The First Dragon of Marble

Chapter 33

            I open my eyes and see Lucy next to me opening her eyes as well. We smile at each other and then I feel a weight on my chest. I look to see Melora sitting cross legged seemingly waiting for us to come back. “Melora, is everything okay?” Melora jumps a little and looks at Lucy who called for her. Melora nods and says, “Yes, the children got called for lunch and I came to check on you two and saw that you both were asleep.” Lucy smirks at me and then says, “So it seems. Didn’t expect us to take a nap while trying to find guidance.” I roll my eyes and sit up while Melora flies into the air.

            We walk outside and see that it was truly around lunch time. I ask them if they wanted to find a restaurant to eat at and they agreed so we found a small restaurant nearby to eat at. As we were eating Lucy asks, “What else is on the agenda?” I chew and swallow the contents in my mouth before saying, “Hmm, I promised Rico a new ball and I was thinking about using magic to make a playground for the orphanage. Would you like to come with me?” Lucy smiles sweetly at me and Melora nods her head with her cheeks stuffed full. Lucy and I laugh at the comical sight and finish our food then leave to look for any toy stores in the area.

            After looking and asking strangers on the street we finally found a toy store and bought more than just a ball. I decided to buy some dolls, different sized balls, and various other toys for the children. We walk back to the church and go towards the orphanage where outside the children were playing around with each other and Nina talking to Javier as they watched over them. As we come near them, Nina and Javier meet us and exchange greetings.

            I look at Javier and ask, “I have brought some toys and donations for the little ones. Do you mind if I build a playground for them?” Javier smiles in gratitude and says, “By all means, Sir Ladon. The children have so little, and I am sure they will be thrilled with whatever you give and build for them.” I smile and nod before going to an open space where I could use earth magic to build simple playground equipment like monkey bars, slides, and jungle gym. I concentrate and spread my legs shoulder width apart. I close my eyes and visualize what I want to make and put in enough mana for the equipment to last for years to come. When I open my eyes, I see everyone, including the orphans, watching me. I decide to put on a little show for the kids and put some flair into my casting.

            I stomp the ground and bend my knees then lift my arms making the equipment rise from the ground shaping into what I wanted. I hear exclamations and excitement from the priests and children which make me chuckle at their innocence. Once I am done with one piece, I move arms fluently and make various other playground equipment then I kneel one knee and pour magic into the ground making the equipment harden and smooth while stabilizing the ground and equipment. Once done the ground is rather hard so, to make it a little safer if a child falls, I start to vibrate the top layer of the ground and make sand for softer landings. Once done I stand up and look at my handiwork and nod to myself for job well done.

            I turn around and see sparkling eyes from the children. I smile at them and say, “I hope you like your new playground little ones. Have at it.” “YAYYY” The orphans storm past me and start climbing, swinging, and sliding on the equipment. Suddenly I feel someone tug at my pants. I look down and see Rico and Coco looking up at me. I smile at them and kneel saying, “Rico, I promised you something didn’t I.” He tilts his head in confusion and then smiles widely when, with a pop, I bring out a new ball for him. He takes and holds it as if it was the most precious thing in the world to him. “Go on, Rico, give it a test run.” I smile kindly at him, who smiles and runs off to play with his new ball. I then turn to Coco who is eyeing Rico’s ball with longing. I chuckle and say, “I didn’t forget about you little Coco.” She looks up at me with excitement in her eyes. I pat her head and then with another pop I bring out a cat mink doll and give it to her. She holds it and then hugs it tightly. She looks at me again with a shy look and says meekly, “Thank you.” Then she sneaks a kiss on my cheek and runs off to the other girls playing and showing her new toy.

            I smile and stand feeling that I brought a little good into the world with just this small gesture to the children. I walk back over to Lucy and the others and when I reach them Lucy jumps into my arms and kisses me deeply. I kiss her back and when we separate, I ask, “What was that for?” She giggles and says, “I just love you so much.” I raise my eyebrow, but shrug it off and say, “Well, I just love you too.” I chuckle and then I feel a kiss on my cheek and see Melora is the one who did it. I raise my eyebrow again as I look over at her and she says, “That is for being so kind.” I grin and kiss her cheek as well making her blush, making Lucy and I to laugh. “Thank you so much, Sir Ladon.” I hear Nina say. “It was nothing, when they start to wind down, I’ll pass out the rest of the toys I bought for everyone.” I say nonchalantly, which make both Javier and Nina smile gently at me.

            We all just watch as the children play, and I decide to set up some benches around to sit on for the priests to sit and keep an eye on them. When I was done, we sit down at a picnic table I made and I pull out a pouch of about ten gold coins and pass it to Javier and say, “This is mostly for the children. I expect to see them in better clothes and shoes the next time I am here. The rest use for your own daily needs.” Javier takes the pouch smiling but soon his face turns shocked when he opens the pouch. Nina notices this and looks in as well and starts to tear up. They look at me and Javier says, “Thank you so much, Sir Ladon. I don’t how to ever repay you for your kindness.” I shake my head and say, “Just do what I said about the getting the children what they need, and I’ll consider it repaid.” Nina wipes her eyes and nods enthusiastically.

            Lucy, Melora, and I decide to stay a little longer before calling over the children and passing out the toys we bought. By the time we were done the sun was starting to set and we had to prepare for the housewarming party. When we got home, I told Lucy how to make a pizza to the best of my limited knowledge of how to make one. It took a couple of pies before she had success, and I fell in love with her all over again. The others arrived consisting of Cliff, Helen, and Vincent. I brought out the booze and we drank, told stories, made jokes, and even sang when we were deep in the bottles. All in all, it was good to be surrounded by good people for once and letting loose having fun.

            Our guests left around midnight or so leaving just Lucy, Melora, and I alone again. I turn to Lucy who was a little drunk as she waved goodbye to Helen and Vincent at the doorway. “The pizza was fantastic bunny. I would have to say even better than any I have had in the past.” She turns around smiling and almost trips before I catch her as she giggles in my arms. “Thank you, love. I tried my best and I’m glad it came out so well. Hic.” I smile at her and pick her up in a princess carry and she immediately passes out. I shake my head and look at Melora and ask, “We are not doing anything tonight so if you want to sleep with us, to have an easier sleep, you are welcome.” Melora who seems to be able to hold her own when it came to alcohol says, “Really? You don’t mind?” I shake my head and say, “I wouldn’t have offered if I was against it Melora.” She smiles and follows me up to Lucy’s and my room. When inside I set Lucy down on the bed and strip her before putting a sleeping shirt on her. Then I go get a bucket just in case and set on the floor by her. I have had plenty of experience drinking too much when I should have stopped so I know the drill.

            I change as well and lay next to Lucy with Melora in her bigger form laying on my other side. We say our goodnights and close our eyes to be waken up the next morning to the sun’s cursed rays. The days go by and soon the night of the lord’s party is upon us, and I am regretting accepting the offer to be honest. I always hated the army balls and this fills like one of them. During the last few days, we did not do much except train together and go play with the orphans. I even taught them how to play baseball and they took to it with a frenzy. I was excited to see that since I always liked to play when I was kid.

            Right now, though I am in our bedroom changing into a tuxedo I had customed ordered it in the days before the lord’s party. I tried to find something native to wear like the others, but they were all clothes similar to what people wore in the 1600s and 1700s and I was not going to be seen with frills on my body. Hell no. I am tying the bowtie in the mirror as both Lucy and Melora come inside already dressed. I finish tying off the bowtie and look around to see them and have my breath taken once again by how truly beautiful they are. Lucy has a tight-fitting black dress with a slit on its left side. She smiles at me and spins for me when I twirl my finger. The back is opened and even has a place for her cute little tail to be free. I just stare at her dumfounded when I hear a cough from Melora.

            I look at her and once again just as surprised at how beautiful she truly is. She has the same dress as Lucy which makes her green skin stick out and become even more eye-catching. She is more petite compared to Lucy, but the dress does nothing to hide her hourglass frame. I suck in my breath and say, “Gods you two are the absolute pinnacle of beauty. I think I am going to kill some people tonight.” They both giggle thinking that I was joking which I was, mostly, maybe, no I wasn’t joking. Lucy speaks up and says, “It seems the lord has sent a carriage for us and they are waiting for us. Shall we go?” I just stare at them admiring and burning their appearances into my brain when Melora says, “Ladon? You still with us?” I look at her and say, “Do we have to go? I just want to look at you two.” They blush and roll their eyes coming to my sides grabbing one arm each. “Let’s go love. We can get this done and then we can go on another adventure soon.” I perk up at that and nod as we move out of the house to the awaiting carriage.

            The carriage ride was anything but comfortable. “It seems people have not figured out suspension yet. Fucking hell my ass hurts even with all my strength. If we ever get one, I’ll have to work with a blacksmith to figure out putting a suspension on it. I would rather fly though.” We arrived at the lord’s mansion/castle and see numerous people going inside being checked in by butlers and maids. I step out of the carriage first and turn around offering my hand to Lucy first who steps out with Melora coming out next. With two beauties on each arm, we walk up to a line to wait to be checked in. The people in front of us must have been some nobles invited as I heard the male say to his date, “I can’t believe the lord is throwing this party for a mere adventurer and a commoner to boot.” His date looks at him and smiles saying, “Well he and the others did bring down the gang that has been wreaking havoc in the city and he even exposed the deeds of the other wrongdoers. I think it is only right that he be shown a little respect.”

            The noble just rolls his eyes and says, “This is what I get from bringing a lesser noble as a date. You don’t understand the implications and precedence this sets. Nobles and commoners should be kept separate, or they will get funny ideas of being our equals.” As I listen to this idiot I just sigh and think that this is going to be a very long night. I then hear a familiar voice I recognize from staying at the inn. “Hey, Ladon. Well, ain’t you looking spiffy.” I look at the direction of the voice and see Admir, one of the few mythicals I have seen while being in Melcox. He is a Vampire and while he looks like a human his pale skin, blood red sclera and blue irises, and large fangs give them away. He is wearing the clothes as everyone else except they are blood red and of course the frills.

            I smile at the vampire and shake his hand saying, “You don’t look so bad yourself, Admir. I’m sure the noble ladies will be all over you.” I chuckle and he does as well turning his attention to Lucy and Melora. “You two look lovely this night under our Mother Moon. I hope Ladon is keeping you out of trouble, though from what I heard that doesn’t seem to be the case.” They giggle and offer their hands for a handshake which he takes and turns back to me and says, “I heard what happened at the guild the other day. Man, I wish I was there to see those assholes be put in their place.” I smirk and say, “Well they should have known that I was coming for them after I took down their dogs. Though they may not have known, but who cares really.” We move as the line moves and he nods his head saying, “To be honest, I’m surprised you didn’t kill them then and there.” I grumble and say, “As much as I wanted to, the lord of this city showed up and I decided to give him face instead of having to possibly being chased out of the city from blatant murder in front of everyone.” When I say this the noble looks back at me and just sneers at me which I just roll my eyes.

            We move again as the line moves forward and Lucy says to Admir, “Where is Eric? I thought you two were a thing?” Admir just shakes his head and says, “We split up. He wanted me to quit adventurering and I just couldn't bring myself not to, so we went our separate ways. You know anyone single send them my way, yeah?” Melora giggles and says, “So you not only go after females but males too?” Admir just smirks and says, “Well it more about femininity than gender. Haha. Eric caught me off guard our first time since I thought he was girl.” Admir just shrugged. Melora smiles big and says to Lucy and me, “I like him.” We laugh at her and move up in the line.

            It seemed that our joking and talking were getting on the noble’s nerves as he turns around and says, “Could you commoners please keep your incessant chatter away from my and my date’s ears.” I tilt my head in confusion and raise my eyebrow at him. Lucy is the first to speak, “What do you mean incessant chatter? We are talking amongst friends, and we are all adults here to have a party, no?” The noble narrows his eyes and Lucy and begins to say, “I was definitely not talking to a min,” Suddenly I was grabbing him by his neck, interrupting his next words, and holding him in the air. I narrow my eyes and say, “You may not know who I or she is, but you will do well to show a person, in general, some respect. Noble or not, sir.” He is trying to claw my hands aways from his neck as his face turns blue. I let him go when he was turning green and say, “I suggest you watch your mouth ‘noble’.” I say the word noble in mockery as we moved ahead in the line since he was down for the count for a few minutes.

            As we moved in the line, we noticed that it was now our turn to be checked into the party. The butler, an older looking dwarf, just stared at me in horror as it seemed he saw the whole thing, but I just ignore his panic and say, “The name is Ladon, Lucy, Melora, and Admir. Here is our Guild Tags for proof, Mr. Butler.” He finally snaps out of it and takes our tags with shaky hands. As he is checking them, Admir comes up to me and says in a low whispering voice, “Ladon do you know who that was?” “Who?” I ask gaining an unamused smile from not just Admir, but Lucy and Melora as well. I look at them and ask, “What?” The girls just shake their heads and take back their tags from the butler and start heading inside. “I am talking about the noble you just held in the air by his neck.” “Oh, right. Nah I have no idea, nor do I care really.”

            Admir’s mouth twitches at my statement of indifference. Then Admir just smiles and pats my shoulder and laughs. “Well, just to let you know he is a noble from the Kingdom of Albam from the east across the Great River.” I stop in my tracks and look at Admir, “The Kingdom of Albam, huh. Good to know.” I smile a little evilly and continue walking with Lucy and Melora in my arms. Lucy gives me a concerned look to which I just wrap my arm around her making her smile.

            We walk through the doorway of the mansion, and we are greeted with a display of wealth and history of the House of Melcox. Everywhere I look there is tapestries of murals depicting the deeds of the family and crests of the Melcox family. In between the tapestries are suits of armor. Some look exactly like the suits from the medieval ages, and some were more fantasy like with spikes and scales decorating them. Soon though I ignore these and set my eyes on the sets of a particular style. I leave the crowd of people walking to what I assume is the room for the party and walk over to observe the suits. Lucy and Melora look at each other confused and decide to follow me.

            When I reach the suits, I finally recognize them and just start laughing. “Ladon? What is so funny?” Lucy asks and Melora adds on saying, “Yeah, they are just some ancient armors that the people used.” I tried to speak but I just couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous it was that these were on display as armor. When I finally control myself, I look at the suits again. There are two that I recognized as padding from a bat catcher in baseball and the other from the pads of a football player. I turn to look at them and say, “These are not armors. Haha. Hooh, man, they are sporting equipment.” Lucy goes wide eyed and Melora just looks confused as I have not told her anything about my past life. “You mean these are from your,” I look at her quickly and she closes her my mouth with her hand. I nod and say, “Yes, these are from ancient times, but they were not used for combat.” I point to the baseball pads and say, “This one is for baseball. Specifically, the bat catcher, who would squat behind the batter and catch the pitcher’s pitch as the batter tries to hit the ball with his bat.” I point to the other one and continue, “This one is for a football player. It was a contact sport, so they used these to reduce the impact of colliding with one another.”

            Melora and Lucy not really getting the picture of what I am describing so I just continued on looking at the others. I was surprised again when I saw another set of armor that brought back memories both good and bad. My jaw clenches and my hands tighten. The armor is a soldier’s body armor. This lord seems to have gotten most of the pieces and even the uniform from back then. I touch it and memories flood back to me in waves. I see myself joking around with my brothers in the unit and then I see us in a firefight after an IED blows up one of our LMTVs. I sigh and shift the vest aside to see if there is a name still Velcroed on. I am disappointed to see that it is frayed and unreadable and see that there seems to be a tear from a claw or something at the side where little protection is offered from the vest. There are also traces of blood stained into the fabric. I gulp and shakily move back a couple paces and go into a crisp attention stance.

            The girls look at me weirdly but say nothing and step behind me to give me some space. I stand there thinking how my fellow brother in arms must have died trying to defend against the onslaught of monsters appearing as he or she fights for her country and the comrades beside them. Then I give crisp salute to the armor and hold it for five minutes before turning about face and leaving for the party. I have many things going through my mind right now and want something to distract me from delving back into those memories of the many firefights and loss of brothers I went down range.

            We finally reach the room or should I say a ballroom. It was as big as a gymnasium at a high school with tables and chairs dotting the floor. At one side of the room there is a band playing with familiar instruments and playing classical style music. As I listen to it for a moment I think, “Now that I am hearing music again, I am starting to miss my phone with my music I downloaded. Not having music to listen to when we train is rather boring. If there is armor and sporting equipment still around, I wonder if I could find any music from my time?” I continue to look around and spot a bar on the other side of the room and drag the girls with me to it. I desperately need a drink to take the edge off of being around so many people again in a social event. Small groups I am okay with but when it comes to crowds like this, I tend to become tense even before I died.

            We ordered our drinks and wait for them to come when Lucy asks me, “Love, are you okay? What was that about in the hall and when you were looking at the band?” I smile gently at her then give her peck on the lips and say, “I’ll tell you about it later, but I am fine, okay. Seeing those armors and the band brought some memories from my time,” I notice people listening to us and furrow my brows in annoyance before I continue, “My time in my country.” Lucy looks around and then back at me and nods smiling before kissing my cheek. Melora pouts and says, “What about me? Can’t you tell me?” I look at with a deadpan look and say, “You going to open up to us about your past?” She begins to fidget and says nothing. I just shake my head and drink the rum I ordered.

            Suddenly we hear a voice saying loudly over the chatter, laughing, and music saying, “Guests of Lord Melcox! The Lord of Melcox, Lord Oliver Melcox has arrived!” Everyone looks over to the stage where the band was playing but is cut off by the announcement. Oliver walks on to the stage and then the announcer speaks again and says, “Lady Sophia Melcox and Lady Amelia Melcox has arrived!” After Oliver, his daughter and an older woman I’m assuming is his wife step onto the stage. Once they were beside the lord of the city everyone in the room bowed except Lucy, Melora, and I. I caught some disapproving looks from some people but the adventurers who saw me talking to the lord a few days ago just grin and snicker.

            Oliver just ignores us and says, “Thank you everyone for coming. I am throwing this party to announce that I have recovered from my illness and in perfect health once again. There have been several matters that have occurred that needed my attention and I am ashamed to say that my disowned son has seemed to of taken advantage of my absence. The gang, Stray Dogs, seemed to have been let loose with little push back until an adventurer by the name of Ladon took matters into his own hands. Ladon if you would join me, please.” I narrow my eyes at him before moving onto the stage. I whisper to him as I stand in front of him, “What are you doing?” He just smiles and shakes my hand and says, “Giving acknowledgement and praise where it is deserved and to tell you I have a little surprise for you later in the evening.”

            I stand there shaking his hand and think to myself that I knew this was a political move on his part, but I have no knowledge or care about the pollical moves of this country. When we stopped shaking hands Oliver turned me around and stood by side and started telling the story of what happened at the Drunken Elephant in a way worthy of a bard. This surprised me since this old man did not come off as someone who liked to tell stories with such skill. He even told in detail how I saved Lucy and how we confessed to one another which threw me off guard and begin to suspect that Helen may have had a hand in embellishing things. I grit my teeth and think, “I’m going to have to punish my sister later.” I look for Helen in the crowd and see her smiling widely as the lord spins the story to be more than what it really was. She catches my eye and waves a little but freezes when see my expression. Helen just looks away and whistles as if she had nothing to do with this. I look back Lucy who is blushing in her ears and Melora just laughing her ass off.

            I shake my head and endure the embarrassment. Finally, the cheeky lord finishes and smiles at me with a face that says this is revenge for not showing him face a few days ago in front of his subjects. My eye twitches as I grind my teeth. Oliver looks back at the crowd and says, “To the adventurers who helped take down the gang that plagued our city and defended the citizens of this humble city, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening and know that entertainment will be coming in a couple of hours. So, drink, eat, and be merry.” From the nobles’ side they just raise their glasses in salute whereas the adventurers whoop and holler downing their mugs and glasses rushing to the food table. I chuckle at this and start to step off the stage when the older woman that was beside Oliver steps in front of me. I raise an eyebrow and just wait for her to speak.

            “Sir Ladon, I would like to apologize for my son’s involvement in your troubles in the past.” I look at the woman closely and get the vibe that she truly is feeling guilty about her son. I nod and say, “You nor your other family had anything to do with what the Stray Dogs or Noah’s group did to me or my mate.” I smile a gentlemanly smile and walk past but stop just a step past and say without looking back at her, “Besides if I truly blamed you and your family, none of you would be alive right now. Have a goodnight, ma’am.” Sophia shivered at my statement and walked stiffly over to her family who were talking to some of the other nobles.

            I made my way to Lucy and Melora who were surrounded by our mutual adventurer buddies that we all got along well with. They were talking and laughing with everyone, so I decided to give them space for a moment and went over to get some food. There I met Sherry and Jon who were choosing what to eat from the buffet. “Hello you two. I hope you are mixing well with the nobles.” I chuckle at them as they give me bitter faces to look at. “Do you know how many heirs and young masters have come up to me to give them lessons and ask stories about the guild? I will remember this Ladon.” Jon grumbles as he stuffs a shrimp in his mouth. I chuckle again and say, “I’m sure you will, Jon.” “When are you going to take another job?” Sherry asks me to change the subject and to leave Jon to his grumblings. She seems to handle these parties better than him it looks like. “Tomorrow most likely. The last time I was in the guild I saw a job about bandits.”

            Sherry nods her head in thought and says, “Yes the job is still posted and has even had its reward risen.” “Why hasn’t any soldiers or guard of this country taken care of it yet?” I ask surprised that it was still up since it had been around a week. Sherry’s face sours and says, “The lord’s former son had a hand in that. Plus, he hired and put in charge a lot of useless guards so now that Lord Oliver in healthy again he is busy cleaning house and training new soldiers and guards.” I shake my head at how much that shitstain fucked the city in the ass. “There is another job that might catch your attention as well.” I raise my eyebrow at Jon who spoke coming out of his grumbling.

            “What is it?” I ask curious at a recommendation from him. He smiles at me and says, “It is to escort a scholar team to some ruins to study them.” I freeze at his mention of ruins and just stare at him as I lose myself in my own thoughts. “Ruins? Are they just ruins of this society going back just a few thousands years or are they from my time? Hmm, could signs of my time still be around since we built differently from the Egyptians and Romans? Wouldn’t the metal have already degraded from time or could have mana have kept them preserved enough? The more I think about it the more I need to check this out. Maybe I can find things from back then.” I am suddenly shaken from my thoughts as Sherry calls my name. “Ladon? Ladon?” I shake my head and smile. “Yes, that job does appeal to me. When are the scholars supposed to leave?” “Hmm, if I remember right, they plan to go at the end of winter so a few months from now since winter will be starting next week or so.” Jon says and then we hear the announcer again, “If everyone would go to the door at the back of the ballroom. We will begin the entertainment in the backyard of the mansion.” At this we all start heading to the backyard where at first it as you would expect to see from entertainment in this age, but suddenly takes a turn that has me rather irked and pissed.