Chapter 2: The Net

"Well, Tony," I knew back then that Anthony was going to be very capable at dragging dragon bones with him.

It wasn't just the fact that he was a bit chubby or the fact that he already had a bottomless bag - which, well, I thought was a bottomless bag…

It was also the fact that he had a gentle smile on his face. Something that most people would call "stupid", but I called "solid gold"!

The ability to believe in everything someone told you!

"I know a place! You probably got the system quest! Let's do the quest together!"

I clapped him on the shoulder.

We didn't know anything about anything. We didn't know that we were still going to have to pay taxes on those stolen dragon teeth or that sometimes some dragons came to the dragon graveyard while still alive!

That there were poachers out there! Poachers who were more versatile than us, and poachers who knew their stuff when it came to picking dragon teeth.

 Even if those dragon teeth were still in the mouth of a living dragon.

"Oh, and what's your name?" Now, Tony was one of those people who thought that if you knew them, then they knew you.

We didn't know each other. Heck, if it wasn't for the fact that Tony let everyone copy his homework, I wouldn't even know his name.

"Hey, I asked you about your name!"

 Now, the phrase goes: strike the iron while it's hot!

 And while I was thinking that Tony was the one person to drag off the teeth and bones and scales because he had a backpack, I was wavering.

Should I really tell this boy my name? I am a fairy!

 And if he knew anything about fairies, he could trap me.

I clapped him on the back again.

He twitched.

I took it as a bad sign.

"Mike's the name!" I exclaimed like the con I was. "No last name!"

Just to be on the safe side.

"I honestly don't have a last name," besides, my last name was… Foriffo.

I didn't want to admit that.

It was my greatest shame and my greatest power. My mother, in her great wisdom, decided that no son of hers would ever be cursed.

So, she changed my last name, my family name, the route to my soul from Frederick to Foriffo.

Now, Mike Frederick sounded like someone who slays dragons.

I guess Mike Foriffo really is just a dragon teeth thieving fairy.

"We're going to become very, very rich," I didn't know that for certain.

The dragon graveyard in question was in a private park, and still a national one.

Well, why should a private park be a national park, one might ask?

 Because, well, the owner of the park was the king. And the king, with all the tax money he took from young, innocent people who just didn't want to be called poachers to their faces, created a park for dragons.

 I was going to ruin his entire dragon scale business, but I didn't know it at that time.

 Making enemies was something I loved to do. And making friends, apparently, was something I needed to do.

"Tell me more about yourself, Tony!" I laid the net.

 I let him jump on it.

It was a net of lies.

 How was I to know, back then, that I would view Tony as the rock in the ocean who kept me from doing stupid things?

The one friend who was going to become a hero, going to get married, live on the farm afterwards, and I...

Well, I would remain a dragon teeth thieving fairy for the rest of my life.

 But hey! Someone had to cull that dragon population in the park!

For humanity!

And Tony, for all that he was destined for greatness, had a gentle soul.

I was going to darken that soul. I was going to make it as vile as my own.

And even back then, when I was a 15-year-old fairy, I knew that my soul was about as putrid as kimchi, which had been left in the sun for far too long.

 For about a month, give or take.

"I like to read books," that was pretty tame.

 Maybe I could find him a book? He looked like the fairy tale type.

"Horror books! Creepypastas!" he said that all with a straight face.

 He was delighted, that Tony.

 I had never heard about the creepypasta. But as he used something that he called a system screen for books, something he actually paid for, I heard it for the first time.

On our way to the dragon graveyard, I heard as people ran through the woods like idiots instead of through deer trails to safety!

 And then they got into old shacks like complete nimrods. Instead of away from the old basements where the ghosts were.

I didn't understand the appeal, but I knew one thing: If I managed to find a way to get Tony those creepypastas for free, which, you know, no one could beat, then I would have his loyalty!

"Tony, my friend," I took a pause so he could look at me, he had the time to blink and could realize that he finally had someone who was not going to ditch him right after they had copied his homework.

"Have you ever heard about The Onion?"

 It was very underhanded of me. He was just a boy and most likely had never heard about the dark web.

That wonderful video sharing website, which was governed by a giant spider dungeon core.

He was just going to listen to creepypastas, maybe even find better ones than he normally did!

 And if he ended up selling his organs to that spider, I was going to save him!

 Because, as much as I hated to admit it, I simply didn't have the funds for a bottomless bag.

And not only that, but my arms were still twigs. And so, I needed someone to drag those wonderful, richly decorated, tragedies, back home.

The teeth of the greatest reptiles to exist, which were never going to be chewing through misguided knights who were trying to find princesses in dragon caves…

Some people…