A Dragon's Curiosity

“This is your last chance. Sell your monster and, for good measure, throw in the meat you’re holding, as well as the horn. Then, I will forgive you on behalf of the young master for offending him.”

The guards built themselves up like towers to the left and right of the elf; the butler felt pretty smug and greedily, eyeing even more spoils to bolster his own pockets.

While he did not recognize either the crystal or the meat, solely based on the fact the girl separated them from the rest of the materials, they were obviously worth more.

Of course, the dragon hardly saw them as a threat. For the record, monsters often had a bigger frame, more muscles, or meaner gazes. To a beast, this only meant they would fall harder as they were brought down.

“I don’t remember offending you in any way, but it does not matter. Be gone. This is your last warning.”

Nisha barely glanced at them before returning her attention to the wolf in her lap, who squirmed under the sudden attention of the public.

The butler had already experienced humiliation from the elf once; now she did it again. A vein bulged on his head.

“Get her. Let’s show her what wrongs she committed in a less crowded place.”

As soon as the guards heard the man, they grinned with some malice hidden in their eyes. This was not the first time they did such a job, and through the protection of their patron, some benefits fell into their hands. Seeing a fair skinned elf, though a bit young looking, they already had some designs.

The various gawkers and observers drew a similar conclusions upon seeing her clean armor, lack of weapons, and the exhausted state of the monster wolf. Dragging the elf away and teaching her a lesson suited the butler perfectly fine.

Nisha relished the decision to wear her favorite blue scarf right now, as no one saw the upturned corners of her lips when they grossly underestimated the danger the dragon represented.

Igniting all of the mana in her left hand, she wanted to deal a preemptive strike, which splendidly caught Scarface off guard as a hand, in the form of a claw, plunged into his abdomen. What really surprised friend and foe alike, though, was the illusion of draconic claws formed around her fingers, each of the sharp white talons piercing a clear hole instead of ripping out a huge chunk of meat from the first guard.

A passerby still started screaming the moment they saw the cleanly gouged wound and the ripped off flesh falling to the ground, spilling blood and bile as Scarface had a look of disbelief; not even the pain registered yet.

An unarmed girl suddenly turned on him and broke through his second rank aura, heavily maiming him.

Truthfully, Nisha only wanted to hit hard and fast, and she burned away all the strength in her fist without a clear image behind it. Somehow, it settled into the natural image of a dragon paw, retaining the attributes of her dragon body despite only being an illusion.

“Murder! Someone committed murder!”

With blood dripping down her hand, the elf forcefully pushed Scarface aside, who only now started screaming in pain and clutching at his side, trying to keep his entrails inside.

Barking out a command in the monster language, the dragon threw herself at the Scowler. He already pulled the club and brandished it with a loud scream of anger, rather confused and incensed at the sneak attack that wounded his friend.

His wide lunge came down, aiming for the top of her head and striking to kill with all the metal hidden beneath the leather strips.

By going into his range, Nisha sidestepped the swing and arrived next to the Scowler, who screamed in anger as he missed. Pulling back his arm and striking out at the same time with his elbow, the guard attempted to distance himself from the dangerous elf, who easily eviscerated his partner.

Sadly, this only provided the dragon with the opportunity to grab his joint and twist hard, resulting in a sickening crunch that returned some silence to the rank of spectators, several of them losing the contents of their stomachs at the high degree of violence.

Nisha did not stop there as a single broken limb hardly counted as removing the threat.

Summoning the strength of her slender leg, she simultaneously lashed out against the side of the knee the Scowler was relying on while he howled and dropped his weapon.

Repeating the loud crunching noise, he collapsed to the ground in a heap of whimpers and tears.

Between Scarface’s mumbled prayers and deathly-pale face and the now grimacing and crying Scowler, the dragon felt somewhat cheated. Such minor wounds - although the stomach injury on the first one had the potential to take a turn for the worse - would never end a fight in the Wilderness. To think she easily handled them this way made her feel like a fool for relying on Accalia to control a variable.

She looked at the wolf who threateningly held her maw around the butler’s throat, ready to snap her jaws shut at a moment’s notice, as her master instructed earlier, and used her body weight to keep him from escaping.

For a first time in a fight against humans, Nisha judged the result as good enough for Little Lia.

No a moment after the last guard went down, a patrol group of soldiers burst through the spectators, and the captain roared angrily at the sight of bleeding and crying people, as well as a wolf about to kill another.

“What is going on here? Stay your hands; you are all under arrest!”

The sentries spread out in a practiced manner and looked somewhat helplessly at the heavily injured Scarface and the sniveling Scowler, neither of which dared to make any big movements. Usually, they dealt with drunks and disorder from disputes, not a fight with blood on the streets!

“You, is this your monster? Call it back!”

Realizing nothing was going to happen to the butler at the moment, the captain addressed Nisha and shouted with barely repressed fury.

At the same time, a group of combative personnel excited the guild building and arrived at the scene; a healer directly applied spells to prevent the loss of life.

“Esteemed guard captain, seeing that this incident happened on the premises belonging to the [Adventurer’s Guild], I am sure you would not mind if we offer you a meeting room to conduct an in-depth investigation. Otherwise, I am more than happy to personally take this matter into my hands.”

Turning up like a ghost as his subordinates got to work, a manager with the first hints of white in his hair stepped next to the guard captain, smiling and spreading his hands.

Despite no harsh words having been said, the leader of the guards frowned, seemingly unhappy with the influence of the guild appearing.

Nisha, on the other hand, ordered Little Lia to drop the butler; the monster language did not have words to describe mercy or sparing someone. With two major players appearing, she had no more chances to finish the three off and simply walk away. Nonetheless, the elf did not dread the coming conversation, either; Nisha never acted on an impulse unless she was completely certain of her ability to come out on top.

Just as she predicted, the guard captain directed his annoyance at the initial culprits.

“No need to trouble yourself; we will uphold the law by ourselves. Guards, take the girl and the man over there and bring them into the building. I will follow as soon as I have made arrangements for the injured.”

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, the captain turned away from the guild official, who had twinkles in his eyes as everything progressed according to his wishes.

Two regular soldiers appeared to Nisha’s left and right, escorting her into the building and keeping an eye on the golden wolf trailing behind them.

Their strength was nothing special, at the high end of the second aura rank, and if the dragon really wished to do so, she could quickly dispose of this duo as well and make an escape.

However, her interest had been piqued. The tensions between the guard and the guild were previously unknown to the elf. Now, she wanted to see the play acted out.

Following the elderly manager, they arrived at a spacious and open conference hall, rather unlike how Nisha had imagined an interrogation room. The butler also opened his eyes, now that a healer had given him a small boost, recovering from the dead faint of almost being eaten by a large monster. First thing after waking up, he pointed at Nisha and started screaming.

“Arrest her! She offended a great noble! Guards bring justice to this criminal!”

Clinging to the buff man next to him for his dear life, the hateful servant did his best to sound as loud as possible as he denounced Nisha in all kinds and manners.

“Be quiet already. The guard is here and will get to the bottom of this affair, and we will reveal the truth. If you don’t want to cooperate, we can just throw you in jail first!”

Apparently, loud screeching and incomprehensible accusations did not better the guard captain’s mood, as he boomed loudly to quell the source of the noise.

This attitude seemed to do the trick as the butler quickly quieted down, staring daggers at Nisha relaxed as she stroked Accalia, who rested her head on her lap.

“Alright, since there is some space to talk now, you can each describe your view of the incident, and I will make the final judgment after hearing all of your accounts.”

Pointing at Nisha, the captain urged her to start.

“You, go first.”

Maybe he pitied the girl because of her age or simply had a soft spot for females; he was about to be bitterly disappointed.

“You mean me?”

Aiming her own thumb at her face, Nisha pretended to be surprised.

“What are you asking me for? I, as a member of the [Adventurer’s Guild], have been assaulted by individuals claiming to work for a noble. Naturally, the guild has an obligation to protect me from unjust accusations, isn’t that right?”

Passing the baton over straight away, the elf beamed at the manager, who frowned in turn.

Generally speaking, she was correct; the guild had rules and regulations to shield their members from politics and exploitation by noble families, but this security generally originated after it was offered. The girl, on the other hand, did not wait for him to exert his influence and gauge the situation, and she put him on the spot. He had planned to intervene eventually, yet he had to step in now. It left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Is that your official stance? I want to investigate the truth here, and the guild does not have the right to obstruct justice.”

Seeing that Nisha had no plans on speaking further, the captain glared at the official, who scratched one of the white streaks in his hair.

“The [Adventurer’s Guild] would never prevent the justice from coming to light; you must have misunderstood, Ser Captain.

In this case, the girl is right, although, to protect our members, we will first have to hear her version in confidentiality and will then reach out to the guard station to settle the final outcome.”

Displaying his helplessness with a weak business smile, the manager spread his hands again, further infuriating the guard captain.

The angered soldier, in turn, glared harshly at Nisha, who acted in the manner of a spoiled young lady, petting her kitten and playing him as a fool.

“And you have nothing further to say, is that right?”

“Of course. As a guild member who has been assaulted by outsiders, isn’t it natural to rely on my backers? It would be terrible to be exploited by a noble family who covets my wealth, after all. The investigation will show that, as well.”

Dismissively shaking her hands, Nisha basically gleamed with happiness and smirked at the butler, who started to panic. If misconduct were to be determined, it would surely not be the young master who took the fall. Fearing for his own life, he hurriedly interrupted.

“Wait, that’s not right. The two escorts of mine earlier are part of the guild as well; I know that for sure. This means the guild can’t take sides and protect her from justice, right?”

Wringing his hands and pleading with the captain, the butler grasped at straws. He vaguely remembered the guards he brought were retired adventurers; so they must be registered as well, right?

The captain, on the other hand, felt greatly elated and fixed his gaze on the rude elf, who brushed him off earlier.

“If that is indeed the case, the guild won’t protect this girl any longer, right? The truth must be found out, after all.”

In the beginning, the disturbance of the regular order and the impudence of the offenders to act in such a way in the capital already infuriated him; now, he shifted that anger on this girl. She showed him no respect and hid behind a large shield to escape her just retribution. If no one else were around, he would have long cuffed her and thrown her into the dungeon.

Nisha, on the other hand, laughed like bells ringing, her mouth, hidden behind the scarf, turning into an upturned crescent.