Hah… That felt good… So very good… Who knew that squashing a 'Lesser dragon' under the heel of my shoe is so satisfying. The blood, on the other hand, is kinda annoying. Now I'll have to do laundry again.
I turned to Diana, then turned to the others. They all seemed fine, so, I guess, the mission went without a hitch. Sara immediately went to her sister and hugged her, asking whether she was hurt in any way. It was strange to see Sara - the psychotic leader of our party that loves danger, looking so worried and scared. She looked ready to cry.
Soon the guys also joined them talking about how lucky Diana was to be alive and how worried they were. Mine and Diana's eyes met, she blushed and turned her gaze downwards. What is up with that girl? I saved her life and she can't even look at me? No matter, at least she's fine. Not that care or anything. Yes, it would look bad on my resume if one of my party members had died, that's all.
We spent the whole remaining day butchering the corpse. We collected the scales, the skin, teeth, heart and removed the meat from bones to take those as well. There was no way for us to haul that kind of load by hand, so the guild had lent us a dimensional ring - a stupidly expensive item that had the ability to store things inside.
Since it's so expensive and the mission was so dangerous making the loss of the ring highly possible, the rental fees were astronomical as well. Meaning that if the mission had failed we'd be stuck with a hefty bill and that meant no brothels for me for a long while. Maybe that's why it felt so nice killing the 'Dragon', it meant completing a financially risky mission.
When we finished up with the 'Dragon' butchering, it was already dusk, so without further adieu we began setting up a camp and preparing dinner. I was already mentally prepared to go hunting for food after the rest went to sleep, but to my surprise, this time I was given a portion by a very red Diana. And then a second one, and then third, and finally, after they had a portion or two, they just let me eat all that was left.
"You deserve to have it after today's heroism." Sara said while grinning ear to ear. "Who knows, if you play your cards right you might get to eat Diana's cooking every day!" She added with a wink.
"Sister, stop it! Don't say embarrassing things!" Diana looked very flustered and very red.
Getting free food daily? That sounds good, just think about how much money I'd save… I looked at the very red Diana and said. "I'd love that." Diana somehow turned even redder. I guess she really loves cooking, huh?
I went to sleep with a full stomach of delicious food for the first time in days. There's no denying it, Diana is the best cook that I know. Oh how I've missed it.
After a few hours of pleasant dreams, I was awoken for my shift by Diana. After grumbling a bit, I got up and went to the fireplace. To my surprise, She stayed by me even though her shift was up and she obviously looked tired.
We stayed like this, side by side, without saying a word to each other for about half an hour. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, it just felt nice. After a while I asked. "Hey Diana, what's up, why aren't you going to sleep?"
"Oh… I'm not tired yet."
"I know that you're lying, you know? My eyes see what's hidden from the most."
"Well, if your eyes are so great, then you tell me why am I staying here."
This left me really confused. After a moment I said. "You know, I've never been good at taking hints or understanding people. In fact, I've spent most of my life avoiding or getting into fights with them. They're complex, selfish, flimsical, confusing and annoying. So if there is something that you'd like to tell me, spit it out."
She stayed quiet for a moment. "You're a 'Dragon', there's no surprise that you wouldn't understand us humans. We aren't as strong or as fearsome as you, our lives are short and we are insecure about many things. But while we're weak alone, we forge bonds with those that we can rely on and come to groups to become strong..."
"What are you trying to say with all this?"
"It doesn't matter, there's no way that you could understand any of it."
I sighed. "You remember me saying that I was 17, right? Well, I wasn't lying. I spent 16 of those years as a human, a weak, insecure, unhappy human living with other humans. And yet, it didn't matter how much time I spent around them, I still couldn't understand them. The fact that I couldn't understand them probably led to me distancing myself from them and hating them. So, what I'm trying to say is that, my race doesn't matter in the end, I might not understand you at all now, but if you explain, I might understand a little. After all, there was once a human that I sort of understood."
"You're lying, there's no way that someone as dense as you was ever a human. You won't trick me 'Dragon'!" She smiled. "But… If you told me a bit about yourself, I might start believing you…"
"Honestly, it's a drag. I'd rather not."
"Then, let's make a deal, you tell me a bit about yourself and I'll tell you what I wanted to ask before."
"Tempting offer, but, honestly, I don't give a shit about you and your problems, so my answer is no."
Diana pouted. "If you won't, then forget about breakfast!" Shit, she's got me.
I sighed. "Fine, you win, I'll tell you what you wanna know, just please, no more withholding food." I can't believe that this girl has actually driven me - a guy that has cleared the 'Great labyrinth' into a corner. "One more thing, this conversation stays between us."
"Fine." She said with a smile. "Now tell me about how you became a 'Dragon', oh and about that person that you understood."
I sighed. "First of all, I'm not of this world. You've probably heard about the travelers that were summoned from another world by the power of the goddess? Well I'm one of them. We were summoned and told to fight the demons if we wanted to return home. My strength was below average and I had no friends, so I joined the first party that took me in when it was time to train in the 'Great labyrinth'. That's where I met Alex - The only person that, I think, that I understood and the only person that understood me."
"Soon after entering, because of foolishly prideful decisions of our team captain, we ended up in a situation where some of us were guaranteed to survive if we sacrificed the others. The alternative was fighting against impossible odds together. My teammates chose to sacrifice me and Alex."
"After some quick thinking, Alex managed to save us from an immediate death, but our odds of survival were still slim. The guy didn't give up though, he found a way to steal the power and skills of monsters that we defeated and we started clearing the dungeon together. On the last floor we encountered a 'True dragon' and defeated it. Then I absorbed its power. That's the reason that I can control flames with such ease. That's pretty much it. Any questions?"
"Is this new body of yours the reason that you frequent brothels so much? Why not just find yourself a wife and do it with her instead of those girls? Is it that you have to do it with lots of different girls or is it that you want to?"
"Is that the first question that comes to your mind? Really?"
"J-just answer it or there's no breakfast for you for a week, you pig of a 'Dragon'!"
"Agh fine, the reason that I frequent brothels is simple. It's fun. The variety is fun, the lack of connection between us is fun. Besides, it's easier to pay for it than to actually form a relationship with someone. Especially when you don't understand and borderline dislike humans."
"Then… Do you dislike me as well?"
This girl is killing me! "N-no, you're fine… I guess." She seemed to like this answer.
"Can you tell me a bit about this so-called Alex?"
"This is embarrassing, can you ask about anything else?"
"OK, but no breakfast for you then."
"You're the devil…" I sighed. "Alex was a total psycho. He would kill anyone that stood in his way to his goal wearing an innocent smile and he used me as an expendable tool to achieve that goal, but he was smart and calculating as well - the leader of our two man troop. The ability and method of gaining the power and skills of monsters was his idea as well, but it was risky and untested."
"Since I was injured and useless at the time, he turned me into a guinea pig to test this idea of his out. In my whole life I haven't felt pain like that, it felt like my bones and muscles were breaking and fusing thousands of times a second for what felt like an eternity. Good times…"
"This Alex doesn't seem like a good guy."
"In all honesty, he probably wasn't. He enjoyed torturing me and pushing all the hard work on me, but… He never abandoned me, not until the very end."
"You talk about him in past tense, does that mean…"
"Yea, the bastard's dead. He died while we were fighting the 'True dragon' on the last floor. He probably made a foolish mistake and blew himself to smithereens. I buried his body in the town graveyard."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that it was a sore spot for you. If I'd known, I'd never have asked." Diana looked upset.
"It's fine, I will have to tell all of this to someone in the future, so I'll call this practice."
"That someone…"
"It's Alex's mother and sister. The bastard left me with a mission to get back to our world, protect those two and destroy the rest of his family."
Diana looked down and stayed silent for a while, then said. "So, you're going home? You're not staying in this world with us then? You could just refuse his wishes."
"Sorry, this is something that I have to do no matter what."
She thought for a second. "Then… Would you take me with you? To your world that is?"
This stunned me. "You know… My world is pretty boring compared to this place. Trust me on this, you wouldn't like it there, besides what about all of your friends here? Wouldn't you be lonely without them?"
"I'd be fine as long as I'm with you." She blushed and turned away. "Humans are weak alone, so we forge bonds with people we trust and rely on. Those bonds make us stronger and we call them families. So, Adam, will you forge this bond with me?"
I was silent, taken it back by her words.
"Well now, sister, I never took you for the forward type." Sara said, leaving her tent.
"S-sister?! What, when, how much did you hear?" Diana looked ready to cry.
"Everything. I heard every single thing that came from both of you. Who knew that you actually had friends besides us, newbie?"
"I've heard everything too." Salad Clive leaving his tent. "You should have talked quieter, but I really liked the drama."
"Same here." Came from Zen. "So, you're an otherworlder huh?" At this point Diana was about to faint from embarrassment.
"Sister, why did you come out anyway? We were talking and it was none of your business." Said Diana.
Sara made an exaggerated serious face. "It's my duty to shepherd my younger sister. And besides…"
"Besides what?"
"It's my turn to take watch. You two can go back to sleep. You can even sleep in a single tent if you want." Sara said with a wicked smile.
"Sister!!!"