A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Arriving at the treasure island in the blink of an eye, the elf took a look around and tried to spot her second contract beast, elemental Eisen.

Due to the items that appeared in her room from time to time without a set pattern, the central spot of her [Inner World] was divided into several small areas around the centermost throne room supplied by the seven springs of energy.

Coins, precious metals and golden and silver trinkets formed a small hill, taking their top position as shinies in the heart of the dragon, and she would often stop to admire her collection or play with small items.

Whether it was an inborn trait or a shared hobby between dragons, nearly all of them were very fond of sparkling items, even if their actual value was below that of other more mundane treasures.

In a slightly worse position, another heap of armors, weapons and crafted items scattered around, with most of them at the peak of the third rank.

Only recently did. fourth rank ones show up, after Nisha had a breakthrough in her cultivation.

The appearance of items was closely related to her own strength and never exceeded her in terms of aura and mana.

Consequently, furs, leather, bones and other products harvested from monsters and beasts amounted to quite an amount in huge piles, due to the elf also hunting them to satiete her appetite and throwing the remains here afterwards.

Most species especially nourish one or two parts of their body heavily, such as horns or specific limbs, making them their primary weapon.

With the huge volume of the items amassed, their total value was even above the finished garments in the previous heap.

Last were assorted items that did not fit in with the general categories of her treasures or items that needed more space.

Some herbs still had roots and started to grow in the abundant environment of the treasure island, adding a holistic atmosphere over the entire piece of land together with the odds and ends that were rather unique.

 

Nisha thought she would find the familiar somewhere around here, but her expectation turned out to be wrong.

Checking the core of the island one more time, the young girl left for the outer ring in her search.

It was convenient to have access to her items easily, hence the majority of activity happened next to the throne room, where the excess energy from the springs kept the heaps of treasure in top condition even without special care.

For the more distant parts of the island, Nisha had not yet found a suitable course of action to make use of the empty space, with a single exception.

Frowning distinctively, the dragon quickly flew her incarnation towards a small structure near the edge of the island.

Languishing on top of a treasure pile was a matter of joy for all dragons and the elf was no exception to the rule, anything shiny or valuable was very friendly in her eyes.

Seeing that the storage for this particular set of treasures was so distant, it went without saying that there was another aspect to them that set them apart from the others.

Hovering in the air in front of the small building, Nisha was lost in thought.

She had spent a lot of time finding three rectangular and tall stone plates, putting them together in the form of a bucket when seen from above.

Piling the hides from several monsters on top, the stones and simple roof formed a very ordinary room.

The gaps at the corner of the stones were covered by the monster hide, preventing water from getting in and keeping the inside safe, whereas the elf personally carved shelves into the stones by hollowing out a small ledge into each wall and setting a plank of wood on top of it.

In addition, a round flat stone acted as a table in the middle of the room, with tree stumps around it as seats.

Before the dragon had a chance to look closely at the items stored here, she was very much surprised.

 

Three unknown elves stared at her with some shock before falling to their knees.

Two of them had milky skin without a single blemish, one male and one female, looking like typical elves, whereas the last one had coal black skin, a member of the dark elves.

In unison, the three of them spoke at once.

“Greetings, master!“

Although their pronunciation was correct, their tempo was slow and stocking with a break between the words.

Obviously, they were not really used to speaking yet.

Nisha had no time to be stunned, as she stared right behind the trio that showed up unannounced inside her [Inner World].

Without her permission and help, there was no way that an unknown entity could find its way inside.

The small lifeforms and plants that thrived here all carried the signature of her own energy and the Twin Goddesses Bael and Gabriel only visited through a portal after announcing their presence.

Materials stored from the outside world also lacked the distinct pattern of local goods, making them easy to recognize.

The elves also lacked the local presence, while the dragon had no idea where they came from.

Right now, Nisha stared at the table in the middle of the simple stone room.

When she found a treasure or a shiny, it wasn‘t the monetary value that made the dragon appreciate them.

It was similar to an inborn instinct to surround herself with valuables and sleep on a pile of gold, which would make her feel better than resting on a soft bed.

Among the relics left in this ordinary hut, a few of them were worth more than her entire collection on their own and should have been the key pieces of her collection, to the point that they should be displayed in the underground throne room along the seven springs.

But these pieces did not elicit any joy when Nisha looked at them, so she could only find a distant place to store them securely.

 

Atop the shelves carved into the stone walls, rows of books surrounded the room in layers, with several different topics scattered among different genres.

Almost none of them concerned cultivation, and they covered almost everything from cooking, noble etiquette, governance and more mundane issues.

Several hand written letters also appeared among them, carefully folded and stacked between the books to preserve them.

None of them were made from precious materials or were unique copies found nowhere else in the world, though the elf still considered them a precious inheritance.

Whether others agreed with Nisha was not important, as they were precious treasures to her anyway.

After the books and letters, there was no more space among the walls.

Leaning against the table, a long staff carved from precious wood leaned against the table.

At its top, a blue sphere twinkled with a deep luster, allowing any observer to easily guess that it was a high level weapon without knowing what materials it was wrought from or casting [Identify] on it.

Next to the staff, several dreamy blue strips of cloth curled together on the stone table, eerily similar to the one the dragon currently wore around her neck.

Indeed, these items were made from the same material and Nisha prepared several of them in advance in case her current scarf ever got damaged.

She naturally took great care of her personal belongings, but it was impossible to predict if there was going to be a situation in the future that exceeded her control.

Finally, some small trinkets and personal belongings laid on the table, not making it feel too crowded with their number.

At center, the most valuable piece of the collection quietly released a dim luster, lighting up the entire hut.

Before Nisha had a chance to ponder over the appearance of the unknown elves in her [Inner World], the state of the treasure in the middle almost solved the riddle.

 

Naturally, she flew in a great rage right away when she saw the set of chess figures and the chess board.

All of these items were the things she inherited after grandpa Eldrin passed away, his personal collection.

The books were accumulated over time in the hunting grounds lodge and he often read them to the elf while she was unable to see with her own eyes.

She knew the contents by heart by now and still took great care of them.

Concurrently, the letters were either written by her grandfather or were part of his correspondence with his old friends. A single one was written to Nisha directly, but she could not stand the pain in her heart to read it again.

The staff and robe that Eldrin Dharnas wore to battle should have been returned to the Duke household after he passed, since seventh rank weapons and armor were worth more gold than most people could imagine.

Since Eldrin wanted to spend his last turns in seclusion, he already returned most of his other gears and only took two of them with him to the [Royal Hunting Grounds].

As a righteous man, Luthais Dharnas respected the will of his father and never even asked about these two items.

Nisha had no way to wield the staff currently as she lacked the mana to activate the gem socketed on top of the weapon, so she stored it in this small hut.

The robe had been damaged before in the fight against the [World Hell Hound] and Nisha divided the fabric before sewing them into new items, a couple of scarves, after her grandfather passed away.

In this way, she could soothe the pain in her heart from his departure by carrying an item from him on her person all the time.

The trinkets and small items were either used by herself or the old man while they lived together in the lodge, making them precious memories as well.

And the chessboard and each figure had been hand carved by the old master, his personal touch in each stroke.

He used it to teach Nisha the art of chess and never went easy on her to encourage the growth of her skill at the game.

 

Memories of them sitting next to the hearth in the lodge and competing against each other in a friendly manner were so heartbreaking that the dragon could not bear seeing the items without the pain in her heart flaring up and making it difficult to breathe for the elf.

The only solution she found was to store the relics far away and only visit occasionally when the familiar dull pain flared up and she missed her grandfather Eldrin too much.

Time helped to heal all wounds, but the girl did not agree entirely with the saying.

It would be difficult to heal this pain in a lifetime, as Nisha would miss her grandfather forever.

On a normal occasion, it would have been the same as always, but this time the dragon flew in a terrible rage and her eyes nearly spat flames as she turned her eyes to the three elves kneeling in front of her.

It was a mystery where they originated from, but the elf came here after following the trace of her familiar Eisen.

On top of that, Nisha had personally fetched every stone and carved it with her own hands to build the small room, every single detail was firmly carved into her memory.

She herself did not bear the pain of taking the chess set carved from seventh rank [Ivory Quartz] out and using it to play, yet right now three pawns, two from the white side and one from the black side, ended up missing.

Connecting the sudden disappearance with the unknown entities inside her [Inner World], it was not really difficult for the dragon to come to a conclusion about what exactly happened.

The missing figures in her mind slowly overlapped with the three elves kneeling in front of her.

At first, these three still were very pleased with themselves that they managed to pull off a good first impression and spoke without mistake, but something started to turn wrong with the atmosphere.

Without an expression, Nisha turned around, walked to a nearby tree and broke off a branch as thick as a bucket, where she could almost not hold it properly with one hand.

Fire aura snaked around the wood and burned off the smaller branches and leaves, leaving only a sturdy club imbued with fiery power.

“Eisen, why don’t you come out for a second and have a talk with me?

I promise I won’t beat you to death.”