Part 22

"You want me to free a dragon's restraints?" Cameron laughed, "Can't you see that's a dragon?"

"What, are you afraid?" I laughed. Alfred turned to Cameron, then to Icarus. Finally, after a moment of considering my suggestion, he turned to me.

"I didn't take you seriously because of your dumb suit, but it appears you have some balls, kid," Alfred told me, "just so you know, if you fail, you will be removed from the guild. Are you sure about this?"

"Alfred!" Cameron yelled, his voice full of panic.

"I'm sure," I nodded with a giant smile on my face. Alfred nodded and Cameron turned to me with an ugly scowl on his face. The other suit stepped forward and walked to Icarus. I looked to Icarus, then nodded.

As soon as he saw my expression, Icarus stopped struggling.

"Whoa," The other suit said as he began to loosen Icarus's bonds. The entire group watched as Icarus slowly got free from his restraints. Icarus quickly stood up and shook his body as he relaxed his wings.

The other suit backed away and returned to Alfred. Then, I crouched down and opened my arms.

"Icarus, come!" I commanded. Icarus looked to me, then quickly ran to me with his tail wagging behind him. Everybody around me watched as Icarus ran into my arms and began to hug my body.

"Impossible!" Alfred gasped with a massive smile on his face. He looked to me, then turned to Cameron. His expression shifted a full 180 as he stared at Cameron in anger, "What is the meaning of his, Sir Cameron? Did you really steal somebody else's belongings and attempt to fool the guild afterward?"

"No," Cameron gasped as he stepped forward. He looked from Alfred to me with an angry grimace, "I didn't! That man casted a spell! That dragon is my property! There's no way he can control that dragon without a slave crest!"

"Hmm," Alfred said as he looked back. He opened his mouth to speak, but then stopped when he saw two figures running to me.

"Arthur!" Jonathan yelled. I turned to Jonathan, who was running at me with Evelyn slightly behind him, "You found him! Good job!"

"Yeah," I said as I stood up. I looked down at Icarus, who was sitting comfortably in my arms, "He was stolen from me."

"Stolen? By who?" Jonathan asked. He turned to the group near me, then looked to Alfred, "That's a guild official! Are you a part of this?"

"Are you that young man's friends?" Alfred asked. Jonathan and Evelyn both nodded, then moved to step between Alfred and I.

"Yes!" Jonathan quickly said, "What's even going on here?"

"It seems there is a thief among us," Alfred told them, "Tell me, how long has that dragon been with the young boy?"

"I don't know," Jonathan said, "But at least a week! They were together when we met them! If you don't believe us, you can check the town guard! They were together when we moved here, so the guard saw them together!"

"I see," Alfred sighed. He turned to Cameron, then began to walk to the A ranked adventurer, "Sir Cameron, you have some explaining to do. You told me that you've been in possession of the dragon for three days, but that doesn't appear to be true anymore. Tell me, why does it seem like your story doesn't check out anymore?"

"Icarus was stolen from me just now!" I told Alfred, "I was signing up to be an adventurer when he disappeared! Three days is a piece of bullshit!"

"You're here to register?" Alfred smiled as he turned to me. He smiled, then looked back to Cameron again. His smile disappeared as he spoke, "Sir Cameron, explain yourself!"

"I-" Cameron said. He backed away, then looked to his companions. The six of them were staring at him with panicked expressions on their faces, like they had just been caught doing something bad by their parents. Cameron looked at all of them, then stopped when his eyes met with a specific one. Cameron pointed to the adventurer, who was wearing light leather armor and a dark cloak, "He's the one that stole that dragon!"

"Hey! You told me to!" The adventurer quipped back as he pointed at Cameron, "You saw the dragon from the other side of the room and got greedy, you bastard!"

"Yeah!" Another of Cameron's group yelled, "You said that we'd be able to sell it and get a good sum from it!"

"You even said we'd be safe because you're an A-ranked adventurer! It's all your fault, Cameron! Stupid Cameron!" Another yelled. Soon after, everybody in Cameron's group began to berate him. The criticism and yells continued as Cameron backed away from the wall. Sweat began to fall from his brow as his heartrate spiked. He looked to Alfred and the others as he backed away, his emotions a mixture of anger, fear, and confusion.

Then he looked to me and his emotions seemed to cement themselves. His stare was full of hatred as he focused his gaze on me. Then he dashed forward and brought his weapon up to meet with me.

Everybody near him yelled and moved forward to stop Cameron, but he was too fast for any of them to do anything about. Both Evelyn and Jonathan tried to stop him as well by blocking Cameron's advance. However, I quickly jumped forward and dropped Icarus to the ground. Then, as Cameron got even closer to me, I lifted my two arms to meet with him.

Then, as if I was striking a foe right in front of me, I slammed my right foot into the ground and tilted my body to the side as I shot my fist forward. Then, as my fist stopped, almost all of the mana in my body shot out of my arm like a cannon. A giant cyclone of fire shot forward as the result. The cyclone of fire flew through the air, swallowing everything in front of it like a hungry beast. The cyclone continued on until it met with Cameron, swallowing him whole.

『 50 DMG 』

『 50 DMG 』

『 50 DMG 』

『 50 DMG 』

As the cyclone of fire swallowed Cameron, I began to hear his screams escape to my ears. His screams were bloodcurdling and raw, full of anger and pain. Then, as his screams suddenly stopped, the fire cyclone disappeared. I dropped to the ground, my entire body throbbing in pain. My hands and legs fell against the guildhall's floor as I tried to keep my consciousness intact. Almost all of my Mana was gone, expelled out of my body to power the cyclone that had only lasted for a few seconds.

I looked up to the others in front of me, then noticed a husk of a person laying on the ground in front of me. Everything about the husk was burnt, charred black like charcoal. I instantly knew it was the remains of Cameron after my spell, although his body was nothing like it was before.

His armor was gone, reduced to ashes that laid on top of him like freshly fallen snow. His skin was burnt away, along with most of his muscle. What was left of his muscle and his bones still remained, leaving him as a skinny and frail creature that was dead on the guildhall's floor.

"Shit," I gasped as I collapsed, finally succumbing to the exhaustion I felt. I fell against the floor, already passed out before I hit the ground.

When I awoke, I opened my eyes to meet an unfamiliar ceiling and a sudden wave of system notifications.

﹃

Skill:『 Combat Expertise 』has evolved into [ Dragon Combat 』

Presence of both『 Dragon Fire 』and『 Dragon Combat 』detected

Skills:『 Dragon Fire 』and『 Dragon Combat 』have begun the formation of a new skill set

Skills:『 Dragon Fire 』and『 Dragon Combat 』consumed to complete the formation of a new skill set

Special race skill set『 Flame Manipulation 』learned

Congratulations: You have formed your first skill set!

+500 DP

Skill:『 Fire Cyclone 』, learned

﹄

"Oh, my head," I groaned as I sat up in my bed. I put my palm against my forehead as I pushed myself up to a sitting position, then looked around. I found myself in an unfamiliar room. I was currently laying on a bed in the center of the room with a thick white sheet covering the bottom half of my body.

On the other end of the bed was a sleeping Icarus, who was curled up like a ball. The room I woke up in was well lit, with a large open window providing a lot of natural light. The walls and floor made the room feel comfortable and warm, which seemed to take away my confusion of waking up in an unfamiliar room.

"Is this a clinic?" I wondered aloud. Then, the door opened. Alfred, the suit from earlier, walked into the room. Behind him were two others. One of them was the receptionist that was helping me register, while the other was another unfamiliar older woman that wore a white coat and suit.

"This is the boy," Alfred said as he turned to the others. Then he gave a quick nod and left the room, closing the door behind me.

"I see," The woman with the white suit said. She walked to the side of the bed, then looked at me. Her eyes met with mine for a moment before she turned around and brought up a chair from nearby. The receptionist did the same and sat at the woman's side as she looked at Icarus with surprise.

"Who are you?" I asked as I looked at the woman. Based on the woman's confidence and the way Alfred spoke when addressing her, I understood that the woman held a very high position in the guild, "Are you the guild master?"

"No," The woman laughed. She shook her head, then looked to me and began to relax her body in the chair. She put her hands to her thighs, then looked to the receptionist, "Rebecca, this is the same boy? The one that wanted to register the hard way?"

"It is," Rebecca nodded as she turned away from Icarus. The older woman nodded, then looked back to me.

"I'll be frank with you, boy," The woman said, "I want you."