"What's that!" a guard screamed, seeing a red dragon falling in front of the main gate. Looking closer, he saw a man dragging the creature by its horn, digging a trench as he approached.
"No! That's Arad!" The guard cried, sweating as the fine hair on his body stood. "He's dragging a whole dragon to the city!"
"Is that thing," Another guard gasped, his knees shaking, "Alive?" He could see it breathe.
As Arad reached the gate, he could see that there was no chance this dragon was fitting through. He pulled a table and a chair and laid them in front of the dragon's head.
He then pulled a large plaque of wood. And with a knife and carved [For sale]. He then hung it from one of the dragon's nostrils.
Arad sat on his chair, one leg over the other, and waited.
"Is he really, selling that thing?" One of the guards gasped, seeing the weirdest stall in his life.
Merlin flew above the wall. Nina and Alcott rushed out of the gate and stared at him.
"For sale?" Merlin scratched her chin, "That's an adult red, and it's alive. How much?"
Thud! Alcott grabbed her by the head, "Hold on, Where do you intend to keep it? Can you even make sure he doesn't destroy the city?"
Merlin looked back at him, "Oh, my. I sure can," She giggled, "I'm using a very young dragon heart for the heater. I was thinking that the heart of an adult would work better."
"Kill it for the heart, then re-sell the rest to recover some money that you lost buying it whole." Alcott sighed.
"From the guild's records, it's been over two hundred years since the last time a living dragon got sold ." Nina said, "I'm not sure how much did it go for, but I'm sure it wasn't cheap,"
Arad looked back at the dragon, "If you three aren't buying it," He sighed, "Then probably cutting it apart first is the way to go."
"No! Don't," Alcott waved his hands, "Dragons are difficult to catch alive, almost impossible. I would usally say release him, but from my experience, he's going to blast the city if we did that."
"And this is a dispute between me and him," Arad stated.
Alcott nodded. If it was a human selling that red dragon, someone might argue that as the dragon mediator, he should interfere. But, this time it's two dragons fighting over territory, and the loser's life is forfeit.
Soon, people started gathering to take a look at the dragon Arad caught. Even the city lord made time and came to stare. Driving a dragon away is one thing. Beating it is another, and killing it is the feat of a legend. But catching and putting it for sale is a whole other level.
He was certain, that the word they got from the capital about Arad Orion beating Five, and that he wasn't something that they could chain down was true. Like all other S-ranks, he's grown too big to be held in the same way as others.
Thud! Thud! Cain approached, leaning on his cane with his maid helping him. "Now, this is impressive. Well done, Arad," He smiled.
"Old man Cain," Arad smiled, "How are you doing?"
"I'm doing well," He smiled, looking at the dragon. "I doubt anyone in this city has enough money or needs to buy this thing for what it's worth,"
"You think so?" Arad looked at him, "I never sold a dragon,"
"I never bothered as well, but I knew someone who did," Cain smiled, "Should I call her? I'm sure she would buy this for an extra,"
"Who can even do that?" Alcott looked at Cain, "And how came you even know such a person,"
"I'm older than you," Cain replied, "And she's already on her way here,"
As Cain said that, Alcott felt as if the air froze, seeing two bare feet slip above Cain's shoulders.
Thud! A short halfling sat on Cain's shoulders. Her long red hair flopped in the wind as her blue eyes dripped with magic. The crystal on her forehead crackled as if on the verge of exploding.
Everyone froze, their hand shaking as they looked at her. Merlin could feel her magic crackling, twisting, and failing in the presence of the halfling.
"Muhahahaha!" The halfling burst laughing, flailing her feet and kicking Cain's chest several times by accident.
"What's that? A mere adult red? I have a warehouse of them on hand," She couldn't stop laughing, flying from Cain's shoulders toward Arad, her body spinning in the air.
BAM! BAM! Out of nowhere, Gojo appeared between Arad and her, two veins bulging on his forehead as he glared at her eyes.
"Get away from him," He growled.
She smiled, everything turning black and leaving the three of them there. "Void dragons," she giggled, "You're more fun than this red lizard,"
"Brother!" Arad stood beside Gojo, feeling they had a fight awaiting.
"This little bitch is Lilia, the archwizard of the mages' tower. The lunatic hunting our kind down." Gojo clenched his fist, "You run away. I will hold her as long as I can,"
Lilia stared at them with a grin, floating upside down. "I'm here for you two, but I don't intend on capturing you,"
The two stopped and looked at her, "I do need to catch some void dragons, and I already did." She laughed, "Well, they were useless, so I had to wait,"
"What are you talking about?" Gojo stared at her.
With a wave of her leg, the cube teleported out of Gojo's stomach to her hand. "I made this thing, the eternal seal." She giggled, "I wanted to catch two void dragons to test some artifacts on them and try to find out why they repel each other."
"I found why!" She shouted. "The Dracorage Mythics, a relic of an ancient great war is coming back to this world. A comet big enough to blast the whole world out," She threw the cube back to Gojo.
"But it will miss, so don't worry about that part," She started laughing again, "When it comes, dragons would lose their minds, fall in a bloody rage and burn the world to the ground."
"The void dragons' bodies are reacting to it, and I want to know if I can use that to stop it." Lilia waved her hand, "That thing, I will buy it from your hands," She pointed at the red dragon.
"You change gears quickly," Gojo sighed.
"I want you two to get stronger." She smiled. "But!" She gasped, crossing her arms, "Spending that much money could break the economy of the human kingdom." She waved her leg, and a massive metallic wall appeared behind her.
"I want to trade for it. I will pay twenty platinum coins and give you this," She pointed back, "Five hundred tons of what you call cursed metal."