Chapter 14: Dragon confrontation

Within four hours I got to the city and entered it without any problems. I thought that I would see the Knight captain again, but apparently he was off duty today. I quickly made it to the adventurers guild and made quite the commotion there as the Devil Bear body parts were each worth at least fifty gold Bards (name of the currency apparently).

Well, that's what you get for high ranked monster. I believe they said it was Green ranked?

"Here you go, sir Tarumi, it's five hundred gold coins and your card back. Congratulations, you've been promoted from Lime rank to Green rank," a receptionist smiled and handed me a plate with pouch of money and my card.

"Whoa, a Green rank?"

"It's the third highest rank there is, right?"

"Yeah, and I never heard of any rookie making it this fast…"

The adventurers were getting noisy so I quickly made my way out of the guild.

Smiling to myself I went to town and bought everything we needed in the settlement.

"Fufufu~ With all that we can be truely self-sufficient…"

"Heey buddy, wanna help out your fellow adventurers?" a shady looking man approached me with four of his lackeys.

"You talking to me?" I gave him a quick glance. He was around mid thirties with scars all over his body, the lackeys looked like any other crooks you could see in fantasy settings. They had beaten up leather armor, poorly made weapons. Honestly, if we break into fight, it will be too one-sided…

"I heard you made a quick cash for a newbie, how 'bout you share some with less fortunate?"

"Hmm… I still have time so I could buy a slave or two, thank you for suggesting that," I smiled and stared walking away.

"Do you think yer funny?! Give up the cash now!" the man grabbed my shoulder brandishing his hunting knife.

"You are the only one who's funny here," I smiled at him, grabbed his hand and threw him over my head. Once I did that, I stomped on his hand, forcing him to release his kinfe with a loud yell. "So? Who's next?"

To my provocation, the four brandished their weapons. One spear user, two swordsman and one hunter who picked knife instead of his bow.

First one to charge at me were the two swordsman who tried to make it past me to cut off my escape route, sadly for them, that positioned them dirrectly in my spells effect area.

"Lightning net." The spell spread a spider-like net around me made from electricity.

"A magic user?!"

Being capable of using magic was rare among humans and most mages were solely working for the royals, so seeing their two members getting defeated by magic send shivers down their spines.

"Oh, come on, no running away from me," I grinned my leg into the leader's hand and he screamed out in pain.

The spear user shivered and turned around. In the next moment he stabbed the huner in his leg with his spear and broke into run.

"Aaaaarrhh!!!" the hunter fell down with exaggerated scream.

"Lightning."

One spell was enough to shot down the spear user.

"What is happening here?!" in that moment two patrolling knights entered the alley.

"Oh! City guards! These thugs here tried to rob me, could you take them off my hands?"

"And you are?"

"Oh, where are my manners! My name is Tarumi Sojka, a Green ranked adventurer. I came to submit my subjugation proofs to the adventurers guild and buy provisions for my next trip, however on my way to the next shop I was stopped by these fellows who tried to rob me."

"I see…" older knight said with a cold glare.

"Sir, I believe this person is called Ruthless Ivan, a member of the underworld."

"I see. Sir, come to central station after your shopping is done? We will hand you rewards for capturing him."

"If there is a reward, then I will come with you right away, if you don't mind," I smiled.

"And why's that?"

"Well, coin in pocket is better then a promised one," I smiled at him, my hand still on my sword.

"That is understandible, there are a lot of people hoping for quick cash. Sadly, some knights are like that as well," he nodded, but I saw the hint of annoyance in his eyes.

After this short detour to the knight station in centre of the city, where I collected my rewards and went to buy some seed for farms, last thing I needed to buy. Once that was done, I left the city and headed home.

"Dark clouds, it looks like it will rain soon…"

As I was flying, I had to take a few breaks to gather some energy before continuing my journey.

I flew over last few trees and saw something terrible. Four lizard like creatures with giant wings on their backs were glaring at the Oxfolks who were most likely knocked unconscious. Next there was a chubby man standing before them and he was holding Syl by neck.

Flames of rage erupted in my heart. I got angry once again, but not like any time before. I started seeing red and took my trusty sword in my hands. I dived down soundlessly and delivered a chop at the man's arm. My sword cut right through muscles and bones, severing the hand.

"Gyaaaaaa—!!" the fat man screamed in pain.

"Syl, are you okay?! Answear me!"

"Taru…mi? You're back…" her eyes were hazy, but she was okay. My heart calmed down a little.

"Yeah, I'm back. What happened?"

"Those dragons… they… came and burn…"

I looked over and saw the house I had build with burned roof. There was no smoke so the fire must've been magical, the fields were same. The inferno grew once more, yet not as intensly as before.

"Do you know what you've done?! I'm—"

"Shut up vermin," my voice, calm, cold, hiding the raging fire, silenced the fat man.

"The nerve! I'm going to—"

The fat man had still enough energy to speak, so I cut of his other hand. Seeing the first one already stopped bleeding and somehow started regenerating.

"You are in my territory and you dare to lay a finger on my wife? Your death will be painful, I promise you that," I started walking towards the fat man.

The dragons tried to get between us, so I used spirits "Spirits of wind blow off these vermins."

A strong gale blew past me and the dragons were forced high into the air. "Lightning."

Once they were high enough I used as much magic as I could to conjure a lightning to hit the dragons. The dragons shocked by my wind and lightning fell from the sky like overriped fruits from trees and fell into the forest nearby.

"Y-y-y-you don't know what you are starting I'm oldest son of Antima's king! The crown prince Reimaigard Antima! The one and only Azure Dragon!!!"

"All I see before me is a fat pig about to be slained," I raised my sword high.

"YOU IMBECILEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" sudenly a bright bluish red comet flew past us and delivered a stright punch into it's face.

"Huh?!"

"I'm so sorry!!!" the comet turned around and plastered itself to the ground before me, making a small crater.

"A-and who are you?"

"My name is Aria Antima, I'm younger twin sister of this idiot's father! We mean no harm, so please spare us!!!" her forehead hit the ground, making the crated even bigger.

"Master…"

"Azu, you fine?"

"Yeah. Everyone was just knocked unconscious by the pressure… the wolves hide in the house."

"How about you Syl?" I turned to Syl who was sitting on the ground, catching her breath.

"I'm fine… just little out of air, but that will fix soon."

"Fine, I won't kill you, but you better explain what you are doing here."

"Yes! My brother send this idi— I mean Reimaigard to investigate magical storm that appeared in this location. The epicentre was Light magic source a few days ago. We were meant to find the reason for the sudden Magic Storm and find if anyone made contract with the source."

"I see, but why did you attacked? You must know that mere presence of Dragon can kill weak individuals."

"I-indeed… hey, why did you even come here?" Aria turned around and grabbed the fat man, called Reimaigard, by his head.

"Um… eh… you see aun— I mean big sis… I…"

"Speak up fatso," anger flashed across Aria's face and Reimaigard broke into cold sweat. His hands in the meanwhile regrow in their full, fat, lenght. Is this some kind of special ability?

"I-I was hungry okay?! I smelled something delicious and… lost control over myself…"

"YOU IMBECILEEE!!!!" Aria grabbed Reimaigard's head in both of her hands and drove her knee into his face. Blood spurred from his nose and passed out.

Dragons are surprisingly brutal, eh?

"Sir, I have no words of excuse, I shall personally make sure you are paid in full for all damages done by this idiot," she bowed once more, making the crater even bigger.

"STOP MAKING CRATERS GOD DAMN IT!!!!"

"Y-yes… I'm sorry," Aria stood up and bowed lightly.

"Well, we will need to rebuild the house, fields, and even the barriers are damaged," I took a glance over all the damage caused by the dragons.

"Yes. Let's calculate the damages, shall we?" Aria took out from somewhere pencil and some papers.

"With how much the house is damaged, we will need to rebuild it completly," Azu looked at the house next to me.

"I will call our best builders and architects."

"As for the fields… we had not planted all the seeds so we can still replant them."

And the apple seed was outside the targeted area so it's not damaged.

"Ch-chief?"

"Oh, Elder. Good think you woke up. Could you wake up everyone and go pick up those dragons I blew away? I doubt they died from that much magic, but one never knows what the damage have caused."

"Y-yes, sir."

Once the dragons returned, me, Azu, Syl and Aria finished the accounting of damages.

"Now, for the last thing to do… oy! Wake up!" I picked up the fat dragon, or more like, made him sit up as his physique didn't allow me to lift him, even making him sit was extreemly hard and slaped his cheeks a couple of times.

"Owowowowowowowowowowowwwww! What the?!"

"Listen up fatso! You want delicious food, right? Then I shall give it to you!"

"R-really?"

"HOWEVER, in exchange you will follow my orders during your stay here."

"F-follow?"

As Reimaigard got confused, I reached into my backpack and picked up a hoe.

"You're going to tilt the fields from morning to nightfall from now on and I will give you a share of food. Isn't that nice?" I smiled at him and placed the hoe in his hand while placing the other hand on his shoulder. "You understand, right?"

"Y-yes…" his weak voice was as faint as it was high.

"Good!" I gave him a warm smile as a small reward and went back to Syl who was checking on the four dragons, who now in their human forms, were kneeling completly burned with rough stones under their knees (Aria's idea).

"What will we do with these guys?" I asked Aria who was just about done scolding them.

"If you are willing, would you give them same job as Reimaigard until my brother decides on their further punishment?"

"I guess I can. Sparky, Smoky, you are on expansion duty. Roasty and Cindery will tilt the fields and move big rocks."

"B-but our names are—"

"What I just called you. Now go to work."

"Accept those names as your further punishment. Be glad lady Grafflin isn't the one to punish you."

"Y-yes lady Aria…" the four slumped their heads and moved to designated places.

"Well, I will go to my brother and inform him of everything that happened here and about the punishments you gave these younglings."

"I see…"

"Don't worry, my brother won't come here with army or anything. Especially becouse he know how his son can be sometimes," Aria smiled and with a poof turned into a giant bluish dragon with red horns "I'll be back soon!" he powerful deep voice called to me and she flew away.

And so, three days passed. During these three days the dragon workers (captives) were hard at work, though we had to kick them to start. It somehow reminded me of punching old TV at my grandfather's place to make it work.

The three nights we had to sleep out were luckily with no storms. During the day I was however hard at work. Cutting down trees and processing them to make beams, planks and whatever else we would need.

"Mr. Sojka!!!" Aria's voice made me look up from drying the wood. With her was a group of about fifty dragons, all carrying some boxes or other things with them.

"Mrs. Aria, welcome back."

"I've brought message and some reparation gifts!" Aria turned into human and handed me a letter which I promptly handed over to Syl to read it.

"The Dragon king of Antima, Reimaibord Antima asks if Reimaigard can stay here to work and learn about ways of humans. As a payment, he shall send us whatever we will need."

"I see, are those boxes the payment, then?"

"Yes. We brought fifty sheeps, and some labourers."

"Labourers?"

"Well, they are runaways from Demonic empire, but we don't accept runaways under any circumstances so we need to relocate them."

"And who are they?"

"Just some ogres, around sixty."

"Do they have representative? I would like to speak with them before deciding anything."

"I will go for the elder and Terrea," Azu waved of and run off to fetch them.

Meanwhile, the new dragon force started working on what was their expertise. Some started making the dairy production building that could host at least double the amount of people we currently had, I saw some build a port and a few boats. Guys, you can walk around the lake in less then a day you know? …hmm… maybe we could make some fishing nets and get food that way… well, good work guys, I will find use for your work. Hey, maybe we will be able to get to ocean by the river in the future!

"Sir! What should we do with the lumber?"

"You are expanding the place by Spice deers, right? Store it by the water way please," I answeared the dragon carrying a big tree trunk.

"PLOW! PLOW! PLOW! PLOW! PLOW! PLOW! PLOW!" in that moment, the imbecile dragon, that is Reimaigard, went through the background tilting the fields like if his life depended on it. Damn, we gave him just a little bean soup with bear meat and he already is ready to kill for it…

"I'm back!" Azu run back with the two Oxfolks in tow and soon after that Aria arrived with two ogres. Both had around fist sized pair of horns on their foreheads and while the male had red horns, the female had blue. Both of them had ashen colored skin and blondish hairs, their physique was also something to be admired, clearly they were seasoned warriors.

"So you are that powerful human ruling this place?" the man looked at me dismissively, and with his two and a half meter tall figure, he was looking down on me both figuratively and literally.

"I am, what about it?" I responded to him, not letting his eyes move away.

"The two of us are only remaining warriors and are mostly made up from the weak and children. Are you sure you want us here?"

"I need all the hands I can get. So if you are willing to work under me, then I have no problem. If there is any job you want to do, let's discuss it at lenght later."

"That's a good deal right?" the woman smiled, first at the man and then at me. Seeing that, Syl jumped at my back and hugged me, flashing her ring. Understanding what she wanted to demonstrate, I moved my hand with my ring up on her hand. Seeing that, the woman instantly went back to shadow of the talkative man.

"I guess. Alright, we will work for this village."

"Glad to hear that," I shook hands with the man and went to work on the trees. I cut off the bark and smaller twigs with wind magic, used fire and wind magic to dry the wood and then I cut it into planks and beams which I promptly stored in our new shed.

"So this will go here and this here and finaly, the chief's house will be in the middle made with bricks… is this enough?"

"Aye."

"No prob, bossman."

The dragons working in the construction draw some plans and started doing their jobs. From the looks of it, my new house (the chief's house) would be located at current edge of the forest and the lakefront, where the old house was will be repurposed for fishing, dairy production, smithy and other crafts. Guys this is nice and all, but why are you planning on making a brewery? We still didn't plant any alcohol producing plants, except for my apple tree and that one still haven't sprouted yet.

"The dragons are really eager, aren't they?" Syl smiled and sit next to me on the pile of processed wood.

"But is that a good thing? I'm doubtfull."

"Everything will be just alright. After all, we will be facing it together now, right?" Syl smiled at me and held my hand.

"Yeah," I smiled back at her and gave her a big hug.

"…You will understand how I feel when you too, fell in love…"

Words of my younger twin sister revibrated in my mind and I smiled happily at that memory.

"Something the matter?" Syl looked up at me, her face flushed pink.

"I just remember my sister's words and have to say she was right."

"What did she tell you?"

"That's. A. Secret~" I smiled at her.

"Uuu… Tarumi, you bully," Syl pouted so I placed my hand on her face and raised it for a kiss.

I don't know what the future will bring for us, but I'm sure that if we are together then we will make it through. From now on, I have to protect more then just myself… Be it dragons, or demons, even if it are humans, I will protect my wife.

The end.