~ Chapter 11: My struggles with the Khosinni ~

All I could say was that every single bone in my body hurt like I got stomped on by a dragon. Well, technically speaking, she fell on top of me when I made the wrong type of wish in my head.

That's 100 Luck for you, being the least bit reliable when you needed it the most. Why couldn't a cute nekomini girl or big-breasted innocent elf fall instead? I wanted to scream out loud, but a certain dragoness was giving me a strange threatening glare.

“For some reason, I want to punch you right now.” said Seryanna.

“Woman's intuition is scary.” I spoke with a low voice. “OUCH! That hurt!” I complained to the other dragoness, who was standing to my right.

“I'm sorry! I'm trying my best here, but healing magic isn't exactly my forte!” she complained.

The girl in question was the genuine article of Gothic Lolita fashion: black, long, curly hair; black frilly dress; thick makeup; black high-heel boots; and to top it off, she also had long sharp canines and black draconic eyes. Her tail was covered in black scales from tip to base, or so I presumed, since I didn't see more than the tip poking out from under her dress.

As for who she was, this teenage-looking girl was none other than the dragon who fell on top of me. Well, technically speaking, the wish was fulfilled, but the details about it were rather sketchy. I mean, why in dragon form? Why was she falling in the first place? Weren't dragons natural-born fliers?

Such questions made their way through my mind, knocking nails on my logic. Of course, I was also worried that I might have unwillingly harmed her when I made that wish, and perhaps that was why Seryanna was glaring at me in the first place.

“But boy, what luck you must have for me to land on top of you…” said the girl as she kept focusing on the green light emanating from her palms and surrounding my wound.

“Yes, what luck he must have.” Seryanna said while squinting her eyes at me.

“Technically speaking…” I said lifting a finger up, but upon looking between the goth girl and the knight, I felt like I would end up better if I kept my mouth shut.

“Hm?” the girl blinked surprised and then looked at both of us.

A single moment passed before a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

“Sweet sister, may I ask who this gentleman is? Fufufu!”

Seryanna crossed her hands at her chest and looked away. “Just… a friend.”

“Oh? Reeeally?” the smirk turned into a smile all the way up to her ears.

“Wait… sister?” I asked once my brain realized the meaning of that word.

“Yes! Yes! My name is Thraherkleyoseya Draketerus! I am Seryanna Draketerus' younger sister!” she said proudly “But you can call me Kleo! So…” she then moved closer to me and looked into my eyes. I blushed. “What sort of panties do you think sis is wearing right now?” she suddenly asked.

“White maybe?” I immediately covered my mouth with my hand and when I looked at her, I saw the knight dragoness looking at me with a twitching eye.

I gulped.

“Oho? White huh?” she cracked her knuckles.

“Well, he is right! I know for certain that most of your panties are white.” Kleo suddenly said with a shrug as if it wasn't such a big deal to reveal intimate details about someone in the middle of the street.

This line earned her and me a punch on top of our heads.

“OW! Why me too?!” I complained as I rubbed my noggin.

“Tehe!” Kleo just poked her tongue out.

Still, something was very wrong or weird to say the least. The proud and respectful dragon knight had a perverted sister who dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion and who was also a black dragon.

Just… Just how can such a thing be possible? It's like a scene taken straight out of an anime! I thought as I looked between the two girls.

“Jeez! Big sister, you are always so mean and grumpy! I told you that you need a man to help you ‘relax' from time to time.” she then winked at me.

Wait, is she telling me what I think she's telling me? I thought and blinked surprised, while Seryanna showed a strong blush in her cheeks.

“Kleo…” the dragoness said while abstaining from smacking her again.

“No matter what you say, I am the Awakened one, big sister!” the goth girl declared proudly and pushed out her small chest. “Or should I be the one calling you young sister? Hm? Fufufu!” she smirked mischievously. “Then I can do this and that… Hehehe…” she giggled with a perverted look on her face.

“Kleo.” Seryanna was ready to explode from fury.

I gulped and took a step back.

“Well, don't worry sis, with my expertise, you will certainly achieve your first ever climax!” she said with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

One of the guards who was passing by heard us and after one look at Seryanna's angered expression, stopped and carefully backed away.

“Kleo's darn done it again!” said another person from somewhere in the back.

For some reason, people were moving away from the duo. Out of reflex, I pulled back as well. Something told me I was going to see some fireworks, and it had nothing to do with a certain song.

“Hm? What's wrong sister? Why are you so red in the cheeks? Maybe you are excited? EH?” Kleo said right before Seryanna picked the girl up by the back of her neck and looked into her eyes. “Erm…” she gulped. “Nice sister? Good sister? Sister wants a treat?” Seryanna's eye twitched again, she was ready to explode. “If you want a different pair of panties, I know someone who can make you a see-through pair!” Kleo said with a big smile.

What came next was seeing an angered dragoness knight slamming an Awakened dragoness into the ground once, twice, thrice, and then up in the air, right before shooting six consecutive fireballs at her. The scene went by so fast, I could barely believe my own eyes. A crater appeared where Kleo was smacked into the ground, and nothing but smoke could be seen from her when she was hit by the said magic attack.

The poor dragoness went up in flames and fell crushing down on the ground like an overcooked barbecue. Surprisingly though, she was pretty much unharmed, and her dress was only slightly burned despite knowing full well what just one of those fireballs could do to a Corrupted Spike Wolf from the Seculiar Forest. That alone told me a very important fact: Kleo either had a rather high endurance to attacks or her clothes were highly resistant to fire.

Still, that didn't keep the poor perverted girl from getting knocked out of the game before she had a chance to cast a single spell or turn into that big dragon form that squashed me a few moments ago. Thinking about it, my arms and ribs were still hurting a bit. The healing was probably only half done, or she was a bad healer to begin with. In any case, I would need to ask for another potion from Seryanna, that was if she wasn't angry with me as well, but I was just a victim of her sister's antics, right?

After I gulped, I approached her carefully.

“Erm…” I said.

“What did you wish for?” she asked me directly.

“Erm… Is my life in any danger if I answer?” I asked.

“Your life is already in danger.” she reminded me and showed me a clenched fist.

“Well…” I rubbed the back of my head. “I wished for a cute girl to fall from the sky into my arms?” I replied.

She looked at me for a moment before saying “You are weird human.” she put the accent on the word ‘weird'.

“Technically speaking, she is kind of cute.” I told her.

“I still have Magic Energy left.” she pointed out.

“This mortal shall now shut up.”

“Good for him, now help me tie this perverted sister of mine and if for only one second you are thinking of the wrong thing…” she glared at me.

I quickly shook my head left to right, while on the inside, I was nodding. Before my mind decided to wander off and think back at what Kleo shared with everyone on the street, I helped Seryanna tie up the goth dragoness and put a gag on her mouth, just to make sure she didn't say any more weird things once she woke up.

“Nice catch, Sir Seryanna! Are you going to toss it back into the wild?” a passing by dragon joked when he saw her.

“I fear it might breed.” was her reply.

“Normally, shouldn't you be protective of her or try to keep men from looking at her?” I asked curiously.

“Kleo is not on any dragon's list of potential mates.” she replied calmly, but she had a bit of a sad look in her eyes when she said that.

I would have wanted to ask why that was so, but I feared this wasn't the place or time for such a conversation. More people were starting to gather, however, one woman slipped a few words.

“An Unawakened dragoness knight and a black scourge. When will they leave?”

For a moment, I thought I might have heard wrong. There was no way someone would say such hateful words towards a knight and her sister even if she was a pervert, right? Looking back, I couldn't pinpoint who exactly was who opened their mouth, but if I were to judge by those words, then Seryanna and Kleo weren't seen with good eyes by the people of this city.

Discrimination? Can't be… I thought, but shook my head in denial.

Once Kleo was transformed into a nicely tied-up package with a ribbon on the back, Seryanna picked her up and hoisted her over her shoulder. We both walked away from the area of conflict, leaving a small crater behind for others to fix. Well, nothing a little bit of draconic magic couldn't solve, right?

My curiosity for Andromeda city's mysteries faded a bit, but I was sure it would spark right back up once we reached Tomeron town. Until then, we had to go and rent a pair of Khosinni. Those six-legged horses were going to be an interesting animal to use as a mount, but I had to wonder if there were any other special mounts waiting to be found. My imagination poked around the idea of a special beast that was incredibly rare to find and also quite dangerous. Then again, I also had my skill [Speedy Rooster], but I wasn't going to let myself get caught riding a giant chicken no matter how fast it was. It was degrading no matter how I looked at it.

We arrived at the Khosinni renter after about ten minutes or so of walking on foot. Some of the draconians were looking curiously at us, mainly at Kleo, while others simply sighed and shook their head. I was getting the feeling that scenes similar to this one or rather involving the two sisters were a rather common sight around these parts.

So far, Seryanna appeared to me as that type of woman who was strong, proud, just, loyal, and above all not a pervert. That was why I believed her family held similar attributes and behaved a bit strict with her in order for her to achieve the title of a knight even when she had yet to Awaken. Not even for one single moment did I ever believe or think that she would have a sister like Kleo. Actually, I never thought she had any siblings at all.

“So, which one do you desire, Sir Seryanna?” asked the Khosinni renter.

The man was a bit smaller than her, and wore thick clothes to hide his brown scales. He was of the anthropomorphic type, meaning he looked more like a lizard than a human.

The beasts displayed in the stables next to him looked strong enough to rip apart that entire building. They were big and covered in powerful muscles, neighing and stomping the ground with their hooves constantly. The moment I locked eyes with one, I gulped and looked away. The beast puffed victorious.

I just lost to a horse… I thought with a sigh.

“That one and that one.” she pointed at two of them in the back.

One Khosinni was white with a few brown spots here and there, while the other had a black and brown spotted coat. They didn't appear to be very energetic, but they were the only ones who didn't look at me as though they were planning to bite my head off the moment they were set free.

“Ah! Leo and Lichel! Good choice! That will be 6 silver coins!” he grinned and rubbed his hands together.

“Six?” Seryanna squinted her eyes at him when she heard him.

Something was wrong.

“Yes, is there a problem?” he asked as if he had no idea what could have possibly happened.

“Yes, that's six times the amount you charged me for a when I last rented them, and that wasn't even a week ago.” she pointed out.

“Well, my apologies, but circumstances called for a… higher price. You are free, of course, to head off on foot. For a strong draconian like you, I'm sure a journey such as this one would be over in the blink of an eye.” he said while keeping his merchant smile on.

Indeed, something was a bit fishy. He was pushing us more towards the idea of NOT renting from him. A high price and pointing out that Seryanna wouldn't have much trouble with that distance, while true, it didn't make sense. A merchant should jump at the opportunity for an extra coin, not back away from it…

Unless he has more to lose than gain from this business, but what could that be? I asked myself and then looked behind him.

Almost all the horses were in their stables, some of them looked very annoyed and pulled on their reins. It was almost as if they wanted to get out of there, while others had nothing against staying a bit longer.

“Six silver coins… here.” Seryanna reluctantly paid.

Considering all the stuff we gathered on our way back, minus the remains of that Corrupted Spike Wolf, we had more than enough to spare a couple of silver coins, but what bothered me the most was the reason behind increasing the price. Then again, there was a high chance that I was simply over-thinking things. Maybe the taxes increased, and he was forced to raise the price in order to make a profit.

Still… Six silver coins? I didn't like it, but Seryanna already paid.

While she managed with great ease to mount the Khosinni and secure Kleo too, I was staring at the big saddle, wondering just how exactly did it work. To be honest, I never did ride a horse before. When I was playing Dragon Hunter, the mounting was done automatically through the magical ‘Action' key, in other words pressing the button ‘E'. Although I did see it in a couple of movies, seeing it and doing it were two different things.

“Hurry up.” said Seryanna who was already up on her Khosinni.

“Erm… How?” I asked looking back at her and tilting my head to the left.

The dragoness lifted an eyebrow as if I said something incredibly ridiculous. There was a high chance that I did. Since most people in this world were born around horses or some sort of mount, they were used to riding them or at the very least knowing how to mount one. For them, it was natural and even more so for dragons who had their other form as well.

“I don't even have a driver's license, let alone a Khosinni riding permit.” I complained.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Alkelios. Just grab the cantle of the saddle, put your foot in the stirrup and hoist yourself up on the seat. It's that simple.”

That was what she told me, and I was like: “Grab the who and then what?” I replied while looking a bit perplexed at the saddle.

“Cantle.” she said tapping the front part of the saddle. “Stirrup.” she pointed at the metal ring around her boot. “Got it?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Maybe… let's see… cantle… aaand stirrup…” when I pulled myself up, I used all of my strength and tossed myself over the six-legged horse, but thanks to the stirrup catching my foot, I ended up getting slammed into the ground, face first and feet hanging up.

The Khosinni laughed at me and so did a draconian guard who witnessed the moment.

“Are you alright?” Seryanna asked me.

“My body yes, my pride not so much…” I replied.

“You had a pride?” she asked a bit surprised.

“Ugh…” I groaned and then struggled to get myself out of that weird position.

Three failed attempts later, I managed to mount the Khosinni.

“I DID IT!” I said victorious.

“Partially…” Seryanna replied and pointed at something in front of me.

The beast whipped me with its tail and laughed at me with a horse-like neigh. I was up on the saddle, but I managed to do the impossible and settle myself the wrong way, with my back at the head of the horse.

Last try was a charm, and I was properly seated on the blasted thing. As much as I wanted to ride a Khosinni, one thing was to do so in a game and another in real life. I already missed the ‘Action' button for numerous lazy reasons.

“I will lead the Khosinni. I fear that if I let you do it, you will fall off…” the dragoness said as she grabbed the reins.

“Most likely…” I nodded and let her have control of the animal.

Now all that was left was the journey to Tomeron town. With a bit of luck, we would get there before the sunset.