A Dragon's Curiosity

Accalia jumped out of a passing carriage, eagerly presenting the trophy she brought back from the Warrior Trip.

The monster the class was tasked with cleaning up this time appeared to be a bat like monster with a furry main body and pointed claws on the tip of their wings.

Apart from their bite and dive attack, nothing about the monster particularly stood out, but Nisha still praised her smart little beast for doing a good job.

From the wolf’s simple explanation in the beast language, the elf learned that their power overall averaged between the mid second aura rank and the high part. Aside from a few leaders at the early third rank, the team of students had little trouble subduing their opponents.

On top of the teachers supervising the excursion, Lisa and Unico enjoyed the added layer of protection by having a beast lead them to single opponents instead of groups, where they had the chance to polish their combat skills.

Accalia only acted when additional monsters approached, as a beast with a thread of dragon lineage her prowess exceeded that of their foes greatly.

Munching down the trophy she brought back to show her master in a couple of bites, the yellow golden coloured animal rubbed her fur against Nisha’s legs until she was satisfied.

Nisha happily obliged and spent some time with her contracted beast, after all, Little Lia had finished her task supremely.

In case something happened to her friends, the dragon would have been quite sad.

“Come with me, we’re going home.”

Seeing that her familiar had just about enough skinship, Nisha took the initiative to bring the wolf back to the Dharnas estate.

In the morning, she had left hastily before explaining the matter of her sudden growth and thought about a method to explain it to Henry, Luthais and Galan.

The appearance of a high ranking adventurer and her subsequent admittance to a special training program solved the issue for her.

Apparently the wolf had similar thoughts and barked at her master, then sprinted in the direction of the noble mansion and the Dharnas estate.

Recognizing the challenge to a race, the elf happily agreed and chased right after.

Amused with their small game, Nisha and Accalia flitted through the main street like a pair of flying shadows, one using the element of darkness to dash along walls and jump over obstacles, while the other ran on a trail of wind, each step exploding with a gust and sometimes not even needing to treat on the ground.

Their game frightened quite a lot of passersby as well as merchants, who had set up small roadside stalls.

Still, the two blurry figures did not damage their goods or knock them over, so most of them only cursed at them or shouted after them, unable to do more.

During the day, the gates between the districts were opened and sometimes carriages rumbled through.

The duo of master and beast sped through the place as well, earning some amused looks from the guards there.

Monsters were supposed to be kept under control and not run around the place, while the rushing elf also should have stopped to let them check before advancing through the gate.

Still, they understood the spirit of youth and let them pass without issue, merely joking about it between them.

Not too long after that, Nisha and Little Lia arrived in the Dharnas estate, with neither side much slower than the other.

Of course, the dragon adjusted her speed somewhat, her cultivation outranked the wolf by an entire level and her physique vastly exceeded the beast from the beginning, even with a trace of bloodline passed down to Accalia and actively improving her body over time.

The guard at the door greeted the young miss, albeit he hesitated slightly when seeing them.

A young elf together with her wolf were not hard to recognize, but he felt that something was off with the miss.

She had always worn the sky blue scarf and returned the greeting and mentioned his name, so it had to be her, right?

He swallowed his doubt and focused back on his duty.

Rather than going inside, the elf led her contracted beast into the backyard, where the stable and herb garden laid side by side.

Perchance, Henry just exited the former, after giving his [Guardian Griffin] a thorough examination.

Monster and beast born from eggs found in the Dungeon grew at a faster rate than their natural counterparts.

A [Guardian Griffin] in the wild was born from two parents directly and needed at least two or three decades to grow out of their juvenile phase and reach their adult physique.

The familiars sold by the store as eggs matured like a bolt of lightning instead, with enough food for consumption and a suitable environment, the many turns needed to grow up shrunk to as little as one or two moons.

“Great, you’re back too. How was your trip, Nisha?”

The noble teen patted his clothes to get rid of some stray hay that clung to them, radiating the charm of a boy next door instead of a highborn prodigy.

As usual, Henry had seemingly infinite energy and a positive outlook, raising his hand in greeting.

Meanwhile, his other familiar, the [Cerulean Sky Owl] gave its distinctive tweet and dove out of a high altitude down on the youth’s shoulder.

Eyeing the elf with caution, the owl blinked twice, then paid her no more attention after recognizing Nisha and ruling her out as a threat.

Henry, on the other hand, stopped dead in his tracks and mimicked his beast perfectly, blinking twice and staring with wide eyes after paying close attention to the elf.

“You are Nisha, right?”

Rousing his aura to gather around his limbs, Henry cautiously inched closer for an in-depth appraisal of the familiar yet unfamiliar elf.

He had somewhat recognized her at first glance, yet the longer he looked, the more the teen felt that there was an off putting error present as well.

“Who else can it be but me? Is there something wrong?”

Nisha now blinked as the third one, pretending to know nothing about the physical changes that followed the absorption of the [Dragon Force] seedling.

Her voice had always had a bell like quality to it, clear and pure like a mountain stream from a deep valley.

The clothes, the sky blue scarf and the wolf following behind her all pointed towards her identity as Nisha Dharnas.

Henry scratched his head and struggled to find out what diverged from his mental image he had of this late addition to the family.

As a result of his close scrutiny, the dragon tilted her head to the side in an unintentionally cute manner and allowed Henry to scan her as he pleased.

“Not right … something’s obviously wrong, why can’t I name it?

Let’s see … that’s it! Your face, let me see it!”

The noble teen walked a whole circle around the elf before he had a flash of inspiration with a sudden shout.

Pointing at the scarf obscuring everything from the dragon’s chin to the tip of her nose, he expectantly waited for her to remove the piece of clothing.

As if he had solved a grand mystery from the ancient age, Henry carefully observed as his wish got fulfilled by Nisha.

The scarf only hung along her shoulders and neck after the elf unwound it, showing her appearance unobstructed.

The unfamiliar feeling he had came from a miscongruency around there, making him doubt whether or not someone perfectly copied everything about Nisha except for a few minor details.

Now, with nothing in the way, he quickly appraised the elf before him.

It did not take long to notice the difference.

Generally, family members had a hard time spotting the differences about each other when they lived along each other every day.

The subtle shift happened gradually, slowly altering their memories and replacing the old looks.

Nisha matured in one big swoop this time around.

With the energy and tempering from assimilating the seedling, the dragon reshaped its body into a more perfect form, giving an all around upgrade.

From a young elven child, Nisha now appeared as a youthful and young miss, brimming with life and vigour.

While quite distinct previously, her cheekbones now had the high and sharp quality often desired in female nobles.

The dragon’s eyes also changed, now quite slanted and sharply drawn. This form found itself often praised as phoenix eyes in the ballads and lyrics of bards, with countless words of praise heaped on them.

For their pupils, the golden ring around them grew in depth, a solid ring of pure gold framing the pure white outer area and the deep black core.

Finally, the tiny and cute pink lips, which had resembled cherry blossoms, presently had gained in fullness and their colour deepend into a light red, vibrant in shade.

And that was just the changes on her face.

The elf’s black hair grew longer, hinting at a red shimmer hidden like ruby gems in the night.

Her height had increased slightly and while still petite, Nisha now had a tiny curve to show on her chest instead of barren flatlands.

Combined with the long and slim legs that peeked out of her dress, no one would mistake her for a young child anymore.

Since even a casual onlooker would be able to discern the difference, Henry quickly arrived at the same result.

“How come you look so different? Almost if you grew up - no, that’s the wrong word.

Mature, perhaps? Or developed, that’s probably the most suitable one.

You did not look like that yesterday, what exactly happened?”

Despite the strangeness and a trace of unfamiliarity, Henry was quick in ascertaining that it was indeed still the same elf before him and got curious as to how the changes happened.

Placating his owl familiar, which became agitated when the young noble shouted aloud, he led the elf to a nearby bench next to the herb garden and continued to study the discrepancies.

Since the inside stayed the same, he accepted Nisha’s changes being a part of her and did not reject her over this.

From all the possible reactions, the dragon ventured that the mild curiosity paired with silent acceptance ranged among the top few variations and the worst case did not happen.

The first person she saw after going through the reshaping did not seek to chase her out due to unfamiliarity or showed hostile behaviour, which lifted a stone pressing down on her heart that she did not even knew was there.

“Did you find out what’s wrong? Do I look different?”

Pretending to be an innocent white rabbit all the way, the elf blinked at Henry and awaited his judgment.

As long as she was allowed to stay in the house her grandfather Eldrin founded, the rest did not matter as much.

“I think, you suddenly grew a handspan and overall look more like a young adult, not like a child anymore.

How come your physique changed so rapidly?”

Henry did not quite speak eloquently enough to phrase his question in a way to convey the full meaning, so he chose to speak less and return the ball towards the girl, and let her explain herself.

Nisha did not mind the question, after getting a suitable excuse conveniently while attending the academy.

“You see, when I was waiting for the Warrior Trip to start, an esteemed senior invited by the Guild and the Academy offered me to join a special class, a joint training program.

Right away, he gave us a bunch of potions and similar resources to adjust to his high intensity training regime.

Right, have you heard about the [Eternal Warrior] before?

That’s exactly the one, he is overseeing our training …”