As dawn broke, Aya and I rushed to the village on a horse.
If it was up to me, I would have just enhanced myself with magic and ran all the way there even faster, but it would look crazy for a child like me to be able to do that.
Instead, I chose to give the horse we were riding a speed boost.
Thanks to that, we managed up arrive in half a day instead of the normal day's travel from the city.
Before I can even see the village, I can smell the metallic lingering of blood in the air.
And when I am finally able to see the village, the situation is horrific.
Destroyed homes, barely living injured, claw marks...
Aya didn't waste time going to start healing everyone, but I was already looking for Kale and Mino.
Gramps had to be okay, no matter what!
The orphanage was in shambles, but everyone was still alive.
"Gramps! Are you okay!" I yell.
"I'm fine, little one. Everyone was able to keep it away from the kids at the last minute." Gramps soothed.
"What is it?" I asked desperately.
"It looks like a giant bear with small crystals on each part of its body. None of our weapons were able to harm it, and my magic wasn't able to damage it either..." He explains, "It's taken refuge in the nearby cave, and we're sure it's going to attack again."
That cave must be where I used to live.
It must be getting stronger there since my former mother was gone and no longer using it.
"How strong is it?" I ask.
"The adventurers guild would probably reckon it as a D-rank monster, but we don't have anyone strong enough to fight it. Don't get any ideas, little dragon. I know you want to help, but we can't burden a child with having to fight." Gramps says while patting my bright red hair.
'I have to do something! But what can I do?!' I think.
I've never fought anything across two whole lives!
Would trying to go find and defeat it now work out? I'm not even an adult yet...
I couldn't muster up enough courage to force myself to take action.
I've helped everyone with many things in the year I've lived here, but risking my second life like this is just asking too much.
If it was my last life, I would not hesitate to throw it away, but now I have a long life to look forward to, the weight of which is hard to ignore the value of.
There was little I could do besides try to help with healing.
As the village begins to recover from the immediate aftermath, I notice a group of concerned villagers huddled together, discussing the situation.
"We need a plan to deal with that thing!" One of them says.
"It'll take an entire day at the least to get help from the city. What else can we do?" Another adds.
"We need to get the children away from the village at least, then."
Amidst the discussions, an elderly woman named Elora steps forward, her face etched with determination.
"We can't wait for help. We need a temporary solution to protect our village until reinforcements arrive," Elora declares, her gaze unwavering.
Aya finishes tending to the wounded and joins the conversation, her healing abilities a small beacon of hope.
"I can create a barrier around the village, but it won't hold for long. We must buy time until more experienced fighters arrive."
The first two that were talking were tasked with leaving for help, while Aya casted
I'm still annoyed when I hear her using 'holy' in spell names.
There literally shouldn't be anything different from just
I wasn't sure why she put it up so early, but apparently it must not be using much Mana when it's just idling.
Maybe she is like Ria but for recovery and protection magic.
Near the end of the day, the beast finally showed itself.
Instead of leaving upon discovering the new barrier, it gets enraged and starts trying to tear it down.
And it's succeeding.
Eventually, Aya can't keep it up and the barrier has to let the beast through.
Despite being a dragon, I felt fear, as it was something I never experienced before until this moment.
What a pathetic dragon I am...
The weapons of the brave, albeit foolish fighters did nothing against the glowing aura of the beast.
As I watched, all I could do was think in shock.
I'd indeed rushed into a collapsing mine to save people before, but, that was completely different than right now.
I had complete confidence in magic, and I was too naive to really comprehend the true danger until later.
But I'd still do that again if I had the choice.
The only things I could think about were the same worries on repeat.
'Can I win? What if I lose? Will the villagers hate me if they figure out what I am?'
The bear shifted its attention to me for some reason, either for being the biggest threat or appearing the most nutritious.
I had to do something now.
Despite my best attempts to attack, it just brushes it off like nothing.
Even though my magic should be stronger, the covering of glowing energy still blocked everything.
It was already getting close by the time the thought of a penetrating spell crossed my mind.
My instincts tell me I'm in danger as it tries to start an attack, but a wall of flames envelops it.
"Stay away from Lava!"
Ria heard everything that was happening and used most of her magic just to get here, leaving nothing left to be used for a strong fire attack like she usually does.
It definitely got the bears attention, and angered it too.
I tried to use piercing attacks but it's defense was generating too fast to do damage.
All of my spells were on average stronger than normal humans, but it's not enough, if only I could make an attack like Ria has with fire spells.
It gets closer and closer to Ria.
'What am I doing? I need to have confidence in my strength. I can't let that thing hurt my sister!' I panic, trying to clear doubts that won't disappear.
'But what can I do if I can't even harm it? Should I run? No, no! Is there any point in living if she dies?'
With no time left, my last idea was to leave human form to be able to fight that thing at its own size.
I didn't even have time to run away and come back to hide the change.
The bear was surprised and thrashing when a small dragon appeared behind it out of nowhere and grabbed its head and body.
I use my claws to hold its neck still.
"Take this!
I was cutting through its barrier like a blowtorch as it struggled and roared angrily.
Eventually I got through and it finally went limp after there was a hole burnt through its neck.
As I dropped it, I soon realized what I forgot when I chose to do this...
"It's a dragon!" The villagers scream.
Some of them were even pointing weapons at me.
I guess standing like this did make me look much bigger than normal.
The worst was that the children I'd lived with for a year were now hiding from me like a monster.
Didn't feel great even when it was technically true.
"Get back, girl!" One scolded Ria.
"No! It's Lava!" Ria defends and tries to hug me without caring about their advice.
They don't seem to want to accept it at all.
"There's no reason for you youngsters to worry so. Lava was always a dragon." Gramps explains.
They stop pointing swords at me long enough to go back to my human form.
Thanks to Ria and Gramps, this is going much better than I thought it would.
"We're sorry, Great Dragon!" Some of them panic at once.
"Please don't treat me different, I'm still the same as I always was." I ask.
I was thankful they took it better than I expected.
Returning to a normal relationship was going to be difficult, and I'm not sure I can ever have a good relationship with the other kids ever again.
Even in my human disguise they just want to hide now.