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Rosen Flame B1 — 4. Wood Elf Surprise!
🕑 Added 2023-09-14 07:38:42 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Malik (Our MC and Humanity's Hero!)
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The crash of waves followed their path across the beach, with Malik glancing every so often at the dragon woman beside him, wondering what was on her mind. He was making all of this up on the fly, but he’d made good progress with the pink-haired girl. What did he need to do now? He needed to find a shrine to Titania for instruction was what he needed to do.
Malik’s gaze darted to the somewhat expansive docks of Emisberg when they came into view, magically lit lamps illuminating the somewhat busy area with people going about their early morning prep-work activities.
He’d only stopped here once when he’d accepted a quest by the Imperium Bank Union to protect their high-risk caravan. They transferred large quantities of funds between banking locations, marking them for bandits. It worked out since there were a few A-tier Dungeons that needed to be dealt with on the way and he was feeling a bit low after dying on his previous quest at the time. The Dungeons were soloable, he needed EXP, and the cores needed to be broken before the monsters were allowed to escape and flood the nearby communities.
One of the banking executives had been quite talkative about the town, and from what he recalled, Emisberg was first and foremost a trading port town that linked to three trading routes, bringing in exotic supplies from overseas to be distributed across Tenebrin.
That being said, due to its active nature, its baron did deal in a lot of local supplies that the passing merchants and travelers would need or desire, such as vineyards, livestock, barley, and wheat, among other smaller manor trades. More than half the town was employed in some way by the baron, and their common goods were the cheapest on the market.
Merchants used the port to transport goods due to the low taxes involved since the baron’s family had been given a tax exemption order by the previous Tenebrin king in order to grow the new settlement. It made it a prime place for out-of-country businesses to get a leg up on international trade.
Since it was a distance away from many well-fortified and well-guarded cities with kingdom soldiers, it was the baron’s job to keep the place safe, not enjoying the safety of the kingdom or landowning viscounts’ garrisons. Yet, from what he recalled, the baron didn’t pick up the slack. And from word of mouth, the viscount that governed this area had more or less left the aspiring noble to his own devices to fail, soured by not getting taxes from the baron.
In response, the baron opted to hire manpower from the local Mercenary, Dungeoneering, and Adventuring Guilds. He bid out his jobs to whoever would take the lowest rate, which was far cheaper than keeping up with a standing military, but the merchants didn’t like the uncertainty and somewhat distasteful methods some of these encounters brought, such as the rising practice of ‘tips.’
Malik pondered on all the information he knew about the seaport town, debating if he shouldn’t stop off at the bank and instead take some jobs to get some normal coins not to draw attention. Although he really wanted to live a better life if he was on borrowed time, and he had the kind of funds that one would expect from being the number one guy kings, presidents, and oligarchs called to get shit done.
A plan started to form in his settling mind, plotting out how this might go and what he needed to do in order to accomplish this ‘quest.’
Marquess Stephan Dalmore, an extremely influential figure in the Telebrin Monarchy and one of his closest friends, had granted him a joking title when they’d last split. It should be on the Kingdom Registry System and wasn’t connected to his last name. It could work.
His shifting eyes lowered to the smiling dragon woman, seemingly putting her attention on how well she was now walking in the sand; Malik considered his options.
It would be a lot more challenging to live life on hard mode as a peasant or tradesman, but he wasn’t sure if blind rage counted in her no-conscious-killings rule. She was beyond proud and demanding. Plus, he really didn’t want to live that life when he’d stacked up so much wealth from his hazardous lifestyle.
If he was being honest with how he saw things playing out, there was only one path he could take, which he wasn’t totally against, and it would bring her into a world she could find challenging to navigate; it would be challenging to navigate himself but somewhat fun. He just had to somehow get Rose to go along with it.
The dragon had promised to remain close to his level, not willfully hurt people, and live the life of a mortal human woman. It made no sense to him. She was tyrannical, moody, and had a… could he call it a superiority complex if she literally was superior to almost everything anyone had any conception of? He’d have to shelf that one.
Although, probably one of the most puzzling things about Rose was her sincerity and openness, and it bugged him. Sure, she would do whatever she wanted, but she didn’t try to manipulate him. Loads of people had tried to use him throughout his life, so he was used to it. Yet, he hadn’t seen a hint of deception in this tyrannical woman. Was it her power? Maybe that was how people saw him, and why they tried to deceive him as he’d done to Rose, just in an honest way.
Something from their earlier conversation did pique his interest in that regard: the comment about her ‘tiny snake’ of a mother.
He turned his gaze to the local lamps as they neared the stone steps at the outskirts of the beachside town, kept lit throughout the night by a local Wizard. It was probably a bid job given weekly to the Adventurer or Dungeoneering Guild.
Malik cleared his throat, spotting the early-morning fishermen, traders, merchants, serfs, and other town residents on the docks. As he expected, they drew attention as they came into eyeshot of the warm magical lamps of the town. Their fancy clothes would certainly pull notice, and one of them was a stunning young woman who had pink hair, horns, and a tail. Devilkin were fairly rare and not well received, but Rose had her own unique look that was more akin to dragonborn.
“Ahem. Can I ask you a somewhat personal question, Rose?” he asked, trying to ignore the stares.
She barely so much as glanced his way, her intelligent sky-blue eyes wandering between the pre-daylight bustling crowds of people; they were mostly human, but a few beastkin, elves, gnomes, and even a dwarf or two could be spotted.
“I don’t have any reason not to answer your questions. Was it not you who told me it is normal in courtship to learn about one another?”
Malik gulped as her amiable gaze flicked to him before returning to her study of the ‘lesser beings’ of the town and tourists of the Lawful-Good monarchy of Tenebrin.
He heard whisperings between passing groups, discussing the weird earthquake and blast of wind. Apparently, there had been some minor property damages, but no one reported being injured thus far.
“Right, I did…”
“Mhm…” Her surprisingly upbeat tone caught him off-guard. “I am attempting to learn the bizarre and complicated stupidity that surrounds the human experience. Heheh. If there is one thing your lesser species excels in, it is somehow making everything more convoluted than necessary.”
She giggled and lifted her tail to direct him to an elderly man fussing over a smudge mark on his shop window. He didn’t even notice the man existed, but his tingling hand soon brought his attention back to the shockingly unbothered attitude of the dragon.
Malik chuckled more at the odd situation he’d found himself in than the OCD man, taking note of Rose’s smile and their linked fingers. If he were just watching on the sidelines, he’d see their swaying, intertwined hands and assume they were a happy couple on a morning stroll. Well, technically, they kind of were supposed to be.
“I guess we do sometimes do pointless stuff,” he whispered, noticing the world growing brighter with the sun rising in the sky. Rose’s repeated words struck him in a weird way; he should take his own advice. “Huh. So, you insinuated that dragons don’t lie, and I shouldn’t doubt your word—since you’re a dragon—but… your mother lied to you about your soul-pact giving me wings. How does that work?”
Rose’s cheer diminished a tad, her brow furrowing as she took note of the more extravagant buildings along the cobblestone walkway on the sides of Main Street, horse-drawn carts passing them by on the street, filled with goods to be loaded onto the ships.
“That’s a silly question that a mortal dolt like you would ask, but I suppose it isn’t your fault.”
“Woah.” He squeezed her hand, making her smile return as she looked into his eyes. “Thanks for realizing I know about as much as you as you know about why humans do our weird things.”
“Mhm.” Her tail retained its sway while taking in the town as he pulled her across an intersection; he spotted the bank without trouble, being the only marble building in sight. “True Dragons lie to each other all the time since we are threats to one another, but why would we need to deceive pathetic land-bound creatures like humans?”
“Fair point,” he conceded, now having the answer. Basically, why worry about the dirt on the side of the road? She couldn’t give a damn about humanity for the most part, and she wasn’t some honest saint. Why waste valuable mental space on lesser beings or an inferior planet? “I’m… now getting the feeling you didn’t melt the whole western plains of Rashguard because you wanted to destroy the world.”
Rose gave him an incredulous stare, confirming his fear as he peered at the plaque by the door to check the banking hours. “And who’s the slime of a brain that thought that? I was singing and dancing while burning my way to a leyline for a midnight snack. I didn’t like how the last two tasted, so I came to the one you found me at.”
“Singing, dancing, and a snack,” Malik repeated, breathing out a soft, overwhelmed laugh as he ran his free hand through his hair, trying to process what insanity he’d just opened up to himself. “Well, looks like they aren’t open ‘till noon, and I can’t purchase anything with the coins I have.”
She looked at the door as he pulled her back to the cobblestone walkway. He couldn’t do anything without breaking up his coins into smaller currencies, like iron or steel, since his lowest currency was a single Imperium copper coin, which could straight up purchase him a horse.
“What is… purchase?” she mumbled before a spark lit in her bright eyes. “Oh! I recall a lesser red dragon telling me once that humans use these things called ‘coins’ to trade for materials, which is why he hordes them. Hehe. Some lesser dragons have this pointless fixation with making humans envy them, but I suppose it does bring the weak creatures to their depressingly isolated lairs to challenge them. Such a roundabout way of doing things. Lazy.”
“Absolutely,” he nodded, imagining some Level 75 Adult Black Dragon licking his jowls and waiting for some adventurer party to storm his cave for the goods; even ‘lesser dragons’ seemed to be challenge junkies. “I was expecting you to…”
He slowed, bringing them to a halt as he spotted a brunette wood elf woman across the street, wearing a white Imperium Bank Union high-neck dress and black leggings that made her stand out. She dropped her carrying bag upon spotting them, eyes going wide. Rose glanced between them as Malik showed a bright smile and waved; fortune smiled upon him.
“Ms. Ena! Wow. Did Aymer retire? Are you running the Emisberg branch now? It’s been a while,” he chimed, feeling better upon seeing a familiar face that he’d traveled with on the banking job he’d done for the IBU. “How have you been?”
Malik pulled Rose across the smooth stone street as the morning Wizard maintenance crew came into sight, preparing to block off parts of the road on their weekly routine. Ena’s face turned scarlet as she ducked down to gather the papers that had fallen before straightening and brushing back her shoulder-length hair.
“Sir Malik, I-I wasn’t aware an Adamantite hero would be—”
“Shhh!” She cut off as his smile strained, and he held a finger to his mouth with several onlookers staring and whispering to one another. “Uh, I assume you’re going to start on the early morning bookwork at the bank? The Bank Manager is the first in, right?”
“Y-Yeah,” she stammered, keeping her voice down while glancing at the curious pink-haired dragon girl he held hands with. “Who… is the dragonborn you are with? Another reincarnate?”
Rose’s interest sank into an insulted glare. “You would call me something as—”
“Rose! Rose!” Malik hastily interjected, gritting his teeth at her twitch that threatened to crush his hand and heated, pink-flaming irises that turned to him. “We need to talk about customs and expectations, Rose! Umm. Ena—Ena, can you, eh—hsss… Can we have a chat in the bank—alone?”
Ena’s elf ears drooped a tad under the suddenly tense situation as she held her bag tightly against her chest; she was actually fairly young for an elf at the age of ninety-seven, only just barely coming into her elf adulthood. She’d run away at the age of eighty-eight from her wooden homeland in a spirit of immature rebellion, only for the seventeen-year-old emotionally-minded elf to be met by a completely different world than she’d expected.
“Yeah… Yeah, follow me—a-and I’m sorry if I offended you, Ms. Rose.”
If people weren’t staring before, now he had a snarling dragon girl with literally flaming pink hair, which seemed to cool the atmosphere rather than burn it, and a financial pillar of this community flustered and hurrying to lead the way into the bank. This quest was doomed for failure.
If he’d seen this happening, he’d think they were shaking the bank manager down and trying to rob the place; it was lucky she didn’t have a bodyguard with her, which was kind of weird, now that he thought about it. He scanned the crowd, seeing some white-faced women hurrying off to no doubt fetch some kind of policing or protective figure.
Very few people would actually know what he looked like since photography and images were somewhat rare in this world. His name would be passed among bar-talk, but unless it was a well-established internationally based organization, few would instantly recognize him. Additionally, it wasn’t like he stayed in towns or cities for more than a chat with a local dignitary before speeding off to do some critical job.
He was just some shady new guy in town, dressed up with fancy artifacts. In fact, it was more likely he was a pirate or bandit than otherwise.
Well… this could have gone better, he internally groaned, glad to see Rose had turned her glare on him and hadn’t caused a huge scene yet; she was innocent, but not dumb, which was a blessing. She’s reading the atmosphere better than I would have hoped.
Ena fumbled with a set of keys from her bag and opened the door with small crowds gathering outside to discuss the strange sight. The wood elf only kept it unlocked for a second before closing it behind them.
Rose’s ignited pink locks settled when they entered the dimly lit space, now only slightly burning. Ena swallowed the lump in her throat with visual effort, trying to understand what the hell was happening, but when her fervent hazel eyes locked on them again, it was on their left hands.
“So, what is the, umm… nature of your visit?”
Malik almost bit his tongue as Rose let go of his hand, a rush of anxiety filling his chest with the disconnected circuit that broke the spark pulsating in his blood. She stepped away to give him a pointed look, ignoring the bewildered long-eared woman entirely to address him. Her glowing blue eyes were unwavering with her displeased stare.
“I am not happy with the way I am being treated, Malik. Our soul-pact gives me certain insights into how you feel, and our courtship date occupied your heart until seeing this rude and unsociable wood elf.”
He could practically see Ena repeating the words under her breath as she stood off to the side, roped into something she likely wanted no part of. Also, knowing Rose had an insight into his feelings was a troublesome revelation; in essence, she’d been the center of his world since their bond, and she was now experiencing something new when she hadn’t been on his mind.
Scratching his temple, he sighed and straightened; he had to be direct and clear if she was going to understand, even if it was uncomfortable.
“All of this is new to me, as well, Rose, and I know a soul-pact is new to you. You must understand that as a part of our courtship, there will be things you won’t understand because you know hardly anything about humans, which is why this is a challenge; why I am trying to teach you.”
Ena grew visibly more flustered by the confrontational discussion as they talked.
“Yes, which is something I accepted in our pact,” Rose heatedly returned, tail flicking with agitation as her eyes narrowed. “I give you lesser beings a great amount of leniency due to your small minds and minuscule understanding, but the one thing I have never experienced is such blatant disrespect that you seem entirely to blame for, which goes against everything that I thought about you, and that is frustrating.”
It clicked in Malik’s mind, making him run his hand down his face in exasperation; it wasn’t mainly about Ena calling her a dragonborn but his relief and acceptance of it that was getting to her, essentially making her feel like he saw her as a lesser being.
How can there be such a disconnect in understanding when she can perceive how I feel? No, I guess that has its own misinterpretations since she can’t tell the context and can color her own perception onto mine…
“Rose,” he began, keeping his focus on her to not give her the idea he was trying to blow her off. “If you want this courtship and pact to work, people can’t know who you are, which means, yes, you will need to accept being called a dragonborn, but I will never think of you like that… Just because I am glad others see you that way does not mean I see you that way… Understand?”
A low rumble came from the woman’s throat with her penetrating, serpent’s gaze on him, yet a light smile soon dispersed the tension. “I see. Naturally, my true identity would disrupt the courting process since lesser beings lose their minds when seeing me. I will forgive the transgression and ignorance of others. Extend your hand; I enjoy the warm sensation of our touching skin.”
Malik didn’t know how he was supposed to respond to that as he held it out for her smaller hand to close around his. He kind of felt like a puppy, but it was a sight to see the terrifying dragon’s flames disperse, content face, and lightly wagging tail return. Was she the puppy or more like a demanding cat?
Unfortunately, he’d closed one can of worms to open another, trying to navigate a minefield. Ena cleared her throat, added a somewhat forced but charming smile, and held her bag at her front.
“Am I to presume by the rings on Rose and your fingers that the two of you are betrothed and going through courtship?”
Rose’s unassuming eyes returned to the wood elf. “We are courting with the expectation of sex as mammals procreate in order to create a powerful child that will be a match to challenge me in the short future. Malik is also attempting to show me the challenges of human female pregnancy. I am not impressed thus far.”
Malik cursed under his breath as Ena’s brain and eyes checked out. “I see… Mammal sex. That was very… explicit. Umm. Congratulations, Malik?”
“Wait—give me a chance to explain!” he hastily returned.
Ena held up a finger, her face pale and throat constricted as she took a moment to respond. “Just… please, give me a second, I’m not…”
She turned and briskly left for a nearby hallway, disappearing down a branching corridor.
Malik groaned, squeezing Rose’s hand and pulling her toward the front desk to wait for Ena. The large marble-themed area was a symbol of how prosperous the bank was, and he guessed the lights were kept active by mana pools, typically an expensive technology for this world, reserved for the wealthy and very large city infrastructure.
Rose was still focused on the place Ena went to, but Malik studied the painted currency diagram on the desk surface, trying to forget what had just happened.
“I was unaware that wood elves were like many aviary creatures,” she passively commented, drawing Malik’s confused gaze.
“How do you mean?”
The dragon pointed a perfect pink fingernail at a wall. “Ena is ejecting her stomach contents into a bowl. Humans do not do such practices for their young, right?”
“Drak,” Malik cursed, leaning against the large wooden desk and feeling bad now. “No, it’s something we do if we are really stressed or sick. If I’m here, it can be assumed there is something big happening nearby, which isn’t normal for this town. And the vision you gave her wasn’t the most… settling. Can you let me talk with her first?”
“I am just observing and learning more about mortal interaction,” she stated, turning her attention to the coin illumination with interest.
Not knowing what to do about the uncomfortable situation, Malik closed his eyes and tried to block out the world. Memories of his time with Ena came back as he tried to figure out what to do about this awkward situation Rose had landed them in.
As he did with anyone who showed interest in adventuring, when Ena showed wanted to expand her skillset as a Bard when on their journey, he was more than willing to accommodate her. It was one of the few social things he liked to do.
Guiding people in a world he knew like the back of his hand released stress and helped him see things from a lower level standpoint again. It was important to realize the limits of each tier of adventurer.
He could clear out a C-tier Max Rank Dungeon’s full 40 floors of Level 20 to 25 Elites in under an hour by rushing the Floor Bosses. So, spending a few more hours supporting the lowbies to learn how to farm was relaxing for him. Ena was pleasant company, too, and was a wizard on the cello. It was a shock how ignorant even elves were about Dungeons, though.
In fact, it was crazy how little people knew about The System, but Stephen’s family had a whole private library section on it that they’d gathered info on for the last seven hundred years. It helped with research when you had the Infinite Dungeon in your city, even more, when you were the lord over it.
Malik glanced at Rose, still puzzling over the currency. Ena was rational and intelligent, so she probably just needed some time to come to terms with seeing him again. Between the earthquake, gale, and spotting him less than an hour later with a dragonborn, it wasn’t hard to see why she might even think a sea dragon might be nearby; that could ruin someone’s appetite, for sure.
Just relax. It can’t get worse, right? Please, don’t get worse!
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