Bonus Short Stories
The Dragonfish
“You can let me off here, Rentt,” said a voice from the harness strapped to my back.
Sitting on the small seat of the combination chair-rack contraption that I’d tied to myself was my current client—an old woman by the name of Alvina. The two of us had actually been acquainted for quite a while, but only to the extent of chatting a bit whenever our paths crossed on the street or at the market, so it had been a surprise when she’d come to me about a commission.
“Gotcha,” I said, sitting down and removing the harness’s straps. “Give me a moment... There.”
Alvina stood up and immediately kept on walking.
“H-Hey!” I called out after her. She was moving briskly, so I left the harness on the ground as I followed. I wasn’t overly worried though—this area didn’t have any bandits or dangerous animals, which was why I’d been okay with letting her down at all.
As I chased after her, the vegetation we passed grew thinner and thinner. Then, I abruptly stepped into a large open area, in which there was...
“So this is the lake you mentioned, huh?” I asked.
“That it is,” Alvina agreed. “Look—you can see it, can’t you?”
I could indeed. In the clear waters of the lake was the massive silhouette of a fish. “Is that the ‘dragonfish’?” I asked, repeating the word I’d heard when I’d accepted the job.
Alvina nodded, then narrowed her eyes at me. “Mmmhmm. Didn’t believe me, did you, Rentt? But as you can see...”
“I get it; I get it,” I said hurriedly. “It’s real. Still...are you sure it can turn into a dragon?”
That was the actual crux of the issue. I hadn’t been skeptical that some mysterious creature lived out here—that was perfectly possible—and Alvina wasn’t the type of person to lie. However, the reason I’d doubted this fish existed until I’d seen it with my own eyes was that it was apparently fated to someday become a dragon.
I had met a dragon before. Compared to the terror of that encounter and the sheer pressure it had exuded...well, this fish didn’t even have a hundredth of the dragon’s presence.
Alvina must have recognized the direction of my thoughts, because she gave an amused huff. “Heh. I know how you feel. To tell you the truth, I don’t believe that part either.”
“Hey!”
“At the very least though, it’s true that that fish has lived for centuries. It’s mentioned in one of my ancestors’ diaries from ten generations back. And while I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’ve been taking care of it for all that time, we do drop by every now and then. I suppose this’ll be the last time for me, though.”
“I see...”
There was a hint of sadness in Alvina’s tone. She had been an adventurer of some renown in her younger days.
This lake was located on the summit of a rocky mountain; you had to scale sheer cliffs if you wanted to reach it. Consequently, no large animals inhabited the area, with the exception of a few bird species. On top of that, because of the mysterious presence of divinity, monsters couldn’t get close either.
Me? Oh, I was an exception. I may have been undead, but I could use divinity, thank you very much!
In any case, while Alvina had once made the climb on her own, her lower body strength had weakened with age, making it impossible now—hence why she had commissioned me to bring her.
“So, what now?” I asked. My job was to bring Alvina here and take her back to town later, but I figured she hadn’t just come for the journey’s sake. She must have had some purpose in mind.
“Ah, right...about that,” Alvina said. “Could you be a dear and jump into the lake for me, Rentt?”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t look at me like that... I wouldn’t make that request for no reason. Some of the scales shed by the dragonfish should be at the bottom of the lake. I’d like you to get...oh, maybe three or so for me. I know that wasn’t in the job details, but...”
Please? her expression finished for her.
Strictly speaking, I had no obligation to comply, but I could never bring myself to say no to the elderly. That, and there was the fact that she’d done a lot for me in the past.
“All right, all right,” I said resignedly. “The fish isn’t going to attack me or anything though, right?”
“I’ve dived in before and it’s never attacked me. You’ll probably be fine.”
I stared at her for a moment. “Well, you wouldn’t want me hurting it, right? I guess I can just escape if it comes after me...”
“Thanks. I’m counting on you.”
I dived into the lake—and the moment I did so, I felt my fatigue drain away. Evidently, it was a natural recovery spring, filled with divinity that facilitated healing. It shouldn’t have had an effect on me, as I was a monster...but maybe this place was special in some way. That lent a little more credibility to the claim that this fish would one day become a dragon.
I soon reached the bottom of the lake. There were indeed a number of scales there, glinting in the light. I picked the most beautiful of the three I could find, but just as I made to swim back up to the surface...
“...?!”
I looked up to find myself staring into a pair of eyeballs. It was the dragonfish.
Is it going to attack me?!
I prepared myself to beat a hasty retreat, but the fish was exuding a pressure that seemed to make the very idea impossible. My mind raced as we stared at each other. I didn’t know how much time passed like that, but eventually, it turned away in disinterest and swam off.
I relaxed in relief, and—
[O, ill-starred undead. Struggle against fate to your heart’s content, but do not fall to greed.]
I turned in surprise at the voice that had spoken directly inside my head, but the dragonfish had already swam off into the distance.
“What in the world...?” I muttered to myself, after surfacing.
Alvina cocked her head. “Did something happen?”
I told her about what it had said to me—leaving out the part about me being undead.
She nodded. “Hmm. Well, I’m not that surprised. Apparently, it spoke to one of my ancestors too.”
“Tell me that before I dive into a lake with a talking fish...” I grumbled. “What did it say to them?”
“No idea. But since my family made it an obligation to check in here every now and then, maybe it was related to that. That ends with my generation, though.”
“It does?”
“Yep. ‘Ten generations,’ according to the diary.” Some exaggerated significance made its way into Alvina’s tone. “Who knows? Maybe it was all to bring you here.”
I wanted to object to that, but it was difficult, given what had happened. Would the fish really become a dragon one day? I had no idea if it would—but maybe this encounter had something to do with that.
“Right, it’s time we head back,” Alvina said. “I’ll make these scales into good luck charms for you and Lorraine.”
“Huh? That’s why you had me get them?”
“Yep. The third’s for my grandchild. Now, let’s go.”
“It’s good that you’re eager to leave, but you’ll be making the journey on my back again, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.”
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