The Recordkeeper’s stomach grumbled, and she placed her hand on her stomach. How many days had it been? She was left behind by Vur and Tafel, not daring to enter the lair of a family of cursed dragons. She was still sitting by the entrance of the dragons’ lair, afraid of missing Vur and Tafel when they decided to leave. However, she was getting really hungry. She bit her lower lip and looked around. She had two options: forage for food outside or enter the dragons’ lair and ask for food. Of course, the option of waiting and eventually dying of starvation was open too.

The Recordkeeper sighed and climbed to her feet. She stared at the entrance to the dragons’ lair before shaking her head. As the Recordkeeper, she knew perfectly well what cursed dragons were capable of. Also, what food could they possibly have in there after sleeping for so long? If anything managed to last that long without spoiling, then it was bound to be a precious treasure, and would the dragons renowned for being greedy and selfish be willing to share their food with her? Obviously not.

The Recordkeeper followed the dried-up riverbed of dragon drool. When she got to the hole leading outside of the cave, she poked her head out. The black mist permeating the area had disappeared, and color had returned to the ground. The dirt was brown, and the stones were grey. Unfortunately, the black grass hadn’t turned green; they had withered into brown clumps and were mostly dead. Evidently, after waking up, the cursed dragons had removed whatever was plaguing the land. Even still, it didn’t seem like she’d be able to scrounge up any food. A few decades would have to pass before the ecosystem recovered to a reasonable state.

A gurgling sound came out of the Recordkeeper’s stomach, and she sighed again. Not too far away, further down the riverbed, there was the place with lots of fruits, but Grimmy had released his fake kirlopion there. If she went there, it’d probably eat her. Although Grimmy had stopped it from attacking the group once, would it know not to attack her if she showed up by herself? She wasn’t going to put her life in the fate of an insect’s puny brain no matter how many modifications were made to it. She extended one of her wings and folded it, grabbing it with both of her hands. She narrowed her eyes. When she had lost one of her wings to the fake kirlopion, the pain wasn’t too intense.

“If I ate you, how many days would you be able to feed me for?” the Recordkeeper asked her wing. After thinking for a bit, she shook her head. She didn’t have a weapon or tool to cut her wing off, and she wasn’t skilled enough to start a fire. She knew the process, but just knowing didn’t mean she was capable of doing. Another sigh escaped from her mouth, and when she was about to retreat back into the cave to wait at the entrance some more, two white specks on the horizon caught her attention. “Holy dragons?”

The Recordkeeper’s brow furrowed, and she retreated into the cave. She followed the dried riverbed and arrived at the entrance to the cursed dragons’ lair after a few minutes of walking. She knocked on the wall near the entrance and shouted, “Hello? I have some information I’d like to trade for some food.”

***

Kondra pointed at a hole in the ground. “Did you see that? There was someone there.”

Kondra’s mate nodded. “It looked like a human of sorts,” he said. “Should we fly down and ask if they’ve seen any cursed dragons?”

“Yes,” Kondra said. The southern continent was too vast, and the human in the cave was the first intelligent living being they saw after flying around for half a day. “We can also ask about the state of the continent. Wasn’t it supposed to be destroyed? There isn’t anything around, but it doesn’t seem inhospitable; it’s nothing like the rumors.”

“Rumors are always exaggerated,” Kondra’s mate said. “Grimmy did say he cursed the place to give his parents some rest. He was willing to curse the continent for such a noble reason; there’s no way he’d make it a complete wasteland.”

Kondra snorted. “He still chased everyone off the continent,” she said. “Noble reasons or not, he’s still a cursed dragon.”

Kondra’s mate scratched his head. “If you want to form a deeper connection with Leila, you’ll have to accept Grimmy sooner or later,” he said. “The more you badmouth him, the longer it’ll take you to get over your bias.”

“Is it a bias?” Kondra asked and exhaled two jets of steam through her nostrils. “Nine out of ten dragons will tell you the same thing if you ask about Grimmy.” She shook her head and folded her wings, letting her body drop towards the ground, heading towards the hole where she had spotted the human. Upon breathing in the air, a wrinkle appeared on Kondra’s face.

“What’s wrong?” Kondra’s mate asked.

“Can’t you smell it?” Kondra asked. “I don’t think we need to ask that human anything. It’s quite clear cursed dragons have lived in this area for a long time.” She narrowed her eyes at a purple shimmer coming out of the hole. “Be careful. There’s an abnormal amount of cursed mana building up. It could be one of Grimmy’s traps.”

“Kondra? Is that you?”

Kondra flinched and took a step back. Although she hadn’t heard that voice for several centuries, she still recognized it instantly. “Grenwelser,” Kondra said and wrinkled her snout. “I thought you died during the war.”

The purple shimmer vanished, and Grimmy’s mom popped her head out of the hole. “It was a close call, that’s for sure,” she said before grinning. Her eyes twinkled. “It seems like we’re related now. Do you remember what you told me back then?”

“No,” Kondra said before Gren could say anything else. “I don’t remember saying anything to you.”

“Don’t be like that,” Grimmy’s mom said and beamed. “You, a holy dragon, aren’t going to go back on your word, are you?”

“What’s this about?” Kondra’s mate asked, his gaze switching between Gren and Kondra.

Kondra glared at her mate. “It’s nothing. Stop asking.”

Kondra’s mate tilted his head, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.