Chapter 5: Magic
Author synopsis: New knowledge regarding dragons
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Ten days after, we fought a large battle against Lord Kaller.
Not only did Lord Kaller have excellent archer towers, but he also had catapults.
As I stood on a war chariot at the back of the army, I watched massive flaming stones being hurled one after another at my troops and Fruys. The dragon was still capable of dodging every volley the catapults launched despite his size, but my soldiers were not as lucky—people fell with each barrage of miniature comets. Terrible anxiety seized my heart as I watched.
Fruys suddenly gave a long roar before he rolled over in midair. Weaving through all the archer towers and catapults, he took on the brunt of attacks with his own body and charged onwards until all the enemy fortifications were soon covered in ice.
I saw Andy wave his arm high in the air, signaling to the troops to take advantage of this opportunity to launch a full-scale attack.
When he confronted the forces being directly led by Lord Kaller, Fruys shot out a blast of freezing air, causing the enemy troops to lose their momentum.
I could hear the surprise in Lord Kaller's voice as cried out from the other side of the field: "It's a dragon that can use high level magic!"
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Despite Fruys' assistance, we still spent an entire day before we subdued Lord Kaller.
Only through sheer willpower did our soldiers keep going despite their exhaustion reaching past their limits long ago.
At the very end though, our warriors returned victorious with Fruys proudly leading at the front like usual.
I rushed forward to hug his massive neck and drew close to his ear to tell him with a slight smile, "Fruu, you really are my hero."
Fruys did not respond, and only turned his large head to the side.
I rubbed my cheeks against his neck.
But suddenly, he raised his large talons to push me away and then unfolded his wings open, before promptly flying away.
I lifted my head to watch his silhouette grow smaller and smaller in the sky, feeling slightly baffled.
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Andy walked over to point out my mistake, "Adam, dragons are very high-level creatures. You shouldn't treat him the way you treat pets or your horse Anthony."
"I don't," I retorted with a frown. "And I've never treated Anthony like a pet. He has always been my companion and friend, even from the very beginning."
Andy self-righteously said, "Still, your actions will make Fruys misunderstand."
"Misunderstand?" I was a little surprised.
"Mm. He might think that you aren't respecting him. Adam, you should treat Fruys just like you would treat a hero that helped us."
I waved my hand and said, "That's unnecessary. Fruys and I are close and besides, I think he actually likes it."
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Assimilating Lord Kaller's territory and resources naturally required even more time.
I was curious about Lord Kaller's reaction, as if it was totally unexpected that Fruys used magic. Wasn't it very normal for dragons to know how to use magic?
I mulled over this for a moment, and decided this wasn't the case. The wandering bard only said that the dragons had long lifespans and strong offense and defense, but he never mentioned anything about all of them knowing how to use magic.
Luckily, Lord Kaller was a person who liked to hoard things. There were many rare books in his castle which I rooted about for anything that was related to dragons. It was then that I came to understand that within the dragon race, only about half could use magic.
Those that could use advanced wide-area ice-type magic like Fruys was even rarer, and furthermore, dragons were naturally more powerful than human wizards practicing the same grade of magic. Not only were their bodies naturally impenetrable against physical assaults, but also their magical resistance was more than a hundred times stronger than an ordinary warrior's. And the most important part was that magic was one of their innate abilities—they did not need the help of any scrolls, incantations, staffs, spells, or other tools like a human.
It was no wonder that slaying dragons was so difficult in the fairy tales.