The dragon mother stared at me for a while before turning back about to face my sister and her men. I could feel her gaze just leave me completely. Did she just completely disregard me? I'd like to think she saw me as an ally, but I can't be too sure.
There's silence, followed by a loud cracking noise, and a thud. I look down to see the collar the dragon wore completely broken, cut right through in a straight line.
Several knights raise their guard alongside Asceline. Each of them looked nervously at the woman.
"You there. State your name." A knight called out.
The dragons mother slowly raised up her hand as if going to use a spell, before flicking her wrist down. In an instant everyone's armor showed a large cut going across their body. Several knights dropped to their knees, holding their chest through the armor. Several of them groaned from the pain with a few simply dropping to the ground from it
The only one who got out of the sudden attack was Asceline, whose armor showed a large gash on it, but still remained intact. She grunted holding her lance aiming at the dragon mother.
"Oh? You withstood that?" She asks curiously. No, Amused?
Asceline raised up her lance ready to throw it, before looking at the woman again.
"I know what you're thinking. Go ahead. Throw it. I won't run." She tells her.
Asceline glances past her to me before grunting. That look. Did she just…? With a strong throw, Asceline threw her weapon at the woman as hard as she could. There was only a few feet so she could dodge if she wanted, but she didn't. Infact she flicked her hand upward to bat the weapon away into the air. In that instance, Asceline was right in front of the woman with a sword in hand. She already closed their distance to cut her down from her arm that was carrying the dragon in it. Asceline quickly swung with her sword quickly across her body.
Swish! The sword was swung before the women could act. Blood dripped onto the ground below. Asceline stepped backwards on shaky legs, while holding her shoulder, sword held tightly. The tip of her lance dug into the ground as it landed, followed by its handle. Soon to join the ground in broken parts, would be the metal blade of Asceline's sword.
"Who are you?...What are you?" Asceline asks glaring.
The woman held up her hand, of which her fingertips were covered in blood, before quickly flicking her gloved finger of the substance at Asceline. "Me? An angry mother who has very little patience left."
The woman held up her hand as a claw-like shape from a sinister dark glow started to come off it. She swung across at the group, forming a massive wave of darkness to slash through them. At first it didn't seem to do anything, but suddenly the knights began to scream and convulse on the ground.
From what I could see, several of them started to show unusual symptoms. One of them was smoking with burns start to show on their skin, another twitched and shuddered as if trying to move but couldn't, one was looking pale and gasping for air. Even Asceline, as strong as she was, screamed out in pain before looking around confused.
"Oh? Well this is a rare one." The mother dragon says right past Asceline.
Asceline turned in response, head turning left and right. "Normally when I do this, poison, corrosion, burning; These are the most common one's. Maybe paralysis or freezing, bleeding if they're wounded, terror or petrification if I get lucky." She kept walking around Asceline with a growing smirk. "but blindness…blindness is very rare, and much more interesting."
Seeing her smile as she looked at Asceline's predicament, while listening to her explanation, made me realize what she just did, as well as what she was thinking. She just inflicted everyone with some kind of negative effects. On top of that she did so for no other reason than to amuse herself. Not for her son's safety, but for her own amusement.
She raised a finger as several spires of earth rose up around Asceline. More spikes then jutted out from those spires around and towards Asceline.
"Stop!" I yell out in a panic. The spikes don't reach Asceline, but they all are incredibly close to piercing her body.
"Finally. You say something." The mother dragon says, turning to face me with a smile. "I was starting to think you were actively ignoring my question."
Question?...ah! The statement about punishment. She was actually asking us?
"Uh…sorry? I didn't think you were asking one. Eep!" I cover my mouth. Why did I say that? The words just flowed right out of my mouth without a thought.
"I was considering that woman over there's response. By arming herself, I assumed she wanted me to cut her and her soldiers up." She walked up to me and looked down at me. "But seeing as you were protecting my son from them, I'll be kind and let you pick your own punishment."
"A--hrm!" Too close. I felt my words start to slip out past my lips again. Knowing my thought process I would've said something like. "Do what you think" or "I don't know." So I quickly covered my mouth with my hands.
I looked down and away from her. My gaze turned to the small dragon in her arms, who currently looked squished against her breasts from how she was holding him. I started to pity him given how he struggled up against her large breasts pressed up against him. I peaked up at the woman and she had this look of confusion as she stared at me. It was then I saw her lips curl into a very wide and amused smile. Never before had a large and warm smile scared the hell out of me.
"Change of plans." She says raising her hand as a green glow started to come off it. "As punishment, you'll be coming with me."
"Wha?" A wave of drowsiness hits me as the world starts to swirl and blurr in my vision. I struggle against the tiredness but eventually my body gives nearly along with my consciousness.
…
…
…
I struggle to open my eyes. My entire body feels hot and heavy. I blink around but the area around me is dimly lit. Even looking around I can hardly see anything.
I groan, trying to sit myself up while also dealing with the splitting headache I had. Stuck in near darkness with no idea where I am. Actually the inside looks more and more like a cave.
"Are you awake now?" A voice asks me. I look around my surroundings before spotting a large pair of glowing green eyes coming from an equally large shadowy figure.
I know these eyes. This oppressive gaze, this heavy feeling, this voice filled with amusement. It's the mother dragon from before. Although now, she truly looked the part of a dragon.
That's right. She mentioned something about me coming with her before using some kind of magic on me. That means right now.
"Is this possibly your home?" I ask the shadow of a dragon.
"That's right." She answers. "You're currently in the domain of my partner and I."
"Why?" I asked, confused "Why did you bring me here?"
The dragon shifted from her resting position and layed down. "No real reason. You just interested me, is all."
I looked at her stunned. She grabbed me for no reason? Just on a whim? Nothing more?
"Don't look so surprised." She says with a wave of her tail. "It's not so simple as a whim. Your mana was starting to overflow within you. Who knows what would've happened if I hadn't appeared when I did."
I looked at her confused. My mana overflowed? What could she possibly mean by that? Was it that time when the wind around me was gathering? Honestly, I wasn't paying that much attention. I was getting too frustrated .
"No worries" The dragon mother says. "You should be fine for now. Afterall, that was an unprecedented event."
Unprecedented. So even she doesn't know why it happened. I'm sure it has something to do with why my mana goes wild when I use source magic. Even now that thing is trying to kill me.
"Well, that's only part of the reason I brought you here." The mother dragon says. "Call it a whim, call it fate, call it ill fortune; but seeing something familiar made me want to take you."
Something familiar? "What do you mean something familiar? Do I remind you of something?"
"So for the time being you'll be staying here. In exchange for your basic needs you'll be watching the children alongside us." She continued not seeming to acknowledge my question. So she wants me to help her babysit little dragons? That sounds…very difficult. If they're anything like that little dragon from before… "Ah! That's right. What about--?"
"<All right she's all yours.>" I hear her growl out. She wasn't looking in my direction, but just past it. I hear several thumping noises coming up behind me.
I turn around and see several small black dragons run up and around me. Now calling them small would be a stretch as they ranged from standing up to my knees to up to my waist.
"<Oh! Is this the human brother talked about?>"
"<It looks funny>"
"<Is it safe to be around?>"
"<Human! I want tasty food too!>"
"<Magic! Magic! Show me magic!>"
All their growling and roaring was mingling together as they jumped up on me for attention. I could just barely keep standing as they pushed and tugged on me for attention or their own interests.
"<Make sure you don't hurt her too much.>" the mother dragon growls out.
"W-Wait!" I call out to her struggling to keep standing. "What exactly…am I supposed to do?" I ask before I feel a claw hook into my clothing. There's a loud rip as I feel my blouse rip. No, not just my blouse, but my bra as well as some of the skin on my back.
"Aaah!" My sudden yell causes some of the dragons around me to look at me surprised before roaring out.
"<Back up!>"
"<What's that noise>"
"<Human hurt?>"
"<Brother hurt human.>"
" <I didn't try too.>"
The mother lit up before letting out a small roar to the children. They all lit up with a shudder before stepping away from me. "You're much weaker than my children. At this rate, you'll only be able to watch them from the grave. Being a human must be tough for you." She teases. No, question about it, she's just amusing herself with all of this. Even my getting hurt is just a show to break up her boring days.
My thoughts are interrupted as she raises a claw up to me with a soft glow coming off it. Soon after a similar glow started to come off of me as well. "Heal." A simple word was all she said before I felt a warm sensation along where I was clawed at. It lasted only for a few seconds before stopping. Whatever pain I felt had vanished. In my surprise, I peeked behind me to try and see what damage was done, much to my own failure. "Now for your clothing." The dragon's mother snaps her claw as the glow around me gives off a new feel.
In my grasp, my blouse and cloak begin to unravel from the sleeves. This wasn't the only thing to start unraveling. My blue skirt soon followed suit, alongside my black tights. My shoes also began to unwide as well despise being made of leather. Even my underwear wasn't left alone. However, before the worry of being completely left bare settled in my mind, the fabric quickly began to re-stitch itself in the same way it unwound starting from the sleeves and moving upward. The fabric changed its appearance as it quickly unraveled and raveled itself into a new set of clothing for me.
Once it seemed to finish I stood and looked over myself. Some dark, long sleeved, form fit top along with an equally dark robe, complete with a hood. A pair of short pants, alongside some long stockings, were covering my legs. Thick knee high boots were also given that felt comfortable to stand in and had a nice feel to it even when shifting from foot to foot. A quick feel around confermed that underneath the clothing a new set of supportive underwear was also made for me.
"There you go. As long as you're in that clothing you should be durable enough for the children not to accidentally rip you to shreds."
Looking at this clothing over, once more I couldn't help but exclaim my surprise. "It's comfortable and easy to move in. It's even more comfortable than what I'm used to." Although 'what I'm used to' isn't referring to this world's clothing.
"I would hope so, it's the same material I use for my own clothing. Just one last thing to do."
"Huh?" Right as I wonder what she means I feel a sharp talon on my forehead followed by a slightly warm feeling.
"「Psychological Resistance」「Psychological Nullification」and「Pain Resistance」. Perfect, I won't have to go through the trouble of teaching this to you." That was the last thing she said before getting a notification from my status screen.
「Bestowal」skill effect activating.
Suddenly that warm feeling started to become hot before the feelings changed to a strong electric like pain surging through my head. No, I know a pain like this. It was like when I went through the retrieval of my memory. It was like something was being pushed directly into my mind.
Skill Gained
Ernamaria Von Saurtide acquired「Draconic Language」
The words appeared right as the dragon pulled her claw away. Although, the pain didn't stop as she did so. Instead, I felt a massive headache.
"<There we go.>" she says, standing herself up with a grin. "<Now I only have to deal with that turbil fruit, Farris. That should be solved with an hour or two of yelling.>" she growled out before leaving down a cavern path.
"<Hey wait a-- eh?>" Such weird words came out of my mouth. <"H-Hello?"> I held my mouth as weird sounds start coming out past my lips. Words? I don't know started forming on my lips as I spoke. It was no language I knew from either world. It sounded completely foreign. It must've been that skill I was just given.
"<Be good and stay inside.>" she growled to us with a wave of her tail. And with that, she disappeared into the deeper darkness.
"<Great.>" I groan out. <"Guess I don't have much of a choice.">
"<Hey, I can hear her >"
"<It can talk!>"
"<Hey I'm hungry!>"
"<Are you okay?>"
"<She's a she.>"
"<She's all dark now.>"
"<I thought she was human.>"
I recognize one of the voices among the chirps and growls of the dragons. I turn to see the small white dragon from before, even more so he was being followed by one other black scaled dragon with bright round green eyes. It also had a pair of small horns atop its head.
<"ah it's you."> I say to him. This gets a reaction out of the other dragon who scowled in my direction.
<"Oh? Your speaking our language now?"> he replied <"Good at least now we can talk like normal."> He takes a seat in front of me. <"I have a lot of questions to ask, and judging from the situation you do as well. Best thing to do for now is get along and share information.">
I pause for a second and think. He's not wrong. At this point my being here is shaky at best. Who knows when the whims of the mother will change. Gathering information and making myself useful is the best way to keep myself alive. For the time being, I should start with my only ally here. <"If it's the info you want. I can do that much.">
<Give and take as they say"> He says holding out a claw to me.
I move to shake it only for the other dragon to place their paws on my hand and pull it down to the ground. <"No touching."> i try my best to pull my hand free but find their grip strong as she growls.
<"Okay okay, you win. I won't touch."> as I say this, they huff before getting off me and moving back over to the white one again with her chest puffed out.
I watch as the white dragon pets the head of the black one getting a few small growls from her. <"Good job big sis…"> the white one says with a glance up to me with a shrug and apologetic smile of his own.
I shrug as well before turning to look at the other smaller dragons. They played around with each other or kept looking at me curiously, some even try to ask me this or that.Well…at least 'they' don't seem all that bad. Maybe this won't be all too bad.