Chapter 46: The Unwanted Guardian

My office had become a command center for monitoring my ongoing disasters. I had one screen dedicated to the 'Behelgard' world, which I had ominously nicknamed 'Goblin-Cam,' and another for the 'Astoria' world, which was currently focused on a very confused adventurer named Leo.

Leo was not having a good day.

"Get off!" he yelled, trying to peel my tiny dragon form off his back.

"No!" I chirped back, tightening my grip. "It is my sacred duty to protect you!"

"Protect me from what?! The flowers?!"

I watched the scene with a mix of horror and morbid curiosity. Leo tried everything. He tried to shake me off. He tried to bribe me with a shiny rock (which I found fascinating, but not enough to abandon my post). He even tried to reason with me.

"Look," he said, panting. "I'm just a simple adventurer. I don't need a guardian dragon. I'm sure there's a princess or a great hero somewhere you're supposed to be protecting."

"My instincts are never wrong," I replied sagely. "You are my person. I shall be your shield."

His quest to get the Skybloom was now a two-person—well, one-person, one-dragon—job. When a gust of wind threatened to knock him off the cliff edge, I flapped my wings furiously, creating just enough counter-thrust to stabilize him. When a grumpy mountain goat tried to headbutt him, I let out a surprisingly fierce hiss and a plume of smoke that sent the goat running.

I was an excellent protector. Leo, however, just looked increasingly stressed.

I switched feeds to the Goblin-Cam. Things there were far more organized, and far more terrifying. Kenji—who now insisted on being called 'King Kengen'—had already revolutionized his tribe.

He had taught them basic metallurgy using his Mythril discovery, creating crude but effective armor and weapons. He had used his knowledge of flammable fungus to create 'Boom-Sticks,' which had allowed his tribe to easily defeat a rival goblin clan and absorb them into his growing army.

He was sitting on a makeshift throne of rocks and bones, pointing at a map scrawled on a piece of leather.

"Gork, you will take the Third Regiment and secure the river," he commanded. "We need a stable water source for phase two of my agricultural revolution."

Gork, who was now wearing a helmet made from a turtle shell, saluted smartly. "Yes, King Kengen!"

I watched, horrified. He wasn't just a threat anymore. He was a civilization-builder. A goblin Napoleon. And it was all my fault. My attempts to fix things were like trying to put out a forest fire with a water pistol. My life was now a constant, frantic balancing act of monitoring a budding evil empire and a girl who had turned into a sentient, clingy backpack.