Dawn- An age of Darkness

I\'d been to many cities. There was all sort of amazements in this world.

There were all sorts of things that almost always captivated me. 

But this city, the city of Dracona was different.

Not because it had fancy machinery or fancy buildings, or even fancy trees, no. but because of dragons. Very fancy pets.

"Weren\'t dragons technically going extinct?"

There were dragons everywhere. Some were handling flying chariots, others, just ground chariots and some were even roaming freely. Very fancy indeed.

These looked slightly different than Dragons though. Some just looked like iguanas while others looked like dinosaurs. Some had scales, while others didn\'t. the flying ones had wings.

"Those aren\'t dragons, but lesser lizards. The flying ones are wyverns." 

Well, Ve sure wasn\'t happy that I called those things dragons.

But- "Can you tell me the difference, it\'s hard for me to tell. And aren\'t wyverns a type of dragon too?" At least that\'s what my gamer knowledge had told me.

Ve looked at me like she couldn\'t believe me. Was it really something that hard to believe?

"Dragons can do breath attacks and fly much higher than these creatures. Dragons are also far, far stronger," Alisa said. "And no, wyverns and dragons aren\'t the same. It\'s actually an insult."

So my gamer knowledge had betrayed me. 

Meanwhile, Ve was really offended that I\'d even bothered to ask that question. Enough so that she didn\'t even look at me for the next half an hour. 

It\'s not like I knew or something!

Anyway, after roughly going through the first part of the town, we found a guild building. 

"We can ask the guild for information, right?"

"With your status, yes. But it\'ll cost us money- assuming they don\'t know your actual identity," Alisa said.

Ve, still didn\'t talk to me. 

Everything revolved around money, so it wasn\'t that surprising. And my actual identity, huh?

"I guess we can afford to waste a little cash-" I yawned. I didn\'t know why but my body felt kind of sluggish. 

Maybe I needed a little rest.

It was barely eight, so there was plenty of time. We also had to find Dick. I could always just rest afterward.

***

We headed for the guild and on the way, Alisa filled me in where we could probably find Dick. Her best guess?

The pub.

I did not doubt her, no.

A bell above the door ringed as we entered the building. There were some buildings in this world where there were bell systems like this- mostly in the large stores. The smaller ones didn\'t quite implement this yet. 

This was a small branch and there weren\'t many people here. The few that were here didn\'t quite bother with us. 

We went to the front desk and handed over my card. 

The receptionist greeted me cordially and froze when she saw my card. 

I guess this much was normal. 

"Da-da-da lord Daarc!"

I guess I was more famous than I thought. \'Should have seen this coming.\'

Judging from her reaction, she probably knew my real identity too.

"No need for you to get all worked up, miss. I\'m just looking for some information, I\'ll leave right afterward."

The girl was so shocked that for the next three minutes, she was speechless. She did not hear me, no.

But finally, a rather burly looking woman descended from the second floor of this place, and with a small tap on the nose she brought some sense back to the girl at the reception. 

"I apologize Lord Daarc Green. What brings you here today to our humble branch?"

The woman was wearing minimal clothing and her muscles were on full display. 

"No need for apologies. Just looking for some information."

"Really?" the girl looked slightly surprised but she didn\'t make a fuss.

I guess she was the guildmaster here. 

"Yes. I\'d like to know where I can find the individual named Travador."

I drew in some attention when the name was mentioned. Funny, these people didn\'t care about me but the moment I mentioned that name they more or less focused on me. 

\'Better be careful I guess.\'

"Hmm? And why would you be interested in this fellow?"

The woman carefully observed me. Anything I said here, would probably have backfired on me later- so….

"One of my acquaintances knows him and I\'m just here to deliver a message."

I had a feeling this man meant trouble and it was best for me to not state my business to these people. 

"Normally, he drinks till midnight in the pub of Eagle\'s Eye. You should find him there."

"Really, thanks." I stared at her, with a bit of seriousness. "How much do I owe you?"

"Not causing a commotion there or perhaps taking a job or two at the desk?" With that said, the girl turned around and started walking back up. "A word of caution Lord Daarc Green. Sometimes it\'s best to let the sleeping dog sleep."

She kept on walking and left.

\'What the hell was that about?\'

But we got our information so we didn\'t need to spend time here. 

Once outside, Alisa let out a sigh. "Looks like our pal\'s a criminal."

Yeah, I figured as much. 

The geezer was a pirate and more or less a wanted criminal. So, it was normal that his friends would be the same. 

"Well, only one way to find out."

"But first, let\'s look for an inn and get our things from Dick."

"Yeah."

***

We located the pub first and searched for an inn near the pub. Turns out the pub was in a back alley of sorts and it was in the sketchy part of the town: big surprise. 

There weren\'t any good inns nearby so we had to walk about ten minutes away from the spot. 

It was still close enough for our purposes. 

We had dinner at the inn and with everything done, went for the pub. 

On our way, we\'d talked to some people and went to various pubs but so far, no sign of Dick. 

"What are the odds of him being in that same pub?"

"I\'d say over fifty percent. That place is filled with sketchy people and it\'s near brothels, the best place for him." Alisa didn\'t think highly of the guy, that was for sure. 

We were just outside the pub. The building looked old and there was a wooden carving of a big eagle snatching away an Eye of a sea monster of sorts, a squid maybe?

"He\'s not that bad." I jested and a moment later realized, we were talking about a teenager here. Even if he wasn\'t, it wouldn\'t take long for him to get hooked to something bad. "Never mind."

We entered and what\'s the first thing we find?

I sighed. 

We found a grinning Dick enjoying his Dick with three women side by side. He hadn\'t seen us, but we sure saw him. 

"DO we really need our things?" Alisa mumbled. 

I was starting to doubt that too, but.

"Yo, sorry to ruin the fun but- how\'s it going?"

All the seats on his table were occupied so I just stood next to him.

He was actually squeezing this and that in broad daylight- or rather, the light of the pub.

He wasn\'t that drunk, so it didn\'t take him long to recognize me. "Woah Daarc! Good to see you and wait, you have an arm now? Cool."

Yeah, he was sane at the very least.. It did become terribly awkward the moment he realized the whole thing though.