“Tch. I wouldn’t be so sure. I feel incredibly strong right now!”
Darrien grinned, showing off a mouthful of sharp teeth.
“You said the same thing last time.”
Evelyn rolled her eyes.
“Then I beat you until you threw up everywhere, knocked you straight into your own vomit, and used it to smack you around.”
“I told you never to bring that up again!”
Darrien’s golden eyes went wide with outrage.
“Wait. Something’s wrong.”
Evelyn suddenly stopped in midair, cutting off his rant.
Darrien blinked, confused, then followed her gaze.
Several figures were moving through the forest below.
They were still far enough away that they hadn’t noticed the dragons.
Even with eyesight comparable to an Eagle-Eye Spell, Evelyn could only make out a group of humanoids.
Their exact appearances and equipment were impossible to see from this distance.
“I...”
Darrien had barely started to speak when Evelyn shoved one claw straight into his mouth.
“Mmph!”
He blinked at her.
Only after he gave a small nod did Evelyn pull her claw back.
“Suppress your presence,” she whispered. “Let’s follow them and see what they’re doing.”
“Okay.”
Darrien answered without argument and immediately restrained his Draconic Presence, reducing his presence as much as he could.
Whenever a situation required actual thinking, he had long since developed the habit of following Evelyn’s lead.
...
Lucas felt like crying.
He was only a traveling merchant who made his living moving goods between the Eastern Kingdoms and the Forsaken Lands.
His usual business was simple.
He bought cheap ironware, food, and tools in the Eastern Kingdoms, crossed Blackbriar Forest, and traded them to the orcs of the Forsaken Lands for local specialties and rare materials.
Then he hauled everything back and sold it for a profit.
It was dangerous work, but profitable enough to keep him doing it.
A few days ago, however, Lucas had made a terrible decision.
He had been in a hurry to deliver a shipment while crossing Blackbriar Forest, so he had risked taking a shortcut.
And somehow...
He had run into two black dragons.
Lucas would swear before the God of Light that he had nearly died of terror on the spot.
Fortunately, the two dragons hadn’t seemed to notice him.
They had simply flown over his head and disappeared.
After surviving through what could only be called a miracle, Lucas returned to civilization and promptly began bragging about the terrifying experience in a tavern.
That was where things had gone wrong.
A group of adventurers had become extremely interested in his story.
They offered to pay him handsomely for detailed information about the two black dragons.
Where he had seen them.
How large they were.
Which direction they had gone.
Everything he knew.
Lucas was a merchant through and through.
There was no way he was going to pass up easy money like that.
With the silver tongue he had developed over years of bargaining and trading, he managed to sell his exciting little story for two whole gold coins.
Normally, an entire round trip between the Eastern Kingdoms and the Forsaken Lands earned him less than half a gold coin.
This time, he had simply talked for a while and made four times as much.
If things had ended there, Lucas would have happily thanked Tymora, Lady Luck, for her blessing.
Unfortunately...
Today, those same adventurers had found him again.
And this time, they offered him a job that almost made him wet himself.
They wanted Lucas to guide them into Blackbriar Forest.
To find the two black dragons.
Blackbriar Forest was almost completely untouched by civilization.
Magical beasts roamed everywhere, and anyone who wandered too far inside without knowing what they were doing had a very good chance of ending up torn apart and eaten.
Compared with the adventurers, Lucas did know the area better.
He knew the safer routes.
He knew how to travel deeper into the forest without attracting too much trouble.
But those were dragons.
Black dragons.
Legendary True Dragons!
Even entire kingdoms avoided provoking dragons without good reason, especially the brutal chromatic breeds.
Lucas was just a small-time merchant.
Picking a fight with dragons sounded very much like suicide.
The adventurers, however, had argued that these were only young dragons.
If they were already hunting on their own at such an early age, then there probably wasn’t an adult dragon protecting them anymore.
Most likely, their mother had already driven them from the lair.
That meant killing or capturing them shouldn’t bring an adult dragon down on their heads.
And then the adventurers had placed five gold coins in front of Lucas as an advance.
Five.
Gold.
Coins.
They also promised another five once he led them to evidence of the black dragons.
A single gold coin was enough to feed a poor family for an entire year.
Even then, Lucas considered himself a man of principle.
No amount of money was worth gambling with his own life.
So why was he currently walking through Blackbriar Forest?
Well...
They were paying a lot.
The adventurers had promised another ten gold coins if they successfully captured the dragons.
That brought the total reward to twenty gold coins.
Lucas had done the math.
Everything he owned in the world probably wasn’t worth twenty gold coins combined.
So, purely out of respect for the gold, he had reluctantly agreed.
He regretted that decision now.
During the journey, Lucas had come to understand something very important.
If he died, what good would all that money do him?
The thought made him stop walking.
He turned and looked back at the adventurers behind him.
They were chatting and laughing, not looking nervous in the slightest.
Lucas hunched his shoulders and spoke in a miserable voice.
“Honored adventurers, if we actually find those two black dragons, you’ll protect me, right? I haven’t even gotten married yet. I really don’t want to end up as dragon dung...”
“All right, all right. How many times are you going to say that?”
The warrior carrying a broadsword over one shoulder and a round shield on his back waved dismissively.
His name was Garrett.
“When we find them, just stay far away. They’re only two young dragons. You’re acting like we’re hunting ancient wyrms.”
“Garrett’s right. What’s there to be afraid of?”
A dwarf priest named Bruno trudged nearby, carrying a holy flail and wearing a large cross over his back.
“They’re just two young dragons. Bronze Rank at most. I’ll smash one with each swing. Just make sure you don’t stand too close unless you want blood all over you.”
“Pfft.”
The only woman in the party, a mage named Talia, burst out laughing.
Her chest bounced noticeably with the motion.
Everyone except Bruno immediately glanced over.
“Tch. Have none of you ever seen a woman before?”
A voice came from above.
Perched on a tree branch, the half-elf ranger Elliot slapped a Swamp Blood Mosquito that had been trying to feed on him.
He pulled out a white cloth and wiped the blood from his hand with obvious disgust.
“Damn it. Why are there so many of these things around here?”
Bruno glanced up at the half-elf.
Elliot’s normally pale skin was already covered with several swollen red bites.
Even the tip of one long ear was red and puffy from a mosquito bite.
Bruno snorted.
“That’s what you get for refusing to use insect-repellent potion, long-ears.”
Elliot glared down at him.
“That sticky, filthy sludge is exactly the sort of thing only you dirty dwarves would enjoy smearing all over yourselves.”
Then he added with a sneer, “I still don’t understand how someone as filthy as you became a holy priest. Does the great God of Light make mistakes too?”
“Do not insult my faith!”
Bruno’s beard practically bristled with rage.
He grabbed a handful of wet mud from the ground and hurled it at Elliot.
The half-elf jumped aside, but the attack caught him off guard.
A small splatter still landed on his clothing.
Elliot stared at the stain.
His teeth clenched.
Then he drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed it directly at Bruno.
“You filthy little bastard! You want to die?”
“Come on, then! I’m not afraid of you!”
Bruno raised his rune-covered holy flail and took a fighting stance.
The mood in the party instantly became tense.
Seeing that the two were about to start fighting, Garrett finally dragged his gaze away from Talia’s generous figure and looked at them.
He rubbed his forehead.
This clearly wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.
“Guys, can you save the fighting until after we get back?”
His voice hardened.
“If we lose those two young dragons because of you idiots, I’ll personally make sure neither of you can sit comfortably for a week.”
At the captain’s shout, Elliot finally lowered his bow.
After giving Bruno one last venomous glare, he leaped through the trees and disappeared ahead to scout.
Bruno watched the half-elf vanish into the forest.
His teeth ground together.
He tightened his grip around the holy flail and muttered under his breath.
“Damn long-eared bastard. I’d love to crack his skull open with a holy hammer.”
“That’s enough, Bruno.”
Garrett’s expression became serious.
He waved Lucas forward.
“Keep moving.”
The party resumed its journey.
...
A short while later, the two young black dragons reached the same area.
They had followed on foot.
Against experienced adventurers with sharp senses, flying overhead would have made them far too easy to spot.
Blackbriar Forest was dense with enormous trees, some reaching more than a hundred feet into the air.
The thick canopy gave the two dragons plenty of cover.
So they walked.
Darrien lifted his head and sniffed the air.
“Humans. A dwarf. And an elf.”
He turned toward Evelyn, who had narrowed her eyes and seemed deep in thought.
“That many races traveling together, and they’re carrying weapons.”
Darrien tilted his head.
“They don’t look like ordinary merchants passing through.”
“They look more like adventurers.”