I Became Part of the Dragon's Hoard

Bery lay on her stomach on a beach towel, and her dragoness lay next to her. The two stared into each other's eyes. After learning how to swim for a while, Bery'd gotten tired, so the two decided to sun bathe. They clutched each other's hands and looked at each other lovingly.

"You learned quite well, kitten. I would say that earns you a passing grade."

"A passing grade?"

Valerie nodded with a smile. "Mhm, that's at least deserving of an A in swimming class. You even helped me catch these fish."

The dragoness gestured to a bucket of fish next to them.

"You have so many strange things stored," Bery said. "I don't even know how you found something like this. And then there was that metal thing in your mountain."

"Times have always changed a lot. Eras come and go. There was a time when people used all sorts of metal instruments. It's hard to keep track of the world's development."

Bery raised her eyebrows, her ears wiggling. "Are you telling me that things used to be more advanced?"

"It wasn't more or less advanced. In my view, it was directionally different. Things kind of loop, but they don't at the same time. First there was magic. Then there was stuff like this bucket. In this era, people combined things. Magic and sword and magic tools."

Bery thought back to the human town that raised her, remembering the instruments that guild members would use to enlist people. Each guild had their own kinds of implementation.

"I think that Yuri is something from back then?" Bery asked with a tilt of her head. Yuri said she hadn't known anything about magic, but she also said she came from another planet. Such things were too hard to imagine for Bery.

The kitten pictured the purple night sky and imagined Yuri floating through the vastness of that place.

"Notice. Any of administrators thoughts on the matter are incorrect."

Bery pouted, looking towards her smiling dragon for assurance.

Valerie shrugged. "I have no idea how any of their inventions worked. I simply collected them for their beauty."

Bery giggled. "You really are a hoarder."

"And you are Bery cute."

The kitten rolled her eyes in exaggeration, but truly she was happy. She was glad that Valerie enjoyed looking at her body, and she knew that the dragoness cherished more than just her looks. Speaking of which, this is the perfect opportunity.

Bery pecked her dragon on the lips. "Now that you've learned basically everything there is to know about me, it's your turn."

The dragoness chuckled. "Ask away, little kitten."

"You said that you've been around for many ages, but how old are you exactly?"

Valerie sighed, looking off into the distant waters. "The truth is that I really don't know. I was around since the earliest signs of life here, and I can sleep for a long time. When things would get dull, I'd fall asleep for years and slow my metabolism. The last time I woke up from a long sleep was about ten years ago, and after a while, I was going to go to sleep again until I saw you."

Bery's face heated, but she shook her head. She would not allow the dragoness to subvert her questions!

"Did you have any other dragon friends?"

Valerie nodded. "There were others like me in the beginning. Some of them died, but two of them are still alive today. I have no idea what they are doing."

"How do you know they are alive then?"

"I just know. I can feel signatures of their mana on the air. When a powerful being casts a spell, there is a ripple effect. Other strong ones in the world can feel it. That's why the strong rarely use their power."

"Didn't you use your power recently?"

Valerie pet behind Bery's ears. "It is safer to use my power against a dragon. If I resorted to using less, the result would be worse. If I'd cast a normal flame into that dragon's storm, the surrounding terrain would be devastated. Besides, my magic is a bit different. It can certainly be felt, but the results of the spells is different."

"Different how?" Bery asked, purring while the dragon scratched her.

Valerie pushed a small flame into her fingertip, and Bery felt the warmth resonating. "If this flame hit something, the result would be that the object would catch fire. That is the normal expectation of fire." The dragoness changed the color of the flame to a more vibrant red before Bery's eyes. Though, this one lacked heat entirely. "This flame is one of erasure. The reason that you can't feel the heat is because it's erasing the place where it exists."

Bery nodded. In reality, she felt like her head was spinning from the explanation. A flame that erased things was beyond her capability of understanding. She witnessed it happening when Valerie burned the trolls, but there was no comprehension in Bery's mind.

Valerie grinned, continuing to pet Bery. "Your thinking face is also Bery cute. Consider it like this, you have a blank canvas, and you paint it all black. With another brush you place a white dot, erasing the black beneath. That's why people call them the Flames of Oblivion."

Bery's eyes widened. "Do you have a lot of nicknames?"

"Hmph, I don't care about any nicknames people give me, except for the ones coming from your cute lips."

Bery felt flustered again, squirming in Valerie's grip on her chin. The dragoness pulled her into another kiss, their tongues mingling with each other.

The kitten took a deep breath when the dragon finally released her. She started to speak, but her tummy rumbled.

Valerie chuckled, placing her palm on Bery's stomach. "It looks like we need to get some food in here soon."

Bery's cheeks flushed again. "Dang, I was going to keep pressing you, until you revealed everything!"

"All in due time, kitten."

The two stood up, Bery shaking off some sand that had gotten stuck on her body. At first, she was having fun dancing in the sand, but she didn't realize how annoying it could be at the same time.

"Stand still," Valerie said.

The dragoness had all of her vibrant red flames clear the sand particles from Bery's body.

Bery looked down at herself before looking at Valerie in disbelief. The kitten shook her head in exasperation. "I thought you weren't supposed to use that stuff a lot?"

Valerie shrugged. "A little use every now and then is good. In some places, they say use it or lose it, you know?"

"I guess I will have to use you a lot then?"

Valerie blushed before turning away from the kitten and looking into the fish bucket. "I will not forget that comment later, kitten. You better prepare yourself."

"Oooh, I'm so scared. The big bad dragon is going to bully me!"

Valerie looked like she would tackle the kitten down right then, but instead, she focused on the fish. She pulled a large, metal flat top from the backpack they'd brought with them. Interwoven on its surface were little swirls of red, the makings of a magic spell.

"Is that a magic stove?" Bery asked. "Did you also hoard this from someone?"

The dragoness shook her head. "Not at all, darling. I made the spell on this one myself. After all, fire magic is somewhat a specialty of mine."

Bery couldn't believe it. "How is that even fair? You can do so many different things!"

"I only learned how to do this one recently. I wanted to find a way to feed the little kitten while on the road."

"Wait, when did you even have time to do that?"

"When you were checking up on Emary."

Bery's ears wiggled like crazy, but her stomach felt too empty to protest. "Can I have a canvas?"

The dragoness smiled and handed Bery a canvas and paints.

While Valerie got to work making their meal, Bery got to work painting the scenery in front of her.

White fluffy clouds hovered over the water, and the light of the sun sparkled against the ocean. The clear water splashed against the beach in oscillating waves. The white foam of the water cooled the surface of the beach.

Above them, beautiful white birds flapped their wings in a triangle formation. The birds had long black beaks, and they launched themselves down towards the water in intervals, capturing fish with practiced ease. The birds were even larger than Bery in length, and their wingspan was likely double Bery's height or more. She watched them in awe.

The kitten's brush worked its way on the surface of the canvas, starting with the sky and white birds. She captured the image of a bird launching itself into the water, its long webbed feet grabbing a fish beneath the surface.

Valerie walked over with warm food and a pleasant grin. "That's a wonderful painting you've made, kitten."