Dragon Sorcerer 1- Chapter 31 (Patreon)

Chapter 31- Dirty Dwarves

As much as I felt like I was out of place, I also felt strangely comfortable in my new skin, or rather in releasing my curiosity. It was a feeling that was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time.

Modessa’s spell soon faded. We were once again exposed to the eyes of the public. That was fine because for now we would be doing some shopping. When we reached the first of the larger stores, it turned out to be a general goods store.

We shopped around for some basic goods like camping supplies food rations and just regular clothes. It was all rather mundane and to be frank boring for a dragon. This was all that was involved in human life, think I was actually going to enjoy it very much.

What I did notice however was that Cami got a great deal of enjoyment from finding even the simplest of outfits. It became apparent that she had never had the opportunity to make these types of choices for herself.

The bag of coins provided to us by more Modessa was far and beyond what we needed for these basic supplies. The shopkeeper eyes bulged when Cami offered a gold coin and asked if she had anything smaller. After rooting around inside the bag, Cami was able to find a few silver coins. My eyes didn’t glitter quite so much the sight of silver, but I wouldn’t have turned down a mountain of it to curl up on. Even to silver coins turned out to be more than enough for all the supplies that we needed.

“Cami, do have any idea what the value of each of these coins is?”

She stared at me and I noticed the blood rush to her face as she became embarrassed. I was becoming proud of my ability to recognize basic human emotions. Maybe it was simply because I spent so much of their life being embarrassed.

Finally, she sputtered out an answer. “I’m sorry, Nico. My father handled all the money. I was never allowed to touch any of it. The one time I tried to make a stack of his copper coins well attended and well.”

I felt the pain of her memories through our connection. The hair on the back my neck stood up. My hands tensed. An image of her sire filled my mind and all I wanted to do was tear him in half.

She put her hand on my arm. “Thank you.”

Now I was confused. “For what?” The

“To feel what you feel too, dummy.” Her hand on my arm squeezed down a little tighter. “I’m glad you care. I know you try to hide it. My life was what was it was now. I want to think about the future.”

“Your sire should just be grateful that he’s not here in front of me.”

She giggled and then we walked outside complete with several new bags equipment. Before, I hadn’t appreciated it quite so much, but that moment of anger and a bad memory seemed to have bonded us even more. There were no notifications, no DKP or other perks, it was just a feeling, and oddly I was okay with that.

At the moment, I appreciated the world in a new way. The warm morning air of the open air market felt good on my soft human skin. Everywhere you looked there were vendors selling all kinds of goods, from exotic spices to colorful clothes. The carts were interspersed amongst more permanent stores and more than once I saw a shop keeper yelling at a cart owner to move their ‘trash heap.’

The smells of freshly cooked food wafted up from makeshift stands dotted around the area and music filled the air from pair of musicians playing nearby.

I asked Cami, “What are those two doing?”

“Playing music, silly.” She seemed confused by my question.

I growled a bit at being called silly again. I knew she didn’t mean it in a bad way because she was smiling and I felt nothing but an oddly warm emotion coming from her. She shook her head, “Sorry, I’m not making fun of you. I just forget sometimes that as lost as I am, this is even more new for you.”

“Why would you be lost? Aren’t these humans like you?”

She grinned. “Yes, of course, but humans are different all over. The people in a city like this live very differently than those in Cloverdale, and even there the townsfolk lived differently than I did on the farm.”

“Oh, so it’s like they’re a different breed of humans. Sort of how reds are lazy, greens are conniving, whites are stupid with their frozen brains, and blues are the most noble of all dragons.”

She put her hand to her mouth like she was holding something inside. It took her a moment before she answered, but she finally nodded. “I suppose it could be something like that.”

I shrugged. “Okay, then we’ll just have to learn about the city together. I’d thought you’d know more about the coins and things.”

“Well, I do know that one hundred coppers equal a silver and one hundred silvers equal a gold. My da used to say that a silver was worth a full day of labor from a skilled craftsman. Of course, he was complaining about how little farming paid, so who knows if he was right.”

After enjoying ourselves for what felt like hours, it was time for us to get serious about finding some armor or weapons for the pair of us before we needed to return to the inn. The sun was already well on its way to evening and soon the light would begin to fade.

A couple of the shops we tried to enter said they only accepted customers from established houses. When Cami showed her coin purse to one of those shops, they accused her of being a thief and threatened to call the town guard. I began to tell them to call those weaklings, but Cami cut me off.

Once outside, she said, “Humans don’t fight over everything. Sometimes you just move on and find another way.”

I nodded. I wanted to learn, but human ways were so stupid. Dragons just fought and got it out of the way. It made life far simpler. Maybe the humans just needed me to teach them a better way. I’d have to think on that one.

Eventually, we stumbled across an old man working in a forge near the far side of the market. His shop was mostly open to the air, and he was working his craft right out in front of anyone who wanted to watch. He was shorter and stockier than most humans I’d seen, and his arms were very thick.

My first thought was that he was a dwarf, but as I looked through the memories of the dragon dream regarding that treacherous race, I found that he was too tall and too narrow to be a dwarf. Still, I whispered to Cami, “Is that a dwarf?”

The clanging of his hammer against metal stopped, and he called out, “Come and say that to my face.”

I was baffled as I couldn’t see how he could have heard me, yet thrilled by the idea of confrontation. Cami placed her hand on my chest before she started to apologize, “He doesn’t mean anything by it. We’ve never been to a city this size.”

The smith broke out into a wide grin. “Ah, I was just playing with ya all. You need anything?”

Cami and I walked right up to his anvil, and I looked around. He had everything from daggers to battle axes to spears on the wall. I was hardly an expert in human weapons, but I did know quality when I saw it. It was just one of those dragon things to know well worked metal when we see it.

I cast Identify on a spear.

Masterwork Cold Steel Spear

Weight: 4 lbs.

Damage: 1-10+3 piercing

Enhancements:

Additional damage against summoned beings +2-8.

Durability +100%

Sharpness +50%

Increased Critical Strike +5%

This was definitely one of those moments to make use of our bond. I pushed my thoughts towards Cami, “That spear is much higher quality than what I’ve seen other than what the adventurers are carrying.”

“Oh? Why is his shop so poor compared to the others then?”

I didn’t know the answer and if I’d been a human, I likely would have found some way to subtly engage the smith in conversation till I drew out his secrets. Dragons could be quite clever as well, but it just felt like a waste of time. I’d played nicely, well at least since I had stolen the meat pie. Now was a time for a more direct approach. I was beginning to think that his appearance wasn’t random chance and perhaps he had more in common with the dwarves.

I walked right up till I loomed over the shorter man. To his credit he didn’t back down, but I still glared at him. I tried to push out an intimidating aura when, to my surprise I got a notification.

You are attempting to exude Dragon Fear while not in your natural form.

Do you wish to buy this ability? Cost: 1 DKP. Note when not in dragon form your fear aura will be directions with a 120 degree arc and 15 foot range at it’s maximum. The effect will also only be 75% of your base Dragon Fear. This ability may be upgraded.

Without a second thought, I spent the DKP. It felt like a piece of me slid back into place, sorta like a joint had been out of socket and then it popped back in. The effect was immediate as his eyes widened and he stumbled backwards.

“What are you?”

I followed him, walking forward at the pace he was stumbling backwards at. I never closed the distance to closer than an arm’s length, but I also didn’t let him get out of range. “I’m someone looking to find good quality weapons and armor for a bargain. I think there’s more to you than you’re letting on. Maybe I should just ask you politely, but a day of being nice has left a bad taste in my mouth.”

Instinctively, I flashed my teeth at him before I realized it would have been far more intimidating in my dragon form. “Speak up before I grow tired. Start with how you heard me whisper to my friend from fifteen feet away even as you were hammering a piece of steel.”

He wrung his hands and shivered, but I could see him starting to shake off the effect. “You’re a mage are you?”

“What makes you say that?”

“I haven’t been an adventurer for forty years, but I still know what a debuff notification looks like. Can’t say as I’ve ever seen that one before, but it must be some kind of fear or intimidation effect. Pretty strong too, because I’m not one to wilt.”

He was definitely regaining his composure, but then his eyes shot open so wide that they might as well have been those saucers that I’d seen Serius and Lisella using with tiny cups.

“Dragon fear… how is that possible? That’s some kinda crazy spell.”

I grinned. If there was one thing I felt comfortable with, it was a little intimidation. “That should convince you that I’m no one to be messed with.”

“Fine, it’s just a skill I picked up back when I was an adventurer. It was before I became a smith and gave up that crazy life of danger. The imperial city didn’t mind my heritage, but then I uh… well let’s just say that I made a certain noble woman’s husband angry and it seemed like a change of scenery would be for the best. If I’d known what a crap hole Taleia was, I never would have come here.”

“What because they don’t like your dwarven heritage?” I asked.

He nodded while looking at the floor. “The gods blighted, narrow-minded iggets wouldn’t know quality if it him them between their eyes. The guild leaders were all jealous of my skills and so I can’t get a license as an official blacksmith. I had to use all my savings just to build this little place and now I barely break even when an out of towner buys some of my stuff.”

“Iggets?” I asked with confusion in my voice.

He laughed then and so I knew the effect of my fear had faded, although it had done its job. “Yeah, half idiot, half widget. It’s a word of me own making and if you don’t like it, then you can stuff it.”

I was about to step into his face again when Cami said, “I think we got off on the wrong foot. I’m Cami, and my friend here is Nico. We’re students on our way to the Imperial University in Urgoi. We came out shopping to buy some better gear, as we’ve found the road to be rather dangerous.”

“Well you won’t find any better gear in this town, but I don’t know that you can afford my prices. I can’t just go giving this stuff away.”

I got a large grin as an idea occurred to me. “Maybe we can work something else out.”