A Monster in town.

It was a rainy day.
The heavy clatter of raindrops threatened to break through the wooden roof of the inn. But what was truly deafening was the hustle and bustle going on outside. The cries of the villagers were audible even through the windows. It must have still been the middle of the night, guessed the hooded man. And yet it felt as if nobody else thought it was the best of times to get some rest.

"Hurry up and cover up the fields!"

"Somebody help me, the ropes are about to break, we'll lose our boats!"

"Anyone ! Someone bring me some planks ! Please!"

And so on.
It was only water pouring down on them, he thought. And yet to these people it seemed to be something else entirely, some kind of natural disaster perhaps.

The hooded man lifted his heavy body off the bed and made his way to the window. He of all people would never mistake the smell of fresh water, but the agitation outside had him doubting for a moment.
Unsurprisingly however, it was as he had guessed. Rain. Not an unknown sort of liquid that looked exactly like fresh water, or blood, or even acid. Just plain old Rain.
Perplexed, the hooded man heaved a quiet sigh, followed by a yawn, and slipped back under the mantle he was using in place of proper bed sheets.

He had had the pleasant surprise to find the local Guild to be quite amiable the day prior, but apparently that warmth had not been the village's trademark. When he visited the only inn available around, he was greeted with a suspicious look from both customer and staff. Granted he had been wearing his customary hood over his face, but still, or maybe it was bad manners to conceal one's face inside the local establishments, he ventured the thought.
But he had had to dismiss the idea right away as he quickly spotted a group of people each wearing both a hood and masks sitting on a corner of the bar linked to the registration counter.

When he was lead to the room he had rented, he spotted the missing bed sheets right away, there was no cushion either, but he decided to ignore it, he had been glad no to have to camp outside, it saved the time and resources required to build what was needed.

Being able to focus on reviewing the events that had happened the previous day meant that he was just about to drift off to sleep again, when it happened.
A loud series of knocks on the door interrupted his train of thoughts.
Thinking it must have been a mistake since he had had nothing to do with people in the three days since he set foot in the village besides securing a trad with the guild, he decided to try and rejoin the thought train he had disembarked preemptively.

"Do you think he didn't wake up even from that ?" he recognized the voice of the woman at the reception desk from yesterday.

"All this ruckus would have alerted the dead, there is no way he's still sleeping in there !" this time it was a male's voice, he must have been quite old by the standards of humans' lifespans, the hooded man thought. The voice was hoarse and seemed out of breath even though by the sound of it he had not come rushing up the stairs.

Now convinced that it was no mistake that people had come knocking on his door in the middle of the night, the hooded man stood up deftly and made to open the door to his room. Albeit only halfway up since he planned on going back to sleep as soon as they were done with whatever business they had come to discuss.
The old man had other plans however.

"How long are you going to fake sleeping ?!"

"Hey don't be so rude Dad, I know you-"

"Shut up Harley ! Now you ! Hurry up and put on some clothes and go give those guys a hand already."  so this person should be the owner while his daughter managed the reception.

"'Those guys', you say ?"

"Raah...You came by carriage on your way here didn't you ?!" while he scratched his head hysterically like it pained him to have to elaborate, he still seemed to be willing to give a proper explanation.

"Yes indeed, but what about it ? I am sure I left it at the indicated slot."

I guess even he gets that you do not just barge in your customer's room at night, yell at them, and expect them to execute whatever order you gave right away.
Such was the hooded man's reaction.

"That's where the problem lies ! At this rate the rain will get through the whole shed and ruin whatever you stored in your cart !"

"If that is the issue then you do not need to worry about me, everything that is in there is either food or spare clothes, nothing that fears being soaked. I appreciate the warning however."  he had been under the wrong impression that the family running the inn was unwelcoming because of the rude stares he'd gotten at his arrival, but now that they had made such a fuss over the possibility his merchandise would spoil because of the rain, he had to revise his judgment.

"Raaah you don't get it do you ?! It's not only your cart that's in there, and we lack powerful young men to help mend the gaps in the roof there, so get your ass over now or else I'll charge you the night and kick you out!"

His daughter's face was a mess by that point, she didn't know whether to feel ashamed at her father's outburst or angry at him for risking a stain on their reputation.
But as she kept on holding the old man by the shirt, she cast a hopeful glance at the hooded man in hope he would disregard the rude treatment and access to the request anyway.

Feeling both a tinge of curiosity as to why the old man looked so desperate when the matter did not necessitate to be in such a hurry, and a little concerned for the daughter, he made to grab his boots and answered the old man while he tied them up.

"Listen human, while I fail to understand how such a situation makes you so restless, as thanks for the room and to appease your daughter's worries, I will help. However.."

"However what ?! State your damn condition already !"

"However I am the one to decide whether or not I will use this room so long as I am in this village and as long as I pay for it of course. And I won't hear otherwise."

"Fine ! I got it ! Now hurry up !"

The hooded man removed his hood and cast it on the bed before making his way to the door once again.

"Wait you-"

"What is it now ?"

"N-nothing."

"...?"

The old man was so shocked he had only managed to answer in a meek tone, his earlier rage had dissipated as fast as a candle's flame after a quick breath.

He had seen a monster.
Or so he had told the Guildmaster the next morning.


"I heard you needed a hand to fix the roof here, so tell me where I can find steel and a couple tools, unfortunately I don't have mine on hand at the moment."

"Great ! Wait what do you mean ste- ?! WAAHHH A MONSTER ! A MONSTER INFILTRATED THE VILLAGE AND IT TALKS !!"

"ARCHERS WAKE THE FUCK UP AND READY YOUR BOWS !! AIM AT THE STABLES ! HURRY!"

"...sigh" 


He had expected it when he fled his kingdom and would have to mingle between humans to get by. But somewhere it still hurt him a little. It was like there was nowhere he would ever belong to again.

Well of course he had yet to meet most of the other races, but he had held a little hope for humans. This race had been one of the firsts to appear in this world according to legends and history books, and while they were known for their meager physical strength, they had a great affinity for magic. Which in turn meant that most humans would be scholars, people chasing after mysteries, that is to say with great curiosity and intellect. Or so he thought. Hoped.
And he had expected them not to discriminate against the unknown.
At worst they would have tried to question him at lengths, bordering on rudeness and invading on his personal space a little, he thought. But this.
This was a little disheartening. Although..

"Listen to me!" he roared.

"!"

"I may not be human but I am no monster ! I was cursed back in my homeland and am now tied to this appearance, but I hold no grudge ! And I won't ever cause harm to anyone who opens their door to me !"

"..."

Everyone froze.

What was the point of all this rush if it was to be distracted this easily ? The monster too was at a loss for words.
But if nobody was going to resume working on this roof, it would really succumb to the pressure from the rain, so the monster made to grab a couple planks a young man was holding in his frozen state. But..

"D-don't come near me !" he shouted and threw the planks at the monster before running away in hurry. Always looking back with the look of a prey hoping from its hunter to break the chase.

"...sigh"

The monster resigned itself and picked up the planks.
They felt heavier than they looked. That young man must have been stronger than his look suggested, he thought absentmindedly.
Then he picked up the tools and unloaded some of the steel plates he'd brought in his carriage just in case and got to work.

By that point everyone had gone back inside and only the sound of the rain and the clang of his hammer against metal could be heard in the vicinity.

After some time had passed, two hours at best, he thought he heard footsteps coming his way.
But he ignored it and kept on hammering on the wooden shed.
The sound of footsteps stopped.

"Hey do you need a hand ?"

"...I will be done in a couple more hours, it's nothing challenging but I need time to make something that'll hold on. I appreciate the offer but you should not hang around me for too long."

"Is this curse contagious ?"

"..."

"Not gonna answer huh. Well whatever, if push comes to shove I'll have the old lady lift it off me. Sucks to be in her debt but it's fine."

"It should not be contagious, but you really ought to heed my warning and return from where you came young man."

"It's fine, it's fine. See that ?"

"!"

"Yeah, so don't worry about me, I've been there too."

What the young man had revealed to the monster was his left arm. What was special about it stood out even in the dark of night. Scales. And that could only mean on thing as far as actual records went.

"A Dragon kin is it ?"

"Right, I was born from the alliance of a dragon and a half-demon." that explained why he wore scales on only one arm.

Dragon kin was another one of the four initial races born in this world, it was also said that the first of their kind had yet to die.
When two dragons gave birth, their off-spring would take the form of a humanoid for a couple hundred years until they gained the ability to transform into a dragon. And while they grew up, they would acquire traits to make them stand out from the humans they looked not so different from. Thus there would be the appearance of scales covering their limbs.
But this young man had only a single arm full of them.

"I see, then let me properly introduce myself. My name is Gallil, former king of the Undine. I was cursed by one of my concubines and had my head stolen. The freak must have wanted to have a way to keep me all to herself by making me the shame of my kind. She formed a conspiracy too. Anyway, I don't want to talk in lengths about myself here, but now you have the gist of it at least. A pleasure to meet you young dragon."

"My name's Sonnen. That's quite the history you have, but I won't give you any pity or treat you any differently because of what you told me. Still I feel more inclined to help you now. And it's for my village anyway."

"You don't mince words do you ?"

"Would you rather I do ? Let's say I'd blindly trust you at your word, would a stranger's opinion about your predicament make you feel any better ? In my opinion it would only be insensitive. I have no way to know what you feel about that curse, you might think it's a fitting punishment for something you have done back there or something. So I'd rather be blunt and remain at a distance."

"How cautious. Heh, I wish more people had this much consideration to give me. Now let's not dwell on the rumbling of this old soul and get the work done. You said you came to help no ?"

"Sure ! And I forgot to mention, I am the blacksmith of this village, so come to me if you ever need material like this one or want me to work on something. First time's for free. I try to build connections you see."

"Haha sure, thanks for the tip." the large flame that sprouted out of the former King's neck flickered wildly for a few seconds. Meanwhile, the blacksmith made to grab a wooden ladder that stood nearby and planted it in a way that allowed him to reach the roof, a smile on his face.

From where one could only hear the lone rhythm of a single hammer before, there was now two of them.
They would have to keep at it for a couple more hours and they would be done. And so they did, diligently, without a word to each other.

The next morning, the monster had still be chased out of the inn. His belongings had been put by the door to the building when he had come back from the shed, and a message had been left saying he was allowed to spend the reminder of the night in the room he had been allowed to use, but that it would be the last time. They did not want those who lived there to flee the establishment because of him, so they thanked him for his help but begged him to find somewhere else to spend the night from this day on.

They went as for as to refund him.

Feeling content to have had a nice encounter, he left without a word and tossed a silver to the daughter, Harley, on his way out.

He still felt bound by the contract with the guild, or rather the request, and decided to see it through before leaving the village for good. At the very least there would be no regret once that was done. 
He had considered visiting the blacksmith on occasion to have someone to talk to but thought the better of it in the end. He recognized that it risked impairing the young man's business. Even if he had no idea if the dragon actually ran his own smithy or not.

In any case he decided to head back to the small shack he'd built himself in the forest.
And he would only come out to deliver the order he was to meant to, by carriage. This way nothing he owned remained in the village and the people would be at peace.