Maximilian knew that the delivery of the coffee could not be delayed. He also knew that he wanted for the Big Capybarians to suffer.
But he wasn't sure if he wanted it enough to blow his chances with Alex, the police officer.
The dragon went home, packed at least five boxes worth of coffee, and then used his teleportation rune to teleport them in the middle of the town.
He looked on through the hidden cameras, as the people began to sniff the air. Then the first overworked IT rune crafter, who looked about as ready to kill for the coffee as someone who did most of his work with only the moonlight as a light source could be, lunged.
The ITs pounced. The housewives came with frying pans.
It was chaos. Max had never smiled so much before.
"You know," his system told him in an orange system screen. "I don't think that what you are doing is good. I think you are petty."
"They ate my family!" Max protested.
"And your family has been eating them for much longer than that," the system snapped.
Max decided to not argue with something he didn't know where it kept its brain. He just delivered the rest of the coffee to Big Capybara and cut his fun short.
The dragon decided that now it was as good time as any to start to collect his Karma Points on his way of becoming a hero.
"There is no big quest for you to work towards." The system knew that if she missed this one, then he was going to do something underhanded for his immortality.
Just like how Marcel had bonded Nikola to himself and had made him stop doing the Universe Quest just a month ago.
The system knew that much hung in the balance. The world needed a hero, not just someone who was going to do some community service, before turning into a villain!
"But there are a couple of tasks that you can work towards, if you feel open to earning your soulmate's love!"
Max nodded. That sounded fair.
"Your second quest is to not wake up the Big Capybarians at 3 in the morning tonight!" The system was taking things into her hands. She knew that if she did not, then Max was simply going to continue on with his quest for vengeance!
"I can do that. But that doesn't mean that I won't be waking up at 3 in the morning." Maximilian had a strict workout routine that involved him flying at least twenty kilometers per day and doing at least twenty pushups.
He had to keep those abs, or he knew that his romance with Alex was going to end before it even began!
"Fine, go and fly, but not towards Big Capybara!" The system was doing calculations in her mind. From Mount Doom to Mirstone there were forty kilometers in both directions. But if Max was tired after his flight, he was not going to make a lot of noise!
"Go to the Black Market at Mirstone and buy something nice for Alex," the system even put it in a quest frame.
Max had no choice but to click on the Accepted and then to start preparing himself for the evening.
****
In the life of every dragon, there was one constant. The dragon in question had to take their afternoon nap.
It wasn't just the fact that they were big lizards who may or may not be about as ravenous as a giant, but also because the heat of the late afternoon was not the best thing for their scales.
They were fire made flesh, but even fire made flesh needed sun lotion, when it was 40° C outside.
Max was napping, dreaming about quests and Alex, when he felt a disturbance in his cave.
He blinked.
There he was, Alex, with a pillow and a blanket, looking uncertain.
"I figured I can move in with you," Alex said. The truth was that he had not figured out such a thing. No, that was something General Pavlov had figured out, as soon as Alex came clean with the fact that he was the dragon's soulmate.
Max was in his dragon form. The game was now over.
"Alex," Max said, turning into a human once more, his red mane spilling all over his shoulders. "Dear, who send you?"
"The chief officer, General Pavlov," Alex did not want to lie to a creature who could turn him into a torch.
Max nodded at the honesty.
"Then there are a couple of things you should know about living with me." Max took his leather leggings and slipped into them. Alex took a breath to consider if the fact that the leather was hugging the dragon's tights was good or bad for his blood pressure.
"I will not tolerate dirty mugs," Max said, as he nodded in the direction of the sink. "You drink, you wash, and you put it on the drying rack. Have I made myself clear?"
Alex nodded.
"If I see a dirty towel on the bathroom floor, it will be you doing the dishes for a month," Max continued, who was not in the habit of leaving his dirty dishes in the sink, but was going to look the other way just to get that bad habit out of Alex early on.
"I don't throw my towels on the bathroom floor," Alex protested.
"I have seen you place a mug in an overflowing sink," Max countered. "Until I can trust you to keep my layer clean, and clean after yourself, everything that is out of order will be under suspicion, that it is put there by you."
Alex just sighed. This engagement sounded more like he was moving back in with his parents, instead of into the cave of a handsome and beefed dragon.
"And one more thing, dear?" Max said.
Alex could already imagine the dragon telling him to cut his nails outside, or, even, to not heat food past a certain time of the day.
"Yes?" Alex asked, as he looked Max in the eyes.
"I will make you happy," the dragon said, as he turned back into a dragon and went back to his siesta.
Leaving just enough space on the bed for the police officer, who had been fired just this morning and told to stay by the dragon on pain of death.