The breeze was still winter-cold early in the morning. It meant that he would have to wait until noon or later for the sun to bake up the air and make his skin slightly more comfortable with the outdoor activities of today. Until then, the hunter and wizard of Lamia Scale rested his back upon a log whilst letting a branch support his weight several meters from the ground. He was surrounded by a few other branches that stretched out from other trees and shrubbery along with green vegetation such as leaves and vines. Orchidia’s forests were thick and dense in areas like this one - perfect habitats for average-sized boars and other animals that Daiko preyed upon.

His bow had underwent another rebuild. It looked obviously handmade to an amateur degree; the arc of the bow was carved from a long, crooked branch which still had remaining pieces of bark on it, and the string was what Daiko called ‘activated web’. Apparently, heating up spider silk and kneading it turned out to create this efficient string that was much more solid than what it originated from, yet keeping a very high density. It wasn’t exactly an elegant design, but Daiko cared little about looks during a hunt…

He was a hunter at heart. His very outfit screamed that with its bones and skulls strung around his right shoulder down to his left hip like a worn dakka. Not to mention the upper boar skull that protected his left shoulder. He was proud of his achievements, but he wasn’t thinking about that right now… he was snoring. He wanted 5 minutes more from when he woke himself up earlier.

Of course, Coda wouldn’t want any of that. She rapidly pecked his temples with her beak to wake the Fire Mage up at times, and as Daiko worryingly looked in all directions with a shocked face, he saw no prey and thus just a very playful bird in front of him. Maybe he should save those 5 minutes for later…

…

*crack* He heard it. The sound of weight crushing a branch that was too recognizable. His head bowed down to the surface, and as he moved a hand across his left eye, he detected a heat signature… and it disappeared.

… Oh well, he had all day to hunt, so those 5 minutes were his again. Zzz…

Zzz…

Oh, he heard the sound again. Okay, okay, he would initiate the hunt this time, for sure. However, in order to be successful, he needed to be unexpected by the prey, so no sudden movements were needed for the moment. He needed only a slight bow with his head to eye the potential prey; a badger with clear, white-black stripes across its face. Those never bothered hiding themselves in plain sight with fur like that, but they were wild and often fought back against even bigger predators. And they tasted good, too. Daiko would surely enjoy a good, steaked badger leg today.

His fingers slowly embraced the string and pulled it back. He had an arrow ready on his shoulder that he let slide down, so that it was grabbed by his right hand. It was then adjusted to the string and ready to fly off when he let go of the string. He just needed to adjust the angle a little… it was a little too off to the right and down…

… Darn it! The badger’s heat signature suddenly darted away. Once when spotted, any predator would immediately go into chase mode in order to ensure their prey, since otherwise all the effort would be lost. Therefore, Daiko didn’t wait a moment to dash down from the branch and follow its trail, which was easy to track since the shrubbery was clearly pushed to both sides in its track. It also left footprints on the ground, but Daiko was finding his heat vision much more useful. He casually dashed forth, not using Fire Magic since… trees and branches were everywhere, and he could start a forest fire.

The badger sought refuge in its underground cave. Daiko found it by following its tracks, and now he stood in front of the entrance to a fox-like hole. He would have continued to stick his hand in and scare out the badger if not for the piece of paper that covered the hole. Picking it up, Daiko took a curious look at it while Coda came flying down and landed her talons on his shoulder.

“… Strange. It’s blank,” he hummed annoyingly. He decided to put the paper into his pocket and lift his head up a little, narrowly spotting the badger stick its head out from another entrance or exit to its cave. Quickly, he aimed and fired a wooden arrow towards its face, but it swiftly dove down into the cave again. The arrow just hit a tree, and a few moments after the Fire Mage’s dissatisfied grunt, water began escaping from the hole where the badger stuck its head out earlier.

That freaked him out a little. That was far from normal; was there a lake underneath that badger cave?

It turned out to come from a water body nearby. It was Coda’s time to lead the previous hunt now turned into some kind of investigation. “Go, girl. Find me a lake,” he commanded her. Happily, she flapped her vermillion wings and flew off, circling around a certain area after a given time which indicated the discovery of a lake. Daiko moved in haste towards the space that Coda flew above.

Coda aimed her beak downwards to the lake. She was a little hungry and considered diving down for a fishy snack, but Daiko had to arrive at the area before that could go by. She would continue circling around, while Daiko sprinted across the vegetation. It was a blur whether if he was running on the ground or on the branches that spread out like steps of a staircase. He wanted to figure out why the badger’s hole ended up like that… with water splashing out and the lacking signs of any badger. Badgers usually lived with a family down in those holes, so all of that was new to the Fire Mage.

He didn’t see the emergence of blood afterwards. There was something deep beneath the ground that he was oblivious to.

And at last, the lake was found. It was easy to spot the open land further ahead, since light always shone brighter from there and travelled through the shrubbery to reach his eyes. Joyous, the Fire Mage dashed out from the bushes in an unusual manner. He was in a hurry, and during his sprint, wings had grown out from his shoulder-blades, and fire was engulfing him. It looked like a firebird had arrived, and that was kind of the truth in a sense. He did assume that there was a huge phoenix inside of him.

Standing there all brilliantly, it was by surprise that Coda came flying down in an arc, tackling Daiko and causing him to fall flat on his back. “H-Hey hey…!” he complained jokingly, “I know, alright, good bird… I think that the water came from here.” He rose up on his feet in one leap and let Coda relax on his shoulder. He then investigated the area, searching for any signs of badgers…

The only sign that he got - a pretty irrelevant sign in the pursuit of badgers - was a white shirt that was left on the ground. He saw other pieces of clothing spread out in that small space, and the worst thought grabbed him… had somebody been attacked here?!

“Oh no… hello? Hello?!” he called out for whoever could hear him, “Hello, are you alright?! Is somebody hurt or pursued?! Don’t worry, I’ll come and help you…!!!” He was flailing his arms in fright of what could have happened to this person.

He wondered if said victim was still around… it was a terrifying thought. Maybe this person was attacked, and it was too late? Daiko didn’t want that, which only stressed him more. Please, just please, be alive still. The forests weren’t entirely empty for dangers, and even though Orchidia’s woods were relatively close to civilization, they still horded wolf packs and other predators. He swore to skin every single of them if said victim found their end in these woods…

From the corner of his eye, Daiko noticed an entity break through the glass-like surface of the clear lake. He turned his head a little to gaze upon what appeared to be… a blue-haired mermaid? He couldn’t think of anything else that described her at first glance, honestly. It took him by a surprise, and Coda leaned forward in an intoxicated shock. Daiko rolled his eyes towards Coda, thinking that she usually reacted like this to beautiful women. And… oh god, it was true. She was very beautiful.

… Was she victimized underwater? She seemed to be okay. Maybe Daiko panicked for naught… but he still felt to be in a panicking state. She suddenly addressed him in such a shockingly casual voice that he felt forced to greet back: “H-H… Hey, hi there.” Coda began flapping her wings, while Daiko was unphased by the feathers hitting his face. He… he assumed her to live in the forest too. Not only did she just leave her shirt like the shrubbery was her shelf, but she seemed so naturally at home in the water. Definitely not only due to her sky-blue hair.

Okay. She was starting to push him with her suggestive question. He could feel a sudden heartbeat skip; he wasn’t the type to just… just… lure at people like that. Hunters lured at prey to take down, not at… no, that was just indecent… no, wait, no… argh! At this point, Daiko furiously shook his head in fluster, quickly replying:

“W-What, no, I wasn’t- I mean, I found y-your shirt and thought… I thought that you were attacked… or-or something.” He could speak all he wanted, but his gaze almost burnt a hole through her. His hair wasn’t completely flaring, but it changed into a deep, dark-rose nuance with small outbursts of wine-colored fire. She was… very alluring. If he didn’t know better… she emitted a familiar atmosphere. A very heating, busty, familiar one.

In all manners’ sake, he darted his eyes towards the woods to the left. She would definitely find him strange and indecent, since he was still… you know, a complete stranger who just happened to stumble upon her clothes. Coda, however, held nothing back and was considering just tackling into her ample bosom barely restrained by the fashionable, blue-gold top of her bikini. “Are… are you a native mermaid? S-Sorry if I interrupt, but… I was actually investigating something. I’m searching for…” By some invisible energy, he went silent for a moment. His eyes were back. No, bad eyes! Look away!

Well, luckily, the strange woman appeared to be in no harm. There was a playful tone to her voice that poked Daiko’s nerves, though… and for good reason, he didn’t know if she had any pants on, so he quickly turned his entire face away as she approached him by leaving the concealing surface of the water. She did have a full-set bikini on, so he felt safe enough to look back at her - only to see her oddly alluring stance that laid out a buffet of erotica for Daiko’s eyes to feast on if he could gather just a handful of indecency. It was so pleasant to look, though…

Her skin reflected lots of the sunlight after having been covered in a thin layer of fresh water. “I… I don’t think you needed help, in the end…” he admitted almost in defeat. He was just worried - forest guy stuff.

“W-What? No, I’m not a peeper! Not at all…!” he strongly stated. Peepers were usually shunned at, and why would Daiko want that to befall him? Although, gladly she assumed better of him, so he didn’t accidently create an enemy. That was great… but it was also now that he noticed not only her smooth, long legs, but also the very apparent Blue Pegasus Guild Crest on her thigh… that explained everything. She must’ve known or met Alisa!

“Aha, sorry,” he apologized in a more jokingly manner, “It’s just, I rarely see anyone else out here other than me…” Was she, by any chance, a hunter like himself? He couldn’t spot any devices or tools near the lake, so it was a faint and vague assumption. Even without a weapon, though, he did see a hunter in her. The very way she eyed him down like prey was… intimidating. He felt targeted.

Literally every single movement from her body that darted towards him caused his hair to flare and his cheeks to reveal reddish tunes. Why was he so bad at hanging around women? Was he a closet pervert, by any chance? Maybe he was just in denial, but Daiko loved being in denial, because it was so goddamn frustrating! “S-Smooth… I’m not that smooth,” he tried to correct her, but his insecure voice had taken over and likely prevented any strong statements to escape his mouth for now. Also, he tried his best to confront her gaze, because looking away from a person that you were speaking to was bad manners - but every time he looked at her face, a little bosom met his view too. It surprised him, caused his body’s temperature to skyrocket, and he had to hold back a flustered huff. Every. Single. Time.

She greeted and said her name, Sofia. Daiko would quickly exchange name, but the first physical contact had taken place. Her finger was gently caressing his cheek, and she could definitely feel what was to Daiko an unbearable heat that exceeded that of average people, but for most others and even Coda was a heating carpet perfect to forget a cold winter. “U-U-Uh… U-Uhm… m-my name is… Daiko,” he pushed out, “And, uh… y-you’re… I d-don’t feel like myself right now…” He knew little about this beauty in front of him, but she was just as alluringly pretty as Alisa. He couldn’t help but panic a little over the possibility of two teasing bombs in Blue Pegasus, since hanging out with Alisa produced the same overburdening heatstroke that he suffered under right now.

Although, to a much lesser degree than now… which was the weirdest thing about all of this. A mixture of worry spread out on his face as he spoke: “M-Maybe I’m just interrupting you, s-sorry for that… B-Blue Pegasus, right? I'm from Lamia Scale... a-and what is your finger doing to me? It... It feels s-so strange...”

This lady was clearly too much for the hunter. She was way more preying onto him than any other girl that he had met in his entire life… why was she pushing him like this? They had just met, and Daiko was struggling to not faint. His body temperature kept rising with every single second that this woman used on him. Goddamn it, he wished that he could just keep his cool like an ordinary male, but all this teasing was triggering him.

She even held her hand over his forehead as if he had a cold. “H-Huh? N-N-No, no no, it’s n-not cold or anything…” he explained with maximum effort. She was getting closer… he felt attacked, sort of. Attacked by some invisible force of nature… no, something deeper and more sinister. His mind went numb for a brief second as Sofia figured it necessary to push her own forehead onto his. Not only was her face atoms away from his, but due to the angle, he was forced to eye from her mouth down to her inviting cleavage.

S-Shit, they’re huge… why am I so fixated on them? he thought upon eyeing Sofia’s bra that seemed to hold back a lot of force and mass. They were huge, even bigger than Alisa’s and Kai’s… it was intoxicating. He feared where all of this was going.

“W-What? No, I-I’m fine…” he poorly attempted to protest. She didn’t have to push him even more if she wanted to help; although, this heat felt damaging and at the same time unbelievably joyful. It was a sort of joy that Daiko was afraid to show. She suggested that he should take off his shirt and go in the water, and at that point, Daiko was still trailing the path of ‘she might possibly be a mermaid, after all’. It felt like a death trap, really.

“T-That’s… that’s unnecessary, I’ll-“ he quickly tried to assure her, but a high-pitched hick escaped his steaming mouth. Her fingers! They were touching his belly and grabbing his shirt! While she attempted to remove his shirt herself, which was mischievous to the highest degree by him, she kept trying to assure him that she just wanted to look after him… it woke very confusing feelings in the young man.

At that point, his body couldn’t take it anymore. His hair flared up instantly, a bright, wine-red bonfire substituting his previously jet-black hair that reached high up in the air. It was usually magical in nature, harmless, but minutes of restraint and endurance broke down in a huge blaze. "N-Nooo, that t-tickles...!"

She… she was playing with him. He realized that, but it was pretty too late. Daiko felt that his primal urges sprung to life for a brief moment, but a miracle came to show. As he gasped by Sofia’s relatively cold and silk soft hand feeling up on his post-Lamia Scale Special Training packs, the signature fire crown of his blew in response to the arousal that overcame his very being. Aaaaaaaaand the teasing game kind of breaked there, since the fires obviously scared Sofia and made her leap back in shock. Daiko was about to grab her hand, but she hit her butt on the wet surface too soon. Now, he kinda found himself holding an arm towards her in… an easy mixture of awkwardness and anxiety.

He… he didn’t know how to feel when she suddenly laughed out loud. After burning out from her mischievous, selfish, melting actions towards him, he suddenly felt ridiculed… to a degree. He didn’t want to assume her for a bad person… he saw delight in her. But… she was strange. C’mon! He had just met her today! She was like… then again, she must’ve known Alisa. He should ask, any time.

To think that Daiko had never met a person through such an encounter before…

He adjusted his arm and looked at her a little more gently than before. This Sofia… she’s dangerous… but I’ve never felt so excited before. What is wrong with me? He was having his heart rate increasing again. No, stay cool. It was just a possibly new ally or friend from Blue Pegasus… yes, now would be the perfect-

Water on his face. Great. It toppled him over gently, and given that Daiko was far too overburdened with emotions, not only did the water literally vapor off his face, but he also landed flat on his back on the ground. He was underwhelmed by the playful throw, since sticks and stones rarely surprised him, yet words and games had him like a puppet. “… Hmpf,” he let out loudly, crossing his arms as if he was genuinely angry, “I-I’m… just not used to things…”

Coda was looking straight down at his face from behind his head. Her curious, wide eyes made things easier for Daiko to fathom. Sofia… she was very playful. Maybe he was just overreacting? “S-Sorry with my hair, but y-you t-t-t-tickled me and all t-that…” His cheeks and throat couldn’t be distinguished as his natural skin color anymore, since it felt like he was hanging upside down in a long span of time. “Y-You remind me of Alisa… y-you know her? She’s also from Blue Pegasus… and I saw your thigh. You definitely must’ve heard of her, at least. Your… actions would suit her personality.” He pointed over to her leg, which proudly showed the winged, blue horse that symbolized the large ally and light guild, Blue Pegasus. Therefore, he simply assumed her to have a connection with the femme sculptress, since… they shared a lot of similarities.

She was also playful in her tongue and quick in action. Rising his back to rest on his elbows, Daiko clarified the stunning maiden. And she looked magical… she was a luring demon for male eyes. And as she laid on the screen of water, all the waves alerted a certain predator deep under the lake… but it was taking its time. Predators, they were all like that out in the wild. They rarely rushed when potential prey proved its wit. And to slay a water wizard was no small feat in this ecosystem. It had to wait until they both got underwater… or until the positions changed.

Then it would strike… and its intention was bloodier than what Sofia did.

So she did know Alisa! That explained a lot; her silky tone and alluring choice of words sure were similar… did that mean that she took teasing lessons from the sculptress? Did Alisa teach such things? Daiko was obviously thinking formally, but he was oblivious to Sofia’s specific relations to the beautiful shard mage. “Yeah, I know her! We’ve met many times and even punched down a good amount of demons together,” he informed Sofia a little more cheerfully, “I hope that she’s doing alright. Please greet her for me when you meet her again…!”

So Alisa invited Sofia to her guild… and… the next part honestly surprised him. The poor boy knew what a lover was, so another blushing face appeared. But weren’t they both women? Was that a thing here? He only knew of two beings of same genders becoming lovers from snails… he was such a lost kid compared to the society surrounding him, really.

“L-Lover…?” he let out curiously and slightly shocked, “U-Uhm… t-that’s very lucky of you…” He rose up and sat on his butt with his legs crossed together, stretching his arms down to rest on his hands as he looked down in frustration. He didn’t have any lover… he never had. He was so confused about this topic that he dearly wanted to change the subject.

Chirp! Squeak!

“W-What, is something there, Coda?” the Fire Mage asked his feathery companion who suddenly flapped her wings in absolute panic. A shadow had risen over Sofia from behind, and Daiko’s eyes quickly noticed the tall, blue-scaled snake that rose over her height.

His face changed drastically. He was overcome by fear, and yet his hand clenched and performed a spell. His fist got coated in a magic circle that left the skin as bright, sharp feathers with bursting fire surrounding them. He lunged the fist forward, almost looking as if he was aiming at Sofia when he was really aiming at the lake serpent. The fires launched out as missiles and passed Sofia safely, landing a good blow on the serpent’s eye - that was just the technique that he used on a similar serpent at Hargeon Beach.

“G-Get out of the water! It’s too fast there…!” His hair bristled in fire once more, a little redder and full of fury.

”SOFIA!” Daiko roared painfully. The serpent was mere inches away from digging its jaws into her. Where did it come from? Such large serpents didn’t usually live around here… but the lake did fit as a nice habitat. Oh man, oh man, this was bad. Very bad. Daiko usually didn’t panic so easily during what was essentially a hunt, but he was with another person who most likely didn’t spend every day chasing deer and rodents. Therefore, a protective spirit rose in him out of worry, and the thrill of the hunt was substituted by a drive to survive.

Sofia showed her magic for the Fire Mage when she torpedoed herself away from the bite. He charged right in, only leaping up in the air at a proper distance from the serpent when his feet were still soaked in freshwater. In the air, his entire body appeared to heat up like metal until a shell was left… and the shell broke in a sparkly manner, revealing a full-bodied transformation. Feathery appendages on his limbs in beautiful fashion, Daiko had drawn power from the Phoenix and raised his stamina marginally. He followed up with a sledgehammer with his two knuckles that was sent down onto the serpent’s skull, furiously shoving it down underwater again.

He was still falling down to the much deeper surface. His wings basked, but he wasn’t fully fletched yet. He still had issues with flight due to the changes in his body, and the serpent underneath wasted no time in charging up with another bite. In time, he grabbed both jaws with each hand, but the serpent kept charging through and rose up far high above the surface with Daiko between its fangs. It attempted to charge right down to the solid surface to crush him, pushing sand aside in its impact.

A brief second passed before bulges grew intensely from inside the serpent’s gums by Daiko’s punches. Each punch lifted it up, until a last uppercut lunged it back up in the air. The serpent was tougher than the one back at Hargeon Beach - the one that took several wizards to kill - but the Lamia had dealt with far worse obstacles and creatures. As the monster hissed at him, he simply grinned with steam escaping his teeth and his wings basking in pride.

“I know that you’re anything but a damsel in distress, Sofia!” he called to her with a way different and much more courageous tone, “Mind dealing a few blows to the snake?”

Daiko was a little surprised to see Sofia’s magic resolving around water. She had manifested a magic circle around her hand and summoned watery objects formed like sharks that torpedoed the serpent like piercing darts. Her magic was actually an antithesis to his magic, in a way… wait, wouldn’t that be ice magic and not water magic?

That was an unnecessary thought. Moving on.

The serpent had some tough scales, actually. Daiko would want to skin that and see if he could make some nice medals and plates off its scales. It was a rather savage thought, but it was also to be expected due to his hunter name and all. You hunted for a reason, so you better make all of the hunt a reason. Make your prey useful in many more ways than one in order to please the nature. And don’t waste.

As the second shark charged it, Daiko saw the serpent leaning against the shore. It was the perfect moment to land a finishing blow, so he pulled his hand back and charged mana around it. A magic circle appeared on the hand and glowed brighter by every second that passed, and embers escaped its contours in a rather cinematic fashion. At last, he flicked his hand forth and sent a circlet of fire towards its head, and the velocity of that spell caused it to slice through its neck. And with that, the serpent died instantly, dropping its dead body onto the shore and letting its insides out while its head dropped next to it.

Brutal but necessary.

“Man… *huff* Look at that price *huff* b-better make a lot of armor and… *huff* sculptures of it,” he remarked proudly but with an annoyed voice. He was sweating a lot, since all the fire magic heated his body up to inhuman temperatures. The bird-like wings dissolved into flares along with all the other feathery features on his body, leaving him simply humanoid once more. “Shit, it’s hot… C-Coda, please,” he begged his birdy companion, in which Coda landed next to him and waved her wings at him to provide a cold breeze. “… N-Not enough.”

“… W-Where’d that serpent even come from? It must have a cave underneath the surface; I think I saw it before, it ate a whole badger’s nest…”

Daiko had approached the dead serpent and inspected its fresh, dead corpse. Those scales could be cut off nicely without having any marks or cracked pieces off of it, but a good chunk of the beast was likely only usable as food. Only now had he looked over at Sofia, noticing her shocked expression and realizing… that he might have overdone it.

This felt bad. What if she wasn’t used to killing animals? Maybe he scared her, but he didn’t want to frighten her with such a display! As she asked almost disbelievingly if it was him who dealt the head-cutter, the Fire Mage stuttered: “Y-Y… Yes…” He had given it quite a chunk of effort and magic into that spell, so its head falling off was an expected outcome, but… she did ask him if there was no other way. And maybe there was.

“You were almost eaten alive by it, Sofia…” With that, he did point out his familiarity for such bloody events, but he had crawled out of many life-threatening situations by not sparing the enemy’s life. And all of his enemies up until now weren’t regretting, lost friends of his past or anything if they weren’t just wild predators of the forests, deserts, oceans and mountains. Adding his magic’s very nature on top of that, the outcome was obvious.

She… she wasn’t used to this at all, was she? Daiko could clearly see her contour shake, she was anxious. Upon kneeling down in front of the serpent’s body, he spoke: “I will not let the serpent be any waste at all. It doesn’t deserve to lay here and rot when its life guaranteed it very few things… such as preying on other creatures and getting preyed on by the likes of me.” A blowtorch-like effect emitted from his fingertips as he grabbed the fire dagger that he conjured, using it to cut off the large scales, “I know how you feel… you’re not the only one who questioned my hunter’s life. But there are many serpents like this one - I met one in Hargeon, too… b-but I guess that doesn’t help… I-I mean, it’s not even supposed to live in a lake, it’s a saltwater creature-” With that realization of ‘nah, there are many like this one, it’s not important or anything’ mid speaking, his voice lowered a little in a slight shame. “… H-Huh?”

At the corner of his eyes, whole five mini serpents had their eyes poking up on the water’s surface. Two, four, six, eight… ten eyes looking at him in curiosity. “Y-You see those too?” he asked Sofia, given that their eyes were the only things sticking up the water’s surface plus their deep-blue scales camouflaging them nicely in the mirror, “S-Shit… it- I mean… s-she had children? I just… I… *shaking head* no, no, no, this is bad, this is really bad.” He was starting to panic for a couple reasons:

1. His past related through those small children’s event at the very moment.
2. They had no mother to take care of them (assuming that serpentine lizards got help from their parents at all ala the sad case for sharks)

The ‘pups’ or whatever they were called did approach Sofia too, although in a much more tamed and oddly ‘adorable’ fashion. They weren’t even phased by the look of their own mother torn apart by Daiko’s magical blade, but paid much more attention to the blue-haired maiden.

Ah, she really was just startled. That meant that she didn’t mean to softly rebuke his actions earlier… or well… anything could’ve happened. He was just glad that she was safe and not lacking any limbs. But mere moments after that stressful, tragic death-battle, something much unexpected came at hand. It seemed that the large serpent had younglings with her in the small lake - relatively small for one her size, that was - and the small, blue snakes were aiming right for Sofia… oh god no, were they really out for revenge?! Maybe they were… Daiko wasn’t that big of an animal expert, so maybe there were serpent species that acted a lot like mammals and mourned over the losses of their parents.

… They didn’t appear to try to kill her. In fact, they showed a sentient childishness in their behaviors as they surrounded Sofia and aimed for all her warm spots. Reptiles did like warm areas, because they couldn’t produce heat enough on their own - cold-blooded, they were called - so it kind of did make sense that they stuffed themselves on her skin so closely. They looked to have a lot of fun…

Daiko wouldn’t kill young creatures if they had chances to live long, prosperous lives. Maybe he would have to hunt them down someday if it was to happen, or maybe he would never need to threaten them again. It all did depend on the actions and encounters between man and dragon-snake- which, by the way, reminded him that they weren’t even supposed to live out here! They needed bigger areas; the lake albeit large in a human’s eyes was far too small for an active apex predator of the sea. Imagine a shark living here, and you would understand.

He walked closer to the bunch and inspected them closely. They were… quite scary to look at. He didn’t feel as comfortable around them as Sofia did, but their eyes were large and cute. It was a mixture of innocence and a scent of bestiality in serpents that always got on Daiko’s nerves. But at the very least, they weren’t dragon-sized… yet.

“They must like how warm you are…” he commented on the scene, “It’d be a problem for all of them to grow up in this small lake. They’d need a bigger one… if they are to grow as big as their dear mother.” He compassioned the use of ‘dear’ to refer to their mother, for the episode made him remember his own. She would want the small serpents to live and grow up and control the ecosystem too.

They really were sweet, though… to think that some lizards looked so cute as cubs. Although, Daiko knew that they would grow up into huge predators. He was likely up for a surprise with this lot. He could only relate to Coda’s years as a small, chipping chicken who spent most of her days on top of Daiko’s head while he fed her all the worms that he could find. To think that the helpless creature would grow up to this strong, majestic raptor was probably how it was gonna feel when these guys were to grow up too.

Oh no. Another red wave crossed Daiko’s face as he witnessed just how fond they were of Sofia. They never seemed to want to let go of her - especially the bold one - and as adorable and *cough* provocative that was, it would probably turn out to be a problem later on. They should hurry up and bring them to the lake further down south, but Sofia did mention that these miniature dragon cubs perhaps needed someone to watch over them. After the death of their mother, they… they… but couldn’t they take care of themselves? Daiko had to seriously consider what Sofia meant, because he had an idea of what she wanted…

“… I see,” he spoke to her as she was moving away from the water, his voice not rebuking of her idea, but softening, “… C-Change of plans, then. There’s a pool at my guild in Orchidia - you know, at Lamia Scale. I can take care of them until they grow too big to stay… and if you want to, I can teach you how to take care of one. It’s a huge responsibility, and I have lots of experience in the field.” He tried his best to sound rather professional, but his face was still flaming up. Something about this situation just frustrated him, but he couldn't put his finger on it...