The Adventures of Rose Hood

Chapter 27: The Dragon's Quest

I was summoned by the king who greeted me casually.

"Why was I summoned?"

"Well, even though I said that you being a dragon should be kept secret, word is still spreading, so I thought to ask if you wanted an official title. It would prevent nations from trying to kill you."

"No thank you, I'd rather remain an independent adventurer."

He nodded.

"That's what I thought. In that case, I wanted to make an adventuring request."

"What is it?"

"In the kingdom of Stalaris, there have been reports of evil entities appearing. They already submitted the request, but no adventurers responded. Upon completing this mission, the adventurer's guild offered to bump you up to A rank."

"I've done so little though."

"You already completed the requirements, in addition to saving an entire nation and proving yourself as strong as the top S rank, frankly I'm almost certain that a lot think that your actions are exaggerated, because people like you normally don't just appear. Even Thalia gained reputation only because she was the sister of Calesen's king, but your reputation was huge even before that was revealed. It makes sense that many would be skeptical. Especially among those that still doubt the good nature of dragons."

"So, this is also to prove myself."

"Yes."

"I will head out immediately. Also, you don't need to keep my identity a secret. It's already out."

"I guess."

I left and went to the gate.

"I'm going to Stalaris for a mission."

"Understood, lady dragon."

Even the gate guard knew. So much for a national secret.

Well, that just means I can shift closer to town.

I got far enough away so that my shifting wouldn't hurt the gate and shifted.

"WOAH!"

People in line were shocked that the little catkin just became a dragon the size of the castle. I flew off as the guards looked at the people in line with amusement.

_

Being more than 30 times my old size, I was able to get to Stalaris with a lot of speed.

To prevent panic, I became a catkin before getting in the sight of the gate.

I didn't know much about Stalaris other than that slavery isn't as frowned upon here.

I lined up at the gate and saw most of the people in line were slavers.

The one near me was a dragonkin woman with multiple catkin slaves. It seems like she had a type.

"Well, hello there darling? Who are you?"

"A traveler visiting the town."

"That's nice. You know, it's a dangerous world out there. Dragons, Whilderbeasts, and others of the like have been spotted lately."

"Weren't the dragons called nice by both Calesen and Selethon though?"

"Yes, but you cannot trust those nations. I mean one of them is run by one of the beasts, and the other is mostly humans. Way too susceptible to hypnosis they are."

"Alright, so what's your point?"

"Why don't you work for me?"

"Nah."