Dragon

"Alright then, till we secure at least something, you guys should stay hidden and lay low. I'll try to buy a portion of these lands with money and see if it works out. If it doesn't, we'll just build our place underground for now," I said.

The goblins had made a deal with mother kitty.

But since I was partners with the cats- (I implied as much but in reality, they were my familiars) the goblins also in turn listened to me.

"Right!" Gorbam said.

For hobgoblins with decent enough intelligence, they sure were just easy to manipulate.

'Or are they just going along now only to backbite later?'

Didn't seem likely but I kept the thought alive. I wasn't going to trust anyone completely ever again, no matter who they were.

But with that said, two goblins led me out of the place to a small hatch.

They'd made this place with magic and they could control the exits with magic too.

Amiya could basically use the same type of magic- earth magic. Hence, she was able to control a bit of the place and lure me in.

"Alrighty, we'll open the hatch, and once you're out, close it!"

A small hatch, enough for two people to squeeze out as once.

The moons were blasting us with their silvery light- so despite being night, it was pretty bright…

"Men!!"

The Harpies were still flying around and screaming 'men' whenever they got a whiff of our pheromones.

It was only a matter of time before they'd realize I was here.

"Alright, thanks for everything, and take care!" Always wanted to say that.

I bid farewell to the goblins and together with Amiya and the cats, we dashed deep into the forest, straight for the city.

"I'll distract them in case they come too close," Amiya said before launching herself into the sky.

Fast!

The woman was beautiful. Really gorgeous.

Perhaps I couldn't tell inside the cave but- but those large wings were something to behold. Blue feathers with a light green gradient. Her hair was soft gold with red endings, medium large, and those eyes were definitely mesmerizing-

Honestly- 'I got laid with her!!'

Huh!

Just the thought alone was enough to make my heart race and partially forget about the pain below…

"MEN!"

Okay maybe stopping and admiring the flying Harpy wasn't that great of an idea. Because the other ones had sniffed us out.

Anyway- run.

RUN!!!

The trees were a good cover but even so, the Harpies were everywhere.

Hundreds!

Hundreds of them were after me.

Just one was enough to make my whole body sore.

The others would probably destroy me…

Yeah, no wonder the goblins were so afraid.

Wheeeeeeee!!!

An ear-piercing sound blasted in the sky.

The wind following- almost knocked me and the trees away… almost.

Something dark, something crimson, something really big- flew by.

'Dragon…'

This was my second time seeing one but boy was this one big.

One small village?

No- that was at least five villages combined!

Almost all the Harpies in the area just paused, also staring up.

A dragon- a rather large dragon; the scaled monster.

Almost death itself.

The literal strongest beings in existence.

Before I could even begin to process the whole thing, it just flew south, away from all this.

"Damn she's big," Amiya came down. "Normally we don't get to see ones that big. Is she a messenger from the moon?"

'How the hell would I know?'

And wait, how'd she know that the dragon was a 'she'?

More importantly- "Let's run while the rest are distracted!"

But this was definitely good. After all, with all the Harpies distracted, this was the perfect time to just run away.

"No need," Amiya shrugged. "Dragons are an ending signal for mating season. Though this time we're about a week early…"

Come to think of it, the Harpies were all kind of brooding and sighing.

Also sniffing and kind of crying…

"That's it? So, I won't have to run?"

I kind of already got my answer seeing all the sorrow in the air. The sweet smell coming from all the Harpies also kind of faded.

'Does that smell only come out when they're in heat?'

Sniff! Sniff! I secretly sniffed the air around Amiya and for sure, she smelled great… also kind of reeked of sweat but oh well…

"I mean you can still mate with them if you want to; no one would refuse. Though that'd very much piss me off, so I'd recommend you don't." She smiled.

An aura of rage hovered over that sweet smile. 'Duly noted….'

'Wait, how am I supposed to talk to you about the harem then?'

Yeah, I guess we'd have to cross the bridge when we get there…

Anyway, that said we finally resumed the journey. This time, without being chased by Harpies in heat.

Amiya often flew up high and gave us directions, though, for the most part, she walked alongside us.

She had birdlike feet but still walked with us… weird.

***

Come to think of it, I actually hadn't gotten any new quests.

A lot of my menu options were still locked.

And the ones that I could access, weren't that helpful.

The journal kept a log of all the stuff I'd killed and what kind of drops they provided. The stuff the cats or Amiya killed, had much less information and mostly just their HP and MP.

It had no information regarding the stuff we hadn't killed before and the few bits of information it had about system mechanics were pretty much self-explanatory and nothing deep.

Useless.

Sigh- anyway without worrying about that, I just kept on walking.

The city closest to us was supposedly half a day away.

Meaning, it wasn't going to be that much of a big deal.

Until I realized- my companions didn't have infinite amounts of stamina like me.

So, we took a midnight break.

This'd be my second night without sleep but I couldn't care less.

"Are you really a human?" Amiya asked, kind of beat.

I didn't look tired and certainly didn't feel tired.

"Fairly confident, I am."

Probably.

The cats were too busy playing with their food, rather than eating.

The food being a large rabbit they caught.

I had a soft spot for rabbits but since they caught it themselves, I didn't really have the right to just snatch the thing away.

Besides Sahagin chief meat was pretty tasty too. And luckily Amiya had some salt on her.

So, we decided to make a stew with just salt and herbs.

It was pretty good.

"If we had proper spices, this would have been amazing…" Amiya mused. "How did you procure so much of this meat anyway?"

I shrugged.

Kind of feeling bashful.

Apparently, even now I loved being praised.

Oh well.