In the harbor city, a dragon girl, covered in wounds and dried blood, staggered through a narrow alley, leaving a trail of golden-red drops behind her. She wore something that resembled leaves or another plant, which she used as clothing, and her pale, delicate skin was covered in dirt and tiny clumps of mud. Founded by pirates, the harbor city was hardly a true earthly paradise, and in this remote corner where few people wandered, there were inevitably some… well, individuals engaging in particularly shady business.
"Hmm?" The young dragon raised her head to look at two green-skinned figures in front of her, uncertain if they were human. Since she was much sturdier than a typical human, she instinctively categorized him as an unusually strong individual among humans.
"Although the quality is decent, treating her will cost quite a bit, won't it?"
"Yeah, and it looks like someone may have already gotten to her. I mean, isn't that a bit excessive?" The taller, thinner figure assessed the young dragon and the blood trail behind her. "Although we're not exactly good people ourselves~"
"Regardless, maybe this could be a good thing for her."
"Hmm?" The young dragon didn't understand what these humans were saying, but she instinctively felt that they harbored malicious intent.
Her fine azure scales began to rise. If these two humans showed any hostility, they wouldn't be facing a young girl who switched to human form to avoid physical pain, but a massive monster weighing over 30 tons, capable of swatting them into a state where even a broom couldn't gather their remains.
"Hey, Huihui!?" A short white mage rushed over. "You're hurt?" Behind her were several companions, one of whom was a memorable individual who had crawled onto her back, another green-skinned, a cat girl, a tall figure in a large hat, and two male humans wielding dual blades.
"Hey, this injury..." The white mage's expression was very serious and angry. "Niu, don't let those guys come over." The cat girl bard's pupils narrowed into slits as she reached over her shoulder to retrieve her harp-shaped bow.
"What happened to her? Where is she hurt?" Another knight from the Luga tribe, who could barely be considered a healer, stepped forward, only to be stopped by the bard. "No, don't go over there."
"Oh~" The knight scratched his head and drew his longsword and shield, while his companion also retrieved a massive battle axe. "In any case, it must be you two, right?"
"Wait, let me explain! Actually, we..." The two men were instantly bewildered; they hadn't done anything yet, but suddenly a battle team was saying they were going to attack. "Shut up, scum!" Two arrows flew through the air. Compared to the two wooden-headed idiots in the team, the newer companions and Jack from the dual-blade guild quickly understood the situation and drew their twin daggers, charging forward.
"Heal!" The white mage's palm radiated a warm light. The young dragon curiously touched it, and the wound on her palm marginally closed up. However, it was far less effective than what a normal person would receive from white magic. It's known that even someone who had taken a cannonball from the Empire could be healed in a short time, highlighting the formidable healing effects of white magic—of course, this was based on their unique physiology. Nonetheless, it shouldn't result in such minimal healing.
"nya~" The young dragon nuzzled against the white mage's face, a gesture of affection and trust from a dragon. "Alright, Huihui, don't move around too much, or your wounds will reopen." The white mage gently petted the dragon girl, who was half a head taller than her, while the battle on the other side had already come to an end.
The two local gangsters were no match for this group of adventurers who had just returned from Ishgarde. After all, the siege of Ishgarde had only recently concluded, and this party of adventurers had survived direct confrontations with dragonkind on the front lines of the war. Not to mention that they also had previous achievements like defeating the savage gods and breaching the Sky Magic City—let's not forget that the Ice Goddess Shiva had just been taken down. Who were these two to even compare?
By the time the Yellow Robe team's guards arrived, the two men were already unrecognizable. "It's really not us! Please, you have to believe us! We didn't do this! Although we're not good people, we would never do something like this!"
"What exactly happened here?" The captain of the Yellow Robe guards looked completely bewildered. He recognized the dragon girl, having seen her mysteriously appear and then suddenly vanish; his strongest impression of her was that she could eat an extraordinary amount—he had never seen a being capable of consuming so much in his entire life.
"Uh, this isn't exactly convenient to discuss." Niu whispered a few words to the cat girl team member, who then displayed an expression of anger. After various hints, the men present began to understand what had actually occurred, and they glanced at the small blood trail extending on the ground.
"Wait, it's definitely not them." The captain struggled to maintain some level of rationality. "The blood traces come from that direction and extend quite a long way; it shouldn't be their doing."
"That's right, that's right, we didn't do anything! We only just found her!"
"Then how do you explain these items?" Jack pointed at the pile of debris they had uncovered: torn cloth, sleep-inducing drugs, ropes, and various tools that could be used for kidnapping or other unlawful activities.
"…." The two men were immediately left speechless. "Well, although we considered selling her, we really didn't do anything. We hadn't even gotten to that point!"
"Take them away. The cells should give you enough time to reflect and repent."
"Here, Huihui, drink this." White magic cannot be repeatedly used on a person in a short period of time, as that would lead to significant depletion of their vitality. Not everyone is like a Lightbearer who can draw on nearly endless soul and life energy from the Mother Crystal and withstand large amounts of white magic healing, or even the violent healing methods of red magic. Therefore, after casting white magic a few times, the cat girl pulled out a bottle of alchemical potion and handed it to the young dragon. Of course, the latter wouldn't refuse anything edible or drinkable.
After gulping down an entire bottle of liquid with a taste generally unacceptable to humans, her body gradually warmed up, and her wounds rapidly stopped bleeding and healed. This was no cheap recovery potion; it was a high-quality product they had obtained through certain channels. Only Lightbearers would have such stock for these types of dealings. Consequently, the young dragon happily adopted this as one of her essential energy drinks for the future and began to contemplate the ingredients and production methods.
"By the way, last time Huihui had a professional spirit crystal. What exactly is her profession?" "Could she be a Dragon Knight?" "Dragon Knights don't use this type of crystal." The Lightbearer warrior pulled out a different crystal, saying, "It's like this."
"Could it be a new professional inheritance?"
"That's... not very clear."
"Regardless, we can't let her run around on the streets like this. If this continues..." The white mage suggested, "Why don't we let Huihui stay with us? We just bought a house in the harbor city, after all."
"That sounds good. Who knows, she might grow up to be a great companion in the future~" The cat girl agreed, perhaps because they all carried the blessing of Hydaelyn, which naturally fostered a sense of closeness among the Warriors of Light.
"But our food budget is running low..." The Lightbearer warrior was immediately covered in sweat. In the party, there was a big eater, a Luga knight, and a cat girl bard who looked like she couldn't eat much but could drink a lot; during their time in the tavern accepting a task, she could down three large mugs of butterbeer. The somewhat thriftier mage was a fisherman, so he didn't spend much. However, there was also a white mage from a family of alchemical poverty, and a newly joined fellow who was just as broke, with his main profession being a machinist who spent money like water...
Now they wanted to invite someone into the team whose food expenses would be higher than all of theirs combined, especially since a large catch that could have filled their deficit mysteriously disappeared last time. The guards hadn't caught the culprit yet, causing the team's deficit situation to worsen—they were entirely in a state of spending without income. Looking at the little girl, it seemed like it would be a long time before she could contribute, and they had to maintain a purely expenditure state.
"Fine, I'll go fishing. I hope she doesn't have an aversion to eating fish." The mage suggested. As a legendary fisherman who could catch everything except for the God of Clouds, he was confident he could barely support her as long as the young dragon didn't mind eating fish every day. But if she did have an aversion to fish, then… "By the way, Ella, give her some clothes. She can't keep wearing these rags. Alright, gentlemen, turn around!"
Given Huihui's size, she could only fit into Lala's clothes. Although she was very uncomfortable with the strange fur wrapping around her and constantly wanted to tug at it, she was stopped by Ella. Fortunately, for the young dragon, many of these habits were bearable to a certain extent, as long as that memorable figure didn't climb onto her back and hang onto her neck again. As for everything else, it didn't really matter.
"By the way, who is Huihui... um... the one who hurt you?" The cat girl rolled up her sleeves, looking ready to go take down the culprit. "Hmm?" The young dragon thought for a moment and then began to make some adorable gestures. Unfortunately, her body language was quite difficult for humans to understand, leading them to stare for a long time without grasping what she meant. They could only watch as the little girl rolled around on the ground, jumping up and letting out strange sounds while wildly waving her arms... It felt more like she was trying to be cute.
"Well, Huihui is still so small and can't talk, so what's the use of asking her? This should be the guard's responsibility, right?" "Yes, we will do our best to uncover the truth as soon as possible." After all, with such a malicious incident occurring, it would be impossible for the guards not to feel the pressure. However, there were currently not many clues, and the victim couldn't express herself clearly.
Haidou, Sea Mist Village
The white houses with Mediterranean-style architecture rose along the hillside, facing the deep blue sea. The refreshing sea breeze brought a slightly salty smell from the ocean. If there was any drawback, it was that dealing with bad weather could be troublesome. The Lightbearer adventurers had purchased a standard seaside-style villa with a yard in the middle of Sea Mist Village, consisting of two floors above ground and one below.
In the yard, two plump Chocobos quickly caught Huihui's attention. "Roast? Fry?" Her amber eyes were fixed on the two birds. "Does Huihui like Chocobos too?"
"Yes!" Huihui nodded vigorously, clearly fond of them. They looked strong with muscular thighs and thick chests; they would probably taste amazing if cut up and fried, especially the breast meat. If cut into strips and pan-fried, then wrapped up with similarly cut cactus pieces inside a herbivore dragon omelette, it should be delicious. Just thinking about it made her feel hungry.
Under the hungry and eager gaze of the young dragon, the Chocobos, whose senses were far more acute than those of humans, were anything but their usual lively selves. They hunched in a corner of the birdcage, trembling as if they had seen a mortal enemy. "Alright, from now on, you can live with us. But you have to be good and not run around. If you get hurt again, it won't be good," the young dragon said after thinking it over and nodded, indicating that this friendly older sister was right. Running around could indeed get her hurt by those hunters wielding weapons or stuffing things into her.
"Also, I want to mention that we have no food left. This is all we have." The Lightbearer came out holding a rather large fish. "Today we can only eat shark..."
"Ah-woo!"
"...fish." The Lightbearer stared in disbelief at the items hanging from the fish.
The young dragon quickly devoured the fish meat. For humans, shark meat contains a lot of urea, so if not prepared properly, it can taste quite bad. However, for the young dragon, she had no issues enjoying even explosive dragon fish, which was rich in energy and not much better than deep-fried food cooked in diesel oil. So, she certainly wouldn't have a problem with eating shark.
"Huihui, you can't eat it raw!" After finally prying the young dragon off the fish, it was already missing almost half of its flesh. "I... I think she might be easier to take care of than I imagined," the mage said, stroking his chin. Although her appetite was large, she wasn't too picky (in reality, she was quite selective, but only by the standards of dragons or animals). So, maybe catching a few more large sharks would make it easier to keep her fed. However, he still didn't understand what it meant to feed aCelestial dragon that needed to consume over 15 tons of high-protein and high-energy fatty meat each day.
Even though Huihui wasn't flying right now and her true form was in a dormant state, her food consumption was calculated in tons. For him... it seemed that everyone in the team would have to train as fishers just to ensure a stable food supply. Or, perhaps... they would need to be prepared to effectively drag the entire fishing economy of Haidou into a period of prosperity. Especially if Huihui activated her crystal and transformed back into her dragon form, it could lead to a rapid boomin in the fishing economies of surrounding towns—assuming that Lightbearer and the others had enough money. This just goes to show that the aviation industry truly is the pillar and engine of the national economy (a convincing thought).
However, Huihui also surprised them by being able to cook, and according to Luga, who was also a part-time cook, her skills were quite impressive. Especially after determining the types of seasonings, the only problem seemed to be that she didn't have the habit of cooking for others; she would eat while cooking, leaving not even a drop of soup for anyone else. For the young dragon, this was completely normal—food placed in front of her was hers, and she wouldn't consider sharing it with anyone, not even with her own kind. In fact, she was already fairly open-minded; if it were otherCelestial dragons, simply having these people standing nearby watching would be a sufficient reason to get bitten to death.