A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

During the next day, nothing happened at the family‘s house, neither voices nor activities made the slightest sound.

And on the day after that, some of the neighbours finally noticed the abnormality from the prolonged silence, yet most people hardly had the energy to care about other people‘s business, so they made a mental note at best and then got back to their chores.

It was only on the third day that a group of city guards broke open the front door and stormed the residence.

After the dust settled from the door being torn from the hinges and the lock being smashed to pieces, an officer walked into the living room and looked around while his subordinates got to work.

Not too long afterwards, one of the soldiers reported back to him.

“Sir, we found them. The entire family.“

He did not say anything more and the officer looked decidedly sour suddenly.

It made it rather awkward for his subordinate, yet he also had no good solution, hence the man could only suffer in silence and wait for his superior to speak.

“That‘s the fourth incident already, all in one day. Wasn‘t the report from the experts saying that the initial outbreak should be rather limited and easy to control?

How come there‘s more and more reports about missing people then?“

Not giving the guard a chance to answer, he strode in the direction of the master bedroom and personally inspected the situation.

Two people laid on the bed, shrouded in silence.

It would have been a rather harmonious situation of a loving husband and wife, if it weren‘t for the terrifying black plant branches sprouting from the places where the extremities and heads were supposed to be.

Fortunately - or rather unfortunately for the victims - the scene of the incident was far less gory than expected.

Perhaps as a side effect of the final growth spurt, the [Blackroot Plague] rapidly absorbed fluids and tissue just before it broke out of the body of the victims, making the burst limbs and necks appear like broken leather instead of human flesh and blood.

“Seal the entire house and forbid anyone from approaching until the priests arrive to clean up and take the bodies.

Once the shift is over, everyone should head over to the temple for a [Cleanse], just in case. Better safe than sorry.“

With a flourish of his uniform‘s cloak, the guard officer left the house, unwilling to look at the other victims.

Dead bodies did not bother most of the guards, but dead children always weighed heavily on the mind.

Nisha was blissfully unaware of the fate that Tom the Tanner was about to go through while she looked through the stalls and offices on the ground floor of the Arena.

Since she had watched a match before and coupled with her experience this time, it was finally time for her to participate in a match personally.

If the girl was totally honest, there was rarely a chance for her to let go completely and exercise her strength to the fullest degree.

The Dungeon was nice to procure food and stock up on rations, but the dragon had to avoid the eyes of others and had to tread carefully.

Similarly, what Nisha could and could not do was rather restricted in the [Royal Academy], as a first turn student with a fourth rank cultivation was just too abnormal in any case.

She learned many things and discovered new knowledge, yet the dragon itched to let loose and test her upper limit.

In the Arena, the restrictions were far less strict and gave her more options to go all out.

Given that it was also difficult for some people to act with their official identity for all sorts of reasons, it was rather common to see masked or cloaked participants that used a stage name in the pit.

Contrary to expectations, the arena staff did not disallow this, as the mystery and anticipation from guessing the true identities of these mysterious fellows added another means of entertainment, which in turn generated more profit.

In this regard, the security of the participant‘s information was almost as strict as the [Adventurer‘s Guild], which was commonly accepted as the most impartial and neutral organisation on the continent.

In comparison, the Arena would also protect their fighters, though their motives were mostly selfish and tied to profit.

Even a mid tier noble had been turned away when he had tried to force the staff to hand over the real identity of a fighter that won a bout in a surprising upset and caused the man to lose all the gold he placed on the second place warrior that was secretly sponsored by him.

Perhaps only the highest echelons in the capital could influence the families behind the Arena and make them lower their guard, although these bigshots should not be interested in a meagre fourth rank fight anyway.

That made it the perfect place for the elf to fight to her heart‘s content.

 

Nisha remembered that their special warrior class instructor had brought them to register themselves the last time they visited the place, and the attendant who eagerly served them despite not getting any benefit out of her actions directly.

She had promised to come look for her if she wanted to register for a fight, and as a result the elf was currently trying to spot the attendant again.

Perhaps due to the excitement of seeing the fight, Nisha did not quite catch the attendant‘s name, but she was certain of her ability to recognize her face if she was to spot the woman.

If she really did not manage to find the attendant again, then there was nothing the dragon could do and would have to approach someone else, yet since she gave her promise, it was the right thing to look for the other party first.

Her diligence was rewarded as the elf managed to spot her target after walking around one third of the circle around the pit.

Manning one of the offices responsible for registering the fighters and arranging the matches, the attendant was currently talking to a pair of warriors in chainmail armor, answering their questions and pointing out various features of the arena.

Nisha ever so slightly raised her eyebrows at the pair of warriors, it was easy for her [Spirit Sight] to determine that they had next to no mana inside their bodies, whereas the third rank aura filled their physiques almost to the limit, meaning that it would not be long until either of them broke through.

One of them had an affinity for the wind element, whereas the other was more inclined to water, albeit both of their aura circulations were rather similar to each other.

If the elf had to guess, the two should be related to each other, perhaps brothers or cousins.

Since the attendant was in the middle of work, Nisha did not move to cut in the queue and lined up behind them to wait for her turn.

Although there was some distance between the two parties and the girl did not particularly decide to listen in, it was inevitable that she overheard parts of their conversation.

 

The two of them apparently visited the capital for the first time and wanted to make a name for themselves in the arena pit.

Hailing from a small city near the borders of Leandar, they were considered rather powerful and learned some things from a nearby school in addition to their rather frequent outings to slay monsters in the villages surrounding the city.

Back at home they were rather famous and everyone gave in to them for the sake of their face, which evidently inflated their arrogance quite a bit.

They were not satisfied with the conditions given by the Arena and demanded a higher share and better accommodations, all things that were not easily decided by an employee like the attendant on her own.

She could only do her best and answer their questions to the best of her abilities and refuse when she really could not change the details.

Naturally, due to being unable to get what they wanted, the two warriors were very unhappy on the inside and did not waste any time in making their displeasure known.

After repeatedly putting the attendant on the spot, they threw their hands in the air and left on the spot, not giving her any face.

Seeing that it was her turn now, Nisha stepped up and took the spot in front of the stall, shaking her head as she looked at the departing backs of the two warriors.

“Hello, we meet again. Is it frequent that unreasonable people like them show up?“

Nisha did not have any misgivings when she called out the bad behaviour of those two, since neither of them was more powerful than her in the first place.

Taking a step back, even at the same rank it was very very difficult to find an opponent that the dragon was not confident in taking on, not to mention those with lower cultivation than the girl.

Although her eyes made it easy for the elf to gauge the strength of others and adjust her manners based on the result, Nisha was unwilling to rely on guesses to judge others in this way.

Just as the dragon was hiding in plain sight, living as a beast in the capital of a human kingdom, there was no way to tell if there were other powerful beings around that managed to conceal themselves and escaped her detection.

As long as someone was polite toward her, Nisha would return the same amount of respect and not skimp in giving others a good impression first.

Due to this, she would not accidentally offend others, while those that offended the young heiress had to weigh if it was a wise move to offen a fourth rank dragon with a high social standing.

 

“I didn't quite get your name the last time, luckily I managed to find you anyway.

My name is Nisha and I want to sign up for a competition. Can you help me with the registration and guide me in the right direction?“

Just like that, the dragon would not even look down on an attendant and maintain a friendly attitude, even if there were no benefits to be reaped.

Being polite did not cost the elf anything, and sometimes there were unexpected gains from extending a hand first.

“You don‘t have to be so polite, Miss Nisha, it‘s no problem at all.

If you like, you can call me directly by my name, Elinor, and it‘s my job to assist guests with the procedure.

The Arena is always happy to provide our guests a venue where they can display their strength, it‘s our honour.“

Despite being berated and having to smile while insults were thrown her way, the attendant Elinor was not discouraged or impatient at all.

As soon as she spotted the girl, her face lit up and she did not dare to show any discourtesy at all.

Perhaps her treatment would be one or two levels lower if the woman had not investigated the guests before, yet after knowing that they were specially nurtured disciples from the [Royal Academy], it was an incredible opportunity for Elinor to be in charge of them.

Talents that made it to the highest education facility in the entire kingdom were not simple characters and were bound to soar to the skies in only a few steps in the future.

Nisha was secretly impressed with the methods of the arena, most people would certainly feel depressed and displeased from being treated badly, yet the attendant before her still managed to face her with a smile and provide service with a smile on her face, subconsciously giving her a good impression.

This was also the strength of an institution like the Arena, which accumulated strength over a long period and refined their methods over time.

If Elinor reacted in a big fashion and intentionally flattered, a guest like Nisha would most likely be on guard and guess that there were hidden motives behind the scenes for them to be deliberately targeted and shy away from participating in matches in the pit as a result.

The quality of their employees was simply something else entirely.