<Freija>

Today was fun! It took an hour, but eventually Red started caring less about how she looked and started to focus on playing with the kids more and more as time went on. Then came dinner and after that me and Wreign showed the kids a few of our Skills, demonstrating a few things we could do with them as well as answering any questions before they were all told to go to bed for the night. It was 23:89pm by the time we started heading back to Redline's home: our guild-master's home. 

Wreign carried Red the entire way there: it had been a long two days for her after all, and I hadn't given her a lick of rest since yesterday so I let her sleep. We both took our time getting there, not wanting to part with her just yet. By the time we reached the property it was nearing 0 hour and about ten minutes later we were able to get Red into her room, safely tucked into her box near the far right corner of the room. There was also a strange mess of purple-feathered ripped up pillow at the wall opposite of her box, but after a moment of looking at it we just dismissed it as something she might've done accidentally a while ago and left the room. 

We were about to leave when I caught the sound of a fight coming from below: it wasn't loud for a fight, and so far there hadn't been any concerning noises other than that. I looked at Wreign, "Think we should check it out?" 

He shrugged, "I dunno...it would be pretty cool to see the old man training a little. We don't get to see that very often--" 

The noises from below were steadily growing in frequency and I was starting to get anxious that there was actually an attack going on downstairs between Pops and someone else incredibly strong..."Let's check it out. Just in case..." 

With that the two of us got out our weapons, I retrieved my chakrams from my (Storage Ring) and Wreign got out his spiked Gauntlets and we both made our way downstairs: carefully and meticulously; slower than I would've liked, but we didn't know what we were dealing with so going in cautiously was the better option. 

We reached the bottom of the stairs and there were nothing: none of the equipment was destroyed, there were no markings of a wide-spread fight between two powerful individuals. There wasn't anything that was out of place other than the sounds of something hitting metal and further sounds of a scuffle not too far away...in the training area. 

Did Pops have someone else come over so he could train with them? I looked at Wreign, but he was just as confused as I was. 

After edging over to where the Training Area was we finally saw what was going on. 

"Come on Sc'the, how do you expect to reach someone in time if you're this slow at attacking me!" Was that--was the demon fighting the dragon child?!

The Dragonling huffed in annoyance and shot towards Pops like a spear, there was the subtle use of a skill by the slight change in magic I could barely sense from the creature. It...he just shot straight towards Pops with claw outstretched and teeth wide to bite, but the man just stepped to the side and tapped the creature on the horn with his short-sword and kicked Sc'the's side. The little dragon flew to the side in the arena, crashing into the wall and slumping to the floor. 

"Come on. You know you can't just lunch at someone like that!" Pops roared, pointing his sword down and sighing, "It might work on other creatures, but against people you'll just get decapitated, bisected, or worse--caught and rendered immobile painfully as every one of your bones are broken by an opponent's Strength or tools. You have to think, be smarter about you attacks. For every encounter assume that the person is stronger, or has something hidden up their sleeve!" 

There was grumbling from the (Young) Dragon as he stood and shook his head, "It doesn't matter if you have your venom, or if your faster than your opponent. Never, and I mean it, never underestimate an opponent just because they're at a lower level!" He stepped to the side again, performing a series of strikes that even I couldn't see, and the (Young) Dragon fell to the floor at his feet in a heap. 

I thought that it would be over there but he continued to stand up! "You're too afraid to use the power you've been given, I get that it's training and you don't want to kill others but I can assure you that I'm not an easy man to catch--" Pops turned around to nothing. There was a flash of blue light from the far corner of the arena and the demon looked over at it curiously for a moment. 

BOOM. 

The air itself shuddered as a blue ray of light came streaking towards the demon, and us; being directly behind the man. "That's more like it!" Poppa roared and pointed his sword straight at the beam of energy coming towards him. As soon as it touched the tip of the sword the attack split into a series of smaller rays of energy, and it seemed that Pops decided to end the match there. 

"Alright. We're done with your training for today. I've gotten a pretty good grasp on what you can do, so you get the rest of today to relax...or something. Also, it seems we've gathered a small audience! Hello Freija and Wreign, I wasn't expecting you back until tomorrow morning at the latest." 

I heard him. Who wouldn't hear the Demon when he spoke. I was just too shocked to answer due to the (Young) Dragon fidgeting behind him, looking anywhere but at us. 

"I, um--You. You're training Sc'the now?" I couldn't help not being surprised at what I'd just seen. What was that spell? Was it even a spell?

"Yes, I am," He went over and pat the (Young) Dragon on the head and looked at us again. "Sc'the here wants to Protect Redline for as long as he's going to be staying with us, so before I let him into the city I need to make sure that he's properly trained and ready for what might happen out there, as well as make sure he has the means necessary so he doesn't kill everyone in the city accidentally." 

"You're going to let a (Young) Dragon, of the royal line I might add, loose in one of the major trade centers of the Human Empire...because of Redline?" Wreign asked slowly. I couldn't help but agree with him. Not only was this incredibly risky, but it was also very reckless to the point of carelessness!

Then again...not many would challenge his authority anyways, being the highest leveled person in the Kingdom: other than Cinder, the Captain of the Guard, and the King that is...

He was always thinking of Red's safety first, so it wasn't really that much of a surprise he'd take advantage of a Dragon of all things to make sure she stays safe. There is the bonus that Red and Sc'the seem to be getting closer too, so it'll probably be a good thing for both of them. I just hoped it wouldn't make things in the Empire worse than they already were with all the cults and rival Guilds around...

"Yep!" Poppa said, "I'll tell the King about it later, and make sure that Sc'the stays out of trouble, at least too much trouble anyways..." 

He just said he'd tell the King about it later...'tell' not 'ask'! 

...Sometimes I wondered how Redline stayed sane with having this guy as her adoptive father--

"I'm going to assume that you've already put Red in bed, and I'd like to thank you on that. And for returning her safely." He did a bow towards us. This was common however, and no matter haw many times we asked him to stop due to his rank so far above us, he never has, it was an uncomfortable sight...having your boss bowing to you over something you'd have done anyways. "I can tell that you have a few questions about what just happened, so I'll try my best to answer on Sc'the's behalf since he still can't communicate effectively." 

There was a huff of annoyance beside us, it caused me to raise my weapons towards the sound instinctively. It seemed I'd lost track of the (Young) Dragon and he'd decided to stand right in front of the two of us, looking at our weapons curiously. Of course, when I reacted he turned invisible immediately and I swear I should've hit him a little before realizing, but he appeared next to Pops again without a scale damaged... 

"Since Foxy over there is still a bit frazzled I'll ask the first question for the both of us," Wreign speaking snapped me from my thoughts about how I'd missed, and he asked the question on both our minds. "How, other than the obvious, do you expect Sc'the to protect Red and stay hidden?"

This prompted Poppa to nod at Wreign like this was a combat class and he was the damn instructor...I'd feel bad if he'd had that job before in any way: bad for the recruits or students of course. "That's a good question and I'm not entirely sure how I'll go about doing that--"

""...""

He just expected everything to go along smoothly and without problems until Sc'the left?!

"I'll probably just go and see Cinder about it all and have her deal with redirecting suspicion to somewhere else..." Wow. He was just saying he didn't want to deal with it himself, and so he'd make it the second strongest person in the city-Kingdom's problem. 

Redline, how in the Moons did you manage to catch this man's affection? He doesn't seem to care about anything other than his food, keeping things around him clean, and...you! I mean I'm glad he decided to, as well as angry...and annoyed, but he seems to lazy about nearly everything when it's not something he's passionate about! Dammit. 

"Next question." He said prompting us to drop his laziness and continue. 

"How could the dragon--"

"Sc'the" Pops interrupted Flatly, "We may not know his full name but you still need to treat him accordingly, as Redline's friend, like yourself and the blood-thirsty wolf-man." There was a quiet growl from Wreign at the last remark but the demon didn't seem to notice, or care. 

"--Sc'the...How could Sc'the accidentally kill everyone in the Kingdom?" I tried searching for the (Young) Dragon but he wasn't anywhere to be found. 

"You both can put your weapons away in my presence," Pops warned and the two of us immediately stored our weapons, dreading what he might do for brandishing them not only as him, but at a member of his house..."For your second question I cannot tell you exactly why, but just know it's a substance that can kill me at full strength, and it was previously something not through any living being could produce naturally..." 

Well, that was all we were going to be getting out of him on that subject, maybe we could ask the dragon to give Sleeper a sample--"Also he's not, under any circumstances, to let anyone other than myself harvest any of his venom unless otherwise instructed. And unless it's necessary in defending those around him..." It was a warning towards all parties. Mostly directed at us since he could tell what we were thinking, and slightly directed towards Sc'the since he was the owner of the substance. 

Well there goes that idea...

"Any other questions?" Pops asked. 

"How long are you going to be training Sc'the for?" I asked and there was the clanging of something metal dropping a distance behind us. 

Pops looked up, past us for a moment before answering, "Just two weeks. So he'll be running around the city with you all in no time..." 

Why do you keep insinuating that he won't be your problem anymore old man?

I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at Poppa, but he pretended not to notice and continued on, "Of course he won't be your problem all the time, and once he knows his way around I'll try trusting him with going out alone, but for now he'll just be staying near the three of your on your adventures. Most of them being outside of the city..." 

I wouldn't even think of bringing the dragon to the more populated areas of the city if I could help it, and I was sure that Wreign and Redline felt the exact same way...We all stopped to look over at what the (Young) Dragon was doing: he was scratching something into the floor of the Training Arena with a claw, and once finished he looked at us with what seemed like a hopeful gleam in his mesmerizing purple eyes. 

"What's that? A snake?" The dragon then went to grab at the drawing with a paw and we all looked at him in confusion, "You want to go find snakes when we get outside?" 

I hope that you aren't too confused, I'm not good at drawing female POV's in characters, especially not ones that have giant backgrounds of fighting and death. So please forgive me if the quality of this chapter is diminished some...

Anyways I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'll see you in the next one!

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P.S. I hope you can notice the common theme I'll be having throughout the book...