A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

Braving the tepid gust as a mouth full of air escaped the gaping maw lined with needle sharp teeth, Nisha curiously peered at the form hidden in the darkness.

As an experienced beast herself, the one in front of her lacked the majesty and presence of a king, like those hidden deep in the Wilderness.

Furthermore, the entire scene somehow felt … fake to the elf.

She felt no need to defend herself anymore or get away from this place, entirely sure of her judgement.

Increasingly sure of her instinct, Nisha circulated more aura around her eyes, trying to peer deeper and chase out the darkness through her [Spirit Sight] to uncover the form of the beast in front of her.

“What’s wrong? You are looking absentminded.”

Even though the bartender still had the same tone and voice, it was disjointed and somewhat confusing when it came from a sharp toothed maw instead.

Unfortunately, he failed to get a rise out of the young elf, who simply thanked him and assured him that it was nothing.

Nisha knew very well that it was nearly impossible for a beast to take action inside the royal capital, even if it managed to enter Thurgau without being discovered.

She herself had to be careful at all times to avoid giving away her cover, or plenty of experts from various major powers would not hesitate to hunt her down.

Therefore, as long as the one in front of her did not want to give his own life away and get hunted down by countless adventurers, he would not dare to make a move.

On top of everything else, as long as she went all out, the dragon was confident in escaping from the establishment and put up enough of a fight to give the city guards time to hurry over, at which point the fight would turn into a siege.

With such overwhelming reassurance, there was no time to feel fear or apprehension, so it was purely curiosity that drove the elf to take a closer look.

 

And the effort did not go unrewarded either, as another change happened to the scene in front of Nisha.

“Would you like to order a drink while you wait for your acquaintance?”

Acting completely nonchalant, the bartender put down the now clean glass and addressed her directly.

The sudden change in topic caught her off guard, the young elf originally only planned to look for Alestar on a whim and came here after hearing he had an appointment at this place.

However, it was not a bad idea to order something while she waited, it was a bar after all.

“Give me some fruit juice then, please.”

In public, Nisha always managed to uphold the etiquette she was taught at the Dharnas estate; it was not only a matter of manners, but also a way to protect the face of the Dharnas family.

No one would be able to laugh behind her back and claim that she was uncouth and not suited to be a daughter of a noble family.

It was right in the middle of summer, plenty of fruits were available at the moment, the elf had taken a liking to their juiciness.

I should order the forest nymph to add more orchards to the Den. Fruits are great.

The villages under the Dharnas house sent over several batches of produce, their turnly tax included fruits, crops and other materials in lieu of silver coins.

Every morning, the breakfast table at the estate had plenty of freshly squeezed juice and other rich options for a healthy meal.

Behind the counter, the bartender nodded, both as the bald man and the projection of the monster hidden in the darkness behind him, the red orbs bobbing up and down.

Wordlessly, he pulled two bottles from the shelf behind him and flipped over one of the cleaned glasses, spinning it in the air once before catching it with some flair.

He uncapped one of the bottles and poured a big shot of green juice first, filling about two thirds of the glass at once.

Swirling the cup with one hand, the bartender deftly opened the other bottle with the other and brought it to the edge of the glass, adding another bright red, almost purple juice to the mix.

Under the spin of his hands, the two liquids mixed and produced a vibrant mix of green and red, neither juice completely losing itself in the other.

Finally, the man behind the counter brought out a small clay jar, carefully untied the wax paper that sealed the opening and used a spoon to reach into it.

Bringing the spoon above the glass, yet not dunking it inside the juice, he slowly dripped six big drops of golden honey inside.

Rotating his wrists, the vicious honey gently dissolved into the drink and added a bright sheen to the final product, making it look particularly nice.

 

“Please enjoy your drink. This beverage is a mix of [Miscus Fruit] and [Eversummer Cherry], with a hint of [Army Bee Honey]. The total is twelve silver.”

Giving a small professional bow, he placed the cup on the counter, then started to put away the two bottles and the jar of honey.

Nisha did not argue about the price, it was honestly quite confusing for her to gauge prices sometimes.

Things that should be cheap ended up being expensive, while expensive looking things unexpectedly ended up being cheap when she tried to buy in different shops.

But whenever she brought out shiny gold coins, people were very happy in general, so she was not worried.

In exchange for her coins, she got many shiny silver and copper coins in return, making it a happy occasion for the dragon anyway.

Fishing out a ten silver coin and two single silver coins, Nisha paid the total and put her elbows on the wooden counter, placing her head on top of her palms.

On the surface, it looked like she stared at the glass, while her [Spirit Sight] was still locked on the bartender.

The drink was very fascinating, the two liquids did not smudge together, each still floated separately from each other.

Green and red streaks twined together thanks to the swirling, giving it a very fancy look from outside the glass.

On the other side, the bartender found another glass to wipe and no longer looked at the elf.

He acted like the monstrous maw brandishing his teeth did not belong to him and no one was able to see it.

Picking up the glass, Nisha was extra careful since she had not used such a fancy cup before and was afraid of dropping it by accident.

Gently sipping a small mouthful of juice, the dragon’s eyes narrowed in pleasant surprise as soon as the taste of the drink hit her tongue.

 

Nisha had eaten some [Eversummer Cherries] before, the [Fairy Queen] owned a fully grown tree full of them and had tried to nurture another one for a long time now.

She treated it as a treasure and had only reluctantly given a small portion of the fruit to the [Dragon’s Den], feeling as if she had suffered a great loss while doing so.

As a tree, the [Eversummer Cherry] bloomed all turn around and produced fruit and flowers regardless of season, which greatly benefited the fairy tribe, who ate the fruits and gathered pollen to brew [Fairy Honey].

The fruit itself tasted similar to the juice, very sweet and succulent, with a minute bitter note at the end, very tasty in the elf’s opinion.

[Miscus Fruit] lacked the tender softness of the cherries, yet it was crisp and fresh, without being overly sweet.

And to top it off, the two different varieties of juices meshed very well thanks to the addition of [Army Bee Honey], as it took away the bitter note of the beverage while making the combined taste smoother.

Revelling in the joy of the first small taste, Nisha quickly took another big gulp out of the cup, very satisfied with her purchase.

While the bartender went back to cleaning another set of glasses with his rag, looking like he no longer cared about the girl, Nisha similarly pretended to no longer look at him, focusing only on her drink.

In truth, she never let the bartender out of her vision through her [Spirit Sight] and eyed the apparition of the big maw behind him.

Perhaps the lack of presence or authenticity assured the elf that the scene was only an illusion, so she was not afraid of looking more closely, giving her a burst of bravery despite the possible dangers.

During her second big gulp of the delicious juice mix, the dragon managed to spot a flaw out of the corner of her eyes in the illusion.

The red floating orbs, the big sharp teeth, the deep darkness, everything worked well together to project a powerful beast, yet that last tiny bit lacking to make it work together made it artificial instead.

Starting from that tiny crack, the darkness receded and the hidden scenery below the illusion emerged instead as the elf channelled more aura towards her eyes, empowering her [Spirit Sight].

 

In truth, the concealed picture beneath the layer of illusion did not differ too much from the ordinary veneer of the bar.

It was still the same bar counter, the same bottles in the shelf behind and the same staff running back and forth to fulfil orders.

But instead of a big and scary monster, the bartender stood in the same old spot, polishing cups and tidying up his spot.

Yet he was at least a head smaller, though still bald and well dressed as before.

His skin changed as well, now brimming with a deep orange-red reminding of smouldering coal and dying fire.

Overall he had an air of age thanks to his dark, ink black eyes without a hint of white in them and the deep rifts in his complexion; Nisha involuntarily thought of a pool of mud dried up in a heatwave, the rifts went deep unlike normal wrinkles.

Clearly, he was not a human at all and merely applied two layers of illusions to keep his true identity a secret.

Right while the elf seized up his changed appearance, an array of runes on the ground lit up and flickered with energy while the middle illusion of the giant beast froze.

The bartender himself had his head snap towards the elf and scrutinised her with a deeper layer of meaning compared to before.

Mana oozed from his leathery skin and reinforced the illusions around himself, restarting the middle layer and readjusting his human figure to make sure no anomalies appeared in the process.

“Peeking is not a good habit.”

With a smile that was not quite a smile, he deliberately slowed his hands and walked over until he stood on the other side of the counter in front of the girl.

Because the defensive array activated, the bartender was alarmed that someone probed the illusion around him.

The only one close enough to do so was still young, but the only suspect nonetheless.

 

Nisha had finished half of her beverage in an incredibly short time and was now reluctant to drink the rest at the same speed, she had to carefully taste it before everything was gone.

Meeting the eyes of the bartender for a moment, she considered and then lowered her head on her cup again.

“If you are not supposed to see it, then you should cover it up better.”

It was not her fault that her [Spirit Sight] managed to see through the illusion, it was the same as leaving the door of a building unlocked and then acting surprised when people entered.

Locks were not meant to guard against thieves alone, it also deterred those with a curious intent from opening all sorts of doors and spaces without permission.

“This is already the second time this turn that someone tried to undo the illusion. Maybe it is really time to invest in better arrays.”

Muttering to himself in a low tone, the clearly non-human man shook his head and sighed in a defeated manner.

Anyone would feel a rising irritation if their own home was broken into several times in a row.

“At least you did not run off screaming, people tend to have an adverse reaction once I lower the illusion.

It’s so troublesome when the city guards come to do their inspections.”

Nisha raised one of her brows at the mention of the guards and inwardly thought that she was perfectly equipped to handle them though. She only had to represent her ring bearing the Dharnas seal, and the guards would be more than enthusiastic to follow her orders, even if it was only out of respect for the Grand Marshal and not because she had any official authority.

“Since you are not much surprised, then there’s really only one reason for that.”

For the first time since the elf entered the establishment, the bartender looked at her with a measure of interest.

The girl on the other hand frowned and wondered whether she gave herself away and her secret got revealed. She went to great lengths to conceal her origin as a beast.

Just as Nisha feared, he continued with an unfavourable topic.

“You encountered a transformed beast in the capital before, right?”