure formed, becoming a woman of black hair and red eyes that met my gaze.

“So you are the Hero of Frost?” She raised her brow. “A woman? Didn’t expect that, but it doesn’t make a difference.”

I blinked in confusion. “Did you just⁠—”

“Well enough chatting, time for you to die so I can conquer all of Draliz!” She raised her arm, as I felt a sudden sense of danger and ominous chittering sounds entered my ears. “So, die for me!”

“[Call of the Spider Deity]!”

And she slammed her hand down as the entirety of the room exploded.