Looking back at the Dragon and Bunny Ariara can see Fimo stretching, starting to wake up, with a little smile she nods to him and goes out of the room, following the Kobold Priest. While going down the tunnel she can hear different kinds of noises from the room she left, leaving her to guess the two are at least trying to converse.
Reaching the room they've been in before Ariara can see a piece of paper, surprisingly enough. It has evidently been scribbled on, and definitely not by someone experienced in geography, question marks and X's laid out in the forest, horns drawn with brown color in a to the north of the forest, Ariara assuming this is a map of the place, but cringing a bit at how badly made this map is...
"First thing first... I've seen you've bonded with one of the dragon hatchlings?" The Kobold asks, Ariara nodding in response "You see... Kobolds have never seen dragon hatchlings before, dragon mothers don't allow anyone near their children until they're grown up, which is why we were all not sure what to do when a few of the dragons died... Sadly, of five eggs only two survived and hatched, most died of heat" The Priest explains, Ariara thinking it makes sense, considering how the Kobolds were rushing around and no one was taking a stand to go to the hatching egg...
"I'll be providing my best to teach the two all I can about dragon culture and the world of course" The priest conveys, Ariara feeling a bit relieved, she barely knew anything about this world after all. "The next matter, however... Is more concerning." He says with a serious face, pointing on the map to a place outside of the forest where a heart is drawn "This is our Hero's current outpost, since the dragons can't fight he's taken it upon himself to keep the enemies at bay alone while we figure out the situation... Yesterday, the kobold squad that was supposed to deliver him supplies returned terrified, he's under siege by the Vikings..." The Priest says with sadness, Ariara immediately understanding the situation, this is trouble.
"Before going the hero told us to only engage if they'd get closer to camp, but otherwise not to send kobolds... Please, save our hero. We don't know for how much he's been sieged for and how much his supplies will last." With a swift movement the Kobold gets on his knees, they couldn't lose their hero. Especially not now that all their dragons were sick and dying. Ariara steps back at this, could she really deny? She's already gotten their help, she needed allies but... Going up against the Vikings meant taking aside. Uncertainty clouds her vision, she wants to help them...
"I will help you... But I'll do so as a third party, I don't want to take the monster's side yet..." Ariara conveys, with her wings motioning for him to get up, she feels bad for him, it seems like the whole world is out to get these Kobolds... Apart from the Dragon Hero.
"I don't know how I can thank you. Apart from the Lizardmen's help, we can't do much but they have their own trouble... Please, accept this." Moving once more towards that hole in the hole Ariara starts to consider like a drawer he crawls in a bit before starting to pull something, then picking it up and coming back with a necklace, a small dragon skull hanging on the end of it, two seeds fitting perfectly in the eye slots. "Going around with this Kobolds will definitely see you on their side, and Dragons will understand you're not a threat..."
Ariara lowers her head a bit... And then more when realizing the height difference, she thinks it's a bit ominous to wear the skull of a dragon, or at the very least something small that looks like a dragon's skull, but she can tell this has some sort of cultural value and she can't continue getting small looks from the kobold, especially knowing what she's been told about dragon's and harpies' relationship.
"I do have a question of my own..." Ariara starts, the kobold immediately perking his ears up, ready, and willing to answer the best he can. "How does one learn a language? I want to communicate with kobolds, dragons, and my bunny friend but I can only speak this language." Ariara conveys, kind of tired of this language barrier.
"Ah... Learning a language is a hard process. Think of it as learning a new skill in life, like cooking. The way I've learned Harpian is that I've tried communicating with harpies and trying to understand them. First, a few brought books and started to motion what the words meant, then I've learned to write them myself, after that they correlated the words to the writing and I started trying to understand what they meant based on motion, words and tone... It took me... Eight years?" The Priest monologues, Ariara sighing at the explanation, it makes sense it'd be that hard, but she doesn't have years to use so sparingly. An idea comes to her mind to use her skill feathers ability to gain a Language skill if they exist, but otherwise wouldn't she have the Harpian skill in her Status?
"Thank you for your time, we'll be preparing supplies and a group of Kobolds to lead you to the outpost. Please be prepared by the time the sun strikes the middle of the sky." With those words said Ariara nods and the two bid their goodbyes, Ariara heading straight back to her room where she can see the dragon eating some breakfast, Fimo having been provided some grass which he doesn't seem to mind, eating it happily. With the Harpy entering the room she's waved at by the bunny, which she exchanges. The hatchling takes a bit to notice her, being more occupied by his meal, but eventually does and his tail starts wagging.
Instead of asking her share, she moves over to the hay bed and picks up the feather from before by awkwardly curling her right wing around it, then heading to Fimo and crouching down.
"Fimo, please put this on the hatchling." She asks, the Harpy knows Fimo can't understand her but she really doesnt have much of a choice. Motioning the wing with the feather and then pointing to the hatchling Fimo moves his front paws forward, accepting the feather into them and hopping over to the hatchling with his hind feet. The hatchling is just done eating, now looking at Fimo a bit curiously as the bunny awkwardly tries to adorn the feather on the baby's head, Ariara watching while hoping Heat Mitigator might help at the very least if the unlikely happens.
Could her ice breath help cool down the big green dragon? Even if it's temporary?
Maybe, it is an attack but considering how they've been framed for being thick-scaled they probably wouldn't mind. It would last little though, considering her mana pool.
@Ariara yeah but with the kobold bucket of water she could freeze the water creating a ice cover even if temporary?
Thanks for the chapter!~
Thanks for reading!
Is the hatchling male or female (what does it look like with colors and such)?
Male, he has a snow-white color with a slightly gray part on the belly and extension of wings.
@Ariara How about Hrim (hrím) which is Norse for hoar frost which is grayish white. Dragon may be some kind of ice dragon too so it fits (though would MC know about Norse stuff? guess can just say she glanced at such things?).
@Ediav42 She used to play videogames a lot so maybe! Norse Culture is popular when making some RPGs (At the very least I've seen it a few times), so Hrim would work ^^
I was hoping so ^^