POV Ophis.
I feel the body in my arms begin to move and open my eyes.
"Good morning," Silence smiled broadly at my greeting, hugging me tighter.
"Indeed, good morning. This is much better than the bed at Crom Cruachz house."
"Uh-huh," I haven't tried to sleep before, but the difference between the two beds is huge. I like the soft and comfortable bed better. "I'll make one later."
While they were preparing breakfast for us, Sai taught me how to use the phone. It took me a while, but I managed to figure out how to use the device. Of all the things he told me about the internet, the one that caught my attention the most was the ability to take and view photos. Then I was shown a social network where everyone shares their photos. The images of various dishes whetted my appetite. Fortunately, food was brought to us soon after.
"If you like desserts so much, how about taking photos of them and sharing your impressions of them?" His suggestion sounded curious.
Unlike me, he decided to take photos of the places we would be visiting. The first post was the view from our room window. After spending a little more time creating my account and taking photos of all the dishes we brought, we finally started breakfast. Like yesterday, everything turned out to be very tasty.
A group of magic users moving towards our room aroused a little curiosity, but I quickly lost interest, since it was time for us to move on. Without wasting any more time, we teleported straight from the room.
I don't really understand why everyone around me likes riding these devices so much, but Silence has fun, and the food here is delicious. So everything is fine. The whole day was spent on the rides and dessert stands. The offer to arrange a similar vacation every week sounded tempting. More places - more varied and delicious food.
Back home, Sai started training with Crom again. While he was busy, I either studied new things online or visited the Chaos Brigade. Although I no longer need to reclaim the space between dimensions, I will continue to help these people. Even if they are unable to defeat the red one, they will at least irritate him like annoying midges. They do not really cause any harm, but they really get on his nerves. This is my revenge on you, red fool.
After the fifth amusement park, Silence began to get bored. As he said, everything is too monotonous and nothing new. Therefore, today is our last visit to such a place, and next time we will go to a completely different place. I did not mind. As long as my silence is next to me and there are sweets - that is enough. However, at the end of our trip, a small incident occurred.
***
While Silence was standing in line, I went to the stall to buy us some local snacks. I had tried to visit the human world on my own to buy food before, but many people called me a child and asked me to come with my parents without selling anything. This confused me, but if the problem was in my appearance, then I just needed to change my appearance. Sai had never had such a case, so I made my body age similar to his. After that, there were no problems buying sweets, but the strange looks of some guys began to irritate me.
"Please, your order," said the young seller, handing over a package of takoyaki to the guy in front of me.
"Thank you," the dark-haired teenager replied with a smile.
"Ueno," the blond addressed the one who had come with the customer. "Don't meddle where you're not wanted."
Such an unexpected situation made the guy-customer pay attention to the shopkeeper's face.
— Shima... Shimada, — the brunette muttered, clearly recognizing the man in front of him. After that, he left with a lost look.
The drama that had happened did not bother me at all. I came here with a specific purpose.
— Two takoyaki, please.
— Right now, — the guy behaved quite professionally, not caring about what had happened earlier. — Here is your takoyaki, please.
Having received the snack in my hands, I decided to make another post, but the phone was missing from my pocket. This made my face frown. Silence's gift, which contained many memories from our walks, had disappeared somewhere. While I was thinking about where I could have lost it, a girl with light brown hair approached me.
— Ex-sorry. You've lost it, — having said this, she handed over the phone.
(She has health problems, so this is not a mistake)
I did not immediately understand why the girl spoke in such a strange and loud manner. Having received my little treasure back and checked its integrity, I decided to thank the girl.
- Thank you. This is a very valuable thing for me, so I want to thank you.
- N-no, - she actively waved her hands in denial. - It is not needed.
- Calm down, - even if I could return the phone with the help of magic, I must reward the kind girl. Curing her illness will do. - For me it will be a trifle, but for you it will change your life.
- I.. - she froze as soon as I touched her ears. A couple of moments, and no more problems with hearing or speech. - Huh? What?
Realizing that she could hear everything perfectly well without her device, and also hearing her clear voice, she froze. Her hands slowly touched her lips, tears began to accumulate in her eyes, and finally her legs gave in and buckled.
"I hear you," she whispered quietly through her tears. "I hear everything."
"Little sister," her sister ran up to the cured girl. "What did you do to her?!"
I simply watched as the little girl looked at me with fury while her sister tried to stop her tears.
"Problems?" Silence asked with a hint of menace, taking my hand. "You were gone for a long time, so I decided to check."
Even though he knew that I was in no danger, he was worried about me. It made me feel an unusual warmth in my chest. This has been happening a lot lately. I'll have to find out the reason later.
"No. I only helped the girl who found my phone. Nothing more.
- I see, then let's go, - we simply turned around and walked away from the pair of sisters. - It will soon be our turn, and we still need to have time to eat takoyaki.
- Wait! - the little girl shouted at our backs, but her sister stopped her.
- Yuzuru, don't.
- Huh? Shoko, your voice?
Not paying any more attention to what had happened, we continued to enjoy our walk.
END Ophis.
***
— Concentrate! — the evil dragon shouted. — When exhaling, try to combine your aura and breath.
The young man followed the instructions and exhaled a dark flame. The fire reached a huge boulder in the distance, melting the top half of the stone.
— Failure again.
— It's difficult, — the young dragon complained. He was slightly out of breath due to prolonged attempts. — As soon as my aura leaves my body, it gradually weakens. How do you order it to concentrate in breath, which is intended for long-range attacks?
— It's all about experience, pup, — he was already accustomed to constant whining. — Albion has poisonous breath, and Ddraig has hellish heat. It is quite possible for you to create your own breath too. You just need more training.
— We haven't made any progress in two months!
— Shut up, — Crom's words were accompanied by a powerful slap on the back of the head. - Half a year ago, you couldn't even combine fire and aura, and now the problem is control. Focus on controlling your power. Your aura is quite unique. The ability to block anything you want is a dangerous ability.
- Don't forget, - a dark fog enveloped the boy's body by a few centimeters, - that this is mainly my absolute defense, not an attack.
- This is only for now, - Crom waved it off. - You don't think that I or the Celestials have become so strong in just a couple of years, do you? It takes a lot of time, training and experience, which can only be gained during battles.
- We are already constantly fighting.
- Don't confuse training sparring and a real fight. I'm just hammering the basics and some experience into your head, but a real fight is different from this.
- Are you suggesting that we run around and look for opponents? - the guy asked mockingly.
- Not necessarily, but sometimes it wouldn't hurt to warm up your fists with someone, - having finished his instructions, Krom looked at Ophis, who had appeared in an evening dress. - Where are you going today?
- A casino in Las Vegas, - Sai answered, changing his torn outfit for a suit. - I want to try my luck at gambling.
- America, yes...
- Any problems?
- No, but supernatural beings are quite active in this territory.
- I'll keep that in mind, thank you.
***
The atmosphere was tense. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting for this guy to act. There was a real mountain of chips on the table, around which a large crowd had gathered.
"Your word," the dealer addressed the young man, on whose lap a girl was sitting with a bored look. "Either you accept the bet or pass."
Five cards were already lying face down on the table. Two fours, an ace of spades, a five of hearts, and a three of clubs. The man opposite Silence had bet all in, hoping to get the winnings and wipe the young man's nose.
"Of course I support you," the dragon took off his sunglasses with a cheeky smile. "I am absolutely sure of my victory, because," his arm tightened around Ophis's waist, "the goddess of fortune is always with me."
"Ha-ha! What a cheeky boy," the player turned his cards over. — Two and six, I have a straight. Can you beat it?
— Wow, a straight, — the dragon drawled, showing off his cards. — Four of spades, four of hearts. Four of a kind.
The crowd exploded with congratulations, while the man, knocking over a chair, walked away.
— Your winnings amounted to 2 million 345 thousand dollars, — the dealer announced, counting the chips. — Will you continue?
— No, that's enough for today, — after waiting for the Office to get up, he turned to the casino employee. — I want to cash out the amount, can you help me move the chips?
— Of course, you'll be helped right away, sir, — the man answered with a smile different from his usual duty one. And the generous tip had nothing to do with it, he just liked the friendly guy.
Having received the money, they moved from the gambling area to the rest area. Having ordered a snack and a drink, they sat next to each other.
"You don't like it here?" Sai asked, seeing the frown she gave the waitress. "Do you want to leave after dinner?"
"Okay," the girl's mood improved. "Do you like to deceive others using your eyes?"
"Ha-ha-ha! It's really funny," the dragon agreed, finding it amusing that ordinary black glasses could hide his magical gaze. "But is there anything in particular that upsets you?"
"There's nothing good here," Ouroboros complained, pressing herself closer to his shoulder. "It's noisy, it stinks, and the constant stares. It's annoying!"
"I get it," the young man had already enjoyed his trip, and he didn't want to upset his companion. "Let's spend the rest of the time somewhere else."
"Uh-huh.
Having quickly eaten the food they had brought, the couple left the casino without stopping. Before they had gone far, they met five guys on their way.
"No need to rush," said the largest of them. "You'd better come with us. The boss wants to talk."
"If he needs it, let him come himself," said the young dragon with irritation. "And now you've gotten out of the way."
"Ha-ha! The kid is really as cheeky as the boss said," the taller guy stepped forward. "Or are you just putting on a brave face in front of the girl?"
"The boss only wanted the guy," a lustful smile appeared on his face as he extended his hand toward the girl. "Which means it won't be a big deal if she joins us."
"Paws off!" Silence, transforming his hand into a dragon's, cut off the outstretched limb. He was about to blurt out "She's mine," when he froze, struck by his own thoughts.
"A-a-a-a! B-bitch," the thug whined, grabbing the stump.
The moron's scream brought the dragon out of his stupor, focusing all his attention on them. The remaining four looked at the young man with apprehension, but gradually fear gave way to anger.
— Ha! I don't even need to look at you to know who's in front of me — a deserted alley, and the fact that no one appeared next to them after the cries of pain meant that a limited field had appeared. — You reek of dog from a mile away, just like that fat bastard I beat the other day. He sent his tame dogs, right?
— Grrrrr! — They turned into werewolves, no longer hiding their nature. — Don't you dare talk about an alpha like that!
— Or what? — Silence was still furious about some mutt trying to touch Ophis. — All you can do is wear slippers in your mouth on command. A useless flea collector has no right to open your mouth — when the werewolves rushed to attack in rage, the young dragon completely lost his temper, noticing that they were aiming not only at him, but at Ophis as well. — Worthless!
Dragon wings appeared behind him, his hands were covered with black scales and sharp claws. He rushed towards the attackers. The first werewolf did not have time to react to such a rapid change in the victim and missed the blow. Silence took advantage of the inertia of the killed one, turning around, threw the corpse at the next dog, knocking down its dash. Easily dodging the sweeping blows and jaws of the rest of the attackers, the dragon released his breath closely. The whining did not last longer than a few seconds. When the last surviving werewolf crawled out from under the abandoned carcass, he saw an enraged young man in front of him.
"Post..." Without even listening, Silence lowered his foot on his muzzle, breaking the skull.
The young dragon was still standing in place, looking at the corpses with irritation, until his clawed hand was squeezed by a familiar palm.
"Let's go home, Silence," the girl pulled him along, not reacting to what had happened.
"Yes, let's go."