After looking around for a while and asking some of the people living here, Noah and Ayden found themselves in an Inn. They were given enough money at the village to last here for a few nights, even buying proper meals.

When they stepped into the building, both of them were taken aback for a moment. This place seemed more like some kind of bar than an ‘inn’. A few people were sitting around, drinking and eating. Some of them turned when Noah and Ayden entered, but most people just ignored them.

“Erm... In this kinda place, I just talk to the barkeeper, right?” Noah asked, turning toward Ayden. He just nodded his head, “Yes, I assume so.”

Taking the lead, Noah grasped the pouch that held all of his and Ayden’s money and walked up to the bar, “Excuse me?” He asked, looking at the person standing behind there.

It was a woman, a rather tall woman. Actually, she was an insanely tall woman, probably standing at about seven and a half, if not eight feet. She turned around toward Noah and looked at him with a smile, “What can I do for ya?”

“My friend and I need a room for the night.” Noah explained, and the woman quickly nodded her head, “Of course, sweetheart. One or two beds?”

“Ah, two please.”

The woman took out a thick book and flipped it open, running her finger along one of the lines, “Hm, we do have one available for tonight, but we still need to clean it up. How about you sit down for some food and a drink first, eh?”

Noah turned toward Ayden, who slowly nodded his head. Both of them were pretty hungry right now, so that seemed like a good idea anyway, “Sure, sounds good.”

“Then what is it you wanna eat, hun?” The barkeep asked with a broad smile on her face. Noah scratched the back of his head, “Well... We’re new in the area, so I guess just whatever you recommend. Ah, but maybe something filling would be best.”

“Somethin’ filling it is! Take a seat wherever you want, I’ll bring it over to the two of ya.” The woman said with a broad, inviting smile, one that infectiously brought Noah to smile a bit as well. He turned around and looked at Ayden, who was already looking around for a seat. There was one by the wall, so Ayden nudged his head toward that direction to show Noah where to go.

“Urgh, fucking finally!” Noah exclaimed as he dropped down onto one of the chairs, leading to a few people nearby turning toward him. But Noah just ignored them as he let out a groan of relief, “My feet hurt so much. We’ve done nothing but walking the past couple of days.”

“I know. I was there.” Ayden replied as he sat down on the other side of the small table. He didn’t show it as much, but it was clear to Noah that his friend was just as happy that they were finally able to sit down on a chair instead of a rock, log, or the ground.

“So, what do you think? Are we going to find a mage here?” Ayden asked, leaning back in his chair, and Noah simply shrugged in response, “I dunno. I’d hope so, or else I have no clue why that guard reacted so weird when we mentioned we’re looking for one.”

“Alright.” Ayden muttered, placing his hand in front of his mouth in thought, “Now, why did the guard even freak out that much? What did you grab back there?”

“Ah... Right.” Reminded that he didn’t get a chance to tell Ayden about this yet, Noah explained precisely what he saw. Once he heard, Ayden stayed quiet for a few moments before locking eyes with his best friend, “That means you can use that eye to ‘appraise’ things now?”

“I think so. Appraisal is usually like... seeing the information of stuff in this kind of scenario, right?”

“Yeah, exactly. I guess it should be useful at least every once in a while. If you can keep the aspects you ‘stole’ forever, at least.” Ayden said, “By the way, is there any limit to that ability? Did it tell you anything about that?”

“Err... Not that I know of? But I think there should be... it would be far too OP if I could just steal as much shit as I want, right?”

“That is exactly what I was thinking.” Ayden pointed out, “But well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I doubt you would be able to use it for that long right now anyway.”

Ayden looked at Noah, whose sight suddenly became unfocused, and his mind seemed to be in another place as he just let out a random groan to show that he agreed.

“Is something wrong?” Ayden asked, “Do I have something on my face?”

“Lizard.” Noah replied in a blunt tone.

“I have a lizard on my face?” Ayden asked, confused, touching his face to see what was going on, but Noah immediately shook his head as he focused back on Ayden and leaned in, whispering, “No, there’s a fucking lizard over there.”

“There’s what?” Unsure if he heard Noah correctly, Ayden turned around to see what Noah was looking at just now. And then, he saw it. On the counter of the bar, there was a two, maybe two and a half feet tall lizard standing on its back feet. Although it wasn’t just a lizard, its body looked weirdly humanoid.

“What the...” Ayden muttered, confused, and a moment later, the barkeeper grabbed onto that lizard’s neck and held it up, “Marielle, I told you a dozen times already, get your fuckin’ Kobold away from my bar!”

“Kobold? Are you speaking of Lord Ness, this honorable dra-“

“Dragon..?” Noah muttered, his eyes having sparked up in an emerald light as he stared at that walking, talking lizard.

“Eh? Kid, you really playin’ along with that fool?” One of the other patrons asked with a grin on his face, “Ya don’t have to humor ‘im, y’know?”

“Aye, dat lizard’s just messin’ with ya!” Another one exclaimed. But Noah wasn’t particularly focused on what they were saying. He didn’t even hear exactly what the Kobold was trying to say. All that he knew was that what he saw. And what Noah saw was a slightly different form for the Kobold.

Instead of its rat-like tail, it had one with a thick base that slowly became thinner approaching the tip. It had wings on its back, and the short, stud-like horns on top of the Kobold’s head looked quite a bit larger than before. All in all, it didn’t look all too much like a ‘dragon’ as Noah would know it. The word just somehow popped up in his mind when he saw the Kobold’s figure. That sometimes happened, very rarely, but it does happen. Mostly when the individual in question has an extremely strong personality.

“Sorry, my friend is a bit tired right now.” Ayden said with a wry smile, feeling embarrassed that everyone around them was looking toward them and laughing. But Noah’s eyes were still focused on the Kobold. There was something else about it. There were rune-like patterns written all over its head and hands, focused around its eyes, ears, and mouth. It was somewhat like with Ayden. This Kobold had a special ability, Noah was sure of it.

“Noah, sit down. I think you’re being a bit rude...” Ayden whispered to his friend, and Noah snapped out of it.

“Ah, shit... Sorry.” He sat back down, still keeping his eyes on the Kobold but not being focused on it. The barkeep soon let it down onto the ground after this ‘Marielle’ she called came and spoke to her about it. Not too long after, that same girl, who looked to be around their age, brought two plates of food to Noah and Ayden.

It seemed to just be some mutton, fried mushrooms, and a piece of bread. Either way, it smelled pretty good, especially compared to the berries and nuts that the two friends lived off of for the past few days.

“You two want anything to drink as well?” The girl asked. Noah and Ayden immediately nodded their heads, “Some water would be nice.” Ayden said. The girl was a bit surprised but quickly turned around to get it while the starving friends began to eat.

The food was kind of bland, the meat was tough to cut apart and chew, but they didn’t care. Noah and Ayden ate as if they just barely escaped death from hunger. Once the girl came back with two mugs of water, they were already halfway done with their meal.

“You two have a hearty appetite, eh?” She asked with a smile, and Noah looked up as he nodded his head. He hit his chest to help himself swallow the lump of meat stuck in his throat, “Yup, you can say that again. But... I kinda have a question. What’s the deal with that... Kobold over there?”

“Hm?” Marielle slowly turned around and looked at the Kobold in question, who was currently trying to climb onto an empty chair, “Ah, Ness... He’s great, right?”

With a smug grin on her face, she crossed her arms, “You know, he’s actually the descendant of dragons.”

“Really?” Noah asked, his eyes widened in surprise, “For a dragon, he seems kind of...”

“Small? Yeah, I know! But when you get to know him, it just makes sense!” Marielle exclaimed. Meanwhile, Ayden was flipping through one of his books, “I don’t know, he looks just like a regular kobold to me.”

Ayden turned the book around and showed Noah and Marielle the sketch of a Kobold. It looked basically identical to ‘Ness’ in any way possible. Marielle’s face became flushed as she looked away, “Well, yeah, he’s technically a Kobold, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be a dragon as well, right?”

“I mean, does Ness know that he’s a Kobold?” Noah asked with a wry smile.

“...He’ll bite you if you call him a Kobold, so I stopped trying to talk to him about it...” The girl admitted. Noah and Ayden locked eyes, and Ayden slowly turned toward Marielle.

“You know that he is not actually a dragon, don’t you?”

Marielle looked around her nervously and slowly leaned in toward the two, “Of course I know, but Ness is my best friend. Am I supposed to just tell him ‘no’? I mean, we came here because Ness wanted to find someone that can prove he’s a dragon, but we just can’t get up that damn mountain...”

Both Noah and Ayden realized something from Marielle’s story. Something that seemed to be too much of a coincidence.

“Erm... Marielle, right? Are you by any chance the noble girl that we heard about?” Noah asked.

“Eh? How’d you know?” Marielle reacted, surprised, “I don’t think I look like a noble girl at all, do I?”