"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh~" Ryder stretched all his limbs, causing a ripple in the hot spring. He picked up a small cup sitting on the edge of the pool, watched a snowflake land on the surface of his beverage in front of a setting sun, and emptied it in one go.
"I apologized for my outburst earlier, Ryder. You know how us dragons are like when we're hungry." Purple was sitting on the opposite side of the pool, looking more human than dragon. The only draconic features remained were a few patches of scales, a pair shrunk-down horns, and a shortened tail. He wrapped his purple arms around the shoulders of a hot young man and a sexy young woman with a dashing smile.
"Oh? The great Terror of The East knows how to apologize after threatening to bite my head off?" the human sneered.
"When I'm in a good mood, yes. In fact, I'll even overlook your attempt at an insult. Aren't I just the most forgiving person~?" He grinned while teasing the young man's cheek with his tail and the young woman's neck with his fingers.
Ryder rolled his eyes. "I'm not taking any responsibility if anything happens to those two."
The dragon ignored him and initiated a... sexual advance on his hookups.
The rider stood up from the pool, disgusted, and went to the one currently accommodating Green with a cup and jug in his hand. The plant dragon wagged his tail excitedly when he saw his rider approaching. After Ryder sat inside the pool, the dragon shifted his posture in a way that his body surrounded his rider while their heads were sitting next to each other.
"I wonder how Brown is enjoying her time with the hot sand. I bet she's loving it." The human patted the dragon as the dragon nuzzled his hand with great affection. "You know, since we're staying here for a week, and getting a new sword means we won't be doing much fighting, you should definitely take the time to learn the language and polymorph spells from Purple."
Green growled with lethargy.
"I know you and Purple don't get along with each other that well, but you want to be able to speak to me like how Brown and Purple do, right? Purple's probably going to be in a good mood for the rest of the week, so do your best, okay? I would love to spend time with you in places only humanoid beings can go."
The dragon blushed and looked away. He then nodded and let out an embarrassed growl.
"That's more like it! Anyway, we'll go and check out the local blacksmith after 10 more minutes." Ryder poured himself another cup and drank.
After they left the hot spring, the human bagged his sword and strolled downhill with his dragon. As they walked on the street, they noticed the citizens of the city were mostly orange-skinned people with a third eye on their forehead. Since they didn't know where the blacksmith shop was, they went back to the Guild to grab a map of the city and a brochure.
"Hmm, interesting." Ryder lifted the brochure closer to his eyes. "The city was founded after a magical cataclysm struck this land. Its founder apparently thought a land of perpetual winter with an active volcano in the middle is a great place for niche businesses to flourish. They're really lucky that their gamble paid off, seeing this is quite the remote location."
Green used his vines to pull his rider closer whenever he strayed too far away while reading. His vines were also holding up the map as he led the both of them to their destination.
"Wow, they even managed to transform all the energy from the active volcano to become the city's primary source of power. Must've taken them years to set up the system..." The human continued to mumble as he read miscellaneous facts about the city.
A few minutes later, he felt a repeated tug at his shoulder, which prompted him to look up. Standing in front of the gigantic blacksmith shop, his eyes gravitated to the glamorous sign hanging on top of the entrance with the words "Neverdusk Blacksmith".
"I'm warning you for the last time - get out of this shop NOW!"
The duo's attention was swiftly directed to the loud feminine voice in the shop. There were a few people standing in front of the counter, and they were blocking the sight of the shouting woman.
The pink-haired punk in the middle leaned forward. "Or what? You think other people will come to rescue you when your master's not around? You should be glad that we aren't here to take the shop's merchandise. Give us your money now and we won't-"
His sentence was cut short as he flew out of the shop and landed in front of the duo, unmoving. The duo lowered their heads and saw blood flowing out of the punk's nose. They then looked at each other, unsure of what to do.
"If you don't want to leave the shop the same way as he did, you have five seconds to get out of my face. 1. 2. 3..."
The rest of the group scrambled out of the shop, grabbed their pink-haired friend, and shuffled into a dark alley.
When the duo peeled their eyes off from the punks and turned back to the shop, they were surprised to see what the woman looked like. She was sitting in a gold-colored mechanical chair with two giant fists stemming from the back. More importantly, her chair was currently extending above the counter, meaning both of them could see her lack of legs past her groin. The straps across her torso were preventing her from slipping out of her wheelchair as she was leaning slightly forward. As for her clothes, she was wearing an apron on top of a black shirt.
"Hello, customers! I'm sorry you have to see that." Her wheelchair decreased in height and returned to a perfect right angle while carrying her out of the counter. When she arrived in front of them, her wheelchair raised her eye level until it comfortably met with Ryder's.
"It's... fine," the human replied warily. It wasn't the fact that she didn't have legs or the sight of her impressively complex wheelchair that surprised the both of them. It was her dark purple skin, black horns (on top of her head), and slim tail with a pointy end that put them on edge. However, their suspicions couldn't be confirmed due to the opaque pair of blacksmith goggles she was wearing.
"So, what can I do for you two? Are you here to buy the best weapons you can find in this entire region? Perhaps you want to repair or enchant your existing weapon? If weapons don't interest you, we also sell a variety of gadgets, though you can also order a custom-made one..." The enthusiasm in her voice decreased until she stopped speaking entirely as she noticed the apprehension in the duo's eyes.
"I... Err... Mm..."
The woman sighed, reluctantly brushed past her short, black hair, and turned the tiny knob near her temple to retract the black, opaque lenses into the thick frame. She then gazed at them with her black pupil, purple iris, and dark sclera.
"Yes, I am a demon. However, I can assure you that you can expect nothing less than the best from me and the shop at a reasonable price." She took a deep breath. "If you feel uncomfortable doing business with me, there's another blacksmith shop on the other side of the city. It's a bit of a hike, and the quality of their services aren't as good as ours, but there's no demon there and their prices are cheaper."
Ryder opened his mouth, but no words were uttered. The demon extended the lenses back and waited for an answer. The dragon saw her other hand was gripping the armrest tightly.
What felt like an eternity later, the human gulped, raised the bag in his hands, and explained, "My... magic sword is broken. I need to repair it."
Her tail flicked with excitement as purple light hummed from her horns. "No problem! Let's head inside the shop!"
"Can my dragon come in?" He pointed at Green.
"Sure!" The wheelchair rolled in the opposite direction and into the back of the counter automatically. The duo followed without breaking eye contact with the demon.
