Arc | Chapter. 65: Dragons (Patreon)

Chapter. 65: Dragons

Faral’s eyes grew wide as the land was enveloped in silence. She⁠— the queen had asked of her, the Dragon of Wind, to become her servant.

It was…

“Ridiculous!” The Dragon of Nature roared in the background.

Faral blinked as the queen’s gaze snapped in that direction. Her white hair fluttered through the wind, and her countenance remained as cold as ever. Then, after a moment, she spoke a simple question.

“Would you prefer if I killed her then?”

Faral shivered. “N-No⁠—”

“Why do you insist on killing her?!” The Dragon of Nature hissed. “What kind of tyranny are you trying to shove down on us?!”

“There is no tyranny, these are just personal matters. Whether she is a dragon elder or a normal dragon, a person, a monster⁠— it doesn’t matter.” Arc’s eyes narrowed. “It’s the price for sparing her life.”

“You⁠—”

“Enough!” The Dragon of Earth screamed, his booming voice interrupting everyone present. “This is a matter for Arc and the Dragon of Wind to solve between one another. However if the price is death then I shall intervene.”

Faral barely managed to see the disbelief in the face of the Dragon of Nature as he looked somewhere else.

“Are you saying?”

“That is right,” the Dragon of Earth agreed. “If the Dragon of Wind agrees to this, then it is none of our business.”

There was a long silence as the severity of the statement sank in. And yet, none of the dragons raised protests, except for the Dragon of Nature who looked absolutely enraged. And finally, the queen turned back to the Dragon of Wind.

Faral swallowed, meeting her eyes.

She could feel it. The gazes of the other elders staring at her, and yet she couldn’t see them. But judgment was bearing on her.

Faral bit her tongue within her maw, she didn’t want it. It was an almost insulting request, but it was coming from the dragon queen, and not only that but she had insulted her, the figure of authority. She wasn’t one to bow down normally but for some reason she felt compelled to.

Not in her hundreds of years of life had she felt such an underwhelming sense of inferiority before. Even though the claim of a queen had come out of nowhere, even though there was no precedent, she couldn’t help but take it seriously.

Finally, Faral swallowed and closed her eyes.

“I will become your servant, oh Dragon Queen of Frost.”

* * * * *

I saw a look of resignation and then, the reply came. It was one that didn’t surprise me at all, however all of the other elders gasped in disbelief. Even Regis’karr seemed shocked at what had just happened.

I closed my eyes and dismissed the ice dragon I had created. In a single moment the Dragon of Wind seemed to be able to breathe properly again, then I jumped off her neck and turned to face the surroundings.

And at that moment, I saw the Dragon of Nature rush in my direction with a gust of green magic⁠— a shadow struck. The ground exploded and from the dust, was Malz in her dragon form her claws pressing against the throat of the Dragon of Nature.

“I won’t let you do that,” Malz hissed.

Once more the entirety of the dragon elders gasped. To be honest, this was getting a bit out of hand, and tiresome as well. I didn’t think the dragons were so… brash? Was that even a word to use to describe what was happening? I didn’t even know what would cause the Dragon of Nature to act in such a way other than the fact that perhaps he was in love with the Dragon of Wind.

But based on her reaction it was more like, she also didn’t know?

Did dragons even feel romantic needs?

I hadn’t seen Regis’karr so much as stare at anyone past a glance or curiosity, then again Malz was… I shook my head and simply decided that I was going to do my best to wash my hands off this situation since it clearly wasn’t going anywhere.

In the end, I decided to sit down and wait, watching what unfolded between the Dragon of Nature and Malz. He kept thrashing but eventually spoke up through gritted teeth.

“Let me go…”

Malz pressed harder as a suppressed cough came. “And if you do, will you behave and accept that the Dragon of Wind now belongs to Arc?”

Belongs…? I blinked. She was a servant not a slave… However I didn’t voice anything as the Dragon of Nature struggled and began to thrash once more hearing that statement. It continued for seconds, but it went nowhere as finally I saw him slowly nod.

Malz let go and⁠— had to press again as he tried to bolt in my direction. A sigh left me, and the Dragon of Earth shook his head and stepped forward.

“Enough, Dragon of Nature!”

The thrashing stopped for a moment as the dragon flinched. Then, the Dragon of Earth continued.

“We as Grand Dragon Elders should be the bigger dragons and understand that our actions have consequences we have to face alone.” He shook his head and turned to me. “Whether it is trying to force us all to submit and eventually potentially suffering the potential wrath of all of us once going too far.”

He turned to Malz who snorted. “To betray their longest relationships.”

He turned to Regis’karr who raised his brow. “To choose no sides and be stuck in a limbo of indecision where no one favors you.”

And finally he turned to the Dragon of Wind who flinched.“Or to choose to lose your dignity over your life.”

Then, looking back at the Dragon of Nature he spoke. “Yet even if a lot of us are flawed we are choosing to accept things, but you are not. Let alone understanding, you are trying to deal with the consequences of the Dragon of Wind’s actions.”

There was a pause as the Dragon of Earth closed his eyes.

“Ignoring whether that is fair or not, you still have to take responsibility for your actions.”

The Dragon of Nature froze, Malz let go of his neck and he slowly stood up. He looked at me with mixed feelings, and at everyone else too, before finally looking towards the Dragon of Earth.

“I understand that, but I…”

“I know,” the Dragon of Wind said. “But you know the answer will always be no, for eternity.”

The Dragon of Nature immediately snorted and turned to the Dragon of Earth, evidently waiting for something to be said. The Dragon of Earth let out a cough as he turned to me and I just said.

“Just handle it yourself, I’m done with this.”

He nodded and turned to the Dragon of Nature, all while the dragons gave me a weird look before turning to see the judgment that was about to follow. There was a brief silence before the Dragon of Earth spoke.

“Dragon of Nature, head back to the Maw of Dragons, you are dismissed. Stay there and protect the mountain for the next decade.”

There was a pause before the Dragon of Nature nodded. There were no further words exchanged as he turned, though he gave me a glance; one full of murderous intent and hatred. I failed to understand it, but a moment later, he flapped his wings and disappeared into the horizon.

All of the dragons looked towards the horizon, watching the Dragon of Nature leave us all behind⁠. There was a minute long silence before he was gone, where everyone relaxed and gave me weird looks. The Dragon of Wind was meekly standing by my side, and⁠— well everyone seemed to be waiting for me to acknowledge the whole situation.

This is so stupid… A sigh left me.

“As the Dragon of Earth said, these are the consequences of the actions of the Dragon of Wind, however, I will say that she’s a servant not a slave. I shall not mistreat her.”

The dragons slowly nodded. And then I was lost, lost on how to conclude things. I thought for a moment, under the expectant gazes of everyone, before finally speaking up.

“As a small apology, I will let you all decide where to go next and accompany you all in a short journey, though if you wish to return to your homes that is fine too,” I said smiling lightly. “I’ll also offer to assist anyone with their problems if they have any.”

The dragons shared glances and quickly gathered to talk about things, except for Malz and the Dragon of Wind who stood back. Malz immediately transformed into a human before deciding to ask me something.

“Arc I couldn’t help but notice that you…” she trailed off looking all over my body. “Look pretty different now.”

I blinked. “Oh, right…”

I knew what she meant. My mana was low, and for some reason I had pointy ears and weird textured skin now, but as I felt my mana regenerate I could feel them slowly receding back to normal.

“I don’t know,” I touched my ears. “I mean I feel pretty much the same, and as for why it’s doing this? I’m not too sure. The changes of the dragon flesh have long come to an end.”

The Dragon of Wind nodded. “That can only mean you were always meant to be a dragon, and by extension perhaps our new leader.”

I raised my brow slightly confused. “What do you mean, Dragon of Wind?”

“Faral, that’s my name.” She shook her head before continuing. “We dragons only followed after the Dragon God, but after his demise we have had no leader. So I am happy to serve you, o’ Dragon Queen of Frost.”

I blinked, feeling slightly taken aback from my title. “Arc is fine, but now thinking about it wasn’t the Dragon God the reason the corruption is not a thing?”

“It’s complicated.” Faral sighed. “In some ways yes, in other ways he also tried to protect the world. Of course this is from before my time, there are things I am yet to understand but it can be said that he was just fulfilling his duties to protect Arlas.”

“So the System is the bad guy?” I raised my brow. “I mean given how shitty it is I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Not exactly,” she shook her head. “The ones responsible are a long extinguished race who refused to let go of the arcane, and with it the corruption came.”

I nodded.

“I see, that is enough information for me at that moment.”

Faral also nodded seemingly satisfied with herself for a moment, Malz gave her a weird look but before she could say something two dragons took off, and only three dragons remained. Regis’karr, the Dragon of Earth, and lastly was a blue dragon, the Dragon of Water.

I turned as they walked to me, and the Dragon of Earth was the first one to speak.

“The Dragon of Water requires your help, but would prefer to request it as the journey ends. All three of us have concluded that we want to explore human settlements in the Republic of Miri-Sunre.”

“Sure, I’ll go along just like I said.”

I was met with some expectant nods and soon we set off.

◇ ◇ ◇

I didn’t know what I expected, but there were so many eyes on us as soon as we entered one of the towns. None of the guards dared to stop us either after Malz gave them a glare. So here we were:

Me, dressed in winter clothes. Malz, dressed in dark colors and modern clothes. Regis’karr looking like a noble teen from a different country. Faral dressed in long flowing robes that accompanied her green hair. The Dragon of Water who wore a weird tunic and was covered head to toe in bandages, atop of his head a big mushroom like hat. And finally, the Dragon of Earth who looked like an old man with brown robes, the only thing worth noting is that he had brown hair rather than white.

Needless to say, all of the people in our surroundings were looking at us. But I ignored whatever awkwardness I was feeling and let them do what they wanted. Where we, unexpectedly, ended up in a small restaurant.

It was akin to a large hall full of tables, there were little people in the establishment and the windows had no glass, they were just carved in the sandstone with intricate patterns.

We sat at an extended table, thankfully I still had the money from the merchant Lydia, so I wasn’t worried.

However, contrary to my expectations the Dragon of Water, who was sitting across from me, coughed. His voice normal for a guy.

“Arc, I figure this is the best time to bring my request to you. I want to ask for your help, it’s a very simple request.”

I raised my brow. “What is it?”

He breathed.

“I want you to help me rule the Kingdom of Draliz.”