What I found out from this guy was shocking. He wasn’t a bandit. He was a mercenary. Why was a mercenary after a simple little girl? He wasn’t. The country was. Damn it. I know I sensed a lot of souls around but I thought they were animals as none of them got close to my cave. Guess I was just being lucky.

According to the mercenary. Half the country’s military was mobilized to get the girl from her village. The villagers apparently sacrificed themselves to let her run away. Guess she was loved. No mention of her parents. The village was apparently burned down for resisting the country’s demands.

Yeah Zahrah safe country my ass! Now I have a whole army running after me looking for the little girl that I’m hiding? What single whole country goes after a little girl? Is the king a horny pedophile or something? Abandoning her is not an option though. Time for a grand escape.

I slice the mercenary’s throat. Can’t take chances. I go back to the cave in a hurry. The others are coming closer. Seems my luck just now ran out. Zahrah may have had a hand in why not all of them found me until now. I shake the girl to wake her up.

“Girl… GIRL!” (Vedqothur)

She opens her eyes and seeing me there she looks terrified. She might think she has been found.

“We need to get out of here. It’s only a matter of time before they find you.” (Ved)

No time to be surprised! Transforming my hands into proper human ones I lift her up and get out of the cave before sprouting my wings. The humans are now close enough to see me from the torchlight.

“What the hell is that?” (Soldier 1)

“Look! It’s holding the girl!” (Soldier 2)

I fly away while they alert the others. Some try to hit me with some arrows but none of them hit. As they shout to alert their allies in the rest of the forest.

“Why are you helping me…?” (Girl)

If I was captured there I would have been dead. I may be a dragon but I’m new to this. I’m strong but there are some humans that are stronger. And if a whole army comes at me I’m dead. I can’t even use magic yet.

“Because I want to. More importantly I seem to have noticed that I don’t have your name yet. I’m Vedqothur but you may ball me Ved. Care to tell me who you are?” (Ved)

“… Kate…” (Kate)

“Nice to meet you Kate.” (Ved) “Do you happen to know why these people are chasing after you?”

She shook her head. Tears started forming in her eyes again but she seemed to try to stop them. I wonder if that’s okay for a ten-year-old girl. Not in my book. Not at all.

“You know Kate you don’t have to-“ (Ved)

I was about to tell her she doesn’t need to hold it in but I was interrupted by a fireball flying at me. How the hell did they find me? I’m about an hour of walking away. I dodge it but now there’s five more flying at me. I’m new at this flying this so I barely managed to dodge four of them. The last one hit my left wing making me lose some air but I recovered quickly.

I decided to drop down and started making my way along the treetops.

“Are you okay?” (Kate)

Kate seemed worried for me. How cute.

“I’m a dragon. You think my wing’s going to get hurt by fire? I just decided that moving along the treetops would make me harder to spot.” (Ved)

She made a face that look like it had “Oh! I see!” painted on it and looked a bit impressed. Well she IS a young girl. Maybe something like this would be impressive to her. A few archers did spot me and try to shoot at me but I made sure none of the arrows hit.

Seems like they realized I was travelling along the treetops but that made no difference. I was still incredibly hard to spot and I made it to the edge of the forest in only an hour of jumping across trees at full speed while the sun was finally rising. Ah what beautiful scenery to watch at early dawn.

We were surrounded. If only it was just that but I could see around 10,000 people on the plain outside of the forest. The distance I would have to fly before I completely get away was around 500 meters. A minute of flying at full speed while dodging all projectiles coming for me… Not happening…

“Kate you wouldn’t happen to know any magic would you?” I say in a slightly defeated tone. I have to admit. Whoever wanted Kate definitely put in the required effort to get her. I don’t know what the hell they anticipated but it definitely wasn’t a newborn dragon helping her. They were prepared for full on adult one.

Well… technically it wouldn’t be enough but they did their best and although it would not be enough to stop me if I had a year or so to train before this happened… It was definitely enough to stop me on the day I came out of my egg. How did I get myself in this mess?

“Only a bit of earth magic…” (Kate)

I opened my eyes wide in surprise. I was only joking. I wasn’t actually counting on her to know magic. She probably thought she wasn’t adept enough for it to help but it didn’t matter!

I quickly turned around and went to a place with no soldiers.

“Show me! Quick!” (Ved)

“I’m not very good at it though…” (Kate)

“It doesn’t matter. I just need you to show it to me.” (Ved)

I let Kate go so she could cast the spell, ignoring her surprise. She didn’t know why I wanted to see the spell but she cast it anyway. Mumbling an incomprehensible chant for around 5 seconds during which a stone was slowly forming in front of her hand and as she finished the chant the stone flew at the tree she had stretched her hand towards. The tree had its bark crushed but that was it. It didn’t look weak but it definitely wasn’t overpowering either. That wasn’t the point though.

The whole time she was casting the spell I was looking at the mana. Now I knew how to form it. And much more. I started controlling the mana around us and attuned it with the earth attribute.

I will the earth mana and form a spell. Seems like Kate still hasn’t caught on to what I’ll do. I lift her up again, while using mana open up a hole in front of us and jump in, sealing it back up as we fall.

“Phew. I can finally relax a bit” (Ved)

I have been running around the entire morning and was now slightly tired. Not physically but mentally. It also probably had something to do with the magic I had just used as in my panic I had moved around way more mana than necessary.

I let go of Kate and sat on the ground.

“Umm… I can’t see anything…” (Kate)

Oh… right…

“Don’t worry I’m here and I can see in the dark. I promise I won’t leave you so can you give me a few minutes to rest up?” (Ved)

She looked a bit worried still… *Sigh* Fine.

“If you’re so worried come sit next to me. You’ll know if I move if we are touching right?” (Ved)

She nodded looking a bit embarassed but she seemed to have a bit of trouble finding me so I helped her out by holding her hand.

“There. Now we can talk and you don’t have to be worried.” (Ved)

Hearing that the girl finally relaxed a bit… But she soon started tearing up again… I… can’t do anything for her. What a pathetic genius I am to not be able to ease the sadness of a little girl.

I put my hand on her head and stroked it. They say that when a woman wants to cry the best a man can do for her is to offer his chest for her to cry on. The girl wasn’t a woman but I figured it might as well still apply.

“It’s okay. Nobody will blame you for crying. In fact. Cry. Cry all the sadness out until you’re dry. I’ll wait.” (Ved)

Hearing me say this she clung on to me putting her head to my chest and started crying her eyes out. Good. Tears shouldn’t be kept in. Not by people like you. If nobody in the world was allowed to cry then what do I hold my tears back for?

I can’t quite tell but it feels like around half an hour passes before she stops. I worry about her dehydrating but right now I can do nothing about it.

“*Sob* Thank you.” (Kate)

I don’t say anything. I don’t need to. I don’t know whose fault this is but I will find out and they WILL pay. The men searching for us had passed above us a few times while Kate was crying but they hadn’t noticed. Must think that we’re still hiding somewhere in the forest.

“How did you do this?” (Kate)

“What do you mean? The hole? I just used earth magic for that.” (Ved)

“No, I mean how did you learn to do it just from seeing such a bad Stone Bullet.” (Kate)

“I only observed the mana while you were chanting your magic and copied it.” (Ved)

“No way!” (Kate)

“That’s just what I did. The stone bullet that you showed me simply used mana to create and control a compressed stone before using a compressed amount of mana to blow it away. It was a simple spell but the hole was even simpler.” (Ved)

“I can’t believe it. If you can do something like that wouldn’t that mean that just seeing one spell from an element would allow you to control it?” (Kate)

“Something like that. I would need to actually be able to observe the mana in detail though so doing in the middle of combat is not currently possible.” (Ved)

Hearing me say so Kate puffs up her cheeks as if she’s angry. What is with this creature? Is it made of cuteness? I think I kind of understand the feelings of whoever the hell mobilized half the country’s military to get to her. Still kind of mad about the whole burning down her village fiasco though. That wasn’t very nice. Then again the thing I have in mind for the culprit wouldn’t be very nice for them either. I guess it’s subjective.

“That’s unfair. I practiced so hard to even be able to shoot that one Stone Bullet but you just had to see it once and you can now make whatever kind of spell you want.” (Kate)

Aww she’s jealous of my talent. I want to hug her again. She’s like a cute cat or dog that you can’t help but want to pet.

“You know it should technically be possible for anyone to do that with sufficient training.” (Ved)

“Huh?” (Kate)

Kate turned from pouty to hopeful in an instant.

“It can be done by anyone?” (Kate)

“It should be… technically. I wouldn’t know but it’s not like I have some kind of blessing or special ability that lets me control mana in ways someone else can’t. Sure I seem to be able to control and sense it much better but other than that there shouldn’t be a difference and the same should be achievable with sufficient training and an affinity to the element.” (Ved)

Kate stands up and bows to me.

“Please make me your disciple!” (Kate)

“Pfft! Hahaha!” (Ved)

Shit. Wow I actually laughed. I haven’t let out a laughter like that in forever. This girl just seems to ease my nerves a lot. Keeping her with me would be quite pleasant. She seems to be dejected though.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t mean that I can’t train you but it was so sudden I just couldn’t help it.” (Ved)

“So you can train me? Will I be good in magic?” (Kate)

“Unfortunately I can’t promise you anything. I’m a dragon and you’re not. That’s already a sufficient for me to be unsure of whether I can train you but I also happen to not actually have any previous experience in training someone. Thus I can’t promise you anything. If even after that you still want me to train you then I will do my best to teach you what I can.” (Ved)

Looking at me with a determined expression she nods her head. I thought she couldn’t see in the dark. Then again she’s not looking at me directly in the eyes so I guess she can’t see after all. She’s just facing towards me hoping that I’m there.

“Please! Please train me! I don’t want to be powerless anymore! When those people came to my village and demanded me the others sacrificed themselves and I could still only run away! I want to become strong enough so that I don’t have to run away anymore. So that I don’t have to hide behind someone’s back while they’re doing all the work!” (Kate)

I wasn’t surprised. I had thought she had something like this in mind when she asked me for it. And I had no objections whatsoever. Having her trained would only mean less worrying for me. Of course I’d still be worried about her. But if she’s strong then I can reduce that somewhat.

“Very well. Then from today on you are Kate, disciple of Vedqothur, Champion of Vozahrah!” (Ved)

Wow that was redundant to say.

“Huh?” (Kate)

Seems she thought so too.

“Champion?” (Kate)

She asked pointing at my general direction in the darkness *Sigh* Of course it was that. Well whatever I was planning on telling her if we were to travel together anyway.

“Yes… I am the champion of Vozahrah goddess of chaos, freedom and choice and mother of dragons.” (Ved)

“B-But dragons aren’t supposed to have a champion right? The Champion system was something created by the parent gods for insurance against the dragons… right? (Kate)

“Well it’s not wrong… But you’re only talking about the racial champions. There exist other lesser champions to lesser gods who are not parents to an entire race. Those are called Heroes. That being said I am definitely the one and only racial champion of the dragons.” (Ved)

“But… But then how will the other races combat the dragons if even they have a champion?” (Kate)

This girl is smart. And by the fact that she knew about the Champion system proved it. But she was wrong about one thing.

“Champions are not just there to battle dragons. They can use their power however they want. If the way they decide to use their power goes against what the god that appointed them went then he or she can just take it back. The slaying of dragons is just what champions are most famous for. That is definitely not what they are for. And neither is it a definite duty of theirs to confront all dragons as even for champions there is a good chance they would lose.” (Ved)

“But then what about you? What are you planning to do with your power?” (Kate)

”For now… how about we get out of here?” (Ved)

We had already been conversing for a while down here so it was about time we moved. Kate only nodded helplessly and got up. I grabbed her hand and started moving forward while creating a tunnel in the direction of the army. Going through there will be our quickest way out. They won’t expect us to pass right under their feet. Let’s just hope none of their mages are around.

I wasn’t actually creating a tunnel. I was just moving the earth in front of us to behind us and thus proceeded forward bit by bit while sometimes stopping and opening up a small hole to let in extra oxygen. Don’t wanna suffocate down here. I don’t actually know how much time I’ve been going for but one thing’s for sure. We’ve passed the enemy. To the point where I can’t feel them on my soul sense anymore. I’ll need to figure out the exact range of it sometime.

It should be somewhere around half a kilometer. So we’re now around a kilometer away from our initial starting point. The problem is.

“I’m exhausted.” (Ved)

Kate was looking towards me who was still holding her hand with admiration. Now that I think about it she seems much less nervous around me now. Progress is good. I like progress

“Sorry Kate… I really need to rest right now” (Ved)

My head was throbbing and I could barely think clearly. If it was anyone else they might have already fainted around one or two hundred meters earlier just from the headache. Now… Now I can barely keep myself awake too.

Apparently in this world Internal mana storage is not a thing. Mana is an infinite resource that exists all around us. So why am I so exhausted though I didn’t use up any internal energy for anything other than walking a kilometer? Because mana places a burden on your mind as you control it.

If in games your MP represents the mana that your character has internally in this world if it existed it would represent the amount of mana someone can control before their mind shuts down on them. It can even be dangerous if you use too much magic beyond your capacity.

I started off as being quite bad at controlling the earth around me but I learned as we progressed and I got more efficient with using earth mana. The exhaustion just got worse and made me have a worse control though and it balanced out with my learning capability. If I currently tried to repeat this thing without any exhaustion I would be able to go a few times further than today. On the other hand if I didn’t have my learning capability I would have fallen down before even the 100 meter mark. That’s how bad I was at controlling earth at first.

“It’s okay. Please rest fully.” (Kate)

Oh right I said something didn’t I? I can’t even remember what I told her to warrant that response. Was it something about taking a break? I don’t care anymore.

“I’ll take you up on that.” (Ved)

I could barely keep awake at this point. In a last ditch effort to not suffocate I opened a small hole to the surface. It wasn’t big enough for anyone to notice it from half a kilometer away. Judging from the light it was still day out but at this point caring about that was beyond my abilities. I let go of Kate’s hand and sat down on the ground leaning my back against the wall… and I closed my eyes.

Waking up I saw Kate leaning onto me while she slept. I guess she was exhausted too. For a different reason than myself. Mental exhaustion… She might have already slept once but that is enough for you to get over your peaceful life being over and everything precious to you being destroyed. God knows it wasn’t for me.

Looking outside from the slight hole that I created I could tell that it was night. I might have incredible night vision but my eyes are still able to perceive darkness and light in a different manner. Night would be a perfect time for us to wake up. I still couldn’t feel anyone within half a kilometer radius around us. Not even animals. There were bugs or other stuff around but I could easily differentiate them from humans.

As I thought I’m much better at controlling mana than before. It wasn’t about controlling larger and larger amounts. The point was that I could now make use of smaller amounts more efficiently.

Feeling a little guilty I shake Kate a bit to wake her up. We need to move while it’s night. We can rest again later when we’re more than half a kilometer away from an army that was after our asses.

She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed them trying to wake up.

“Kate we need to move while it’s still dark.” (Ved)

Kate finally seeming awake gave a sad look. She was probably having a good dream. Maybe of her past in the village. I’m glad I woke her up. Because those dreams turn into nightmares. I know that better than anyone.

“I already slept enough. Let’s move.” (Kate)

I nodded my head and moved the earth above us creating a hole to get out from. I picked up Kate again and jumped out. I could see the lights of a camp where the army was stationed earlier. Even if they had figured out we’re not in the forest anymore they won’t be able to move until morning.

I covered up the hole and took out my wings again. Time to fly away from this place. Not that any other place in this country will be better. What kind of place is this to mobilize half its own military force for a single ten-year old girl? Or maybe I should worry about what Kate is to force them to act that way? Nah. Fuck them. This girl hasn’t done anything bad.

I look over to the girl in my arms who looked used to being carried. Still a bit embarrassed though. A small smile crept up to my face. She reminded me of my sister. I can’t lose this one as well can I?

Thinking so I absentmindedly accelerated while flying through the night.