In a forest far away from any civilization, sits a mountain that has yet to be explored by anyone. Countless adventurers venture to the mountain, but none were ever successful.
It was said that anyone who got close to the mountain, would always get sent back to the outskirts of the forest without them ever noticing, and it would keep repeating like they are stuck in a loop. No one knows why, so it has been treated as a myth. In reality, the reason lies in the forest guardian.
The forest guardian oversees the whole forest, specifically the mountain. Whoever got close to the mountain would be sent back by the guardian, preventing them from getting closer. The guardian also casted a spell that confuses the adventurer mind, making them get confused with their memories. Because of this, the myth of the mountain got more and more exaggerated as more adventurers ventured it.
It wasn't until the forest was declared as the sacred forest by the elven queen. Forbidding anyone from entering the sacred forest without permissions. And thus, no one ever dared to set foot into the forest ever again.
This sparked more questions about the mountain. Just what is special about it? Why does the forest guardian prevent people from getting close to the mountain? Why does the elven queen personally get involved in this matter? No one knows for sure….
…
In truth, inside the cave of the mountain, there is a dragon deep in slumber. It was the dragon lord, Zackera. A powerful dragon lord who has unfathomable power none can comprehend. There is even a saying that says the reason why the heroes were able to defeat the evil demon lord was because of the dragon lord's aid, while some disagree.
The dragon has been asleep for hundreds of years now…. And it seems like… he is waking up.
//(Zackera Perspective)//
"Yawn.… how long have I been asleep…?" (Zackera)
I slowly opened my eyes and got up.
"Ugh… my body feels so stiff and sore… better do something about it." (Zackera)
I stretched my body. Several stretches later, I felt much better.
"Much better already." (Zackera)
"Good morning my lord, how was your sleep?" (?)
A voice suddenly came from the back, I turned around and saw a green light manifesting. A person begins to walk out of the light. Now, standing in front of me, was the guardian of the sacred forest, Flora.
"Indeed I have, you can drop the formalities part you know? I've told you many times already that we are friends." (Zackera)
"I'm afraid that might be hard for me. Since you have done so much for my sake, so I insist to call you by lord" (Flora)
I was going to refute what she said, but looking at her face…. Sigh, whatever floats your boat.
"If that is what you want, I won't force you. Anyways, how long have I been asleep?" (Zackera)
"Three hundred years in total, not counting the days that is." (Flora)
Three hundred years only? I thought I would have slept longer, like a thousand years or so.
"During my sleep, did any acquaintance come to visit me?" (Zackera)
"Yes, there were several acquaintances of yours who came to visit. One of them is my husb- Ahem, I mean Kelvin, he came here two years ago to invite you to visit the kingdom he is living in. But since you were asleep, he left a letter for you, telling me to give it to you once you wake up." (Flora)
She said as she took out a neatly kept letter from her pocket and gave it to me.
"Kelvin huh? Let's see what this fella has been doing in the past few years." (Zackera)
I opened the letter and read it.
-Opening-
My dear friends, it is me, Kelvin. By the time you read this, I have already long headed back to the kingdom, I doubt you would be awake anytime soon. It's been a long time since we last met and I would like to catch up with you, when you're awake that is. So, why don't you come visit me at the kingdom 'Aventara'? I am currently residing there as well as being the captain of the royal guard. Just kidding, the guard I am overseeing is just the normal one, not the elite guard. I won't be able to visit you much more often like in the past now, since there is a lot of work I need to do.... So? Do you want to come visit me? I'm sure you will find the kingdom interesting! If you're coming, be sure to come and see me!
Signed Kelvin
-End-
This guy's never changed. I might as well go and visit him. Plus, I'm quite curious about what has changed during my rest. Aventara eh? I wonder what that kingdom is about.
"Flora, what is this Aventara Kelvin spoke of like? Since you're married to Kelvin, you should have been there a few times, right?" (Zackera)
I turned and asked Flora. And Flora seems to be shocked at the sudden question.
"Well… to be honest, I have never gone there myself." (Flora)
"..." (Both)
"Huh?" (Zackera)
"Sorry! When- whenever I told Kelvin that I was gonna visit him, he immediately came to visit me instead. Be- because of that, I- I never really got the chance to really go there myself!" (Flora)
Flora was panicking and was constantly stuttering with her words.
"Sigh, it's alright Flora. You don't have to apologise. I understand what you are coming from. I'm sure Kelvin is just worried about you." (Zackera)
Knowing Kelvin, I think he just wants to protect Flora's identity from the public. Plus, his relationship with her. Only a few knew about his marriage. If the public were to learn about this, I'm not sure what kind of chaos would stir. But I think he worried too much.
"Still… can't he have a little trust in me? It's not like anyone would realise I'm the guardian." (Flora)
Flora said as the light around her glow brighter.
"...." (Zackera)
On second thought, maybe what Kelvin did was right. I looked at Flora with a disbelief look.
"Anyways, I'm gonna visit the kingdom today. You can go back to do your job, I guess." (Zackera)
"Understood." (Flora)
With that, Flora vanished.
"I should teach her about proper disguises when I have time. If she were to visit the kingdom looking like that, her identity would immediately be exposed frame one." (Zackera)
Just as I was about to head out, I realised the place was looking a bit dusty. Guess the dust piled up during my sleep, best to clean it. I then turn into my human form.
"Luke, Jack. Answer my summoning." (Zackera)
*Snap!*
I snapped my finger and shortly after, a portal appeared.
"It's been a while, master." (?)
"Yes indeed! Three hundred years have passed since we last saw you!" (?)
An elegant looking wolf beastman and a mischievous looking demon came out of the portal together.
"Luke, how many times have I told you not to call me master?" (Zackera)
"Ooo I know, since the day I became your followers, Luke has called you master a total of twelve million and four hundred ninety thousand-" (Jack)
"Shut it." (Luke)
Luke immediately grabbed Jack's mouth, shutting him up.
"Sigh, sorry mas- I mean Zackera. I just couldn't get used to not calling you that." (Luke)
"You said the same every time." (Zackera)
Jack struggled out of Luke's clutch.
"Actually, You have said that for a total of twelve-" (Jack)
Before Jack could even finish his sentence, Luke grabbed Jack by the collar and threw him into the depth of the forest.
"I have taken care of the distraction of my master." (Luke)
Luke turned back to me with a thumbs up.
"...." (Zackera)
"Ahem, I mean… Zackera." (Luke)
You know what, I give up. What is the point of telling him to stop if he is never going to do so? He was just too persistent, to the point that he became my apostle.
"Anyways, I'm going to visit Kelvin at Aventara, I would need you two to help clean the whole place, I am sure that it is full of cobwebs and dust by now." (Zackera)
"Understood, master!" (Luke)
"Understood!" (Jack)
Jack stumbled back with leaves all over him..
Then, the two of them left.
"Now that is taken care of, I should get going." (Zackera)
I transformed back into a dragon and flew off.
…
"Mom, look! There is a dragon in the sky!" (Young kid)
"What are you talking about?" (Kid mother)
The mother looked up into the sky and saw nothing.
"There's nothing there sweetie." (Kid mother)
"But I could have sworn there was one..." (Young kid)
"Now, let's head home. You must be exhausted." (Kid mother)
The mother gently held her kid's hands and took him home.
…
Phew…. That was close. I need to remember to cast an invisibility spell next time. I look down at the kingdom while still in the sky.
…
So this is the kingdom Aventara... I could barely recognise it. If I remember correctly, it was originally called Guilden, a relatively small kingdom. To think it turned into such a big kingdom…. Impressive.
"Hmm…." (Zackera)
Now that I think about it, I think I should change my clothing. My clothing is already pretty old, and I can see that the fashion sense down there has changed drastically. If I were to wear the same old clothing, I might attract more attention, and that's not a good thing.
*Snap!*
I brought out several materials from my dimensional pocket. A dimensional pocket is an upgraded version of an inventory, the flow of time inside the pocket is stagnant, so whatever was put inside the pocket will not deteriorate.
"Hmm… what should I make?" (Zackera)
I begin pondering on what kind of clothing to wear. Perhaps a hoodie? Hmm… maybe not. How about a suit? Nope, too formal. A jacket…. I guess that will do.
*Snap!*
The jacket began to be made with my skills.
…
"There we go, finished." (Zackera)
It didn't take long for the jacket to be complete. The jacket's main colour is similar to my body, being red, while having supporting colours like orange and black. I turned into my human form and tried it on immediately.
…
"Hmm…. It was better than I expected." (Zackera)
The jacket was comfortable. I also made a new shirt to wear under the jacket. After it was done, I flew down to a quiet alleyway, then deactivated the invisibility spell and walked into the crowd, blending in. Can't wait to see what the kingdom got in store for me.
…
"Freshly baked bread! Come and get some tasty homemade bread!" (Female vendor)
"We are having sales now! Buy one free one!" (Male vendor)
"Limited quantity! First come first serve!" (Female vendor)
"I'll get some of this please." (Citizen)
"Thank you for your patronage!" (Male vendor)
…
The kingdom sure is lively. There were a ton of different shops or stalls that sold different kinds of things, for example, potions, weapons, armors, foods, drinks and much more. Out of all the things I saw here, the one that caught my attention the most is the adventurer guild. This might be the biggest adventurer guild I have ever seen from my past travels.
"Excuse me sir, I haven't seen you before. Is this your first time visiting the kingdom?" (?)
"Hmm?" (Zackera)
Just as I was in awe of the adventurer guild, a person in armour suddenly came up to me. I'm guessing this is the guard.
"Well yes, this is my first time here. Are there any problems?" (Zackera)
"Sorry for bothering you, but recently, there has been a report of a thief around the kingdom causing some trouble. Since you are a visitor and not a resident, I trust that you have a permit for visiting." (Guard)
"And what does the permit help with that?" (Zackera)
"Well, you see. The thief is an intruder, they do not have a permit nor are they a resident. We have already confirmed it. So please, show me your permit " (Guard)
Damnit…. I flew in here, there is no way I will have a permit. Ugh… Kelvin…. This stupid elf! He didn't mention anything about this in the letter before! Think! What can I do to get out of this situation?
"Excuse me sir?" (Guard)
Sigh… I guess I can only resort to that skill huh?
"Just a second." (Zackera)
I pretended to reach for my permit in my pocket before…
*Snap!*
I snapped my finger.
…
The world… seems to stop moving…. Everything seems frozen in place, and the only thing that is moving is me and the guard.
"So… about the permit… I have already given it to you to check." (Zackera)
I looked at the guard.
"Huh..? But you didn't give me any… any… what…?" (Guard)
I used hypnosis skills on the guard. The guard was starting to get dizzy as his eyes were losing focus.
"Just listen to me. I have already given you my permit to check and you have already made sure everything is fine. Now, you are letting me go." (Zackera)
The guard's eyes still looked unfocused but nodded his head.
"Then… have I given you my permit?" (Zackera)
"Yes… yes you have…" (Guard)
"Good. Now, after I snap my finger, you will wake up and forget everything I just said now, and you will only remember that I 'gave' you my permit." (Zackera)
*Snap!*
As the hypnosis ended, the time seemed to flow again as the other people around us started to move again.
"Huh…? Did… did I… doze off?" (Guard)
The guard looked a bit disoriented as he looked around confusingly.
"Is it okay that I go now?" (Zackera)
It wasn't until I talked before he noticed me again.
"Huh? Ah yes, you may go now, enjoy your visit here!" (Guard)
I turned around and walked the opposite way the guard was walking.
"Weird… why does it feel like I forgot about something wrong…" (Guard)
…
"Ugh… I'm never going to do hypnosis again, it's too annoying." (Zackera)
After dealing with the guard, I continued my way.
*Sniff sniff*
"Hmm? Something smells delicious." (Zackera)
I looked around and found the smell coming from a nearby food stall. Out of curiosity, I went up to the stall.
"Welcome, dear customer, would you like to buy some food on the go?" (Male vendor)
"What do you have here?" (Zackera)
"Well as you can see, most of the food we have here is meat dishes, you can practically find any kind of meat dishes here. Here, why don't you have a taste of our signature dish?" (Male vendor)
The person gave me a sample to taste.
"Don't mind if I do." (Zackera)
I ate the sample.
…
"So? What do you think?" (Male vendor)
"...." (Zackera)
"Sir?" (Male vendor)
This… this is delicious! I've never tasted any meat that tasted this good!
"This is delicious." (Male vendor)
"Of course! It's a family recipe. Any kind of meat would get tastier after using this sauce." (Male vendor)
…
"So…? Would you like to order some?" (Male vendor)
"Give me everything." (Zackera)
…
"Huh? Ca-can you repeat it?" (Male vendor)
"A-ahem! I mean… for each of your dishes, give me five of each." (Zackera)
"Okay, five of each dish, I will go and… wait a minute!" (Male vendor)
The vendor looks at me with a shocking expression.
"Par-Pardon?" (Male vendor)
"I said I want five of each dish, am I not clear enough?" (Zackera)
"Oh um, right. Please wait for a moment while we prepare your order!" (Male vendor)
The person quickly went to the back while I was standing outside waiting.
…
Moments later…
"Huff huff, here your order!" (Male vendor)
The vendor took out a lot of bags filled with the food I ordered. There was so much food that even his helpers were also there to help with carrying.
"Thank you, how much would that be?" (Zackera)
"Since you order each of our dishes, five in fact. It would cost you 24 gold coins and 45 silver coins, but because you ordered so much, we decided to give you a little discount. So you only need to pay 17 gold coins and 45 silver coins." (Shop owner)
"Gold coins and silver…?" (Zackera)
Gold coins should be these right? I took out a couple of gold coins from my pocket. As for silver… I have no idea what that is, I haven't heard of silver coins before.
"Dimensional pocket..?! Isn't that…" (Male vendor)
The vendor had a shocked face the whole time while I was working on giving him the coins.
"Here, 18 gold coins." (Zackera)
Since I had no idea what a silver coin is, maybe giving him another gold coin would be good enough… right?
"Huh? The gold coins look a tad bit different than the others." (Male vendor)
Upon getting his hand on the gold coin. The vendor was inspecting the coins with his helpers.
"Could these gold coins be the old one?" (Employee 1)
"Could be, no matter where I see, it's gold… in colour that is." (Employee 2)
…
They keep examining the coins. How long are these guys going to keep me waiting?
"Ahem…" (Zackera)
"Oh uh… right! Here is your change, 55 silver coins. Thanks for purchasing our food!" (Male vendor)
I took the bags with ease and left.
"Fascinating, I have never seen silver coins before. Guess a lot of things change during my sleep. Perhaps Luke or Jack knows a thing or two about this. " (Zackera)
…
"Hey… do you think he can finish all of it?" (Employee 1)
"I don't know, but since he has a dimensional pocket, and I heard that time doesn't flow in the dimensional pocket, the food won't get spoiled." (Employee 2)
"You're right, but that's still a crazy amount of you think of it." (Employee 1)
"Yeah… no one has ever ordered that much meat before, not even a beastmen could eat that much it like they're not a normal person. Wait no, they are definitely not normal! Dimensional pockets aren't just common skills, you know?!" (Employee 2)
"Hey you two, stop chatting and get back to work, more orders coming! If you want to chat, then wait until the shop is closed." (Male vendor)
"Yes boss!" (Both)
…
"Mmh.. delicious." (Zackera)
I put all of the bags into my dimensional pocket and continued the walk while eating food.
…
"HELP! HELP ME!" (?)
Hmm? Why is there a cry of help? I look around and no one in sight looks to be in distress. Heck, they don't even seem to be bothered by it.
"Are those kids back at it again? Whatever, I'm pretty sure it's just some prank they are doing." (Passerby 1)
"Is it those troublemakers again? I hope they won't affect my stall." (Vendor)
"What's that sound? Someone seems to be calling for help." (Passerby 2)
"Just ignored it, probably some hooligan." (Passerby 3)
".…" (Zackera)
Everyone seems to treat it as a common occurrence. Do they think this is just a prank?
"PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME!" (?)
"...." (Zackera)
Ugh! If nobody's going to help, I will! That is clearly the sound of someone in need of help! I then followed the sound into the alleyways.
…
I never knew my life would change after that.