"Princess Morrigan, we are approaching a town," Jin, Morrigan's bodyguard, called out. She jerked at the sudden noise, groggily opening her eyes. It took her considerable effort to get herself upright and respond to the guard.

  "Tell Galandir to stop the light magic."

  "At once, Your Highness!" he replied, and she could hear him hurry ahead on his mount.

  This town is likely where our hidden enemy wanted to lead us. There'll no doubt be some sort of a trap there. But would they try to ambush or attack us head-on? There are too many unknowns. Let's just hope I won't have to use that.

  Before long the retinue rode into a small town filled with demons that appeared to have some traits from infernals. Some had blazing hair, some had some limbs that looked like infernals limbs, some had fire on the tips of their tails. But they were still more demon than infernal.

  "What is this place?" Morrigan asked Azrael who was carefully looking over the buildings.

  "If I'm not wrong this is the Agnicaris Town, meaning that we are rather close to the border of Infernal Country," the mage replied.

  "Is that bad?" Deziara asked nervously.

  "No, that is actually not far from where we need to go," Viana replied, looking perplexed.

  "That's great, isn't it? We get to rest and can peacefully continue our journey," Deziara said cheerfully.

  "I'm afraid it is not so simple. You see, these demons are not known for loving royalty," Azrael said awkwardly, and Morrigan noticed that the stares they received from locals were less than friendly. Unlike in other places, where they were quickly surrounded by locals and greeted with ovation, everyone kept their distance.

  "They don't need to like us. They just need to sell us what we need. Let's resupply, rest here for the night, and then leave," Morrigan said, and everyone nodded in agreement. If she could, she'd leave the town right away, but after getting lost, everyone felt a noticeable mental strain. The guards and the servants alike needed some time to relax properly.

  "Galandir," she called out to her elven friend who was on his way to search for a place for Haku to stay. The dragon looked rather disgruntled. Not quite as badly as in the imp village, but something was definitely irking him.

  "What is it?" He turned towards her.

  "Could you do a little favor for me?"

  "Of course. Why do you even bother asking?" He chuckled.

  "Take this and place it some distance away from the town. Not too far, but not right next to it either," Morrigan said and placed a large oval disk in Galandir's hand. He turned it carefully, trying to understand what it was.

  "Um… sure. What is this?" he asked curiously.

  "A backup plan. Just make sure you place it with this round eye pointing upwards," Morrigan pointed towards the little glass marble in the middle.

  "Sure. Consider it done. I'll take Haku and have it done in no time."

  "No. Leave Haku with me. He's too conspicuous," she shook her head and went towards her dragon friend, who happily scuttled closer to her. Galandir just nodded and then disappeared from sight.

  "Hey, where is the elf boy going?" Azrael asked curiously, taking a half step after Galandir.

  "Just on a little errand of mine. Don't worry about it. Let's find a place for Haku to stay," she said dismissively. The mage stared at her suspiciously for a moment, but then shrugged and kept walking.

  "Now—where could I leave a dragon in this town?" Morrigan wondered, looking around the town, when she noticed many curious, no, rather awestruck gazes coming from some of the local demons. For a moment she wondered whether Azrael had just been messing with her when he said that these demons don't like royalty. But then she realized that they weren't looking at her, they were looking at Haku.

  That's right, these people are fire people and Haku is a fire dragon. They must be fascinated with him to some extent. But I wonder if their fascination outweighs their fear. If it does then I could use it to our advantage.

  "Excuse me, could anybody help us?" Morrigan called out, but everyone who was previously looking at Haku looked away, completely ignoring her.

  "What are you doing, Morri?" Deziara asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Watch," she whispered to her sister and then spoke up loudly again. "I need to find a place for my dragon to rest for the night."

  Everyone in the nearby vicinity turned their heads towards Morrigan again, their eyes sparkling with excitement. Some of them began inching closer, but one younger demon woman with a flickering yellow flame for hair rushed towards them.

  "I got a place just perfect for him," she said eagerly and looked ready to lead them somewhere. However, when nobody made any move to follow her, the girl faltered and flushed from embarrassment.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  "I'm sorry. Y-You probably don't trust me, do you? I'm sorry. I just saw a fire dragon and got so excited. My Pa got this large farm on the edge of the town with lots of open areas. It'd be a perfect place for a dragon," she chattered excitedly, but then her shoulders slumped. "But that's up to you, of course."

  "I believe Haku would love to stay at your farm, but could you introduce yourself to us first?" Morrigan said with a smile. It hadn't escaped her that the gazes around her had grown tense. Many must have expected some sort of a reaction from her or somebody from her retinue. But they continued on with their business, not minding the excited girl at all.

  "O-of course! My name is Ugunda, a simple farmer's daughter. But I know lots about taking care of Underworld creatures!" she said, and after a brief pause continued excitedly. "We've got all sorts of creatures on our farm. Even a bearbull!"

  I do not know what this bearbull thing is, but if the name is any indication of its appearance, I'd rather not meet it face to face.

  "You believe your father would allow Haku to rest on your farm?"

  "Absolutely! It's a fire dragon and we are fire demons! We respect dragons above all other creatures," Uganda explained, and Morrigan even noticed some confirming nods in the crowd. It appeared that the demons had gotten a bit more relaxed around them, although nobody dared to join their conversation.

  "Lead the way then. I'm sure Haku would love to stay at your farm," Morrigan said, pointing at her dragon.

  "His name is Haku? That's such a cool name for a dragon. Follow me!" The girl wasted no time and began running ahead, waiting for Morrigan and Haku to follow. After relaying instructions to a guard to wait for Galandir and later direct him to the farm, and taking a few of elite guards with her just in case, they followed the girl with flaming hair.

  She eyed the guards suspiciously at first, but that was short-lived as soon she bombarded Morrigan with various questions about dragons. For example, how big was Haku when he hatched? Has he always been red? When did he first start spewing fire? How old was he? Can his fireball melt rocks? And so on and so forth. She did her best to answer the questions at first, but soon there were so many that Morrigan began picking and answering the easiest ones.

  The fire demons they passed by on the street watched the dragon with the same awe. Some more curious ones even tried to approach Haku, but were met with a prompt rejection in the form of a growl. It quickly sent them running and looking for cover, but naturally, he didn't do anything with Morrigan watching over him. Besides Haku's growls, she could deduce that he didn't really perceive them as a threat.

  "There it is! My Pa's farm," Ugunda announced, pointing at the structure standing at the edge of town. Morrigan couldn't quite understand what she was looking at first. There were a few simple buildings standing at the front of the whole thing, the lights in their windows looking somewhat demure. But behind them stood a large territory filled with light and wonder.

  The most memorable of it all was the large field filled with glowing, orange bulbs. They stretched as far as the eye could see, looking like little candlelights, laid down in thousands next to each other. On the other side of the houses were vast plains illuminated by gentle magic lights which faithfully followed animals that grazed there. Morrigan couldn't exactly tell what kind of animals those were since they were so far away, but she saw that each one had a magic light following it.

  "Amazing, isn't it?" Uganda said smugly.

  "It is amazing!" Morrigan nodded in agreement, and she saw how Haku was already hungrily eyeing one of the grazing animals, no doubt perceiving it as a possible play partner. Or at least she hoped he perceived them as a possible play partner. "Haku, be good."

  The dragon lowered its head guiltily and exhaled a puff of smoke. Morrigan patted his scales and they continued towards the farm. The closer they got, the more magical it seemed. It had not only those bulbous light plants but also a plethora of more regular-looking plants – like small trees with blue oranges which Morrigan had eaten plenty of times before. But there were also Underworld vegetables and fruits.

  "Do you grow everything here?" Morrigan asked in awe, as they passed through the front gate. There were demons in the fields tending both to animals and to crops, although most of them stopped when they saw a giant red dragon come into the yard.

  "Yeah! The land here is especially fertile. We get lots of water flowing from the frozen parts of the Underworld, not to mention that this is the only place in the Underworld where fire bulbs grow," the girl said and pointed toward the glowing pods. They had a sweet scent that seemed familiar to Morrigan.

  "Firebulbs are those glowy things? What are they used for?" she asked.

  "For making sugar of course," the girl said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Morrigan had to resist the urge to slap herself on the forehead. She should have known. Gunna had told her that sugar in the Underworld is made from a bulbous plant but she never imagined that this bulbous plant would also glow.

  "That's amazing. No wonder that you have so much of it here," Morrigan hummed.

  "Yup. Our little region has to supply the whole Underworld with sugar after all. Thankfully, it's easy to grow in the right conditions."

  "Ugunda, what is going on here?!" A horrified-looking demon stepped out of the house, his eyes darting from Ugunda, to Morrigan and then finally to Haku where they stopped. "Is that a…"

  "A fire dragon! And this is Her Royal Highness, Crown Princess Morrigan! Her dragon needs a place to stay for the night and I figured he could stay on our farm since we have so much free space," she said with a wide grin.

  "Honey, what is going –" a demon woman with flaming hair identical to Ugunda's ran outside with a ladle in hand which she dropped to the ground the moment she saw the dragon. For a long, awkward moment, both parents just stared in horror and disbelief, trying to process the information. Morrigan waited for them to say something, but when she realized that they wouldn't, she spoke up instead.

  "Of course, we wouldn't want to intrude. If it's too much of bother, we could –"

  "NO!" Both of them instantly objected, taking a hurried step worried, catching themselves at the very last moment. Morrigan stared at the worriedly for a second, before the demon man cleared his throat and bowed.

  "I apologize for our rudeness, Your Highness. We were just too shocked to see our daughter bring a member of the royal family and a fire dragon into our home. We'd be honored to host you and your dragon here," he said politely, and his words felt sincere to Morrigan. She didn't feel any displeasure coming from them. In fact, she saw how excitedly Ugunda's mother's eyes were sparkling at Haku.

  "Me as well?" she asked, just to make sure.

  "You and your whole retinue if need be," the mother added, finally tearing her eyes away from Haku.

  "I am Melinda and this is my husband Gunther. We are humble farmers but if you allow us the honor to gaze upon this mighty creature, then we'd be forever in your depth, Your Majesty!"

  Morrigan smiled as she saw how fondly they gazed at Haku, and how Haku seemed likewise intrigued by them. She trusted his judgment more than her own, so she decided that instead of heading back to the city, she'd remain here.

  "Thank you for your kind offer. I'd love to learn more about what you do here!"