Dragonlord

Ep 187. Atta Boy. (4)

Ep 187. Atta Boy. (4)

A short while was all that was needed for the returned dragonlord to discover what the strange nature-like scent wafting in the air was.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Another short while passed as Eline explained the implications of their newfound discovery.

…And after a third short while, the two found themselves back at Ilias’ next – right next to the steel dragon, resting their blanketed leg over the back of a former deity.

Apparently, Light was not lying about Raizel using Aymeia as a footrest.

“You…want me to drink that?”

Raizel gazed over at her lord and herbalist. The herbalist had skipped her usual checkups entirely; as far as Raizel could tell, Eline and Serenis were working with what seemed like a box of marbles, a bunch of herbs, and a cup of water.

In fact, Eline was boiling the water above a flame Serenis held. One of the green spheres had been thrown into it alongside various other herbs, turning the water into a murky, greenish grey.

The leafy aroma filling the room certainly didn’t help. While the smell of trees wasn’t anything bad, even Raizel knew better than to drink trees.

Apparently, Eline seemed to think otherwise.

“Well, not the water! Just the medicine. I’ll strain the water out in a bit here. It’s been preserved well, but it’s also been sitting in freezing temperatures for hundreds of years…the effects might be compromised, or even grown toxic. So we’re neutralizing it first.”

As much as Raizel wanted to ask why Eline was so adamant on using a potentially compromised medicine on her, the youngling held her tongue. If Serenis wasn’t questioning it, then she certainly wasn’t about to.

And soon enough, Eline removed the cup from Serenis’ hand, straining the liquid contents to reveal the elixir inside.

Now, as far as the dragons were aware, the herbalist had just boiled the sphere in water with a bunch of other herbs. While Eline had called it ‘neutralizing,’ both Serenis and Raizel had thought of it as a small, redundant procedure that held little meaning besides pertaining to standard human practice.

Their minds quickly changed once they beheld the renewed color of the sphere in Eline’s hand.

“There, that should make it better. Try it! It should help speed your recovery along.”

The elixir’s green had remained, but its texture was no longer the dark, gloomy color it was before – it was instead emitting a low glimmer, almost as if it were a sizeable pearl. Even its nature-like fragrance seemed to have strengthened.

But even so, Raizel narrowed her eyes at the offered medicine, reluctant to take it into her hands.

“Blegh…smells even more like trees and dirt now. You sure I can eat this?”

“Probably!”

“…?”

For a moment, Raizel thought she’d misheard the herbalist’s answer.

But before the youngling could question it further, the dragonlord cleared her throat, stepping in to address the question instead.

“It should be alright. At the very least, it shouldn’t do you any harm.”

For quite some time, Serenis had wondered why Vulka’s remains had been frozen.

Unfortunately, no other dragon were able to offer her an answer, including Ardion. The dragonlord had failed to find any answers herself, even after a relatively thorough search through Vulka’s grave.

But in the end, Eline had offered her an answer – which was being held right in their hand this very moment.

‘…If Vulka saw it necessary to preserve these spheres…’

Then their efficacy didn’t need any doubt.

And finally, after a lengthy staring contest with her lord, Raizel let out a resigning sigh.

“…Fine. If you say so.”

Once the decision was made, Raizel was quick to snatch the medicine out of Eline’s hand. She tossed it into her mouth, gulping it down in less than a second.

…And she proceeded to stare at Eline thereafter.

“There, I ate it. Is something supposed to happen?”

“Well…not right away. In the end, it is just a medicine. It’ll probably take some time for its effects to show. I’ll stay here for a while so we can keep an eye on…huh?”

The herbalist’s sentence came to an abrupt stop as she grimaced at Raizel.

And before long, even Serenis was mirroring the herbalist’s expression.

Raizel’s gaze darted between the two in confusion. She was waiting for either of them to say something, but neither seemed keen on finishing the explanation.

“…Uh, hello? Something wrong?”

“Ugh…!”

“Huh?”

Then, Raizel lowered her gaze towards her foot – or more precisely, she lowered her gaze towards Aymeia, who’d been serving as her footrest for the last…few days. As reluctant as they’d seemed at first, they’d ultimately complied with the steel dragon’s wishes.

But suddenly, the former deity was visibly shaking beneath Raizel’s injured leg.

“The hell’s wrong with you?”

“You’re a lot…heavier now…”

“? What?”

There was no way Aymeia would’ve been able to support the steel dragon’s limb under normal circumstances, of course – but Raizel’s injured leg hadn’t weighed even half of what it once had. It was the only thing that was making her role as a footrest survivable.

Until now. Now, Aymeia was on the brink of breaking down – quite literally.

But before Raizel could properly check on her footrest, Eline’s hesitant voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Raizel, your…um…”

“??”

This time, the steel dragon’s gaze followed where Eline was pointing at, right towards her own arm – or where it used to be, anyways. After Aymeia had incinerated it to oblivion, the space had been completely empty.

Until now, where a piece of metal was beginning to tear out of her bandages.

Even for Raizel, that was a disturbing sight.

“…The hell?”

✧   ✧   ✧

It was a freakish hour or two.

At first, Eline busied herself with renewing the steel dragon’s bandages, discarding the old and replacing it with ones that Serenis and Aether fetched for her. Whatever effect the elixir was having, they were not about to let it hinder the recovery process.

But by the third time they’d replaced Raizel’s bandages, Eline had decided to stop the practice altogether.

There was literally no point getting new bandages. Once replaced, it’d only be torn anew by the metals continuing to sprout forth from Raizel’s shoulder.

So instead, the three just…watched. For a full hour or so.

And when the continued changes finally seemed to subside, Serenis cautiously turned to Eline with a question she’d been dying to ask.

“…I realize it’s a treasured remedy, but…is this normal?”

“I…have no idea. I just thought her leg would recover quicker, but…”

Truth be told, the elixir had done exactly what Eline thought it would do: it sped up Raizel’s recovery. The youngling’s leg had almost instantly recovered to its functional state. Nearly crushed Aymeia underneath, too.

What they hadn’t expected, was for Raizel’s arm to just…

“Well, look at that. It grew back.”

Raizel had risen out of bed, stretching about her newly grown limb.

The sight was freaky at first, admittedly – in fact, it was freaky until the very end – but once she saw the end results, the youngling couldn’t have been more pleased.

Though, as casual as Raizel made it seem, the herbalist’s expression suggested nothing casual about the whole ordeal.

“Raizel, are you…okay?”

“Yeah?”

“…Really? I highly doubt that.”

“Why??? You gave me the pill.”

“Yeah, but…I thought it’d help you recover, not…regenerate your arm.”

“Pft, so? Guess it just worked better than you expected, that…what was it? Elixir? It’s way better than Aether’s magic, I’ll say that much. Practically solves everything.”

“Um…”

Frowning, Eline turned her head to face the two dragons to her left.

Serenis’ expression had loosened once more, returning to only a faint smile. The dragonlord seemed nothing but satisfied to see the elixir’s effects.

On the other hand, Aether’s smile was a little crooked. And, unlike her soft, gentle voice, the elder’s hands were balled into tight fists.

“…Are you feeling alright, Raizel? Your leg doesn’t hurt anymore?”

“Mm. Nah.”

“Are you sure? It doesn’t hurt anywhere else, either?”

“Nope. Actually, I feel better than I used to.”

“…You do, huh?”

Hearing the youngling’s casual replies, Aether briskly stepped forth towards Raizel. The elder watched for another minute to confirm the steel dragon’s state.

And once she did, raised her balled fist into the air.

Smack!

Raizel’s head jerked towards the ground from the sudden impact. Her hands reflexively rubbed her ringing head, but before the youngling could raise her eyes to complain, a second hit shoved her head right back down.

As successive blows continued to land upon the steel dragon, an angered voice exploded out from her caretaker.

“Then for heaven’s sake, be more careful! ‘Solves everything’? You know what would really solve everything? If you stopped getting yourself hurt all the time!”

“I get it, I get it! Ow, stop hitting me! What kinda elder wields violence against kids? Ow!”

“Zip it!”

Eline quietly watched as the elder continued to discipline the house troublemaker.

At this point, she was used to it – after all, it wasn’t that long ago when Ardion had knocked Xerun into the ground. This wasn’t really any different.

And, as if to confirm that this was totally normal, Serenis was watching the two in silence as well.

When their eyes happened to lock midair, the dragonlord gave a small shrug towards Eline.

“…Normal?”

“Quite.”

This was the normal for them. The quiet-in-bed was what was abnormal.