Geral approached the central market, half listening to the girls' conversation behind him. They were talking about some guy named Spartacius, and he sighed inwardly.

All that guy seemed to have done for the girls was to hold Awa in his arms while his mother had killed some slavers, then he had hired Noviel and almost caused her to kill herself, and the two were seriously discussing bleeding for him, wanted to search the world for him and throw themselves at his feet.

How can this world be so unjust?

He had worked for them, saved them from being enslaved, risked his life for them not only once, and had not made any blunder to cause them any grief, and what did he get? More troubles and work!

Life was so unfair! He almost wanted to scream his frustration to the sky when Awa's scream brought him back to reality.

“Yaiii! A dragon! Yaii!”

There was a joke in the kingdom that sounded like this: do you know anybody who had seen a dragon? The general answer was: no. Why? Because you have to survive the encounter to be able to tell stories about seeing it.

Why did this stupid joke come instantly to his mind?

He turned and saw a giant black dragon's head about twelve meters away, looking at them. He almost pissed himself. He had just looked there a moment ago, and there was nothing but a huge mound of rocks and an orc! Now Awa was hiding behind him, almost climbing on him. As if climbing in his arms would protect her!

“Don't scream like a bitch, or Fify will eat you!”

The huge orc spat in Awa's direction.

“Whom are you calling a bitch!?” - countered Noviel, full of adrenaline after seeing the dragon, trying instinctively to put an arrow in her bow. She moved her hand to take her bow from her shoulder and cursed silently, not finding it there. Anabella had made Geral take it in his inventory.

“Don't bitch, bitch, Fify is hungry!” - the orc said with a sigh and turned his back with disdain, continuing his work. Noviel's eyes went wide with anger.

“Geral, give me my bow!” - muttered Noviel in a low voice.

Geral sighed. Why is Spartacius not here to fight valiantly for his two admirers? If the dragon was not enough, one glance at the orc was enough to convince him that there was absolutely no reason to escalate.

“Calm down, everybody.” - he turned to Awa - “You should not scream; that only attracts the beast's attention to you in case of trouble...”

“But, but a real dragon? I've never seen a dragon in my life! It... it... it is said that if you see one, it is the last thing you see...” - she babbled, hanging at his arm.

Geral sighed:

“I don't know, but I am sure he does not like hearing people yelling at him.”

“Only when he chews them, then he loves them screaming!” - the orc said with a grin continuing to clean around the dragon - “Isn't it Fify?”

“Gramph!” - answered the dragon nodding and placing his head back over its giant paws. Awa's eyes grew only larger, but the next moment changed everything.

The orc patted its head, and the dragon made a sound like purring, closing its eyes. Noviel's eyes shot daggers, but Awa reacted differently. As if standing under a spell, she started to grin, mesmerized, forgetting that she should feel insulted.

“I... I... I would like to pet him too...” - said Awa with glassy eyes.

Geral's hands fell down synchronously with his jaw, but the orc heard her too and turned to look at her with a different grin. This one was more joyous. Geral hated the way he eyed her.

“Her! You may earn the right to pet her... if you give me a kiss here!” - the orc said, pointing at his green cheek.

“Really?” - said Awa, and surprising everybody, she sneaked around the rocks and debris that formed a kind of barrage around the dragon's zone.

“Wait!” - said Geral trying to catch her hand but too late.

“Stop! One inside is enough!” - the orc said, raising his palm towards Geral.

Awa stopped for a moment, then seeing it was not meant for her, she got closer. The dragon raised its head and looked at Awa. Geral's heart froze when he saw the gigantic head hovering above the girl.

The dragon breathed in and exhaled, causing Awa's hair to flutter. Geral did not dare say anything, afraid it could cause a harsh reaction. The orc grinned and pointed at his cheek.

Awa came closer and realized she was too short. She tried to send a kiss to the orc, but he shook his head.

“No, that's not good enough.”

She looked at the dragon, then embraced the orc pushing herself on her toes to give him a proper kiss on the cheek.

“Almost good!” - the orc said laughing - “but only almost. You have one last try!”

Several people have stopped walking, looking at the incident. A group on the side was just betting if the dragon would swallow Awa or not. The bet was fifty-fifty, pro and con, and Geral was starting to feel panic gripping his heart. What could he do?

Awa almost jumped the orc, dragging him to her height as much as possible and gave him a long, very loud kiss on the cheek. If Geral had not been so afraid for her life, he would be jealous of the orc.

“Now, that was a proper kiss!” - the orc laughed softly with a satisfied grin, then added - “Olomuc!" - and shook her hand - "and you are?”

The girl answered with big round eyes on her face:

“Awa!”

“Beautiful name! Well, Awa, let me introduce Fify to you. Fify! This is Awa. Fify, Awa is not food, got it?”

Awa's eyes went even rounder at being introduced as no-food, but Fify snorted and shook her head. The orc whispered in Awa's ear:

“Let me tell you a secret; she understands each and every word, isn't it, Fify?”

"She? Is she a girl like me?"

Olomuc laughed at the comparison but nodded.

"Yes, she is a girl! And she has very good ears!"

The dragon shook her head bravely. Olomuc took Awa under his arm, much too tight, to Geral's displeasure, grabbed her right hand and pulled her towards the dragon, who lowered her head to let her reach it. It was not enough, and the orc put his right hand under Awa's waist and raised her in his hands. Geral winced, seeing how he had grabbed her, but Awa had only eyes for the dragon. She threw her hand towards the dragon's head, and as the dragon lowered her head further, she petted it.

“Oooooh!” said Awa, almost synchronous with the dragon's purr.

For Awa, it was a fascinating immortal moment that should not end. She almost closed her eyes, feeling the dragon's skin under her palm and giggled.

After a couple of seconds, the orc put her back on her feet away from the dragon.

“So, anytime you want to touch Fify, you know the price. Now go away; she is hungry and wants to eat in silence; I'll give her her food now, and I don't want her to get confused, you know what I mean?”

Awa needed a couple of seconds to come down from the excitement of having touched the dragon to understand what the orc had said, she snorted, and she had the feeling that Fify winked at her. She giggled and went away, then turned and exchanged another look with the dragon once she got by Geral, but then the dragon concentrated on the orc who was pulling huge pieces of flesh out from his inventory.

“Fuck, that monster would have eaten that girl and still be hungry!” - she heard one slaver talk to another whilst they were eyeing the meat being thrown her way.

Geral sighed, watching the loser pay the other one as he had lost the bet.

“You risked your life for that?” - wondered Geral

Awa watched him with glassy eyes:

“But I've petted a dragon!”

As if that would explain everything.