Adam was moving his face from side to side, trying to avoid the little dragon licking it. "Alright, enough, okay?" he said, somewhat annoyed; his entire face was covered in saliva, and he was still bleeding.The little one, upon seeing its new contractor's pale face, only looked at him in confusion, tilting its head. Then it noticed the wound and quickly got off him, approaching carefully while sniffing him.
"What? Are you sniffing me to see if I'm rich?" Adam joked, coughing up blood once again. The little one seemed offended by the joke, but quickly pressed its forehead against the wound while closing its eyes. Adam watched it with curiosity; he felt his vision growing heavier and heavier. Then he noticed that the wound began to close at an enormous speed.
In less than a second, the wound disappeared. The little dragon checked it again, just in case, and when it saw that everything was fine, it jumped happily and landed on top of him again.Adam could only sigh, with something akin to relief. Deep down, he had suspected something like this might happen. As thanks, he patted the dragon on the head, a gesture it clearly enjoyed.
'I really thought I was done for…' he thought, noticing that his vision was clearing again, though he still felt exhausted.
[Note: Give your new friend an appropriate name!]
Adam looked at the little one, trying to think of a suitable name. In the end, he was terrible at that; he had never even had a pet before. 'What do you name a dragon? Hmm…' He began to slowly get up from the ground, supporting himself with one hand. Then he took the dragon in his arms and lifted it up.
"What do you think about Nova?" he asked, but only received a small burst of flame that took him by surprise. When he opened his eyes, he realized it hadn't burned him at all."A tail swipe would've worked, you know?" he said, frowning at it. "So… what about Nox?" This time he closed his eyes, expecting another flame, but nothing happened.
In the end, the little one had accepted the new name.
[Report on your first contract]
Name: Nox
Age: +100 years (dragon hatchling)
Rank: SSS (low)
'One hundred years, seriously?' he thought in surprise. There really hadn't been anything about dragons in what he had read of the novel, but maybe it had been rewritten.
Then he looked at the system, as if expecting it to respond, but nothing happened…
[What?]
'Huh? What do you mean "what"? Answer me—why were there no dragons in the novel, and here I have one the moment I appear?'
[Well, host, at least think the question through or say it out loud. I'm not a mind reader.]
Adam looked at the message with a vein throbbing on his forehead, but then he heard several footsteps approaching at high speed. He saw Nox slip free from his grasp and hide behind him.'More bandits? No… the system already gave me the reward; these must be other people,' he thought cautiously. Then he saw several people arrive wearing silver armor with black details. 'Guards?'
The one who seemed to be the leader, upon seeing Adam, quickly approached when he noticed the blood staining his clothes."My lord! Are you all right? What happened?" he exclaimed nervously, checking every part of his body for wounds.
"Uh…?"
He glanced sideways as the other guards secured the area, observing several dead bandits and others reduced to ashes."Your Excellency! I told you not to go alone." A young woman, about his same height, appeared from behind and positioned herself at his side.
Adam observed her from the corner of his eye, analyzing her. Apparently, she was his age, with short hair of a soft purple color and blue eyes. Just by seeing her uniform and the way she spoke, he instantly assumed she was a maid.
"Nothing happened, as you can see," Adam replied without giving it much importance. He only noticed the girl's eyes widening, for some reason he didn't understand.
"My lord, your mother, the Duchess, is worried about you," said Roderic, the same guard from before. Adam didn't fully understand what he meant, but if they took him home, it would help him; maybe then he could get his bearings better.
"I understand." He turned to look for Nox, but he wasn't there, so he assumed he had hidden. Then he looked at the bodies on the ground. "These men appeared out of nowhere, but I took care of them," he stated, drawing suspicious looks from the guards, who clearly didn't believe him.
'I don't blame them; seeing the condition of this body, even for me it's hard to believe it could've done this…' he thought, agreeing with them. After that, he let the maid, named Ravenna, examine him again with a worried expression.
"Your Excellency, please, next time allow me to go with you. That way I can use my body as a shield," she pleaded, looking him in the eyes with genuine concern.
'What a girl…' he thought. He didn't like Ravenna's comment, but he couldn't say anything; he barely knew her. 'It would be good if the system gave me memories of this life.'
[The next mission will give you the opportunity to obtain some important memories]
The message appeared over Ravenna, and with that, Adam cleared his doubt about whether other people could see the screen.
"I must inform your father of this…" Roderic said, somewhat nervous. That caught Adam's attention, making him think the guard feared what his reaction would be. 'The previous owner must've been a disaster of a person,' he thought.
"I'm a bit tired. Let's go home," Adam ordered, receiving a nod from both Roderic and Ravenna.
Thus, Adam walked behind the guards who were securing the surroundings, while Ravenna stayed at his side, unwilling to move away. Adam didn't mind; he was lost in his thoughts.
'If, besides the dragons, the story follows the novel's canon, then many powerful enemies will appear. I need to become stronger if I don't want to die.'