Chapter 7: Little Dragon (1)

  Dragon, a dragon is in here?!

  They’re supposed to be extinct by now!

  Dragons were once a supreme race that was known as the lord of the world and also the guardian of it, protecting mortals from natural calamity or monster apocalypse in ancient times.

  But as centuries passed, they grew increasingly arrogant and distasteful to other races that were living beneath their shadow like insects.

  So one day, the dragons decided the world would be better if everything else simply… disappeared.

  With an entire army of dragons numbering close to a thousand, together they burned kingdoms, flattened empires, and turned flourishing lands into ashes.

  Yet, as mighty as they are, the might of a thousand couldn’t be compared to the entire world's.

  All the races united against them and attacked them from all sides.

  The once prideful dragons lost pathetically and were hunted down one by one, driving the dragon race to extinction.

  At least… that was what Solrick remembered.

  Yet right now, a dragon was staring at me from the darkness.

  "…"

  This is the end.

  There’s no way out now and I would die without even being able to resist.

  “...”

  “...”

  But the dragon hadn’t eaten me; it didn’t even try to approach.

  It just simply remained in the darkness.

  Recounting from what i said, I think it has something to do with my blood.

  The curse that makes sure that my blood can be traced is supposed to let out a pungent odor that can let others detect me easily, but I didn’t smell anything at all aside from the smell of trash.

  The dragon said that I smell poison to it.

  Come to think of it, any animals or beasts usually avoided Solrick instead of attacking him or becoming hostile.

  They just show a hint of disgust and then flee.

  Some even splash water on Solrick.

  So the hostility effect won't take place on mindless beasts; that's what Solrick assumes.

  But the dragon here can clearly talk; it has intelligence, and yet it refuses to even touch me?

  Could it be because a dragon is closer to a beast than a sentinel being…

  Solrick never questioned the nature of his curse and instead focused more on his ability and knowledge about God Of Truth.

  But unlike Solrick, I lack both skill and wealth, so I need to grab whatever I have to simply survive.

  For now, I think I'm safe from the dragon's maw.

  But I didn't feel that much relief since I still don't know where I am.

  I must think of how to get out of this cage or at least this damn rope!

  But no matter how I struggled, the rope refused to snap, leaving me in despair.

  I am just too weak to do anything here.

  Then a thought crossed my mind.

  I just need a strong being who can help me not only get out of this rope but also escape this place.

  So, I decided to make a move out of desperation and forced myself to smile.

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  “Hi there!"

  “…”

  The dragon didn’t answer back.

  It just stared at me like a creep.

  "Gree"

  …I gulped at the sudden hiss.

  Did I agitate it? Right, a dragon is closer to a beast than a human after all so I must tread carefully.

  Fearing that it might attack, I decided to just let out a smile and carefully watch its eye to see any expression.

  The eye of a dragon is quite mesmerizing to look at; it looks more like something sculpted out of golden jade than an eye.

  So we just look at each other for a while.

  Is it because it’s a dragon and it doesn't need to close its eyes?

  Before I knew it, I began to have some useless thoughts before I blinked.

  “Kra kra”

  I shot a glance at the weird noise it was making before realizing my mistake since it could anger the dragon.

  But for some reason, the noise it keeps making is just getting louder.

  D-did it just cackle?

  Why would it do that… Is it mistaking me looking at its eyes as a staring challenge?

  “...Right, you should be considered a child at this age.”

  A dragon matures at the age of around a hundred and can live up to a thousand years or even beyond that so a thirty-five-year-old dragon is simply a kid.

  I shake my head before I decide to look at it in the eye again.

  The dragon also stopped its laughter and continued to stare at me.

  I strained my eyes, hoping that I would win this time since the dragon hasn't closed its eye once but in the end I still lost.

  “Kra Kra Kra."

  And the dragon once again laughs just like a little kid.

  But it didn’t know that I let it win, not because my eyes are burning in pain.

  Besides, I don't know what it might do if it lost.

  A kid is just as easy to anger as they are to please.

  Though the dragon seemed to be more gentle than I thought, I decided to get on its friendly side.

  So, we keep going back and forth, with me ending up losing every single game.

  “Kra Kra Kra."

  At first the dragon's laughter annoyed me but after some time, I too let out a chuckle.

  This is similar to the time when I played with my little brother; I too laugh like that when I lose a game.

  “This is quite fun.”

  My body slowly grew less tense and I began to relax.

  For a moment, all the chaos and danger I had experienced seemed far away.

  Though I’m kind of displeased that I haven’t won a game.

  The dragon, from the moment it looks at me, hasn't blinked even once.

  It must be cheating…

  Ah, I realized that I may have acted out a little to the point where I forgot what I was supposed to do.

  All games must come to an end; I must set out my next action to get out of this place.

  “Hey dragon, want to play a new game?"

  “Kre?”

  The dragon tilted its head slightly, showing a sign of curiosity but it didn’t seem to understand me entirely.

  So I decided to break it down for it to understand.

  “Eye game…too tired…next game."

  The dragon just looked at me, even now, without blinking before it began to speak.

  “Game?...What game?"

  Yes, this is it.

  “Rope…can’t play…cut it open…more game."

  If I tried to get this rope out myself, it would take forever.

  But for a dragon, it should be easy to cut it, right?

  "…"

  The dragon grew silent before it let out a fierce roar.

  I jumped in fright with my heartbeat faster than ever.

  "W-What's the matter—"

  "Humans…All the same!"

  The playfulness in the dragon's eyes was gone and a crimson light was emitted from the dragon as it stared at me.

  Its eyes feel like boulders squeezing me to the ground, making it hard for me to even breathe.

  "W-Wait!"

  If this goes on, then I would be crushed into paste!

  “Humans…Bad…Lies and Trickery…Bad."

  With that, the dragon let out a small sniff before the golden eyes went back to the darkness.

  Only when they vanished did the pressure fade enough for me to breathe again.

  I broke out in a cold sweat and breathed out heavily.

  “W-where did I go wrong?"

  Such a reaction is completely different from what it showed a moment ago.

  ‘Lies and trickery’ is what the dragon said.

  Though I did try to trick it, it’s not like it’s going to harm the dragon or anything, so I wonder why it got so pissed.

  My mind races for an answer but nothing comes to mind.

  A dragon mood can't truly be comprehended by a human after all.

  Regardless of the reason, I had to calm it down.

  “Come on now, don't be mad at me."

  “…”

  The dragon ignored me completely no matter how much I pleaded.

  I sighed at this ridiculous spectacle.

  A dragon even as a kid, acts like a kid but he’s a dragon so he should be dignified, right?

  He’s just acting like a normal human kid, like my younger brother…

  Of all the things I need to remember, it has to be my brother, whose face I barely remember anymore; this place is truly hell.

  Oh right, I did piss him off a lot of times too and the only way to ease him is with some candies.

  But I don’t have any candy on me, nor would a dragon even eat it in the first place.

  Hmm, maybe I can lie about it.

  Just when I pondered what to do, the entire cell suddenly began to tremble, and the dragon whimpered softly.

  “They’re here… They’re here!"

  Just as I was confused about what it was saying, a loud metallic bang echoed above us.

  “Prepare the food and the red gas."

  A familiar woman’s voice rang out from above.

  The same woman that talks about wanting to kill me without hesitation.

  I don’t really know what's going on but I know that there might be trouble if they spot me so I retreated into the corner of the cell, hoping that the darkness would cover me like the dragon.

  And then from the iron bars, a strange red gas was being sent into the cell.

  The dragon roared from this sight as I could feel the entire cell shaking, likely the dragon trying to dig its way to avoid it.

  “GREEEE”

  The gas reached the dragon first and after a while, the dragon roared in pain before the sound slowly subsided.

  I gasped in shock at the scene.

  What kind of gas could even make a dragon scream in pain like that?

  As the red gas approached, I closed both my nose and mouth and tried not to breathe in the gas until I was unable to hold it anymore and breathed out, letting the gas enter my body.

  The dragon has higher mental stats than me and yet it still screams in pain like that so I braced myself from the pain.

  But such pain never arrived.

  Instead, my body grew weak and my eyelids went incredibly heavy.

  "D-Dizzy…"

  This thing is sleeping gas?