A Dragon's Curiosity

Ascending the stairs coming from the first layer of the Dungeon, an odd pair of a tired and trodden down wolf crawling along the stone with the minimal amount of effort required and an elf in high spirits decked out in leather gear but unarmed emerged.

Onlookers curious gazes were drawn to the duo, wondering if they encountered the wailing ghost phenomenon earlier but felt hesitant to approach a monster tamer regardless. Even with the magical contracts binding the creatures to their masters, not all of the professional tamers had good enough tempers to allow anyone to approach them.

Hence nobody disturbed Nisha as she dragged along towards the main branch of the guild.

Nonetheless, a figure with shining eyes quickly left the crowd, running in a certain direction.

Meanwhile, the elf went to the counter specialized in buying loot from the returning teams.

Every monster left behind some sort of item, almost always related to itself, when the dungeon reclaimed the bodies. The dragon only heard about it and read about the phenomenon in books; she only saw it herself today since the bodies the elf allocated to Lia as her spoils of war had not been put inside her [Inner Storage]. After about half a candle, when they rested between battles as the wolf needed the break, the corpses were strewn around melted away and left behind items.

This situation often filled adventurers with great joy, as everyone practiced this custom and named it ‘looting.’ When the remnants completely vanished, their rewards for battles where the whole team staked their life appeared.

Generally, the loot corresponded to the strength of the monster had been slain. A kobold would generally leave behind a kobold hide or a weapon it used while a golem left behind a core. There was no confirmed rule for the allocation of loot, and if it were always like this, maybe more groups would challenge the Wilderness instead of flocking to Dungeons.

With a small chance, the drop left behind either had a greater value, resulting in a rare drop, or the adventurers found something different altogether.

The best example was the monster eggs sold by the [Adventurer’s Guild]. Every monster, from the lowest [Goblin] to legendary beasts like a [Fire Phoenix] had a chance to award an additional [Monster Egg] when the body disappeared. The contents of these extraordinary rewards did not have to match the foes that dropped them either.

A strong beast might relinquish the spawn for a weak monster and vice versa, opening a good avenue for the guild to buy and sell these treasures. Teams that did not want to take a chance with their luck sold the goods off, while gamblers looked for a cheap deal that might grant them a vicious beast in return, earning their investment tenfold back or more.

Naturally, these lucky incidents only happened a few times and not even every turn, but the allure of betting money on it allowed the rumors to spread and draw in more and more customers every turn.

Henry and Nisha would be praised as big winners if the publicly announced how they gained four companions who all had the potential to awaken as beasts, resulting in a bidding frenzy as gamblers hoped to gain a bit of the good batch of goods as well.

Nisha however had a somewhat bad opinion of this loot allocation, as she had to console a heartbroken Accalia when their spoils of war left behind meager hides and some chunks of flesh with the occasional rare loot mixed in, which still was not worth much, considering how the duo only stayed on the first floor, hunting first ranked monsters.

Only after promising to sell off their gains and order a lot of meat for the wolf did she somewhat calm down and continue to train with the elf.

Now, the two carried their spoils from the elemental constructs, the tasty meatbags and all the other critters the wolf had to take care of during their outing. More than once had Accalia felt the loving push in the right direction, which meant a leather boot kicking her in the direction of yet another monster. Collecting all manners of ore, herbs, leather, and meat on the journey, the enticing promise of a nicely done steak from the street vendors and unlimited refills were the only things keeping the wolf from giving up and keeling over.

Funnily enough, the miscellaneous items reminded Nisha about items she recognized and the elf did an investigation in her [Inner World]. At some point in time, a new growth of plants, veins in the ground, and even advanced versions of the initial small animals materialized. From her examination, the most abundant numbers existed at the first rank, followed by a smaller number of second rank materials and entities, and finally a minority of third rankers.

Going by her own recent advancement, Nisha had a theory of how that came to be, but she needed a longer period to make sure of it.

All these random thoughts ceased when the somewhat disbelieving look of the counter attendant brought her back to the present.

Teams who delved into the dungeon regularly brought back big hauls to the clerks; that was why the guild paid them a lot of money to stand by and be ready to accept commissions at all times.

However these parties also generally consisted of several members, and they looked wartorn and tired from their efforts.

Yet, the current client only consisted of a girl, whose armor did not have as much as a single tear or stain and a wolf who crawled along the ground, ready to breathe its last at any moment.

“Excuse me, is there any problem?”

The subtlety of the situation escaped Nisha, who could not make heads or tails out of the open-mouthed fool staring at her.

Recently, the elf noticed a trend where this sort of response became more frequent, leaving her somewhat out of the loop. Inside, the dragon guessed she somehow had to know what this was about. However, all her conjectures and guesses either fell through or had some flaws.

“Oh no, no problems. I was only surprised; sorry for that. Allow me to sort through your items; it might take a while to identify everything and estimate the correct price.

Please stand by for a while.”

Calling over another worker to appraise the whole load, he picked out several herbs of similar nature and placed them on a tray. As the elf had already seen this procedure several times, she knew about having to wait and pulled a nearby chair to the counter, getting Accalia to rest her head on her lap and petting the wolf’s head and ears.

In that relaxed state, Nisha pulled out a rare drop, the piece that intrigued the elf the most.

As a magician in her own right, she learned a simple version of the spell. On the first layer of the dungeon, only first ranked monsters had the chance to appear. Yet the wolf and the elf still managed to acquire a material belonging to the second grade.

Near the end of the excursion, a variant monster appeared. Instead of a [Cobalt Plains Deer], which belonged to the water element, an [Azure Crystal Horn Stag] took on their challenge, the single instance where Nisha had to step in and fight herself. As a peak ranked monster of the first layer, Lia might have been able to put up a good fight, but Nisha was not willing to see her darling hurt, spent, and bleeding after a long and arduous fight.

Even for her, the foe had a bad compatibility; instead of the usual grace and flexibility derived from the water system, the [Azure Crystal Horn Stag] emphasized evasion and concentrated one point attacks.

The glowing blue horn on its head surpassed the first realm, reaching the prowess of an early second tier attack.

If Nisha had been still in the second realm as well, a long drawn out fight would have been the only choice.

After executing the deer and claiming the shiny treasure, the duo waited for their loot and got a pleasant surprise. The dragon recalled the information she got from her [Identify] spell.

[Fine Marbled Meat]: a treasure meant for gourmets. Despite its low grade, the second tier meat is the culmination of taste and flavor of all monsters of the same level. Whenever it is released on the market, all gourmets scramble to obtain it.

Nisha suspected her own indulgence for good food influenced the description to some extent.

After all, the spell drew on the knowledge of the user and supplemented the missing parts through magic. The exact process still astounded many scholars, and ongoing research happened on the topic.

Still, the wolf salivated as soon as the [Fine Marbled Meat] dropped and only the promises of a mountain of food they could obtain with it dissuaded the wolf from pouncing.

Truthfully, the dragon inside the elf had similar notions, and only her rationality deterred her from wolfing it down raw as well.

The buil-up resentment from the harsh treatment in the dungeon melted away as Lia enjoyed the petting. Her owner still knew what was best after all; maybe the lessons earlier allowed the wolf to sublimate her awakened primal instinct with the wisdom of a hunter.

Consequently, the beast was the first to growl in anger when a group of three approached the counter as two-thirds of the accumulated items were taken away. Accalia sensed their evil intent and was ready to jump at them if the elf did not hold her back with a silent command.

He held himself with the lordliness and grandeur of someone important, but the fact that he had to prove himself to the public and show off meant he had neither.

On either side, tall and menacing guards stalked near him, one with a face full of scars and the other with a permanent scowl.

Since they aimed at the elf and the wolf straight away and glanced at none of the other counters, it left little leeway about their targets.

In turn, the arriving mister seized their objectives up as well. He had gotten a message from one of his contacts working for him secretly.

Based on his information, this young girl obtained a rare variant monster without the personal strength to back herself up or a powerful benefactor, which neither appeared in the background check done on her information stored by the guild, which the contact leaked them as well.

As soon as the report came back to the young master he served, he gave out orders to acquire the monster.

Sending his personal bodyguards along, the servant reveled in the public attention and reverence the commoners paid him while he was in charge.

Nisha naturally had no idea about his misgivings and did not bother with him either; she waited for her money from the sale before she could return home and sleep. The hunting trip had stretched long beyond the time she estimated; her classes for the day already ended some time ago. Fortunately, there was no roll call or need to attend every single lesson; with a good host of nobility sending their children to the [Royal Academy] there was no way to enforce rules like that. As a bottom line, each professor and lecturer held the right to set the necessary conditions to pass their courses.

Now a stranger approached her with a chilly air about him. Even without turning around, the elf knew about their sinister intention and dangerous atmosphere. Still, the beast in her never feared confrontation. When had the mountain cat ever feared the rabbit?

The small fries were beneath her notice.

“There you are; that makes this thing easier. Our esteemed master ordered to purchase your monster; so hand over the contract.

Here is five gold, that should be plenty for someone like you. Hurry it up.”

Building up his lackeys around him, the servant felt the rush of power, commanding the commoners to do his bidding and seeing them grovel before him.

All of this rush crashed into the ground when the little elf before him did not even glance at his mighty prowess and treated him like air. Clenching his fists in anger, the butler raised his tone.

“I am talking to you! My master, the honorable son of Count Silverwind, has bestowed the honor of purchasing your monster on you! Pay the necessary amount of respect when a noble bestows this grace upon you, peasant!”

The sheer disrespect this damnable girl showed to the family he worked for almost caused the man to froth at the mouth.

Seeing still no reaction when he almost shouted, he motioned the guards beside him to make a move; their physical prowess far surpassed the average fighter. It was the reason why they got their positions in the first place.

As the two brutes moved forward and laid a hand on their respective clubs, enclosed with leather bands and metal pieces hidden beneath them for a nasty extra surprise.

Nisha now reacted to their presence, sweeping an eye on the surrounding mass of people, who receded as they saw violence about to break out. Next, she noticed the guild staff, who clearly saw what was about to go down and hurriedly retreated into the hallways behind them.

Smirking secretly on the inside, the dragon turned around, eyeing her opponents clearly; she knew not to expect any outside help.

“Well, I guess this is going to be fun.”