Remi the dragon inhaled the fifty pounds of meat. He, assuming that it was a male dragon, had made a light work of the food using his razor sharp teeth and devastating bite force.
That was almost half of Shina's weight! It crossed her mind that if Remi ever decided to eat her, it would only take him two days to make her disappear without a trace.
"You wouldn't do that... would you?"
She doubted her own statement after seeing what the little dragon did to the meat.
Perhaps, it is only thanks to the fact that this dragon thinks she's his mother that she still isn't dragon poop yet.
About a week ago, Shina had found this place eleven hours after leaving the capital. Tired and hungry, she let herself drop to the floor and rest. It was then that she heard an ominous cracking sound, breaking the still silence of dawn. As the first rays of sunlight fell through the weathered roof of the warehouse, she saw an egg — one that was too big to cook or ignore. It was a dragon's egg.
The egg cracked open. A reptilian head with pinkish scales that had now turned red, had popped out, letting out a roar that sounded more like a bird's cooing.
With the amount of books Shina had read about dragons and monsters, she knew exactly what she should do the moment she saw the dragon.
All books and guides she'd read had said that upon seeing a dragon egg, one must destroy it immediately. The only chance humans could have to kill a dragon was when it still hadn't hatched or when it could barely walk.
Shina had to draw her blade, her mind also told her to do so. But she just couldn't bring herself to do it, not when the innocent dragon was cuddling with her for warmth and asking for food.
Shina was the only one this baby dragon saw when it first opened its eyes, so despite her weird smell, the dragon assumed she was its mother. Since then, she had been keeping the dragon alive inside the abandoned warehouse.
For a week now, she'd been living like this. She worked as an adventurer during the day and came home to take care of Remi during the night. She was sure that she was being naive and that her choice would one day bite back at her — perhaps literally — and she would regret it all.
Maybe it was in her nature to be selfish, and act based upon what she was feeling in the moment. But she couldn't help it. She couldn't kill the dragon, and she wouldn't have let anyone do it.
Ideally, she would like to teach Remi some manners while he was young. If Shina could train him to be friendly with humans, he could be the first dragon to have a peaceful relationship with humanity.
After eating their dinner, Shina and her dragon rested in the abandoned warehouse.
The next morning, Shina had to go to work again. As usual, she put on the suit and prepared the weapons she stole from the imperial armory, tucked her hair inside her clothes and covered her face with a mask and a hood. She left her abode as Shadowblade.
The people in the adventurer's guild threw furtive glances at her, as if an extremely dangerous guy just entered the room. She tried to ignore their mixed reactions and focus on what she had to do.
To afford feeding a baby dragon with a beastly appetite, she had to earn the most amount of money in the least amount of time. Quest rewards varied based on difficulty... or danger. The deadliest ones that almost no adventurers dared to take, paid the highest, and so that was what Shina always did.
'Hm... what do we have for today...'
She scanned the quest poster as if picking food from the menu. In the end, she took a quest for bandit extermination.
Again, she left the city and travelled to the next town by foot. Shina wished she also stole a horse from her father's army.
Some time later, she had reached the borders of the town of Beliaprigm. According to the information from the quest poster, a gang of bandits had been disturbing the peace in the area. The flow of goods had been heavily affected, resulting in the crash of the town's economy.
Luckily, she was able to see it with her own eyes. At least she didn't need to hunt for them herself.
A group of good-for-nothing bandits were harassing a cargo carriage heading to the town. There were twelve of them so they had managed to kill the soldier escorting the goods.
The bandits saw Shina approaching. They looked at her with their bloodthirsty eyes.
"And who the fuck is this?" one yelled.
The one who seemed to be the leader walked towards Shina.
"They sent you for us? You should have known by now that it's pointless. Anyone who goes against us will end up like that idiot over there," he said, gesturing to the soldier's corpse.
The man had no chance of seeing the roundhouse kick Shina had knocked him out with. His companions watched as his body fell to the ground like a stiff training dummy.
The masked assassin wordlessly walked towards the eleven remaining bandits. Though they tried to fight back, all they got were concussions and broken bones.
Shina escorted the cargo inside the town and handed the bandits and their leader to the authorities. With that, the quest had been completed.
Shina never imagined that her rigorous training in the academy would pay off this way. But then again, the blood of Venilon flowing through her veins had been a big advantage. Having a fraction of the abilities that the five governing clans possessed was nothing short of a blessing in this situation.
Grateful for her service, the people of the town gave her rewards aside from the ones she would get from the guild. In the town of Beliaprigm, Shadowblade's name had been spread as a saviour who didn't even use a weapon to defeat her enemies.
After that, the people were kind enough to let her ride a carriage on her way back to the city.
By the time she got back, it was already getting dark. She quickly headed to the adventurer's guild and claimed her rewards from completing the quest.
It was time to buy Remi some food again. But when she exited the building, a commotion had suddenly started.
A crowd of people... or women in particular, had gathered around the main road. Shina had to cross that road in order to reach the market. Suddenly, her heart raced when she realized that this could be related to her.
Cutting through the crowd, she went to see what was going on.
She gasped, her eyes opened wide.
Walking through the main road was a tall, handsome young man with dark hair and golden eyes. He wore a noble's long coat over casual clothes. The crowd watched in awe as his magnificence entered the city. Beside him was a familiar young woman with pale blonde hair.
In these parts of the empire, Dheinyrus was practically a celebrity. The people here had only been able to see and admire him through illustrations, but now, he was here.
'What is he doing here...?' Shina asked in her mind. Could something have happened in the capital? And how did he know she was in Selense?
Shina thought that her disguise was foolproof, but she was utterly wrong. At least when it came to him, no secret was safe.
The scion of divinity easily spotted her amidst the crowd. Even under the guise of Shadowblade, Dheinyrus was able to recognize her.
For a split second, they locked eyes. Shina's heart began to race even more intensely and there was a strange feeling deep within her.
Dheinyrus looked away and proceeded to walk.