A Dragon's Curiosity

Nisha barely had any recollection of the following discussion, beside the agreement to her proposal to cooperate with the [Thieves Guild] and excusing herself soon afterward.

The elf wandered through the sewers on her own and returned to the noble district, shocking the guards at the gate when she returned deep into the night.

Barely greeting the warriors and heading to her own room in a zombie like fashion, Nisha failed to get even a wink of sleep as she pondered the consequences and possible future threats a plague coming to Thurgau implied. As soon as the sun gave the slightest hint of rising in the near future, she rose from her rest and collected Accalia, who slept more often in the stable now. Rushing through the empty streets without taking in any of her surroundings, the wolf and girl pair now sat on the far end of a pier and stared at the water while the light danced over the waves.

The dragon had already learned about her own immunity against the [Blackroot Plague], which, admittedly, was a relief. Seeing and experiencing the feral unknown sailor thrash around and get infested by the plague was no pretty sight, and being exempted from that let Nisha thank her draconic roots again for protecting her.

Nonetheless, the elf had acquaintances and family to worry about now. Imagining Henry, the maid sisters or even one of her classmates at the [Royal Academy] sent a shiver down her spine. Aside from promising the thieves and the Alchemist to not share her knowledge, she had also no idea how to prepare for a coming epidemic. Who would believe a young girl about a massive death wave in the near future?

Therefore, the dragon wanted to procure protection for her family and friends at least, something she had the ability to influence.

Accalia yelped a little as a higher wave sent a small amount of cold salt water on her paws dangling from the pier, bringing her owner out of her contemplations. Stroking the supple and soft fur of her little beast, Nisha decided to look into possible solutions later, as there was no point in endlessly fretting about it now. It was time to do what she came for in the first place, descend into the Dungeon together with Little Lia, and registering her for the upcoming excursion planned for the Warrior Class by the [Royal Academy].

Ordering the wolf to follow, Nisha headed for the giant building containing the guild and the related shops before the residents had the chance to wake up and wonder why an amber predator stalked through the city or attempt to save the frail girl from the bad monster.

The monster in question was blissfully unaware and took in the sights of the city by running here and there, yelping sometimes when discovering something interesting and dragging her owner over. Accalia loved the outing already and waved her tail to and fro.

When the two arrived at the giant gates leading inside the compound to the [Adventurer’s Guild], which happened to never close as business took place around the clock here, a few passersby took an interest in the unlikely duo but held themselves back from approaching or asking anything. Beast Masters and Monster Tamers were fairly rare among adventurers; however, owning a combat pet was far from rare.

Keeping her own beast close, Nisha soon arrived at the building where she purchased the eggs together with Henry and led Accalia inside.

The clerk inside the shop carried around a crate when Nisha entered together with her wolf, not even looking back to greet her. Unlike the last time the elf visited, now there was only one employee present to receive customers.

“Wait a moment please, I need to put this away.”

The young man rushed to put away the materials he carried, apparently more so than usual as a rumbling crash could be heard from the open door leading towards the back.

Nisha had seen some minor nobles demand service right away and was about to call out to him to slow down and take his time. She did not mind waiting, and putting your social status above others seemed to be a good way to earn their resentment. Why antagonize the chefs handling your food or the tailors working on your dresses when there was a good chance they would look for a way to secretly retaliate for a little bit of time?

In the end, she restrained herself from laughing until the young employee returned with dusty and ruffled clothes, ready to discuss business with the young elf.

“What can I do for you? Is there a problem with your monster?”

Pretending to be in perfect condition, the young human had to fight a losing battle against the red shade creeping up his cheeks and ears from the embarrassment, and he tried to act in a professional manner.

Thankfully Nisha had no desire to dwell on his misfortune and pointed at her companion.

“I have bought an egg from this business a short while ago and am looking to get her registered as my beast. There will be an outing soon where I can only take the wolf along if she is recognized as a contracted beast.”

Most of the explanation she gave was pieced together from the rumors flying around in her Warrior Class, as well as a conversation with Henry, who had to run similar errands in case he wanted to bring his [Cerulean Sky Owl] and [Guardian Griffin] on official occasions as well.

“Ah, that’s great. I can see it’s a wolf of some sort; however, I need to properly identify its race and write that down on your card. Follow me; we have a specialized array for the spell.”

Retrieving a key, the man led her to one of the doors beside the counter, which had two separate wings; monsters with a bigger size also fit through.

Unlocking the simple lock, at least the dragon saw no other protections like the Alchemist had the three stood inside a chamber that reminded Nisha of her own evaluation when she first signed up as an adventurer.

Carved into the ground laid a formation of sorts, which did indeed hold the [Identify] spell. Perchance the elf was also capable of using a simplified version of it, with the caveat that this particular magic relied heavily on the knowledge of the caster to give out corresponding results.

An adventurer might pick up a herb due to identifying it as a healing herb while a specialized herbalist or alchemist would get a much more detailed result from the same cast, telling them about the age, quality, and characteristics of the plant.

Using a previously arranged array like this had advantages as well, since the results displayed as much information as mana was supplied, meaning that a channeled [Identify] from this room potentially had a chance to reveal everything about Accalia, from her race to her cultivation rank, quality of her fur and bones, future potential, and so on.

The boundary came from the amount of mana needed for such detailed accounts, the caster would need almost infinite mana to reveal everything hidden inside the wolf.

Therefore, more specialized versions of the same spell existed for different professions. Smiths needed to know the percentage of pure metal in their ores and not the history and composition of the chemical compounds an alchemist might want to know.

From her [Spirit Eyes], Nisha concluded this particular array had a most basic [Identify] contained, which made sense considering the store sold all kinds of monsters and beasts. Specialising in one direction meant a loss of efficiency for other kinds.

“Please order the monster to remain inside the circle while I activate the scan. We will only record the species and current cultivation, which I need to transcribe on your card. Our books also retain a copy of the info, in case there is a dispute so there is proof.

This will be over in a moment.”

Pouring his somewhat poor earth mana into the array, the [Identify] properly activated, though the elf noted the employee barely had enough magical prowess to do it once. Fortunately, the result appeared on a blank stone slate nearby, giving him the chance to catch his breath before copying the details over on an empty piece of paper.

“First time I hear of a [Scaled Windwolf] … that’s a variation, isn’t it?

Second aura rank and... first mana rank as well? So it is indeed a beast! Congratulations.”

Meanwhile, Nisha allowed Accalia to return to her side, the wolf disliked the prickly feeling of being scanned over apparently and complained with little yelps to her master. Who in turn only sighed and petted the beast, placating her somewhat.

With the procedure completed, the three returned to the counter. The employee noted down the information before asking for Nisha’s adventurer card. She wondered somewhat where the man would still have a place to add more content to it, seeing as the whole back acted as her student identification for the [Royal Academy] and the front already had her basic information, rank as an adventurer, and left little space for other writing.

Her worries were unfounded as the young human used a magical tool to put down a stamp on the front of the card, fitting perfectly in a previously empty square under her rank.

“You did say you purchased the egg for you beast not long ago, right?

Congratulations again in that case. To have already awakened into a beast, variants are something else.”

Beaming as if it was his own achievement, he handed the card back.

“There is not much I have to inform you about. Due to the magical contract, the beast is treated as your property; please make sure to keep control over it at all times. All damage caused by it will be considered done by you, which will result in fines or bills if there is an incident.

The stamp contains the current rank and species of your beast, all guards, and guild related personal have a method to read the stored data.

I hope you excel as a beast master and will continue to peruse our services.”

Compared to his earlier entrance, the human man did have the flair of a practiced salesman now, dazzling Nisha somewhat. His smile still held a businesslike note, but he had congratulated her in earnest when he praised Accalia as a beast.

“Thank you as well. Sorry to bother you so early, I will take my leave now.”

Returning her card into her [Soul Space] and motioning Little Lia to follow her, she waved goodbye to the attendant. As soon as the unlikely duo left through the door, the man retrieved a small magical item from a hidden drawer beneath the counter and established a connection to an identical item in another location.

“I found a good target. Yes, I am sure; they were just here. No, no one else knows. I am the only one here at the moment. It’s a wolf type variant. No, that’s not important. I performed an [Identify] as part of the normal procedure and discovered it is already a beast at the second aura rank. Imagine the growth potential. Send someone later to retrieve the note, I made a copy of the [Adventurer’s Card] and will work on a description of the girl owning the beast while the carrier. Don’t forget my share.”

Almost giddy with his imagination, the young man pulled up all the information he had on his latest customer and started writing a report.

The person in question was blissfully unaware of this development and led her wolf on to the first floor of the Dungeon, ignoring all the early risers looking for a team, crowding the giant stairs leading downwards.

As a magical beast herself, Nisha had some ideas regarding Accalia’s combat potential, at least a rough estimate. Compared to a full blooded dragon, the wolf might lack a bit, but that’s why the girl accompanied her and was ready to fill the gap. Straying from the obviously well-trodden path to find a room with a monster, the elf retrieved her gear and readied herself for combat. Accalia noticed this change in behavior; she had never seen her owner get so serious and focused before. Relying on her instincts, the wolf similarly turned wary and used all of her senses to grasp the changes.

Soon the two came to a chamber with a single opponent, a fitting adversary for Little Lia’s first fight.

Standing in the center of the room, a green skinned monster blinked and stared at them, holding a wooden club and scratching its bare belly. Nisha remembered the data she knew about the [Goblin], which apparently marked the cutoff for fledgling adventurers to leave behind their beginner days of collection and messenger quests. Even the consultants back at the guild recommended this monster for those looking for their first blood.

Checking twice to make sure no other party, whether human or monster, hid away in the shrubs growing randomly in the room, the dragon judged the situation as safe to start training her companion.

If there had been a second monster or outside interference, Nisha might have been forced to create an appropriate setting, namely killing off other monsters or securing the perimeter. Happy with the wary attitude Little Lia exhibited but had not rushed off yet without her command, the elf pointed at the green creature which warily shifted to their left side, looking to create a more favorable chance to assault one of them.

“Kill!”

With that, the bundle of fur beside her burst into motion