Chapter 78 The Trip Back

"I see." Arad said, thinking, "Let's head downstairs first. We can think of anything else later." He approached the door.

"Is that all?" Aella stared at him.

"Yeah, there isn't anything else we could talk about." Arad stretched his arms, "I won't speak of what Merida did. We're splitting at the guild anyway." He smiled.

[You said you didn't want to party with Merida due to trust?]

^Yeah. At first, it was a gut feeling after she attacked us once, but now I have more reason to throw her.^

[That's a waste of her talent with the sword.] Mom sighed. ^We will someone better,^

"I understand," Merida nodded, "If we both speak to Nina, she should be able to talk the guild out of it."

"Alcott will speak as well. We're guaranteed to end it." Aella stared at Arad with a smile.

"Let's go eat something," Arad said with a smile, but then looked at Merida, "I should make this clear. If you attacked us again. I won't hesitate to kill you on the spot."

"I won't forget," Merida replied with a slight bow.

Arad and the girls walked downstairs. Alcott and the others waited at the counter, eating their breakfast.

"Chief, you're back!" Jack smiled, waving his hand, "Did you have a pleasant night?"

Arad looked at Jack. And then at Alcott, "No. But I was able to confirm that I didn't want her anywhere near the party."

"Guessed it," Jack smiled.

Alcott sighed, staring at Ginger, "It didn't work. I told you he is hard-headed."

Ginger stared at Arad, smiling, "I was confident it would work."

^This bloodsucking fiend! She knew that would happen,^

[Her plan backfired, we should be more careful around her.]

Arad sat beside them, looking at the bartender.

"Your breakfast is almost ready. Please wait a moment." The bartender replied while wiping the counter.

"How are the important matters going on?" Arad stared at Alcott.

"Hank is stable, and Selena took a room with him. The plan is going well, and we should finish by noon." He gulped down his meal, "I will take care of that part as the dragon meditator. So I want you to prepare for our trip back home,"

Arad nodded, "Got it,"

After breakfast, Arad, Aella, and Jack searched for a wagon heading to Alina to rent. Merida stayed in the inn with Lydia to collect rations for the trip.

At noon, Alcott returned from delivering the nuns. "Sir Meditator." the village chief approached him, "Is the dragon pleased?"

Alcott nodded, smiling, "It is. This village is safe. I even got the dragon to agree to some conditions."

The village chief eyes opened wide, "What condition?"

"It won't eat the nuns and instead will use them as a worker to clean its layer, prepare the food, and such. It even agreed to free them in the future if it didn't need workers instead of killing them." He looked down, "Of course, there is bad news as well."

The village chief frowned, "We did expect as much. What is it?"

Alcott looked away, "The dragon was keen on using them for pleasure. They can't escape that unless some of them get eaten." He then looked at the sky, "But the nuns accept that as a condition to be left alive."

The village chief nodded, "I understand." He sighed, "I bet the dragon could have done as it pleased. We're grateful it even agreed to some conditions. Thank you, Meditator."

Alcott patted the chief shoulder, "Cheer up. They might return one day. Also. Selena and Hank could talk to the dragon in your stead."

The village chief stared at him, "Really?"

"Hank fought the dragon and got his respect, at least enough to consider him worth listening to." Alcott smiled, "Everything is in your hands from now on."

Alcott walked away toward the village center, thinking, ^Sorry, chief. The nuns are heading toward the beastland as we speak now. They are safe and have a better life ahead of them,^

Behind the village center, Arad and the others awaited Alcott beside the wagon, "Are you done?"

"Yeah, everything is under control." Alcott smiled. "We can head back," He looked at the village, ^I hope we can meet again in better circumstances, Oakedge's alpha.^

After a few hours of traveling, night fell, and the party needed to camp. "Pull up to the side, will camp beside the road," Alcott said, leaping from the still-moving wagon.

"As you say, sir." The driver nodded.

Thud! Arad and Aella leaped behind Alcott, "What should we do?" Arad asked.

"We need firewood and stones to make a fire. Someone needs to serve the area as well. It would be nice if we got a fresh kill for dinner." Arad said, scratching his chin.

^Fresh kill? I have a couple of bison in my stomach,^ Arad thought.

[Don't pull one out. Those creatures live in herds, so camping around where they graze is dangerous.]

^Bacecally, if I could hunt one here, we should move away.^

[We can't show that to Lydia, Merida, or the driver. They would freak out.]

Aella smiled, lifting her hand. "I will try catching something while exploring the area from the trees,"

Lydia leaped from the wagon, "I will check on the horses with the driver and then collect some stones for the fire,"

Ginger smiled, "Merida and I will butcher and cook whatever you hunt. If not, we will cook something nice with what we have of rations," She pulled Merida with her.

"I will set some traps for the night, can't be too careful." Jack waved his hand, heading to the woods.

Alcott smiled, "I will gather firewood. What about you, Arad?"

Arad scratched his head, "Did you leave any work for me? I will walk around and try hunting for something for dinner."

Alcott nodded, "That's good. Let's get to work before it gets too dark,"

***

Arad headed toward the forest. After he was alone, he morphed back into his draconic form. ^This feels better. What should we hunt, Mom?^

[I only see what you see, let's climb a tree and look around,] She suggested, smiling.

^Say, Mom, what do dragons do in their spare time? Or when they hunt like this?^

[Depends on the dragon type and territory. But the most common thing is marking the land as their own by scrubbing their scales on the trees. Older dragons can lock the forest with magical wards.]

^That is vastly different,^

[I don't recommend that you mark land now. As a wyrmling, you don't have enough strength to defend the land you own.] Mom sighed, [I can't believe I missed Claug's return,]

^That green dragon woman?^

[She came all the way to save you. I should have asked her to lick you.]

^Excuse me, what?^

[Adult dragons lick their wyrmlings so other dragons can recognize them. It would have helped you avoid conflict with most dragons.]

^Then why she didn't do it?^

[She won't go around licking other dragon's wyrmlings.]

After looking around for a bit, Arad spotted movements in the bushes.

^Mom, I spotted a deer.^

[Leave it alone. Let's look for something else. A bulldeer would be better.]

^Why?^

[This forest belongs to the Lord of Alina, so hunting deer here should be forbidden. I doubt Alcott and the rest would snitch, but I can't trust the driver.]

^It can get us in trouble in the future.^

[You can kill it and say it was a monster's doing.] Seeing that Arad is a dragon, he could make it believable that the deer got killed by a lion or a tiger. [But I doubt Lydia and Merida would eat. Monster kills can usually carry diseases.]

^Yeah, let's look for something cleaner.^

Arad kept searching, leaping from one tree to another until he eventually saw a woodland goat.

A woodland goat is a bit larger than normal goats but has four sharp horns on the head. As a monster, they are notorious for climbing trees mid-battle and then doing a falling horn ram.

^They have moved. How can they climb?^

[Beat me. Those things don't fear gravity or logic. They are worse than mountain goats.]

Arad jumped to the ground, laying low as he prowled around the goat, hiding beneath the tall grass. ^A sneak attack is good, right?^

[I would have suggested fighting it away from the trees, but that is impossible here.]

Arad slowly approached the beast.

The woodland goat was grazing happily, ^My chance!^

Thud! Arad leaped forward, swinging one claw at the goat's neck.

MEE! The goat swings his back leg at Arad, kicking him in the face. ^I feel like this happened before,^

In the same motion, the goat rushed toward the nearest tree and ran on its trunk, leaping up with a flip.

Arad stared at the goat's dexterous move, seeing the monster falling head first at him. Thud! He dodged to the side, and the goat's horns stuck on the ground. Arad took the chance to finish him.

Splash! DRIP! As Arad looked at the goat's corpse, he heard splashes in the distance. ^Mom?^

[Water, should we check that out?]

^Why not?^ Arad quickly dragged the goat's corpse up a tree to keep it safe while he went to check the noise.

A short distance away, beside a small spring, a woman sat on a rock, washing her bloodied robe white in her underwear. From the massive hat on her head, Arad immediately concluded she was a wizard.

CRACK!

The woman stared back toward where Arad was hiding. And she smiled, "ARA! I have never seen something like you before!" She smiled, pulling a small wand from her chest.

Thud! Arad leaped away, dodging the stone spikes. ^She could see me?^

As he landed, she was nowhere to be seen.

^Where did she go?^ Arad screamed inside his head. He was only here to look from afar, but she noticed him.

Thud! Something fell on his back. It was the woman, and she caught his neck between her thighs, pointing the wand at his head. "Don't move, or I will blast your head off!" She smiled.