Chapter 1: The Dragon Found His Treasure

"Well, what do we have here?" The creature who spoke was a giant dragon, a dragon so massive that he nested on top of the highest mountains. 

Some said that the dragon could be seen from any corner of the world, but that was not really the truth. For the dragon had a human form, a form he used often.

"You were set upon by brigands, weren't you?" The dragon gently took off the adventurer's gloves, thinking that maybe the man was not too far gone to be saved. 

If this man, this poor dragon slayer, for he wore the pendant of the dragon slayers, had found any other dragon, he'd be dead. 

But now, as the dragon slowly but surely undressed the dragon slayer, wanting to see exactly what sort of damage the man's runes had not managed to prevent, he sighed.

 "This will leave a scar," the dragon said, as he gently rubbed his thumb over the burned mark.

A slavery mark. Still fresh.

"But I can remove the rune. You just need to hold on tight. This won't be pleasant," the dragon took his water skin and then began to wash the mark. Dirt began to wash away with the water. 

If the dragon slayer had not chanced upon him, then he was sure to succumb to infection.

"I can see why they wanted you. You have a pretty face," the dragon didn't know why, but he felt drawn to this dragon slayer.

Maybe it was because his half-leaded blue eyes gave away the fact that he was part nymph, but still, the dragon wanted, desperately so, to have this dragon slayer.

To hold him, to kiss him. 

"Oh now I see what you are," was it not a cruel fate to place a dragon slayer as the soulmate of a dragon, the dragon asked himself.

Then he smiled.

"My name is Brandon, and what is yours?" even as half unconscious as the dragon slayer was, Brandon was sure he could hear him.

Now with the rune activated, the dragon slayer couldn't sense his mana, but that didn't mean that the dragon slayer couldn't hear him.

Couldn't feel his touch.

"What a pretty face," as soon as Brandon tried to pet the dragon slayer once more, the man took a hold of his hand and squeezed.

Brandon chuckled.

"I am not like that, dear heart," Brandon assured his soulmate. "And I have a cottage nearby. Would you like a place to sleep? For even a little bit? Just so I can remove the rune and monitor you?"

"Pan," the dragon slayer whispered. "My name is Pan."

Brandon picked up Pan bridal style, teleporting them to his home seconds after. 

Soon, Pan was lying on soft bedding with pillows under his head and looking up at the ceiling.

"I was searching for the dragon," Pan said, letting out a sob at the end, for he was finding it hard to breathe. 

"Don't speak; you do not have the strength to," Brandon said. 

The dragon slayer took in a couple of gulps of air as he placed his hand on his forehead and bit his lower lip so he wouldn't let out a scream. 

"I can't believe this. I simply cannot. My own party..." Pan let out a scream, hit the bed with his fist, and then regretted it soon after.

The slave rune activated, and Pan was forced into a curled-up position, screaming in pain. 

"Now, be kinder to yourself," Brandon said. It was really good that Pan couldn't recognize him. 

If Pan had managed to realize that Brandon was the dragon he had been searching for, the boy was probably going to end up getting himself killed, trying to take Brandon with him to the grave. 

"Stuff like this happens. Did you know the party for very long?" Brandon asked, as he took a bit of his aloe vera plant and then, for added measure, a jar of honey.

"I hired them from the port. They were the cheapest I could get. I really should have known better," Pan said. 

Brandon chuckled once more, for he didn't want to show his displeasure at those adventurers. If those brigands could even be caught.

So he took a hold of Pan and then proceeded to rub the aloe vera on the burnt wound. Making sure the gel was spread evenly.

As he did so, he poured some of his mana, filtered through his gloves, inside the rune so he could disable it. Brandon knew that his mana was more potent than most. Pan was never going to be chained.

Not as long as Brandon drew breath...

"And what are your plans now? Are you still going after that dragon?" Brandon asked as he took the honey and slowly began to spread it over the mark.

As soon as he was done with that, he cleansed the burn with mana once more. 

"I need to find him! I need to take his scale! Everything depends on it," Pan said.

Brandon raised an eyebrow. 

Everything depends on what?" The dragon didn't think that this adventurer was a bounty hunter. If he were, he would have been wearing more expensive armor. 

And not only that, but he wouldn't have hired brigands at the port.

"I have to use the scale to make my tree grow. If my tree doesn't grow, I'll die. And I just need a scale. I wish no harm to the dragon. Just one scale," Pan said. 

Brandon looked at the man's little backpack, felt from it the energy of a bottomless bag, and then sighed.

"Just one scale, you say?" he asked. 

Pan nodded.

"Will it be still useful if it's from last year's shedding?" Brandon's scales were worth their weight in gold. Normally, he only sold them when entire armies were sent against him. 

They were bargaining chips, so to speak.

But now, this precious treasure, who was probably just an adventurer who was over his head, wanted his help. 

And Brandon wanted to make sure the nymph's tree grew to be healthy. 

"Yes, even an old scale will do!" Pan looked at him as if he were seeing him for the first time. But then, as he decided that the kind, blue-eyed man, could not possibly be the dragon, he relaxed in the bed and reached out. 

As he took out his sapling from his bottomless bag, Brandon's eyes softened. 

It was an apple sapling. 

He had known an apple nymph, once. 

"I will give you the scale, but for now, we have to focus on getting that rune out of you," for it was a slavery rune and the person who had put it on Pan was still alive. 

Not that he would remain so much longer, Brandon thought to himself.

The dragon was going to make him pay.