I Guess I'm a Dragon Now (Part 1)

Return

Flying back to the Demon King's city, Sera's words still filled Ergen's mind while her entire being filled the space behind his head. He wasn't happy about having another passenger, or having any passengers in the first place, though it couldn't be helped as they'd received an emergency summons from the Demon King while they had been returning from the Land of the Lost. Apparently their army was preparing to move, and Asal needed any artifacts that they had already gathered immediately.

Passing over the mountains, Ergen was soon flying over the swampland that separated the Demon King's kingdom and the Lands of the Lost before Ergen felt the horribly familiar feeling of dry air assault his skin. With each passing minute, he could tell that they were getting close to the desert, and Ergen thought that he would miss the temperate mountains that he'd just left before the swampland suddenly ended and nothing but sand dunes remained in sight. And now, Ergen could only hope that he was flying in the right direction as even if there were any landmarks, they would be nearly impossibly to spot as the heatwaves rising from the ground obscured almost everything beneath him. It seemed to be even hotter now than when he'd left, and Ergen wondered just how much water an army would need to move through these conditions before he eventually found what he was looking for.

In the distance, the Asal's city came into view, and along with it a massive forest of tents placed directly outside of it which no doubt held the gathering army. The camp seemed bustling as they made preparations to march, though many of them stopped what they were doing in order to look up at Ergen as he circled over the city once before finally landing inside of the courtyard in front of the palace. And as soon as he landed, Rena flew off somewhere while Sera scrambled for land as she didn't appear to  be used to flying yet.

"T-that was awful." Sera said in a shaky voice as he limbs trembled, and Ergen could tell that she most likely would have vomited by now if she'd had anything in her stomach to begin with. Thankfully though, she recovered by the time Asal's royal guard walked out of the palace to escort them and Ergen found himself being led into the large sheet-covered room once again. The same as last time, Asal was in his throne again, though he looked completely exhausted as several important looking people argued with each other around him.

"Your Majesty, your mercenaries have returned." One of the royal guard escorts announced, and Asal dismissed the people surrounding him with nothing but a wave of his hand.

"Where is Captain Tyse? I'd assumed that he would be the one returning." Asal asked as Sera stopped at the base of the stairs leading up to the throne and knelt in a bow.

"He has regrettably fallen, your Majesty." Sera replied. "Along with all but four under his command."

"Out of two-hundred, only four survived?" Asal looked completely shocked before his face turned grim. "I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your comrades, but I need to know if you mission was completed."

"It was, Your Majesty." Sera replied. "Both the sword and the shield that I am currently equipped with were found in the dungeons, and they appear to have been enchanted in some way."

"Would I perhaps be able to see them?" Asal asked before one of the royal guards placed herself between them.

"Forgive my intrusion, Your Majesty, but once an enchanted item has chosen it's master it could be dangerous if anyone else were to touch them. And as they seem to have chosen this mercenary here, I would ask that either I or another member of the royal guard handle them for you."

"Have they chosen you as a master?" Asal asked towards the still kneeling Sera.

"I believe so, Your Majesty. When they were first acquired, both flew through the air before attaching themselves to my arms... I do not know what else it could mean." Sera answered.

"I see..." Asal stated thoughtfully, and suddenly Ergen wondered just what Asal would do with the woman seeing as the enchanted equipment had already been claimed by someone other than his subordinates until Sera spoke.

"Your Majesty, if I may..." Sera asked, snapping Asal out of his thoughts.

"Hrm? Go ahead." Asal permitted.

"I would like to take this moment to formally join your army with my goal being the defeat and death of King Emric." Sera announced.

"That's... unexpected. Especially from a mercenary who would surely make more coin in being hired to fight alongside us." Asal stated in genuine surprise. "May I ask the reason for your decision?"

"On our assault on the second dungeon, we had to fight our way through a village of goblins that had taken residence there." Sera began. "Inside, we found... evidence, that King Emric was attempting to goad the goblin horde into attacking your people."

"Then it appears that I owe you more than just the reward promised for the equipment..." Asal remarked quickly. "Continue."

"The evidence that we found included a journal taken from a member of Emric's magic council that was killed in the battle, as well as his 'offerings'. Those offerings... were all of the villagers that raised me as a child, including a number of elves." Sera explained with a trembling voice, obviously still angry about the subject, not that Ergen could blame her.

"I see..." Asal looked grim again as he spoke softly. "I apologize for bringing up such painful matters, but I needed to know your motives beforehand. I'll trust that you understand why."

"Of course, Your Majesty." Sera kept her head down.

"And seeing as my predicament of attempting to hire a mercenary to defeat a hero is no longer a problem, I suppose everyone shall gain from this agreement. Even the king's former Commander." Asal stated, causing Sera to tense as Ergen guessed that she hadn't expected him to know about her past. "But will you willingly use that newfound sword and shield on the king that you once served?"

"I will, Your Majesty." Sera replied immediately. "The evils that Emric has done... that I may have helped him commit... I wish to end all of them and to remove Ligan's corruption at it's source."

"I see..." Asal said again thoughtfully.

"But in order to do that, I'm fully aware that I need help." Sera continued. "With this request, I am just as much asking for your army's aid for my own personal gain just as much as I am offering to help you against your foe. With this new sword... it isn't enough. I need a force to counter his-"

"As well as the dragon to counter Emric's own mount?" Asal asked knowingly.

"His mount?" Sera asked.

"His... well, we really don't know what to call it." Asal stated in a troubled tone. "From our spies, we believe that the creature was once a powerful celestial griffin that Emric had captured from the Land of Legends. But now... we're not even sure what to call it."

"What do you mean?" Sera asked, and Ergen wanted to know as well as he'd been expecting to fight just a celestial griffin, not something else entirely.

"He's... mutated it somehow." One of Asal's generals that had been standing at the side of the room up until this point stated in a troubled tone. "That's all I can say for now as that's all the information I have. But what I can say for certain is that the beast has completely annihilated the garrisons of every city that Emric has razed. They were all defeated almost instantly with only a few civilian survivors to tell us what had even caused the massacres... Currently, we don't even know the beast's true potential."

"But that is a problem for the dragon and I." Asal gazed at Ergen with a serious expression. "And as for you, Sera, I will hereby accept you into my army and task you with defeating King Emric. I grant you your previous rank of Commander, as well as the title of 'Hero'."

"Hero?!" Sera asked back in surprise.

"Of course." Asal replied with a grin that seemed to suit his childish looks far more than all of his previous grim expressions. "After all, who better to defeat the villain and save the world other than a Hero?"