Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

“Are you awake?” I asked and gently shook Liz.

“Mhmm.”

“I thought you said you had slept enough after sleeping for two days.”

“Mhnn I’m tired…” Liz murmured.

“Do you want to sleep while I go to the adventurers guild then? Just going to pick up some stuff. We can have breakfast when I come back.”

“Mmhm.” 

“Liz.”

“Mmhm?”

“You need to let go of my tail. I can't leave otherwise.”

“Nnh no,” She muttered and snuggled up with my tail even more.

Is that even comfortable? It’s not like it’s slimy or anything, but using it as a body pillow looks weird.

“I will be back in a while,” I whispered to the snoozing Liz before using [Shift] to remove my tail and escape her clutches.

I was thinking of walking to the adventurers guild, but considering how long we had to walk before we found the inn, I decided to take the fast route and ducked into an alley.

I regretted my decision to go there early as soon as the adventurers guild came into view. It was literally swarming with people.

This world could really use a five-day workweek instead of swarming the guild on a Saturday.

 

When I entered the guild, I was met with even more people. All four reception queues were longer than their designated areas, while the rank-specific queues were almost as bad. The only one that wasn’t overflowing was the B+ queue, which only had two people.

Now what to do? I could just go to the dismantling area and ask for my stuff, but there might be a long queue there as well. I also wanted to ask Saria if the guildmaster had found any quests he needed help with and the matter with the Mindflayer Extract, but I'm not waiting in line an hour for that. I guess I could go in the B+ queue and ask the lady over there even if I technically don’t have a quest?

I walked over to the B+ queue and started listening in on the various buzzing around me. Always good to pick up on tidbits of information here and there. Not that I heard anything important. There are some extra monsters sighted to the east. There are also some guys looking for a vanguard for a dungeon.

As I was busy invading people's privacy, I heard a man that just entered the guildhall. “Ugh, this place is always so full in the morning. Can’t they split the low and high-ranking adventurers in different halls?”

That guy sounds like a charmer.

“Hey, you,” He said in a loud voice. “I’m talking to you, girl!”

I sighed and turned around, locking eyes with a large man with a buzzcut and a face that looked like it was constantly locked in an angry expression. “Can I help you?” I asked.

“This line is for high-rankers,” He said and glared at me.

I cocked my head as cutely as I could. “Thanks for telling me,” I answered before turning back.

The man, who probably didn’t expect me to just turn back and ignore him, got flustered and yelled. “That means go to your own line. You’re wasting people's time here!”

“Duran, you’re making a scene,” I heard a woman say from behind.

By now, a lot of attention from the C rank queue next to us had started to be directed this way.

“It’s this girl's fault. She just has to move.”

“You don’t know that,” The woman replied.

Should I just ignore him? I want to finish up my business and go back and have breakfast. But then again, Liz is probably still sleeping after last night’s torture.

I sighed again and turned around to see the man still glaring at me. “You should listen to your friend. You will live longer.”

“The hell do you mean by that?!”

“It means I’m in a good mood today and would like to keep it that way,” I said, and directed about the same amount of bloodlust as the guildmaster had tested me with toward him. The large man flinched and took half a step back. A man who stood slightly behind him did the same.

I didn’t even react to him standing there… Catkin? Pantherkin? Whatever he is, he is very proficient at hiding his presence. I wonder why he does it in the guild building, though? He is even dressed in all black like a ninja. Looks pretty cool, to be honest.

The people in the C rank queue looked at the large man in surprise, most likely wondering why he suddenly went quiet. Luckily, I heard 'Next please' behind me, so I ignored the crowd and walked up to the counter. The receptionist had curly brown hair and glasses, giving off the vibe of a professional.

She looks like an intelligent woman… Not that glasses are a sign of intelligence. I had glasses in my old life and I was dumb as a rock... Is dumb as a rock? I would like to think I have matured a bit over the years.

“Welcome to the adventurers guild. My name is Nadia. How can I assist you today?

I took out my guild card and put it on the counter. “Hi, I was just checking if the guildmaster had found anything he needed help with? I usually talk to Saria, but she seemed busy.” 

Nadia picked up my card and looked at it with wide eyes but quickly regained her composure. “I will go find out. Please wait a moment, Miss Luna,” She gave me back my card and scurried off.

“Excuse me?” The woman who had spoken earlier said behind me. “I would like to apologize for Duran.”

I turned around to see a tanned and slender beauty with black hair. “It’s quite alright. I’m in a good mood today, so I wouldn’t have hit him too hard,” I said with a grin.

Now, that is one beautiful lady. And are those chakrams? That’s a weapon you don’t see every day. I wonder what class she is?

The woman stared at the card I held in my hand. “I didn’t think any of those existed…”

Damn, I forgot I had my card in my hand. I should have put it away before turning around. Going around and flashing it will only shorten the time before it becomes widely known. Eh, it will come out eventually, no matter what I do.

I heard people whispering from the C rank queue. The woman was probably not the only one who had seen the color of my card.

“I happen to be quite real,” I said and smiled. “But you should probably tell your friend to choose his battles. Stronger men than him have picked fights with me.”

“Again, I apologize. He has had some trouble fighting lately. And it has left him more agitated than usual.”

“Trouble fighting?”

“Moving slower and getting fatigued faster. At first, we thought he was sick, but he seemed fine apart from that. Healing magic didn’t help either.”

Should I care? Why should I care? I have a pretty good guess if healing magic didn’t do anything. But he is also kind of a dick, so why not let him suffer? I guess I can at least take a look.

I used [Curse Sight], which made me see the world in a grayscale. Everything was shades of gray, apart from the man and a bracer he had on his wrist. Both had a purple shimmer enveloping them.

Yeah, that will do it. Should I help them? The woman seems nice, so I could at least tell them, I guess? But they can deal with it themselves.

“How long has that been going on?” I asked the woman.

“For about a month or so, I think?”

Damn, a whole month? I would probably be pretty irritable as well. 

“That is almost impressive,” I said.

“What is?”

“Walking around with a curse on you for an entire month. Depending on the curse, most people would probably be bedridden by now… or worse.”

“I’m Cursed?!” Duran blurted loudly.

“Yes, or rather, that is,” I said, and pointed at the bracer on his wrist. “I’m guessing you got it about a month ago?”

Duran looked down on his arm. “From the dungeon…” He muttered and ripped off the bracer and threw it on the ground.

I picked up the bracer and whistled. “[Curse of Exhaustion Lv.4]? I’m impressed you are still standing.”

Shouldn’t it be common sense to check the gear you get from a dungeon? Especially if you suddenly start performing worse after you equip it. Maybe cursed items are rare nowadays? Or perhaps people who can identify cursed items are rare? You need both [Identify] and [Curse Sight] at a decent level to be reliable after all.

I held out the bracer, and he sheepishly took it from my hand. 

“You should probably find someone skilled in curse manipulation magic if you want to keep using it.”

While Duran was staring at the bracer in his hand, I heard Nadia from behind me. “Excuse me, Miss Luna? We have one S rank quest that we would appreciate your assistance with. However, it’s a fair distance from the capital. Would that be alright?”

I looked at the map she had rolled out on the counter and was pointing at. “From the looks of it, that distance is about half the distance between the capital and Baruda,” I murmured and tapped on the counter. “That should be fine. What’s the quest about?”

“Subjugating two fire wyrms. They are keeping to themselves for now, but several monsters have been pushed out of their territories and have moved dangerously close to a few nearby villages.”

“Fire wyrms are S rank?”

“They would be A rank on their own, but the scout report said they are together. That bumped the quest up to S rank.”

“So the quest is for two fire wyrms only? Nothing about the other monsters?”

“Other adventurers are dealing with the weaker monsters. The reason we are asking you is that there are currently no adventurers in that area that could deal with two fire wyrms.”

Hmm, that would take about two or three hours, I think? I could swosh over and do that while Liz is training.

“Alright, I will take the quest.”

“Here is a map of their last known location,” She said and handed me a map. “Also, the guildmaster said there is no progress on the other matter yet.”

“I thought as much. I will probably hang around for a few days regardless,” I said and turned to leave before turning back. “By the way, do you happen to know if they are done dismantling the behemoth I brought in?”

“Yes, I think they finished that yesterday. One moment please,” Nadia said and walked away for a moment before returning with another employee, motioning her to sit down by the counter. “She will take my place so I can show you to the dismantling area.”

“Much obliged.”