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A sacrifice that must be made.
A misfortune that was not bade,
Pray your humanity does not fade.
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"That's yer plan?" Tiraga asked with much disdain, one of her eyebrows raised.
"It's the only way," Grisia replied. His tone was nonchalant as usual, but she knew he was being serious. "Unless you have a better idea."
"Beat up the dragon!" she replied, smashing her fist to her palm with a toothy grin.
"You're starting to sound like Aisia," Grisia sighed, covering his eyes with his hand. "Eliminating the dragon will have devastating effects."
She scoffed. "Hmph, I don't understand much 'bout what's bugging ya in yer head," she tapped the side of her head with an impertinent smile. "But if ya say so, then it must be really somethin', eh? And what if it's not enough?"
"Then we will contribute our own. All of it, if we must." he told her without veering away from the thumping of the earth as the red dragon tried to claw down Aisia and Kairo. "And you may purchase more from the market if it's still not enough. Ask Esmeralda for the funds. She'll know what to do."
"Fine. It's quite a drag that this is what I've been reduced ta, but I s'pose not everything's 'bout violence, at least that's what I gleaned from ya."
"Hurry," Grisia pleaded.
"Yeah, yeah, but one last thing," she said before leaving. "Yer little runt. She won't be too happy 'bout this."
Grisia shut his eyes knowingly and sighed. "It's a simple sacrifice. She must understand."
With this, Tiraga rushed back to the village to initiate Grisia's plan.
Both his two disciples and the dragon were growing sluggish bit by bit.
In the duration of this encounter, Aisia and Kairo also learned that focusing their ki aura on their lower body—mainly their legs and feet—granted them much more speed and mobility.
They were getting used to moving their ki around specific parts of their body. Their handling was getting better and their allocation was becoming more precise.
However, they were also draining their energy faster than usual compared to simply having their ki aura raised around their whole body.
They've been at it for a while now.
Grisia estimated that if during training, they were able to keep their ki aura raised for more than a couple of hours on a good day, then at the rate things are going, at the start of battle, they would've only been able to sustain it for less than half an hour instead.
It's been a while since the two started to face the terrible red being.
Considering they haven't had a proper rest since their training in the morning, and after rushing all the way here to the outskirts, he felt that at this rate, they were about to run out of fuel.
And as if on cue, their ki ran out and disappeared by itself.
Surprised by this, they looked up to see that the dragon was about to get them with a deadly swipe of its heavy tail which was thicker than a tree. They winced, expecting to get hit without anything to defend with.
That was it, they were doomed.
They had nothing left. They reached their limit faster than they expected.
They tried to escape, but they found themselves thoroughly incapacitated. Even if they had the physical energy to, they weren't going to be fast enough to evade the tail without the help of their ki.
A deafening whip-like sound followed by a heavy force overcame them, but they didn't find themselves dead.
In front of them was Grisia who swooped in to block the dragon's attack for them. That force they experienced was the excess force from the blow of the dragon's tail.
Every inch of their body knew that certain death would've befallen them if they took the blow themselves.
"You've done enough, let me handle this. Sit back and rest. You've learned a lot today, be proud of yourselves for surviving a dragon," he said before pushing away the dragon's beefy tail with the arm he blocked with.
The two limped off to the rock Grisia sat on earlier. They lay on the ground while trying to catch their breath. They had front-row seats to a smackdown between Grisia and the titanic red dragon.
The dragon understood that Grisia was the main threat of this small human force. It also saw the female demon as part of their group earlier, but it ran away for some reason. Now that the two tiny humans were spent, it was time for it to face the remaining adult human.
It was surprised by how slippery and tough the human younglings were, and judging by how easily this red-haired adult human took care of its tail attack, it felt the difference between their strength easily.
Deep inside, it was glad that it fought against the two children first, but now that it was this adult one in front of it, the dragon didn't even possess any thoughts of trying to defeat this foe.
With a brief roar, it prepared to fly away, beginning to flap its large wings and creating waves of gust. It gained altitude, and as it was turning away to the sky, it felt its tail getting held back.
It looked back and saw the adult human gripping its tail with his bare hands.
"Oh no, you don't...!" Grisia grunted.
There wasn't much on the ground that he could use as footing to hold the dragon down. Physically, as a human, his weight wouldn't amount to much compared to a bonafide dragon.
Any absurd strength Grisia had would be moot without the proper leverage to take advantage of it. Like a tiger stranded in water.
And so, he had to resort to using ki to amplify his monstrous strength. He counteracted the force of the dragon trying to fly away by using his core strength and having the ground grip to his feet firmly using earth chakra.
The dragon felt like it was chained to the earth itself.
"W-What the hell..." Kairo made a twitchy smile. He felt a pinch of fear mixed in his relief when he saw the absurd view of Grisia not letting the mighty red dragon escape just by holding it down by its tail.
The dragon intensified the flapping of its wings, roaring while trying to wriggle out of Grisia's hold.
Snow, ash, and dust from the ground were spreading everywhere. Notably in the eyes and mouths of the children as they spat and rubbed their eyes. Some of the spit flying back to their face, grossing them out.
"What did we even fight for if he's just going to flaunt his ridiculous strength like that..." Aisia said.
"You fought so you could someday reach my level," he said while grunting. "Time and time again, you two have surprised me. Even now, I feel it strongly. That you could surpass me... not just in strength." he whispered the last part.
That was a big ask, to someday surpass someone who was currently holding down a dragon on his own.
But on the flip side, it filled them with confidence to know that someone like that thought highly of them.
"Where's ma'am Tiraga?" Kairo asked, only noticing Tiraga's disappearance now.
"She went to execute our plan," Grisia replied.
The dragon felt that its attempts were futile, and so, it stopped trying to fly away and landed on the ground with a loud thud. It roared loudly at Grisia, but he merely let go of its tail and covered his ears, so did the two at the back.
The dragon turned its body to properly face Grisia, but it noticed that Grisia wasn't pressing on the attack.
For a while, the two were at a standstill.
Eventually, the dragon began to realize that Grisia had no intent to fight, and so, after further inspection, it lay on the ground, curling its tail around itself with a groaning huff, knowing that it wasn't going to be able to escape him.
"Finally, it calmed down."
"What did you do?" Aisia asked.
"Even if we don't have the same spoken language, as long as I don't act needlessly hostile, it should understand that I have no intention to fight. It appears that it was merely riled up, but it doesn't crave violence. Just like most animals, it only does what it needs to do, and it felt like it needed to defend itself in the situation."
"So, is that the plan?" Kairo asked. "To pacify the dragon? Is that why ma'am Tiraga went away? Because her presence provoked the dragon like the villagers did?"
"No, the plan was something else. Listen well. I have dragonknight and dragonslayer acquaintances alike. As you can imagine from the name, dragonslayers kill dragons, while dragonknights are renowned knights that battle riding on dragons."
"Tamed dragons..." Kairo wondered how fantastic it would be to meet a dragonknight and pet a dragon on its scaly head.
"I've also read about dragons," Grisia continued "And I've concluded that from the way this one moved, its cries, and the reason why it's roaming about out of its supposed hibernation period is because it's searching for food. It probably didn't have enough food stockpiled for the winter, the same reason why the villagers are out and about instead of holing up in their homes."
"But the villagers have cattle back at the village, right? Aren't those enough?" asked Kairo.
"Please don't talk about lambs and cows," Aisia interjected with a voracious rumbling in her tummy. "I am so hungry right now."
Grisia understood, they used a lot of ki after all.
He continued his discussion with Kairo, "That's what I thought as well, so maybe there's something more going on than meets the eye. Chad is with the elder and the villagers. Knowing him, he's probably already discerned more about the root of the problem. For now, we wait here for Tiraga."
Grisia stretched his body and said, "I thought I was also going to have to fight the dragon, but unlike Tiraga, I'm not too disappointed."
"Is it truly not the right choice to just slay the dragon?" Aisia asked.
Grisia sighed, but he gathered the energy to answer anyway. "This dragon. How old do you think it is?"
"Err, how does that relate to what we're talking about?" Aisia replied.
"Just guess." Grisia insisted.
Aisia sighed. "Fine. Well, it's big. Even though it's lying on the ground like a sleeping cat, it's still enormous. It's half as big as that tall tree over there!" she pointed. "So, like... four of me on top of each other when it's standing up. Or five. It must be over seventy or a hundred years old."
"Kairo, your guess?"
"Maybe a hundred. I've read that dragons live for a really long time."
"Both incorrect," Grisia stated. "Dragons grow big quick at first. It should be around... ten. Not past fifteen years of age."
"It's the same age as us?!" Kairo exclaimed.
"That would be my safe estimate. But, yes Aisia. We could slay this young dragon even if we're still unsure of its wrongdoings, and even if we have no reports of casualties. That is an option."
Aisia groaned and grumbled. After softly banging her forehead on her knuckles, she finally conceded with a sigh.
"I'll search for any more animals around the area to feed this big guy to make it feel at ease. Hopefully that will keep it distracted until Tiraga comes along."
Before he left, he made a bonfire instead of a normal campfire in the middle of them all to shelter the dragon from the cold as well.
"Wood: Impale. Ember: Wisps."
Thick logs grew from the ground and were then set aflame. The dragon growled at first, wary of the usage of chakra. But after a few moments, it appreciated the warmth.
"It's tired, it won't harm you. Probably," the two squinted at Grisia for that last part. "If it does, just run. You can run now, right?"
"A little," Kairo replied. "If I forced myself, I can. Aisia's probably in the same condition."
She nodded.
"That's good enough. I'll return shortly."
And so, he wandered off into the forest.
Kairo noticed that Grisia used the same technique as he saw Aisia use, Ember: Wisps, but it had a greater effect when Grisia used it.
This must be why Chadrhaad eyes nearly popped out when Grisia mentioned he could summon around fifty spires from Earth: Land Upheaval.
Earlier, he heard Chadrhaad underestimate it to be around only twenty from what he knew of Grisia, so Kairo supposed that normally, other chakra users would only be able to erect less than ten.
This meant that the greater control you have over chakra, the more powerful the simple techniques become. He wondered how many boulders he himself could make and how large they would be if he were to cast Earth: Land Upheaval.
And then a thought came to him. He wondered how grand and devastating Grisia's Inferno: Flame Resurgence would be.
"Kairo," Aisia snapped Kairo out of his thoughts.
"Sorry, what?"
"What do you think the plan was? Pops never really mentioned it."
"You're right. I forgot to ask him, let's ask him when he comes back."
Aisia nodded.
Meanwhile, they turned to the dragon's reptilian eye facing them. When it blinked, its eyelids came from the sides instead of the top and the bottom.
Looking at it up close and without whizzing around like earlier, they saw how beautifully defined the dragon's red scales were. There were different shades of red, sometimes being light enough to be considered pink. Some were dark enough to be brownish.
"The same age as us..." Kairo mumbled.
"I think pops wanted me to realize something," Aisia spoke. "When he told us about its age, I think he wanted me to remember that I'm not as innocent as I think I am. I've done things of my own accord—crimes—yet here I am, roaming free in a forest. Shouldn't this dragon at least be given another chance like I was? Or should it face justice for preying on the villagers? Just like how I..."
"I don't know," Kairo replied, at a loss for her conundrum. "What do you think?"
"... I think I've been selfish."
As they studied its features, they realized that it was inspecting them as well. It must've been its first time having such a tough time trying to catch two small humans.
After a while, Grisia came back with a carcass of a large boar on his shoulders. His dark blade was trickling with blood on the white snow.
He flicked his sword once to rid it of the blood, sheathing it before approaching the dragon.
He dropped the dead boar in front of the dragon and then sat with his two fatigued disciples.
The dragon rose to feast on the offering. It ate it in one gluttonous gulp before lying back down. It had completely warmed up to their company.
"Grisia, are you trying to become a dragonknight?" Kairo asked jokingly.
"What? No."
"Because it seems like you're doing well taming a dragon."
Grisia sighed, shaking his head. He raised his pointer finger, as he always does. "Dragons are too much upkeep. They require a lot of space and I don't want to be responsible for when it goes on a rampage. And don't get me started when it goes into heat in its mating season."
"You're... unexpectedly knowledgeable about keeping a dragon around," Aisia commented, a tad creeped out.
"Well, who wouldn't want to have a dragon?" Grisia replied. "I looked into it, and as I've said, I have some acquaintances and I read some books. But sometimes, you just have to grow up and face reality... that dragons are simply too expensive to keep around."
"So that's how you knew of this dragon's age..." Kairo muttered.
Aisia reminded Kairo about the question with a nudge.
"Ow. Oh, right. Grisia, what exactly is the plan? Where is ma'am?"
"You mean Tiraga?" he cleared his throat, preparing for a possibly long explanation. "The plan is simply to give the dragon meat. So, I ordered Tiraga to go to the village and amass as much meat as she could to give to the dragon."
The area was filled with a long silence, save for the howling of the cold wind that passed by.
"That's it?" Aisia confirmed.
"That's it."
"That's it??" Aisia repeated.
"Well, essentially. But to go into the finer details," Grisia raised his pointer finger again. "In case the meat in the village is not enough, I told Tiraga to donate all the meat that we have in the mansion. And if that is still not enough, she is to check with Esmeralda for funds to acquire more."
"Oh. That seems simpler than I thought," she said.
"But if my calculations are correct, since we cannot sacrifice the cattle that the village is growing, adding to that the fact that we have to resupply them with meat to help them survive through the winter, I'd say... our budget would leave us without meat from today until a month after spring."
Aisia's eyes sank, the glint in her eyes vanished as it turned colder than the winter air.
"No meat... for months...?" she said lifelessly. She fell down to her knees and hands, her eyes vacantly glued to the snowy ground.
"Yes."
"But we... we can't have that! I'd rather just eliminate this giant lizard now...!" she tried to stand up but she couldn't, falling back down weakly.
Kairo was worried about the lengths that Aisia would go to for food. Tiraga's cooking was still quite delectable even without meat ingredients, so he wondered why Aisia was this obsessed with food.
"You can't."
She grumbled. "Again, why not??"
Grisia clasped his hands together as he began to explain the reason now that they had some time to kill.
"The dragons in each cardinal direction provide a natural defense for the kingdom against other kingdoms," He continued without glancing at Aisia. "Even if it didn't, if one of the dragons died at the hands of humans, the other dragons that are way older and stronger will notice and retaliate against any and all humans, causing more destruction and death than one village."
Aisia started to back down, realizing that this was not a simple problem.
Grisia added without raising his pointer finger this time, "Not only that, in regards to the ecosystem, this dragon is the apex predator in this side of the kingdom. If the apex predator disappears, the population of the predators below it will grow exponentially as it will have nothing to curb it, and the prey below them will then dwindle due to overhunting. The lack of grazers would then affect the forests and the land itself as the effect cascades and echoes until our lives as humans are also ruined."
Surprised by how everything was connected delicately, she looked down and reflected on her naivete.
Kairo was also shocked to learn about this. He knew of food chains and food webs from a book about nature by the otherworlders that he was recently reading.
It was terrifying to know that simply removing the top predator in an environment could bring about such devastating effects. He planned to read more about it at Grisia's library.
"F-Fine! I won't reject your plan, but I can still say I dislike it!" she pouted.
Grisia ruffled her hair in appreciation but she merely replied with an audible scoff.
"Hmph."