When we returned to the inn, I went to the couch and sat down, leaning back and looking up at the ceiling.

“So… You tamed me?”

“No, I didn’t!” Liz protested. “The skill and title just appeared, I didn’t do anything!”

“Relax, I’m not mad or anything,” I said, offering her a reassuring smile. “I’m just a bit surprised. I don’t know much about taming skills, and I never thought I would be the subject of one.”

“I don’t know anything about them either,” Liz admitted, joining me on the couch. “Especially not dragon taming…”

“I’m a bit curious as to why and when you got them,” I pondered. “Skills and titles just don’t appear out of nowhere.”

“They weren’t there when we entered the dungeon yesterday,” Liz replied, recalling the events.

“So, anything between then and this morning,” I murmured. “Did you command me to do something?”

“What? No?” Liz replied, her expression confused.

“Command might be a bad word. Did you tell me to do something?” I clarified.

“I don’t think so,” Liz pondered. “If anything, you were the one telling me what to do.”

“And yet I’m the one that got tamed,” I joked, puffing my cheeks.

“I didn’t tame you,” Liz groaned.

“I doubt it’s the other way around,” I grinned mischievously. “Even if I can make you purr like a kitten.”

“Stop it, please,” Liz blushed, averting her gaze in embarrassment.

“No promises,” I smirked playfully. “Anyway, I guess we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate what?”

“You advanced to Cryomancer, you got promoted to A rank, and you even tamed a dragon,” I said with a mischievous smile. “If that doesn’t warrant celebration, I don’t know what does.”

“Can we forget the whole taming thing already?” Liz pleaded.

“I’ll consider it if you pet my head,” I said, leaning toward her with a grin.

Liz sighed and put her hand on my head. 

“You’re enjoying this too much,” Liz remarked, rolling her eyes.

“All jokes aside, we really should celebrate,” I said, reaching into my [Inventory] and pulling out one of the gloves I made. “I made you this.”

“A glove?” Liz asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“A magic glove.”

“What’s so magic about it?” Liz asked, flipping over the glove to inspect it.

“It’s a magic medium. Channel some mana into the gem.”

“Okay,” Liz complied, placing her fingers on the gem on the back of the glove and channeling mana into it, her eyes filled with anticipation.

---

Item name: Arctic Fury

Durability 1650/1650
+113 Stamina
+193 Intellect
+183 Mind

Increases ice damage by spells and effects by 24%.
Increases elemental damage by spells and effects by 18%.
Increases magic damage by spells and effects by 12%.
15% chance to deal double damage with spells.
11% chance to reset spell cooldown on cast.

[Auto Repair Lv.10]
[Identify Blocker Lv.10]

Bound to: Lizette

---

 

“This is…” Liz looked down at the glove, dumbfounded.

“My gift to you. I hope you like it,” I said, smiling warmly.

“This is on a whole other level from the staff you gave Mira…”

“Of course it is. The staff I made for Mira was just a spur-of-the-moment creation. This one, I put a lot of effort into making.”

“This is way too good for me.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just say thank you?” I pouted jokingly.

“I just… Thank you,” she said and hugged me tightly. “These past few weeks have just been so surreal. I’m half expecting to wake up and find that it was all a dream.”

“So, do you like it?” I asked eagerly.

“I love it, but why a glove?”

“Convenience?” I pondered, tapping my chin. “Staves and wands have to be carried and can be dropped.”

“I don’t think I have seen gloves being used as mediums before.”

“It’s easier and cheaper to make magic mediums when they're made bigger and don’t need to be custom-fit.”

“This glove fits me perfectly now that I think about it,” Liz said, turning her hand over and tugging on the glove.

“I measured your hand while you slept,” I confessed with a tender smile, a hint of shyness coloring my expression.

“You are just the sweetest, aren’t you?” Liz said before lying down with her head on my lap. “I also love how it looks. The design is so pretty.”

“I tried my best,” I grinned, pulling out the other glove. “I actually made another one. It might look weird to just wear one glove, right?”

“You made one just so I could have a matching pair?” she asked, examining the glove. “This one got a different gem, though?”

“Why don’t you channel some mana into it?” I suggested.

Liz took the glove and followed my suggestion, channeling mana into the gem.

---

Item name: Glacial Fury

Durability 1950/1950
+182 Stamina
+158 Intellect
+126 Mind

Increases ice damage by spells and effects by 20%.
Increases elemental damage by spells and effects by 15%.
Increases magic damage by spells and effects by 10%.
19% Cooldown reduction on spells.
Restores 0.139% mana per 5 seconds.

[Glacial Dragon Claws Lv.10]
[Auto Repair Lv.10]
[Identify Blocker Lv.10]

Bound to: Lizette

---

 

Liz just stared at the glove.

“... Isn’t this a bit much?” she asked, gazing up at me from my lap.

“Is it? You can cast with both hands, so it felt obvious to make two,” I replied.

“But still! I’ve never seen such a good item before, and you gave me two? My heart can’t take much more.”

“Really? Good thing that I didn’t make you any clothes then,” I giggled.

“Are you trying to kill me?” Liz asked jokingly. “And what is this [Glacial Dragon Claws Lv.10] spell?”

I held out my arms and cast the spell. My arms became covered in ice, resembling my [Shift], claws and all.

“It’s an ability that covers your arms in scales of ice. You can assume that something that can’t cut a frost wyrm won’t be able to cut you either. It also increases your strength by 30%,” I said, knocking on the scales with my knuckles. “You know how to use spells from items, right? Try it.”

Liz put on the glove and immediately covered her own arms in icy scales.

“What is…” Liz muttered as she moved her new claws around.

“What do you think?”

“It looks… So cool!” Liz blurted out as she waved her arms around like a child.

“There's no cooldown on it, so you can use it whenever you like. It does, however, drain mana as long as you have it active, so you can’t keep them out all the time,” I explained, touching her icy scales. ”It probably isn’t the most useful ability for you, but I thought it would be nice to have if you get attacked by something and can’t use [Ice Barrier]... and also because we, uhm, match.”

“This isn’t a dream, right? I won’t wake up tomorrow and you won’t be here anymore, right?” Liz asked, her expression serious as she gazed at me.

“Of course not. You’re not getting away from me that easily,” I reassured her.

“When did you even make these?” Liz asked, still waving her claws around.

“Remember when I snuck off while you were training and you started sulking that I left you alone?”

“I didn’t sulk,” Liz pouted.

“Aren’t you just adorable,” I giggled, stroking her hair.

“Didn’t these take some super rare materials to make?” Liz asked anxiously.

I shrugged. “Not really, I got almost everything from the dungeon I cleared.” 

“I still feel like I have used up all the good fortune for one lifetime.”

“I’m happy that you like them,” I smiled.

“I already owe you so much, and you just keep piling on more…”

“You should stop thinking like that. I don’t expect anything in return. I do things because I want to, not because I expect to get repaid.”

“I just can’t win against you, can I?” Liz sighed and snuggled up against me affectionately.

“Now that that’s over, what do you want to do? We are celebrating today, right?”

“Hmm… Stay like this?” She asked, looking up at me.

“If that’s what you want then sure,” I said, continuing to stroke her hair.

“Just for a little while,” she replied softly.

“But put away your claws first,” I smirked.

 

Liz tried her best to fight it, but after about ten minutes of resting in my lap, she had already fallen asleep.

I didn’t expect her to doze off. Maybe binding two items of that quality took a lot of her mana? I might have to keep that in mind.

Now then, what should I do in the meantime? I guess I could continue bashing my head against the wall with my magic research? At this rate, it feels like it would take a lifetime to complete.

Lifetime, huh… Every time I start to think about that, my heart gets heavy. Living in the moment is fine; I've only known her for a couple of weeks, after all. But time really does flow differently for us. Maybe it’s silly to dwell on these things. Who knows if she even thinks about it.

I looked down on Liz’s peaceful sleeping face, taking a nap in the lap of the most dangerous being on the planet without a care in the world.

I don’t even have the right to complain, it’s what I get for killing almost everyone who shared my lifespan… There might still be some out there, though? There were dragons that survived, but many of them were rebels who fled to other continents, so I’m not keen on meeting any of them.

At least that’s what my father’s old steward told me when I woke up from my promotion sickness. I never truly thanked him for watching over me all those years, even after what I did. A few thousand years too late to think about that…

 

I sat with my depressing thoughts for about an hour before I noticed Liz shifting around in my lap.

“Good morning sleepyhead, had a good nap?” I asked and caressed her cheek.

“Nnhn, did I fall asleep?” She yawned. “For how long?”

“About an hour or so.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“How could I when you had such a peaceful expression?” I replied.

“I can’t believe I fell asleep and forced you to sit here for an entire hour,” Liz murmured, feeling embarrassed.

“It’s okay, I had some things to think about, so time went by fast.”

“What kind of things?”

“Dragon things?” I said, tilting my head to one side.

“What are dragon things?”

“Curious little one, aren’t you?”

“No, it's just… You look a little sad,” Liz said anxiously.

Damn, did I really sit here and get myself depressed enough to make Liz worry?

“Don’t worry, I was just thinking about a spell,” I said and ruffled her hair.

“What kind of spell?” She asked with curious eyes.

I really need to learn to be quiet. I know she's just worried, but some things are best kept to myself. White lie it is.

“I was trying to figure out how to shrink you so you could sit on my head when we walk down the street.”

Liz broke out in laughter. “You’re not serious, right?”

“Of course I am,” I grinned.

“You don’t even need a spell for that with your stats,” Liz remarked. 

“That’s true, want to try?” I asked with a mischievous smile.

“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I would die from embarrassment.”

“It’s normal for a tamer to ride on her dragon though,” I pouted.

“I didn’t tame you!” Liz groaned.

“Your title says otherwise,” I said, playfully poking her cheek.

“You’re impossible,” Liz sighed and buried her face in my clothes.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t resist teasing you when you have such cute reactions.”

 “Guess it’s my own fault then, huh?” Liz said and rolled her eyes. “So, what now?”

“I was thinking of putting up a telenode close to the capital, but I can do that when we leave. It might come in handy sometime.”

“Going back to the capital whenever you wanted would be convenient.”

“Speaking of leaving, do you want to go back to Baruda after the guild is done dismantling your monsters? Or do you want to go someplace else?”

“I would like to go back to Baruda, if that’s okay?”

“That’s fine with me. I did promise to show Hanna an orichalcum guild card, so I guess I should uphold that promise. Chloe also said she had a few high-ranking quests she would like me to take… But I think you might as well take them at this point.” 

Liz took out her guild card and held it up in front of her. “It still feels surreal to have a gold card.”

“It should be mithril if you ask me. You are already strong enough to take down a salamander alone. With your new gloves, you could probably kill it with a few spells.”

“But that’s not my own strength,” Liz frowned.

“You think the other high-ranking adventurers are running around in nothing but their underwear?” I laughed.

“I guess not…”

“You didn’t even use your old staff when fighting the salamander.”

“I guess you’re right,” Liz said while looking at her card. “Still, I’m happy with just gold. It’s an incredible achievement for anyone who isn’t a dragon.”

“I suppose it is,” I pondered. “What do you want to do now?”

“Do you want to go out and see the town? We haven’t really done much sightseeing yet.”

“I guess we have focused a bit too much on training.”

“I would be happy to go to some cozy tavern or something. All this fancy stuff is a bit exhausting.”

“That sounds like fun. There are probably a lot of nice places in this massive city.”

“Might be hard to find a good place though.”

“I’m sure we can find something if we walk around for a bit.”