Chp.18: What do you want to do?

Carlos sat at his desk counting the coins he and the others had earned over the past week. Since between him, Efren and Sarah he was the best at reckoning, they had entrusted him with the bookkeeping. And since the dragons had agreed to give them a small percentage of their earnings, since the three of them contributed some to the quests anyway, there was a need for someone to check the daily statement. Even though up until now the dragons had always respected their agreements and had never tried to cheat them, it was always better to check.

One positive side of that situation that Carlos had been able to see was that once their cooperation with the dragons was over he and the others wouldn't have to worry about money for a while. While it was small compared to the money the dragons had made, it was still a nice nest egg. If they had maintained the frugal lifestyle they currently had, they could have gotten by for a few years even without working. Which was good, since the guild of adventurers didn't always have work, given that like any guild it was subject to the events of the kingdom: if there were no animals to hunt or bandits to kill, even if that was good for the ordinary people, for adventurers work was reduced a lot. It was therefore always better to have some money aside for lean periods.

Suddenly the door burst open with a crash. After so much time spent together he was now used to it, and in fact he didn't even have to look to find out who it was. "Already done, Corgorin?"

"I just had to tell Rhaegal and Serengal what Darbi had told me. Nothing too long" Corgorin replied as she leapt onto the bed, so hard she almost smashed it. "Are you still here counting coins?"

"It's not as simple as it seems. There are several variables to take into account" Carlos replied, trying to make the job seem difficult. Technically it was: for a human like him, who hadn't received an extraordinary education, being able to calculate such a large amount of money, also taking into account the different value of each coin, was not easy. In fact, he was quite good: apart from merchants and nobles, most people would have taken at least half an hour to be able to count so many coins, while he was already almost done in less than ten minutes.

But of course, the same couldn't be said for dragons, who had extraordinary memories and far above average intelligence. "That's 58 gold coins, 29 silver coins, and 16 copper coins. At least, that's their total value; if you want to know what coins you have there, then that's 38 gold coins, 509 silver coins and 3,616 copper coins" Corgorin told him, who had done the calculation in less than a second.

In the Jurao Kingdom, a gold coin was worth thirty silver coins, and a silver coin was worth thirty copper coins. There were technically platinum coins as well, but they didn't circulate much and therefore were rarely used in exchanges, which generally stopped at gold coins. "Thanks, but I'd rather finish the calculation myself" Carlos said.

"Oh come on! You've known me for over a year and you still don't trust me?" Corgorin said pretending to be terribly hurt. "What ingratitude! What insensitivity! How could I have chosen a boyfriend like you?"

Carlos grunted slightly. Even though he understood by now that the 'boyfriend' joke was just Corgorin's way of teasing him, it still annoyed him when she said it. And unfortunately the dragon was aware of it, and in fact she brought up that argument at every opportunity. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I want to do the calculation myself"

"But why? I already told you the right number!" Corgorin exclaimed. "What's the point of racking your brains if you have me telling you how much money you have?"

"But I won't have you forever, right?" Carlos answered. "Each of us will soon go his own way. It's better that I keep in training. I don't have your memory, I need to constantly do something to remind me how to do it"

Corgorin was silent for a moment, then she sighed. "Yes... that's true. Soon we'll have our brother back, and there won't be any more reason to stay together..." she murmured in a slightly sad voice. "You know, I confess that I will miss you a little"

"Really?" Carlos asked, not at all convinced, expecting another joke.

But Corgorin didn't put on her typical amused expression. "I'm serious. We've all been through a lot together. Don't get me wrong, you're still as valuable to me as an insect... but a domestic insect. Yeah, an insect that is to me what cats and dogs are to you humans. I'm sorry to have to leave you"

Carlos let out a soft laugh. "I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted" he replied. Even though he'd just been compared to an insect, that was still the greatest display of affection he'd ever seen Corgorin make, aside from her sister or her brother.

Corgorin smiled at him. It was one of her rare genuine smiles, with no malicious intent. "You should feel flattered. No other newcomer has been as valuable to me as you are" she replied. Then suddenly her eyes took on a sinister light and the smile went from sweet to mocking, which Carlos didn't like at all. "You know... I thought... since we will soon be separated... maybe you could take advantage of this last chance to teach me how human beings reproduce"

Carlos turned slightly red. "Stop it. It's not a funny joke"

"Oh come on! Don't say you wouldn't like it!" Corgorin exclaimed slipping off part of her robe and exposing a lot of her skin, then winking with her eyes. "I know for a fact that males of your species find me very attractive"

If any other woman had acted like that, Carlos would have jumped on her without a second thought. But in that case he didn't even move slightly from his chair. "They find you attractive because they don't know that's just an illusion. I don't mean to have sex with a corpse"

But Corgorin didn't give up. Her amused smile widened. With a quick movement she completely took off her dress, remaining almost naked in front of him, covered only by the little underwear she had on. "Are you sure? I can assure you that you won't notice anything" she said as he writhed on the covers like an eel.

Carlos blushed again. Even though he knew that Corgorin was only teasing him, and especially that that was a corpse and not a human body, he had to admit that the dragon had been really good at creating the illusion of a female body. Everything from her long legs to her thick chest seemed to inspire sensuality. "Stop and put your clothes back on. It's not funny" he said, and then he had a flash of genius and added: "And by the way, I'm not a paedophile. I'm not interested in kids"

Those words seemed to have a result: Corgorin in fact assumed a frown and angrily put her clothes back on. Carlos knew he had hit the mark, because he knew Corgorin hated being considered too young for anything. Even though her real body was ten meters long and over four meters tall, even though her avatar looked like a woman of twenty or thirty at the most, and even though her mentality far exceeded that of most adult humans however, she was still a kid by both dragon and human standards. She wasn't even two years old. And she hated to be reminded of that by anyone.

Thanks to those words, Corgorin sulked for a while, and Carlos had time to finish his calculations in peace. He was almost amused by the dragon's reaction: even if she pretended to not be considered a kid, every now and then she behaved exactly like one. It was almost strange for Carlos to remember that the bloodthirsty, sarcastic, careless creature with whom he normally roomed at inns was really just a child who had been born into that world less than a couple of years ago.

"What will you do?" Corgorin asked suddenly. "When this is over, I mean. You'll get your friends back, we'll get our brother back, and each will go his own way. What are your plans for then?"

Carlos shook his head. "We never actually talked about it. We weren't even sure we'd get this far, let alone think about the future"

"Then think about it now. What would you like to do?" Corgorin asked again.

Carlos thought about it. "Well, first I'm going to take all my friends to eat and drink until they pass out. After that I'm going to go to a brothel and enjoy all the pleasure I haven't been able to have in the last year because of you"

"Hey, it's you who didn't want to do anything with me. I told you, I'm open to learning about you humans' reproductive methods" Corgorin replied, smiling mischievously again.

"Sure, as if I didn't know that even if I were crazy enough to touch a corpse, you would send me across the capital with one punch" Carlos grumbled. "And even if you really agree, I have no intention of antagonizing your family. Your brother would break my back and eat me alive if he found out"

Corgorin rested her head on the pillow. "You're wrong, for us dragons it's not like for you humans. None of my brothers care what I do, as long as I'm willing. If you tried to take advantage of me, then they'd be pissed... but you'd already be dead, since the part of the punch that sends you across the capital is pretty accurate". She let out a light chuckle. "Go on. What else will you do after you've had fun with the prostitutes?"

Carlos shrugged: "Well, I think that after I recover from the hangover and I'm able to reach the exit of the brothel again, then I will resume with my old life. My friends and I will go back to adventuring, and maybe we'll go back to our old city. Even if the golden age of hunting is now over, since it's been a year since the war, we could still have a stable job..."

"Really? Is that all you want to do? Go back to your old life?" Corgorin asked in a slightly disappointed voice. "I expected something better. The last person who had dealings with us is now a king"

Carlos looked at her in surprise. "Seriously?"

"Of course. But don't get any illusions, I seriously doubt that you would be able to rule even a village" Corgorin said. "Anyway, why do you want to go back to your old life? After working with dragons you should have a bit higher goals"

Carlos in reality wanted to know more about that person who had become king, but he felt it was going to be a very long story, so he let it go. "Well, so what about you? You're going back to your old life too, aren't you? You and your family were going somewhere, and you're still going to go that way. So why judge me if I'm going back to my old life too?"

He expected that Corgorin would be speechless at him turned her words on her, but then it happened something that he hadn't expected: a shadow passed over the dragon's face, and the smile faded from his face. "Because if I had that choice, like you, I wouldn't hesitate to take it and do something great. I certainly wouldn't be stuck in an old life"

Carlos realized that perhaps it had been a little inappropriate. "I'm sorry" he said. "But you too can choose. Everyone can choose"

"Really? Become a dragon and then we'll talk about it. Do you know what my choice is? To escape to where there are no newcomers, or be killed or enslaved. Look what happened to my brother" Corgorin said. Her tone had become quite annoyed. "If I were you, I'd live up to the name of an adventurer and go on an adventure. I'd visit new countries, explore lands, fight monsters, and face enemies. I certainly wouldn't want to stay in this little corner of the world, unaware of what's out and with no desire to explore it". She let out a light snort and a sad smile appeared on her face. "It's really weird how the world works, isn't it? You are free to do what you want, but you prefer to stay stuck in one place. Instead I'm not free to do as I please, and I'd give anything to be able to go somewhere without everyone trying to kill me"

Carlos bit his lip. Yeah, he forgot that detail. Corgorin, unlike him, couldn't do what he wanted. She could move around cities using her avatar, but it wasn't like using her real body. She would always be destined for a life of paira and hiding places. She could never have any friends outside of her family. She could never really see the world, except for that small part where she would have taken refuge to escape the eyes of the newcomers. No wonder she wasn't glad that he, on the other hand, who had this extraordinary fortune, didn't want to use it for anything other than going back to his old life.

But did he really want to go back? After what Corgorin had said he wasn't so sure. Until then he had been saying that one day he and his friends would go back to being hunters... but did he really want to do it? Together with the dragons they had traveled a lot, exterminated bandits, saved villages. They had gained much more experience in just one year than most of their lives. And they had also discovered many things that they didn't know before…

Was this really what he wanted? Forget everything, pretend nothing happened, and go back? It seemed to him a somewhat disappointing ending. "Actually, I don't know what I want to do" he finally said sincerely.

Corgorin looked at him as if she were scolding him with her eyes. "Then you should hurry up and decide. You don't have much time left" she said, and then she turned on the other side, a sign that for her the conversation was over. Carlos sighed and lay down next to her, trying to sleep, but he was awake for quite some time before he managed to close his eyes.