Zeno is surprisingly not a morning person. The heroine only saw him in the afternoon during the game, so I had no idea I would have to dump a cup of water on his head to get him to wake up. The resulting screams gathered a lot of complaints, so I ended up having to apologise to the other guests at the inn while Zeno dried himself and got dressed. Unfortunately, I had to repeat the process after I found Zeno sleeping again when I went to see what was taking him so long. I thought all the love interests in otome games were meant to be perfect. But here I am, having to deal with the sleepy prince who looks at me like I destroyed something precious to him.
For someone desperate to save his kingdom, he sure as hell does not seem to be motivated right now. I even must mention his kingdoms peril as he complains about the inn's breakfast to get him to hurry up. By the time he is finally done eating, an hour has passed, but at least he is ready to go after eating three plates full of food. Still, he is too tired to flirt with me on the upside.
"Right hold my hand, and I will take us to the Cheery Castle," Zeno says, extending his hand to me.
The Cheery Castle is the home to the elf king and the centre of government for the elven kingdom. I must admit I am excited to visit the place. They only show one picture of it at the good ending of Zeno's route. It is a beautiful cheery blossom tree that extends higher than any mountain and has been blessed by the gods, giving its bark impressive strength. In the game, not even the dragons could scratch the tree. It would be good if the elves could just hide in the tree until the dragon leaves, but that would only lead to the destruction of the rest of their kingdom. Surrounding nations may also take advantage of the elves absence.
"You do not have to be so distant," I gasp as, without warning, I am pulled close to Zeno. Chest to chest. We are too close. I hate the way he smirks confidently as his arms wrap around me. "It is easier when we are close like this."
"Just get it over with," I snap back as I stop his hands from crawling lower down my back.
"Is my company so bad?" He asks, and I stomp on his foot when he tries to touch my butt again.
"Hurry up and teleport us already," I growl, but he still seems amused with me.
"I like a woman that plays hard to get," Zeno winks right before he takes us to the Cherry Castle.
<0>
It is just as beautiful as I hopped. Zeno has teleported us right to the base of the tree, where colourful leaves rain down around us and herds of unicorns graze nearby. It was a breath-taking sight, but that idiot Zeno had to ruin the moment by cupping my butt. I would have punched him if it were not for the guards rushing towards us. He got off too lightly. Even if the shove I gave him knocked Zeno to the ground.
"Your highness, are you okay?"
"How dare you push his highness to the ground!"
"Should I cut off her head, sire?"
"Relax, she is here to help us," Zeno says, calming his men down. "She is the one that defeated the wyverns and is going to help us drive off the dragon."
"This kid defeated them?"
Is it really that hard to believe? I look at the guards, who stare at me wide-eyed. Zeno is the only one that finds the whole situation amusing. As for me, I could do without the growing numbers of elves staring and talking about me. Some think I am too young and experienced, others that I am too weak, and most think I am stupid for not wearing any armour or carrying a sword. I wish they would stop already. This is a lot worse than the reaction I got back at the guild for defeating those wyverns.
"You wasted our time Zeno,"
Finally, a rough voice breaks the crowd out of their gossiping. When I look at the source, I am surprised to see the elven first prince Lafarallin Facaryn. He usually does not leave the tree, but he appeared before me wearing a full suit of armour for some reason.
"I was hoping someone who could take down a wyvern would be a worthy opponent, but a little girl wouldn't even serve as a warmup,"
"Then try to cut me with your sword," I challenge him meeting his eyes. "If you can cut me, then I will leave."
"Your funeral kid,"
I'm surprised that he did not even hesitate for a moment. As soon as the challenge left my lips, he rushed forward, drawing his sword. I have little information on him from the game as Lafarallin only appears in two scenes and rare speaks. I never had him down as the type of person who attacks a strange without hesitation. But he made the same mistake as Zeno did that night at the inn. He foolishly thinks he hurt me with an ordinary weapon.
I do not move or even blink. I watch Lafarallin charge towards me swinging his sword down. He really is trying to kill me. If it were anyone else in place, they would have died, but God enhanced my magical power, lucky for me.
Usually, when someone strikes a magical barrier with a sword, they would break after a single hit from someone as strong as Lafarallin. But in this time, my barrier holds stopping Lafarallin's sword in its track. He looks at me, confused for a moment but quickly tries to strike me again, only for his blade to be stopped. I can hear the crowd gasp and mutter as Lafarallin's sword continues to bounce off my barrier.
"Had enough yet?" I asked after ten minutes when I noticed Lafarallin was starting to get out of breath.
"Not… yet…." Lafarallin gasps before shooting a fireball at me that was strong enough to crack my barrier.
I never thought he would have such strong magic. Lafarallin was a background character, and typically only the main cast had powerful abilities. I make a mental note to be more careful around people as I repair my barrier.
"Lafarallin, are you finished?" Zeno smiles, walking closer to us. "We need to get moving and take care of the dragon before it causes any more damage."
"This is not over," Lafarallin grumbles before walking off.
"Follow me I'll take you to see my father. He will know where the dragon was last spotted," Zeno extends a hand to me, but I leave him hanging.
<0>
The throne room is just as beautiful as the outside of the tree. Its smooth wooden floors and walls are shiny, and fairies fly above our heads. As for the king, he is a lot older than I was expecting. When looking at his first two born sons, I expected him to be a middle-aged man. Instead, I find myself being brought before an elderly man with a long grey beard.
"She is the one who will drive out this dragon?" Another none believe. The king stares at me before looking at Zeno. "If this is another one of your jokes, I will have you severely punished."
"I assure you it is not, father," Zeno assures me. "She defeated a group of wyverns, proved her magic strength to me last night, and even Lafarallin couldn't break her defence just now."
"Is that true?"
"If I had more time, I would have broken through," Lafarallin huffs when the king looks to him.
"And you," He looks to me. "Can you really defeat this dragon?"
"I can?" I nod. I should be fine as long as it is only a lesser dragon.
"Then go and save my people," The king says as he stands from his wooden throne. "The dragon is located to the north near the grand lake. Defeat it for us, and I will greatly reward you."
"I will return shortly," I smile, but I am stopped as I am about to leave.
"Wait," The king stops me. "Let us assign someone to act as your guild."
"It's fine," I tell him. I just needed to know the direction, and I would be able to find the dragon. "I can take care of things from here."
"But…"
Before the king can even respond, I rush out onto a nearby balcony, use the wind magic spell fly, and head north faster than any horse could carry me. A lesser dragon should be easy to spot from the sky.
<0>
There it is! It took over an hour to find it, but I finally found it. A bronze lesser dragon sleeping in a small clearing amongst the trees. Since it is sleeping, I should have an easy kill. Then without wasting any time, let us start off with the high-level wind spell air guillotine.
It hit! Although I did not cut off the dragon's head, my attack caused a deep wound to the monster's neck. Blood starts to pour from the wound as the dragon quickly wakes up and glares at me. It's not over yet. Raising out my hand, I sent another air guillotine, this time cutting deep into the dragons back. The monster let out a roar and spread its wings, trying to escape, but I will not let it.
"You are not getting away!"
I yell at the dragon and use air magic to accelerate towards the lesser dragon. It does not stand a chance. As I shoot towards the dragon, I use earth magic to strengthen my body before colliding with the dragon's head. Both my feet smack into the dragons head, causing a loud booming sound to nearly deafen me while slamming the monster head into the ground. When I back away and assess my handy work, I see a small crater has formed around the dragon's body while its head is covered in blood. Still, the dragon lives. It's missing an eye from that overpowered kick, but when it raises its head, the dragon still glares at me with its one remaining eye.
I'm going to finish this now. I send one final air guillotine at the bronze lesser dragon, cutting its head off completely. I smile as I pick up one of the dragon fangs must have let knocked out with that kick to use as proof and put the rest of the dragon into my storage. That was easier than I thought it would be. I expected a more challenging fight than that, but I am not complaining….
"Human!"
Before I could finish the thought, I found myself knocked to the ground as something landed right behind me. A greater dragon! My eyes widen as I turn to see a giant bronze greater dragon looking at me with such hatred it could kill me with its glare alone. Is this greater dragon related to the lesser one, I just thought? They look exactly the same as the lesser dragon, only ten times the size.
"I will avenge my kin, human!"