Chapter 58: Nine Stars
Leon froze for a moment when he heard the question. He had started having second thoughts about the entire thing. Could it be that Ren wanted to attack the humans and, as such, was trying to gather information that he could use? Was that it?
Ren saw the reluctance in the eyes of Leon, and he let out a soft smile.
"You feel I want to use the information against you guys, right?" he asked.
Leon was taken aback when he heard that. Ren was far more observant than he had thought.
"You really do not have to worry about that, though," Ren said.
"I have no desire to touch humans without reason, to be honest. I honestly just want to know more about you humans and how you do things.
You would not want to refuse me on that now, would you?" Ren asked, but it was more of a threat rather than a request of any good sort.
Leon swallowed hard and took a deep breath. He knew that they had walked into this, and if he dared to do something wrong, they could all lose their lives here. But even then, he did not want to offer humans’ information to a dragon.
"I’ll tell ya," Gerald spoke. He glanced at Leon, who was still choking on his own thoughts, and proceeded to tell Ren what he wanted to hear.
"Humans are made up of nine-star classes, split into two main factions, Mages and Warriors. Everything else falls under these two.
A healer falls under the mage, and a tank falls under the warrior. I myself be a pretty good warrior." Gerald began his explanation, and it immediately pulled Ren in. He leaned forward to hear every single detail.
"Under those two sections, there are nine-star classes, like I said. A one-star warrior all the way to a nine-star warrior. The same goes for the mage."
Gerald finished.
"Ahh, I see," Ren muttered. "That’s how you rank yourselves as humans then. That’s pretty nice. Does this metric work with monsters as well?" Ren asked, curious for more details.
"No, monsters do not use the same method as us. Monsters are capable of evolution," Leon cut in. He glanced at Ragna and Remu.
"Humans are not capable of evolution, and that’s why we made our own sort of system that works through training, talent, and merit," he explained further.
’Hmmm, humans do not evolve, aye? That’s good information. Lucky for me, I never chose to be a human.’
"Hmm, thank you for the information. It’s really good learning about you humans, but now that that is out of the way, I’m giving you the opportunity to ask whatever you want to ask before the serious business starts." Ren said, giving them his cheeky smile, but this time it made their skin crawl, and fear gripped their hearts.
SWALLOW
Leon swallowed hard so loudly that they could all hear it. When he heard "serious business," his heart dropped.
"Uhm, we do not have any questions," he said and shook his head, scared that the wrong question would be an issue.
"Luna has a question." A whisper of a voice came through. Everyone looked, their eyes pinned on Luna, who had finally spoken after being quiet this entire time.
"Luna," Leon muttered, as if trying to tell her not to speak.
She got on her feet and walked forward like she had no fear. She stood in front of Ren and looked right down at him. Remu and Ragna got ready to move the moment she tried anything.
Instead, she dropped to both knees and suddenly grabbed Ren by the face with both hands and looked him right in the eye.
"Can Luna stay here with you?"
"Eh?" Ren, along with everyone else, made the same shocked sound as they looked at her. What the hell was she talking about now?
"Luna, this ain’t the time for ya craziness," Gerald said.
She ignored him and pulled her face closer.
"Luna wants to learn more about dragons," she said enthusiastically. "About you. Luna can see that you are special. Luna’s eyes are special, they can tell that you are extremely special.
Luna wants to find why her eyes are focused on you so much. Luna wants to stay."
’First off, why the hell is she speaking in the third person? Also, I can’t take a human under me. They would not allow that,’ Ren thought.
"Luna, stop this," Leon said, and she shot him a look. Her usually calm face was wiped away, and what remained was a vicious look. Leon gritted his teeth. He knew about Luna and knew that her rage was a nasty thing to face, but the wrath of a dragon was worse.
"Uhm, I’m not sure I can keep you here, Luna. Your friends here will not allow it," Ren said.
"Luna has no friends. Luna only tagged along because she heard of a dragon. Luna has come where she wants to be. She will stay here," she said it all like there was no room for negotiation.
"You are pretty persistent, Luna. Well, if no one can stop you, I don’t mind having you here. I’ll make sure that you are well protected and cared for, I guess," Ren said with a smile.
Her eyes lit up when she heard that.
"Luna is excited."
The others heard what he said, and they could not hold it in anymore. Gerald spoke.
"Sorry, Dragon sir, but ya want us to believe that you’ll keep a human safe? I’m sorry, but you are a monster."
He risked his neck to say what he had to say. He could not sit and watch Luna get herself killed.
"Hahaha," Ren burst into a laugh. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would have. Do not forget that," he spoke, and a massive pressure slammed into the room. Everyone, including his own subordinates, felt it. It was so suffocating that they could barely breathe.
Ren allowed it to go on for a few seconds, and then he stopped it and let out a smile.
"I’m sorry about that. It’s just that I do not like it when someone tries to make assumptions about me and they do not know me."
He pulled his head away from Luna’s hands.
"Now, let’s get into the serious business."
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