I heard the loud thud, and then a small tremor washed over the ground. The walls of the stone hive shook, sending the baby bastion bees into a frenzy. I looked up with a frown as I heard the muffled sound of a commotion from the outside.
There were a few shouts. A handful of screams. I couldn’t make out what was being said, but it sounded like people were panicking about sothing. I glanced back at the queen baby bastion bee and nodded.
“Stay here,” I said as I rose to my feet. “I’ll check it out.”
Sohow, she understood . She flitted off my shoulder, waiting back at the hive with the rest of her colony. The twelve nursing bees rushed protectively to her side as they all watched go.
And I stepped out of the hive to the panicked screams of the people of Wolfwater and saw a familiar figure. A rather large figure. His golden scales were glinting under the sun, and he lay slumped over at the bottom of a large crater like he had fallen from the sky.
He was a dragon. Specifically, an Elder Dragon. And he was soone I knew.
“Grat-ra’zun…? What is he doing here?” I asked the question as I made my way to the back of the small crowd gathered around him.
They gave him a wide berth, standing a few feet away from the crater in fear. And that was just the onlookers who remained. Most had fled the scene at the sight of the dragon.
Before I could approach him to question what was going on, a voice shouted over the crowd.
“Everyone get back!”
I glanced to the side and saw a group of n ard with crossbows make their way to the crater. They imdiately ford a periter around the crater, keeping the crowd from getting too close. I recognized the man leading them as he stepped to the front and produced a badge.
He was Lucas, Wolfwater’s highest-leveled [Hunter]. And he was dressed in a strange uniform like he was a guardsman.
“Who are you?” an onlooker asked, staring at the group of ard n in confusion.
“Town watch,” Lucas said with a nod. “We’ll handle this from here!”
“But that’s… a dragon,” soone else pointed out
A susurration swept over the crowd at that. It was pretty clear from a first glance that the creature lying in the crater was a dragon. However, to have that be said out loud seed to stir up all those who were gathered.
But Lucas wasn’t phased. He shook his head and began to usher the crowd away.
“We don’t know if that’s a dragon. Just because it looks like a dragon doesn’t an it is one. For all we know, it could be a wyvern. But what matters the most is that everybody here clears the scene and lets us handle it.”
I watched as the crowd began to disperse because of the town guard. They cordoned off the area, and I was prepared to be chased away too. However, Lucas turned to with a knowing smile.
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“Alia,” he said as he nodded my way. “I won’t ask any questions. I’ll just let you handle this when everyone’s gone.”
I blinked a few tis back at him, realizing that he was trying to help . “Wait, how do you know that I have sothing to do with this?”
“I an, do you?” Lucas asked, tilting his head at .
I glanced between him and Grat-ra’zun. For a mont, I just shifted where I stood as I pursed my lips. And finally, I replied with a sigh.
“…probably.”
—--
Grat-ra’zun had no other choice. He didn’t want to turn to her for help, but there was nothing else that could be done.
He had prepared a teleportation spell to seek her out if he discovered that Guardian Angel Z357 was truly dead. Which was an outrageous possibility in and of itself. After all, how could the protector of Vacuos, assigned by the World System itself, that had repelled the Void over ten thousand years ago, have been defeated by a re [Hero King]?
The Elder Dragon found out the answer to that question soon enough. Even though he had just been there to investigate, not yet even planning on engaging in battle, he had been found out.
Kallistus Kal had discovered Grat-ra’zun before the Elder Dragon could even react. And in only a short few seconds, he had been maid. Badly injured. One of his wings had been ripped off, and he would have been killed if he hadn’t teleported away.
That was quite the stark difference compared to the last ti he had battled the [Hero King]. Back then, Kallistus Kal had to send a handful of his servants to ambush the Elder Dragon. And only when Grat-ra’zun was injured, did the [Hero King] join the battle.
Even then, it had been a tough and close fight. Grat-ra’zun ultimately lost because he had been outnumbered and hurt. But he knew that in a fair fight, he would have erged victorious. And that was not him speaking because of his dragon’s pride. It was a fact which even Kallistus Kal knew, which was why he resorted to such dirty tactics.
Either way, that had completely changed now. The Elder Dragon had been forced to flee and seek out help from a human. And it wasn’t just any ordinary human. It was the most frustrating human he had ever had to deal with.
He had been forced to escape to a small farming town in search of Alia.
Grat-ra’zun groaned as he cracked his eyes open. He dreaded what he was going to have to do to convince Alia to hear him out, which was why he had refused to move, even as he heard the multitude of voices resound around him.
Most of the gathered crowd had already dispersed at this point, and now, there were only two figures standing by the edge of the crater. The first was the very sa person he had been searching for. Alia had her arms folded across her chest as she wore an apron over her shirt. Next to her, stood a [Druid] who was gesturing exasperatedly down at the Elder Dragon.
“I just need you to do this one favor, Dorien. Co on, after everything I’ve done for you?”
“And I am telling you, Alia, that I cannot heal a dragon.”
The two of them seed to be arguing over Grat-ra’zun’s current state. Certainly, the Elder Dragon was injured during his brief battle with Kallistus Kal. But the biggest blow he had received was to his pride.
“Do you at least know if he is dying—” Alia started.
And Grat-ra’zun sighed, finally rising to his feet. Both Alia and Dorien blinked and looked down at the crater as soon as the Elder Dragon’s figure shifted. Grat-ra’zun grimaced, struggling to stand. However, he forced himself to stand tall. Even from the bottom of the crater, he towered over the humans, looking down at them as he straightened.
The [Druid] snorted and turned to Alia. “Does that answer your question?”
“Well, yeah,” she replied as she scratched the back of her head. She looked back to the Elder Dragon and raised her brow. “So, uh, Grat-ra’zun… what brings you here to Wolfwater?”
Grat-ra’zun glanced between the two humans. He was bleeding and hurt. One of his wings was missing. And he was certain he couldn’t heal from his wounds without receiving special treatnt, just like the last ti he had been injured in battle to the [Hero King].
However, nothing pained him more than what he was about to say here.
“Alia of Earth— I have co here seeking your help.”
And Alia closed her eyes. “...of course you are.”
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