A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Following the directions given by the unkempt rowdy, Nisha exited the noble district and made her way to the slum area.

Although it was still within the bounds of the commoner district, it was rare to see city guards on patrol and most of the buildings were rather old and worn down.

Generally, it was advised to keep an eye on others and place a hand on one‘s purse, lest it get lost in an unknown manner.

While it was not quite a lawless area, the reputation of this part of town was the worst and whoever walked the streets here had a high chance to be a member of the Thieves Guild.

As long as it was not murder or arson, most people hardly cared even if they saw that a crime was committed and they only cared that they were not personally affected.

Due to the shady nature of the surroundings, most of the shops were similarly run down and dilapidated, afraid to attract attention of petty thieves and protection rackets.

It was not hard for the elf to find the huge building that stood out from the rest, with a fancy sign board and clean facade wall.

Light spilled out of the expensive glass windows and lit up the street, while the smell of alcohol and roasted meat wafted out of the open door, inviting curious strangers.

Most importantly, all the other buildings were small and rather densely packed, while the establishment in front of her had two stories, occupied a large space and dominated the surroundings like a ruler over his subjects.

Since she had already come so far, the girl no longer hesitated and entered through the main door - it was decorated with the same sign as the board above, a mug of ale with a plain grey mask on it.

Right after she entered the main room, loud but tasteful music, chatter and other miscellaneous sounds that were previously rather muted rose in tone and filled the place with a lively atmosphere.

Most of the room was split into smaller cubicles, each having around five to six seats between partitions that rose roughly to a man‘s shoulders, shielding most of the sitting arrangements from sight.

 

Only the long counter to the left of the entrance was different, with many bottles of different beverages stacked on the shelf behind it.

Several bartenders either prepared drinks or carried plates full of meat and vegetables from the kitchen in the back room and delivered them to the tables.

While the voices in the background were talking to each other, it was impossible to make out the exact words for some reason and they merged into meaningless white noise.

Furthermore, each table with people around it should have been in the dragon‘s view as she stood at the entrance, yet the occupants were hidden from view as if some veil was placed over their head, obscuring their features.

Even the ornaments on their clothing were affected, leaving only smears of color after concealment.

Of course, there was something else that was only visible to the girl after relying on her [Spirit Sight], yet before she had a chance to take a closer look, someone called out to her from behind the bar counter.

“Your first time here?“

Calling out to the elf, one of the bartenders spoke to her in particular and wiped a glass in his hands at the same time.

He had a lanky build, thin limbs and a bald head. Overall, he looked relatively harmless and somewhat amiable with an easygoing smile.

The glass in his hands was also a bit rare, most buildings were already called luxurious when they used clear glass to cover their windows whereas the stained glass murals in the [Seven Star Church] were considered priceless.

When a beverage was served, most households either used earthen clay ware or fired porcelain, with the upper social circles competing on the exquisiteness and artistry used on producing them to gain face.

Glass cups were more associated with alchemy and other high end applications, so it was rare to see one appear in a bar as a common good.

 

Nisha swept her eyes another time across the room, taking in the subtle markings and power lines that separated the place into many tiny rooms independent from each other.

After coming in contact with [Golem Control], she recognized them as inscriptions and arrays formed by mana and aura, although it was impossible for the elf to identify their usage with a single glance.

This was the charm of learning arrays and inscriptions. A competent formation master could easily lay out formations that surpassed their own strength and possessed abilities beyond their own grasp, given that they grasped the relevant array or inscription.

Just from the abnormal situation inside the restaurant, Nisha guessed that the building had several formations working in tandem to obscure the identity of the patrons.

“I am looking for a man called Ser Alestar. His servant told me he was here to have a meeting.“

Instinctively, Nisha felt unwilling to be polite towards the bartender and avoided answering his question.

Stating her reason for the visit, she stepped closer to the counter and paid close attention to her surroundings.

Given the many arrays and formations in the seating area, there was no reason for there to be no similar arrangements around the counter.

Upon coming closer, the dragon noticed more details about the bartender.

Despite his relatively thin physique and relaxed posture, his cultivation level unexpectedly surmounted the first great divide and reached the standard of a knight.

 

Anyone capable of cultivating to such a height did not have the need to work like a servant, just by attaching oneself to a noble or the kingdom‘s army was enough to receive enough compensation to live like a small noble and obtain more resources to strive for greater heights.

There was absolutely no reason why such a powerful person should personally tend to the bar in a small establishment in the slum district.

Furthermore, Nisha was actually incapable of accurately discerning his cultivation level; it fluctuated between the lowest early fourth rank and high levels with an unpredictable rhythm, making it hard to estimate what his true strength was.

“Sorry, it is not convenient to expose the privacy of a guest without their agreement.

You can wait here and see if your appointment invites you on their own initiative, the view on the bar is rather good.“

Apparently used to such situations, the barkeeper kept his tepid smile and continued to wipe the glass in his hands with a rug.

One of his colleagues walked behind him and carried a plate full of meat and greens towards one of the tables, where his features turned blurry as soon as he crossed one of the markings on the ground.

It also made sense that the restaurant refused to leak information about their customers, they already took so much effort to lay out many formations, wouldn‘t they ruin all that work if they told everyone instead?

Nisha had come out on a whim after reaching a greater skill level with [Golem Control] and happened to look for the old crook on a whim, so it was not that urgent either.

Once she got close to the amiable looking man, the dragon noticed several more points of suspicion.

 

Apart from the fluctuating cultivation, the easygoing expression suddenly felt very fake to the elf, and the surroundings were somewhat wrong.

Since she experienced an instinctual dislike of him, she especially sat to the side of the bartender to avoid his line of sight and wait for the old crook.

Nevertheless, after she sat on the high stool in front of the counter, another formation activated and created a small space.

Since she had already seen similar instances from the tables in the main room, Nisha did not suspect anything or tried to resist the formation.

When the lines fully lit up and circulated a faint aura, the man no longer stood to her side and directly appeared opposite of her behind the wooden countertop.

He still wiped the glass and did not show signs of moving to the side, as if nothing significant happened.

Unfortunately, the normal scene got broken when his colleague returned and passed behind his back.

Earlier, it was still a normal occurrence where he served the dishes, but now a great distance suddenly appeared in a narrow space, separating the bartender and the elf from his colleague.

On top of that, the fluctuating cultivation level the dragon sensed from him got even worse, giving her a slight inclination that the bartender might even be stronger than what he showed on the surface.

Since the girl noticed that there was something wrong, she focused fully on her [Spirit Sight] and stared intensely at the man in front of her.

Only by gaining more information and ascertaining the current situation fully could she come up with appropriate countermeasures and formulate a plan.

Sure enough, the space behind the bartender began to distort and warp under her close scrutiny.

He had concealed himself with an illusion, acting like a pig to eat the tiger!

Now, the only question was whether he intentionally got close to the elf with a hidden reason or if it was purely a coincidence.

 

Under Nisha’s [Spirit Sight], the illusion turned into layers upon layers of mana and slowly unravelled before her eyes, revealing the hidden scene beneath.

As a fourth rank cultivator, she was not actually strong enough to forcefully tear apart an illusion from a magician with strength above her own, it was entirely thanks to the quality of her [Spirit Sight] that allowed her to peek behind the false image.

Ocular blessings were among the strongest talents, while the dragon’s eyes only amplified the effect of her skill.

If the bartender noticed that his cover was under attack and actively resisted, even the elf had no way to take a look without taking forceful measures and his true strength was a mystery.

With the surface illusion no longer obstructing Nisha’s [Spirit Sight], an entirely different scene began to surface behind the counter.

Instead of a polite bald employee, all of the light illuminating the restaurant faded like a mist falling into the abyss, leaving only a dark space behind.

A large set of shiny, white and most importantly, pointy fangs curled into a mocking sneer, each fang easily larger than the petite girl.

Much of the body was unseen due to the darkness and a formidable camouflaging ability, two red orbs being the only other discernible feature floating above the hellish maw.

As a beast herself, Nisha sensed the contempt and disdain the unknown fiend held for her and how it locked on to her, ready to pounce at any given time.

Strangely enough, an unidentified foe of unknown strength did not end up arousing the caution and fighting spirit in the dragon.

All she could think about at the moment was: there isn’t even enough space behind the bar for a beast this big.

 

It was not the first time that the dragon had been confronted with an overly powerful beast.

Due to living in the Wilderness, different zones developed over time similarly to the districts in a human city.

Regular monsters without a tribe, swarm or family either roamed the outer parts or travelled like nomads between different territories.

After a group becomes big enough or has an individual with particularly strong aura or mana, they can occupy an area and develop there.

These monster dens ranged in size from a clan of goblins - who barely manage to occupy a hill for themselves - on the low end to whole forests, which are under control of a large tribe of insects or animals, with no other ruling species allowed except for prey under their sphere of influence.

The [Dragon’s Den] was on the larger side of these zones, the three dragon siblings left in their home claimed a rather large area near the [Royal Hunting Grounds] and had control over all monsters and beasts living there, anyone defying their rule was either ousted or defeated in combat and eaten.

Similarly, the Harpy Broodmother and Fairy Queen also governed medium sized areas and allied with the dragons to help each other.

Once the four dragons matured and grew up, it would be no problem for them to eclipse the range of territories and become true bigshots living in the depths of the Wilderness.

At that time, it was no problem to settle one or two medium clans close to them and protect them in turn.

Nevertheless, the beast in front of Nisha right now lacked something compared to the titanic overlords residing in the depths of the Wilderness.

The two she had witnessed before did not necessarily reach the extremes of the first realm in terms of cultivation, yet their presence was enough to differentiate them from regular monsters and other beasts.

So despite the scary appearance and dangerous cultivation level, Nisha really wasn’t scared right now.