Hook, line, sinker, reverse

Two paladins in full armor stood ramrod straight at the sides of a large white door with gold motifs of the sun. Such an ornate design was a hard find in the airship that focused on function over form and it wasn’t hard to discern that the room housed some important personage.

Right at the start of the following hour, the guards moved. Hale went back to his waiting body, dropped down the vent expertly and returned to the door. He didn’t have much time before the next shift arrived. The boy held his breath and lowered the brown package. The medicine was the most efficient of its kind for humans, didn’t cause drowsiness and had no side effects. The only downside was that it tasted terrible but that was why he put in some strawberry candies too.

His hand, wrapped in thin black gloves, rapped on the metal door twice. Just as Hale turned to run, cold arms wrapped around him, pulled him into the room and slammed the door. Hale’s first instinct was to throw the person off and leave but he was stopped by a doleful voice.

“Hale… do you hate me so much?”

When he looked at the beautiful figure in a loose nightgown, he understood something. Everything was too coincidental, like an elaborate trap set by an experienced hunter. And he was the unknowing prey that fell into it, unable to extricate himself.

ↂ

The trap may have been laid early in the morning.

“Go away, you smell like alcohol!”

“Fight me!!!” The creature over two meters clung onto Hale. Hale, who was 1.7 and still growing (AND still growing. Important things must be said twice.) looked like a child next to him. Ryu Tenga looked at the smaller undead with bright and shiny yellow-green eyes. For a moment, the large tail wagging behind Tenga looked like a puppy’s but Hale reminded himself that a hit from that could shatter every bone in his body.

Another reason he shouldn’t entertain his request.

“How did you know it’s me?”

He used a special deodorant and sprayed a different scent all over himself. He even used a impression-blurring glasses and artifacts to change his coloration and voice. Hale covered every base he could think of so how did the dragonoid still recognize him!

“Kahaha! I told you; I can sense the strong.” Tenga’s grin revealed the canines in his mouth.

“Thanks for the compliment but I wouldn’t have lost so badly in our last spar if I were.”

The anima believed in the law of the jungle and the survival of the fittest. How much say each of their 12 Great Clans had was determined by the rankings of the bicentennial battle royale and the dragons had been the leading clan for centuries. Long enough to name their realm the Dragon Realm, ignoring protests from other prominent anima.

And in all likelihood, Tenga, who was in line for the next royale, would score his clan another win.

“No, you’re strong! … Or something in you is! You just need to harness it. Kahahaha! Trust me, you’re stronger than anyone else in the academy. Second to the missy, anyways. ”

He was referring to Katharin. Of course it came as no surprise that a person as hardworking and talented as her reigned supreme. But Hale was different.

“Impossible.” Hale shook his head with certainty. Even if the instructors were put aside, there were countless above him in terms of weapon and magic mastery. Being a walker, a species which had its very distant roots in evolved zombies, he had above average physical abilities but he was still like an ant to an elephant.

The only thing that stood out was his ability to manipulate his soul form and ether. Normal undead whose soul was expelled was unable to control it. And even if they managed to return to their body with the help of a spiritualist, they couldn’t remember what their soul witnessed. Regardless, this had almost no combat value so Hale could only treat Tenga like someone with brain damage.

“Stop looking for a fight and worry about the villagers instead.” The Rifts opened in his realm after all.

“Worry? Why do such an inane thing? If they die, it just means that they were weak.”

Tenga had clearly been a predator all his life. The strong had no obligation to save the weak but sometimes the weak pinned their hopes on salvation when they were truly at their wits’ end. Hale smiled wryly but didn’t comment.

“Anyways, enough talk! Fight me or I’ll find the missy.”

“No!”

Tenga was a brutal fighter with no holds barred and had sent not a small number of people to the infirmary. Overpowered female lead or not, Hale wouldn’t let the risk fall on Katharin.

“I agree to the spar, but on some conditions,” Hale acquiesced reluctantly.

“Alright! Let’s go!~”

Hale and Tenga turned to the tiny third party.

“What are you doing here?” Hale sighed.

“But I’ve been here all along?” The fairy’s finger poked his soft cheek as his head tilted.