Chapter 4 — Children and Dragons
Day four has begun. Today I'm thinking of feeding the kids something other than my blood. Fish, maybe. There's meat and vegetables, but I haven't bought everything I need from the market. What should I do? Do I feed them my blood again? My blood keeps decreasing day by day. I'll have to go hunting in the forest. First, I'll feed the kids, then I'll head out.
An hour passes.
Finally, it's done. Now I can go. The children are asleep. Today I'll explore the forest thoroughly. Life here is different, even the animals are different. I wonder what kind of creatures I'll run into. I hear a noise — let's see what the humans are doing here. Not many people usually come this way. When I went to Geldiya and asked, I was told this forest is very dangerous and few come here. But what are these people doing? I'll watch them carefully to see.
"Move quickly, don't fall behind, or you'll be punished! Hurry!"
These are slave traders. Are they selling young children? There are a lot of them — at least thirty. Even if I want to save them, I can't face thirty people alone. It's getting late, so I'll wait to take action. I will save these children.
"Everyone lie down. I will kill anyone who tries to escape. Do you understand?"
It's already evening. Fifteen of them are watching the children, the rest are resting. I must wait for the right moment.
"We're heading into the forest. Watch the children."
Ten of them left, five stayed. Now I can start.
"What's there?"
"Nothing, move on."
"I'll go check."
"Be careful."
DEVIT: "One's coming. I'll grab him now. Come closer."
Got him. He's caught.
"Hey, where did you run off to? Answer me!"
There's no sound. They go to check.
DEVIT: "More are coming. I'll drop down on them and kill them. One will be left afterwards."
"Done. Four down, one left. The rest haven't arrived. I need to finish quickly."
"Who's going out? If you don't, I'll kill the children!"
"What's happening? Again?"
My abilities have improved. Last night a new skill unlocked — Assassinate. This skill is perfect for hidden attacks, though useless in open fights. Fine. I must take the children and escape. Let's go quickly.
One of the children: "Uncle! There's another person here!"
"Who is it?"
"There — I'll go. You run straight, I'll catch up. Watch there."
"What's that? A dragon? What happened? Are you okay?"
Dragon: "My time is short. I have a favor to ask. Please take my children. Let them live safely. Don't let humans find them."
"Okay. I'll take them and raise them like my own."
Now I remember — I had four children before, now I have six. Fine. I'll think about the rest later. For now, I must take the children.
A day passes. I rescued the children and returned them to their families in the city. For this, the city governor gave me compensation. With that money, I bought all the necessary items. Now the biggest issue is the dragon's eggs — they haven't hatched yet. When will they crack? Until then, I'll cook meat for the children.
Tick… tick… what's that? The dragon eggs are hatching. I must go. They are calling me "Father, Father!" Now I must look after six children. I still have so many things I want to try.