Chapter 48 - Elder Dragon

One race of monsters stands above any other of the dangerous creatures of the Tower.

Dragons.

Dragons are said to be among the most powerful race of monsters ever discovered. Nobody knows much about them though because they aren't among the lower floors, I'm not even entirely sure where Dragons reside in the Tower.

So what was one doing on the sixth floor?

Even though Arga pulled out her sword a minute ago, she wasn't moving. She didn't seem sure of herself, almost like she was second-guessing her actions.

That girl on the other hand…

The scared girl kid against the wall was just as scared as Arga, her feet and hands were trembling with a nervous shake. It was an intense fear that I hadn't seen from a monster before, something felt off about this.

I'd never heard of a Dragon looking like a human before, only that they have tails and horns just like those of hers.

Every book and even the few adventurers who've been drunk enough to talk about it. They all said the same thing; that those monsters were massive scaly beasts able to breathe out fire and fly across the sky with their massive wings.

This girl doesn't fit the bill at all, she's not even taller than me.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Didn't you hear me, she's not human!" Arga called out.

I ignored her warnings and walked closer to the frightened girl, once I was close enough I knelt down and extended out my hand.

"Even if she isn't…we should save her shouldn't we?"

"…"

I glanced over my shoulder to speak to Arga but she didn't have a reply. At the very least she put her weapon down and stood there quietly.

I turned back to the girl and her frightened expression was still at large. I could see the sharp curves of her four canine teeth, but the rest were no sharper than a regular person's.

Her nails were a little longer too and looked naturally pink, a beautiful shade of cherry that complimented her skin. What seemed to stick out the most was the gold and red ball dress she was wearing.

It looked way more expensive than anything I'd ever owned, maybe even more than the gear I was wearing.

"Uhm little miss, I promise we won't hurt you. I just want to help."

I stared into her eyes hoping to convince her but the golden jewels staring back at me caught me in its grace. Suddenly the wave of fear and agitation she was feeling all came rushing into me. I nearly collapsed to the ground, ready to run and scream.

I was feeling her emotions.

I was close to collapsing—but I held on. I kept my body up straight and winced slightly but kept my arm out to her.

I can't go back on my word now, I want to save her. I want to save this scared girl if I can!

Her eyes turned to surprise and her mouth shrunk into a small o.

Suddenly all the restraint in her posture had vanished and she held out her hand to mine, grabbing onto it.

It was warm, warmth unlike any other. It felt so nice that I didn't want to let go. Like holding a fire in my hands without being burnt.

"Will you really save me?" She asked.

Her voice was high-pitched but smooth on the ears, it was a beautiful sound that could be composed into a song. Each word sounded like caramel passing through my ears.

I nodded sincerely.

"Yeah, for sure!"

The girl's mouth fell to a frown and her eyes began to leak. Before I knew it her face was drenched in tears and she didn't look anywhere near stopping.

Oh no, did I make her cry? What did I say? I didn't think I said anything wrong, should I try and hold her—maybe that would be weird.

The warmth in my hand spread to my upper body, the fire had been contained at my chest. My worries and concern for her vanished as she rushed into my arms.

I looked down and a pink head of hair was the only thing in my view.

The girl had jumped into my arms and sobbed against my chest like a baby, crying out everything she had in her.

I can't even imagine what she must have been through to end up here, even if she isn't human she's still a child.

She must have been holding this in for a long time, wandering around by herself. I can't let her go alone, I need to help this girl.

I placed my hand over the back of her head and pet her gently, stroking the back of her hair as she let out all her sadness.

"I promise." I muttered softly.

Arga who had been watching the whole thing walked over to my side and spoke up,

"I'm glad to see you're getting heroic and all but we still don't know what this girl is. We know for certain she can't be human, so that will make things pretty tricky."

"It won't be that bad, will it? She won't hurt us, she was just scared before."

"Sure but we're not the only ones in this place."

My eyes shot open.

She's right, this will be tougher than I thought. Arga reacted like that after seeing her tail and horns, who knows what other adventurers would do in that situation? We're in a Tower where killing monsters is everyone's main focus—carrying a monster with us would be looking for trouble.

Not to mention we don't know where we're going either, we can't exactly bring her outside with us…things feel a bit more difficult now.

After cleaning her face and calming down, the little miss was ready to talk with us. The room we were in didn't seem to get a lot of traffic of adventurers so we guessed talking there wouldn't be a problem.

"Can you tell us you're name first?"

Her eyes were half open, still red and puffy from her crying.

"Alice."

She responded simply.

"Monsters having people's names, I never thought I'd see the day. Weird things really do happen inside the Tower." Arga said with a sceptical grin to the little girl.

"Alice. It's a cute name." I responded.

Her smile returned and her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. She finally looked a little happier, even if it was just a smidge.

"I'm Rei Alos, this is my friend Arga."

Arga nodded to the girl and shot her a small smirk.

"Rei...Rei Alos." She repeated to herself as if she were burning it into her memory.

"Thank you for saving me, Rei Alos."

"Did she already forget about me…" Arga moped.

"Just Rei is fine." I said while scratching the back of my head, embarrassed. "Oh, you didn't tell us you're last name."

"Last name?" Alice responded.

"Uh…never mind."

I guess monsters wouldn't have a need for last names if I think about it. Then again, I didn't think they would have first names either.

"If you wouldn't mind telling us, what are you doing down here?" I asked.

Her face turned gloomy again. It took a while for her to respond but she managed to answer it without any problems.

"I was running, my brothers told me to keep running."

"Your brothers?"

"Yes, both of them were with me when we left home. They said something bad was coming for us, that we had to leave as soon as possible."

So there are others just like her, more monsters that can talk and communicate like we do. They don't even sound like monsters at this point.

"So where did they go?" Arga chimed in.

Alice hesitated to respond.

"…I don't know." She frowned.

"Your brothers, they said something was coming for you right? Do you know what?"

Alice shook her head from side to side, she had no clue.

An unknown enemy then…what kind of monster makes a dragon run in fear? I don't want to meet whatever can do that.

"Something doesn't add up." Arga who had been mostly listening chimed in once more, this time with a confused look on her face.

"You're not a human right, so how come you can talk? I've never heard of a monster being able to converse like this before."

"My brother said Elder dragons are all able to talk. He said that lower races always try and attack us if they get the chance because they don't know any better."

Arga who had posed the question was left with more questions now than ever. She threw her gaze to me hoping I would have some idea of what she was talking about but I was just as clueless.

I locked eyes with her, sharing confused stares with her.

"What's an Elder dragon?"