Punish Them For Me (8): The Perverted Dragon
"He's a crazy dragon, so he's gotta be crazy. And where in the world is there a normal dragon anyway?"
"So you're saying he's just your average dragon?"
Aterugar glared at me like she was about to shoot flames from her eyes. In fact, a tiny flicker of fire danced from her nostrils.
"That's not what I...!"
"Hmm... Kosa?"
But Kosa didn't open her mouth right away, her face twisting uncomfortably beneath her eyepatch. She looked like it was something extremely awkward to say.
Still, Kosa seemed to grasp how the situation was unfolding and that I needed to know this info. So she forced the words out.
"Master... Lurtjog... probably... has a thing for young dragons..."
"What...?"
A silence like cold water poured over the room washed over us.
A thing for young dragons...? So, in human terms...
Aterugar muttered in a voice thick with self-loathing.
"That bastard... he's a pedo-dragon... In your words, a pedophile, right?"
"Urk...!"
At those words, Kosa suddenly dry-heaved and clamped her hand over her mouth.
"Sorry... I just... couldn't help it..."
"I get it, Kosa. Makes me wanna puke too."
I desperately suppressed the wave of revulsion surging inside me. Fuck... A pedo...? No, a pedo-dragon? What a sick fucking...
"Lurtjog... he's infamous among dragons..."
Aterugar said quietly, head bowed.
"From young ones like me... to brand-new hatchlings... he doesn't discriminate..."
"Ha... fuck..."
I spat a curse and sighed.
"That creep stalked me relentlessly... I ran and ran until I finally settled in Myanfeld..."
And then she ran into me and got chased out to the distant seas.
Aterugar continued weakly.
"If you hadn't driven me away back then... I might've gotten caught by Lurtjog there..."
She shuddered, as if imagining it.
"Dragons hardly ever have kids, so young dragons are rare... In this era, there aren't any as young as me yet... So that psycho's been lurking around Myanfeld, waiting for me to come back... Maybe even polymorphed inside the city..."
Kosa and I were too shocked to speak.
"Disgusting... That's why I didn't wanna say anything..."
Aterugar clammed up after that.
So that's why Aterugar never wanted to talk about what happened in Myanfeld... It wasn't just pride over losing her nest to another dragon and getting beaten. It was a filthy, repulsive story she couldn't even bring herself to mention.
"Then Lurtjog's definitely coming."
"Once this year passes, I'll be an adult... So he'll probably try to settle things before winter..."
An adult... Guess dragons have some line between minors and adults too.
Doesn't change the fact that to humans, they're just intelligent lizards who've lived centuries. Whatever their criteria, anyway.
So Lurtjog's real goal isn't massacring refugees or destroying a human city—it's just Aterugar...
Then tying her up and tossing her to him would solve everything.
Before hearing her and Lurtjog's story, that is.
But now that I know the nasty truth, I can't hand Aterugar over to that freak.
Send a young dragon who escaped a pedophile right back to him? Even I, knowing full well the most profitable path with minimal losses, couldn't stomach that.
Hiding Aterugar somewhere until next year is an option, but too risky. She might get found, or Lurtjog could trash the whole city looking for her.
Only one choice left, then.
Intercept the bastard in the wilderness before he reaches Rosens.
Have to take him out.
A gurgle rumbled from Aterugar's belly as she huddled quietly. Kosa tilted her head, and Aterugar clutched her stomach, face flushing red.
I patted her shoulder.
"Go downstairs and eat first."
"I can handle it myself, so quit bossing me around. You trying to train a dragon or what?"
One minute she's all mopey, next she's running that sassy mouth again.
"Aigoo, sure sure. Just come down quick."
I shook my head and left the room.
"Kosa. Thanks."
"No trouble at all, Master."
Aterugar trailed after me, yapping nonstop. Calling me a loser, an idiot—standard stuff—then accusing me of being a perv who gets off on tormenting and hurting people. Stealing her home, chasing her to some cold, unfamiliar far-off place, then killing her or whatever the second she returns, starving her half to death, blah blah.
Ugh, shut up already. She's not a kid.
Wait, she is a kid, technically.
Still, she just runs her mouth—no real malice—so ten years ago, I didn't kill her, just chased her to the distant seas.
She begged for her life after I beat her senseless, head-butting the floor in that form.
Damaging the surroundings while claiming a nest is just dragon instinct—no real evil intent.
But not all dragons are as soft-hearted as her. She's the exception, really.
Most are violent maniacs like Lurtjog, impossible to predict. Arrogant as hell, greedy too—even the Demon King couldn't recruit them into his legions and gave up.
At meetings, I'd casually ask if dragons were part of his forces. He'd freak out, ranting about talking lizards and shit right in front of me.
Thinking back, that guy was a riot too. Instead of grabbing each other by the throat, he's whining about uncontrollable dragons.
If he hadn't raised an army to become Demon King and just stayed a regular demon, he might've been a fun buddy.
Or surrendered when I was wiping out his legions bit by bit.
But if he wasn't ready to go all the way, he never would've become Demon King.
Anyway, what a moron. He tied his own noose.
Down on the first floor, I checked the kitchen—some leftover stew from breakfast. I scraped the pot clean with a ladle and served it to Aterugar.
"Smells bad, and barely any meat."
"Don't want it? Gimme."
I reached out, and she spun away, guarding the bowl. Clutching it preciously in both hands, she toddled to a corner table in the hall.
Francois, in the hall, eyed her with pity.
"Poor thing... must've lost her parents in Myanfeld."
She's a dragon. A rude one at that.
I'd said as much earlier, but Francois clearly didn't buy it, so I just nodded.
Still queasy from Lurtjog talk, I poured a cool beer and sat across from Aterugar.
Unlike her earlier complaints, she was now shoveling it down greedily.
"Good?"
"Super tasty...! No, urk. This is garbage even kobolds wouldn't touch. Apologize to the cows who died for this 'stew meat'!"
"What crazy bullshit."
I clicked my tongue, watching her eat.
Ten years ago, when we first met, her true form was as big as this inn. After I beat her silly with my scabbard, she shrank to this size, slammed her head on the floor, and begged for mercy.
Sigh. If I'd known about Lurtjog then, I'd have killed the bastard right there.
Once Aterugar scraped the bowl clean, I spoke.
"I'll handle Lurtjog."
"What? You? Some has-been hero innkeeper without a holy sword—what're you gonna do against an adult dragon?"
"Got the holy sword. And even without it, I could crush one of your dragons barehanded. Don't worry."
"Haha... Still the same arrogant prick. Loser like you, blocking Lurtjog? Protecting me? But I'm not into geezers."
Even as she said it, her eyes glistened wet, pupils shaking like an earthquake. Scared she'd burst into tears again.
"Where'd you learn to talk like that, huh?"
"What's it to ya?"
Then Marim strolled in humming, locked eyes with Aterugar.
"Huh? Who's the squirt? Same hair color as me? Here alone?"
The pint-sized Marim called Aterugar a squirt and approached the table.
Aterugar wasn't one to stay quiet.
"What's this now? Resorting to stunted half-breed mutts? Pathetic hero... You've really hit rock bottom..."
And Marim wasn't one to take insults lying down.
"Look at this brat with no blood in her head yapping away? Who're you calling stunted? Half-breed mutt?!"
"Who else but you? Act like the mutt you are and go empty the chamber pots upstairs."
"You rude little bitch!"
They snarled like they were about to throw down right there.
Side by side, though, Marim and Aterugar looked enough alike to pass for sisters. Red hair, short and scrawny... If their ears matched, anyone would mix them up.
"Marim. Don't be rude to guests—upstairs, now."
Pelle called lowly from across the hall. Marim flinched and bolted for the stairs.
Pele's still Marim's drill sergeant.
Aterugar smirked at retreating Marim; Marim snuck a rude gesture behind Pelle's back.
Just like kids scrapping in an alley.
─────
We decided to keep Aterugar at the inn—not the refugee camp—for now.
With me here, it's the safest place in the world.
She griped in her usual tone but looked brighter, not hating it.
I gathered the staff and explained about Aterugar.
Idi, Pelle, and Kosa already knew. Francois and Della were half-skeptical but nodded when I insisted.
Ukun fumed that dragons were vicious monsters raiding dwarf mines regularly. Can't do much about it, though.
Marim—who'd clashed with her earlier—was horrified.
"Eek... Don't tell me she'll swallow me whole like a cherry tomato..."
"Don't worry. She probably forgot all about today already. Dragons are arrogant like that."
"Hope so... Urgh..."
I chuckled and patted Marim's head.
While the staff prepped lunch, I went upstairs, stood before the kingdom map on the wall.
Gottta catch him as far from Rosens as possible. Otherwise, Rosens ends up like Myanfeld while subduing him.
I sketched a rough route from Myanfeld to Rosens with pencil, picking my intercept point.
Land or air, he'll pass through this area for sure.
I grabbed the holy sword from downstairs right away.
But Pelle approached with a stiff expression, making it so I didn't have to go greet Lurtjog personally.