Chapter 14

【14】

After dinner, Slair walked briskly to the stable. Choco and giant squirrels were there. Since all the fireplaces were lit up and the inn was warm, the giant squirrels did not hibernate. They scooped out the pine cones they stored underground, hopped up, and handed them to Slair.

「Slair」 Grieve followed him. He grabbed Slair’s right hand——it was still red from the arm whistling.

「I know there are some potions that can temporarily increase strength,」 He whispered,「But those are not good, and they will damage your body…Don’t do it again. There is a story in the Book of Dragons… Alright, don’t give me that look. I know you miss Choco. Go play with it but don’t take too long. I must explain this chapter to your later.」

Slair stuck his tongue out——Of course, he did not eat anything strange. With the help of wind elements, it was more than enough to defeat Gordon. Grieve sighed helplessly, got up, and left, gently closing the door.

「Choco, promise me! 」 Slair wrapped his arms around Choco’s neck and pleaded in its ear,「For the sake of our ten-year friendship! You just need to take me to that village, and then you can come back here. I will use the wind magic to speed you up, and you won’t leave your master too long. Do you miss Alex and Rhett? They must miss me very much, just like I miss them. I want to return to them as you wish to stay with Grieve.」

Choco licked Slair’s face and struggled to make a decision——emotionally, it was closer to Slair, but it was instinctive for scale horses to obey their master, and to sneak off behind his back was a bit of a travesty.

Slair took out a brush. The fire and water elements converged in his hand, and the brush was instantly stained with hot water. Slair hummed a little tune and started to brush the scales for Choco. This comfortable touch reminded Choco of the ten years of living on the floating island, full of delicious food and pleasure.

「Speaking of which, I fell on the continent because SOMEONE missed stepped.」

Choco froze. It drooped down its ear guiltily and finally gave a weak 「Tweet」.

「Great!」 Slair hugged it,「I will be waiting for you in the morning.」

The next day, Grieve found Slair with a fever.

「Why is it so hot !」 He touched Slair’s forehead,surprised「I told you not to eat anything strange! We are so busy right now, I am not sure Enya has time to take care of you .」

Slair did not have a fever. It was just the result of the converging fire element. It was also making Slair very uncomfortable by doing this, so he stared at Grieve eagerly, hoping he would leave soon. This look was interpreted by Grieve as「Go ahead, I will be fine.」

「I will tell Enya and let her brew you some medicine. Can you take it by yourself ?」

Slair nodded quickly.

「I’ll leave you to get some rest.」

As soon as Grieve left, Slair jumped out of bed and fanned desperately. It took him a while before he felt that the temperature was back to normal. He took out his clothes, pulled out the rations he had stored for the past few days from under his bed, wrapped them up, and looked out the window. Choco hadn’t come out of the stable, so Enya was probably over there right now.

He rechecked the map and studied the route. When he heard footsteps approaching, he immediately shoved his package under the bed, wrapped himself back into bed, and gathered some fire elements on his forehead.

「Oh, poor kid.」 Enya brought the medicine over along with a giant squirrel.「I will have a lot of work, so I can’t take care of you. But this squirrel is the smartest among them all. It could definitely help you out.」

Slair nodded at her gratefully. It would be bad if she stayed and fed the medicine to him!

Enya hurriedly went downstairs. Slair heard faint「tweeting」sound downstairs. He picked up that squirrel, held it in his arms, and looked out the window. It turned out that Choco was already waiting down there. However, it seemed to be very anxious and pacing in circles. Besides Choco, the squirrel was acting strange too. It suddenly struggled violently and made sharp 「Squeak」 sounds

「Don’t run !」 He saw Enya chased after a few squirrels. Those squirrels were jumping around anxiously with their erected tails and raised hair.

「Tweet——Tweet——Tweet—」Choco raised his head and shorted.

Enya’s expression changed, and she yelled desperately:「Oh my God, is the rat tide here already? The ice wall has not yet been repaired!」

The cyan rats rushed toward the city like the ocean tide.

Grieve stood on the ice wall and pulled his bow. He could easily shoot the rat king. However, he only brought a barrel of arrows with him. Soon, the warriors used all the arrows and drew their swords and axes. But they all knew there was little hope — the winter came earlier than usual, and the cyanrats did not have time to store food. Therefore, the rat tide was more extensive than ever. Even the strongest warriors had limited strength. Once they fell, groups and groups of cyanrats would climb over the unfinished ice wall and binge on everything they could

「FIGHT TO THE DEATH!」 Gordon raised his sword and shouted.

「FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! 」

Grieve was shouting along with everyone. He prayed in his heart——Dragon God, father, mother, and teacher! Please forgive me for failing to avenge my grievances and not leave a bloodline behind. Today, I want to fulfill my value as a man and fight to my death!

One by one, the cyanrats gathered under the wall. Some of them had already passed through the underground tunnel and looked for food, but more climbed up on their companions’ bodies. Whenever one was about to reach the top of the wall, the warriors would cut off its head. However, the number of cyanrats kept growing. Some warriors got bit through their calves, some accidentally fell off the ice wall, then got eaten by the hungry rats. Underneath the ice wall, there was blood, the sound of chewing flesh, and crushing bones.

「Squeak——Squeak——Squeak——」

「Squeeeeak——」

「Squeeeak——Squeeak——」

Suddenly, there were a lot of cyanrats screams coming from the inn’s direction, and soon it became all directions. Those sounds were extremely stern and contained tremendous despair and warnings. As a result, the group of cyanrats hesitated to climb the ice wall, and the attack slowed. When some cyanrats turned around and collided with those rush forward, they trampled and bit each other instead. Finally, the warriors could catch a break.

『Roar——』

Then there was a deafening dragon roar.

And no cyanrats dared to push forward anymore. The cyan rat tide retreated quickly, and even those who had crawled past the wall quickly slid back.

The warriors looked back in surprise. They jumped off the ice wall, knelt in the snow, raised their heads, and looked for traces of the dragon.

「Dragon God——」

But there was no dragon.

A scaled horse came from the wind and snow. Slair was on its back, but not a single snowflake was on his long black hair. The wind enveloped him and separated the snow. Took a closer. There was neither snow on the horse’s hooves, nor it left hoof prints in the snow.

「Please allow me to reintroduce myself,」Slair said,「I was raised by the blue dragon Alex and the red dragon Rhett. My name is Slair, and I am a Dragonmaw. 」