Chapter 62

Chapter 62

Chapter 62

“...what are you doing, Amelia?” Noele asked, blinking.

I glanced back from the stove and replied simply, “I’m cooking us lunch. Where are your parents at?”

I only saw Noele and Garron standing at the front door. Both of them were carrying these large Bags of Holding— probably to carry grain. There was a crackle of oil, and I glanced back down to the frying pan as a small fire sizzled beneath it.

The Steel Tank frowned as he peered over my shoulder. “What... is that?”

“Fried rice,” I said as I stirred the pan. “It’ll be ready in a minute.”

Garron just blanched, and I rolled my eyes. I expected that reaction from him, considering I didn’t have a [Chef] Class. But I was sure he was going to love it when he gave it a try. However, what I didn’t expect was Noele’s reaction. She bit her lower lip.

“But... why?” she asked. “Are you trying to open up a food stall again?”

“You liked the burger, didn’t you?” I scoffed, shaking the frying pan over the fire.

Noele hesitated. “I... kind of did? But you barely got any sales, remember?”The initial posting of this chapter occurred via Ñøv€l-B!n.

“I just felt like cooking,” I said with a shrug. “This isn’t for a food stall or whatever. And even if it was, it’s not my fault Jax scared away my customers.”

“I don’t think Jax was the problem, Amelia.” The blonde girl eyed my food apprehensively.

“My cooking is fine.” I pulled the pan away from the stove, turning the fire down. It wasn’t a gas stove, but it was a magical stove. I just had to press on a rune, and the flames would change in intensity— it was really quite comparable to modern technology.

I served the fried rice in a large bowl as Noele and Garron exchanged an uneasy glance. I knew my cooking was fine. I didn’t need a Class to cook well. Maybe random strangers weren’t going to give me a fair chance, but I knew I could convince Noele’s family and Garron to try out my food, and I especially knew that they would find it delicious.

“Just give it a try, and if you hate it, you can spit it out and eat something else.” I spoke casually, and they acquiesced.

I watched the two of them as they slowly sat down like they were condemned prisoners about to eat their last meals. As they gave my food a taste test, I did wonder how Jax was doing. Didn’t he go off to see Grat-ra’zun or something?

Man, I felt bad for the Elder Dragon... I hoped that annoying elf wasn’t going to pester him too much...

—--

“Hm, what?”

Grat-ra’zun blearily blinked his eyes open as he sat up in his cave. There was the clatter of coins. His pile of gold and platinum shifted, and he narrowed his eyes.

“Did I doze off?” he groused as he raised a stubby arm and scratched his head. “What was I doing again...?”

He was an Elder Dragon— one of the last in the world— and he went by many names. He was known as Igniz’s Arcane Champion; the King of the Crimson; the Wisest Sage of the World System; and more recently, the Glorious Terror of Mount Arkais. But he was also incredibly old, so his memory wasn’t all that great.

It took him a moment to finally remember what had happened before he fell back to sleep. And he recalled a rift in space. A creeping chill. And...

“Oh, right. That girl.”

Grat-ra’zun frowned as he clambered out of his bed of treasures. Two young women had intruded into his hidden lair. Annoying human adventurers. Or so he thought at first. But as it turned out, one of them had been an otherworlder, and they sought guidance.

“Who dares—”

He barely caught a glimpse of a shadowed figure zipping across the ceiling before a second explosion engulfed him. It was accompanied by a whistling sound, before blasting out around him with sparks and glitter. The shockwave rippled across the cave chamber. Mountains of coins toppled, and ancient relics were sent scattering across the room.

Grat-ra’zun felt like he had been struck by a falling star. He ground his teeth together as he steadied himself from the attack. The shadowed figure zipped back as he unhinged his jaw.

“Burn!” he screamed, unleashing a plume of fire into the air.

The flames struck the ceiling, and the blast knocked the shadowed figure back. A white sphere flickered and flashed, protecting the shadowed figure as it crashed into the ground. It... no, she skidded to a stop right by the feet of another five figures standing at the entrance to the Elder Dragon’s lair.

He narrowed his eyes as the first figure picked herself up, flitting back up into the air. A small set of wings buzzed behind her as she dusted herself off. She was tiny— barely bigger than a gnome.

Behind her, a tall figure towered over her. And four more figures waited at the side, smirking even in the face of an Elder Dragon. There were six of them in total, and Grat-ra’zun recognized all of them.

“Ivory the Fairy Queen?” His eyes went round as he stared at the first figure.

She raised her head, blinking as he said her name. Her brows snapped together and she snorted. “I am now the Exiled Queen, thank you very much.”

He swept his gaze past her— at the looming creature that stood at ten feet tall. With a glistening sable skin, that was also as hard as rock, and glinting red eyes that peered at the dragon with no emotion.

“Rakash the Tormentor of Alius.”

The troll hefted an obsidian axe over his shoulder. He did not grin. He did not smile. He was the horror that haunted the dwarven nations on the other side of Vacuos. At dawn, he would appear before a village, town, or a city. At dusk, he would leave behind nothing but ruins. He alone was responsible for a million deaths across Alius over the last twenty-years.

And it was his actions that inspired many trolls, gnomes, ogres, and nagas to do the same.

Grat-ra’zun’s eyes darted to the remaining four figures. Two of them were clearly human, one of them was an elf, and the last was one of the merfolk. Their reputations were not nearly as prevalent as the first two, but the dragon still knew of their names.

“Ammon the Arcane Archsorcerer. Delmer the Sentinel of Light. Usil the Malevolent Berserker. And Si-Vus the Land Conqueror.”

All six of them were high S-rank in level. They gathered before the Elder Dragon’s lair as he stared at them uncertainly. He straightened, eyeing their every move.

“Why are you here?” Grat-ra’zun asked. “Why have you come to my lair?”

They exchanged a glance. For a moment, none of them said a word. Then Ivory just laughed.

“We’re here to kill you for our King, of course.”

And she raised a sparkling wand, unleashing a flurry of twinkling stars his way.

MelasD

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