Melios inspected the horn in front of him with curious eyes. Without asking, he took it from Apexus’ hands. He took a grunting breath, then reared his head back as if the scent of Kaladar was worse than rot itself. The horn dangled between two of the cow-sized dragon’s claws. After having seen Kaladar, the blue wyrm appeared especially small for the kind of creature he was.

“Fashion something worth displaying from this,” Melios ordered and one of the people standing in the lair swiftly approached. The basin Melios was lying in was drained this day, to be refilled towards noon for the daily scrubbing of his pristine scales. This time around, the quartet had arrived in the morning hours and there had been a regular meeting in session outlining what the goals were for that week.

That the horn was now being taken away, along with the large scale and empty flask they used as proof of the kill, was expected. Apexus already knew Melios to be a greedy and arrogant creature. All that could be said to his benefit was that the blue dragon was not malicious. Sometimes, that was enough to work with such a being.

Reysha demonstrably averted her gaze, to prevent her death glare from showing. Meanwhile, Korith shifted left to right and bit the inside of her cheek. It took all her will not to greedily stare at the semi-circle of shiny objects piled up behind Melios. Apexus and Aclysia were leading the talk.

“It was proper of you to bring this proof. How did he meet his end?” Melios asked, clearly eager to know.

“Exhausted suffocation,” Apexus put it as short as possible.

“Oh, that was exactly what I wanted to hear,” Melios chuckled, folding his claws under his chest. “And his little raider party? What happened to them?”

“We left them.”

“Ah,” Melios sounded less enthusiastic at that news. “I suppose you did a lot for mortals already. Those mongrels will be busy cracking each other’s skulls open to see if they can find a worthwhile leader in whoever survives the longest. Nevertheless, we should increase security for a while.” The dragon looked to one of the guards, who only gave an affirming nod. “As for you – I trust that I will never see you again?”

“Most likely,” Apexus agreed and looked to Aclysia.

The metal fairy took half a step forward, so that the attention of the dragon shifted to her. Before he could get offended about this, she lowered her head in a deep bow and recited the address she had been preparing all day. “Great dragon Melios, we understand that we entered an accord and that you have fulfilled your end of the bargain splendidly.”

‘Not that he had to do much besides lay there and look really fucking delicious,’ Reysha thought and quickly glanced away again before her mouth could start to water. Dragon thigh had been like a flavour intensive, juicy chicken. Another bite would certainly be welcome.

Melios did not notice Reysha’s hunger. His eyes were locked approvingly on the metal fairy who kept her head down and addressed him with the necessary reverence. “We would not dare to ask for anything material from your lair as rewards. Your hoard sparkles like your cobalt scales and belongs by your side. We would ask for something of no lesser value, which we hope you are still willing to give: a piece of your vast knowledge and a moment of your time.”

“Hmmmm,” the blue dragon hummed. He turned his head away from the group, theatrically gazing off while tapping his chin with one of his claws.

‘That’s probably over a thousand gold piled up there, how’s that as valuable as his time?’ Korith wondered. Softly, she chewed her cheek and tried really hard not to think about it. She failed utterly. ‘There’s so much money there! I want it!’

“I will at least hear what you want to ask,” Melios said magnanimously.

“Thank you, cobalt one.” Aclysia bowed a little deeper. Only after taking the half step back, did she raise her head and gesture at Reysha. “I know her insolence last time has caused you justified annoyance, but I would still ask that you inspect an affliction upon my comrade.”

“Are you speaking about Noir, little Priest?” Melios asked, hoping she would be surprised by this revelation. When she shook her head, that annoyed him mildly. “Then do not waste my precious time,” he warned, “show me this affliction.”

Reysha raised her left hand and let the demonic nature show. Aclysia provided context, “My comrade once lost an arm while in service to a Warlock. He restored her limb using the blood of a Deathhound.” Melios was getting up, deeply curious. “We would like to inquire if the affliction could spread to the rest of her corporeal form or be otherwise harmful.”

“Fascinating,” Melios hummed and inspected the arm from multiple angles. Suddenly, he grabbed Reysha. His claws wrapped around her waist quicker than she could react. Apexus and Korith automatically assumed a battle stance. One of his eyes fixated on them, while the other stayed trained on the tiger girl’s arm. “Just lie down,” he ordered her.

“Would it kill ya to just ask?!” Reysha asked, her voice borderline manic. Much as she loved her danger, the dragon could kill her with one snap in their current position.

“You wanted knowledge from me,” Melios said, his attention shifting to Aclysia. Of the group, she was the only one who he deemed reasonable. “Do as I tell you or leave my lair.”

Aclysia glanced at Reysha, then moved her eyes to Apexus. The humanoid slime slowly nodded. He read no malicious intent from Melios, only the annoyance of a mind that thought it normal that everything around would move according to his commands.

Reysha sank to the ground and was placed at a peculiar bit of the swept floor as if she was a block of wood on a workbench. With great care for his study object, Melios grabbed her by the wrist and left collarbone. His claws pricked her skin, revealing a drop of red blood under one and a black ooze that visibly vaporized under the other. The injuries were no larger than a stab with a sewing needle.

Moving on to arcane methods, Melios summoned his mana. A deep blue light emitted from his left hand. As he moved it along the length of her arm, he could see through the skin and muscles, see the bone structure and the veins all around.

“This is truly advanced magic… outside of my reach…” It almost physically pained Melios to say that. When he reached her shoulder he let out a satisfied grunt. “Regardless, I am aware of this spellwork. This is a Demonic Enhancement, reinforced through a ritual to be made permanent. To see an entire limb be replaced, even with the blood of a Deathhound, this Warlock must have been truly terrific at his craft.”

Melios let go of Reysha and returned to his basin. Lazily, like a cat that had eaten enough for the day, he stretched and laid back down. “Cobalt one, if I may, our question wa-“

“I haven’t forgotten,” the blue dragon reprimanded her. Before he answered, purely to torture those he deemed intellectually inferior, he moved around the spot to find the perfect comfort. “It has no need to spread to the rest of her – it already has,” he revealed. “Had it not, her body would have rejected the limb entirely and it would have rotted off. Her Noir condition likely made it easier to accept the foreign mana. Now, it is entirely part of her, albeit the strength of the mana fed into the limb is not enough to activate it entirely.”

“So ya telling me this hand will get more powerful as I get more powerful?” Reysha asked.

“I’m saying you’re unworthy of this limb and you’re holding it back,” Melios corrected chidingly.

“There’s no risk she may turn into a demon and be pulled to the Hellroots?” Apexus asked what was the most important of all questions.

“Not with this arm alone. Demonic Enhancement is employed by many Warlocks, even if they acquire the know-how or power to make it more than a temporary boost to a limb.” Melios gave the tall humanoid chimera a dismissive glare. To him it was proof of his superiority that he even had to lay that out. “I will forgive these additional questions, due to the interesting thing you showed me. Now, however, you should be on your way. I have my affairs to tend to.”

“And we, ours,” Apexus responded, walking over to help Reysha stand up. “Farewell.”

___________________________________________________________________________

“Gods, what a cunt,” Reysha complained when they were outside the bounds of the village. She said it so loudly several of the guards could still hear her. None of them acted on it. It was a common sentiment for visitors. “A useful cunt, but still a giant lizard asshole!”

Apexus contemplated that for a moment, before saying, “There are great differences between cunts and assholes.”

“Eh, both are fuckable,” Reysha waved off. “Not that he was. Even if he was twice as hot as you are, I couldn’t put up with that personality.”

“It is literally impossible for anyone to be twice as hot as our darling,” Aclysia said. “We specifically helped him form his facial features to our liking.”

“Hellroots, fuck, what is this, anti-humour hour?!” Reysha threw her arms up into the air. “Fuck me sideways.” She lowered her arms back down and continued in a totally casual tone. “No, I mean it, can we stop for a minute and pound me against a tree?”

“No,” Apexus gave the blunt answer.

“Awww, but wai nawt?” Reysha engaged in that annoying, overly cute voice. “Down’t ya wanna giwwe cweam to yar kittwy?”

“To be… well,” Korith cleared her throat when everyone looked up to her. Sitting on top of Apexus’ shoulders, she tried not to be embarrassed about what she was about to say. “To be honest, we kinda just did something incredible and I want to celebrate it?”

“Squishy is getting hooked on sex,” Reysha said with a broad grin.

“I-I mean… it sorta, kinda, feels really good?”

“Yeah, it does. So, what’s the hold up, big guy?”

“I don’t want to delay our trip home. We’ll be on the boat for over a week. Plenty of time for fun then.” Apexus was in a mood to celebrate with some extensive intercourse himself. Priorities simply had to be set.

“Darling is right,” Aclysia decided and looked around. “Further, we could be seen by all manner of people out here.”

“But that’s what makes it hot!” Reysha declared and then raised her voice to shout. “Ain’t that right, teach’?”

No reaction from the environment. “…Is this what you were on about whenever you mentioned that we would not die?” Aclysia inquired. “You assumed we were being followed by your teacher?”

“It was a good assumption,” Mai said.

Aclysia lifted half a metre off the ground, so intensely she jumped when the Infiltrator dropped her Stealth. All of a sudden, the sounds she made, the vibrations of her steps, and her smell came into focus. The difficulty to truly spot her visually remained for several seconds. Their eyes glided off her like hands off oiled glass.

When the effect was fully dispersed, they found a lithe elven woman with a buzzcut and purple eyes walking alongside them. She wore a tunic of an earthen brown colour, almost the same as her skin and the surrounding trees.

“You did a good job noticing me, Reysha,” Mai complimented, while Aclysia slowly hovered after them. Apexus was calmly walking along. He was surprised, but his training and life so far had beaten most shock reactions out of him. Korith, on top of his shoulders, was just blinking rapidly.

“Why thank you, I did train a lot. Someone kept smacking me whenever I dropped my guard,” the redhead responded with chirping sarcasm. “She was a blonde though… well, unless she was a brunette… also she had a broader nose and massive tits.”

“I won’t bother transforming for your amusement,” Mai told her.

“So, you were tracking us… this entire time?” Korith asked, slowly growing redder as she realized what all Mai must have seen or, at least, heard.

“Don’t worry, I stayed a fair distance away when you had your private time. I wouldn’t want anyone to bother me or hubby either,” Mai responded with the smile of a patient housewife. “Took you 21 days from landing to killing the dragon. Three weeks isn’t bad for a first-time dragon kill.”

“Wanna bet Joey is still going to be pissed that we were too slow?” Reysha giggled.