Chapter 24: What a beautiful baby dragon!

The three adventurers, caught up in the intense battle, were oblivious to their last companion's current state of mind. Unbeknownst to them, she had ceased casting spells altogether for several minutes. Instead, her focus was solely on the black creature that had descended from the skies. As she watched its relentless onslaught and the chaos it wrought among the orcs, her entire body trembled with a mix of awe and overwhelming emotion.

Minutes passed in silence for Scarlet, her eyes fixed unwaveringly on the dragon's savage display. Tears welled up in her eyes once more, but this time they were tears of joy and wonder. Unable to contain herself any longer, she burst out with unrestrained enthusiasm.

"Oh! Oh!!! A dragon! A real, True Dragon! A baby that is already this strong, truly a majestic existence! Thank you, thank you, oh Great Mother!" Her voice rang out, breaking the post-battle calm with its sheer exuberance.

The aftermath of the fight left the ground strewn with the fallen orcs, their bodies either bleeding out or lying lifeless. Around her, the adventurers and their unexpected ally stood amidst the carnage, catching their breath and assessing their surroundings.

Scarlet's outburst, however, drew their attention. Tramil, Valla, and Scum turned to her, surprised by the sudden change in her demeanor. For a moment, they exchanged bewildered glances, unsure how to respond to her unexpected reaction to the dragon's intervention.

"He is a dragon," she repeated to herself, but loud enough for her companions to hear. "A true dragon… A beautiful baby dragon…"

As the chaos of battle settled and the orc threat subsided, the small black dragon cautiously regarded the adventurers, maintaining a safe distance from them. Scarlet's teammates, torn between curiosity and concern, cast wary glances at the dragon before their attention was drawn back to Scarlet herself.

To their surprise, Scarlet was visibly overwhelmed with emotion, tears streaming down her cheeks as she muttered incoherent words under her breath. Her gaze remained fixed on the dragon, her eyes filled with a mixture of awe and unbridled joy.

After a moment of uneasy silence, Scum broke the tension with his characteristic bluntness. "I say we kill the dragon," he declared, his tone rough and matter-of-fact. "Even if it's young, its body parts could fetch us a fortune. Enough to live comfortably for a month or even more."

Tramil, still reeling from the dragon's timely intervention that had undoubtedly saved him, felt conflicted. Dragons, alongside Arch Demons, were known to be the natural enemies of the Gods, with many tales of multiple Gods getting killed by a single rampaging dragon. If a dragon grew strong enough, only the strongest of the Gods could hope to have a chance of facing them single handedly. Tramil's patron God, Darius, would surely urge him to kill the dragon while it is in its infancy.

Valla, hearing Scum's suggestion, couldn't hide her disbelief and indignation. "We're not killing the dragon," she retorted firmly, her voice carrying a note of defiance. "Our mission was to deal with the orc threat, not hunt down dragons. Besides, this dragon saved our lives. I won't stand by and let it be slaughtered."

She stepped forward, placing herself protectively between the dragon and her companions. "I'll defend it with my life if I have to," she stated resolutely, her stance unwavering despite her injuries.

The tension among the adventurers was palpable as each of them weighed their possible routes of action. The small dragon watched them warily, sensing the conflict in their hearts as it got ready to run away.

Before tensions could escalate further among the trio, Scarlet began walking toward Valla with unsteady steps. Ignoring the juggernaut, she swiftly passed by her towering figure and stopped at a respectful but close distance from the dragon.

Tears continued to stream down her cheeks as she kneeled down in front of the small black dragon. With a profound sense of veneration, she placed her hands on the ground and then lowered her entire body in a deep kowtow, her forehead hitting the dirty ground with a resounding thud.

"O' Mighty Dragon," Scarlet began, her voice trembling with emotion, "I beseech your majestic self. Accept this lowly one as your most fervent and loyal servant. I offer you with utmost reverence my trust, my loyalty, my body, and my life." Her forehead struck the ground repeatedly as she pleaded, each impact punctuating her heartfelt entreaty.

Valla and the others watched in stunned silence, unsure of how to react to Scarlet's sudden display of devotion. The dragon, sensing Scarlet's sincerity, regarded her with curious eyes, its earlier wariness giving way to a sense of contemplation.

Tramil exchanged a bewildered glance with Scum, both at a loss for words at the unexpected turn of events. Valla, while deeply moved by Scarlet's earnest plea, couldn't shake the feeling of unease and uncertainty about what this newfound allegiance to a dragon might entail for their healer.

As Scarlet continued her plea, the air around them seemed charged with a strange energy, as if the forest itself held its breath, awaiting the dragon's response to this solemn oath of loyalty.

After she had spoken her piece, the dragonewt girl stopped moving her body in its entirety, seemingly frozen like a statue. She rested her head on the ground while maintaining her excessively subservient kowtow, awaiting judgment. The small black dragon watched in silence for a good minute, being in great inner contemplation. Finally he moved. He calmly strolled towards the fiery redhead and after reaching her genuflecting body he lifted his front leg and put it on top of her head. The talons, capable of rending flesh and bones, touched Scarlet's head gently as he forced some of his weight on her.

Should the dragon walk away or hurt her would be an obvious rejection, but doing what he did showcased that both parties recognize her being beneath him. By staying in place under his weight she accepted him as her superior. By not flinching even one bit as her life was literally in his palm, she accepted him as her overlord.