-Sulow Town Northern gate.

Liana's POV-

Returning to the townsgate after strolling outside, we find ourselves confronting the same guards that saw us out earlier and gave them an idea what the two of us were doing, they try to contain their snickering.

Laugh it up! I won't ask you for clothes because that will give you wrong ideas, so I'll just go inside and wait for Yumeno's information sale to buy better clothes than the ones I'm planning to steal. I approached the soldier and tell him.

"You saw nothing. Understand?" I sternly tell him while gazing into his brown eyes.

"Ma'am that will put me in an awkward position with my employer, but it can wait until they ask me first." The soldier compromises and I conceded.

I could go straight home and ask money from brother to buy new clothes since those were getting old anyway, but don't want him learning about another of my embarrassing moments. I daydream about new clothes to wear.

I took some light brown linen clothes that were a little tight and revealing before heading for the guild while some people laughed at us on the way. Yumeno's information sold for a single gold coin and then gave me twenty silver as compensation for having lost my casual clothes because of his idea.

That was a baby dragon, and they are pretty rare, so why was the information so cheap? Maybe because the guild is the one be paying for the capture? Should I tell brother about this? If he buys it once they tame it, I could get a little revenge, and little Shaila wanted a new pet too, this could work out for everyone. I added a stronger whip to my shopping list.

I watch a subjugation of auramancers holding ranks 3 to 5 with ropes, nets, and great crossbows to capture the beast. Some of which I recognized and headed out the guild to buy new clothes then find an inn to clean myself.

I'm renting an inn with my own money next time since I can't afford to donate expensive clothes to animals in the forest... they cost brother ten gold. I stare at the pocket change in my hand that is supposed to be compensation, walking out of the guild street and headed for a store on the right.

I bought a full piece light brown dress, similar to what most people wore around here and used the store bathroom to wipe my body a little before heading to find an Inn on my way home.

Ugh... I must clean myself... inside and out, before going back home. I walk inside an Inn with baths.

"I'm only here for a bath." I informed the elderly receptionist woman.

"That'll be one silver." She said in a monotonous tone.

One silver for a bath... what ripoff! But I guess it's expected since I'm not buying full service. I handed over one of the two silver coins left in my hand.

I walk through the hallway, to the back of the tavern and enter an enclosure so small that I can hardly bend my knees without bumping my head on the walls, then take off my stolen clothes.

Ah! I forgot to go with the subjugation, maybe my clothes and equipment still there. I lamented before washing my body with a bucket of water prepared beforehand.

-Sunset. Gray Lizard POV-

Done with my inspection on the equipment kindly donated to curious dragons, I noticed an approaching noise followed by the smell of many people getting closer from the road, and go out from the shade of the tree used for mating acts of two horny creatures that are not within the scents of the approaching group. Walking up to the road to get a better view, eight humans dressed in brown leather clothes are running on the path while raising clouds of dust already close to me.

Stupid wind not being in my favor and the smell of the river dampening my nose considerably. I conplain at the unfavorable conditions.

Just as I thought, they came with numbers, and also with crappy rusty items, including new addition which are Shields, but they look agile for humans, so I just have to wait for them to get closer. However, running away from them might be difficult, so a fight is inevitable, and I think I have the advantage since I'm much bigger compared to them, but why are they looking at me so excited with creepy smiles? I observe from the road at a short distance between the river and isolated trees on my right.

They stopped at a distance of ten-hums away, and spread out through the isolated trees on the right, going behind me while some halted at intervals, forming a semi-circle besides the river, cornering me in the middle. Without moving from my spot, as to not alert them, I observe their movements and recognize the things the eight men are unpacking. Not taking their eyes off me, they started unequipping more things from their backs, allowing me to identify and assess the threat more accurately.

They didn't just come with swords and shields!? Are those, wire nets? I observe the large crossbows with ropes attached to them and big, sturdy nets to get me easily tangled. I underestimated humans because I thought they would deal with a dumb beast with just numbers, but they are a little too prepared, and there's nothing in my memories that tell me why this is. I realize their overpreparation to my disadvantage.

I could crush them on those in leather clothes, but they are very agile and certainly faster than me running, so they will keep their distance when attacking. I recall how my strength decreases when bound by hugging snakes that I fend off biting chunks of meat, sinking my claws in their bodies with my claws, and catch their head when they tried to bite me back. However, those steel nets feel no pain and entangle better than snakes because the thin wires will get in my scales as soon as I touch it. I watch them slowly close in while glaring at me with smiles on their faces.

The night is falling, and even if I manage to escape their encirclement... losing them in these woods seems impossible with the trees isolated all the way to the thick forest by the left side of the volcano... from which I had to walk a while to get here. I calculate my chances of escaping.

I'm not sure of their intentions to capture me and I don't want to end up with my head on a wall as a trophy...these people are no good... I shiver at my possible endings and focus on departing.

I stared at their quiet formation that surrounds me with my back to the river and realized the reason they are cornering me against it is that they think, I won't jump in. This behavior indicates that humans might not like water, which is unlikely or that the river is quite dangerous to go for a swim, and they expect an animal to be aware of that fact.

I should consider myself lucky these humans are not giant green snakes that would have pounced on me by now. Still, my escape route sure is disgusting that even people won't consider going in despite looking so excited. Well, even if the river is poisonous to them...I know for a fact how resistant to harmful substances dragons are and just need to endure the smell or try not to swallow too much. I concluded to go for the first swim of my life after observing their reactions.

I did a sudden turn with my body and began sprinting towards the river as the arrows shot with ropes at me missed and lodged in the ground or bounced off the scales due to the angle of impact, then began tightly close every orifice in my body as much as possible. The wings folded tightly, eyes, ears, mouth, and nostrils closed while the legs take aerodynamic positions stretched along the body with my head taking a diving stance.

Uh, I think this is a little late since I'm in the air but... how does one swim as a lizard? And how deep is this river? Am I not going to lodge in the bottom like an arrow right? Thinking while taking a deep breath, I plunged head first into the river and started swinging my tail going deeper.

Well, that explains how lizards swim, moving the tail sideways to advance, then up and down to change dept. Ugh, the little water that got in my mouth is disgusting though... why are all my first times so bad? No wait, my first hunt wasn't so bad, although injured, it was memorable. I reached the bottom, stepped with all four legs and stabbed my tail behind.

Well, it seems dragons had some buoyancy, and need to sink my claws in the bottom to anchor myself. Ah! I forgot about my third eyelid that can be used to see underwater, though didn't train to open it voluntarily, and a mistake could get me a dose of contaminated river water into my eyes... I prepare to experiment with only one eye.

After feeling what could be the third eyelid in my left eye, I slowly opened it and looked around to confirm if my pursuers are down here.

The river is around three-hum deep, the water looks dark with some illumination from the surface, and seems to be slowly flowing, but there are no shadows of pursuers. A new memory tells me not to let this current take me and climb against it to fool the hunters while being careful not to produce rising bubbles. Feeling satisfied with receiving a new memory, I slowly advance holding my breath.

Gripping the bottom of the river with the necessary force, I walk upstream on the opposite side of the stream to the hunters before popping my head under a bush to breathe and observe my pursuers still looking for me around the previous area.

Haha, that seems to have fooled them, but they are not giving up, and I'm forced to remain in hiding for a while longer. However, I will be all right as long as no more of this water gets in my stomach since the smell alone is giving me a headache and I don't want to puke whatever little content is inside me. I take a deep breath, then submerge myself pressing on my nostrils with the frontal paws while passing my tail over my body and stab it on the mud below to anchor myself in a sitting position.

Mmm... This is a little itchy though, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be. I try to relax to wait things out.

-Tayuma's POV-

We restrained any killing intent with happy thoughts to approach and safely capture it, but who would have thought that the dragon, didn't hesitate to jump into the highly dangerous river without even fighting us.

"Son of a mogo!! Why would you do that?" I curse at the little dragon that dived into the river.

Why...? My little brother Yumeno told me the details, and it looked curious encountering people for the first time, so it shouldn't have acted this way. As a baby dragon just a few quarter season old, with unawakened affinities and although I'm not sure why it's down here instead of the volcano where Big Red lives, it shouldn't have run away from us, especially after those two fled in front of it like little girls. A predator will consider you prey if you flee like that... but it can't be helped; he's only Rank 4, unlike me who's almost Rank 6. I determined staring at the multicolored water of the river.

"...Suicide?" A Rank 4 commented after everyone ran to the river, at least twenty steps wide.

These extras that were attached to our group are annoying... why would a healthy animal commit suicide? Though maybe it's not that healthy, and that's why it was kicked out from the nest-- no way a young dragon can survive that fall. I desist the idea, then focus on the mission.

"Koby! Try and sense in what direction it dived." I order one of the other three Rank 5 mercenaries under my leadership.

This black haired teen is quite reliable and talented auramancer, to reach Rank 5 at a younger age than me or my brother did. I hold his weapons while he strips and walks into the river.

"Tayu, I can't feel its life force anymore, but it went straight to the other bank from the bottom of the river, and I'm not sure why is not coming out or why it didn't just swim on the surface like a normal animal would," Koby informs me, submerged in the water to his neck.

"If our best tracker lost him, it's because this river is too contaminated to have anything alive to extend your probing." I nod and extend my hand to pull him out before he melts something.

"Maybe we need to have sex to capture it?" Snickering, the Rank 5 mercenary Raxas hinted while looking at Tania, about the two having sex in the woods who encountered the dragon.

I know my brother shouldn't have gotten involved with that girl from the Ragefires, just because she's a noble with a weird hobby doesn't mean everything is going to be okay after being with her. I recall the rumors of those who didn't treat well the girl while staring at the half bald, brown-haired Joker in his forties.

"Your disgusting face scared him to suicide, and I sympathize with the beast." Tania scowled at him saying with her arms crossed.

This Rank 5 red haired woman in her thirties is my friend and Raxa's wife, but sometimes I'm so fed up with their fights. I roll my eyes at the two.

"That's not what you said last time!" Raxas teased her with the times they were together and smirked.

Angry at the insensitive comment, Tania kicked Raxas into the river with all her might and fell on her butt while people started laughing.

I recalled they had a little girl together but died of diseases before she could even grow up to reach the Rank 1 bottleneck.

They didn't have any more children after that, which is a shame because they are still young, but Tania just takes it out on Raxas, who doesn't resist... Perhaps he feels guilty for not being able to provide enough money for a healer back then. I call to mind the difficulty of any living creature under Rank 1 to survive until adulthood where even the most harmless thibg can end your life.

Hmm... I guess only a baby dragon could survive this for a while, a human child would die or get sick just by breathing the fumes. I concluded helping Tania up before coming up with an idea.

"Raxas, can you grab a net and swim to the other side?" I tell the guy who knows how to swim.

I wonder if hes going bald because of what happened... I ponder looking at his hair missing in the middle of the head.

"No way boss, my penis, and hair will melt... going bald with a swim is not funny." He complained while crawling out of the river.

"What are you talking about? You can't use it anymore, and you qualify as bald with only a few hairs left." She harshly criticizes the man struggling to get out of the water without drinking it.

"Split into three teams, Raxas and Koby go upstream to throw nets over the river and try to pull the dragon out. I will go with Tania downstream to do the same while the rest of you grab crossbows and hurry up to the other bank through town before it gets out. I give orders, and we all get into action.

We didn't think it would jump in there since that intense smell should be unbearable for a beast with a sensitive nose, and I'll have to swim across as last resort. I resolved myself, being the second person who can swim in our group.

"We are fishing now? However, the equipment will get ruined you know." Raxas commented, walking north along the river with his net.

"There are no signs of emerging, maybe it drank water and died." A Rank 4 auramancer, voiced his opinion, walking south while watching the river

"Doubtful, dragons can survive a lot of poisons or drugs, and at most, drinking the water would make him sick then resurface. Otherwise hunting them would be easy." Tania denies his statement, walking south as well.

Except for water Dragons, who specialize in diving, the rest of the dragons need to be light to be able to fly, therefore are hollow enough to have excellent buoyancy, and if it died, it would have resurfaced by now. However, I do not know how long they can last underwater... I stare at the sun setting while everyone is doing what they are told.

"Is this worth ruining our equipment over? " Tania said stripping half naked before throwing the stretched net over the river.

"Well, besides the money we all received for accepting the high-risk commission, an excellent cut is given to us when it sells at the auction. Although it will sell for only a portion of what could at the capital since the guild here is doing dirty business, we can't say anything without proof, or they'll hire someone else." I explain to her while doing the same.

"So, it depends on how much it sells, and because a dragon can replace a lot of soldiers, sells for a crazy sum at the capital. However, this one seems to be as good as lost to us already." She said losing hopes of catching it.

I remember how the guild employees avoid high taxes to the lord by keeping records of cheap sales, then re-sell it at the same auction for more, covering a high sale with a lower one.

Well, it's not like the Lord of the town will come himself to buy the dragon even if we do manage to catch it, but they are getting too cocky just because this is a backwater town with a young lord. Although the people who get paid to keep quiet are jubilant about it, this won't last forever and if this lord is no good then the Royals will appoint another which might investigate the estate of affairs catching the corrupts. I imagine the abundance of scapegoats in town to make those little schemes work.

"It's all about preparations when it comes to big creatures, but it doesn't make sense how the baby dragon acted, and I feel like we might not be prepared for our next encounter either," I recall the dragon looking as if reading our intentions.

"Yes, but the guild won't be able to keep people quiet about an easy dragon for the taking, and if we don't catch it soon... there will be a lot of mercenaries after it. Just like the crazies who tried to tame Big Red at the volcano when it arrived...so many died trying to capture him, but this dragon represent a future for many..." She reminds of human greed and opportunities for better lives.