A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

The trip back into the capital was spent in silence.

Well, the majority of them was caught in sombre introspection, even Lisa did not take the chance to look at Unico sitting opposite of her as usual.

At Nisha’s feet, her familiar was curled up and enjoyed being driven around instead of having to run, and rather happy about the entire trip.

While the party had not been looking and the wolf was out of range of her master’s [Spirit Sight], Little Lia hunted her own share of monsters.

Those tasty snacks were far weaker than the fourth rank beast, yet they were only that, tasty, and nothing more.

Second rank monsters were able to fill her belly, quick and easy, but not much more.

Only the Dharnas estate had some fourth rank meat for both the elf and the wolf, which benefited their cultivation progress, everything else barely counted as sustenance.

The trio currently pondered what exactly happened in the forest area of the Warrior Trip; it was highly unusual to have so many injured students and alarmed instructors.

Even in the case of an accident, the scale still exceeded everyone’s expectations and looked quite serious.

In the end, neither of them got any answer and the teachers and personnel waiting at the academy did not give them any hints either, only repeating what the driver already said.

The group handed their spoils over to the merit exchange and briefly said goodbye to each other before departing the academy.

It was a quite jarring dissonance between the hectic emergency treatment camp back at the base camp and the normal everyday situation back in the city.

Nisha and Accalia walking together raised some eyes as usual, but it was not that unusual to see familiars, just rarely the combination of a young girl and a big bad wolf.

Since the trip was supposed to take longer, the elf still had free time before she needed to return home for dinner, so Nisha seriously pondered where she should go next.

Perhaps a quick dive into the Dungeon would work, she had her [Taurith Short Sword] hidden away inside her [Inner World] and her familiar was next to her, so everything was ready.

Nevertheless, the girl and her friends already fought during the trip, so more exercise was unlikely to yield significant results and the dragon was still put off by the blood and injuries back at the base camp.

Her friend Aubrey was most likely at work and not available, whereas her other friend Velvet liked to sleep during the day for some reason.

Unconsciously her steps changed direction as the girl wondered about a destination and she arrived in front of the [Seven Stars Church] before Nisha had the chance to come to a decision.

 

Instead of going through the main entrance and then through the Life and Death Hall, the elf and her familiar walked around the side of the building and used the portal in the back, which was directly connected to the living quarters of the priests and their families.

Although mass was only held in the morning and evening, few people attended all available sessions, with most picking one or two and one on the Day of Light, where no one worked at all.

Still, thanks to the sheer number of people living in the capital, there was always a visitor in each of the seven halls, often also consulting the priests for different issues.

Since the girl often frequented the place, the guard at the side gate gave her no second glance and simply let her in.

As soon as the master and her familiar entered the courtyard of the complex belonging to the Life and Death Hall, the wolf trotted towards a familiar spot and rubbed against the bark of a tree with black and white leaves.

Besides the differently coloured foliage, the plant appeared no different from a regular, albeit stunted tree.

Nisha had tried to figure out what species and rank it belonged to, but it was difficult to do so without knowing its special features and uses; the only thing she gleaned was its approximate rank, around the fifth or sixth.

Due to plants being very different organisms than fleshly cultivators, the estimate might be inaccurate and it could very well be a seventh rank species instead, yet the dragon assumed that the tree would have to be very special if it did not show the difference in its vitality and aura after breaching the second great divide in cultivation.

Accalia hardly cared about all of that and rubbed against the bark of the plant, using the rugged surface to scratch all the itches she was unable to reach on her own with her paws.

Giving herself a good scrubbing, the [Storm Trail Dragon Wolf] curled up in the shadow of the tree and dozed off, already used to the long visits to the temple.

Nisha knew the emotions of her familiar and did not mind the rather simple desires of her companion, as the cultivation of a beast increased, so did its spiritual intelligence.

Spotting a passing acolyte, the elf asked him to inform Miss Thana of her visit and thanked him while the young man hurriedly walked off in search of the older priestess.

The dragon herself entered the pavilion near the tree and sat on a bench inside, the old woman and the girl often used this place to have their conversations.

 

It did not take long until the elderly Sera arrived from the direction of the living quarters, a stick in one hand and a tray with a pot and two cups in the other.

Steam rose from the opening of the container, the hot water inside already heated to the right temperature to brew tea thanks to a small fire formation carved on the bottom of it.

Little Lia lazily greeted Miss Thana with her tail swinging left and right, yet the wolf was not bothered to stand up and come closer at all.

The old lady still greeted the familiar before approaching the pavilion, smiling at the elf as she joined her on the bench opposite of the table between them.

“Welcome, Nisha. Care to join an old lady for a cup of tea?”

Nevermind that the elf was the one to visit, Miss Thana always managed to make the girl feel welcomed and secure with only a couple of words.

On top of that, they both enjoyed tea, so it was easy to talk about various topics without feeling too much concern.

“Do you crave a particular flavour? The selection is absolutely delightful this turn.”

Sending mana into the ring on her finger, several satchels of tea appeared on the table, clearly retrieved from an internal space.

Nisha was still in awe at the concept of storage items, only the most rich and powerful had the gold and influence to purchase them from special sources.

No vendor in the capital would offer to sell one if they got their hands on one, it was so precious that it could be the centrepiece of an auction at any time.

So while it was a surprise that the priestess possessed such a valuable artefact, it was not impossible to obtain one through the long turns of her life.

“I have no particular favourite at the moment, you can pick one.”

Whereas the elf would have been partial to discuss flavours and taste during a different time, her thoughts were currently in a different place.

Humming a non committed not-answer, Nisha did not make herself clear.

Looking at the distracted girl, Miss Thana smiled knowingly and picked one of the satchels.

“Let’s have some Desert Cactus Flower tea then, the dry heat makes the flavour quite strong, but it’s also quite sweet.”

Scattering the dried flower petals in the cups, the priestess poured hot water from the can into them, brewing each of them a serving of tea.

 

“What exactly is troubling you? You can tell me anything.”

With a bevy of life experience under her belt, the older woman only needed a glance to tell that something was troubling her guest.

On top of that, the church was a place for the common people to share their woes and worries, whereas the clergy often gave them fitting advice.

Noticing how easily Miss Thana saw through her, the elf blushed and hid her face behind the steaming cup of tea.

Taking small sips to gather her thoughts and summarise the experience, Nisha gave a succinct account of the unusual experience her group had on the last Warrior Trip.

Normally, she was hardly squeamish, the dragon hunted in the Dungeon for additional food all the time and consumed them in her [Inner World].

It was just something about the incongruence between regular operations and the jarring bloody camp that put the girl off.

Calmly listening to the recount, Miss Thana neither interrupted nor asked additional questions, letting the elf get her story out first.

Once she finished retelling the events so far, the elf’s cup had been emptied two times, yet she hardly noticed.

“Can you tell me what exactly happened there? I still don’t know what’s going on.”

In the end, Nisha could only turn to the priestess to clear her doubts.

Perhaps Marshal Dharnas would have been the better choice, as he was a major figure in the capital and had his ways of acquiring news in a short amount of time, yet the elf did not want to trouble the man - he always had a lot of work regardless of her own situation.

Mindfully placing down her beverage, Miss Thana contemplated for a while before carefully answering the question.

 

“To be honest, I do not know the exact details yet. My Hall of Life and Death did not send priests to the Academy recently, our element is not quite popular at the moment.

Well, that doesn’t actually matter much, I just don’t have any first hand info.

Nevertheless, I can still try to guess a bit about the reasons.”

Closing her hands around the hot cup and warming her fingers from the radiating heat, Miss Thana looked into the distance and recalled the matters from a time in the past.

Nisha was torn out of her contemplations and eagerly focused on the old priestess; she really hated being unable to know more details about the sudden incident.

“The [Seven Star Church] did not always cooperate with the [Royal Academy], at first it was the graduates of the academy that offered to bring students along to pay something back to the school.

They hired priests to accompany them as an additional security measure, but they could not take too many fledgling warriors along because of limited numbers.

Of course that happened before my time, the systems of the academy and the church were still being perfected during that time period.

Seeing that the practical experience benefitted the students, the decision makers of the academy eventually overtook the program and approached the church for a joint cooperation.”

The elf was surprised and imagined the older woman as a student for a moment, before she realised that Miss Thana most likely participated as a priest instead.

Nevertheless, it made sense that the [Royal Academy] would promote an activity that benefited their students, especially if it increased the capacity for participation and strengthened the foundation of the young warriors.

Perhaps there would be a similar project for the magician classes if there was a suitable training ground, yet it was more beneficial for warriors to move around and train their bodies in combat, whereas magicians mostly needed a quiet environment and mental exercises and less combat confrontations to advance.

 

“Generally, there are very few reasons for the instructors and the priests to panic and leave their posts.

Going by the arrangements from the time when I practised my healing spells, the academy sends teachers adept in movement skills and hiding skills.

If the students know that they are getting supervised and an instructor is close by, the training will not have the intended effect, so the teachers have to stay hidden and observe from afar.

Should anything happen, they can bring any injured students back to the carriages, where the priests are ready to cast healing spells to treat them.

Just think about it, the areas are chosen according to the general level of the students.

You are in the first year, right? The monsters you face should have the strength between the middle and late second rank.

Only when you are challenged, but not completely overwhelmed, can you cultivate your skills properly.”

After getting shown the situation from another angle, the perspective of an educator, Nisha understood the situation a little bit better.

The academy obviously had protocols in place and plenty of experience with these outings, so any deviance from the norm was obviously pretty serious.

“Let me ask something else. Imagine that you encounter an early or mid third ranked monster during a trip. What would happen to your group?”

Contemplating the imaginary scenario, the dragon had to admit that her own group was not a very good example for this question.

Even a fourth rank monster was hardly an opponent for Nisha’s familiar, which currently laid on her back and snored away.

She also suspected that Unico had the power to fight above his own rank, even if the young man also concealed part of his real strength.

Perhaps only Lisa truly showed strength according to her real cultivation rank, but even if the other two only matched her strength, anything below the fourth rank was absolutely not a problem.

On the other side, groups with more members around the middle of the second rank would definitely have a problem against a third rank monster, but not to the point where they had to despair.

With a united front and the numbers advantage, they could probably at least hold out until an instructor arrived.

Upon hearing the girl’s answer, Miss Thana confirmed that nothing changed overly much since she was an acolyte, going on those trips herself.

“It looks like someone most likely died.”