“All right. Time to eat.”
Gelu removed the hat, took the chubby cub by one claw, and led him to the fire. First he served him a bowl of meat soup. Then he served the mermaid a bowl and delivered it into his hands. Only afterward did Gelu sit down, fill his own bowl, and take a deeply satisfied sip of the rich broth.
“Being able to drink meat soup in the middle of winter—now this is happiness.” Especially since he had spent an entire freezing day outside before managing to salvage this rabbit. A strange sense of pride filled Gelu, and he happily drank another mouthful.
Long Ming sat on the floor with a pile of grass beneath his bottom, little tail swaying behind him, and tried the soup. The rabbit had been stewed until tender. Gelu had added something that made the broth slightly spicy, fresh and hot and delicious. Long Ming drained the entire bowl in one go.
Gelu looked at the cub’s round belly and served him another. “You still need room for rabbit leg later, so only two bowls for now.”
Long Ming wagged his tail and held the bowl in both claws, his large golden eyes shining.
Gelu found time to glance at the mermaid in the pot, then stood and served him another bowl too.
“Thank you.” Aoduoduo accepted it politely.
The three of them finished the entire pot of soup without leaving a drop. Gelu tore off one of the roasted rabbit legs and handed it to the chubby cub.
Long Ming stared at the enormous leg, roasted golden and crisp and overflowing with savory fragrance. Then he reached out and pushed it toward Gelu.
“Gelu, eat.”
He had already eaten one rabbit leg. There had been another in the soup pot, and that one had gone to him too.
Gelu had spent all day freezing outside. This leg should be his.
Gelu stared at the little fatty stubbornly offering him the rabbit leg, warmth surging through his heart again and again.
How could this little creature be so considerate?
“Eat.” Long Ming placed the leg into Gelu’s hands, then tore off a piece of breast meat for himself.
“Our cub is so good.” Gelu could not stop praising the little dragon from head to toe.
Long Ming simply wagged his tail.
After the meal, Gelu saw the oil coating the little creature’s claws and gave him another bath. Once he was perfectly clean, Gelu set him back in his territory—the pile of gemstone fragments and silver coins—with a dried-grass mat underneath. Warm firelight made the well-fed little creature drowsy, and before long he began to snore softly.
Aoduoduo still held a battered plate, though he had long since finished the rabbit meat on it. Resting his chin in one hand, he watched the unusually hardworking goblin, contemplation flashing through his eyes.
Only after everything was cleaned did Gelu return to bed and let out a long breath.
Earth Goddess above. Another day had passed.
Aoduoduo placed his plate on the stool and slowly closed his eyes as well.
The next day, Gelu boiled some pinecones. Then he and the chubby cub worked together to drag the mermaid from the iron pot onto a pile of grass so they could change Oreo’s water. Gelu also took the opportunity to inspect his injuries. Aside from obvious weight loss and that strange gray wound across his tail, nothing else looked seriously wrong anymore.
Long Ming crouched beside him and stared at the wound too.
“Necromantic magic?” Gelu frowned. He suddenly felt as though he had rescued a major problem. Necromancers generally had strange tempers, cold and vicious personalities, and long memories for grudges. How had this mermaid managed to become entangled with one?
“The Hell Mountains are almost completely deserted. There’s only one remote little town at the far end of the southern forest, and there are no priests from the Temple of Light there. Not even a single healing cleric lives there. Oreo, your injury might never heal.” Gelu spoke frankly. Necromantic spells usually lingered and continuously drained the cursed person’s life. Although Gelu could not identify the exact spell, instinct told him it was bad.
Aoduoduo pushed himself upright. Hearing the goblin’s words, he calmly adjusted the fan of his tail and replied in his warm voice, “Until the very last moment, I will not give up.”
Gelu looked strangely at the mermaid, then pulled down the curious chubby cub’s claw before he could touch the wound. Gelu increasingly suspected he had made a terrible bargain.
He looked at the little fatty, then at the large mermaid wrapped in illness, and silently sighed.
Forget it. They would simply live like this.
What else could he do, throw one of them away?
Days passed one after another. In the mornings, Long Ming studied language with the mermaid in the pot. In the afternoons, Gelu returned with pinecones or small prey. Then they went to the rock wall beside the volcano to dig fire crystals. Each trip usually yielded enough for two or three days, and they rationed them for Long Ming. Fire crystals had now become his main food.
Gelu and the mermaid ate whatever Gelu brought home. Sometimes Long Ming watched the mermaid drink only one bowl of soup and worried he must still be hungry. After all, Oreo was much larger than Gelu, yet ate exactly the same amount.
Once, Long Ming could no longer suppress his curiosity and asked Oreo about it, only to receive a strange answer.
“As long as I have water, I won’t die.”
After nearly two months of recuperation, Aoduoduo’s face had finally stopped looking deathly pale. He was a conscientious, responsible teacher and had taught Long Ming many things.
For example: the names and characteristics of every race on the Azerik Continent, the divisions between elemental affinities, and the countless systems of faith—the Earth Goddess, the God of the Sky, the God of Light, the God of Darkness, the Druid God of the Forest…
Long Ming’s head spun just listening to it all.
He lay bored on a grass mat, hugging his own tail and playing with it. He had grown a little by now and understood many things.
Gelu was a goblin.
Oreo was a mermaid.
And he was a dragon.
What an extraordinarily strange combination. They practically had land, sea, and sky covered.
Except he still could not fly.
Long Ming reached back and touched his tiny wings. He tried fluttering them several times.
Not even a breath of wind appeared.
“Good cub, come here. I have something for you.” Oreo was calling him.
Long Ming’s claw, still holding his tail, scratched conflictedly across the scales. By now, he understood what Gelu and Oreo were always calling him.
Good cub!
Just listen to how embarrassing that nickname was. Long Ming had been painfully self-conscious when he first understood it and often blushed from humiliation. Fortunately, his black scales hid any color. When he pretended not to respond to the nickname, however, Gelu had invented something even worse: “Good-good.”
After weighing the alternatives, Long Ming decisively chose the first nickname.
He stood, climbed onto the small stool, leaned against the iron pot, and looked at the mermaid. “Oreo, what is it?”
A faint smile curved Aoduoduo’s lips. “Open your hand.”
Long Ming turned his claw upward. Oreo closed his eyes and chanted a spell. A small ball rose from the water, floated through the air, and gradually condensed into a sphere of ice.
Long Ming watched curiously.
So this was the magic Oreo had told him about?
“For you.” Aoduoduo placed the ice ball in the little dragon’s palm. His long silver-gray hair floated in the water with a cool sheen, while his voice and face remained as gentle and elegant as spring itself.
“Would you like to learn magic?”
Long Ming blinked his big eyes and nodded. “Yes.”
“Then after some time, I’ll teach you meditation.”
“You don’t belong here. You should have a much wider world.”
Aoduoduo touched the chubby cub’s head, then withdrew his hand almost immediately.
Long Ming hugged his little tail and tilted his head at Oreo. “Oreo, do you want to leave?”
Aoduoduo paused. Looking into the dragon cub’s beautiful golden eyes, he smiled. “Not me. We’ll leave together.”
“Wait a little longer.”
Long Ming stared at Oreo, who had spoken so ambiguously, and was about to ask another question when Gelu descended from outside.
“Winter is finally almost over.” The first thing Gelu did was check the chubby cub, then set down the food he had brought back that day.
But Long Ming’s attention had already been stolen by the faint daylight visible beyond the cave entrance.
He wanted to go outside.
Ever since hatching, he had lived inside this cave. Long Ming wanted to see the world beyond it.
Gelu noticed his gaze and had an idea. He bent down and asked, “Good cub, want to go outside and play?”
Long Ming blinked his large golden eyes at Gelu and answered with a soft “Awoo~.”
Gelu rubbed his chin, circled the little fatty once, then bent to inspect his tiny fang and scales. Finally, he made a decision.
“Here’s the deal, good cub. Listen carefully. It’s dangerous outside, and you’re still very small. You absolutely have to remember not to run far away, understand?”
Long Ming’s eyes brightened. Thinking Gelu had agreed, his tail immediately began swaying from side to side. “All right, Gelu.”
“Of course, the most, most important thing…” Gelu pressed down on the little cub’s eager body and finally revealed his idea.
“Good cub, if you encounter an enemy, bare your fang and intimidate them!”
Long Ming stared blankly at Gelu.
Gelu launched into an enthusiastic explanation. “Good cub, practice intimidating enemies inside the cave. Once you master it, I’ll take you outside to play. How does that sound?”
In Gelu’s mind, even young cubs of high-level magical beasts ought to look imposing. Only then could they grow up to dominate all directions and become proper carnivorous high-level magical beasts. Therefore, his chubby cub ought to learn to use force and intimidate enemies too. Age could be small, but presence absolutely could not be weak!
“Look at your tail and your fang. You can use both to intimidate enemies.” Gelu crouched and patiently instructed him. “They’re your weapons. You need to learn how to use them to frighten your enemies.”
“Good cub, come on. Show your fang! Pretend I’m an enemy and intimidate me!”
Long Ming understood. He took a deep breath, making his little belly shrink slightly, then opened his mouth wide and fully exposed his tiny fang.
In his soft baby voice, he fiercely intimidated Gelu.
“Awooo—woo!”
Gelu: ………
Gelu looked at the plump, milky little creature and covered his forehead. “Not like that, good cub. Fiercer. Understand? Fierce!”
“You have to roar loudly enough to make your prey fear you. You need to intimidate them very, very fiercely so they know how powerful you are.” Gelu encouraged him, looking at the little cub full of hope. “Come on, good cub. Try again.”
His first attempt had failed. Long Ming nervously clenched his claws and took another deep breath. He opened his mouth and was just about to make the fiercest intimidation sound he could manage when his nose suddenly itched.
A sneeze burst out.
Along with it came a tiny tongue of flame from his mouth, trembling in midair before going out.
Long Ming stared at the sight in amazement.
He could breathe fire again!