The next morning, I was woken up by someone knocking on our door.

“Who is it?” I asked in a drowsy voice.

“It’s Mira. Can I come in?”

I looked at Liz, who was still sleeping as the little spoon while holding my tail. “Uhm, sure, one moment,” I replied and pulled out my key. Using [Telekinesis], I inserted it into the lock and unlocked the door. “It’s open.”

Mira entered the room and looked over toward the bed with a quizzical look. “How did you-”

I interrupted her by putting a finger over my lips and pointing at Liz. Then, I used [Telekinesis] to retrieve the key from the lock while smiling at Mira. “Why are you here so early?” I asked in a soft voice so I wouldn’t wake Liz.

Mira sat down on a chair close to our bed. “I’m sorry for being here so early, I just couldn’t wait anymore,” she said, trying to figure out how to continue. “I have some… fuzzy memories from last night.”

“Oh, like what?” I pondered, tilting my head.

“It just sounds so stupid,” Mira said, reluctantly continuing. “Did you say you were a dragon?”

“A dragon?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It was just a dream?!” Mira blurted out. “I feel so stupid!”

Liz shifted her body and opened her eyes in response to Mira’s sudden outburst. “Nnhn… Mira? What are you doing here?”

Mira covered her face in embarrassment. “I just had a stupid dream.”

“What kind of dream?”

“I dreamed that Luna was a dragon,” Mira said, still covering her face. “I thought it was real and came here to ask her about it like an idiot.”

“Huh? She is a dragon though,” Liz said in a confused voice. “She told you yesterday, right?”

“It was real?!” Mira shouted.

“I never said that it wasn’t,” I grinned. “Also don’t yell, it’s too early for that.”

“You aren’t just messing with me, right?” Mira asked, skepticism in her voice. “I’m already embarrassed enough.”

“Don’t you remember that I showed you yesterday?”

“I remember that you told me, but…” Mira frowned. “I can’t remember yesterday clearly.”

“What about this then?” Liz said, pulling down the cover, revealing both her breasts and the tip of my tail.

Mira’s eyes went wide as she just stared at my tail. “Is that a… tail?” she asked after a moment of thought.

“It’s my tail,” I replied.

“You have a tail?” Mira asked, struggling to comprehend what she saw.

“Wouldn’t be much of a dragon if I didn’t have one,” I smirked, moving the tip of my tail.

“But…”

“I usually hide it.”

“You’re really a dragon…” Mira muttered. I could practically see the gears turning inside her head. “But… do you have to sleep with your tail out then?”

“Not at all. Liz just likes to hold it when she sleeps,” I giggled.

“It’s soothing!” Liz pouted. “Don’t bully me.”

“I… see,” Mira smirked, looking at my tail before letting out a gasp. “Wait, what happened to your scars?”

“Luna healed them,” Liz replied, pulling the cover back up over her chest.

“You can do that?” Mira asked, looking at me with what appeared to be expectation in her eyes.

“I guess I can.”

Mira appeared to be thinking about something. ”Actually… I have a smaller one on my lower back. Do you think you could…?”

“Probably?” I replied. “Let me see.”

Mira wasted no time in taking off her robes and turning her back to me. “I couldn’t heal it myself when I got it, and now it’s too late.”

“Where is the scar?” I asked as I examined her back.

“Huh? It’s right here,” Mira said, putting her hand on her lower back.

“It should be over there, but it’s gone,” Liz said, pointing just above Mira’s waist.

Mira moved her hand up and down. “You’re right, I can’t feel it.”

“Oh? It probably got healed when I got those drugs out of your system,” I pondered. “Guess you got a bonus.”

“I didn’t even notice it before. Thank you,” Mira said, giving me a slight bow before getting dressed again.

“Don’t mention it,” I said before wrapping my tail around Liz. “Should we go get some breakfast since we’re already awake? Not that I would mind if we stayed in bed all day.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Liz said, playfully trying to wriggle out of my grip. “We had plans to go to the guild today, remember?”

“Ugh, fine,” I relented and let go. “Let’s get dressed and go down for breakfast then.”

I got out of bed and got dressed in an instant.

“That’s… handy?” Mira asked in a calm voice.

What’s with the lack of amazement? I guess the whole dragon thing took everything she had.

“It’s unfair, that’s what it is,” Liz muttered as she started getting dressed as well.

 

After a hearty breakfast, we left the inn and made our way over to the adventurers guild. Mira stayed at the inn since her hangover had caught up with her. When we entered the guild, Hanna quickly tracked us down.

“Good morning!” She said in her usual bubbly voice. “The guildmaster told me to bring you to her when you dropped in. Do you have time to meet her now?”

“Morning,” I said in a far less optimistic voice. “I guess so? Might as well get this over with.”

“I’ll wait for you down here,” Liz said, attempting to walk towards the quest billboards before I grabbed her hand.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re coming with me.”

“What? Why? She asked for you, right?” Liz asked, sounding surprised.

“Emotional support,” I grinned.

Liz looked reluctant to comply. “But…”

“I’m just kidding. Didn’t you say you wanted to take some quests together? You might as well come with me then.”

“I guess that’s true. I’m still not used to my new rank.”

“You heard her, Hanna. Lead the way.”

 

We made our way up to the guildmaster’s office and got permission to enter.

“Welcome back,” Chloe said from behind her desk. “Did you enjoy the capital?

“It was an eventful trip,” I said as I sat down, motioning Liz to sit next to me since she had just been standing by the door.

“You don’t look very happy,” Chloe remarked as she put down a folder.

“I’m just regretting that I promised to take your requests when I came back,” I muttered. “You probably have some tedious work for me to do, right?”

“Only one at the moment. A few days ago, a B rank and A rank pair came to town and accepted a B rank request to the north,” she replied before looking at Liz. “But before that, I told Hanna to bring you here when you got back, but does Liz have any business with me, as well?”

“You said you had some high-ranking quests, so I brought a high-ranking adventurer with me,” I replied with a shrug before Liz could say anything.

“Oh?” Chloe pondered, raising an eyebrow. “If I remember correctly Liz should be C rank? The quest I have is A rank.”

Liz pulled out her guild card. “I actually got promoted to A rank in the capital.”

Chloe looked at the card and then at me with a stern frown. “What did you do?”

“What do you mean?” I said as innocently as I could.

“People can’t go from C to A just like that unless you are a dragon,” Chloe replied with skepticism written all over her face. “Boosting someone’s rank will only get them killed.”

“I did nothing to cheat the system. I just trained her a little,” I replied with a smug grin. “The guildmaster in the capital personally evaluated Liz’s fighting capabilities.”

“What kind of training lets someone jump from C to A in such a short time?”

“You don’t want to know,” Liz said with an uncomfortable tone.

“I think I do actually,” Chloe said, leaning forward on her desk.

Liz sighed. “Luna made me cast spells non-stop for ten hours a day for several days. Then she took me to a dungeon and made me fight through it alone. She failed to mention that the dungeon was a B+ dungeon with a salamander at the end of it until afterward though.”

“Why do you sound so ungrateful,” I pouted jokingly. “You cleared it all alone without even getting injured, right?”

“Hold up. Liz is a spellcaster,” Chloe said with a frown. “I know that she is used to soloing, but you’re telling me she managed to solo a dungeon, including the boss, without any frontline support?”

“Oh, right,” I said, snapping my finger. “That’s another thing I figured out on this trip. You humans don’t know how to use magic correctly anymore. Liz had no problems even when fighting the salamander alone.”

Chloe just looked at us with wide eyes. “Can you elaborate?”

I gave the same explanation about magic mediums and chants as I had given to Grahl.

This is the last time I do this. Chloe and Grahl can just spread it themselves.

Chloe leaned back in her chair and rubbed her forehead. “You’re saying we somehow forgot how to use magic?”

“It seems that way. This was normal the last time I was awake,” I pondered. “You had an interest in the Byzan Empire, right? Do you know what happened to it?”

“I don’t know, or rather, no one knows for sure.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“All information from that time period says that almost the entire empire was destroyed. The few records left behind stated it was divine retribution,” Chloe explained.

“Divine retribution?” I asked with a skeptical expression.

“The emperor at the time had declared himself a higher being, and the story goes that he was punished for his cruel actions while calling himself the Divine Emperor.”

That sounds far-fetched. I’m doubtful any Gods actually exist, and somehow they intervened when a human did something?

“You really think any so-called Gods would care about what humans do?”

“I don’t know,” Chloe shrugged. “Don’t you know something, since you were alive back then?”

“The empire still stood when I went back to sleep,” I replied, tapping my cheek. “Don’t remember anything about anything like that either. It must have been a later emperor.”

“All we know is that it was destroyed. It could have been divine retribution, or it could have been some kind of natural disaster. In the end, it’s all speculation.”

“I doubt it was a natural disaster,” I said, tapping my chin. “I don’t think I would sleep through one.”

“You slept under a mountain of loose rocks and gravel,” Liz interjected. “I think you could sleep through anything.”

“What does that say about you then since you woke me up by shouting?” I laughed.

Liz just pouted at me.

“Regardless of what it was, it took a long time before the surviving humans had repopulated the land. And, fearing further punishment, anything connected to the empire was destroyed,” Chloe continued. “That’s why I said it was unusual to see a coin, let alone one in such a pristine state.”

“I see,” I replied, taking out a gold coin that I then tossed to Chloe. “You can have one.”

Chloe managed to catch the coin. “Are you sure?” She asked.

“I don’t mind. Not like I have a use for it,” I shrugged.

“Thank you very much,” Chloe replied happily, looking at the coin in her hand.

I have even older coins. Maybe I could sell those to someone?

“Anyway, that might have something to do with why your use of magic changed, but it’s hard to know for sure. The survivors should still have known, after all. Either way, you know about it now. It’s up to you what you do with this information.”

Chloe tapped her fingers on the desk for a moment. “Would it be possible to get a demonstration?”

“Absolutely,” I replied with a smile. “My student would be happy to show you.”

“What?” Liz frowned.

“I’ll go talk with Hanna about that other matter in the meantime,” I grinned.

Liz sighed and looked at Chloe. “Are you okay with me?”

“That’s fine. I’m interested in knowing how much you have improved in such a short time as well,” Chloe replied, standing up from her desk. “Let’s go to the training area.”

“I’ll wait at the reception until you are done,” I said after we had made our way down the stairs.