The Blue Mage Raised by Dragons Page 3

  “I’m afraid that’s beyond our capabilities,” the king said. “I’ll put a request in to the guild, but you shouldn’t get your hopes up.”

  Rudolph grumbled.

  3

  Three blacked-hair, purple-eyed kids, two boys and one girl, were eating at a rectangular table with a horned man and woman: The man sat at the head of the table while the boys sat on one side, and the mother and daughter sat on the other. The girl had two-inch-long red horns growing out of her temples, curving towards the back of her head. There were bumps on the boys’ temples. Red curtains were draped across a massive window that let in a beam of sunlight. Outside, the tops of gray buildings with red-tiled roofs could be seen stretching off into the distance. The citizens down below were the size of ants.

  The man placed his knife and fork down and dabbed a napkin to his lips. He pushed his chair back and stretched his feet out, letting the plush carpet brush against his heels. The children also placed their utensils down before wiping their mouths while the mother continued eating, furrowing her brow at her husband. He cleared his throat, and the children turned their heads. His gaze glanced over the two boys before lingering on the girl. His voice flowed like silk, “The three of you are now old enough to attend school.”

  His wife frowned. Isn’t it too soon? she thought but didn’t say anything, opting to stab the bottom of the dinner plate through her steak with her fork.

  The man’s lips twisted into a wry smile before he continued speaking, “You are the children of the demon lord—great things are expected of you. How can you achieve anything if you’re stuck in school past adulthood? You will learn how to lead our people to victory against the humans.”

  The woman’s frown extended and cracks formed on the dinner plate as her hand trembled. “Even Tafel?” she asked. Her four horns glowed with a red hue that was barely noticeable under the sunlight.

  “Especially Tafel. She’s only five years old, but her horns are longer than some demons’ ever will be. Imagine how strong she’ll be when she’s an adult,” the man answered. A smile crept onto the man’s face as he stared at his daughter’s expressionless face. He picked up his fork and resumed his meal.

  “I’m stronger than her, Dad,” one of the boys said and snorted. “Older too.”

  “Shut up, Gabe. You’re only older than us by a few seconds,” his brother said.

  Gabriel lifted his head and crossed his arms while smiling. “That still means I’m the oldest, Lame-o,” he said. Tafel shook her head and resumed eating. Lamach made a face at Gabriel and picked up his own fork.

  A plate shattered, causing the family to turn towards the sound. The woman’s horns were pulsing with a bright-red light now. “How is Tafel going to get married if she’s to spend her days learning about war? Will she find a husband who trained to be a wife?”

  “It’s fine, Mom,” Tafel said, glancing at her father’s face. His eyes were slightly narrowed. “I want to go to school.” Her dad smiled at her.

  “No. It isn’t fine. You’re going to be a proper young lady, not some warmongering tomboy,” her mother said, causing the man to scowl. Tafel pouted at her father.

  “Then how about homeschooling for Tafel? She doesn’t need to learn any war methods, but she should at least learn how to defend herself,” the man said. “We can hire”—the man’s eyes narrowed for an instant—“Dustin to teach her magic, and Prim can watch over her. I trust this arrangement should be satisfactory?”

  “That’s not fair,” Gabriel said. “How come she gets to learn from Dustin?”

  “Hush, eat your food,” his mother said, her horns dimming. She turned towards her husband and pursed her lips. “Fine. We’ll have Dustin teach her. His rates will be extremely expensive though.” Her face hardened.

  The man shrugged and smiled. He placed his hand on his wife’s before speaking, “We don’t lack money. Hiring a top-tier mage to teach the future demon lord can be counted as money allocated for defense.”

  Tafel stuck her tongue out at Gabriel before picking up her fork.

  ***

  Sera yawned and opened her eyes, smacking her lips together. “Vur?” she asked as she rolled her shoulders and sat on her haunches. She blinked and glanced around the cave which was illuminated by golden lines running along the walls. A snoring sound caught her attention, and she turned around. Vernon was lying on his back with his arms and feet sticking up into the air. The ground trembled as the golden dragon’s mouth opened and inhaled with a rumbling sound. Sera’s tail flashed and smacked Vernon’s belly.

  “Uahg!?” Vernon’s eyes shot open as he was interrupted mid-snore. He wiped a strand of saliva away with the back of his paw and raised his head. His gaze followed the sky-blue tail on his belly until he ended up staring at his mate’s scowling face. “Sera?”

  “Where’s Vur?” Sera asked and narrowed her eyes. “It was your turn to watch him.”

  “Eh?” Vernon asked as he rolled over onto his feet. “He’s right … not here….” He scratched his head and peered underneath himself. He frowned and muttered, “Did I squish him while sleeping again?”

  “What the hell do you mean again!?” Sera roared and tackled Vernon, pinning him onto his back. “How many times have you done that?”

  “Uh, twenty some…? I mean once! Once! I only did it one time!” Vernon shouted and covered his snout. Sera snorted and climbed off of her mate, her tail swishing and knocking piles of golden ingots over.

  A red dragonhead peeked into the cave. “Hey-o, matriarch,” Prika said and waved, the sunlight glinting off her red scales. “Did something happen?”

  “Vur’s missing,” Sera said.

  Prika blinked. Seconds passed. Prika blinked again as her head tilted. “So?”

  “What do you mean so?”

  “He always goes missing,” Prika said. “Every time you go to sleep and Vernon’s supposed to watch over him, Vur runs off with his adopted son.”

  Sera’s eyes flashed as she whirled around to face her mate. She bared her teeth and growled. “Explain.”

  Vernon’s eyes darted to the cave entrance, but Prika was already long gone. The red dragon snickered as she flew away from the cave towards the depths of the valley. Screams and whimpers reached her ears as she stretched her wings. She landed in front of a cave with red boulders by the entrance and smiled as she climbed inside, curling up into a ball. “That’s what you get for stealing my dinner,” she said and hummed to herself as the distant, strained voice of a pleading dragon reached her ears.

  Meanwhile, in a location nearly fifty miles away from the dragons’ valley, a naked boy and a baby boar were wandering through the forest—both of them on all fours. A golden rune was flashing on the boar’s head, and every animal that saw the light quickly ran away. Some beasts made themselves scarce before the duo even came into view. Eventually, the duo reached a glade with an enormous tree.

  “We finally made it!” Vur said and gazed at the tree. Ever since Vur had seen the tree from the top of the dragons’ mountain, he wanted to see it in person. It was larger than he thought: The width of the trunk was as long as half a dragon, but the most remarkable part about the tree was its height. He couldn’t even see the top while looking up at it from the ground. Golden sparkles in the branches caught his attention.

  “Oink!”

  “What? You want to eat that?” Vur asked while pointing. Snuffles nodded his head and wiggled his rump. Vur nodded at the golden fruit in the tree above him. “Alright.” His eyes glowed with a golden light, and the branches near the top of the tree bent, but the fruit didn’t fall. He frowned and furrowed his brows as his eyes narrowed. The golden light increased in intensity, and he reached upwards with his right hand.

  The tree groaned as the branches dipped even further. A single horizontal line formed on its trunk.

  “Stupid tree!” Vur shouted and stamped his foot. His eyes glowed as bright as the sun, and his hand trembled as sweat dripped from his forehead. The lin
e on the tree trunk widened and splintered. Vur panted and let out a roar while stomping his foot against the ground again. The forest fell silent before a thunder-like noise echoed outwards with the tree as its epicenter. Leaves rustled and the top half of the tree leaned to one side.

  “Oops,” Vur said as he stared at the falling tree. His eyes stopped glowing as he tilted his head to the side and scratched his butt. The rumbling sound the tree produced while falling through the air was like thousands of waves crashing upon a rocky shore. The ground shook and a massive dust cloud flew into the air as the top of the tree landed on the forest below, shattering hundreds of trees and bushes. Vur and Snuffles braced themselves, digging their limbs into the ground as the shockwave from the impact washed over their bodies.

  “Squee!” Snuffles squealed and ran over to the fallen branches, rummaging for the golden fruits with his snout. Vur dusted himself off before trotting over and picking up a fruit. The two indulged in the sweet fruit until their stomachs were bloated and their bodies round. They couldn’t count the number of fruit they ate even if they tried. Vur had learned from a young age to eat as much as possible because his next meal could be days or weeks later. Sadly, only the fruit on the lowest branches were gold and ripe—the ones near the top were black and solid like rocks.

  “That was really good,” Vur said as he groaned and curled up to take a nap. Snuffles waddled over and fell onto his side, exhaling as his perfectly round and bloated body wobbled back and forth.

  “The Great Tree has fallen! Kill the trespassers!”

  A group of seven women with pointed ears emerged from the direction opposite of where the tree fell. “Dragon! How dare you violate the treaty between … uh, dragon?”

  “Do you see a dragon?” one of the women asked with her bow raised. She muttered, “Can we even fight a dragon?”

  “No, but I can feel its aura,” the one who spoke first said. She was wearing an outfit made of brown leather and had a wooden spear marked with golden etchings. She scanned the surroundings before her gaze stopped on the bloated duo. She glared at Vur and raised her spear. “Did you do this?” Her hands were white as she gripped her spear and pointed it at Vur. “Speak!”

  Vur shook his head and hugged Snuffles. The woman with the bow said, “Don’t be ridiculous, Celia. How can an elf … human? How did such a young human get here?”

  “I’m not a filthy human,” Vur said, copying Grimmy’s language. “I’m a dragon!” He sucked in a deep breath, causing a golden rune to appear on his forehead. The elves stared at him with their brows furrowed and weapons raised. Vur roared. The ground trembled, and the surrounding forest fell silent. The group of elves jumped backwards and almost tripped over each other.

  “What the Aeris was that!?” Celia asked. Her knees knocked together. The elves standing behind her weren’t in better shape. They stared at the naked little boy who was glaring at them while holding a spherical boar. Celia bit her lower lip. How can a child look so haughty while naked?

  “Was it his presence we felt earlier?” one of the elves asked in a whisper.

  “It’s possible. Could a dragon have imprinted him? What dragon would be crazy enough to imprint a human child?”

  “I heard the dragon matriarch lost another egg a few years ago. Could it have been her?”

  Celia raised her spear, cutting off further discussion between the elves. “Who’s your bond-mother?” she asked, eyeing Vur with her brows furrowed.

  “Mama,” Vur said and nodded.

  “Yes, who is your mama?”

  “Mama is Mama. Are you stupid?” Vur asked while tilting his head. “Grimmy told me to stay away from stupid people or else I’ll become stupid too.”

  “Grimmy? Grimmoldesser?” one of the elves whispered.

  “Grimmy is Grimmy—not Grimmoldepants. You are stupid. Let’s go Snuffles.” Vur shook his head before turning around and walking away.

  One of the elves stepped forward to stop him, but Celia blocked her. The elf she blocked raised an eyebrow. Celia waited until Vur’s figure disappeared into the forest before speaking, “We need to have a talk with the matriarch; let the elders know when we get back. Dragons are beyond our jurisdiction.”

  Vur lowered his head and petted the bloated Snuffles in his arms as he walked back towards the dragons’ valley. “What do you think those things were?” he asked. “They looked like me but uglier and taller.” Snuffles burped in reply and closed his eyes. Vur shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll ask Mama when I get back.”

  The journey back to the valley took three days, but the duo encountered no troubles due to the golden mark on Snuffles’ forehead. When Vur entered the valley—his body no longer rotund—a silver dragonhead peered out of a cave and towards the entrance. Leila smiled and waved at him before opening her mouth to shout, “Vur’s back!”

  The ground rumbled as a sky-blue dragon holding a golden object flew towards the sky from the furthest mountain in the distance. Vur squinted his eyes. Sera approached him with Vernon in her claws. A red blur appeared from the west, and a black dragonhead appeared by Leila’s side. The five dragons gathered around Vur, staring at him with their reptilian eyes. Vur took a step back and blinked while pouting. “Mama found out?”

  “I told you she’d catch you sneaking out one day,” Grimmy said, cupping his hand over his mouth while pretending to whisper. “This is why you should always leave an illusion behind. Want me to kidnap a fairy for you? They’re good at trickery.”

  Leila tugged Grimmy’s wing. “Stop corrupting the youth,” she said. Sera glared at Grimmy, causing him to chuckle and wave his hand dismissively.

  “Vur,” Sera said and sat on her haunches, releasing Vernon. “Did you knock down the elves’ Sacred Tree of Knowledge?”

  Vur shook his head and hugged Snuffles. “Just a tree, no knowledge.”

  “…”

  Sera cleared her throat. “Were there golden fruits?”

  Vur nodded. “They were very delicious,” he said. “Umm, not as juicy as bear meat though. They also gave me a bellyache.”

  “Did you eat them all…?”

  “No, Snuffles ate half.”

  Snuffles raised his head and glanced around before going back to sleep. Sera sighed.

  “What’s wrong, Sera?” Grimmy asked while laughing. “The elves can just plant another one.”

  “That tree takes over 500 years to grow and one year to bear a single fruit. As the matriarch of this land, I can’t just ignore their complaints. The elves want to take Vur and properly educate him,” Sera said.

  “No! I don’t want to. I’ll turn stupid,” Vur said and shook his head back and forth. “You won’t make me go, right, Uncle Grimmy?”

  Sera glared at Grimmy. “It’s your fault too for teaching Vur such nonsense.”

  Grimmy snorted. “You’re the one who insisted Vur was a dragon. I just taught him our principles.”

  Vur pouted. “I am a dragon. Papa said I’ll grow wings and scales when I grow up. Papa wouldn’t lie to me because Mama said dragons don’t lie.”

  All the dragons stared at Vernon who let out a soft cough. “Ah, Vur … didn’t you lie about not knocking down the tree to the elves? That means you can’t grow wings and scales anymore.” Vernon smiled at the dragons who were looking at him and received a smack to his snout from Sera.

  “What? I fixed it,” Vernon said while rubbing his nose.

  “I feel bad now; when are we going to tell him?” Leila mumbled to Grimmy.

  “Tell me what?” Vur asked.

  “You’re adopted!” Prika said. All the dragons glared at the red dragon who clamped her claws over her mouth.

  “What’s adopted?” Vur asked and tilted his head.

  “It means we love you no matter what,” Sera said while still glaring at Prika.

  “Oh, I’m adopted!” Vur said with a smile. “You’re adopted too, Mama.” Sera’s head started to throb.

  “Don’t let Grandpa hear you say that or h
e’ll get jealous,” Vernon said.

  “Grandpa’s asleep though. How can he sleep for so long? I still haven’t talked to him yet,” Vur asked.

  “He used up a lot of energy a long time ago, and he still has to rest,” Sera said.

  Vur nodded and yawned. He walked over to Leila and curled up next to her elbow before falling asleep.

  “Are we sending Vur to the elves?” Leila asked while watching the boy’s tummy fall up and down.

  “I think we should. It would be the best for him if he ever wants to leave this range,” Vernon said. “He’s only five, but he toppled a thousand-year-old tree with gravity magic. None of us are good at moderation; the elves should teach him.”

  Prika wrinkled her snout. “You just don’t want to take care of him,” she said. “I vote he stays. Unlike y’all, I don’t have a mate. My life would be super boring without Vur.”

  Grimmy snorted. “You say that, but you do nothing to take care of him either. How many meals have you prepared for him?” he asked. Prika pouted. “Exactly. That boy eats so much food it’s ridiculous. Sometimes you get tired of hunting, y’know? Let someone else take care of him for a while. I bet they’ll send him back within a week.”

  Sera turned towards the silver dragon who was watching Vur sleep. “Leila?”

  Leila frowned. “I’m awfully fond of him now that he doesn’t cry at night, but for his future, I think it’d be best if he learned at least basic mana manipulation from the elves.”

  Sera sighed. “Very well then. That makes three votes to one. Tomorrow, he’ll go learn with the elves,” she said and smiled at Vur. Her face hardened. “But if something were to happen to him….”

  Grimmy chuckled and licked his lips. “I was never on good terms with the elves anyway,” he said as his eyes narrowed. “What’s one or two missing villages?”

  “Did you vote to send him just to create an excuse…?” Leila asked. Her snout wrinkled.

  Grimmy chuckled. “Dear, there’s some questions that shouldn’t be asked because there are no good answers.” He nudged Leila’s cheek, causing her to sigh.