"Nope." I shook my head. "That isn't going to happen."

I bent and scooped Tiberius into my arms. Then I turned to Jane and Sienna who were looking at me with stricken expressions on their faces. "It's been nice meeting you two. Thanks for the duel, and the weird tacos, I guess. I’m outta here."

"What do you mean?" Jane asked.

In answer, I jerked a thumb towards the direction of the forest. The tops of the trees were visible just past a couple of wooden buildings. "Tiberius and I are leaving."

"You agreed to the duel," Sienna said flatly, like this was incontrovertible law.

I sighed and decided for the sake of burgeoning friendship to spell it out. "Are you kidding me? I know exactly how this is going to go. The duel's the day after tomorrow, right?"

Both nodded.

"So basically, I'm supposed to spend tomorrow dueling Tiber against the other dragon tamers in the village. Each fight will get progressively harder, and I'm sure we'll learn a bunch of valuable lessons along the way..."

"The local matches are tomorrow," Jane confirmed, though slowly as if she wasn't sure where I was going with this. I didn't blame her. She hadn't been subjected to the sheer amount of anime that I had. "And it is a head to head ranked match so they will become harder if you progress."

"Right. And meanwhile Creepy Todd will be searching the forest for new dragons or making shady deals with whatever passes for the underground criminal faction of the village."

Both girls looked at me now like I had lost my mind. That was fine. I went on.

"And just when I'm starting to get some confidence under my belt, Todd will come in announcing he’s found the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon or something."

"... I've never heard of those," Jane said.

"The point," I continued, "is that he'll swoop in with a breed and tier way above my own, and I'll have to fight like I've never fought before just to keep what I already have. And if this was an anime, or a light novel, I'd win. But it's not. It's real life and I'm not going to risk losing Tiber! Not to him, not when there is zero upside to me entering at all!"

"But... you agreed to the duel," Jane pressed.

"Under false pretenses. I didn't know what I was agreeing to."

"Backing out now would be... it's a huge dishonor on yourself, and on your opponent," Jane insisted, like that was going to change my mind.

I looked at her. "So? What's going to happen if I don't show up? Will the dueling police arrest me? I didn't sign a contract, I'm not getting paid for this. I didn't even get a quest!"

Jane and Sienna looked at each other and I could tell they wanted to argue. I was probably trampling all over a cultural norm. Well, I'm American. It's how we roll.

"I'm not sticking around to let some asshole take Tiberius away from me," I said. "I don't care if it makes me look like a coward, or if people laugh at me -- people have been laughing all my life." I gestured down to my bad foot. "Now, do either of you have a map, or could you point me to the direction of the next town or something? I'm done."

"The nearest village is nearly a day's walk through the forest. Even if it was safe, you have no money or supplies on hand." Jane shook her head. "No, this will never do."

"You can't go out into the forest alone," Sienna said.

"Why not?" My arms tightened on Tiberius. Were these two going to try to stop me?

"There are monsters out there," the other girl said flatly.

"You mean, dragons?"

Jane and Sienna exchanged a look.

"Dragons aren't monsters," Sienna said slowly, like she was explaining the ABC's to a person who already claimed to know how to read.

Tiberius was growing heavy in my arms. Annoyed, I shifted him to my shoulder. Thanks to that last duel, I knew he had a great sense of balance. Sure enough, he hung up there just fine, even if he did have to stretch out across the back of my neck. Had he grown a touch with his new level up? Something to think about for later.

I gave Sienna and Jane what I hoped was my sternest look. "Okay. Pretend that you're explaining to someone who was just dropped into your world from another one. What's the difference between monsters and dragons?"

"Everything," Sienna said, hopefully.

Jane, thankfully, was much more helpful. "Monsters are... lesser creatures. They're violent and dangerous. They aren't born or grow or level like dragons or the people who tame them. They simply exist."

"Wait, back up. They aren't born? Then how..." I trailed off, unsure how to put this, then decided to go for broke. "How do monsters make other monsters?"

"They don't," Sienna said. "They're spawned fully formed and dangerous."

"It's the dragon's sacred duty to put them down whenever they come across them," Jane added with the fervor of a religious convert. "Humans too, obviously. But monsters are in such number that without wild dragons to aid us we would be quickly overrun."

Oh boy. This sounded like a half dozen scenarios I’d read about before. None of them ever ended up good for the people in the world. There was always a “monster balance” right up until the point where there wasn’t.

"Wild dragons mostly take over the monster-killing duty?" I asked.

"Yes," Jane said. Sienna nodded.

I decided right then not to clue these two in that the first thing I did upon coming to this world was slay a dragon. Actually, that brought up a good point.

"I have questions. Like, so many questions."

"Honestly," Sienna said, "It's not that complicated. Dragons and humans work together to defeat monsters. Wild dragons defeat wild dragons. Even small children know this."

"Dragons also kill other dragons," I said, ignoring Sienna’s snark. "I ran into an egg-sucker right when I got here. I... uh, saved one of the last eggs. That's how I tamed Tiberias."

Tiberias chirped as if to say: She's telling the truth. I was there.

Aww. My little alibi.

"Well, yeah." Sienna shrugged. "Dragons are animals. They'll fight each other -- even eat one another depending on the breed. But they'll always slay monsters first. It’s engrained."

That made sense and helped the tiny pang of guilt I had been carrying around for killing that egg-sucker via self-immolation.

"Second question," I said.

Jane had finally gotten over my shock over my plan to bitch out of the duel. Now she looked faintly amused. "What's that?"

"Creepy Todd goes out to capture, tame, and resell wild dragons on the regular, right? Isn't he... I don't know, screwing up the forest eco-system? Leaving less dragons to fight the monsters?"

"Yes," Sienna said.

"It's not that simple," Jane said at the exact same time.

The girls looked at one another. Sienna rolled her eyes.

"Normally, a tamer going out to get a dragon from the wild isn't much of a problem," Sienna said. "The dragon will still fight and kill monsters whether it's bonded to a human or not."

I frowned. "But you told me Todd's selling them as soon as he bonds them."

"That's a problem," Jane said. "Tamers still do that. But he goes out more than anyone else and pulls whatever dragons he finds. Most ethical tamers search for specific breeds which will fit into their personal stable, or a commission for a client. Todd Lennox will take whatever he finds and sells them no matter what condition they're in. Females, too. I've heard he's even captured whole clutches. Most tamers will only take one egg and leave the rest to grow in the wild."

"Why doesn’t anyone stop him? Aren't there laws?"

Jane shook her head. "Inside the village, yes. But the forest is wild space. It’s a place beyond any laws. As for why no one has stopped him..." She trailed off, biting her lip.

"He sells dragons cheap to those in charge, so they owe him," Sienna said. "Everyone but the mayor."

Jane blushed scarlet. "My father would never take a dragon he hasn't tamed himself."

Ah. I thought that Jane had a fancy-rich kid attitude about herself. I wasn't surprised to hear her father was the mayor.

I put a hand on my hip as I thought. "Todd's been doing his best to wipe out the local dragon population, so the woods have been extra dangerous recently? And the only way to defeat monsters is through taming dragons... and Todd just so happens to have a constant supply on hand."

"Basically," Sienna said.

Wow, Todd sucked. But I already knew that.

"Last question," I said. "Are monsters lootable?"

"Are they..." Jane trailed off and blinked. "Yes, to those who have the skill." Then her gaze focused on me. "Is that the characteristic you received from Tiberius?"

"That's a good one." Even the normally caustic Sienna seemed mildly impressed.

"Yup. And I've changed my mind. I'm still getting out of here, but you're right Jane. I need supplies and stuff, and for that I need money." I glanced at Tiberius. "What do you say you and me go monster hunting?"

I knew I was on the right track when I heard a sweet chime in my mind.

Ding!

New Quest!

Getting Out While The Getting's Good!

You're low on funds and lower on supplies. But you've managed to make a business connection with the local tanner for good hides.

Turn in 3 monster hides of at least Emerald Quality to complete this quest.

Reward:

1 Gold Coin

2 Silver Coins

Bonus: Additional quests available depending on the monster encounter.

Eh, it wasn't a bonding crystal, but money was money. I pressed accept.

Then Jane surprised the pants off me with her next words.

"If you’re going on a monster hunt, Commodore and I will accompany you."