CHAPTER 44: “WHERE THE DRAGON SLEEPS”

Familiar walls and furniture made of bamboo weavings, that same glass of warm tea on the coffee table and the same view of a ruined village outside of the window. Once again, they were seated, Athens in its owl form on Ai’s lap, in Tirto’s living room with the old man sitting across from them while casually sipping his tea.

If this was before the whole mess from last night, Ai would’ve gladly drank the tea as to not be rude, but now he was a bit nervous about taking food or drinks from strangers, suddenly recalling the legend back in the real world about eating food from the underworld.

While waiting for Tirto, Ai glanced at the window again. He wasn’t looking at the view outside but more on the beams of sunlight gently showering through the opening. He had glanced at it for so many times now, constantly making sure that the sun was truly out and it wasn’t just his imagination. The happenings from last night rattled him more than he thought. When dawn started to break that morning, he could only feel relief that he didn’t need to deal with more ghosts. Now though, he could understand a bit more about Morion’s fear of ghosts. There was a certain feeling of anxiety when thinking about how terrifying creatures could suddenly jump out from the darkness and scare you.

“Travelers,” Tirto settled his now empty glass on the table with two full glasses of tea. Just like Ai, Morion had also opted to subtly decline the tea. “I’m so glad that you’ve decided to stay.”

The old man clapped his hands happily, the corner of his wrinkling from the smile he had on his face.

“Most travelers that come here often disappear before dawn breaks, you see. As such, I have been unable to ask for their help in vanquishing this dragon.”

The word ‘disappear’ was quite ominous. It could mean that the players who came here ran away at the sight of the ghosts and their antics or they died and respawned elsewhere. Remembering the shapeshifting ghosts from last night, it wasn’t hard to believe that some players were killed off without much of a fight.

“Are we the first travelers to ever stay the night? Because we saw some things last night...”

Morion leaned forward as he asked the question, causing the pendant around his neck to swing into Ai’s vision. Was it just him or did the gem’s red color grow even redder and darker? If it didn’t look like solidified blood before, it certainly looked like one now.

“Ah the spirits.” Tirto sighed, not looking at all shocked. “Setans as the villagers used to call them. We believed them to be urban legends, but I didn’t think they existed for real and would be drawn by the lingering spirits of the dead villagers. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you see?”

It was then that Ai started to describe what he had seen. From the child to the woman with long hair to the hairy creature that posed as Morion. Every detail, he tried not to skip over.

Tirto tapped his chin for a bit then gave both of them a pat on the shoulder. “A fearsome ensemble. You even managed to defeat the spirit who shapeshifts into people’s lovers to lure them, not an easy feat! Ah, you truly are brave travelers! I’m delighted that you were the ones who are willing to help us!”

A ding in the [Thought System].

Earned [Tirto’s Admiration] from NPC Tirto of the Haunted Village!

The remaining resident of the village, Tirto, has given you his admiration for being brave travelers! 

Extra Quests unlocked!

It was really quite peculiar. The rewards for the quests in the village didn’t give rewards, but rather it gave more quests and pathways. A Mediator special, he wondered? 

“Please, allow me to guide you to the dragon’s den.”

With that, the old man NPC stood and rushed off to another room. Ai heard shuffling of papers and boxes but ultimately didn’t know what exactly Tirto wanted to get for them.

In the meantime, Ai asked Morion about the extra quests that were unlocked just now, but it turned out that the other player didn’t get the same notification or reward. 

“I did get the dragon quest, but this must be a Mediator only path.” Morion said, giving Ai a pat on the head as if to reassure him.

He really didn’t know why Morion liked to touch his head so much. Was it that fun to pat someone on the head? Did he resemble a puppy or something? Should he try and do it to Morion as well to see what was so fun about it?

Unfortunately, before he could sate his curiosity, Tirto had returned with a scroll in their hands. They carefully unfurled the paper across the table. The paper was an old map of the village, probably made way before the village got destroyed. Still, Ai recognized a few areas, like the forest area with the open tree roots and the largest area of the village where the spirit had taken him to.

His previous speculation about the village was right, it was divided into a few areas separated by a line of trees. Each area was small, but the actual entirety of the village was big. It must’ve housed so many people and yet...only one survived. If the dragon was really the one who killed everyone, then it wasn’t a foe to be underestimated.

Tirto explained briefly some of the areas. The largest area was mostly for gatherings while the other pocket areas were residentials. Not surprisingly, the forest part with the exposed tree roots was actually a forbidden area. The roots were called Akar Mimang Jawa and it made people lose their sense of direction and made them go in circles.

After explaining other little areas, Tirto then traced his finger from the south of the village to a part of the forest just before the mountains. There, Tirto pointed at a drawing of a cave opening that led to an underground cave area, below the mountain, where the dragon supposedly slept.

“Please be careful, release the souls of the dead here by slaying this dragon for us.”

***

The cave wasn’t as far as Ai thought it was. They started walking from Tirto’s house before noon and yet the sun was still high up in the sky when they arrived at the cave opening.

As they looked into the dark cave, there was really not much to see but one could spot the downwards slope of the cave. Cold air even blew from inside, as if the dragon’s sleeping breath was strong enough to reach there.

“Can you use your lantern?”

Ai gave Morion a confused look then shrugged. “I think it’s just decorative, but I’ll try.”

As he expected, the lantern only flickered pathetically before refusing to light up at all. Ai wasn’t surprised or disappointed, he really had no expectation for the item to have any miscellaneous functionality such as being an actual lantern. 

Morion suppressed a laugh then pulled out a single smooth stone from his inventory. It didn’t look all that spectacular but after they descended into the darkness, the stone in his hand glowed. Not too bright, but enough to at least illuminate the path in front of them.

The path took them underground. It was a slope then after a certain depth, it gradually evened out. As they reached deeper and deeper, the sunlight slowly tapered out until Morion’s stone was the only remaining light source.

The cave was eerily quiet, the only sounds coming from their footsteps and the pebbles and dust they were kicking as they walked. It seemed like there were no living beings here. Not a single bat or creepy crawlies. It was deathly silent. 

Maybe because a dragon lived in these caves, no other creature dared to venture in here? Though he found it quite unlikely for even bugs and other small cave creatures to not find home here since those were creatures that dragons didn’t target. 

Speaking of which, there was also an absence of bones and other creature remains that a dragon usually ate. Dragons were ferocious creatures that needed a lot of food everyday so why was it that this cave was empty of such remains? 

Soon, both of them reached the end of the cave corridor and were faced with another short slope, going further down into the main room of the cavern. This room was tall and spacious. There were cracks in the ceiling that allowed sunlight to come through and highlight what was in the cave room. If he were to compare it, it was probably the size of a small theatre dome or something. In the centre of this room was the dragon they were looking for. 

Athens took flight and circled around the cave ceiling before landing on top of the beast, but Ai wasn’t worried about that at all, because staring at this dragon, Ai realized that this cave wasn’t its home. This cave was a dragon’s grave.

Yes, there was a dragon. Dragon bones.