I Will Be the Greatest Knight

In that moment, despite the amount of people witnessing the moment, one could hear a bug jump from one blade of grass to the other.

The knights stood frozen with weapons ready as they looked on in shock. However, the dragon, behaving more like a dog than a mana beast, didn't seem to be threatening the lives of anyone except for the monsters…?

There was movement that caused the knights to grip their weapons with more intention as Commander Henry dropped his sword and fell to his knees.

"S-Sylaron," he gasped. "I thought… I thought you were dead."

Disbelief was evident as the knights' eyes occasionally left the Commander and dragon and turned to each other. No one could believe what they were witnessing.

From afar, Irene found Felix's gaze, and their eyes met for a few moments. She knew that Felix held secrets for the Commander, but based on the expression the second in command wore, it seemed that he was unaware of this detail of the Commander's life as well.

He was said to be a dragon slayer, not a dragon tamer.

Irene gasped when the massive beast lifted its head and walked closer to the Commander. Her sword was held out in front of her but never went further than that. She had just been agonizing over his proximity to an ogre, only to have to worry about his closeness with a dragon. Her heart couldn't take much more of that day already.

The Commander glanced over his shoulder at the knights and apprentices watching him.

"Someone get Commander Lothian right now! It's urgent."

There were a few scoffs of disbelief. Urgent was an understatement, certainly.

Even Irene had to place a gloved hand on her forehead in disbelief, but she did finally lower her sword. Seeing that the Commander didn't have his sword anymore at all, it seemed that he didn't believe the situation in front of them was a threat at all.

Dutiful as ever, Bren climbed down from where he stood at the top of a silo, jumping the last few feet so that he could move quickly. His eyes went to Irene, who gave him a single nod before he was off and through the trees and buildings as fast as he could possibly move with all of the obstacles in front of him.

As petrifying as it was to face such a beast, Irene dared step forward and reach for the sword her Commander had dropped before.

"Commander," she quietly called, not wanting to disturb the dragon who was undoubtedly looking at her even though the beast was fully occupied by the Commander's attention. "Your sword."

It was the least confident he had ever heard Irene speak, and she didn't move an inch closer than what was necessary. He offered her a wry smile when the sword was back in his hands and he sheathed it.

"Thank you," he muttered.

Irene quickly retreated to the line of other knights and the apprentices who were brave enough to come down from the high places they had been before. Everyone was still in a state of pause as they decided whether or not they should be worried. Most were still not over the shock that there was a dragon still in existence, and it was familiar with Commander Henry—the man who surprised them at every turn as it was.

Soon enough, there was a rustling between a few trees, and Commander Lothian appeared from the forest, his chest heaving as he calmed himself. Whatever Bren must have told him was enough to get him to leave Sir Alix's side. If one thing could do it, it was certainly a dragon.

To everyone's disbelief, Commander Lothian said, "Christ, Henry. That's not—"

"It is," the younger Commander confirmed.

The mysteries piled higher.

Irene was close enough to hear them talking. As nerve-racking as the situation was, she was dying to know more, and their conversation was only shedding a bit of light on the overall picture. Her reddish eyebrows were lowered, and her head swiveled as her gaze followed the Commander, unwilling to even miss a moment of what was unfolding before them.

"She got bigger," Commander Lothian realized. "At least three horses long." And then, his voice louder, he addressed the dragon. "What the hell have you been eating?"

The dragon was a she? Irene realized. And then, at the question of the dragon's diet, she hoped that people weren't part of it. She hoped that the dragon's tastes only included the monsters she had barbecued before, but there really was no telling. She liked the Commanders, but perhaps she liked no one else.

The dragon lifted her head. Again, her movements were almost dog-like as she stepped forward to the older commander and curled her tail as if she were happy to see him. He regarded her for a few moments before he dared to turn and get a full scope of the situation, where hundreds of eyes were fixed on the situation as knights and apprentices looked on, wondering what they ought to do next.

"Tell her to clean up this mess," Commander Lothian requested. "She won't listen to me as usual."

Irene had to ensure her mouth didn't fall open in disbelief at his words.

Finally, her Commander got onto his feet, and he turned to the knights who were undoubtedly searching for an explanation and jumping to their own conclusions based on what was unfolding before them.

Irene had sheathed her sword by that point, but her hand found the handle again when the dragon got even closer. She even dared to rest her head on Commander Henry's armored shoulder. He flinched, and Irene silently gasped.

The knight slipped away from the dragon's touch and turned to face her.

"You heard Callum," Commander Henry urged, using an authoritative voice the apprentices usually only heard from him. "Clean up your mess."

He gestured to the piles of goblins, and the dragon obediently did as was stated.

"Gather around!" Commander Lothian requested of the others.

Without the dragon there any longer, the combined orders of knights quickly rushed to surround the Commanders. No one was willing to leave their backs towards the dragon so they were in a half-moon shape around Henry and Callum.

Only when the knights had settled did Commander Henry begin.

"Before I was able to take charge of the North, I was sent to Polona by His Majesty," Henry explained. "On our journey, we found a dragon egg which I was able to hatch by throwing it into a pit of lava. This caused her to…" He chose his words carefully, "... take a liking to me."

Irene couldn't keep her eyes off of Commander Henry, but unlike usual, this time it was because she could hardly believe a thing he was saying. There were a few shocked gasps from the others as well.

"We thought she had died after saving Henry from a subterranean dragon," the older Commander added.

Siverly, who had been following Commander Lothian before, finally spoke up.

"You were chosen by a dragon, Your Grace," the mage insisted. "Despite being only human, a mage must have injected you with enough mana or a curse for a dragon to have paid attention to you."

There were a few mutterings from the knights, and it was clear Commander Henry was persistent in not allowing the situation to get out of hand.

"That doesn't make sense," the young Commander insisted. "Neither of those things is true. I haven't spent enough time with a mage for this to be possible."

"It certainly doesn't make sense, but it's quite apparent to me that a dragon would only be fond of and protect someone it has chosen," Siverly persisted with his arms crossed over his chest. "Ask any Nickronian mage. These are basic lessons we learned as children."

Commander Henry ran a hand through his dark hair. He seemed slightly frustrated with Siverly's insistence, but he knew better than to argue with a mage.

"You may all return to what you were doing before," the Chemoian Commander directed. "Get rested. I don't know if this is over with. I have a feeling we'll need to speak to Nickron about the situation. There is no doubt these monsters came from Polona."

Irene felt a sense of loss at the change of topic. She wanted to know more about the dragon, but the conversations of knights always seemed to lead back to monsters.

However, she knew that she couldn't go against Commander Henry's order, and she went to the apprentices who were furthest back in the group, eager to hear more as well but knowing they ought to listen.

"Back to the stables," she ordered. "Make sure the horses are well taken care of. Perhaps you can ride a few of the knights' horses who haven't been able to let their energy out in a while."

"Yes, dame," rang out as the apprentices busied themselves with the direct order and headed off to the stables.

It was the most exciting thing to do outside of sparring with others. At least they were occupied if they spent time fussing with the horses rather than sitting around in the inn's rooms, where they were likely to get yelled at if their random bursts of energy struck at a bad time.

Only when they were just in the stables did a massive gust of wind strike the heart of Idona twice, and a shadow seemed to fill the sky. As before, there was a massive thump as the dragon landed in the heart of the township, filling up practically all the space in the town square.

What was once a large practice area seemed so small with a dragon inside of it.

Irene had to block the apprentices from leaving the stables as they looked on from over her shoulders or under her spread open arms as she tried to keep their curiosity from hurting them.