I stood up and found myself standing in a large empty plains. The same one I can usually find outside the City of Axel.
A certain Archwizard stood beside me. She wore her usual adventuring outfit and held a wooden staff on her hand. Beside her is a red and black dragon the size of a Labrador. The Dragon has bright purple eyes that seems to glow slightly.
We all looked at the dragon in slight confusion before looking at each other.
"You wanna play with Liz?"
"What? You mean you didn't bring her here?"
I snapped my fingers and the dragon still stood there. Megumin waved her hand but the dragon just looked at her in slight confusion.
"Dust said that Dragons have human-like intelligence right?" I asked Megumin. "And this dragon was fed with magic by three of the most powerful people in Axel, right? So, maybe, this is actually Liz who decided to come down here?"
Megumin rubbed her chin in deep thought before crouching down in front of Liz. She started petting the dragon's head and the dragon started rubbing herself on Megumin's body. "Cute!" she exclaimed before hugging back the dragon.
She kinda looks like a little girl who just got herself a new puppy. I sat down beside them and pet the dragon. "Emperor Liza huh?" I chuckled a little when the dragon started rubbing her head on my hand. "Yes, the future ruler of all dragons."
After a few minutes of cuddling, Megumin finally let go of Liz. "Ne, Liza chan, can you use magic? You should be able to use magic right? This is just a dream after all, come on, you should use magic!"
The dragon tilted her head before staring off into the plains in the distance. I snapped my finger and a large scale model of a castle appeared in front of her. "There's your target, now blow it up!"
Emperor Liz opened her maws and some sort of power started building up from it. Then, she clamped her mouth shut before shooting out an extremely deadly, pressurized stream of water. The water hit the castle head on before bursting through and obliterating it from existence.
"Whoa…"
"Amazing! You're amazing Liz! Wait, no! Do something else, can you use explosion?"
I made another target, and this time, I use my mansion as the benchmark. The dragon opened its mouth and black, a swirling ball of energy slowly formed in its maws. She then shot the B*juu D*ama at the mansion and…
Well, let's just say that Megumin is going to have a competition in the near future. The ball of magic exploded at the front door and obliterated half of the mansion, leaving a fifty meters diameter crater.
Megumin looked at the aftermath of the explosion with a proud grin. "Perfect score! That's a hundred out of ten!" She hugged the dragon in excitement and danced around a little. "As expected of the descendant of the Crimson Demon Clan!!!"
After a moment, the dragon turned towards me. I chuckled a little at that and pet her head. "Yes, yes, you're amazing Liz chan. As expected of the Future Ruler of All Dragons."
The dragon lifted up her head proudly after hearing that. I'm guessing that this dragon inherited her mother's pride and Aqua's love to be praised.
We decided to cut off on explosion for now, much to Megumin's disappointment, and talk about a more important subject. The subject I'm talking about is simple, how exactly are we supposed to treat Emperor Liz? Should we treat her as a human or as a dragon? As a companion or as a daughter?
"Well, Dust said that she has a human-like intelligence." Megumin pointed out. "So, there's no reason not to treat her as a human."
"Even so, she is a dragon. Would she be comfortable being treated as a human? I mean, does she even eat human food?"
Megumin looked at the dragon and waved her hand. A bunch of food appeared in front of us. There's some sweets, fried toads, raw crabs, rice, and more. The dragon sniffed and walked around the selection of food before choosing her favorite food.
Apparently Liz love herself some cookies. The dragon used its tongue to grab a cookie and ate them one at a time. Megumin quickly banished all the food it rejects and started hand feeding Liz some cookies.
"Yes, eat more, grow big! Then we're gonna storm the Demon King's Castle!!!" Megumin exclaimed in excitement.
I walked towards the dragon and simply watched as it ate a lot of cookies.
I snapped my fingers and a wide array of bowls appeared in front of us. Each one containing different kind of drinks, from the good old plain water, to Neroid Swish, and even beer.
The dragon seems to prefer regular water and started dunking its head on the water after its meal.
Soon enough, the dragon seems to be satisfied and started to laze around in Megumin's lap. I sat down next to them and stroked the dragon's head. She's really nice and tame, I can imagine her being a human stuck in a dragon's body.
"So, since we agreed on treating her like a human…" I looked down in deep thought. "Welp, introduction I guess," I stood up and they all have their attentions on me.
I grinned a little and made a pose. "I am Satou Kazuma! The Jack of All Trades and the Master of All!" I moved my hand around in a (hopefully) badass fashion. "I am the Leader of Fantastic Dreamers! The Strongest Party in Axel City!!!"
"No fair! I wanna do that too!" Megumin quickly stood up and we switched position. "Watch this Liza chan! I'm going to show you the greatest introduction ever!"
The sky turned darker as storm clouds begun to gather. Thunderclouds boomed as Megumin introduced herself, her voice echoing all across the clearing.
"I am Megumin! Archwizard who has Mastered the Explosion Spell, the strongest spell ever concieved by mankind!!!" the girl raised her staff and struck a pose. "I hailed from the Superior Crimson Demon Clan and the Strongest Member of Fantastic Dreamers!!!"
A freaking nuclear explosion followed her introduction. The wind swept through the clearing and Megumin simply stood there, her eyes gleaming proudly and her cape flutters in the wind.
After it dies down, Megumin smiled and crouched down in front of the dragon. "See? My introduction is better, wasn't it?"
The Dragon walked away from me and into Megumin's embrace.
"Oi! That's cheating! Using dream control like that!"
"Nobody says we can't use dream control," Megumin blow me a raspberry. "Ne, I'm cooler aren't I? Liza chan?"
The dragon nodded in response.
Well, I can't really win against Megumin anyway. "Yeah, yeah, you're awesome, we get it," I pet Liz some more and chuckled a little. "But I think Liz is better, don't you think?"
"You're not wrong," Megumin replied.
With that, we spend the rest of our dreamland, simply relaxing and playing with Liz.
---
I blearily opened my eyes and yawned a little. I looked around and found myself sleeping on a bed. I looked to my right and saw Megumin, sleeping with a peaceful smile on her face. Then I looked to my left and saw Liz with the same size and appearance as in dream, curling up on a small cushion on the floor.
Wait, that's not right…
I walked down the bed and picked Liz up. Then I put her on the bed beside Megumin. I took note on her size and keep in mind to make a bed for her in the mansion.
"Good morning sensei," Lynn greeted me as I walked down the inn. "You've passed out for like, two days…"
"Good morning Lynn," I yawned a little and sat down on the dining table for breakfast. "Wait, two days? Seriously?"
"According to Dust, you just jump started the Dragon's growth by forty years. That takes a great deal mana and he was questioning if you guys are humans at all."
Well, most of them are from an actual goddess so…
"What happened after we passed out Lynn?"
"Well… after you, Megumin, and Aqua sama passed out. We saw a commotion at the front carriage, a flock of Hawkite were targeting Darkness," she sighed a little bit. "Dust and I went to work, helping everyone else divert the flock. Miss Wiz was still unconscious back then so it was just a little bit though."
I smiled sheepishly at that. "Sorry, it must've been hard huh?"
"Well, Yunyun was extremely useful. She used a spell to create a bottomless swamp and I dump Darkness in there. The Hawkite Runner attempted to jump over the bottomless swamp, but most of the time they will just get stuck."
"Then, the rest of us went to work, killing Hawkite Runners and freeing Darkness. We all decided to call it a day and camp for a bit. A merchant offered us money, but… It was because of us the Hawkites were here you know? So I can't take it, no matter what Dust and Keith think."
Okay, I'm assuming that Lynn becomes in charge after I passed out. Probably because she's one of the few adventurers to have a common sense, so why not?
"In the middle of the night, a bunch of undeads attacked our camp. We tried waking up Aqua sama but she simply said to let Emperor Liz deal with them. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not waking up a sleeping dragon that just tripled in size in a matter of hours."
"Thankfully, Chris seems to have this grudge against undead. So she was the first one to charge to the masses and start shredding through them with her knives. Dust and Taylor joined them while Keith and I provide support. Also, Dust uses sword because he's too embarrassed to use a spear."
"The merchant came to us again offering money, but we know it was Aqua sama's body that attracts the undead. So we refused."
"After that, the owner of the dragon came to us. Dust and I quickly explained the situation to him and Darkness said she's willing to pay for anything. The owner told us that a juvenile dragon can go as far as 200 million Eris, Yunyun then teleported back to the mansion to get enough money."
In other words, I missed a lot. "Thanks a lot Lynn, for, you know, doing my job," I gave her a proud smile. "As expected of my first disciple."
Lynn blushed a little and averted her gaze. "It's okay sensei, I also thank you for helping Dust… I almost gave up on him…"
"Anyway, where's everyone else?" I asked her.
"Still sleeping I guess, it was a long journey and it's still," she looked up to the sky. "Around seven, oh Aqua sama is already up, she said she wants to visit her church."
Hmm… I should see if Vanir is interested in selling fashion accessories like watches. That's gotta be something an adventurer would want right? A way to know the time?
"Also, Dust told me to ask you this, but…" Lynn looked at me for a moment. "Aqua sama is… Is she the real deal? Like, the real Goddess Aqua? Dust said it's impossible for any mortal to do something like changing a dragon's nature and species."
"Yes, Aqua is the goddess of the Axis Order. We came here after her senior, Lady Paradox the Goddess of Wisdom and Trickery, had enough of her cult. She threatened to wipe out the Axis Order if we don't do anything about this cult."
Lynn nodded a little. "I see… And the demands… You have a plan don't you?"
Footsteps came from the stairs. Megumin walked down from it, holding a few stacks of paper. "Good morning Kazuma…" she put down the paper on the table in front of us and sat down next to me. "Good morning Lynn…"
"Good morning Megumin senpai," Lynn replied. "So, what's the plan for today?"
"We're planning to go on a date and scout out the Demon General," I was about to tell her my plan concerning Wiz, but decided against it. Chris is a thief and she might be spying on us right now. "As for the rest of you, well you guys can look around, try out the hotsprings if you want. Wiz will stay here and guard the fort"
As if on cue, a bunch of people walked down the stairs. There's Dust, walking down the stairs with Liz following him. "Oi, senpai, your dragon almost killed Wiz," Dust said. "Tell her some manners will ya?"
True to her words, Wiz walked down the stairs. A little bit less opaque than usual. "It's okay Dust, the child is just playing around," the girl replied with a kind smile on her face.
Ahh… That must be Aqua's magic and blessing within her. Looks like Liz isn't going to be too undead and demon friendly.
"Good morning Liz," the dragon walked towards me and rest her head on my lap. "You've grown quite big huh? Think the mansion will fit you in a month?"
Megumin pet the dragon's head. "Then you will just have to buy a bigger mansion, Mr. Billionaire,"
It seems Liz here is much more powerful and considerate than we expected. In a flash of light, the dragon shrunk down to just a little bigger than Chomsuke. The dragon flapped its wings and flew towards Megumin's lap.
I turned to Dust who's staring at the dragon with wide eyes. "So Dust, is this normal?"
"Senpai, that dragon is the Dragon equivalent of you. She inherited your 'How the fuck did you do that?' skill. So please excuse this resident dragon expert to have no bloody clue as to what that Dragon is up to now."
Megumin shot Dust a dark look. "Oi, don't refer to her as 'that dragon' she has a name, it's Queen Elizabeth."
"Or Liz," I added.
"Right… sorry," Dust cleared his throat. "By the way, are you going to bring her outside?"
I shrugged a little in response. "It'll be a bit troublesome if she was too big. But with this size, it wouldn't be that different than bringing Chomsuke along," I explained.
"Hmm… Well, since she can grow bigger, I'm assuming she can take care of herself," Dust said. "Sure, why not?"
We were about to step out of the inn when a knocking sound came from it. Both Lynn and Dust looked visibly distressed at the knock and I just assumed the worst. I activated my defensive buff and told Megumin to stay back with Liz.
I opened the door and saw… Paradox, standing in front of us.
"Hello lady Paradox," I greeted her before letting her in.
"Good morning Kazuma, I just reread your plan and I realized I forgot something," she walked towards the dining table and took out a five necklace. "These are the Paradox Religion amulet, if you wear this, people will assume that you are a part of their religion."
I grabbed the necklace and took a closer look at it. I can feel it gleaming with magical power. The power of Deceit and Lies, courtesy of the Goddess of Trickery herself. I put on the amulet and didn't felt any different.
Megumin, Lynn, and Dust also wore the Amulet.
Paradox nodded a little in satisfaction. "Pretty cool right? Just make sure you keep it on you all the time, even at bath," she waved her hand a little before walking out the door. "See ya!"
Ahh… To have such a caring and considerate goddess… Bless my life