After spending a bit of time alone to think in the forest last night, I had come back and slept near the shed again.
Being away from the town made me nervous; I guessed that it probably wouldn't be worth it for Lamia to attack such a small village a second time, but I couldn't be sure.
So by sleeping here, I would at least be close just in case there was another threat.
In contrast to yesterday, there was no gentle breeze or songbirds when I woke up.
Instead, I looked up to see the sun was already high in the sky; I guessed it was just before noon.
"I really slept in," I thought, stretching my wings.
I looked over at the house and saw a large wagon, maybe about 12 feet long, parked near the entrance.
It was made primarily of dark brown wood, with a few strips of weathered metal holding it together in vital areas.
I was a bit surprised that I had slept through its arrival.
As I got up to go take a closer look, I nearly jumped when I heard a loud crashing sound.
My head shot up, hoping everything was okay. But then I saw Aurora standing over a crate that had fallen from the wagon.
I walked over to see if I could help.
"Oh, good morning, Ryn, you must have had a good sleep…" Aurora said, as she saw me, trying to sound cheerful. She looked back at the crate, "Um, could you give me a hand- or a claw, I guess?"
I nodded and picked up the crate, which was loaded with various metal tools. "Ah, that's why it was so loud," I thought as I placed it-securely this time-on the wagon.
"Thanks, R-" Aurora was cut off.
"What happened?!" her dad said, a clear tone of worry in his voice as he came out the front door. "I heard a crash… are you okay?"
"The tool crate just fell off the wagon, but Ryn helped pick it up," she explained.
Her dad thanked me, and I nodded, thinking I really didn't do much. But his thanks seemed to also carry some extra meaning from the previous battle.
Aurora told me that over the next two days they would be busy packing and making sure the town would be ready to move as one unit.
And that's just what happened. Over the next two days, the packing and organizing continued for them and the town as a whole.
In such a short timeframe, it was impossible for the village to take all that they had, and only the necessities and a few precious belongings were being packed.
The once peaceful and slow-moving village now resembled a busy city center, with people quickly walking-some nearly running-to their next destination.
Aurora swore that she had never seen the village anywhere near this busy before.
All the while, I kept a bit of distance while watching and staying half on guard.
Occasionally, I could lend Aurora a hand if there was something heavy, but there really wasn't much I could do.
So for the rest of the time-besides spending an occasional break with Aurora-I just had my own thoughts to keep me company.
The danger that came with being a dragon, which Aurora had mentioned previously, kept haunting me.
And after being shown the different stages of Mana Transcendence, I knew that if I ever came across someone from a higher level, I would be a sitting duck.
My mind also kept drifting to the village's invasion. I recalled how I only barely managed to become strong enough to defend the village in time.
Even the possible fate of the village from my nightmare-about the village burning and Aurora's death-still flashed in my mind sometimes.
These thoughts seemed to be telling me the same message: to protect myself I had to get stronger, and to protect others I also had to get stronger.
Before, I wasn't sure if it would be better for me to just try and find another forest to hide in, but now it was clear that hiding wasn't an option, not for me at least.
By the time that the packing was finished, my mind was fully made up. I was going to fight to get stronger and maybe even try to help others along the way if I could.
Shortly after I made my decision, the village had finished packing all their belongings.
Now the harvesting was next. The village mostly grew wheat and a few other types of grain. If I had to guess, only about half of the crops were fully grown, but it would have to do.
To be honest, I had enough of sitting around and just watching. So when Aurora and her dad were getting ready to begin harvesting, I walked over to see if I could offer any help.
They were standing just outside the wooden shed, each of them with a scythe. The scythes were each made out of a long wooden rod with a sharp curved blade on the end.
Honestly, it was a bit weird to see a scythe that was actually going to be used for harvesting grain; I was so used to it being used as a weapon in entertainment or a reference to death that it just felt a bit unnatural, even though this was what it was created for.
I raised an arm, waving slightly, to greet them as I walked up.
"Hey Ryn, we're just about to start harvesting," Aurora said with a happy, but slightly tired look on her face from the work they had already done.
I nodded, thinking about how exactly to ask if I could help.
Sigh, I really wished I could still talk.
Lifting a claw, I pointed towards Aurora's scythe, then I pointed towards the field.
"Oh, this? This is a scythe, yeah you're right, it is for harvesting the wheat," she replied.
"Well, of course I know that," I thought a bit annoyed, before remembering again that a normal dragon would have no way of knowing about these things.
I didn't feel like taking a long time trying to get my point across, "It's probably better just to show what I mean."
I took a few steps towards the wheat right beside the shed, then crouched down.
Aurora watched, wondering what I was doing, while her dad raised a questioning eyebrow. I drew back my arm like I was about to strike.
Then in one quick flash, I swung. My claws made contact with the wheat and cleanly cut through. Stalks of grain collected in my claws as I finished the swipe. I stood up and turned back around, showing the large handful of grain I collected.
"Oh, you were actually just asking if you could harvest with us?" Aurora said a bit surprised as she stared at the wheat I was holding.
I nodded, thinking it was definitely easier to show her.
"That would probably be lots of help…" she said, looking expectantly at her dad for a response.
He thought for a second then said, "You already helped us so much, I can't possibly ask for more help, but I also wouldn't stop you."
"Then it's settled," I thought smiling slightly, "let's get to work then!"
Aurora took out some very thin ropes and showed me how to make a proper bundle of wheat.
It took a few tries-once again claws make everything harder-but I got the technique down pretty quickly.
During the first few hours, I was pleasantly surprised to realize that I didn't feel any physical fatigue. "Being a dragon does have its perks," I thought.
On the other hand, the work became very tedious, very quickly.
And the repetitiveness began to wear on me. In my previous life, I'd seen combines harvest entire fields in hours. Here, every stalk had to be cut by hand. I suppose by nature farming was always tedious work, but technology had changed that.
Combines, tractors, and all other sorts of inventions and innovations had diversified and turned farming into almost a science in its own way. But now in this world, that was all gone.
So, slash after slash, bundle after bundle, the field slowly shrunk.
By the time we were done for the day, I was more mentally tired than anything, but I felt satisfied after seeing the progress we had made.
For the next two days, I continued to help.
As we finally neared the end of the wheat, I had also made up my mind, and mostly finalized my travel plans.
I decided that I would travel north along the border, while still staying within Lionia. This way I can stay close to the fighting and maybe do some good while hunting and killing more, stronger monsters.
A big part of my reasoning came after I learned something during a shared meal with Aurora. She told me that me even being in this land was unexpected, to say the least.
She said that there were not supposed to be any monsters that could achieve Mana Transcendence in the vast land around the village and that this was one of the safer places to live in the kingdom.
After hearing that, I realized I was a lot luckier than I originally thought; the monsters that I had killed so far apparently weren't anything special.
If I had run into a Mana Transcendence monster when I first got here, I would have been done for.
After that conversation, I knew that things would likely only get more dangerous the farther I traveled.
Once every last bit of wheat had been cut down, the bundles were put in the wagon.
Unfortunately, only about sixty percent of the wheat was mature enough to be used, but it was still better than nothing.
Because of my help, the harvesting had ended two days sooner than expected.
This gave time for Aurora's dad to focus more on the village's overall preparations, and it gave Aurora time to say goodbye to everything properly.
As for myself, I spent the next two days on guard while mentally preparing for the road ahead of me.
It seemed like before I knew it, it was time for everyone, myself included, to leave.
I met with Aurora just outside their home. The wagon now had a horse attached, and it seemed like the village was going to form a sort of wagon train for the journey to the capital.
When we met, the atmosphere was noticeably heavier than normal.
Aurora brushed a stray hair away from her face, her eyes darted momentarily around at the villagers preparing to leave.
She took a deep breath before speaking, her gaze fixed on the ground for a moment before she looked up. "Well... thank you for everything, Ryn."
I shook my head, then pointed a claw at her before gesturing back to the spot by her house where we had first met when I was seriously injured.
I was the one who truly owed her thanks, for saving me and for treating me with kindness instead of fear.
The memories triggered something in me.
A new, painful feeling began to take root in my chest, it was a cold, heavy ache that I had only felt when things seemed to be at their worst.
This time it came from the crushing weight of knowing this could be a goodbye for good.
But before it could grow further, Aurora turned reaching into the wagon saying, "I have a couple of things for you."
She pulled out a decent sized leather sack with a drawstring and something in it, saying, "I figured that you might need something to carry food around in, or whatever, there's also something inside."
I reached inside and pulled out a small glass jar with white grains inside, I perked up a bit with excitement, "Its salt... this is going to be great for cooking!"
Aurora could see that I was thankful, and said, "After seeing-and tasting-how well you can cook, I knew this would be perfect for you."
I nodded quickly, half already starting to think about using it.
But my mind quickly returned to the present.
It was just about time for them to leave, and our situation became more apparent.
I was probably going to risk my life many times trying to get stronger, and Aurora was going to join the military, neither of our futures were guaranteed, or even hopeful.
But then Aurora did something that caught me off guard.
She reached out, and took hold of one set of my claws, and looked up straight in my eyes.
Her eyes, usually so full of kindness, now held a fierce, determined fire. "Ryn," she said, her voice low and serious.
"Promise me that you won't die, and that you'll get stronger." She tightened her grip on my claw, "I'm going to be stronger than you are now the next time we meet. I expect you to also surpass where you're at right now."
My eyes widened. She was right this was the only path forward.
I clenched my jaw slightly, and nodded, inwardly agreeing to the promise.
Seeing her resolve, lit another fire inside me. A few stray threads of electricity from my ability crackled on my back.
Then the house door swung open, and Aurora's dad came out.
"It's just about time to go to Aurora," he said, before turning to me and once again giving a short and stoic, but honest thanks for everything.
He then got in the wagon and waited.
Aurora let go of my claws, "goodbye Ryn, don't forget what I said."
I nodded, with new resolve now motivating me.
Then she turned and got into the wagon sitting besides her dad.
With a tug on the horse's harness, the wagon started moving away.
Aurora looked back at me and gave a final wave.
I returned her wave, watching the wagon until it disappeared from view. The image of her face-that look of pure conviction-burned in my mind.
With a deep breath, I turned back to the forest, the new promise, motivating my every step.