The Kingdom Razed by Dragons

by Virlyce

  “Did she just exsanguinate it?” Leila asked, blinking twice. “I know she’s a bit weird, but…”

  “What?” Grimmy asked. “She was imprinted by a vampire bat. You already knew that.”

  “I guess…,” Leila said before sighing. “It’s just that the roc won’t be as juicy now.”

  Grimmy laughed. “I thought rocs were religious figures and not meant to be eaten?”

  “Well, no one worships them in the central continent,” Leila said with a smile. “Although we probably shouldn’t eat it here. Not over one of the dwarves’ major cities.”

  “Then we’ll eat it inside the city,” Grimmy said. “Look. She’s almost on the ground already.”

  “You do remember the quest my mother gave you, right?”

  “Of course,” Grimmy said and snorted. “I already outsourced it to another party.” He glanced at Lindyss. “Her skeletons.”

  ***

  Alice grinded her teeth against the hard biscuit in her mouth as she stared at the report on her table, quill in hand. The ink on the page was dried, but there were only a few sentences written down. She crunched down, breaking the biscuit, and muttered, “Dragon patriarch….” She dropped her quill and leaned back, running her fingers through her dark-brown hair. “Do I tell the king?”

  She sighed as she swallowed the biscuit and stared up at the ceiling. Since when had she become like this? Was it when she reached the peak? Was the peak even a peak or was it a wall? Her head lowered and she adjusted her glasses as her gaze shifted to the massive shield hanging on the wall. Maybe she should go on an adventure.

  A knock on the door drew her attention away. “Guild master,” a voice said from behind the wood. “The party Tafel x Vur is looking for you.”

  “Those three?” Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. “Bring them here.”

  A few moments later, the door opened and the boy with golden eyes and the girl with ten horns stepped into the room. “Back so soon?” Alice asked. She flinched as Vur glanced at her, her body remembering the placement test she had given Vur. It had been a long while since she lost that badly. “Don’t tell me you finished the commission you accepted already.”

  Tafel glanced at Vur. He turned his head away and inspected the weapons on the wall. Tafel cleared her throat and stepped forward. “We’re lost.”

  “…Pardon?” Alice asked. “Didn’t you say you knew where you were going next?”

  “He knew the name of the destination but not how to get there,” Tafel said, her face red.

  “It would’ve been fine if we let Stella drive,” Vur said, making a face. “If we explored the whole continent, we would’ve found it eventually.”

  Alice’s gaze shifted from Tafel to Vur and back again. “And you’re here because?”

  “We want a guide,” Tafel said with a nod.

  “Make a commission downstairs?” Alice asked.

  “By a guide, I mean you.”

  “What? Why? I’m the guild master,” Alice said. “Anyone can guide you to where you want to go.”

  Tafel smiled. “Well, that’s because you’re a freak like us.”

  “Hey,” Alice said and pursed her lips.

  “That’s a compliment,” Tafel said. “You see, Vur tends to do … extreme things, and normal people might not be willing to accept them.” She lowered her head and spoke while coughing, “Meaning they’d die.” She raised her head and smiled. “But you’re sturdy! You took over a dozen of Vur’s hits before fainting.”

  “…”

  Tafel continued to smile at the silent guild master.

  Alice sighed and rubbed her temples. “You could get some written directions, you know? There’s no need for me to go with you.”

  “I need someone to balance out the voting count,” Tafel said, taking a step closer.

  “The what?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Tafel said as she teleported beside Alice and wrapped her arm around the guild master’s shoulder before she could react. “What do you say?”

  Alice shrugged off Tafel’s arm and frowned. “I refuse,” she said and gestured towards the papers on her desk. “I have many responsibilities as guild master, and I can’t just abandon them on a whim. I’m not as free as you two.”

  Tafel pointed at herself. “I’m actually a leader of a kingdom,” she said and pointed at Vur. “And so is he. We’re just on vacation right now.”

  “Which kingdom?” Alice asked. “I know all the leaders, and you’re not one of them.”

  “I guess you’ll have to come with us if you want to find out,” Tafel said. “Aren’t you curious? Don’t you have to assess potential threats as a guild master? This can be part of your responsibilities. Vur’s very dangerous.”

  “He’s not,” Stella said as she sat up on Vur’s head. “Everything else is too fragile. Right?”

  Vur nodded. He walked up to Alice’s desk and placed his hand on the documents stacked on her table. Alice’s eyes widened as the papers were set ablaze, turning to ash in an instant. “There,” Vur said, ignoring Alice’s ugly expression. “No more responsibilities. You can come now, right?”

  Alice glared at Tafel. “You want me to come for some kind of voting balance, but why does he want me to come?”

  “He liked your cooking,” Tafel said and shrugged.

  “What?” Alice asked, blinking twice. “Everyone hates my cooking. That’s why I cooked for you, so you’d leave faster. The meat was practically raw!”

  “To Vur, raw is cooked and cooked is burnt,” Tafel said.

  “Because he’s a dragon, right?” Alice asked, rolling her eyes. She had heard that response a lot more times than she thought she would. Wasn’t he taking the dragon persona a bit too far? But she had to admit his eyes did look pretty interesting. Could he have actually been imprinted by a dragon? No. The holy dragons would never do that; their pride wouldn’t let them. Then what exactly was he? “You know what? I’ll accompany you. There’s a lot I need to find out about you two.”

  “Really?” Tafel asked. She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of paper. “Sign this, please.”

  “What is it?” Alice asked and took the paper. “A waiver? You’re not serious.”

  “It’s for legal issues since I have no idea what the laws are like here,” Tafel said with a nod. She paused and scratched her head. “By the way, do you happen to know what the punishment is for, uh, punting a dwarf into the sky? Just purely out of curiosity.”

  Alice glanced at Vur who was rummaging through her cabinets. “Purely out of curiosity, eh?” she asked and adjusted her glasses. “Well, the dwarves are a pretty spiteful and petty race. They also think they’re superior to all others, and in a technological sense, they are. Depending on the severity of the injury, the punishment can range from a few fines to a lifelong service of servitude.”

  Tafel’s brow wrinkled. “What if a dwarf hurt a human?”

  Alice shrugged. “A few fines,” she said. “You’re really not from around here, are you?”

  “That doesn’t seem very fair,” Tafel said, pursing her lips.

  “Life itself isn’t fair,” Alice said. “The strong eat the weak. This is just the way it’ll be until humans are stronger than the dwarves. Is it right?” She shrugged. “Who am I to judge?” She shook her head and signed the waiver. “Alright. Where did you two want to go?”

  “99 Fairy Drive,” Vur and Stella said at the same time. They met each other’s gazes, causing Stella to giggle.

  “99 Fairy Drive…,” Alice said. Her expression darkened. “You know Erin Koller lives there, right?”

  “A wrinkler?” Stella asked, tilting her head to one side.

  “Erin Koller. She’s a fairy queen that polymorphed a dragon,” Alice said. “She’s not someone adventurers want to meet.”

  “Oh, wow, so scary,” Stella said with a nod. “Let’s go meet her!” Her eyes glinted as she nestled in Vur’s hair.

  ***

  Vur and Tafel
sat in the corner of the adventurers’ guild’s lobby. Stella was munching on a plum, dripping juices onto Vur’s head. Alice was standing in front of the commission board, muttering to herself as her gaze roamed over the documents. The adventurers gave her a wide berth, some even holding their breaths to stay silent.

  “If that’s the way we’re going, then we should pick these up…,” Alice said and jotted down commission names in her notebook. “This one too. And this isn’t too far off. Huh, I didn’t know there was a wyvern nest there; we could solve that along the way. Since we’re going east anyways….”

  “It’s really nice having someone who’s capable of proper planning,” Tafel said to Vur while looking at Alice. “Delphina used to do all the planning in Swirling Wind. I should’ve recruited her to help manage my kingdom.” They watched as Alice approached the receptionist’s desk, placing her notebook and identity card on top of the wooden surface.

  “I’d like to undertake all of these commissions,” Alice said, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “Um, guild master…, if you do this, there won’t be any commissions left for everyone else,” the receptionist said as he read over the list of missions that spanned three pages of the notebook. “B-besides, don’t you have a lot of paperwork left to finish?”

  “I can’t accept commissions just because I’m a guild master? This is discrimination,” Alice said, placing her hands on her hips. “As for all those papers, they’re gone. You can go to my office and check.”

  “But … an adventurer of your stature shouldn’t be accepting a D-ranked mission, right…?” the receptionist asked. He shrank back as Alice seemed to grow in size.

  “I’ll fire you if you don’t comply,” Alice said, narrowing her eyes.

  The receptionist gulped and nodded before reaching underneath his desk to retrieve some forms. “I understand, boss.”

  Alice’s expression relaxed as she smiled.

  “Isn’t that abusing her power?” Vur asked as he snacked on an apple.

  “I don’t want to hear that from you,” Tafel said, rolling her eyes. She smiled at Alice as the petite guild master strode over to their side.

  “I accepted some extra missions that we can accomplish along the way,” Alice said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “We don’t,” Tafel said. “It’s better this way. There’s a slight feeling of shame when you become an SSS-ranked adventurer with no missions completed under your belt.”

  Alice glanced at Vur. Did he feel shame? Probably not. “That’s true. Why don’t you two check your levels while we wait?” she asked. While registering as adventurers, they didn’t write down their levels, opting to fight her to determine their rank instead.

  “I’d rather not,” Tafel said. “I don’t want to see how far away from Vur I am on paper. I think I’d cry if I found out I was half his level.”

  Alice turned to Vur. “Aren’t you curious?”

  “Nope. I already know I’m the best,” Vur said and finished eating his apple, core included.

  Alice pursed her lips. “If you say so,” she said. “I’d like a list of all your abilities if we’re going to party together. It’ll make strategic decisions much easier. Normally, I could construct a team based on our classes, but”—she squinted at Vur—“dragon isn’t exactly the most descriptive class description.”

  “Strategic decisions? I’m good at those,” Vur said with a nod. Recently, he was beating Mr. Skelly in mock warfare more than he was losing. He furrowed his brow. “You’re a meat shield, right?”

  Alice’s expression darkened. “Essentially, yes, you could call me that,” she said. Was it just her or did the shield on her back become heavier? “Though, the official name of my class is guardian.”

  “Guardian?” Tafel asked. “You’re not as slow as a typical guardian….” If she didn’t have the ability to teleport, maybe she really would’ve lost against Alice during their bout.

  “I subclass as a berserker,” Alice said and shrugged.

  “That’s…”

  “Weird?” Alice asked. “I know. But it works, well, not against freaks like you, but it works against everything else.”

  “Your body type—”

  “Small people can’t fight on the frontlines? Is that what you’re trying to say?” Alice asked, glaring at Tafel. She adjusted her glasses before crossing her arms over her chest.

  “You just seem more like the scholarly type,” Tafel said and cleared her throat. “I could totally see you calling down pillars of light to obliterate the enemy.”

  Alice shrugged. “You get what you see,” she said. “But is this really your whole party? Where’s your healer?”

  “Well, we never get injured,” Tafel said, scratching her head. “And Vur knows how to heal people. He can revive them too.”

  Alice’s mouth fell open. “That’s broken! Totally broken! Unlearn that skill right now!”

  “She’s jealous,” Stella said, swallowing her plum’s remains.

  “It doesn’t make any sense!” Alice said. “If you’re serious about his ability to revive people, how can he beat me in close combat, cast black magic that I have to defend against with my all, and revive people? And don’t give me that nonsense about being a dragon.”

  Vur’s forehead wrinkled, and his eyes glowed. The faint image of a dragon’s head materialized around him, shimmering in the light. Alice shuddered but resolutely stared him down with her hands balled up into fists in her lap. She bit her lower lip to stop her teeth from chattering. “You … were imprinted? Imprinted by a dragon?”

  “Bingo!” Stella said, clapping her hands together once. She tapped on Vur’s forehead. “Your aura’s making me dizzy.”

  Vur’s eyes stopped glowing, and he snorted, turning his head away from Alice. A collective exhalation came from the crowd of adventurers in the room.

  “I guess that does make you a dragon in the loosest possible sense,” Alice said and tapped her finger against the table. “A warrior class with a white mage subclass then? No. You didn’t use any skills to hit me, only unrefined punches and kicks.”

  “Those unrefined punches and kicks knocked you out though,” Tafel said. “You don’t have to guess anymore. He’s a blue mage.”

  Alice grimaced. “But to learn a skill, a blue mage has to be hit by the ability,” she said. “Don’t tell me he was also raised in the wild fighting beasts to grow up. If that was the case, the holy matriarch would never let him out of her sight.”

  Tafel nodded.

  “You three are actually from a different continent, aren’t you?” Alice asked. “Everything makes sense now.” A crease formed on her forehead as she looked at Vur. “But that doesn’t make you any less broken. What the heck were the dragons thinking when they created an abomination like you?”

  “Honestly, I think they were bored,” Tafel said and shrugged.

  8

  George ignored the stares from the surrounding people and burst into the adventurers’ guild. He panted for breath as he stood at the entrance, holding the door open with one webbed hand. His spear was strapped to his back, and he wore simple leather clothing made from leviathan hide. The adventurers stared at him for a moment before turning their attentions away. The silent guild burst out into commotion once again.

  George ran to the receptionist’s desk, but he was pulled back by someone in the line. “This is an emergency!” George shouted, shaking off the hand holding his shoulder.

  “I have an emergency too, but you don’t see me skipping the queue!” the person at the back shouted.

  George shot him a dirty look before shouting, “The undead have invaded the coasts!”

  The lobby fell silent. The silence remained for three seconds before someone snickered. Other people started to laugh as well. “The continent’s run by holy dragons. Holy dragons!” someone said. “You think any undead would stand a chance here?”

  “I’m serious!” George said, his gills flapping as his face turned
red. “All of our tribes along the coast have been subjugated!”

  The receptionist cleared his throat. “Please calm down,” he said, still reading the papers in his hands. “The guild master is out at this time, but I’ll be happy to help you with your problems. I only ask that you wait in line like the rest of the folk here. Thank you for your patience.”

  George’s face fell at the receptionist’s response. His people were being hunted by the undead, yet he had to wait in line. Who knows how much more torture they’d have to undergo before he could explain his problem properly? He clenched his spear and trudged to the back of the line, head lowered. A sigh escaped from his lips. If only the elders hadn’t been so eager to chase away those two ocean crossers, then maybe the undead could’ve been repelled. To be fair, he wanted them gone as well. Their tribe would’ve run out of food if that man stayed for another week.

  When it was finally George’s turn to approach the receptionist, an hour had already passed. The receptionist rubbed his eyes and raised his head. He flashed George a smile, but he looked more demented than friendly due to the dark circles underneath his eyes. “Welcome, how may I help you today?”

  “The undead have invaded the coast,” George said, his hands trembling. “My tribesmen have tried fighting against them, but they were losing when I left to turn in this report.”

  The receptionist blinked. “This is serious if that’s true,” he said and tapped his finger against his desk twice. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

  “I did!” George shouted.

  The receptionist furrowed his brow. “I must not have heard you,” he said and sighed as he pulled out a blank piece of paper. “We’ve been overloaded for the past week ever since the guild master left on her adventure.” He dipped his quill in the inkwell. “How long has it been since they’ve arrived?”

  “There weren’t a lot of them. We fought them thinking we would win, but they managed to stall for two days. Then the tides turned on us without warning, and I was sent here,” George said, counting with his fingers. “It took me four days to reach here.”