Shannon hummed, thinking. “Well, we can. Mages are rare, you know? So we can actually get into a fair bit of danger.”
It figured that some ne’er-do-wells would want to abuse a mage’s power. It would take a lot of determination and skill to escape from or protect oneself against people like that.
“Oh, good on ya!” Reginald said. “Y’know, I’ve always wanted to have a fight with a mage. The ones that came to town way back in the day were all spring chickens, but you seem like you can hold your own.”
“I’m pretty strong,” Shannon boasted, grinning as she showed off her biceps. “I’m pretty good at magic and self-defense.”
“Hey, nice muscles. Kyle, you wouldn’t be able to beat the girlie here in a fight, would ya?”
“I-I’m fine,” Kyle stammered. “I don’t do that sort of thing.”
Yeah, it’s not like I specialize in fighting, Kyle told himself. I’m much better at going out into the mountains to gather plants. Otherwise, I’m the indoor type.
Reginald laughed. “Sorry, sorry. Still, Kyle, have ya thought about becoming a guardsman one day?”
“Um, I don’t think I’m suited for combat,” Kyle said haltingly. “Besides...”
He did think that being a guard would be a cool job, but since he met Shannon, his yearning to see the outside world had grown.
This boring village will never change, he thought. The townspeople are starved for entertainment; they were so happy when Shannon turned up. Me too, of course. Still, this is only temporary. As soon as Shannon leaves, the village will go back to how it always was.
I’m already a little lonely. I can’t help but want to go see the world outside this village. But I have a hunch that I’ll live here until I die.
Reginald laughed as if he’d guessed at Kyle’s thoughts. “Well, no worries. It’s a pretty boring job when there are no threats around. It’d be wise for ya to look for work that’ll let ya grow your talents. This village is safe, after all.”
“Oh! It looks like it’s already about noon,” Shannon realized. “We’ve been here a pretty long time. We’d better get going, Kyle.”
Kyle looked outside. It was still technically morning, but the sun was high in the sky. “Oh, you’re right.”
“Leaving already?” Reginald looked at Shannon as if reluctant to part with her.
“Yep. I had fun, though, mister. Let’s talk again if we get the chance.”
“Ah, all right. Come back whenever, girlie—you’re always welcome!” he replied. “And thanks. That was the tastiest drink I’ve had in a while.”
“Don’t forget to drink in moderation, mister!” Shannon said cheerfully. “See ya!”
Shannon and Kyle said their goodbyes to Reginald and left the pub. A refreshing breeze blew past, cooling down their hot cheeks.
“Whew! Well, that was fun!” Shannon said.
“It’s been a long time since I last saw Mr. Reginald in such a good mood,” Kyle said. “He’s usually pretty tense at the end of the night shift.”
“That so? Must be a tough job. Anyway,” she added quickly, “sorry. Let’s get going!”
They chatted as they walked around, looking at several shops and completing their original objective. As the afternoon wore on, there were a few instances where people spotted them from a distance and tried to talk to them, but Shannon and Kyle weren’t stopped like they had been earlier.
During their visits to the shops, Shannon spent her money frivolously, buying strange ornaments, masks, and other things. Kyle didn’t think they were particularly useful but figured that Shannon must have thought them important.
Then, just like that, their fun times came to an end.
“Ah, good! That was a blast. I didn’t plan to come to this village in the first place, but I got to meet you, and I’m glad I visited. Thank you,” Shannon said with a soft, grateful expression.
“Heh heh, I’m glad you visited too!” Kyle replied. “But still, I haven’t shown you everything yet. Let’s pick it up again tomorrow.”
Shannon hummed thoughtfully, stretching her whole body in a fluid motion. “Well, I’m not in a hurry to get back on the road, so I’ll stay another night.”
“Yes! I thought you might!” Kyle was thrilled that his reprieve from boredom wasn’t over yet. He was bursting with curiosity, and he wanted to enjoy the sensation for a little longer. “Well, let’s get back before it gets dark—”
He turned on his heel and, in the same moment, an enormous shadow passed overhead. It was quickly followed by a violent gust of wind.
Shannon made a surprised sound, and Kyle screamed. He said, “What the—?!”
“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAR!”
An animalistic howl erupted out of nowhere and nearly burst their eardrums, startling the two. The sound was less of a cry than a screech—it was just that earsplitting.
Panicked, Kyle looked up. He couldn’t believe his eyes. Up there, in the sky, soared a gigantic something with gigantic wings. Between its size and its silver scales, its very presence was overwhelming.
Shannon looked up too. “A dragon!” she muttered.
“A dragon?!” Kyle echoed. “That’s... That’s really a dragon?!”
Dragons were even rarer than mages. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to call them mythical beasts. He couldn’t believe that they really existed.
But the look in Shannon’s eyes was serious. “Yeah, that’s a dragon. I haven’t seen one in a long time. Their numbers have dwindled so much that these days, there are hardly any eyewitness reports of them... What in the world happened for one to show up here?”
“It’s real...” Kyle whispered. He had only ever seen dragons and the like in picture books. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought he might actually see one in the flesh. “This is incredible...!”
But before he could spend too long feeling excited and thinking about how rare dragons were, an awful thought crossed his mind.
“No, wait a second,” he said, growing pale. “A dragon would put the village in danger. It’s flying low too... This could be bad.”
Dragons possessed colossal strength. There were countless stories of dragons wreaking havoc on cities. A village like Kyle’s didn’t stand a chance.
“Look,” Shannon said, pointing at the dragon as it flew away from them. “It’s going to land.”
The dragon was attempting to land in the forest that spread out from the other side of the village. It was barely a stone’s throw away.
“We have to warn everyone!” Kyle said.
“Yes. It’ll get bad if the villagers don’t take shelter.”
Together, they hurried back to the town center. Just as they feared, it was already pandemonium; everyone was panicking. The calmness they’d been enjoying just moments ago had shattered, and it was replaced by people running and screaming.
“Wait, what?! A dragon, you say?!”
“This has never happened before!”
“It landed in Urda Woods?! The village is in danger!”
“I don’t want to die!”
“It’s already too late to run!”
“What are you saying?! It’s time to fight! Isn’t this the home we inherited from our ancestors?! We must form a raiding party or see our lands devastated by fire!”
Kyle’s sleepy village was utterly transformed. The air reverberated with alarmed shrieks and angry bellows. Most of the adults were rushing around frantically, and everywhere they looked, people’s expressions betrayed stark terror. The villagers might have only learned about the threat a dragon posed from legend, but that was enough: Fear had overtaken them all at the sight of the immense silhouette in the sky. Everyone knew that the creature’s arrival meant the town’s destruction.
As he watched the villagers scurry around, Kyle tugged on Shannon’s sleeve. “Wh-What should we do?” he asked, anxiety plain in his soft voice.
Unsurprisingly, Shannon’s expression was grave. “The odds may well be impossible, but...well, that guy did say to form a raid party.”
“Yeah, but...” Kyle had no faith that the villagers could kill the dragon. It had been so long since they had last faced any type of conflict—and those encounters really only went as far as hunting small monsters that came too close to the village.
“There are stories of people fending off dragons,” Shannon pointed out. “It might work out if everyone can work together.”
Kyle didn’t answer.
“Still,” Shannon muttered, “the people here...”
Burly men—village guardsmen, hunters, and the like—began to gather at the mayor’s house. They were going to face the dragon.
“Hey, girlie!” someone called.
“Oh, mister! We met earlier!” Shannon called back.