-Tayuma's POV-

Watching the river bank I realize there's only so much you can plan for the unexpected, and if we had rushed to attack it without unpacking the nets or the crossbows, then our group would be a lot smaller by now. As the team leader I find unacceptable to lose members, especially old friends for a chance at good rewards while sime rich person would greatly benefit from taming a dragon.

"Its alright, we are the only ones who accepted the commission, and any sightings will reach the guild before another team who can capture it, appears." I explain the risk versus reward trying not to sound like an excuse as the leader.

Most high rankers make a living in the capital or enlist for war since the rewards are good, and without our preparation, anyone under Rank 6 will just become food. This dragon won't find many animals in human lands when even the people starve to death, and it could have a chance in the southern part of the kingdom, but it'll probably head east to the great plains like other beasts have done in the past. I keep thinking the reasons a young dragon would be in these parts.

"We were prepared to have casualties and secure it alive, but now...I'm not even sure if the bones will be left since there's a limit how much a living creature can endure in that corrosion. In the first place if the river is so good at melting stuff, why aren't we allowed to dump trash into it? To think this river used to be clean and have fish before the Tinkers arrived." She complained watching the acidic water ruining her underwear.

As someone who had to stitch her body a few times, she's a little lacking as a woman and holds no interest to me, but ever since they got back from the capital, I've been dying to know what happened with their child. Haven't been able to find the right time to ask, why won't they have another, and this is an opportunity since Raxas is away, fishing. I decided to probe the old friend whom I haven't seen in years.

"When Tinkers left, they said the river would go back to its natural state in a few more years, and the Ragefire head declared no dumping trash to further contaminate it. Tinkers made the town rich for a while with their inventions, but also took our prosperity when they left.

The dragon will be okay since they have vitality compared to a Rank 7 Auramancer, and with that Rank, I would also jump into the river without being afraid, but that won't happen to me for another forty years since ranking in this place is slow. We auramancers have a long lifespan, preserving our youth and can even have children over a hundred unless we are stupid enough to attack a dragon with sticks." I told her nude figure on the side and noticed it's getting dark.

"...Tayu..." She stops throwing the net and turns to me, sternly saying. "That is something you ask in a drinking bout, and it's going to be your treat tonight alright?" She stated, leaving no room for argument.

Crap! Wrong time, wrong time! I regretted my intrusion that will cost me all the money from today's commission.

"Understood..." I nodded and continued moving downstream to throw my net.

"It's not, that we don't want to have any more children, it's because we can't. Whatever disease that killed our daughter, wasn't deadly to us since we were high ranking auramancers that can resist diseases, and we didn't even feel any symptoms, but left us sterile, that's why it hurts so much losing the only daughter we could have." She stopped to say and continued fishing the dragon.

"Yes, I have heard about diseases that low ranking auramancers can't do anything about, and they remain infected without even feeling it, but if you reach over Rank 7, it's possible to eliminate it yourself or fix the damage it caused." I encourage her to focus on Ranking up instead of drinking all my money away.

"The healer in the capital told us the same and added that maybe the best healer in the country could fix it, but it requires a large sum of money to visit that person, and this commission won't pay nearly enough." She said shrugging my direction.

Well, we could enlist as soldiers for war, but with our Ranks, we'll just be cannon fodder since only high rankers have a chance of coming back. Earth magicians do mining, escorting merchants is risky, barely earning a living, and doing forced labor is worse than mercenary work. I recount the limited options we have to make money.

"Yeah, we sure lack the means of amassing large sums of money, but if we live long enough, we'll get lucky eventually. However, it's getting dark, and we'll be at a disadvantage if we do manage to get the dragon out of the river. I think it's time to pull back and track it tomorrow with a tamed wolf...maybe ask more people from the guild since these are useless." I commented watching the extras approaching from the other side and Tania dressing up to avoid being seen by them.

"Any signs from the lizard yet? There was nothing downstream." Mercenary rank 4 asks and informs from the other side of the river.

"We are pulling back since it's dark, and come back in the morning more prepared." I said waving at Koby and Raxas upstream to return.

The extras who just arrived at the other side of the river started grunting then returned the way they came. The two upstream reached us, drained the toxic water from the equipment and poured animal oil on it before packing up to head back to town.

"Raxas we are going drinking tonight, I secured a source of booze!" Tania said, throwing her underwear away.

"You didn't sell your body again, did you? No wait, you would have to pay someone to be with you, since there are cheaper women in town who are prettier_ ophs." He started saying before a folded net flew to his face.

"I sold our secrets away, and no, it's not about you looking at little girls in town... that's free of charge." She said with a smirk, carried her things and started walking to town.

"I was looking for an orphan girl willing to be adopted..." Raxas muttered with sadness, watching his wife get further away before following her.

Tania probably thinks of herself as a failure of a woman and mother, so I doubt she'll be okay with adopting. However, active mercenaries shouldn't have children, fostered or not, since that's a reason for so many strays. Well, besides low Ranks or regular people being unable to stop pregnancy and diseases with their magic or aura. I sigh and look around one more time before speeding up to catch up to them.

-Hungry Dragon's POV-

Thought they'd never leave... my body is quite itchy, especially my ass. I climbed the slippery bank and shook my body to squeeze the water off the scales then rolled over the black dirt to dry further.

After rolling around like a dog, erased my footprints then Inspected my body, and noticed the bleached scales, then ran southeast until my legs couldn't hold on anymore, covering a great distance as it got close to midnight. Not smelling any animal that could be a threat, tired and with an empty stomach, I slumped down between the young trees, barely enough to provide me with cover then surrendered my consciousness.

"You are close now. Find her, before it's too late!" A voice appeared in my head once more just as I was falling asleep.

...

"GRUuuuul." A nearby noise woke me up and opened my eyes to see the sun already shining.

Morning already? Ah! The volcano doesn't block the sun in the mornings here. However, what now? I'm starving, and don't think it's a good idea to get a companion right now since I might eat it. I sniffed to detect what's in the surroundings.

I slept not minding being eaten and woke up without any signs of my pursuers or any animal that could fill my stomach. Moved further southeast while digging some small animals, covering many miles until I found a road with many smells, and fresh tracks, indicating to be an active path, but on the other side is a small rocky hill that looks devoid of anything edible.

The street goes along the foot of the rocky hill, then a few miles to the West is a town by the river where my pursuers came from, few blocks to the east is a curve on the path, and to the northeast, beyond this forest, is another elevation covered in short grass.

Even insects would be hard to find on that rocky hill across from here, to my right is the town and to my left is a curve... yeah I'm heading for that since the hill in front declines that way too. I wonder what's behind it, and could get a better view from the top, but after yesterday, I'd rather stay out of sight until something worth taking risks appears. I follow the road to the East from inside the woods being careful of approaching humans.

Inside the forest at twenty-hum North from the curve in the road, I found a mound of Earth almost two-hum tall, covered in tall grass, but allows visibility from the right side that goes to the river town and the left side that extends southeast, far into the distance.

I went to the north side of the solitary elevation, with grass tall enough to cover my crouching body, and extended my neck to watch over the road as the sun rises from my left. Most people were in a hurry, in fast moving horses going to and from the river town on the west while I was feeling increasingly sleepy, then rested my extended neck in a comfortable position to take a nap when a small wolf howl sounded in the distance to the west.

A wolf in these parts? Maybe it's a stray kicked out of their pack? Though I never actually saw one of those while I stalked their borders... whatever, too tired to run miles chasing, just to find nothing when I get there. While falling asleep, I recall similar situations where the prey wasn't at the spot it sounded and just wasted my energy running around.

...

A continuous squeaky sound became loud enough to bring me back to consciousness and perked up my ears to identify something that should come from wheels of a horse-pulled carriage. I open my eyes, focusing on the blades of grass in my view and noticed the sun shining from above, indicating it was almost midday, then lifted my head a little to focus on the three large wagons coming from my left, covered in light brown clothes undulating with the wind. A sole person walks in front of the four healthy horses pulling each wagon on the black road and slower than my strolling speed, heading in the direction of river town on the west.

How nostalgic, this reminds me of the rural town back in the other world where I rode horse-pulled carriages and also had to endure the smell of manure accumulating under the carriage... I remember the rides, but not why or where exactly.

I sniffed the air deeply... getting blades of grass in my nostrils, and after sneezing them out, tried again to identify other scents over the dominant horse smell. The wind coming from the East allowed me to slowly pick up the scents coming from the caravan on the southeast almost a block away.

Five adults with stronger smells, including the guard in casual clothes with a thin sword and small shield walking in front of the caravan. The first wagon has old stuff, that is probably furniture or books, the middle has dried food-- Crap my stomach is going to give me away. I calm my stomach and focus on sniffing the last wagon.

There are many children and animals inside? I could snatch a human child from the last wagon using the animal noise as cover and run away before the guard notices. Though he looks weak, it's better not to alert anyone, like those two yesterday who called a subjugation, which is probably still looking for me now. I recall my pursuers who should be miles away from me.

I could grab a child and have them teach me something about the area or some words to identify next time someone chases me. It will be scared at first, but if they don't run or faint, then it's a matter of time before we reach an understanding, and it could always be an emergency ration. I recall my runaway pets that ended up eaten.

The other option is to grab two children, eat the least cooperative and force the other to teach me something with writing on the dirt, but I'm not sure which one from their group could be more useful or how to carry two in the first place... I ponder at the unique opportunity that presented after just half a day stalking the road.

Time to move, but I'm not jumping from here since it might give me away and this also reminds me that you have to pull the tail up when jumping as a lizard... the arrow tip got tangled in trees before... I think back to embarrassing moments that I'm not willing to repeat.

I moved southeast through the forest and parallel to the path getting closer to the caravan reaching the curve, then crossed the road to walk behind the last wagon while matching its speed. My quiet advance on the soft dirt was not heard over the caravan's noise, to alert anyone, then slid my head through the gap between two clothes covering the wagon's rear to peek inside.The bright interior shows a wooden floor, two rows of square cages on each side as big as half-hum with sleeping children inside and spacious enough in the middle to fit another row.

The children are wearing one-piece dirty white clothes while having a variety of animal-shaped ears on top of their heads with matching tails and different color hairs. The patches of furs on their bodies are not uniform on their location, and some even have more abundance than others while it does match the color of regular hair on their heads.

...There are no animals here, just humanoids mixed with beast parts, and that's where the wild smell came from, except for the two only humans in the back. However, these sturdy cages complicate things since they are bound to the floor, look heavy to carry far away and getting the creature out intact will be a challenge as well. I analyze the two wooden squares connected with vertical bars that form the cages holding people with shiny black collars on their necks.

No ropes are tying the cages, and only big iron nails fix them in place, just a little larger than my claws that reach human-finger length and thick as two-human finger at the base.

I extend my neck further inside, take a bite at the closest corner from the right row cages, and pull it out of its holdings while making grinding sounds until it was completely loose. I lift the enclosure while slowing my steps to drag it out when my head got yanked forward by the horns stuck in the fabric that covers the wagon, forcing me to match the pace again while the thing inside moved and probably had a good view of my open jaw.

"IYAAA..." The little creature inside the cage screamed a high pitch sound and made me drop it to the wagon floor.

The other children woke up and saw my head popping inside the wagon, glaring back at them through the cage bars and we all started becoming increasingly agitated.

"GRRR." Imagining my growling could be a prelude to their massacre, they went quiet and unmoving.

None of them fainted...maybe I'm not scary enough? I feel my beastly pride hurt a little.

I switch my sight to the little one who screamed first, that now made her garments wet and yellow liquid pouring out all the way to the wagon's wooden floor while being curled into a ball at the back of the cage, holding her body with the trembling tail puffed in front.

Ugh, horns did it again, but it looks like the people in front were not alerted since everything continued the same. Maybe because the children went quiet soon after they screamed, or it's natural for them to make a ruckus sometimes. My drool is probably telling them I've been starving for days, and in this world of eat or be eaten...you can't blame a hungry dragon for not starving himself to death so that you can have a chance at life. I slurp my drool back in and look at the cage I dropped in the middle of the wagon.

This one looks like a black cat with triangular ears on top of the head, round tail, patches of shiny fur near her eyes, over the hands with short black claws instead of human nails and on her feet which also possess black claws, but the rest is human. I inspected the frightened creature.

Well, I don't need the scent to tell me the kitty is female since her breasts confirms it, but she still makes a good candidate despite leaking, and her cage is already detached. I confirm the gender of my snack.

At least the kitty can be sure to be a woman while I can't be entirely confident to be male and only know by comparing my scent with the animals mating in the forest...except for snakes that are just a tangled mess. I recall my gender discovery while staring at her curl figure from the side.

Stretched my neck, and took the kitty's cage away while the others started crying then after forcing my way through the fabrics... a human fist is flying at my head.

Ah, I guess they did noticed afterall and the human guard is trying to punch me, but my scales are hard-- I felt an impact on my head that made cracking noises while everything sped up in my vision before turning black.