I open my eyes next to Cyra when the sun is already up. I slept like a baby, but time to go!

“Morning!” Cyra says with a smile at me and pats my head. Alright, on second thought, we could stay like this.

“We should go,” Cyra says and gets up. Damn!

“So which way is your village?”

“It’s a town. About fifteen miles to the west of the valley where you found me.”

“Fifteen!? But then your home was by far the closest compared to the other girls!”

“Aw, you mean you don’t enjoy my company?” Cyra has tears in her eyes.

“N-no, no, that’s not what I meant!”

“Ah, great!” Cyra sparkles. “It’s just that my regular little trip got rudely interrupted and I saw a perfect opportunity to spend my day having fun! The town can be so suffocating, you know? But there are a lot of benefits too! And I have a meeting there today I can’t miss!”

“Alright! One town, coming right up!” and with I cast my freezing spell and we are on our way to ‘The Town’.

I’m relieved, though a little surprised, that she never brings up the men I killed yesterday. Like at all. I’m convinced she must have noticed their screams! She must have! Right? At the very least she did hear them when they approached us, that is beyond any doubt!

About two hours later we reach ‘The Town’. I sigh. It’s a generic, average looking medieval town with two and three-story-high buildings made of wood, daub and—sometimes—stone.

“No, you go on trips away from this place,” I say with dejection.

“Right?” She says. The town is quite lively. And we’re not the only people arriving. Though our entrance has caught the attention of everyone in our vicinity.

“Hey! I’m Lilith!” I wave to the people looking at me. “I’m sure you’ll hear many great things about me in the future, so treasure this moment of seeing me in person!”

Some of them chuckle, others look bewildered at the small, narcissistic girl. Paying closer attention to what they’re wearing, the first term that comes to my mind is “adventurers”. They wearing what could only be described as "medieval-style role-playing game get-ups". There’s your rogue, your wizard, barbarian and paladin also! Each of them has a chain around their necks with a small, round medallion. A lot of silvers, several are golds, shining brightly in the sun.

“Do you know what the commotion is about?” I ask Cyra.

“Not sure yet,” she looks around with me. “Let’s go find out!”

We walk into ‘The Town’ on a paved road. If there’s one thing I’ll give ‘The Town’ credit for is that it’s quite big and there seems to be a lot of things to do here. There’s a library, armor shop, smithy, tavern, cat-maid café, jeweler’s shop, herbalist, etc.

“Hey, Cyra you’re back already?” An older man in polished plate armor walks up to us. His hair is already gray a the sides, his face is covered in wrinkles.

“Hey-hey, Desmond!” Cyra waves to the man and smiles.

“I hope you haven’t forgotten our dinner the day after tomorrow?” The man smiles cheekily and winks.

“How could I?” Cyra laughs. “I’m looking forward to it! By the way, do you know what’s going on?”

“Eh, something about dragons,” he answers dismissively. “I’m allergic to fire-breathing creatures so I’m not interested!”

“I see. Thank you for the information and see you soon!” Cyra says with a slight wave and we walk further.

I have my questions about this encounter, but while I think if I should ask, another man approaches us.

“Morning, Cyra!” the handsome young blonde in tacky golden robes opens his arms, inviting for a hug, but gets no such thing. A golden medallion shines brightly on his chest.

“Casper, you do this every time!” Cyra says playfully. “You know my stance on public hugs!”

“Can’t blame a man for trying! I’ve planned a little surprise for you on Saturday!”

“Oh, really!? I can’t wait!” She says with excitement. “Could you give a hint what it is?”

“Then it wouldn't be a surprise, haha!”

“If it’s from you then I can be sure I’ll love it! By the way, why are so many adventurers gathering here?”

“Ah, you just returned? Well, I’ll be glad to inform you over a cup of coffee—”

“Saturday.” Cyra cuts Casper off with a single word.

“Ooh, cold!” Casper smiles. “Alright! There’s nothing much to tell anyway. Apparently, dragons have returned to these lands. They’ve reduced the Crystal Valley to ash, killing at least twenty people there, probably more. Hard to tell, everything’s ash.”

“How horrible!” Cyra exclaims with tears in her eyes and covers her mouth with the palm of her hand.

“I know, right! By the looks of it, half the adventurers in the region have burned through their teleportation scrolls to come here to find and eliminate the threat.”

“Erm. How do they know those were dragons?” I ask.

“Oh!” Looks like Casper only now noticed I’ve been standing here the whole time. “Well, little girl, you see, there are very few monsters that can produce flames hot enough to boil an entire lake and incinerate such vast area in such a short amount of time! It’s either dragons or an even more vile and dangerous creature! Which only would mean that we have to find it even faster!”

“What if it was a powerful wizard?” Cyra asks.

“Nonsense, Cyra! That would require a high-tier magic! What could anyone possessing such powerful magic possibly gain from doing something like this?”

“Testing their abilities?” Cyra asks.

A drop of sweat rolls down from my forehead.