This mission is off to a very good start, but that doesn't make me feel any safer or happier, unfortunately my instincts and common sense tell me that trouble is already coming.
We didn't even have a problem or setback getting to the area where the little dragon was last seen attacking an adventuring party that was basically wiped out.
The strangely smooth ride hasn't been well-received by the other team members either, I think they're all feeling uncomfortable. In more than two days of travel we killed three magical animals and not one magical beast, this was caused by the size of our team and this intimidates most animals and magical beasts that could attack us.
As we approached where the dragon attacked the adventurers last week it was quite easy to find the exact location of the attack, the scorched ground marks only stood out well on mine from the green plain. This fight doesn't seem to have been a big one a few black marks on the ground the dragon must have killed most of the adventurers in a single breath of fire, i think the dragon only dared this attack three feces during the fight by the ways the ground is burned the which shows that he is very fond of burning his enemies.
"How big was the group that fought the dragon here?"
"Fighting is the wrong term, Alice, a group of seven adventurers who were traveling through here were attacked and nearly wiped out by the little dragon. From what was reported by the survivor he and a friend escaped the dragon's attack, while the dragon had fun killing and burning the adventurers the two fled, but only one managed to reach the city to report what happened."
"They were attacked by which enemy on the way back?"
"Wolves, like our pack and large they didn't attack us, but as far as I know any small or dismounted pack that travels through these areas are attacked by wolf packs that are usually led by a winter wolf. A couple of survivors should be a great meal for the wolves, really impressive one of them survives after being attacked by a dragon and having to travel on foot to one of the villages nearby."
While my colleagues were scattered around the place of the attack hoping to find a clue which is quite difficult as the little dragon is capable of flying for short periods of time, but as he is starting to change into a young dragon, he must be able to fly for forty minutes to an hour and a half without having to rest, so the distance he can have covered in one go without resting isn't ridiculously big, but it isn't small either.
I was in the center of where the attack took place, I had read it before and on the parchment was a note about the power of a dragon's fire. It is considered a slightly toxic fire, it may not be capable of killing like poison, but the damage it causes is much harder to heal and unless treated with a life-element purifying type spell the burns will never completely go away.
Where fire burns someone's body scars will be permanent, only after the wound is cleansed can the victim's skin and flesh be healed completely, but this is something well known which is new to me and that this toxic fire not only scars people but where the fire burns.
The black ground is stained by the dragon's fire element, and it seems that it will not disappear and its behavior is quite different. The element usually flows where they are, water, air, earth, plants, other living beings, mana and elemental energy flow, but the fire element of the dragon is like small red balls that spin inside itself keeping its constant shape.
I think this is why the dragon's elemental energy needs to be purified without outside assistance to break or remove the dragon's elemental energy, it doesn't disperse but instead stays concentrated and that keeps its form intact. In the center of the burn the elemental energy of the dragon is concentrated, but around the black ground where it is not burned there is also some elemental energy of the dragon.
I look around for more elemental energy the dragon might have left behind as he walked away, it proved to be a good challenge. I had to walk around the burnt floor quite calmly to finally find some elemental energy.
It seems that the little dragon left behind some elemental energy pieces to the north, a very small trail that disappears just a few meters from the attack site. Looks like I'm in luck today.
"What are you doing?"
When I look back, I see N贸tt and Gloria staring at me and neither one of them looks very happy.
"Tracking a dragon, what else would I be doing here?"
"Does not appear."
"What did you discover?"
"I think he went north on some contrails that indicate he leaves in that direction after he killed the adventurers, but as he flies off north the trail ends here unfortunately. But now we have a direction to go even if it's not an absolute certainty and our best track."
"I'll round up the rest of the team."
"Hey! Take it easy, I want to know what kind of trail was found to think the dragon is heading north? There's nothing here but grass."
It seems that N贸tt is suspicious of my abilities, but that's to be expected of her and our first time hunting together.
"Even if I explain you won't be able to feel the trail, N贸tt."
"I still want an explanation, even if I can't see the tracks, I want to know what they are. It is unusual for a trail to last a week in an open environment like this."
"Okay, but I'll let you know it's pretty simple. As we know the dragon's breath is very strong and marks everything he burns, I used my aura to feel the energy he left behind and apart from the big black spot on the ground this is the only direction that a little energy from the dragon is. dragon fire element."
"Simple, not a mystery here."
"Not a mystery? I know a little about trackers and the elemental energy of a level magic beast shouldn't last that long."
"It's a dragon not a normal magical beast, its elemental energy doesn't disappear just because a week has passed. If dragon fire was normal it wouldn't need to be purified to treat the wound, in case you don't remember even the examiners warned us with the scroll that dragon fire is toxic."
"I've never heard of this before, not that I doubt your sincerity, Ulric, but this is quite unusual."
"Not that many dragons so it's normal that not everything about them is recorded, and finding his trail might be simple, but it's not at all easy. I had to expend a lot of aura and really pay close attention to be able to sense where the dragon elemental energy is."
"Hey I'll believe you, but that's pretty unusual. If we find the dragon, will you want to put that in the report? It will be difficult and time consuming but other trackers may try your method to try and track a dragon, if they succeed you may have made a great contribution to dragon slayers, and even possibly receive an award from the royal family."
"Not very interested in it. We better leave soon; Gloria must have gathered the rest of the team by now."
When N贸tt and I returned to where the group was meeting, everyone was happy to find that we have a lead on the dragon. It wasn't long before we were all riding north.
Obviously, it's impossible to track the dragon for its elemental energy as I doubt it burns the ground every time it lands, but a dragon has few places to hide. We're looking for any holes or bumps in the landscape because I highly doubt the little dragon made its nest on the plain, too bad I don't have a detailed map of that area.
I think it's possible that a detailed map of this northern area may not even work, we may be heading north, but we're still a long way from the northern mountain range and I hope the dragon hasn't decided to travel all the way north to make his nest in one of the mountains of the Cordillera.
One of the mountains in that area has a lot of tunes and they would all be great nests for the dragon, but I'm very hopeful that the little dragon found a nest closer to here. And since it also doesn't make sense for him to go all the way from the mountains to here just to kill some adventurers, his nest must be close by, now we just need to find them.
But the one thing that has been worrying me and getting in the way of my quest for the dragon's nest, my thoughts, a lot of good things are happening and now I'm waiting for where my bad luck will get in the way of the hunt.