Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen — Breaking Fast
Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen — Breaking Fast The thing I was hugging shifted, and that was enough to tear me out of a pleasant dream that was instantly forgotten. Blinking grubby eyes open, I found myself staring at a dimly lit green... thing. It was big, that was obvious. I had one leg over its side and both arms wrapped around it in a hug.It took stretching my neck up and following the green thing up to a big green rump for me to put two and two together. I was hugging Cholondee’s tail.That was probably rather rude. But the dragoness didn’t seem to mind. She was slumped over on her side, the mountain of pillows she was on bending her back awkwardly. Her forearms were up in the air and her mouth was wide open. She looked a bit like a sleepy puppy.I pulled back and rolled over, pillows squishing under me until I was turned around. My other friends were all laid out across the floor. Awen nearby, with her nightgown pulled up a scandalous amount, Amaryllis was a little ways away, head tucked into her armpit and legs splayed out above her, and Booksie was sleeping on her tummy, bum in the air so that her little tail stuck way out.Smiling, I wobbled up to my feet, then rubbed at the side of my face. There was no way to tell the time, but I had the impression it was morning. That, and my back was a bit sore. Hopping out of the pillow-pile, I landed some ways away, then stretched up and down a little bit. It was a good thing I wasn’t old, or else my back would be all painful. Cholondee was the next to wake up. She snorted, blinked a few times, then shifted her head around until it was upright, even though the rest of her wasn’t. Further proof that dragons were cool. “Oh, is it morning already?” she asked.The dragoness didn’t do much to keep her voice down, which meant that all the others woke up one at a time. “Yup!” I said. “At least, I think so. It’s time to get up and face the day! Oh, and breakfast.”The dragon murmured something that sounded approving and twisted until she started to roll.Awen squeaked and leapt out of her path, crashing onto some pillows lower down while Cholondee got to all fours. “Breakfast!” she said.“Do you have anything we can eat?” I asked. “And a washroom?” “Hrm? Nope. I don’t think we have either of those,” the dragoness said. “We could go down to the city. I haven’t actually set claw there in... ah, must be years now.”“We need to get dressed first!” I said.“Ah, yeah, you do that. I’ll be at the cave entrance.” The dragoness yawned and stomped her way out of the room, only pausing to rub the side of a claw next to her eye to remove the sleep gunk.I moved over to the dressers, found my things, and started dressing. The others soon joined me, and I got to watch Amaryllis go through the delicate process of stuffing her wings through the arms of her jacket. When we were all more or less dressed, I eyed the mess we’d made of the room, then fired a heavy burst of cleaning magic which... did nothing for the torn pillows. But it did freshen things up, so I called it a win. “Ready to go?” I asked.“You are too cheerful,” Amaryllis said. “Please tone it down to about... half.”“Never!” I said before glomping her. “I just need to rub some of my good mood onto you.” I rubbed my cheek against hers until she shoved me off.“Idiot.”“Awa, Broccoli isn’t an idiot.”Amaryllis stared at Awen. “Have you seen the way she acts?”“I, I like the way she acts,” Awen said. That earned her a hug.“That’s because you’re an idiot too,” Amaryllis said. She did seem to be in a better mood though, so I counted that as a point for Broccoli.We arrived at the front of the cavern hall in due time to find that there was not one, but two dragons waiting for us. Rhawrexdee was glaring at his sister who wore a proud grin right back. “You finally got here,” Cholondee said. “Just in time to see this big lug embarrass himself.”“What are you saying?” Rhawrexdee asked. “Are you talking poorly about me? I know that look in your eyes. I swear if you ruin this for me, I’m telling mom.”Cholondee turned to her brother and scoffed. “What are you, a hatchling? Do you need mom for everything?” “I don’t need her to beat the idiocy out of you,” Rhawrexdee said. The air around him crackled and snapped.“Hey! Hey! Wait!” I called out, arms waving around for attention as I bounced between the two dragons. “There’s no need for a spat. Cholondee, don’t be too mean. And Rhawrexdee, she was just greeting us.”Rhawrexdee huffed. “Fine. I swear I’m going to spend the next decade learning common so that you can’t play any tricks on me.”“Oh? You’re not going to learn it so that you can whisper sweet nothings to your girlfriend?” Cholondee asked. “She’s not my girlfriend,” Rhawrexdee said.“She might never be once she hears that,” Cholondee said. Rhawrexdee set his legs. “Are you determined to test me?” “Yup!” Cholondee said.I fired off two balls of cleaning magic that booped each dragon in the chest. They flinched back and turned to stare at me. “Can’t we all just be nice to each other?” I asked. “We should get breakfast. After we’ve eaten I’m sure we’ll all feel a lot nicer.”Cholondee rubbed at her chest with a claw. “Was that cleaning magic?” she asked.“Uh. Yes?” “Do it again.”I blinked, then with a shrug fired another little ball of it towards her. It smacked her claw and did a lot of nothing. “Oh, can you see this sheen? It looks like it was polished.” Cholondee held up her claw to the sun and turned it this way and that. “You can ride on me today. You need to cover me in that magic. I’m going to shine like freshly minted gold. But green, which is the best colour.”Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.“Sure!” I said. “I’d love to ride you. Will my friends go with Rhawrexdee?” “I suppose I can allow the others to come with me,” Rhawrexdee said magnanimously.“I could carry two more...” Cholondee said. “Maybe... I could carry that other bun?” “Try me,” Rhawrexdee growled. I left the two to their teasing for a bit as I gathered my friends and our things. Orange was napping in Amaryllis’ jacket and Awen was holding onto my pack for me while Booksie was shifting from foot to foot. I told them what was going on, and soon we were all climbing into a dragon’s big foreclaws. Awen and I got to ride pressed up against Cholondee while the others went with Rhawrexdee.Being held by a dragon wasn’t nearly as awesome as riding on a dragon’s back, but it also felt a whole heck of a lot safer. Lawlyhoumad’s lair was only a hop and a skip away from Port Royal, so within only a few minutes we-or rather, our dragon friends-were circling above the city and watching the homes and panicked people flash past below. I caught sight of Booksie pointing towards part of the city a moment before Rhawrexdee angled his wings and came gliding to a graceful stop in a big square. Sure, he tore the head off a statue with his tail, but none of the people screaming for dear life and hopping away seemed to mind that. Cholondee came for a much more hover-y landing behind her brother, then lowered her claws. “Hop off, we’re not made to stand on our rear like this,” she said.Grinning, I jumped off the dragon and then helped Awen down. The square was rather nice, with some shops lining every side and a couple of cozy cafes next to old stone buildings with red roofs. The smell was... Port Royal’s, with a mix of sulphur and poop that had my nose wrinkling, but there were some faint traces of baked goods and cooked meats in the air. Blue-roofed shops with big awnings hid trembling customers, most of them grenoil, but there were a few humans and harpies mixed in for good measure. I waved to one such group but that just had them cowering even more.“So, where do we go for breakfast?” I wondered aloud.“Ah, I know a place just down that street,” Booksie said as she pointed down one of the-fortunately-wider roads. “It’s a little family-owned place. I know the owners, I’m sure they’d let us all eat outside, and there’s a butcher’s shop not too far away.”“A butcher’s shop?” I asked.“For Rhawr and Cholondee,” Booksie explained.“Ohh, using pet names already,” Cholondee asked.Booksie turned to face the other direction to hide her flush, but it didn’t work so well when her ears were ramrod straight and glowing under their fluff. “Follow me!” We walked, and stomped, as a group down the thoroughfare meeting very little by way of traffic. I had to hold back giggles at the wide-eyed looks we were getting from the locals as they saw two dragons walking down the middle of the street.The place Booksie brought us to was a nice little restaurant, tucked in between two bigger residential buildings. Its little wooden sign, the Rustless Spoon, dangled above a cheery blue door that hid a small room with four little tables and a dozen seats. An older, matronly grenoil woman was behind the counter, setting things up for the morning when all the smaller members of our party stepped in. “Hello, welcome to ze... Booksie?”“Hello,” Booksie said. “It’s been a bit.”“Oh, sweetie, I zought ze Morepoles had run you out of town. It’s so good to see you!” She stepped out from behind the counter and raised her arms for a hug. She was a bit short, so Booksie had to bend down for it. “I brought some friends I found,” Booksie said. “Um, we’re all kind of hungry, but we can’t eat in here. Would it be a bother if we brought some chairs out?”“Outside? Ah, but ze stink will ruin ze meal,” the old grenoil said. “Some of my friends won’t fit in your shop,” Booksie said.Cholondee chose that moment to peek through the window, her eye taking up most of the frame. “Do they make dragon-sized portions here?” she asked.“Ah,” the grenoil matron said. She stood rooted on the spot for a long time.“It’s okay,” I said. “They’re friendly... ish. We decided to all come and help Booksie with her Port Royal problems.”“You brought a dragon to take care of street ruffians?” the grenoil asked. “Ah, I would not want to be one of zose Morepoles today. Take any chair you want dearie. I’m going to come out once my heart remembers zat it’s too old to be beating zis fast.”“Thank you,” Booksie said with a bow of her head. Soon we were outside, setting four chairs along one side of a table that Amaryllis and I lugged out. Our dragon companions settled on the road across from us, effectively blocking the entire path. I felt a bit bad, but not bad enough to do anything about it. There were hardly any dragon-appropriate accommodations around, what were they supposed to do?“There’s a butcher’s shop just around the corner,” Booksie said. “Does one of you want to help me?”“Awen, you go,” Amaryllis said. “Broccoli will deal with the guards. And I’ll chaperone Rhawrexdee here.”“The guards?” I asked.“Those guards.”I followed where Amaryllis long talon was pointing to a large gathering of plate-mailed grenoils with feathered helmets.“Oh,” I said. “I hope this doesn’t take too long. I’m really getting hungry.”“We could always eat the guards,” Cholondee suggested.I was beginning to think that maybe bringing the dragons to Port Royal was a bad idea.
Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen — Morepoles
Chapter One Hundred and Nineteen — Morepoles I brushed off the front of my skirt to make sure it was neat, then I spritzed myself with a bit of cleaning magic to make sure I was nice and presentable. “I’m going to go say hi to the nice guard people,” I said.“Ohh, I’m coming too,” Cholondee said.“Uh. Are you sure?” I asked.“I’m bored,” she said right back. “And also a dragon.”“Well, alright.” I kinda wanted to handle things peacefully, but I couldn’t deny that having a big stick might help a little. It wasn’t very nice-in fact, it was downright rude-but so was telling Cholondee to stay behind. The walk over to the guards was short, but I tried to enjoy it. Port Royal was a neat place. Sure, the smell was a bit much, and the rattle and clang of steam pipes all over was somewhat annoying, but at the same time they lent the city some ambiance, like off beat percussion music. The guards shuffled as we got closer, so I smiled at them the best I could and waved. “Hello,” I said. “I’m Broccoli Bunch! This is my friend Cholondee.”“Hello!” Cholondee said.“We’re here for breakfast and to find some people,” I said. “But we noticed all of you gathering here and we thought we’d say hi. And we did. So, um... hi!” The guards had their weapons out, clubs with metal bands around the ends, and some had their little round shields raised as if that could protect them. Still none of them acted for a bit until one of the group stepped up.He was a short grenoil, with a bunch of scars across his big jowls and narrow eyes that, unlike those of his partners, seemed more suspicious than afraid. He also had a few extra tassels running from the pauldrons of his armour. “You’re here for... breakfast?” he asked.“Yup. And we’re looking for some people after that. If we need help looking though, you’ll be the first people I ask,” I said. “But that’s for after breakfast.”“And does breakfast involve eating any of ze citizens of Port Royal?” he asked.“Oh, eww,” I said. “I’d never eat a person.”“No doubt your friend there wouldn’t say ze same,” the guard said.Cholondee showed off her teeth with a huge smile. “Don’t put words in my mouth, or you’ll join them.”“Hey, hey,” I said as I stepped up between everyone. “We can’t be friends if we’re eating or fighting each other. So, let’s all just... not do any of that, please? We really aren’t here to cause trouble.”The guard eyed me for a good long while. “Alright,” he said. With a gesture he had the other guards lowering their stances, though they looked a little confused about it. “If you can promise me zat you’ll not cause any trouble, zen all we’ll do is station some men around ze area to cordon it off until you leave. Is zat fine?”“Uh. I-I guess. What if we don’t leave today though?”Cholondee shifted forwards. “I’m not sleeping in this place, not unless I can sleep on all of their gold.”“No no, but maybe my friends and I will stay here. They have inns, and we’ll be closer to Booksie’s problems.”The dragoness gave me a weird look. “You don’t want to have another sleep-over?”“Of course I do!” I said truthfully. “But sleepovers lose their magic if you have one every night. And your lair isn’t exactly equipped for the kinds of things we do as a group. Unless... Did you want to join our party? We go out and have adventures! There's a lot of camping, which is like a sleepover but not quite.” “Do you make lots of gold?” “No, not really,” I said.She shook her head. “Nah. That doesn’t sound like my kind of thing, then. Let’s go eat.”The dragon started the tricky process of turning around without knocking any buildings over, so I turned towards the guards again. “Right, I promise we won’t cause any trouble,” I said. I then worked hard to pretend not to hear the crunching sound of Cholondee rubbing against someone’s home.“We’ll be watching,” the guard said.I smiled and waved as I bounded off and returned to my friends. I got back just as Booksie and Awen returned, the latter pushing a wheelbarrow forwards while Booksie hugged a big package of wax paper in her arms. They set a veritable banquet of meats onto the ground. Big flanks, and ribs and gooey bits of uncooked meat, all set onto the road in two big piles. “I hope you don’t mind,” Booksie said. “I don’t know what kind of meat you like, so after explaining things to the butcher, we just bought the most we could with the money we had.”“Did you need more money?” I asked.“Awa, no, no it’s okay, I have a bit.”Amaryllis grinned. “Why don’t you tell Broccoli how you made all that money?” “Awww, that’s not necessary,” Awen squeaked.“Oh?” I asked. “Now I’m curious,” I said as I pulled out my seat. My curiosity had to be put on hold as the elderly grenoil lady that ran the restaurant stepped out, clutching a notepad to her chest and eying the dragons with apprehension. Still, she was very brave, and as soon as we started asking about her menu she slid into an easy routine. When she left a moment or two later I turned back to Awen and grinned. “So... spill!” “Awa,” Awen said dejectedly. “I had a few sil, and there was someone taking bets at the arena.”“In Rosenbell?” I asked.She nodded. “No one thought that you would win your first fight, so I won a lot. And then I bet all of that on the next two as well and, awa, I made a lot.” She buried her face in her hands.“Well, there’s nothing wrong with believing in your friends,” I said.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.“She only bet half on the last match,” Amaryllis piped up. “Awa, it, it was a sound, um, investment. The odds on your last fight weren’t nearly as good. It’s not that I didn’t think that you could win or anything, it’s just that,” Awen paused to take in a deep breath, so I grabbed her in a side hug, lifted her up, and placed her on my lap. It was easy to forget that Awen was just a bit smaller than I was. “It’s okay Awen!” I said as I squeezed her from behind. “You’re one of my best friends, you don’t need to justify yourself to me.”“Awa.”Food arrived in short order and Awen was-somewhat reluctantly-moved back to her seat so that we could chow down. It was while the dragons were arguing over who should get the (slightly) bigger half of the meat that Booksie cleared her throat. “Um. Now that we are here, in Port Royal, I mean, I think that maybe I should tell you all the full story.”“You left out some things?” I asked.She made a wishy-washy gesture with her fork. “More like I wasn’t expecting actual help, not like this, so I didn’t go too deep into things.”Amaryllis huffed. “Well, no time like the present.”Booksie nodded while focusing on her meal. “There’s a group, they call themselves an organization, but really they’re more of a gang. They occupy the Scumways, mostly, a district near the docks that are hardly fit for living in, a part of the city that a lot of people would like to pretend doesn’t exist.”“Do they have a name?” I asked. “The Morepoles. There used to be a few gangs like that, but they all folded into one. That was before I ever came to live here though. They’re somewhat important. The docks need a lot of workers for simple things, and they provide that, they do neighborhood watches and have a soup kitchen. On the surface they’re not so bad.”“And under that no doubt sparkling exterior?” Amaryllis asked with the tone of someone who already knew the answer. “Underneath they’re pretty bad,” Booksie said. “They demand a tax from businesses, like mine, and they run the black market. I heard that some of the nobles use them to smuggle goods in and out of the city, so maybe that’s why no one ever cracked down on them.”“That sounds awful,” I said. “And they’re the ones that made you lose your shop?”She nodded. “Not directly. They just kept asking for more, and I knew what would happen if I didn’t pay. They told me I could work for them a few days a week to pay things off. Buns are wanted for some... things. But I refused. I don’t think they liked that because the month after they said I owed them even more.”I smacked a hand on the table. “Well, we just need to tell the authorities then.”“Broccoli, your faith in the law is quite adorable, but entirely misplaced,” Amaryllis said. “These types of organizations need the law-or part of it-on their side to work. Or at least, they need to be ignored.”I slumped. “Then what do we do?” I asked.“We could spit poison in their den,” Cholondee said between chomping bites. “That usually works.”“What can we do that isn’t that,” I said.“Hey!” the dragon protested.Rhawrexdee snorted. He couldn’t understand the conversation, but he could tell that his sister had been insulted and that was enough for him.“I think what we need to do is go find the boss of this gang and talk him out of all of this nasty business,” I said. “That should be possible, right?” “Your optimism is at once terrifying and idiotic,” Amaryllis said. She was done eating already and was rubbing at her magic ring with the tip of a talon. “But we are dealing with thugs here. I doubt most of them have done more than get into a tavern brawl or two. We should be able to handle ourselves.”“Neat,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to meet the mafia.”“Why?” Amaryllis asked.I shrugged. “They have cool hats,” I said. “That’s... World itself, I forget how dumb you are sometimes.”“Hey!” I said. “Hats are important. They tell you a lot about a person.”“Awa, I don’t have a hat,” Awen said.“We can fix that,” I reassured her. “There has to be a hat shop somewhere in Port Royal.”Amaryllis was frowning and staring off into the distance. “The nobility in the Nesting Kingdom do all wear elaborate headpieces. I... can’t believe you might be onto something.”I pointed to Rhawrexdee. “One in three dragons we know wear cool hats. So that’s another point of data in favour of my hypothesis that hats are, in fact, neat.”“What are you talking about?” Rhawrexdee asked.“Hats,” Booksie said. “We’ve noticed that important people wear them.”The dragon puffed up and gave his sister a look of incredible smugness. “Is that right?” he asked.Cholondee snapped her head around to look my way. “We must go hat shopping,” she declared.Bing Bong! Congratulations, your Wonderlander class has reached level 1!Mana +5Flexibility +5You have gained: One Class Point“Huh?” I said. Then the wash of tingly giddiness that came with a level up coursed through me and I had to hold back a shiver. “What is it?” Amaryllis asked. She had probably seen my reaction. I grinned back at her, appreciating the concern that immediately appeared in her voice.“I levelled up.” My eyes narrowed. “Is it because I was talking about hats?” No... that was too silly. Then again, I didn’t know what kind of things that Wonderlander class was truly good for. Other than making tea. Anything was possible!My harpy friend sighed. “I’m getting seconds. I might be able to drown out the stupid with food.”
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