Offering a quick apology to Diane and the others, I teleported to the palace, letting them go to claim the last part of the reward on their own. Meanwhile, I found Nuoda sitting in her office, her brand dimmed. Clearly, it was her Chosen that had been messaging me. When I arrived, I could see the dark bags under her eyes and her tired expression. “Are you okay?” I asked, and her head snapped up to look at me.
“There you are,” she said with a groan. “My Player hasn’t logged on for a few days, but she told me to get a hold of you if there were any problems.”
I nodded my head in agreement. “You said that there was a dragon here? I thought that there would be a bit more destruction or chaos, but… everything seems normal.”
Nuoda showed a bitter smile. “This dragon is… unusual. It’ll be easier if I show you. She’s staying in one of the guest rooms for now, until you can come to process her request.”
After saying that, Nuoda rose from her seat, leading me out of the office and down the hall. Just to be safe, I swept my senses over the palace, looking specifically at the various guest rooms for any signs of damage. What I saw, however, left me… confused, to say the least.
As we approached one of the guest rooms, I could hear humming in the air. When Nuoda knocked on the door, a female voice from inside called out. “I’m coming!”
A moment later, the door was flung open, and an unfamiliar woman was standing in front of us. She looked humanoid, with wavy blonde hair and red eyes, but had pointed ears like an elf, and blue scales in patches on her cheeks. Her forearms were covered with similar scales, her fingers ending in sharp claws. Similarly, she had patches on her shoulders, accompanied by thin spikes, and large blue wings behind her back.
Her horns were large and forward-facing, a silver chain with a blue gem hanging from her right horn. Finally, she had a thick, blue tail extending from her back, marked with spines along its length.
As for her figure… well, she had an exaggerated hourglass figure, and seemed to be wearing clothes several sizes too small for her. She had a blue and gold corset with a detached collar, the smallest shorts I’d ever seen, and thigh-high boots that showed just a tiny patch of scales at the top of her boots.
When the woman saw the two of us, she gave a bright smile, her Player brand prominently displayed on her forehead. “Nuoda! And this must be King Advent, right?” she asked excitedly, looking towards me.
“That’s right… and you are?” I questioned, trying to figure out what exactly was going on here.
“I’m Sapphire! I was hoping that you’d let me join your kingdom, sir!” she answered without the slightest hesitation, her eyes shining.
“Maybe start from the beginning and explain everything,” Nuoda suggested with a weary sigh, causing Sapphire to blink.
“Oh, right. That might help,” she said, giggling softly. “See, I entered this game wanting to be an idol, a type of entertainer. I haven’t had my debut out in the real world yet, but I wanted to specialize in games like this.”
“When I joined a couple months ago, I was given the option to make a monster race. Naturally, I thought that would be a really cool gimmick! A monster idol performing in civilized cities! That would really grab people’s attention! So, I chose yes, and saw that one of the options was to be a dragon. Even better, right?!”
After saying that, she let out a sullen sigh. “But when I made my character, I found out that dragons here don’t have innate shapeshifting magic. A dragon idol’s only good if they can still sing and dance, but a giant dancing dragon looks more silly than cute!”
“Thankfully, I found that you were selling that Transformation skill. I asked one of my friends to help me buy it, then snuck out of the mountains where I had been training. Whenever I mentioned wanting to be a singer, all of the older dragons got really mad at me, and it took ages to convince my Chosen.”
“Especially when she heard that I wanted to come and perform here, where the dragons just recently got their butts handed to them in that war! She kept yelling at me about how that was ridiculous and all that, but I had made up my mind! I want this to be where I have my big debut!” Sapphire placed her hands on her hips as she said that, huffing proudly.
“Okay… but why here?” I couldn’t help but ask. Even disregarding the relationship between normal people and monsters, this would be the last place that I would expect a dragon to want to settle down.
“Well, part of it is because of the history. It’s borderline scandalous, so it’ll attract people’s attention more. And a lot of eyes are on you after you released that dragon transformation skill. But more specifically, it’s about the passive buff. I uh… don’t really have any musicians working with me, so I can only do the music through my skills.”
Sapphire lowered her head slightly in embarrassment as she explained. “I’ve trained really hard to be able to do the music while I sing and dance, but the mana cost is just too much, even with my trait. I can’t get all the way through a song before I burn out. And being unable to finish even just one song is horrible for an idol!”
“And what is your trait?” I found myself asking, since it sounded like it related to her dream.
“Hmm? Oh! It’s the seven-star Channeler trait. The longer I channel a skill, the cheaper its overall cost. If I combine that with your kingdom’s passive discount, it shouldn’t be a problem for me to sing as much as I want! As for the negative… I have the five-star Herbivore trait. I can’t eat any kind of meat, which made me kinda stand out among the primarily carnivorous dragons.”
I looked at Sapphire in surprise at that. “How is just being unable to eat meat worth five stars as a negative?”
Nuoda cleared her throat, taking the chance to explain. “According to Ennolf, dragons typically have to eat a third of their body weight in meat a day. If this ratio is the same for her herbivore diet, that means that in her dragon form she would be eating around half a ton of fruits and vegetables every day.”
“It’s actually a bit worse than that,” Sapphire chuckled awkwardly. “Because I’m going from meat to veg, I actually need half my body weight a day. Thankfully, my dietary requirements diminished heavily after I transformed into this form, so I ‘only’ need to eat about fifty-five pounds of fruits and vegetables a day, or equivalent nutritional value.”
“Until now, I’ve been making do with some food pills I learned how to make from the old dragons when they heard about my ‘condition’. But this area’s too high level for me to run off and forage on my own. I can only buy fruits harvested from the Sunset Isles farming dungeon… and that’s eating through my funds faster than I would care to admit.”
From the sounds of things, feeding this girl was going to cost a fortune. “What makes you think you’d be able to earn enough to feed yourself by being an idol here? Why not go perform somewhere with a larger audience where you’d be able to train.”
“Hmm? Oh! I already took care of the training bit. When I was looking for any kind of equipment that could help me get ready, I found someone selling a three-star Bardic Adept trait scroll from a musical dungeon. I haven’t used it myself, since I was worried I might need to resell it if my finances got too low, but it lets me earn experience by singing in front of an audience.”
“As long as I sing regularly in town, I should be able to get to a point where I can even fight the monsters around here, and then can start foraging for myself! Until then, it would just be the profits from singing. Which I’m hoping will turn out well…” Sapphire chuckled awkwardly at that, having clearly invested a lot into her dream.
She suddenly turned to look at me, reaching out to grab my hands. “For that reason, I’d like it if you could watch my debut song! If I manage to appear in your sponsored clips, it’ll be like the game itself is advertising me! You’ll be able to attract more people to Fallcry, and I’ll be able to spread my name as a budding idol!”
Looking at the hopeful, innocent expression in her eyes, I let out a small sigh. “Very well. I’ll approve your citizenship request and watch your first performance. Do you have any plans on when to host it?”
“As soon as possible!” she said with a bright smile. “Since I’m currently an unknown, there’s not much point in scheduling a big concert. I was just thinking about singing at your central fountain. Right now, I only have a couple of my own songs written, but that should be enough to get people’s attention. At least, I really hope so. I’d like to sing once a day, and do my own original songs once a week. I just have to try to keep writing new songs that will get people’s attention!”
I gave a small nod. “In that case, we can go ahead and get set up. I’ll let my friends know where to meet us.” After saying that, I began typing a message to Diane, Bella, Ennolf, and even Hammerhead. After a moment, I sent the message to Wisteria as well, in case there was anyone she wanted to inform.
Sapphire’s smile widened even further, turning to run down the hall with glee. “I’ll go set the scene, then!”
I watched her leave, her tail swishing happily behind herself, and looked at Nuoda. With a shrug, the two of us followed her. By the time we arrived at the central square, people had begun gathering around. I could see Sapphire standing on the rim of the fountain, introducing herself and why she was here.
“Now that introductions are out of the way… I hope that you all enjoy my first performance.” Sapphire began tapping her feet, closing her eyes as music began to fill the air. “This is Born to Burn, a song I wrote when I first decided on what I wanted to do with my life.” With a deep breath, she began to sing, her voice sinking to a lower pitch while her body danced to her own beat.
“From ash and lightning I was born,
A silent cry within the storm.
Upon my birth, my hair burned gold,
The night itself had lost its hold.
The heavens bowed, the skies were torn.
The gods all knew a queen was born.
My thighs crack loud like thunder’s roar,
My footsteps shake the tavern floor.
Crimson embers in my gaze,
A dragon’s soul in endless blaze.
My mighty wings bring storm and rains,
Darkening sky and flooding plains.
And when I weep, the rivers rise,
To drown the earth beneath gray skies.
Every word from me is rolling thunder,
Every melody’s a storm.
Every song I sing’s a hurricane,
Just waiting to be born.
So raise your voices to the fire,
Hear the heavens cry and churn!
I was forged in flame eternal!
I was born…
Born to burn!
My voice commands the raging skies,
The seas obey when I arise.
The rivers twist beneath my song,
Like they have known me all along.
My heartbeat drums like ancient tunes,
Echoing beneath the moon.
And every breath I dare release
Fights back the dark with crimson heat.
Sapphire scales and ebon horns,
I wear my pride through every storm.
When steel collides and heroes run,
I face the battles one by one.
Every word from me is rolling thunder,
Every melody’s a storm.
Every song I sing’s a hurricane,
Just waiting to be born.
So raise your voices to the fire,
Hear the heavens cry and churn!
I was forged in flame eternal!
I was born…
Born to burn!
Some men pray the dragons sleep,
Buried far in caverns deep.
But flame was never meant to hide,
It yearns to dance against the sky.
And if the world should stand in fear,
Then let them hear me crystal clear!
Every word from me is rolling thunder,
Every melody’s a storm.
Every song I sing’s a hurricane,
Just waiting to be born.
And now the stars ignite around me,
Hear creation twist and turn!
With a thousand voices singing,
I was born…
Born to burn!
So sing my tale through ages long,
The dragon maid of storm and song…
Whose fire yet shall haunt the sky,
Till stars themselves do fade and die.”
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