Purple laughed out loud in a high-pitched voice. Then, he paused for a brief second, saw that Ryder was still looking at him with a serious expression, and laughed again while slapping the table. His laughter gradually faded away before he spoke.

  "Did you honestly believe I would say yes?" He picked up the cup on the table and drank.

  "I need the sword-"

  "Exactly. You need the sword. I don't. This 'vacation' is the first time I've had the chance, since I joined your posse, to chase after delectable boys and girls to my heart's content. I'm not giving it up." The dragon proceeded to wink at a middle-aged woman passing by, instantly making her blush.

  The human sighed and took another bite.

  Brown, who was in her human form, arrived next to her rider and sat down before patting his back.

  Ryder did a double take when he met the earth dragon's yellow eyes. "Long hair? That's rare."

  She was currently wearing a black, yukata-like robe with her long hair draped over her shoulders. Even though she had the stature and appearance of a pale teenage girl, she radiated an aura of maturity that's greater than the old woman sitting at a nearby table. Despite that, her ever-present, soothing smile always made people comfortable approaching her.

  "This lodging reminds me of a time when I was young." She then started chewing on her food.

  The rider stared, expecting her to complete her explanation, but she never did.

  "Tell me, what does the blacksmith look like?" Purple licked his lips. "I don't think I've ever slept with a blacksmith, even before I was sealed. I'm craving for a good night with a muscular partner right now."

  "Uh, the blacksmith's a demon. She doesn't have any legs, so I don't think she's as... muscular as you would like."

  The dragon froze. When he snapped out of it, he narrowed his eyes at the rider.

  "And you let her make a sword for you?"

  "I know, I know. But she's nothing like the demons we've seen before. She's just like any other normal person-"

  The cup was instantly crushed into tiny little pieces in the dragon's hand.

  "When you die, you'll wish you didn't trust a demon to forge you a fucking sword." Purple swiftly rose and left.

  "... Guess I shouldn't have said that." Ryder shrugged and resumed eating.

                    X

  "How are you holding up, Green?" Ryder undid his draconic armor for a few seconds to let wind magic blow his sweat away before it covered him up again.

  Green whimpered weakly as his vines held the container.

  "Same here. I didn't expect mining this shit would be so hard! She wasn't lying when she said a chunk of the rock barely contains any of the Camp... Whatever it's called." The rider held a rock up with both his hands and used his tail to puncture a hole at the bottom. A second later, pink liquid dripped into the container.

  "Any movement from the crabs, Brown?" He glanced at the earth dragon, who was sitting in front of a rock wall meant to conceal their presence.

  "A crowd has gathered at the edge of the lava, but I don't believe they noticed us yet." She peeked back at the duo. "You two seem to be greatly exhausted."

  "I think we need to head back up and rest for awhile before resuming our mining operation. It would be so much easier if that damn Purple is here." The rider grumbled before gently placing the empty rock at the side of the wall. "Okay, time for another chunk."

  Brown lifted Ryder up the wall with a slowly ascending rock pillar. When the pillar stopped, he whipped out his magic sword, coated it with a diamond-like substance, and carved a chunk out of it from the wall. Once an outline of a square was formed on the wall, he used earth magic to detach the back of the cube so he could pull it out. When he did, a loud crack was heard. It instantly drew some of the crab's attention to them. He quickly camouflaged his back to that of the wall's color and stood still. The crabs quiet down as well, as if they were confirming whether there really were intruders. The awkward pause lasted for a few minutes before the crabs moved further away. Green and his rider let out a sigh of relief as the rock pillar descended.

  When Ryder was emptying the cube, he noticed a crab exiting the tunnel they came from. The crab noticed him as well and stared back at him with its tube-y eyes, unmoving. The two dragons spotted the crab and were similarly unmoving as they wondered what to do. Unfortunately, the human's arms were getting tired of holding the cube. He didn't want to, but he was forced to set the rock down as gently as possible. The moment he did, the crab rushed toward the trio. Ryder aimed his fist at the crab and shot a seed at it. The seed quickly grew to restrict the crab's movement entirely.

  The crab's furious screech alerted the nearby swarm of crabs, and they promptly charged toward the trio.

  "Green, seal the container! Time to run!"

  Ryder and Brown swiftly raised multiple earth walls in front of them as the green dragon did as his rider asked. To their shock, the collective force of the crab wave was so powerful that it burst through the walls like it was cardboard.

  "Uhhahhhhhhhh!!"

                     X

                    SLAM!

  Estria hurried to the workshop door when she heard the noise coming from the other side. When the door opened, she saw the dragon rider gang were all beaten up as they stood under the setting sunlight. Ryder and Green looked especially worn out since they were still panting.

  The human handed the container to her. "We only manage to get about one quarter full. The crabs were easy to deal with individually, but a wave of them is impossible to defeat. I think we need two more days to get the amount you need."

  "It's alright! I'm glad that all of you weren't severely injured. Thank you, all of you, truly." The blacksmith lowered her head as the big hands on her wheelchair lifted the container.

  "We're just fulfilling our end of the agreement. No need to worry about us. Although, do you have some heat-resistant armor for Green over here? It turned out he couldn't handle the heat, after all." Ryder patted his scaly companion's head. The dragon lowered his head in embarrassment.

  "No, but I think I can cobble up a gadget that'll solve the problem by midnight. I'll lend it to you when you come by tomorrow again to pick up the container." She gave him a little finger up.

  "Alrighty."

  The gang bade goodbye to her before heading back to their lodging.

  At a distance, a shadowy figure observed the demon closing the door before disappearing into an alley.