After meeting him, I couldn’t imagine dwarves being cruel enough to be part of the dragon trade, but it seemed I was mistaken.
The more I found out about the dragon trade, the more I realized all kinds of people and creatures were capable of absolute evil. There seemed to be no end to the reach the dragon trade had, and I could only hope I could put an end to it before too many more dragons needed to suffer.
My team and I had already freed so many, but it never felt like enough, not when I knew there were more out there.
I let out a deep sigh and closed my eyes.
We’d free the dragons, every last one of them, no matter what it took.
The next morning, I woke when the world was still cast in darkness.
The fire had diminished during the night, so I got up and put some fresh wood on it before I grabbed one of Kas’ books and fanned it a few times to get the flames going again.
After the fire was roaring once more, I heard a small yawn, and I looked over to see Blar getting up from our bed. He stretched and shook himself off, and then he proceeded to walk on top of Kas’ arm instead of going around it to get to me.
“You are so rude,” I chuckled softly, but the little blue dragon just came to sit by my feet and yawned again.
Then he looked up at me with round blue eyes that pleaded for breakfast.
“Alright, alright,” I said. “I’ll make you food.”
I retrieved some supplies from the cart so I could get to work on our meal, and by the time I made it back to the fire, the girls were waking up, too.
Asta stretched and sat up. Her long white hair was somehow immaculate, and she smacked her lips a couple of times and then smiled at me.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning,” I said with a smile. “You look lovely.”
“Oh, thank you.” Asta blushed but then noticed I had supplies out for breakfast. “Would you like me to make tea?”
“That’d be great,” I told her.
“Mmm, yes, tea sounds wonderful,” Kas yawned, and she sat up next to Asta. The Valkyrie’s hair was more wild than usual, partly from our lovemaking the night before, and partly from sleep.
I stifled a laugh at Kas’ untamed hair, but the strawberry-blonde saw me, and she flashed me a glare before she combed the unruly mane out with her fingers.
“What’s for breakfast?” Eira asked as she got up, walked over to the fire, and sat down.
The redhead seemed incredibly well put together after a night of sleep, and unlike the other girls, she didn’t yawn or stretch at all. She was wide awake and ready to go, which I figured was a trait she got from being a warrior for so long. I could only imagine there were times where she had to get up early in enemy territory, or while traveling to battle. Get up and go, that was the warrior’s motto.
“Some smoked meat, bread, and baked apples,” I said. “Just something easy since we’ll need to get going soon.”
“Oh, yes, that sounds easy,” Eira chuckled and shook her head.
“It’s not difficult,” I laughed. “But we do need to go over our plan while we eat.”
“I like that idea.” The redhead nodded. “What’s the plan for today?”
“Well, I was thinking about the dwarves,” I said. “They can see through disguises, right?”
“Right.” Asta nodded.
“That’s what I’ve heard as well,” Eira agreed.
“So, we won’t be able to disguise ourselves like we did yesterday,” I explained. “We’ll need to try and make them feel comfortable, which means we’ll have to act like we’re dragon trade dealers. Can you all do it?”
“Mmm.” Asta pursed her lips. “That will be hard, but I will do it for the sake of the dragons. I want them to be safe, and this is the best way, right?”
“Yes.” I smiled at the elf girl. She was the one I’d been the most concerned about, so it was nice to hear her say she could handle it.
“It’s all we can do right now,” Eira said with a grave and determined expression. “We need to catch these bastards.”
“Right,” I said. “We’ll all need to keep our cool and try to make sure we don’t let our disgust show.”
“Easier said than done,” Eira mumbled before she took a deep breath and looked at me. “But I think I can manage.”
“Do you think they’ll be disguised?” Kas asked.
“I was thinking so.” I nodded and looked at Asta. “You said dwarves often disguise themselves to appear larger than they are, right?”
“That’s right.” Asta nodded.
“What if we hid instead of trying to make it seem like we’re the new dealers?” Eira suggested.
“Oh, that might be a good idea,” Kas said, and her curls bobbed as she nodded.
“Then, if we need to attack, we’ll have the element of surprise on our side,” the redhead added.
“Alright,” I agreed. “We also don’t have to try and act like we’re on their side if we hide.”
“Oh, whew,” Asta sighed. “That was going to be so hard.”
“If they do have enchantments on, can you remove them?” I asked Kas.
“I’m sure I could.” She nodded. “But
