The Gold Baby Dragon
A dragon possessed unparalleled power, unlike any other creature in existence.
Each dragon, with its distinct nature and elemental affinity, could unleash devastating breath attacks upon its foes.
The baby gold dragon lifted its gaze from the cluster of Kobolds, locking eyes with Ryan.
Joan's Shroud Skill dissipated, and soon enough, the surrounding Kobolds erupted into furious kriees, circled them.
"This is—my skill... No, Ryan's safety comes first," Joan muttered, shaking her head and squaring her shoulders as her Shroud skill vanished.
The maid had no time to be surprised. She immediately assumed a battle stance, ready to defend against the overwhelming number of Kobolds. Even with the five towering Kobolds behind her, they were still at a clear disadvantage.
'How am I going to get Ryan out of here? It's a baby dragon... Perhaps I can use my most powerful Skill on it.'
"What brings intruders into my cave?" The voice of the baby dragon reverberated throughout the entire cave. Despite its age and size, there was an undeniable regality in its voice, emanating authority.
Ryan knew that if he didn't talk with the baby dragon and convince the creature to work with him, then whether or not he had five human-sized Kobolds currently serving under him, the situation would end up as a defeat.
‘Well, I have 1110 Grimoire Points. In the worst case scenario, I’ll cast Instill Loyalty to every Kobold I can lay my hands on and make them fight for their life to escape... Still, I'll have to hope that the baby dragon doesn’t pursue us. Nah. I’ll talk myself out of this.’
“Is this really your cave though?” Ryan challenged and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked at the baby dragon with confidence and a calm smile on his face.
“I-it’s my cave!” the baby dragon said, a slight hesitation in his voice. It didn’t understand where Ryan's confidence was coming from in this situation, making it think that the human knew something that it didn't know right now.
“As far as I’m aware, there are supposed to be no dragons in Ironcross Mountains,” Ryan said.
“And how would you even know that?” the baby dragon hissed. “You could be wrong and just unaware of the existence of the dragon… er, dragons here in the Ironcross Mountains.”
“It’s a well known fact that dragons are elusive creatures who have no interest in being situated close to settlements where other races live. Instead, most dragons ought to stay in locations that are at least isolated from the rest of the world.” Ryan said in a matter of fact tone.
“There’s a lot of space here!” the baby dragon argued.
“Is that so?” Ryan raised a brow. “You have a very nice hoard by the way.”
“T-thanks… wait, you’re trying to distract me!”
Ryan couldn’t tell the dragon’s exact age, but based on its size and way of speaking, it was a toddler at most.
Dragons were unfortunately wiser and more intelligent even at a young age, making them superior compared to other races.
“Alright, here’s what I see.” Ryan gestured at the Kobolds. “This is all nice, but things could be much nicer than they are now. Where are your parents?”
All of the Kobolds looked ready to pounce on him and beat him up even though he was thrice their size. Kobolds were creatures that revered dragons, so it made sense that they were willing to risk themselves and go the extra mile to hurt him.
The baby dragon’s eyes widened, and a hurt expression appeared on its face. Dragons might be the most powerful creatures in the world, but the gold dragon in front of Ryan was still a baby.
“Krieee!” the Kobolds let out angry shrieks.
“A-are you insane?” the Grimoire hissed at Ryan. The book was stunned at the sight of the dragon so it couldn’t say anything at first, but now that it has recovered, he was so unhappy that he would have thrown a glare at Ryan if it had any actual eyes that could do so.
“My name is Ryan, and I’m also not with my parents right now,” Ryan introduced himself.
“T-Then there should be no problems with me being just by myself as well.” The baby dragon pointed out.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to believe with your size,” Ryan said honestly. “So… I think that you ran away from home, little dragon.”
The baby dragon’s head dipped down a little sadly.
“My name is Chrysus… and I have every right to run away from home! You wouldn’t understand!” the baby dragon declared, but then remembered something. “Why are you not with your parents right now?”
“Ah, that’s because my father exiled me.” Ryan shrugged.
“T-That’s…” the baby dragon looked shocked. “What kind of father exiles their child?”
“He didn’t do it with malice, and I like to believe that your family did not have any ill intentions too… ” Ryan slowly said.
‘In the case that I made a wrong move, we’d really get killed off. Well, I’d still be able to find a way out of it, but it’ll be a bit of a tight decision.’
“They… they were not bad parents from what I heard, but other people around me keep saying that I cannot be as strong as my father and become the strongest dragon among our kind,” the baby dragon said. “I want to be like my father, but others say I'm foolishly dreaming. I could not prove them wrong there… so I came here. And look! I have my own cave and Kobolds too!”
“I see,” Ryan said solemnly.
A moment of silence crossed the cave, and the Kobolds all turned to the gold baby dragon, wishing to comfort him. However, the silence didn’t last long.
The baby dragon glared at him. “You think I’m weak too, don’t you? Why else would a human enter the cave without a hint of fear?”
“We didn’t know that you were here. But hey, if those people bullied you because they thought you cannot be like your father, then you’re already proving them wrong.” Ryan said. “You’ve done the first step… and so the next step is staying by my side!”