Misc. Erotica Asian Experience becomes an Isekaie

"Yes, Father, I will never let you down," Adam said, squaring his shoulders.

"That's the spirit, Adam; if you need advice on the knight test, let me know," Bard said, encouraging the boy.

"We'll have to get a wagon to carry our gear and foodstuffs," Holly said, looking around at her friends.

"We already have a mount that can pull it," Shion joined in, glancing over at Jake.

"How long do you think it would take to settle the matter?" Marlin asked just so she could have a time frame on when to expect them back.

"If it's a young red, maybe a month or two at the most. If it's an adult, half a year, a year if it's really spiteful," Jake informed them all, telling them what they were willingly getting into. "Can you all take a year off to fight said beast or do you need the money from the quicker quest?"

"No, we are going to hunt this dragon; you know how they are; you'll take the lead on the hunt. The reward from the bounty will be enough for all of us to take a year off if we have to. I'm hoping it's a young red," Marda stated, grinning as she imagined the armor she would get made out of the dragon bone.

"Jake, do you think it would be enough to outfit us all?" Mark asked, knowing just how deadly they would be with that kind of gear and just what quests they would be able to take on.

"Depends on the size of the dragon. Marda is a large woman, height-wise," he quickly added when her lips pressed together, "we'll just have to see what we find when we get there," Jake said, trying not to give a definitive answer to a hypothetical question.

"Fair enough," Mark replied with a nod.

"I don't know about you, I'm all for getting out of here early," Marlin whispered when they had stayed the allotted time to appear respectful.

"Right, we should be heading back ourselves... why don't the five of you come with us since we're going to go on that quest anyway?" Shion spoke, trying to get Marlin away from the others since she didn't know about Jake's teleportation spell.

"If that's the case, leave one of the chests here for the Guild. I'll carry it back to the Guild in my spacial magic inventory box. Means I won't be able to go on that shopping spree on the way back," she bemoaned. "At least I'll have some good tea to take the stress away. I'll keep what's left of your cut in my office, waiting for you all to return. I wish you six the best of luck; you five follow his lead. Dragon hunting isn't for the faint of heart."

"Yes, Boss," the five of them spoke. With that, Marda helped Marlin wangle one of the chests into her inventory box.

"I'll get the carriage, I know you wish to speak with the Duke before we leave," Shion said, taking on the poise of his wife, showing him she could be the Mistress of his House. She was not about to allow that woman to take what she was really growing to care deeply for.

"Adam, your training will get harder now its official," Jake said, seeing how serious Adam was taking this. "Stay with Shion; keep her safe while I'm away," he directed, seeing the coy smile on Shion's lips when he said that.

"Yes father," Adam said, puffing out his chest in pride that his father thought he was old enough to be trusted like Jake was doing.

Jake moved through the ballroom like he'd been to numerous ones before. Which he had two hundred years ago. Just because there were two hundred years between them, balls didn't change all that much, just the power players. He said a few words to the few nobles who spoke to him as he moved through the throng of bodies as he sought out Zaroth.

"One moment if you would, Jake of House Voss," Elendril spoke, stopping Jake in his search. "I understand you and my daughter have some history, and I'm not here to condone how she acted with you. Yes, she should have told you as is our way, yet she didn't, and that's on her. I understand you and the future Mistress of your House aren't officially married, and my daughter does have a longer claim to the seat. Might we be able to reapproach this in a more sensible way?"

"I understand your position, Elendril of House Eldrion. Like I told her when I gave her that onyx stone... didn't know about that, huh?" Jake uttered, seeing the confusion and shock of that bit of news. "I never want to see her again. So, no, she no longer has a claim since there is no relationship between us and there never will be again. Now, if you excuse me, I must see the Duke," he said as politely as he could before walking off.

"You departing?" Zaroth whispered after he was able to finally slip away.

"I am, have a quest to take care of and a dragon to kill," Jake informed his old friend.

"Dragon?! Any one of them I know about?" Zaroth asked, eager for something to take him away from the court in Emberglade.

"Some red dragon terrorizing some borderlands along the human and elven kingdoms," Jake said offhandedly, looking oddly at his friend as he belted out a laugh.

"I'm the one that put forth that quest to the surrounding Guilds, yet no one's taken the challenge."

"How big is it? Where does it fly in from, does it land to eat, or does it carry it off?" Jake rattled off questions that took Zaroth back for a minute.

"Big, very big, size of four peasant-sized houses, it lands from what I'm told, it's appeared in numerous spots from the eastward direction," Zaroth said, stirring Jake away from the crowd. "How soon are you and your party leaving to face it?"

"Heading out in the morning for it," Jake answered.

"Where from here?" Zaroth inquired with a knowing look. He was one of the few who knew about his little spell.

"Eslar," Jake uttered with a smirk.

"Jake, allow me and a few of my men to join you. Not to fight the beast, I know we'd be in your way; at least let us help track it down and lure it in for you and your party," Zaroth suggested; he wasn't that brave to face off with such a beast.

"The fewer, the better; no more than twenty; otherwise, you'll spook the dragon," Jake informed him, seeing Zaroth nodding in understanding.

"How long do you think it will take to defeat the beast?"

"Couple of months from what you've described, but I won't really know until I observe the dragon myself," Jake said with a far-off look. He knew his plate armor was a fine set of armor to fight earth dragons in. It would hinder him greatly when it came to the flame-breathing ones. The image of his dragon armor appeared in his mind. The glacial blue scale armor he made from Shiron's corpse gleamed in his mind. He noticed how Zaroth waved to one of his attendants and told him to bring him a map and quickly. They chatted away as they waited for the young man to return. When he did, Zaroth didn't waste a moment showing Jake the town they would meet up in given it was the same distance from Eslar and Emberglade to the land they were heading to. He could see Zaroth's excitement in his eyes when they departed, although he wondered how Zaroth was going to explain that to his wife.

As he descended the stairs, he saw his friends waiting for him. The three chests rested in the middle of the carriage, protected by Mark and Bard on the flanks while Marda stood behind the carriage. Jake lifted his hand, muttering a spell igniting the fire within the faystones as he climbed into the driver's seat, bent down and opened the box beneath the seat, and pulled out the bag of tea leaves he had bought for Marlin. He watched the sheer joy on her face as she took hold of the bag and inhaled the scent of the leaves.

"Thank you, Jake; you six be safe out there and come back to us with all your limbs in tack," Marlin said, stepping back when Jake took hold of the reins of his mount. She watched the awe on the other's faces as they watched what those types of elks were none for happening as Jake sent his mana along the reins and how the elk's mana-infused hairs glowed in the evening light.

"It's so pretty," Holly uttered in awe of the sight before her.

"Jake, just how much mana is that taking from you?" Mark asked, not realizing the elk was very greedy when it came to siphoning off his mana.

"A lot, these things are greedy little things. Marlin, we'll see you once the quest is complete," Jake said, getting a nod out of her before flicking the reins.

Not seeing Celine hiding in the shadows watching his departure. She didn't care where he was going; she never did; she cared about her status. The moment she saw the elk and how it lit up due to Jake's mana, she knew she had to oust the silver-haired woman. She would have her prestige and the wealth of his House, along with the men who would keep her entertained on Jake's money.

"Where we off to Jake?" Marda asked from over the back of Jake's carriage.

"Old workshop of mine that I don't use anymore," Jake said, pointing to its direction.

"Workshop?! I didn't take you for a tinker. Do you make magical components any longer?" Mark asked, knowing if Jake was older than he looked, than there was no telling how powerful they could be.

"Not any longer," Jake responded, killing Mark's optimism. With the door closed behind them, Heliotrope's light was the only thing illuminating his dark workshop as he opened the doorway to his home in Eslar.

"This is your new home, huh?" Bard said, looking around, taking stock of it.

"This seems more permanent than when we visited you in the forest," Holly said, taking it all in. She noticed that Mark, too, picked up on the magical protection around the open area.

"Of course, Adam needs a home to grow up in," Jake said, taking his and Shion's chest of gold off the carriage and setting it by the door of his home. "Marda, you might not want to sleep outside tonight. You can use the barn if you want to, along with the rest of you," he stated as he led Heliotrope to it.

"Thank you, Jake, would you mind if we leave our gold here while we deal with this quest?" Marda asked, watching where she was stepping. She didn't want to ruin anything.

"You three can use the hay loft," pointing to the ladder, "Marda, you can use the hay stall after Heliotrope gets fed," Jake stated as he and Adam unhooked Heliotrope from the carriage once they had parked it in its place. "And yes, your gold will be safe here," he said as he led the elk into its stall. Adam hurried to fill its bin with fresh hay and sweet oats. "It's starting to get a chill at night here; I can open a doorway to your place so you all can get your gear."

"Yes, please. We left everything back in town for the trip to the capital since we weren't allowed to bring them," Holly spoke, getting a nod of understanding from Jake.

"Right, I need an hour to recuperate the mana I spent so far, so that should give you all enough time to pack what gear you need. We'll be meeting up with the Duke and his men; they'll supply our rations during our hunt, so you needn't worry about food too much," Jake said as he led them back outside.

"We'll be ready in the allotted hour," Bard promised as Jake opened the doorway right into their home.

Jake's hand rubbed his neck. It was the only drawback to the teleportation spell the distance. The two openings, which equaled roughly five hundred miles, took half his mana stores. He waited for Adam to finish up with his evening chores, making sure he wasn't left out in the dark, given his fear of it from living on the streets for so long. Once Adam was done he led his son inside where Shion had gone and prepared their gift for Adam since it was official now. He wouldn't allow him to fight the monsters he fought. That would just be foolish; what monsters Adam would deal with would be small and pretty much harmless. However, his squire couldn't follow him without proper armor and a weapon. They had used the boar's leather they had made as the base for the dragon scales he had attached to it, while Shion was the one who sewed it all together. For Adam's weapon, he would use it until he was old enough to handle a larger weapon; he made his son a wakizashi, an homage to his Homeworld, made out of dragon bone. Jake wasn't taking any changes to Adam's safety. He knew he couldn't always watch over him; Adam would grow up and would want to make a name for himself like anyone born on Yardrat. He was just going to make sure his son had every edge he could give him.

Jake brought Adam to a stop as Shion sat in the seat she's come to command since this whole affair began. The polished, waxed wooden black scabbard sat on Shion's lap; the scale jerkin and greaves were draped over his own.

"Adam, this is a very important moment for you; this is the culmination of the months we've drilled your sword stances. This is my sign of the trust I'm placing in you to wield such a weapon I made for you. This is a wakizashi," waving to it as Shion lifted it from her lap, "you understand the gravity of the choice before you?" Jake said, sliding out the blade after taking it from Shion. He watched how Adam's eyes ran up and down the blade. He wondered if his blood knew what he was looking at. They widened when he supplied a bit of mana to the sword, causing an arch of electricity to race down the blade.

"Yes, Father, I understand," Adam uttered with a nod, knowing it meant his father thought he was ready to fight alongside him.

"While I'm giving you this weapon, I'm forbidding you from drawing unless you, yourself, are in danger of being killed; nothing less than that is warranted until I'm sure you're strong enough mentally to handle the repercussions of taking a life," Jake said as a strict teacher and a concerned father.

"Yes father, I won't let you down," Adam spoke as he accepted the weapon from his father's hands.

"When I'm sure you're ready to fully wield that blade, I will teach you the word of power to activate what you just saw. Yet you can't be my squire without your own armor, so we crafted a set of leather armor for you to walk beside us," Jake said, telling his son to remove his pants. Then handed Adam the leather scale greaves, helping Adam to understand how to fasten his armor, having him practice over and over until he was sure Adam had the hang of it. Then he helped Adam into his leather jerkin, showing Adam how to attach his sword belt to his waist. "Show me how well you can move in it?" he directed, showing his son what to do to ensure that Adam had full motion of his limbs.

"It's not too heavy, is it?" Shion asked in a motherly voice as she watched the light play along the glacial blue scales. She wasn't opposed to using them to protect Adam. More so when she learned they came from the dragon Shiron. "Good," she uttered when he shook his head, smiling at how happy Adam appeared to be at the step he had just taken.

"When we're on the road, I want you to wear it always until you can move like it's your normal clothes. But you will continue your workouts while we're in camp; you can't skip out on them," Jake said, seeing that Adam was taking it all in. "Now you go pack your bag, two pairs of clothes to last a week, and head to bed."

"May I bring my scrolls to continue my studies?" Adam asked, taking Jake by surprise, but a happy surprise.

"Of course you can, but they might get crushed on the road," Jake warned.

"I understand," Adam said before dashing off to his room. Where he finally released his excitement that he was going on an adventure with his father. He dashed around his room, looking for his best clothes. He wasn't about to bring shame to his father by dressing in rags. Then he stuffed as many of his scrolls as he could into the hard tube case Shion had gotten for him. He stood gazing down at his armor. Pride filled his heart as he studied the handy work his father put into it all. He knelt before the items, praying to the gods that brought Jake into his life to help him be of use to Jake and be an excellent squire for him. After that, Adam was beneath the warm covers of a bed his own parents could never afford, shaking his birth parents from his mind. Jake and Shion were his parents now, and he planned to prove he would be their best child ever!

"Seems you came to hunt a dragon," Jake joked as the four of them exited the doorway after the hour.

"Of course we did," Marda said with a grin as she exited in the best armor she had but rarely used due to the weight.

"You might want to leave that behind; we're hunting a red; you'll need all the agility you can muster to keep from being fried," Jake said, offering his wisdom. "My conjure shields have enough resistance to dragon fire if you're worried about defense if you wish to stay nimble."

"Babe, he knows what he's talking about; what do you think?" Bard inquired as he peered up at his lover.

"You think this armor will slow me down in our fight?" Marda asked for clarification.

"If it's as big as Zaroth... the Duke says it is from the reports he's gotten about it, then that means it's an adult, probably a hundred years old, so it's not going to be reckless in charging us without provocation. So we'll need the mobility to deal with whatever it will throw at us," Jake said, offering his wisdom.

"Can you hold the spell long enough for me to remove this?" Marda asked, she wasn't about to be a burden for her friends. She didn't waste a moment when Jake nodded. It only took her a few moments to return back wearing her normal chainmail armor.

"I'll ride into town in the morning and get the wagon we'll need; we should be on the road by lunch," Jake informed them as they settled down for the night in his barn.

"Jake, in the morning, when you're on your way to town, would you mind if I use your bath again?" Holly asked from the loft as she peered down at him.

"Sure, Shion will show you to it," Jake said, looking up at her, remembering what she had said about his bath after the first time she used it. "I'll let you all get some sleep, Mark. There's a heat stone in the stove, you know what to do with it if it gets too cold in here for you all, right?"

"Yep," Mark uttered over the railing of the loft. With that, Jake left the five of them to get some sleep.

In the morning the five of them were awoken as they heard Jake's voice urging Adam on to finish out his last lap for the day. The rocks that lined the basket now weighed fifty pounds instead of the twenty it once did. Shion's voice filled the morning air encouraging him onward to push through the last few feet. They rubbed their eyes as they saw Adam panting heavily as he bent over, and a basket they thought didn't belong there sat beside Jake. The only ones who realized what was happening were Marda and Bard as they smiled at the morning workout Jake was putting Adam through. Holly looked oddly at Shion, who caught her look and quickly looked away as she was lusting at the sight of Jake's exposed chest as he worked out with Adam, who was staring into his son's eyes as they did each push up.

"Morning workouts as a squire were always tough for me when I was starting out, too, but if you keep at it, it will soon seem like it was nothing before too long," Bard said, offering some encouragement to Adam, who wiped the sweat off his brow.

"I'll get breakfast started while the two of you bathe," Shion said, trying to keep herself from getting aroused by the sight of Jake's glistening chest.

"Right, you heard your mother; we best go get this stink off, don't you think?" Jake uttered, smiling down at his son, who was nodding, eager to be done with their exercises.

"Hope oatmeal and dried apples are fine with you all," Shion said, informing them what their morning meal would be as Jake and Adam entered their home.

"Perfectly fine with us, Shion," Marda stated with a nod.

"It should be ready by the time they come out from their bath," Shion informed them. Once Jake and Adam exited their home to partake of their morning meal with their friends with bowls of hot oatmeal and, half of the foot-length summer sausage he made from his dragon meat was plunked into the hot oatmeal. Adam mirrored Jake, just without the same amount of oatmeal. Father and son enjoyed the hot meal together as they sat on the lip of the porch, just enjoying the quiet of the morning. Holly, Mark, and Bard hurriedly got in line for their servings as they smelt the familiar scent of dragon. Their bowls in hand, eager for the hot goodness Shion ladled out. Marda just took the pot once they all had their serving since it would just be easier for them. Although Jake did allot Marda four sausages compared to the half a sausage each given her size and she needed all the strength she had to fight an adult dragon.

"Good, isn't it?" Bard asked, flashing Adam a toothy smile as he heard the crunch of skin from Adam's sausage as he bit into it.

"Mmmhmm," Adam hummed, knowing if it wasn't for Jake, he would either be dead or in prison waiting for the gallows for stealing food. He just had this goofy grin plastered on his face as he peered up at Jake as he wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

"Alright, I'll be back within the hour or so," Jake said from atop Heliotrope already outfitted to be hooked up to a wagon.

"You think Heliotrope will be able to handle a wagon all on its own?" Bard asked, having no experience with the type of animal Jake was on.

"Oh yeah, he doesn't look like it, but he's very strong, aren't you, boy?" Jake uttered, lightly patting the elk's neck, causing it to release a call in response.

"Be safe, and don't fall off; I'll make sure we're ready to go when you get back," Shion said, looking at the man she was going to spend her long life with longing affection.

"Adam, I want you practicing while I'm gone," Jake ordered as Adam's mentor.

"Yes, Father," Adam replied with a firm nod before dashing into their home and running back outside with the wooden sword in the shape of his wakizashi that Jake had made for him.

"Get your arm up more, Adam!" Jake called out, correcting Adam's stance when he was in a blocking stance. "Remember Adam, be strong, be unmovable but not so unmovable you break," he shouted, waving to his son, barely seeing Adam's nod in understanding.

"I've never seen a weapon like that before," Bard said, pointing to Adam's wakizashi that sat beside Adam's armor, waiting for Jake to return.

"Jake spent a lot of time making that for Adam so he would be uncambered when Adam was by his side," Shion said, noticing how Adam heard her. A smile touched her lips as, that only made Adam practice harder. "He made the weapon from what he remembers from his own world," she whispered to Bard.

"So he wasn't messing with us about that?" Bard asked low, getting agreement out of Shion. "Young man, might I examine your weapon?" he inquired politely as was the custom when handling another warriors weapon. "I promise I won't harm a hair on it," Bard stated, seeing how Adam was seriously pondering his request before Adam nodded and went back to his training. "What did he make this out of?" he uttered in confusion of the curve blade.

"He made it from the rib of some thunder dragon he'd slain; it's the same with my bow and daggers," Shion answered, keeping a watchful eye on Adam. She had watched Jake's training enough to point out a mistake or help Adam strengthen his form if he needed it.

"A weapon from his world, huh? I wonder how it would feel when it's used," Bard muttered aloud, popping the blade out a few inches, noticing it was only sharp on one edge of it, again not something their world was used to since single-edged blades were normally regulated to the dinner table, not the battlefield.

"Probably like your own feels when you cut through an enemy," Shion said, taking Adam's sword from him.

"True," Bard chuckled, recounting how easy it was to defeat monsters with the new sword Jake had gifted him. "Still, I have never seen that kind of stance; what is it?" he whispered, leaning in.

"Jake said he was teaching him how to be a samurai, whatever that means," Shion said, shrugging her shoulders at Bard's perplexed look at the name.

"Well then, I look forward to seeing Adam's progression," Bard uttered, wondering how the fighting style he was seeing would work in battle.

It was close to the hour of eleven that morning when Jake returned. Heliotrope's bellowing call trumpeted their arrival. He watched how his friends quickly got to their feet from their spots on his porch as he turned the wagon around. His hand threw the brake on before he bounded off the wagon, seeing Shion nodding in understanding when he told her he would be back in a minute. Jake didn't hide his smile when Adam stood a little straighter when he passed as Shion helped him into his undercoat.

His footfalls fell lightly on the steps as he walked down into his basement. His magic flared, undoing the magical locks on the door of his material room. His mind thought of his old dragon hunting days, and the room moved on its own, bringing him to stand in front of his old armor. He unbelted his sword belt and hung it up as he undressed. The silk of the webbing of the wings of Shiron he made into his undercoat glided along his skin like old times. His mind was in flux as the voices of the past warred in his mind as he slipped on his greaves. His glacial blue dragon scale cuirass with pauldrons that came down to his elbows brushed against his chest as he tightened down the straps.

The scales clinked lightly against each other as he tightened his bracers, his toes wiggled around to ensure his boots still remembered his feet. He glanced at his ōdachi he had used countless times to slay dragons in the past, wondering if he should bring it or not. In the end, his fingers wrapped around it and lifted it off its stand. He wasn't going to leave behind something he knew that had saved his life more than once hunting dragons. With the scabbard resting against his shoulder and the door to the room resealed, he felt the ancient spells woven into the armor reconnecting to his mana. Fortifying his body in ways normal magical armor could never do at least not in that age since the spells used on his armor were lost in the fall of the last age all but to him.

Jake felt their eyes on him as he stepped out into the sun. Adam's grin only grew when he realized their armor matched. Their eyes followed him as he walked to the rear of the wagon. The deep red of the scabbard gleamed in the late morning light as he carefully loaded it onto the wagon.

"Jake, just what the hell is that thing?! Just what the hell are you wearing?! That isn't your normal armor," Shion stammered, with the others nodding along.

"No, this is my normal armor; I just haven't worn it in a long time. Dragon scale tends to draw unwanted attention these days," Jake stated, seeing the envy in their eyes when he said that. "And this," pulling out the handle of his ōdachi, "is my great sword; I killed many dragons with it, figured we might need it."

"Jake... I'd be honored to wield it if it comes to it," Bard said, wanting to have that moment.

"You want that?" Jake asked seriously. "There is a cost of killing a dragon; you do know this, right?"

"You're talking about your dragon curse, aren't you?" Mark spoke, getting a nod from Jake.

"We have to be; we can't back down," Marda said firmly.

"As long as you know the cost of your choice," Jake said, dropping the matter. "We all ready?"

"We are," Bard said, stepping up to the rear of the wagon.

"You'll have to tell me everything about this curse," Mark said, climbing into the rear of it with the help of the two of them.

"It's a very lovely blue, Jake; which dragon is it from?" Holly asked, flashing Bard a smile of thanks for the boost into the rear of the wagon.

"Shiron," Jake answered truthfully.

"You said it was an ice dragon, didn't you?" Mark asked, sticking his head out the wagon as Shion sat in the driver's seat.

"It was," Jake answered.

"Jake, the only dragon I've found that carries that name fell centuries ago; that's impossible," Mark whispered so as not to worry his friends.

"You think it's impossible?" Jake mused with a knowing smirk as his mana shimmered along his irises.

"You're that old?!" Mark uttered low; he knew no one as young as Jake looked could be as gifted as he appeared to be. It was just too improbable to happen. He had to take Jake's amused eyes as his answer since Jake wasn't going to answer that so openly.

"Adam, it's a long trek. Are you sure you want to walk instead of riding with Shion?" Jake asked as he peered down. Adam just kept in stride with him as he walked alongside the wagon as protection against bandits and wild animals. "Use your stone, you greedy beast," he grumbled as the elk tried to siphon off his mana.

"I'll walk, Father," Adam uttered, keeping in stride with his father the best he could. 'Tus began their month-long journey to meet up with Zaroth.

"Steady Adam, don't let your breath lead you; keep your eye on the target," Shion whispered into Adam's ear as she taught him how to hunt with a bow. Her bow, it was the thought that counted. "Raise your right arm just a tad bit; you have to compensate for the flight of the arrow," she instructed, seeing how Adam was hanging onto every word. "Now draw the bow and inhale as you do," watching him draw the bow as much as he could, given his size, "do you have a clear shot of the target?"

"Mmmhmm," Adam hummed, his arms trembling, given the strength needed to keep the bow taunt.

"Then release the arrow when you're ready," Shion said motherly, her hand lightly rubbing his back, knowing they would have to get a shorter bow for Adam to use. However, she did praise him for taking down the four-point buck all on his own. "Now I'll show you what you have to do to dress the deer before its blood spoils the meat."

"Wow, you took it all down by yourself?" Jake uttered in awe, building up Adam's confidence when Adam had a huge smile on his face.

"Let's us handle the quartering of it," Marda said, stepping up with Bard at her side.

"Adam, go feed Heliotrope, then practice your stances," Jake instructed, smiling at Adam's back as he ran off to fulfill his chore list while they were in camp waiting for Zaroth to arrive. They had arrived two days earlier than he thought. While they did restock some of their supplies from the town they were camping on the outskirts of, off the side of the road, he knew Zaroth would be arriving by.

"Jake, you have to show us how you use that sword," Bard said with eagerness. Ever since he's seen it, he's wanted to take a swing with it.

"You might as well, betrothed; Bard will just bug you until you do," Shion said, flashing him a flirty smile. Plus, if she was truthful she wanted to see the extent of what his armor could do along with the sword since she knew his armor was woven in spells she couldn't name, just that she could sense them. She noted how he thought about it for a moment before he walked to the rear of it. The white gleam of the polished bone slid effortlessly out of its sheath. The moment that blade left its housing, a sense of dread filled the air as if the blade of the weapon was pressing against the skin of her neck. "Jake... what's going on here?" Her voice quivered as the sunlight glinted along the edge of its massive, curved blade as Jake lifted over his head to come to rest along his shoulders.

"It's the sword; its hatred of me was enough to be carved into its bones before I killed it," Jake said, walking towards a clearing so they wouldn't get caught up in his slash. "You all stay there if you don't want to die," he said seriously as he applied mana to the weapon. "You watching Bard?"

"Y-yeah," Bard answered in a stutter as he and all the rest watched as something so black, so dark, played along the blade's edge as if it was fire itself. He watched as Jake's left hand took hold of the long handle. It all happened in an instant as they all felt the release of Jake's mana, yet no one saw what caused the diagonal slash that cut through the swath of trees that were thirty yards across the clear meadow as it all came thunderously crashing down.

"That was death, the pure essence of death," Holly muttered, slightly afraid of the blade in Jake's hand.

"Well... it should be since this once belonged to a zombified dragon," Jake said, not revealing where he had fought one or that it came from the later years of the war when the Dragon Kings grew desperate. He noticed how they finally relaxed once he had sheathed his sword.

"That was just downright terror. Are you sure your human and not some monster masquerading as one?" Mark asked, getting an amused smirk out of Jake as Adam ran up to him. They all watched how that hard exterior of his softened when Adam just asked question after question.

"I don't know, some might think that," Jake mused offhandedly.

It was midday of the third day when the sound of men approaching filled the air. Marda spotted Zaroth's flag Before they even spotted them. So they were halfway packed when Zaroth's lead wagon appeared. With their own wagon fully packed and secured for the trip, they filed in behind the last wagon. They didn't stop. They just continued on when they had three more weeks of travel before they reached the area where the dragon had been hunting.

Three weeks later...

"We'll set camp further up that hill; I'd rather see it coming than have it crushing us with trees all around us," Jake said, pointing to it as they stood on the cliff to get a layout of the land. His experienced eyes telling him where the dragon was coming in from and how long it stayed on the ground, given the markings he could see from that high up.

"I don't mean to question your wisdom in this matter, Jake, but wouldn't us being out in the open only benefit the dragon?" Zaroth asked; he wasn't eager to be eaten by the beast.

"You brought an engineer, didn't you?" Jake countered.

"Of course, thought you might need one," Zaroth said, pointing back to the man.

"We'll build giant crossbows that will keep the beast at bay; let's hope no wyverns think to sneak in during our hunt," Jake uttered low as he looked out down onto the scorched earth and charred stumps of trees.

"Wyverns?" Zaroth inquired suspiciously.

"Dragon-like creatures that are the size of two cows each. They follow after dragons, easier way to eat," Jake shrugged his shoulders as he turned from his spot knowing where he would start his search for the dragon. "If they're around, we might need to call this off and get an army here, depending on how many there are." While it was doubtful, given the climate they were in, he still treated every encounter with a dragon on the prospect of having wyverns involved.

"Can they breath fire like reds can?" Marda called out to him as they all caught up with him.

"No, they aren't... I guess dragony enough to produce breath attacks," Jake said, explaining wyverns the best he could to them.

"So we need to keep a watch," Zaroth muttered, glad to be able to do something. "Jake, leave all that to us; you focus on the dragon."

Camp bustled with activity as all worked to fortify their position on the hilltop. Their canvas tents inched up their poles as Zaroth's men worked quickly to get their camp organized before anything could make an appearance. Jake and Mark worked together to raise earthen-spiked fortified ramparts ringing the area. The cook's tent was a mad house as they went about getting their dinner started, given the hour of the day. Jake looked out onto the landscape, pondering where they were going to make their stand should they be able to lure the dragon down to the ground. Shion's light touch on his shoulder brought him back to the world of the living, reminding him they had a lot more work to do before evening fell.

For weeks, they transversed the forest, hills, and every area touched by the dragon. They had a few run-ins with it over the weeks. Yet it never got into a position he or Shion could get a clean shot on its wings to bring it down. Still, when they did spot it, they tried to follow it back to where it was nesting, only for it to leave them behind. Jake had to silence them when Marda and Bard tried taunting the beast to return. At that moment, he wanted the dragon to believe they weren't a threat. That way, it wouldn't attack them unexpectedly. However, the moment it realized they were, it would do whatever it needed to kill them.

"This dragon is pissing me off," Marda grumbled as they stalked through the western part of the forest. Jake had set the forest and surrounding areas into grids to help focus their search.

"Well, they are prideful, and would you take someone a hundred times smaller than you as a threat?" Jake countered; the years of dragon hunting laced his words. "Don't let it irk you too much; it would just enjoy the easy meal."

"Still, you'd think it would at least try nipping at me," Marda muttered, kicking a stone she considered a pebble, whereas Jake would consider it a good size rock. The group stopped as curious sounds filled the sky above them with tiny black dots.

"Shit," Jake hissed, knowing what those shadows meant. Either wyverns or baby dragons; if it was the latter, he knew the dragon would be extra dangerous.

"What's the matter, Jake?" Bard asked, not liking the look on his face.

"We either have wyverns or baby dragons; we need to move now!" Jake said, bolting off into a run without word to them. His feet scrambled up the large boulder and conjured his bow, urging his friends to run faster as he took aim at the descending shadows. Mark hurriedly threw up a barrier around the five of them as they stood behind him. Jake fired on the two dragonlings as they rained down their fire on them. He was not expecting the dragon to settle down and raise babies. This hunt just got far harder than it needed to be. "Marda, grab one of those!" he ordered, gesturing to the corpse of the dragonling on the ground. They now had their lure to lure the dragon out, or that was his hope as he kept the shrieking cries of descending dragonlings swarm behind him. His voice rose, telling them to get out of the forest as the dragonlings set the area on fire. Not for them but to hunt their own dinner. "Shit, shit, shit," he uttered as a roar from a much older, larger dragon filled the air.

"Everyone, on me!" Jake ordered, knowing they wouldn't be able to out run the dragon. He was just happy that they weren't in the forest any longer. He'd rather not die from splinters the size of his arm. "Whatever happens, you do not move, understand me!" he yelled as he conjured a shield for himself and Marda. He took a breath to steady himself as Bard and Marda took up defensive positions, protecting their flanks while Shion's bow hummed as she dropped dragonling after dragonling. She fought from staring in fear at the huge red blur as it came swooping down. "Mark, you focus on the barrier I'll sling the spells. However, once it's on the ground freeze its wing. Marda that will be your cue to shatter the wing, keeping it grounded. Holly focus on maintaining our buffs. That is just as important as dealing the killing blow," Jake instructed, laying out his hastily constructed plan. He added his own mana to Mark's barrier as it was assaulted by the dragon's fire as it strafed them.

"Now, this is more like it!" Marda shouted her battle cry as her hammer swept through the swarm of dragonlings, killing a few; she killed the rest when she unleashed her hammer's ability. She knew her weapon was the best one to face off against a red dragon.

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, Marda; if you haven't noticed, we're kind of out numbered here," Shion said, pointing out the weakness of their position.

"Shion's right; we need higher ground; however, this isn't the dragon we came here for," Jake said, noting it was far too small to be the one from the reports.

"Then why is it here?" Holly asked, watching in awe at how easy Jake made fighting dragons, no matter how young, looked.

"Probably from the same nest, dragons age rapidly during the first ten years of their life. Then, their aging slows to every twenty years unless they have a very abundant source of food. So it's most likely that only a few weeks old," Jake said, conjuring a bow for Shion when she ran out of arrows. His mental control was epic as he covered them with his wands, taking the idea from his favorite mecha manga from Japan. A challenging smirk formed on his lips as he scored a few direct hits in succession.​