Reincarnator RB Dragons, ch 48

“Try this,” said Kevin. 

“Really?  You eat these?”

“Don’t sleep on meat-on-a-stick.  It’s one of my favorite things to eat in Clearmine.”

Lydia eyed him skeptically.  “Truly?”

“I promise.”

She gave him one more dubious look, shrugged, and bit into the skewer he’d offered her.  Then, predictably, her eyes lit up.  Kevin chuckled.

He was a little bit envious of Lydia's appetite. The two of them had already eaten at the Moonlit Leaf and other delicious restaurants, but of course, such a small amount of food wouldn't be anywhere close to satisfying his cousin. As a result, she constantly snacked. 

A growing dragon, she was forced to eat far more often.  In fact, at this stage in her life, especially being abroad in the human world, Kevin knew that her requirement for energy could be somewhat burdensome. He nodded towards a nearby store and said, "That shop sells interesting rocks and old artifacts. I don't think that you would be interested in actually buying anything there, but it might be fun to look at while you eat your snack with me."

Lydia was too busy stuffing her face to properly answer, but she nodded. The two of them walked over to the shop that Kevin had indicated and then browsed for a few minutes. Over the last two weeks, Kevin had continued practicing his magic when he got a chance.  His time spent in Alariel's tower had further increased since now she was actually teaching him theory and alchemy history. Since she’d figured out that Kevin was not a normal student, she’d been lecturing while he was actively working on potions. He even surprised himself a little bit that doing two things at once to that extent  was not only viable but even somewhat easy for him. The day before, Alariel had said she was almost done teaching him the basics of what he needed to know, as long as he was retaining everything. Sure enough, he was retaining everything.

Kevin suddenly asked, "Ever since I made that potion and you knew that you lost the bet, you didn't really show much irritation about it, or, I don't know, seem to be upset at all. Why is that?" 

They'd already left the shop, and Lydia glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Do you really not know?"

"Well, no," said Kevin. "That's why I asked."

She sighed and shook her head. "You are, without a doubt, the smartest goblin I have ever met.  Perhaps one of the smartest mortals I have ever met.  You are very possibly the smartest goblin who has ever lived. And even if you were a dragon, I would think that you would not be lacking too much intelligence. However, you can be incredibly dense when it comes to the feelings of the people around you."

Kevin didn't know what to say to that, so he just kept listening. She continued, "It was for a few reasons, but all of them matter. First of all, I don't want to go back home. This is the first time I've been given the ability to travel, and it's precious to me. Most dragons don't get to leave the nest when they're as young as I am. I think it's only my relationship with you and some of the things I'm–" she paused, "...unusually talented at, let's say, that let my parents agree to me leaving and going after you. Agaraparanamasta was very persuasive too," she chuckled.

"But that brings us to the second reason: you are the key to all of this. If you die or something happens to you, I have no reason to stay out wandering the world. Don't get me wrong, I don't want anything to happen to you, either. But beyond just being a family member who knows you, you are my ticket out of the nest, too."

"Well, that's encouraging," muttered Kevin.  Lavinia scowled at him. Kevin said, "What? I think it was an appropriate response. Now I also understand why you were just shouting my name wandering around the woods and didn't seem to put serious effort into finding me right away. You were afraid I was already dead, weren't you?"

His cousin scratched the top of her head where her horns would normally be and twisted her mouth to one side. "I suppose I can't deny that."

Nailed it, thought Kevin.

She continued, "But there's more to it than that. And now that I found you, I saw how that toad-like human noble, the mayor, was treating you, and I remembered that humans and some other races looked down on goblins. On top of that, I know you, and I know that you won't lead with the fact that you have a personal relationship with dragons or that dragons appointed you to your current position. You are far too humble…and stubborn. And status matters a lot in the mortal world. Unless you had something other than just being an ambassador to lean on, I was afraid you wouldn't be taken seriously."

"So it was for my sake?" asked Kevin in surprise, and with a bit of sarcasm.

"Well, somewhat, but also, if everywhere you go nobody takes you seriously, you won't be very successful in your mission.  If so, the Paxdraconic might be forced to send somebody else, or maybe send somebody to bring you back.”

“Uh huh.”

"Last but not least," she paused and looked a little uncomfortable, "my mother says it is a bad habit of mine that sometimes I accidentally overhear conversations. Of course, she misunderstands and calls it eavesdropping. I just have good hearing. But anyway, I have at least some idea of what's going on. I'm not sure if the Great Ones told you everything, but the world right now is like a mountain that's ready to blow its top. A volcano.  There are many powers at play, and believe it or not, you were one of the best candidates for the Great Ones to send in order to prevent war or worse."

Kevin liked to be flattered as much as anyone else, but he had a hard time accepting Lydia's words. "Why is that?" he said.

"Well, for one, the Goblin Nation seems to be the center of a lot of current unrest. You happen to be a goblin. You are also not a normal goblin. And some of your qualities will make you stand out among other goblins in a good way. Maybe most importantly, you are a mortal race. Dragons very rarely adopt children, much less adopt any creatures other than dragons. In the entire world, there are probably fewer than five dragon adoptees. Actually, maybe less. In fact, now that I think about it, you're the only one I've ever heard of. And through a long-standing treaty, dragons do not directly influence mortals. If we enter the mortal world through polymorph, we do so basically as tourists. If it's time for dragons to be involved in affairs of the world, it's usually past time for talking."

Kevin frowned. "Well, I’ve been thinking about that, and it seem pretty backwards. Dragons are extremely wise and knowledgeable. If there were a dragon at the negotiation table, wouldn't that help mortal countries avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed?"

"See, that's what I think," said Lydia with a nod. She suddenly grabbed his hand and pumped it up and down. "That's what I've been telling my parents for ten years, but they don't listen, saying I'm hasty and I don't have a..." She paused. "What do they say? Oh, that's right. They say my view is very narrow."

"That’s it? They have to say more than that," said Kevin.

"Well, yes, something about how if dragons start getting directly involved, that means all dragons will be emboldened to be directly involved. And not all dragons agree about things, which, I suppose, if you take their logic to its eventual conclusion, means that dragons could eventually have their own war."

"Didn't dragons already have a war in the past?" Kevin asked the question, but he already knew the answer.

Lydia looked stricken. "That is true," she said slowly, "but it was a long time ago."

"I see." He'd never actually discussed this topic with his parents before, but he could understand why to Lydia it had so much weight. And now he had a better understanding of why dragons stayed out of the mortal realm. He sighed. "So at the end of the day, it was less about me and more about the fact that I'm not a dragon."  This wasn’t exactly news.  It was more or less what his father had told him.

"That's not a very kind thing to say about yourself," said Lydia. "But yes, that's true."

Kevin sighed.  He didn’t even bother pointing out that Lydia had contradicted herself.  "Where are you leading us right now?"

"Oh, just outside of the city," said Lydia. The two of them were near one of the gates to Clearmine, and for a few minutes, they walked in comfortable silence down the road that Kevin knew only stayed well-maintained like this for about another half mile. 

After another few minutes of walking, Lydia suddenly turned off the path and headed directly into the forest. Kevin wondered what she was up to and was actually curious if she was intending to check his magic again. He broke the silence, asking, "Did you bring me out here to test my magic?"

"No," she said, "but I have been thinking about it."

"How so?"

"Well, I didn't have my defenses fully up when you attacked me before. I think if I did, it wouldn't have hurt me as much. But at the same time, it wasn't a head-on strike. The damage was actually pretty superficial. But still, it was extremely impressive that it did damage to me at all.  Your magic is rare already. I don't know of any dragons that can use soul magic, and you are obviously doing something interesting with it. It's extremely impressive, and if you can keep growing your magic, I think you might truly one day earn the title of great mage."

She’s kind of all over the place, right now.  "Isn't that a little premature?" Kevin muttered.

"No, not at all. However, I've been running through everything that happened, and your magic does have some weaknesses. It takes you some time to charge your attacks that I saw, and your magic itself, I think. I don't know exactly what you did or what you pulled out of the ground, but it was sort of slow."

Kevin nodded. 

Lydia continued her word salad.  "Well, even if it's weak like that, you need to be faster at drawing your mana up, especially if my hunch is correct that you're not only using your own mana for some of your spells, but also an outside resource. I think you said it was the energy of fallen warriors?  The faster you manipulate your own mana, maybe you can channel the other forces you are touching, faster."

Kevin nodded again, mutely impressed. His cousin had truly been able to deduce quite a bit in a very short amount of time. It was at times like this that he was reminded she really was a dragon.  Ironically, the reminder was stronger now than when she polymorphed into her original form. He said as much.  "That was really clever for you to figure out, Lydia. However, I think it's very strange you can remember minutiae of how I used my magic, but couldn't remember where I said the power was coming from."

"Everyone’s a scholarly critic," she scoffed and shrugged one shoulder. "Okay, I think we're far enough now."

"Far enough for what?" said Kevin.

"Far enough for me to find out what has been following you around without the possibility of blowing your cover in Clearmine. You've obviously been keeping it secret up until now." 

Kevin was speechless. He couldn't tell if Lydia was being bossy or thoughtful by bringing him all the way out here. But he realized that the gig was probably already up, and he wouldn't be able to keep Branch's identity secret forever. After all, Lydia had already noticed him and was just being polite right now.  Maybe.

He sighed. "Branch, could you come here, please?" A moment later, the apprehensive fairy appeared, sitting on a tree limb just above eye level.

"Hello, Kevin," he said, strangely formally. "Hello, Lady Dragon. I greet you, Kevin’s cousin Lydia."

When Kevin glanced at Lydia, he was surprised to see her cocking her head and staring at Branch like he was the greatest enigma in the world.

"What an interesting fellow you are," she finally said.

Branch turned to Kevin and dropped his formal mode of speaking. "This is why I don't usually like talking to dragons," he complained. "They always want to keep me around, whether I want to stay or not. Of course, they could never make me," 

Lydia blinked and kept looking at Kevin and the fairy in turn. “The fairy is your friend?”

“He is,” Kevin said with finality.

His cousin grew quiet again, staring at Branch with a level of intensity that even made Kevin uncomfortable, and he wasn’t even on the receiving end of it.  Finally, she turned back to him and said, "You have the strangest luck of anyone I have ever known, Kevin Brightscales." She’d used his randomly-adopted last name, and quirked a smile at his obvious discomfort. "But truly, I am not sure whether the heavens are smiling on you, or whether they keep giving you more to carry."

Kevin was going to ask a question when he heard faint sounds that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Be quiet," he said, and cocked his head to the side. "What is that?"

Lydia gave him a withering look. "You really do forget I'm a dragon sometimes, don't you? You know how good my hearing is. That's fighting, obviously, humans against beasts or monsters."

Branch raised an arm with one finger raised. "Actually, it's what I was watching before you called me here. The adventurers almost made it back to the city, but they were attacked. I'm not sure if they'll survive right now."

Kevin looked between the two of them, aghast. "Well, then let's hurry the hell up and go there," he said. Then he suited his words with action, turned, and began running towards the faint noises.

"Has he always been like this?" Branch said behind him.

"Always. Believe it," groused Lydia. "He got me in so much trouble when I was a hatchling."

Kevin shouted over his shoulder, "You still are a hatchling, and you got me in twice as much trouble. Now get your scaly ass over here, Lydia."

His cousin grumbled, but she followed a moment later, easily keeping pace with him.