281 Ogen
After the explosion of smoke around the dragon, a man much smaller than the dragon came out of the smoke. He had wrinkled skin and gray hair, both traits of great age and experience. His clothing was a long cloak made of satin, which wrapped around the most crucial parts of his body.
Luke was jaw dropped and confused, he had never seen anything close to this happening, a monster transforming into a human, nor vice versa, at least this is what seemed to have happened.
Soon the half-wolf noticed something familiar about the dragon, its horns. These horns protruded from the top of its head, and although they looked cracked and quite old, they still gave off a singular, crimson glow.
“Are you a half-beast?” Luke exclaimed loudly so that the dragon could hear his questioning.
The man with the glowing horns, who was floating in the sky above the half-wolf, placed his hand on his chin as he lowered himself gently to the ground. “Isn’t that obvious? You’re a half-wolf too, you should notice these things with just a glance. Frankly, young people these days are still as foolish as ever. At least you’re a little stronger than most.”
Even with many questions to ask, Luke did not allow himself to let his guard down just because the man was a half-dragon like Alexis Dmitry.
Luke placed the Behemoth Axe in front of his chest and asked, “Why did you attack us?”
The gray-haired man crossed his arms. “I attacked you and your group because you dared to invade the land of the Glorious Brako. I cannot allow that, but I see you are not just any warrior, after all you can read my every move.”
“How… never mind. Just let us pass through the plains, we don’t want any confusion.” Luke glanced at the large rock that was five meters to his right, where Meredith and Wanney were hiding.
The dragon crossed his arms, and denied with his head. “I cannot allow mere humans to start wandering into my lord’s territory, not even brave warriors like you, still less two cowards who simply ran away.”
Luke almost choked on his saliva at that moment, because he too was planning to run away after clipping one of the dragon’s wings. ‘Damn, I should have listened to Wanney. He warned me that it was dangerous to go through the plains, but I had no choice, going around the coast is dangerous and could take weeks more…. There is nothing to do, I will use your teachings now, Matthew.”
The half-wolf smiled falsely with one corner of his mouth, put away his axe and opened his arms in a friendly manner. “What do you say we trade? My friends and I pass through the plains, and you and your lord get a good amount of gold.”
In Luke’s mind, no one could reject dozens of gold coins without at least hesitation, yet that is exactly what the dragon did. The dragon looked at the bag of money that Luke pulled out of the <Normal Inventory> and turned his face away, as if that bag full of coins was nothing.
Luke almost clucked his tongue, but held back. He put the bag of money away in his inventory and threw both hands to the side, disappointed by the dragon’s lack of courtesy for not trying to negotiate.
With a tone of withdrawal, Luke spoke, “Why, I thought all half-dragons were greedy for money. Looks like I was wrong.”
Immediately the gray-haired man turned to look at Luke, uncrossing his arms. “What made you assume that? My race is too powerful to be concerned with petty things like that. Are you trying to insult us, to be insignificant?” He stewed his chest.
Luke turned his face away and began to analyze the other items he had in his inventory that might be able to convince the dragon to leave them alone. “Not exactly. My girlfriend is a half-dragon, and she is fascinated by money, especially the coins she earns in betting, so yes, I have a little experience with her race.”
The silence lasted for a few seconds after he said this, so that he got strange and turned to look at the dragon, hoping that the dragon was waiting for another offer from him.
However, the old gray-haired dragon was, in reality, completely dumbfounded.
“Alou? Did you sleep standing up?” Luke tried to run his right hand in front of the man’s eyes, which were not even blinking.
At that moment, the half-dragon came back to reality, and a huge smile appeared on his face, a smile not at all intimidating, but rather one of companionship. “You really know a half-dragon!? What’s her name!? What does she look like!? Or rather, where is she!? I haven’t heard of another half-dragon in many years, much less a woman. My people will celebrate with this news!”
Initially, Luke was surprised, however, he soon realized that this was his chance. “Are all of your people like you?” he asked.
“No exceptions, but we shouldn’t talk about that here. If you really know a half-dragon woman, you must go to lord Brako, only then can you cross the plains.” The half-dragon explained, crossing his muscular arms for his average age.
“How long will that take? According to my friend Wanney, the Acronym Plains will save us two weeks of travel to reach Mount Palatine, in case your lord is further away…” Luke didn’t even have time to finish his inquiry, because the man suddenly turned into a dragon again.
With that thunderous voice that echoed even within their souls, the dragon ordered. “Come up, I will take you and your companions to Lord Brako. If you are lying about meeting a half-dragon, you will all be killed.”
“Wait, you want us to ride you? Like a horse?” Luke couldn’t believe it.
Since the half-wolf was completely sure that Alexis really was a half-dragon, both from her physical characteristics and the fact that he himself had told him so, he accepted the deal.
‘This will probably be faster than spending two weeks walking around places along the coasts where there are so many Outposts according to Wanney, however, it’s still very strange.’ Luke pondered.
“Just get on, before I get angry and lose what little respect I have for you, inse-Khum! Friend, I said: friend!” The dragon said.
So Luke had no choice but to agree to ride the dragon. Before that, he walked over to Meredith and Wanney, and the man with scales on his face could hardly believe what he had seen in the last few minutes. He knew that the Acronym Plains was a strange place unlike anywhere else in the world, but surely a dragon becoming a human exceeded his expectations a thousandfold.
“The dragon wants us to ride on it so we can fly to his Lord, that’s the only way we can get through the Plains and who knows maybe we’ll get a ride with him.” Luke pointed with his right thumb to his back, where the black-scaled dragon was sitting waiting.
Wanney was extremely surprised. ‘He actually managed to dialogue with a mythological being. Who is this man?’ He wondered, looking at Luke as he nodded frantically with excitement to get on the dragon.
Meredith clenched her eyes cynically, as if she couldn’t believe what her eyes were seeing. ‘Luke put him up to wait like a puppy.’ She thought as she looked at the sitting dragon.
When Luke had convinced Meredith that there was no other alternative, he led Meredith and Wanney to the half-dragon and introduced them.
The dragon bowed his head slightly to the half-dragon, as a gesture of greeting that she was also a half-beast. He looked for a second at Wanney and turned his face away without greeting him when he saw the scales on his skin. After that, he lowered his left to the ground so that everyone could come up to his spine.
“Hold tight to my scales. If any of you fall while I’m flying, I won’t have time to catch you before you crash to the ground, so be careful.”
Even though they were afraid, everyone climbed on the dragon’s back.
“By the way, what is your name, Mr. Dragon?” Meredith asked, very interested. She listened to Luke’s entire conversation with him, but at no point did she hear him introduce himself.”
The dragon began to flap its wings at that moment and with each swing the wind shuddered around it, causing rumbles. “My name is Ogen Griffin, but you may call me only as Ogen, for Griffin is the name of my Clan.”
“Clan? You are part of a Clan of Adventurers? Ow, I can’t imagine how there are still Adventurers in Melki, that’s surprising.” Luke paid attention to the dragon’s words and said, while the other two sitting behind him looked down and watched the ground get farther and farther away.
“Oh, you’re a foreigner then… I had my suspicions, but now I’m sure. Anyway, we don’t use the word ‘Clan’ in these lands to call a group of Adventurers like in the rest of the world, but rather to denote to a kind of family.”
At this point, Luke wondered, ‘Is Alexis a remnant of this Griffin Clan? Or is the half-dragon lineage different from this man’s?’