“Greetings, I’m truly sorry for taking your stall, but I’m in desperate need of a coin. As compensation, how about I offer a prayer for my Lord’s healing grace? May you be blessed with good health.”
The words spilled from Richard’s lips, earnest yet tinged with necessity, as he stood amidst the clamor of the market.
“Cabbage for sale! Fresh cabbages!” a voice bellowed nearby.
“Hacked from goblins with my own blade, each comes with a goblin ear—proof of a man’s valor!”
“Aurina! Spit out that chicken—it’s not yours!”
Richard’s sharp command cut through the din.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of fists on wood echoed as a scuffle broke out.
“I had no choice but to use force to stop your thieving,” Richard said, his voice firm but weary.
“It’s called trading,” the other retorted.
“Learn it, kid or not.”
“Cabbage! Get your cabbages!” the vendor’s cry rose again, relentless.
“Oh, by the way,” Richard called out, his tone shifting to curiosity, “you seem like a man’s man. Ever heard of the name Black Boar?”
Richard hawkes his cabbages with one hand while the other gripped Aurina’s black-and-red dragon horns, keeping her tethered.
Aurina’s head swam, a dizzy haze brought on by what she privately dubbed “Richard’s Iron-Palm Skull-Shaker Massage.”
Around them, the market buzzed with life—villagers bustling with pigs, cows, sheep, sacks of wheat, potatoes, wheels of cheese, barrels of ale, and jugs of milk.
Their boots crunched on stone paths strewn with fresh straw, masking the filth beneath.
So much food in this stone nest of little bugs, Aurina thought bitterly, yet Richard refused to let her have any.
Cruel, wicked, foolish man! When I grow up, I’ll crush him—oh, I will crush him.
Her stomach growled, loud and insistent.
“I’m still a child,” she whined.
“I’m hungry.”
“Be patient,” Richard replied, unyielding.
“Gah!”
Aurina lurched forward like a zombie, arms outstretched toward a flock of sheep a shepherd was driving past.
“Baa, baa, come to my belly! I want one! Just one!”
“Baa!”
The sheep, ten meters away, bleated in panic and surged into a nearby shop, piling into a woolly heap.
If Richard hadn’t yanked her horns, Aurina would’ve dove into the flock, tearing into them with glee.
He kept one hand on her, the other trading cabbages with a line of customers, all while muttering apologies.
“Sorry, folks, she’s got a big appetite. Gotta keep her in check like this.”
“I’m not being cruel,” he added, sensing their stares.
“Really, it’s not what it looks like.”
The townsfolk were happy to buy the rare, cheap cabbages, supporting a paladin fallen on hard times after slaying goblins.
But whispers followed.
“What a brutal paladin,” one muttered.
“Is he really a paladin?” another question.
“So rough with a little girl.”
“I saw him smack her head with steel gloves,” a third hissed.
The gossip weighed on Richard, each word a stone on his shoulders.
At last, the cabbages sold out, and with goblin ears as barter, he secured a mule.
Hastily, he hoisted Aurina onto it and fled the market’s judgmental eyes.
With a hefty pile of copper coins—six silver’s worth—he stopped at a butcher’s, trading them for twenty pounds of meat.
At a tavern, he paid the rest to have the meat boiled.
Two massive basins brimmed with it, steaming as the innkeeper and his wife tipped them into a bubbling cauldron.
Richard, his strength far beyond mortal limits, stood watch.
Not out of pride or disdain for menial work, but because both hands were occupied restraining Aurina.
The raw pork’s bloody scent wafted into her nose, and she chewed the air, eyes locked on the red meat, imagining its soft texture melting in her mouth.
“Gah! I want it! I want it now!” she cried, hands clawing toward the pot.
“Patience,” Richard said.
“It’s not ready yet.”
“I’ll eat it raw, you eat it cooked!”
“No,” he said firmly, worried about creasing his brow.
“You need to learn to eat cooked food.”
Today it’s raw meat, tomorrow live livestock, the day after… people.
Aurina’s small, pale feet scraped the grimy floor, digging shallow pits.
“Bugs, bugs, bugs! Only eating cooked food. A true dragon can eat anything alive!”
The tavern couple froze, glancing at Aurina.
“She’s… a dragon?” the wife asked.
“She’s—” Richard began.
“I am a true dragon!”
Aurina declared.
“A true dragon, gah! Offer your tribute—meat, meat, meat!”
Richard sighed deeply, abandoning any hope of hiding her identity.
After much chaos, the meat was ready.
Determined to make Aurina crave human food—to steer her away from devouring people like a feral beast—Richard held her fast while instructing the couple to mix in his secret sauce.
Fish sauce, dried shrimp, honey, pepper, and more—two whole jars of it, stirred into the beef with fresh cilantro.
The thick sauce clung to the steaming meat.
Aurina’s eyes gleamed as if she could already taste the beef’s texture, Richard’s sauce bursting on her tongue.
She chewed air, her tantrum growing wilder.
Richard had to wrap his arms around her to keep her still.
When the basins hit the table, he barely had time to grab a fork and spear a piece before a red whirlwind erupted.
The wooden basins spun empty on the table, licked clean.
Aurina crouched atop it like a cat, her gaze fixed on the beef impaled on his fork.
“That’s got my drool on it,” she said, a triumphant grin spreading across her face.
She rose, looming over him like a conqueror.
“Gah, gah! I lick first, then eat!”
A faint, musky dragon-scent wafted from the meat.
Richard considered eating it, but his “affliction” gave him pause.
“Fine, you have it,” he said.
Before he could lower the fork, Aurina lunged, hands braced on the table, head darting forward to snatch the meat.
She was so close her fiery dragon-warmth brushed his face, her breath hot against his skin.
Her tongue flicked out, licking the fork in defiance.
“Even the strongest bug can’t out-eat me!”
Richard’s hand twitched, and Aurina leapt back like a startled cat, landing behind the table.
But he only gripped the holy hammer amulet at his waist—crafted by his childhood friend Sophia to suppress his affliction.
Once hidden deep in his pack, used only in secret at night, it now hung openly, within reach since traveling with Aurina.
Clutching the amulet, he felt steadier.
“No more food-stealing,” he said. “You won’t listen, I know, but at least you like cooked food now.”
Aurina smirked.
“You’ll cook bug-food for me forever, then.”
“Forever? No chance,” Richard said.
“Once you’re grown and can live in human society—without causing havoc, I hope—we’ll part ways. I don’t expect you to be a saint, just… don’t be a monster.”
“Gah?”
“Yes, we’ll part,” he continued, his voice softening.
“Once I’ve paid off my fifty-thousand-gold debt, I’ll return home to marry my fiancée. She’s waiting for me. We’ll walk down the aisle, and I’ll hang up my sword to be a proper husband.”
His eyes glowed with longing as he stared into the distance.
“We’ll have children. I just hope they’re not as wild as you.”
Aurina studied him, her mind racing.
She liked Richard—a bug who could cook and be ridden like a steed.
If she could claim him as her servant, how grand that would be!
She’d even let him live.
If he tried to flee, she’d chain him down.
As for marriage, she didn’t care or understand, but Sophia… she vaguely recalled a woman fit to bear dragonkin.
“What’s marriage?” she asked.
“It’s a vow between two people to stay together forever, just the two of them,” Richard explained.
“A wedding is the ceremony where they declare that oath to the world. It’s the most important moment in a person’s life.”
It sounded dreadful, but if weddings mattered so much to bugs… Aurina grinned.
“When you have your wedding, I’ll come too.”
I’ll ruin it all, gah, gah! Your face will be priceless.
“I just hope you don’t eat the entire feast,” Richard said, still believing he could civilize her.
“Since you’re full, I’ll have some bread.”
He reached for his coin pouch, rummaging, then tipped it over.
A single copper coin clinked onto the table.
Enough for a loaf, nothing more.
“Gah, gah! Out of money?”
Aurina laughed.
“Stupid bug, so useless!”
“Sit properly,” Richard said.
“Tonight, you’re copying that ‘no racial slurs’ pledge fifty times.”
“Nooo!”
He opened his ledger, calculating.
This goblin-slaying venture had been a total loss.
His last few gold coins were gone, and his debt remained a crushing fifty thousand.
Since meeting Aurina, his wealth had plummeted.
Aurina’s head popped up beside him.
“What’s that? Counting coins? Gah, gah, you’re so poor!”
Oddly, when it came to money, Aurina’s mind was razor-sharp.
Richard inhaled deeply.
“If you hadn’t torched the goblin loot cave, or stuffed half the spoils in your stomach, this wouldn’t look so grim.”
“No way! My belly’s got no loot!”
Aurina backed away, clutching her stomach protectively.
“Don’t worry, I’m not stealing your hoard,” he said.
She glared, guarding her belly tighter. It gurgled loudly.
“Hungry again! Richard, feed me!”
“You just ate!”
“At least a whole pig,” she demanded.
“I haven’t eaten properly in days.”
Richard sighed.
“I hope we find Black Boar Pete soon.”
“Who’s Black Boar Pete? Edible?”
“When I was selling cabbages, I asked around,”
Richard said.
“In places where good falters, villains don’t hide their names or crimes. I learned about Black Boar Pete.”
“When do we eat him?”
“Black Boar Pete is our target. He deals in slave contracts, and from what I heard, he’s deep in the trade…”
Richard began, but Aurina yawned.
“…He’s clever, using his wealth to maintain order. Look at this town—stone roads, stone walls, richer than others its size. Over a hundred people bought my cabbages, yet when I asked about him, they clammed up. I saw fear in their eyes… and respect.”
Aurina perked up.
“Gold? Food? Let’s go! I’m starving!”
Richard regretted saying so much.
“First, we visit the local lord, a knight under Count Grim. He manages this place. We owe the ruler here basic respect.”
***
Everything was set.
Black Boar Pete gazed at the freshly bathed black-fox beauty before him, her eyes shimmering with pink, hungry desire fixed on him.
The bath was done, the bed prepared, sunlight streaming through the window at noon.
Clear skies outside—perfect for some exercise. And, of course, the cage was ready.
Pete flung back the cloth.
In the dim light, a chestnut-haired man curled inside, his eyes hollow, lips murmuring a name:
“Celiasya… Celiasya…”
A cry for the lost, or grief for what was gone—he no longer knew.
Sunlight hit his face as he saw the black-fox beauty.
He gripped the cage bars, screaming hoarsely, “Celiasya!”
But her gaze never left Pete.
“Hmph, you’re finally awake,” Pete sneered, rubbing his hands.
“Took a whole vial of magic potion to rouse you. Time to learn what happens when you defy Black Boar Pete. Not just here on this bed, but outside, in the grass, under the sun, with my men watching. Nice day for it, isn’t it?”
The man spat curses, words raw and jagged.
Pete laughed.
“You fools thought you could sneak through my tunnels, playing the victims? This town is my world. Caught this morning, punished by noon. How’s it feel? Plenty more days like this. It’s your reckoning.”
He turned to the woman.
“She’ll enjoy it, I promise.”
The man broke, sobbing.
“This can’t be real. If it’s a nightmare, wake up, please wake up!”
Pete approached the black-fox beauty, his eyes glowing pink, voice soft.
“Come, I’ll teach you. Obey me, and you’ll know true pleasure—”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door shuddered under heavy knocks.
Pete roared, “Whatever it is, get lost!”
“Urgent letter from Sir William Marshall!” a voice called.
Pete growled, “Get in here, then scream!”
The messenger delivered the letter and fled.
Stamped with a knight’s crest, the parchment roared to life when opened:
“Moments ago, dragon-slayer Richard and a dragon stormed my castle, demanding you! I covered for you, but I don’t know how you crossed someone who’d chase you a thousand miles. Run, now! Burn every trace! I’m not facing a paladin and a dragon!”
“Master…” the black-fox beauty purred.
“Back off!” Pete snapped, his mood soured.
“I had time for fun, damn it! That garlic-nosed knight has no patience. Richard, you fool, coming to my world to challenge me?”
His teeth ground audibly as a plan formed.
A secret spell, long-prepared, could amplify his hypnosis.
With the fabled mirror shard, he might even sway a young dragon.
No fun until it was cast, but confidence grew.
Hide in the shadows while Richard searched blindly.
If he could steal that dragon-girl, even if he lost everything else, a dragon to ride by day and night would secure his future.
He turned to the caged man, grinning.
“You’re lucky. Another fool’s about to join you, delaying your torment. Thank him in a few days.”
