{Alek's POV}

Alek pocketed the last coin on the ground and led the dragon to the cave silently, as if in a daze. This day was too weird. Alek had flashbacks unbidden come to his mind. First this morning, he woke up with a hangover in one of the tavern's rooms laying next to the barmaid, who was at least 30 years older than himself. Next, he was harassed again by that brat noble Noah simply because he was not human. And the cherry on top, when he came up the mountain for some peace and quiet and a pretty view, this ogre appears out of nowhere and entices him with blasted golden coins! And then a flipping red dragon lands in front of him as he's being chased by an ogre! He sighed to himself. He never could resist a good prank.

Although in the future he might want to start trying, he thought wryly as he glanced back at the red dragon, who seemed to be thinking again. He's never actually seen a dragon up close, but he could tell this one was absolutely enormous even compared to other dragons. Every time it walked it made mini earthquakes for gods sake! And the mere presence of the dragon was weighing him down like weights strapped to his back. He just hoped he came out of this alive, he thought grimly, as he finally approached the maw opening of the cavern.

{Arthur's POV}

Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Arthur was dragged out of his thoughts at the sight of the cavern opening. He couldn't tell if he could fit at first glance. If he could, it'd be a squeeze. Alek stopped and turned on his heel towards Arthur. "Well, this is it, your Highness." Ugh, Arthur was not used to being called such names and didn't like it. "Please, you do not have to call me such names. As I've said, I'm not like others of my kind." With that, Arthur walked past a once again puzzled satyr and approached the cavern entrance.

He tried to go inside, having to duck his head and tuck in his wings as much as he could, but he fit and just barely scraped the walls of the entrance with his body. Inside the cavern was much roomier, easily fitting him and stretching on about 200 feet in every direction. This place was massive! Perfect for him.

He observed his would be home, nodding in appreciation. It was basically one giant room, flat except for some areas and with a high ceiling. His scales protected him from the roughness of the stone, so he could sleep here moderately comfortably he reckoned.

The entrance of the cavern positively reeked of ogre and Arthur could see some random knick-knacks, bones of dead animals, and some sort of blanket made out of animal hide to the left of the entrance about 15 feet away. Looks like the ogre was lazy and just hunkered near the opening.

Satisfied with his inspection, Arthur turned back to Alek, who had not moved from his spot, watching Arthur with an anxious expression. Arthur guessed Alek thought it better to watch over him so he didn't kill anyone, and the thought wounded him. Arthur wasn't going to go around murdering, that would be plain wrong and would paint a target on his back.

Arthur beckoned Alek closer and sat down. He let his instincts guide him as he almost awkwardly worked out how best to sit. The result reminded him of a cat, with him sitting on the ground and his thick tail curled around his front claws. Alek had come closer, slightly braver now than before.

"Now, Alek. As I'm sure you understand, I simply cannot walk into this town you spoke of, but I need those magical scrolls. Here is my plan.."

{Alek's POV}

Alek's throat was dry. He swallowed and cleared it once more. He had been doing this for the past minute. You see, Alek was currently flying for the first time in his life. How you might ask? Well, he was in the grasp of a DRAGON and was going at speeds he's never felt before! Why did he agree to this?! "It's just up here!" He shouted to the dragon. Said dragon glanced at Alek and nodded once before focusing on flying once more. Alek tried to shift to a more comfortable position but the dragon was grasping him tight, not tight enough to squeeze him, but it was extremely uncomfortable.

The clearing eventually made itself known where the lazy town of Mirfield was located. big for a town, Mirfield got a lot of travellers as it was the only town located for miles in this forest. The elves usually dominated forests, but they make exceptions and treaties with other races in exchange for goods and company. Marfield was a haven for travellers and adventurers, mostly because of its 10 foot high stone walls that surrounded the town and the metal gate the town master boasted of so much.

Not that it would stop this thing, Alek thought wryly as the dragon circled the town once before deciding to land in front of the gate about 30 feet away. He slowly descended, careful to put Alek down once he landed. Alek stumbled a few steps before righting himself. This felt like that one time Alek got on a boat. Never again.

Stabilizing his wobbly legs, Alek looked back to the dragon, who motioned him to go forward. Alek gulped and he walked towards the gate, already hearing panicked cries and guards shouting orders. "I NEED TO SPEAK TO THE TOWN MASTER!" Alek shouted, "THE DRAGON WISHES NO HARM TO BE BROUGHT UPON THIS TOWN, THEY WISH TO HELP IN EXCHANGE FOR MAGIC SCROLLS!"

Silence slowly reigned upon the town at his words, except for shouty whispers. Alek glanced back at the dragon, who nodded. Alek turned back to see through the gate a rushing town master accompanied by about 6 guards on each side of him. Alek waited for the man to waddle himself to the gate and they said in a half shout, "What is the meaning of this?! Alek is that you, you damn satyr! What have you done this time!" Alek's mood soured even more upon hearing that. He was infamous in this town for the totally harmless pranks he usually targetted towards the guards and the town master himself.

"This dragon-" He was interrupted by the said dragon, who said in a booming and rough voice, "My name is Arthur. I mean no harm to your town. I need magical scrolls and gold. If you would be so kind as to provide these items, I will deal with any problem or threat you need assistance with."

Silence reigned for a few moments as everyone looked bug-eyed at Arthur as if he was he just grew a second head. The town master gathered his wits and meekly replied, "So you will take our... Quests?" Arthur smiled, showing off his teeth and steam slowly vented out of his nostrils as he said simply "Yes, I will take your quests."

...Alek decided with confidence that this was the weirdest day of his life.

{Arthur's POV}

Arthur realized he was smiling again. He composed himself once more and the steam venting out his nostrils stopped. The amount of deja vu and nostalgia that hit him when he said those words reminded him of fond memories. He returned his attention to the town master who had once again been stumped on what to say but replied, "One moment please your Majesty, a guard will gather the things you require. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for taking this town under your lordship." The town master bowed deeply behind the gate and held that position. Wait, what? "No, you misunderstand. Please, stop bowing. It's embarrassing for both of us." The town master had a look of confusion as he stood back up and stared openly at Arthur. Sigh.

"As I stated, I simply wish for magical scrolls and gold. In exchange, I will complete quests for you."

"T-truly his Highness is a benevolent being! We will get your scrolls and gold right away-" "No." Arthur said firmly, stomping one front arm onto the ground with all his strength, creating an imprint and loud noise.

"I wish to do the work required to get these items. I do not want to steal from you or your town. Please understand" At these words and another awkward moment of silence, the town master bowed again followed by the guards that were still next to him. "You are truly a godsend, your Highness! We will give our hardest quest scroll to your minion, but it will surely be no problem for one as powerful as yourself!" He followed it with a string of thanks and praise, which Arthur physically rolled his eyes towards the behavior.

He hoped in the future he could gain these people and the town's trust, and he hoped they would see him as an ally instead of a fiery machine of death. He didn't bother to tell them to stop with the praise and thanks, as deep inside himself it seemed to stoke his dragon ego. And they would probably go on again anyways.

He noticed Alek grumbling to himself about being called a minion. Arthur thought they were technically right. Though he didn't view Alek that way. Eventually, a guard came with a fancy-looking scroll of paper and Alek grabbed it through the bars of the gate and walked back to Arthur and stopping 10 feet away from him, still grumbling to himself by the sound of it. The town master had asked to be dismissed, which Arthur resisted the urge to roll his eyes again and said he didn't have to ask for permission, just go.

Arthur examined the town and didn't see a single soul outside, except for a few nervous guards that kept looking at him. He turned back to Alek, who was reading the words on the scroll. The print was small, and it would be a hassle to read it himself, so he said "Can you read it out for me, Alek? It seems too small for myself to normally read."

"Oh uh, sure. It says, 'An infamous bandit group consisting of orcs and goblins have been terrorizing this forest for years. They have performed multiple accounts of robbery, kidnapping, murder, and many other atrocious crimes. For any brave adventurers willing to take care of these villains, you will be rewarded 500 GP and have the right to claim anything found at the base of their operations. May a gods wind guide your brave souls.'

"I know these bandits, no one's been able to take them out because they have a lot of members. I happen to know where their main base is, cuz I uh, followed them one time after seeing them rob a carriage shipment of food. I could guide you there!" Alek said with a fixed smile, but Arthur said, "You can simply point the way out. You do not have to come-" Alek waved his hands and said, "Oh no, it's no trouble at ALL."

Arthur pondered on his behavior. He glanced at the meager guards outside and realized they were looking at Alek with hostility. Seeing what was up, Arthur said "...Alright. I will take care of these criminals and finally gain my magic." When Arthur reminded himself of actually casting magic smoke started to vent out of his nostrils again before he cleared his head and once more picked up -a less squirmy this time- Alek and took to the skies once more. He tried to hold Alek more gently but the anxiety of accidentally dropping him was too much.

After flying for a good five minutes, going at a comfortable pace and following Aleks directions, Alek finally said, "I think that's the place. Could you uh, put me down before you get there? I'd like to be out of the line of fire, Mabey literally, hehe." He gave off nervous laughter once more and Arthur said "Of course. Thank you, Alek." Arthur landed gently again and he let go of Alek onto the forest floor, who took a moment to adjust before turning back to Arthur. He waved and said "Good luck!" And Arthur nodded before he went back up into the air. Arthur was getting good at controlling his wings, he only slightly had trouble getting up while surrounded by trees. He continued to where he saw the bandit camp in the distance, about 200 feet away.

It was a Siege tower on top of a small hill, old and rundown by the looks of it. Arthur briefly mused on just ramming the thing, but thought there might be kidnapped innocents locked in there. As Arthur drew closer to the tower he saw at the bottom of the small hill were multiple pitched tents, barrels were strewn about, and horses tied to poles grazing in the field the hill was surrounded by.

He spotted multiple figures milling about, and heard many shouts and panic as he started to fly into clear view about 100 feet away. Arthur sped up as fast as he could go, slowing only once he was within 20 feet of the camp. Arthur recognized the humanoids once he was within range, a mix of orcs and bugbears, and goblins were scattered about too. There were around two dozen of them just in front of him.

Arthur landed in there midst with a heavy thud, drawing himself up and doing his best to loom, which was pretty easy he found, allowing steam to vent through his nostrils as he gazed down at these bandits. The orcs and bugbears all held similar looks of disbelief and fear respectively. And the goblins almost in sync fell to the ground in their own respective bowing messes, saying a string of things in a language he didn't understand. They repeated the phrase "Bree-yark" many times he noticed.

Arthur pondered on what to do. Should he test out his breath weapon? No, he wasn't confident he could control it, and he didn't want to burn all the tents and possible valuables. As both parties stared at each other, not one daring to move, Arthur thought he should have scouted out the place before he just busted in, and whether he should say something, before the wooden makeshift door to the siege tower opened and a large orc clad in chain mail walked out, yelling, "What's all the racket-" He stopped as he saw Arthur, confusion and disbelief slowly growing on his face.

Arthur on closer inspection realized this was an orog, not an orc. Smarter and stronger than a typical orc, this was probably the leader keeping all these creatures together. Arthur decided to test something that had been at the back of his mind. He remembered all dragons had a frightful presence and could will a creature to be scared of them for a minute or so. In Arthur's mind eye, he tried to bring about this power.

He felt something stir, and then explode outwards as a magical force surrounded Arthur and entered the mind of every creature he wanted to be affected, overwhelming and making every orc and bugbear he saw cringe back in fear and they seemed petrified in place. He was pleased with this successful experiment and turned his gaze back to the orog, who was surprisingly resisting his fearful aura. He took out a shimmering greatxe from his back-magical perhaps?-and shouted, "I will not bow to you, dragon! YOU WILL NOT BREAK ME! RAAHHH!!"

With a war cry, the orog launched himself down the hill at a surprising speed and managed to reach Arthur in one dash, and with devastating strength swung his greataxe towards his front arm- which Arthur saw coming from a mile away and stepped back, the orog whiffing. The orog cursed and instinctively tried to dodge backward to avoid the inevitable attack, but he wasn't used to fighting things this big and forgot that Arthur had massive reach.

Arthur let out an instinctive snarl and swiped at the orog, attempting to knock him down and succeeding. The orog immediately rolled with the blow, but before he could get up Arthur was already upon him. With another deep and rough snarl Arthur opened his mouth and bit down on the orog, his body instinctively heating up the inside of his mouth to sear the orogs flesh as he did so, eliciting a cry of pain and rage from the orog.

Arthur didn't relent and picked the orog up, who was still in his mouth and was struggling to escape. Arthur shook him like a dog would a toy, digging in deeper and simultaneously biting down as hard as he could and his mouth blazing up so hot that you could see heat waves coming out into the air. Arthur felt the screeching of metal on his teeth as he bit down on the orogs armor, finally letting go when his cries of pain and struggling stopped.

The orog fell to the ground with a thud, an unrecognizable mess of burnt flesh and deep bite wounds. Arthur couldn't help but feel bad for a second, then remembered this guy was a bandit leader and most likely did unspeakable things to others during his life. With a snort of disdain, Arthur turned his attention to the other miscreants. These bandits did what they wanted, murdered who they wanted, kidnapped who they wanted for nonsensical reasons. It made him angry. Unbenknownst to Arthur, his eyes seemed to light up and dance with fire and the steam from his nostrils became thicker. A fiery cloud seemed to cloud Arthurs mind for a moment, causing him to see red before he snapped out of it. He must control himself. He focused back up on his enemies.

Arthur's presence magic must have worn off because the orcs were shaking their heads to clear it, the bugbears retreating away from Arthur. The closest orc shouted, "REVENGE!" and charged at Arthur with two handaxes. The 7 orcs roused at the words and got their weapons and charged Arthur after a moment of hesitation as well. He readied himself, allowing his instincts to take over as the first one got within 10 feet of him, spinning to the side sharply, sending his tail out like a whip to slam into the orc's head, causing it to fall to the ground and let out a moan of pain. Arthur sprang on him and cut him to ribbons with his claws. Three orcs came at him at once, letting out warcrys. Arthur unfurled his huge wings and flapped them with all his might, creating a powerful gust of wind all around him and sending all three to the ground. He sprang on one and tore them apart with teeth and claws. He quickly moved to the others just as they were standing up and bit down on one of the two, picking the orc up into the air and flinging them away a good 10 feet.

Arthur felt something graze his scales to his right and turned from the dead orc he flung. the last orc was yelling a war cry and attacking his right side with a handaxe, which he quickly tore up with his claws. He felt another graze on his shoulder and looked to see what was attacking. The thing that grazed him appeared to be a small bolt from a crossbow, Arthur spotting the offending orc who was a good 25 feet away reloading to hit him again. Arthur picked up the body of the orc that attacked him, overhead launching the body like a porjectile towards the orc. They managed to jump out of the way in time, to Arthur's dissapointment.

Arthur drew himself up, stopping a moment and surveying this one-sided battlefield. He was satisfied with himself for doing so well so far, though these bandits were pretty outclassed.

There was just two orcs left besides the one with the crossbow, and they fell to there knees, with a look of disbelief and dread clear on there faces. He decided to ignore them. The 5 or so goblins hadn't moved from their spots on the ground, still gibbering, and he didn't know where the bugbears decided to retreat to, they might have gone in the tower. Arthur rushed over to the crossbow orc who was trying to run after his glance around the battlefield, ripping it open and the orc only feebly resisting. Arthur momentarily shook his claws to get the excess blood off of them, before setting his sights on the tower. Those magic scrolls were his.