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Here is the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.
Also, please notify me of any grammatical mistakes in the chapter.
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With the scenery of the village and the peace it brings to your heart and mind, I decided it was time for us to go.
Brent's childhood crush and the promise he made will help him through some tough times in the future, I'm sure of it.
Not sure I'll be around to see that, though.
Dragons.
Long lives, and all that.
But despite that, life seems to pass slowly.
Making Priest carry me for comfort, and also because this form doesn't have shoes, we started to walk to the entrance of the village that faced the forest where the cave was.
As we walked to our destination, I looked at the armor smith's shop. It was the beginning of my little adventure in this body, I had a fond memory because of that. Even if it was a bit hectic.
...Am I just imagining things, or is the armor smith missing?
With my enhanced vision because of my draconic body, I peered through the window of the store. The armor smith wasn't there.
"Priest, do you know what happened to the armor smith, Mark?"
Priest's emotionless expression was dripped with a bead of nervous sweat.
"I relieved him of his life." Priest answered me honestly.
"Why?"
I wasn't really bothered by it, but I did want to know his reason for it.
"He was an annoyance."
"Ah, got it."
Deciding that it was a totally reasonable answer, I just pushed it behind me.
Dragons.
Do what we want, when we want.
We left the village, the guards keeping watch waving goodbye and wishing us good luck on finding a new home.
Smiling and waving back, our figures disappeared into the forest.
After getting out of eyesight, Priest spread his wings wide and flapped them, lifting himself into the air.
"When did you learn to fly?"
"While my lady was mana deficient."
So he took that time to spend looking over himself? So quickly too.
With powerful gusts, we ascended higher and higher until we were directly over the tree line.
Priest then began to fly to the cave while keeping out of sight from creatures looking up from afar.
Giggling my heart out at being able to fly, even if I was in someone's arms, I appreciated the scenic birds eye view that would have been impossible for a human of this world.
The trees that flew past, the clouds that looked so close, yet so far, everything about the outside world from the cave filled my eyes.
I was going to miss this. Who knows when the next time I get to go out will be? I can see why Odin always snuck out before our little escapade.
The world was a beautiful thing to look at.
I can now understand why my old dad loved to just sit on his porch and stare into the wilderness, doing nothing but rock back and forth.
Tearing up a bit on the inside, we finally made it back to the cave in a matter of moments. Mom and the rest of the family, save for dad, was there to greet me.
I let loose of my forced physical growth, shrinking back into a 3-month-old baby.
I did the soul thing that changed me from dragon to dragonoid and vise versa, my baby form growing back into my dragon form. It hurt a lot.
Of course, I didn't forget my promise with mom.
I walked over to Odin,
"I'm sorry for knocking you unconscious with that sucker punch of mine."
And said sorry.
"No worries, sis. I too wouldn't be sure of my strength in that small of a body." Odin seemed to sense my melancholy mood and just let me go.
I walked over to my spot of the cave and slumped down on the ground. I didn't feel like doing anything else but think of my time as the little girl known as Isis.
Mom saw my sorry, sad self and walked over.
"What's got you so down, Setsuna?"
Setsuna.
That's my real name, it feels like such a long time since I was called that even though it has only been 3 days.
Mom laid her body down next to mine.
"I was just thinking about my time outside and how it felt so short." Being honest, I told mom the reason for my gloom.
"Well, sweetie, that's just how life goes." Mom said as she wrapped a wing around my body. Her body heat felt so warm and soothing.
"But, I will say that even if your time outside was so short, there is always the chance to go out again for as long as you want. Just wait till you're a bit older, okay?"
"Okay."
Entrusting my body to my mother's warmth and protection, I suddenly felt tired and soon drifted off to sleep.
...
I awoke to the sound of dad finally coming home.
"Welcome back, honey." Mom greeted him home.
"I'm back." Dad announced with a yawn. He skinned the animal he caught today, some bison-like creature, and took a large bite out of it. The rest for us.
Yawning again, he laid down on the nest and went to sleep. What a carefree dad.
With my sleep schedule messed up for the time being because of the over 6 hour nap, I moved out from mother's wing and made my way to the bison thing.
Nibbling at the blood drained corpse, the taste of steak filled my mouth.
Though it was delicious, I wasn't feeling that hungry. I still ate my portion regardless. It had been 2 days since I had a proper meal.
After eating my fill, I went to the entrance of the cave and sat, staring at the setting sun.
The blue sky started to turn pink, the clouds growing a dark blue color. The sun disappearing into the horizon.
I don't know how long I sat there watching, but I heard the heavy thumping of something coming over to me.
"What's on your mind?" Dad said as he sat down right next to me, a satisfied exhale coming out of his mouth when he did.
So we are having a father to daughter talk now?
"I'm sorry for breaking a part of the wall."
"Apology accepted, but that's not the reason why you seem so dramatic."
It became silent for a bit. Dad and I just watched the sky and the nocturnal wilderness come to life.
"It's just, in my time away from the cave, I've realized just how quickly time can pass. Like you feel like you have plenty of time to spare, but it passes like I never had it in the first place."
"It's like that, sometimes." Dad nodded his head, "That's why I am spending what little time I have left to raise you and your siblings to the best of my ability, as I'm not going to be around forever."
"Why not?"
"It's just how the life of a dragon goes once they're old enough. Beings of other races see your experience and power as a threat to their own. In my time of living, I have seen empires and nations fall, peoples and religions fall apart or coming together countless times. Nothing lasts forever."
He lifted a hand and rested it on my back, rubbing his hand against it to comfort me.
"So when these humans come 3 months from now, I just hope that I have done the best that I could for you. To you, it might seem like you have a lot of time to prepare, but for me, that's just in a blink of an eye. I feel like it's not enough time. There is never enough time, no matter how long you live."
That's some pretty deep stuff.
We continued to stare into the now night sky for a while.
"...Dad?"
I broke the silence,
"Yes, Setsuna?"
"Thank you."
And thanked dad.
"You're welcome. Come inside, we have a big day tomorrow."
"Okay."
Feeling a bit better, I followed after dad back into the cave.
...
"Hah, useless." With a sigh, a man with an extravagant crown and gown muttered a complaint as he read the piece of paper in his hands.
Exhaling, he set the paper down and leaned back against his chair.
"So, my Royal Guard failed, huh?"
The paper he had held in his hands was a report sent by the mayor of the insignificant village of Teress. The only reason the man knew of it's existence is because of a report that came in 2 months ago of an Ancient class dragon being spotted in the area.
The man was known as Emperor Archwatt Joule Tesla VII rubbed his face with his hands in a tiny fit of frustration.
"With the war with the Theocracy going on right now, there is no way I can spare the soldiers required to take down an Ancient class. That useless fallen noble Lux couldn't even come back with information on the dragon's current whereabouts, the fool."
What happened to him anyway? Useless as he was, there was potential in him. That's the reason he was even accepted into the order.
The tracking device that was planted in his teeth stopped working, so he couldn't figure out where he was. Corpse, or otherwise.
The Mayor of Teress had reported that a month and a half ago, Lux and most of the adventurers brave enough to investigate with him left into the forest where the dragon was last spotted, never to be seen again. No body or belongings were found.
All that was found was blood. It was confirmed that it wasn't monster blood, so it was presumed that every person in the investigation team had been killed.
"Do I just summon a hero? That seems to be the quickest way out. Heroes have been known to be easily manipulated."
That's right. For some reason, whenever a hero is summoned from another world, they always show great excitement and listen to whatever their told, saying things like "I'm the protagonist!" or "I wonder what cheat skill I have?".
There are a few records of Heroes going rouge once they've experienced the world for a little bit, but those heroes never last long in the common world with assassins and other groups of people who find their abilities troublesome to be on the receiving end of, constantly on their tail.
There are also the rare case of more than just one hero being summoned. In those situations, there was usually a hero and the rest of the group are just a bit unnatural to this world's standard. In one record, the weakest link turned out to be stronger than the hero himself.
Should he just say that an evil dragon has been creating havoc around the village of Teress and get the naive hero to blindly go slay it?
The problem is how expensive the summoning is, as well as how you're rolling the dice on what you get. The summoning in general is just a big gamble. You either hit or miss.
"Hah, my age must be catching up with me. I can't believe I'm actually considering this."
With another sigh, the Emperor talked to himself yet again, a habit of his when he's alone.
Archwatt leaned on his right arm, his right hand massaging his temple as he thought about what to do about the dragon.
"Granted that summoning a hero comes with it's own risks, it's certainly cheaper than hiring S-class adventurers. Not to mention, the costs of tackling it with my military while I'm fighting a war might just cause me to lose it."
The more he thought about it, the more the proposition of summoning a hero made out to be the best option.
"I'm sure with the hero's supernatural talent, they'll be able to be strong enough to barely handle the dragon within 3 months. I need to do this before winter sets in. I wouldn't want to do a winter offensive. If the hero survives, I could even use them in the war."
With his mind set, he wrote a letter to the head priest of the Armok faith and his court magician telling them to handle and prepare the necessary expenses and preparations for a Hero summoning.
Taxes were going to have to be raised for the next 3 months.
Giving the letters to a messenger, Archwatt went back to his documents and continued far into the night finishing them.
"I swear, there is never enough time to finish these." He mumbled as he stretched his back on his chair, a few pops resounding.
He looked at the clock in his office, reading 1:21am. When he saw that, he stifled another yawn and left for his chambers to go to bed for some well deserved shut eye.
...
The next morning, the magicians and priests of the capital of Teslawarden who were all sworn to secrecy, conducted a Hero summoning.
The summoning was held in the throne room of the king's castle.
Archwatt slept in a bit later as a reward for his hard work last night. With the assistance of his servants, he was quickly dressed into a fashionable outfit fit for a king such as himself and left for the throne room.
Sitting down, the summoning was complete just in the nick of time.
The 30-foot-wide magic circle glowed an azure white color for around 2 minutes before it's shine disappeared only to reveal a single girl.
The kings first impression of her was...
Voluptuous.
With a body of a high-class prostitute, the woman in the "School Uniform", as called by previous heroes, stared stupidly at her surroundings.
Her long, silky purple hair stood out against the light coming in through the hall. Her easily double D chest threatened to make any man fall for her. Her wide childbearing thighs captivated the eyes of all who were in the room, making one want to be smothered between them.
"Ah-hem," Archwatt cleared his throat and stood from his throne, gathering the "misguided" attention of all the men in the room towards himself, "Greetings, hero from another world. I am the Emperor of this great empire of Tesla, Archwatt Joule Tesla VII."
Hearing him speak, the hero awkwardly collected herself and bowed 45 degrees towards the king, her breast making unnatural movements he never thought possible, and introduced herself.
"Y-your Majesty, I-I am Yuri Ainu, it's a pleasure to meet you!"
'Not only is her body a mystery, her voice is heavenly. I surely rolled a 20 on the die this time.'
With such a thought going on through his head, Archwatt continued.
"Hero Yuri Ainu, If you so wish to, are you willing to help this old man and his Empire in a time of crisis?"
With those words, the new hero of the Tesla Empire gladly accepted her new role without question.