CRACKLE! Arad stood beside the flames, staring at it as the girls lined the fish and bison meat on sticks. “We need something to sit on,” He mumbled.

“Some stones would do,” Mira replied, “Or you can pull a table and some chairs from your stomach.”

“I would usually do that, but it doesn’t seem to fit the place.” He walked toward the back, shifting to his draconic form.

“What are you doing?” Aella called him.

Arad turned his head toward them, “Getting chairs ready,” He approached the trees, finding a nice straight one.

He grabbed the tree and pulled it from the roots with ease. One swipe with his palm over the trunk, and he removed all branches and bark. He then munched the roots off with one bite.

In less than half a minute, he turned the large tree into one long trunk and sat it beside the flames. He then looked at Mira with a smile, “I’m a good carpenter,”

She looked at the tree trunk. It’s impressive that Arad did it so quickly, but she wouldn’t call that good skills. He just cleaned a tree. “A decent carpenter,” She replied.

Arad turned back to the forest and cleaned four more trees. But then, Eris noticed something on his back.

“Arad! Be careful. Yuwaku is on your back!” Eris shouted.

Arad turned his head, seeing the girl asleep between his wings, and her body seemed stuck to his.

“Yuwaku, are you awake?” He asked.

She opened one eye, looking at him before going back to sleep. He was her source. Probably, it made sense for her to stay around him.

“I’m going to shift back, get down.” He asked.

“AWAWAWA!” She grunted, rolling on his back, down to his tail, and then to the ground.

Arad shifted back to his humanoid form and lifted her. “At least sleep in the carriage.”

“You’re her source,” Zephyr replied, “She feels more at ease with you.”

Arad looked up at Zephyr as he took Yuwaku to the carriage to sleep.

“Come here, it’s time to eat,” He added, “Wait, you spirits like elves can’t eat meat, right?”

“Not necessarily,” Zephyr replied, “We feed on mana. Food like meat and plants doesn’t provide us with any nutrients. We only eat since it’s delicious or fun.”

“So you can eat meat,” He looked at Zephyr and then turned toward Aella, who was preparing a large bowl of salad, signage, and some weird plants.

“Eris, you’re a half-elf. How does meat taste to you?” He asked.

“Dragon blood is denser than elvish blood. I follow an omnivorous diet like you.” She replied. Elves were herbivorous. They couldn’t digest meat, and dragons ate everything.

Around the campfire, everyone started eating. Arad pulled the bison’s whole leg and started munching on it, his teeth cutting directly through the thigh bones.

“Bone marrow! Bone marrow!” Zephyr sucked on the bones, sipping every drop of the marrows inside like a butterfly on flowers. Aella stared at her, disgusted.

“Tough!” Lucy cried, barely able to bite the bison’s hard flesh.

Gojo extended his hand, snatching the piece of meat from her hand and running his void through it, ripping the meat inside out and shredding it.

“Thank you,” She said with a smile, and he sighed.

“It’s another level of failure when you can’t even eat.” He ate the ribs whole, crunching them like biscuits.

“The fish is softer,” Jack said in the back, eating from a bow of shredded meat.

Liliana filled a bow for Lucy and handed it to her. “This should be softer,”

CRACK! They heard a bone crack from someone beside Arad and Gojo. They looked, and it was Agnar.

“Agnar! Your teeth!” His mother cried, but he waved his hand, opening his mouth to reveal a fanged maw.

“Warlocks usually have a covered demonic eye, bandaged arms to hide the devil scales or a tail. It’s A side effect of the contract, but I only got a stronger jaw and muscles.” He replied, explaining why he had all that explosive power as a kid.

Gojo smiled, “Maharaja is supposed to be a Jaguar-like beast. She’s bigger than mountains and crackling with golden lightning. It makes sense you got a bit of her power without even transforming,”

Lydia stared at Isdis, seeing her cut the meat with a knife and a fork. “Hoi, can’t you eat without those?”

“It’s make it easier to cut the meat into biteable pieces. It’s tough.” Isdis replied.

“Fancy nobles,” Lydia sighed, munching on the meat, “What’s fun is when eating like that? It’s better to get a good bite than a small one.”

With a smile on his face, Arad looked at the full moon. “It’s a calm night, isn’t it.”

Booo! Booo! An owl flew from the trees, soaring through the sky. From the owl’s eyes, he could see the whole forest and make sure no monsters were close.

***

After three days of travel, they reached Alina, thanks to Arad’s absurd speed. He landed at the mountain foot and shifted back to his humanoid form.

Sebas, Angar, and his parents walked out of the carriages and sat on the driver’s seat as the horses woke up. “Is there a need for Master to hide his presence?” Agnar asked.

“It’s troublesome,” Arad replied.

“I doubt they can harm you…” Agnar scratched his head, and his father approached. “I see. You’re still young, after all.”

“What?” Agnar turned back to his father, “He’s a powerful hero,”

“The problem isn’t his power. It’s safety and convenience.” Simon added, patting his son’s head, “He doesn’t want people begging on his door for help each day and doesn’t want to endanger his family by exposing them to villains.”

“A hero should help people in need,” Agnar replied.

“But, not all people are in need. Humans seek convenience. They would rather pay a dragon gold to kill a monster than form a party and take care of it themselves.” Simon looked at Arad, “We have a dragon. Why not just pay him to protect the city from monsters? We then won’t need adventurers.”

Simon looked at Arad, “That’s a pain to deal with. Isn’t it? It will prevent you from dealing with what matters most.”

“I never thought of it like that.” Arad replied, “But you must be right,”

“Did no one approach you for shelter or protection?” Simon asked.

“No one…” As Arad said those words, he couldn’t get Merida’s image to stop flashing in his head.

He stopped. ^She didn’t know I was a dragon that night, so why…^ He turned back, “I got a bad feeling about this…”