After traveling in the kingdom for a month to gain experience and see the lives of our people, I Lorinda Arya Azalea the princess of the Azalean Kingdom, decided to return home. I saw many towns in the kingdom, most of which had little to no problems. One thing that did pique my interest is that there have been strange monsters appearing. The adventurers who found them said that the monsters would just look at them, nod then walks away, sometimes they even help the adventurers kill monsters they were struggling with then escort them out of the forest, or try and stay with the adventurers when they meet. I have not personally seen any of these monsters but I would definitely like to in the future. 

"... ces...Princes!" (Maid)

"What? Sorry I was just thinking about things."

"Now is not the time to be thinking! There are bandits!" (Maid)

I was calm at first but things were not sounding good. My father had sent 4 of his most elite knights and 11 other knights that are strong, however, they were falling way faster than they would if it was normal bandits. I was starting to get a bad prenotion that these 'bandits' were not just bandits but people who planned this attack and had inside information. I really hoped that it was just my overactive imagination. 

"There are only 3 left of you knights and 15 of us 'bandits.' Will you surrender and hand the princess over or will you die a dog's death."

"We...will...never SURRENDER!"

"Haaaaah... Death it is then. Duke Elwin better pay us well for this."

[...........aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH WATCH OUT!]

"Huh?" (Bandits)

"Huh?" (Knights)

"Huh?" (Princes and Maid)

A gray dragon had faceplanted between the knights and bandits. All of us were dumbfounded as it slowly got up. It started wiping the dust off itself in a very human-like fashion and began to speak again.

[Owowowow, man why does it have to be so much harder to fly after evolving.]

It started looking at the bandits, then to us, and brought its claws to its chin as if to scratch something. After a moment it then brought its hand down onto its palm like it found its answer.

[AH! I am interrupting something, aren't I?]

I yelled to the dragon "Please help us! Those bandits are attacking us!"

[Hmm, Ok!]

That was easy! Everyone had the same thoughts at the moment.

It then swung its tail at the bandits nocking 10 of them out of commission and leaving the other 5 shaking. The dragon then put its claws next to 2 bandits then flicked them away. Leaving only 3 bandits left.

[Yikes, I didn't mean to hit all of them so hard they would die, jeez this new evolution is broken. Well, I'll heal you and your knights up. ]

A faint glow covered all the knights including the ones that had fallen. The last 3 knights standing were looking at their comrades and had a look as if someone told them something stupid on their face. The knights who had fallen started getting up as nothing happened and were looking extremely confused. 

[It should be even now. Anyways I'm going to fly off now. Cya!]

And the dragon disappeared just as fast as it appeared leaving all of us still in shock.

"Yea... anyways that happened. It's funny how quickly the roles were reversed, what do you say 'bandits' do you surrender?"

"...Yea we surrender, nothing we can do about being outnumbered and our ranks decimated by a dragon."

The bandits dropped their weapons and put their hands on their heads and allowed the knights to tie them up with no resistance. When the knights interrogated them they learned that Duke Elwin had hired them to attack us and capture me and transport me to the neighboring country to be used as leverage against us. 

"Princess, what should we do with the bandits?" (Knight)

"I think we should strip them of any weapons or sharp things and then leave them here."

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we just finish them here then move on?" 

"If they are stripped of anything they won't be able to do much, either they live with nothing or the monsters get them. I have seen enough death today and I honestly don't want to see more. I do however want to go follow that dragon because if we can get a dragon on our side that would be amazing."

"How do you think we are going to find it? It could be anywhere and it likely wouldn't fly in a straight line."

"...You're right... let's just go in the direction the dragon went to see if we can find traces of it in villages in that direction, if we pass 5 villages with no sign let's continue home."

"Very well Princess" 

Our carriage departed leaving the 3 bandits that were still alive tied up and alone and headed towards the nearest village. Our short detour took a few days and the first two villages had no clues of where the dragon was but at the third village, we found the dragon just sitting in the middle of the village. 

"Is that dragon an idiot?" (Lorinda)

My maid then facepalmed and said, "I think so princess, I think so."

The dragon looked over and waved to us when he recognized us.

[Oh hey! It's the folks I helped a few days ago! How are you guys doing!]

I resisted the urge to facepalm just like my maid as we approached the center of the village.

"Dragon, do you mind if I ask what you are doing here in this village?" (Lorinda)

[I saw a bunch of monsters attacking the village so I helped them out. They asked me to stay for their feast and here we are.]

"Oh...ok. By the way, do you have a name?"

[Yea, my name is Max but I don't really mind what you call me.]

"Well then Max, I ask you to please continue protecting the people as you have and if it is possible can you help us when we call for it?" (Lorinda)

[Sure I was planning on helping people anyways. However, I do not want to be involved in wars against other nations. The exception is when the nation you are up against uses monsters to fight this nation.]

"Thank you very much. On my name Lorinda Arya Azalea, the princess of the Azalean Kingdom, I swear that we will never ask for your help in wars against nations."

[...Oh wow, ok. I didn't know you were royalty, if anything I thought you were just some noble lady. Oh yea, I just remembered. How are you going to call me if you don't know where to find me?]

"I...completely overlooked that."

[Oh I got a great idea! When I find a home I'll just fly to your castle and drop by to show you where I will keep my home!]

Everyone who heard his 'great idea' thought the same thing, Yep, he's a clueless idiot.

"Uh Max, you do realize that if you fly straight into the castle it will cause chaos right?"

[Oh shit I completely forgot about that. Do you have a better idea?]

"Hmmm, maybe I could tame you and you could come live with me?"

[Oh that's a great idea! Let's do that!... So how do you tame me?]

"Through a taming contract, there are 2 methods of creating a taming contract but only one is realistic in this situation. The first is through me beating you through force, which I highly doubt I can do. The second is by having the contracted beast and the tamer to give conditions and agree."

[Sounds easy enough. I guess I only have 3 conditions, first is to still have my own free will, the second I want food and a place to stay, and finally not to be included in the wars of other countries unless I agree to join them. Well I guess that was 4 but ok.]

"Since you have given your conditions I will give mine, first is to protect me the best you can, the second help my nation when it needs it, and finally do not harm my country's men or women. Do you accept these conditions?"

[I accept.]

A bright light covered the dragon as the taming contract was complete and when the light dissipated there was a tiny dragon about the size of a housecat. 

[HUH WHY AM I TINY!]  The now, high-pitched dragon shouted.

"When a taming contract is completed the tamed beast is shrunk down so the tamer can hold the tamed beast, while it is small it still has the same strength it normally would and the tamed beast can also transform back into the size it once was. After all, it would be hard to bring a dragon around if it was 15 meters large like yourself."

[Oh ok, well let's finish the feast then head home I guess]

The feast continued without any problems occurring and we decided to head back home in the morning. The now, chibi-dragon Max waved to the villagers when we left in the morning then sat down in the carriage and went back to sleep. 

"Princess...Is it just me or can I only see that dragon as a small pet?" (Maid)

"No, it's not just you Mindy. How do you think Father is going to react when he hears I tamed a dragon, with good conditions as well."

"I think he will not believe you at first but when you actually show him he will faint in shock."

"Hahahaha, I can see that happening. I think mother will just nod and just assume it's the most normal thing while taking care of dad."

The rest of the ride home was peaceful and nothing memorable happened. Max slept and talked a lot and conplained that the carriage was way more bouncy than he was used to. Where would a dragon get used to carriages? Anyways when we got home my parents had reacted the way we had predicted them to in the carriage a few days earlier.