Well, it's been a while…God damn it's been a while.

Here's a new chapter to make it up to you nerds!

Chapter Three: A Guest?

The Dragweiss was an interesting place to visit. Well, that fact that an encyclopedia itself was a place I could visit, interdimensional/mental shenanigans, notwithstanding, was incredibly surreal. Not that the fact that the place looked like I was inside a giant golden, shimmering sphere helped.

The dragon girl waifu currently hugging me from behind, pushing her large breasts into my back, was a whole other beast altogether. I did not mind this at all.

"Hmm, have you found anything else interesting in the list of Arks, Zachary?" Navi asked, obviously not really caring at all and more focused on teasing me as usual.

In front of me was an assortment of blue icons, each one representing an Ark made by a Master/Dragon pair. Arks were basically magic power armor that was made by a Dragon once it evolved into a Maestro. An Ark is a labor of love, and represents the Dragon giving everything about themselves to their rider.

...Which, considering some of these designs, is more than a little concerning.

"That's bikini armor, which is dumb, and that one is basically a super tight bodysuit with pieces of metal slapped onto it." I criticized. "And that one is one step away from being shiny lingerie...I had no idea metal armor could be so lacy."

I was not impressed with many or the Arks I saw. Most of them were bound to get you killed due to how little they protected the body. The only practical ones I found were the ones made for males, which were few and far between. Then again, it was a dumb light novel fantasy world, so some kind of bullshit magic or some shit protected the wearer.

"Navi, most of these belong in either the bedroom closet or a strip club, what were these dragons thinking?"

The seductress of a dragon placed her head on my shoulder, I could see her pout in the corner of my eyes. Stop that! No one should be able to look that sexy and by this adorable at the same time. It's illegal I tell you!

Navi giggled. "Oh, I'm adorable too now?"

Oh yeah, forgot my thoughts are projected outside my head in the Dragweiss. Well, that's embarrassing.

She kissed me on the cheek. "Aren't you just the sweetest. But, if you must know, most dragons are very...how should I put this? Ah, that's it, lewd."

I narrowed my eyes at the various blue icons that filled my vision. "But I see no equal opportunity lewding."

Navi snapped her fingers and the icon of an Ark Weapon appeared before me. As I read through the specs, my eyebrows rose, and as I kept reading, it kept rising.

"Navi?"

"Yes?"

"Is this a crotch mounted laser cannon?"

"That is correct, my king."

"And it's activated by pelvic thrusting?"

The sound of her doing her best to not bust out laughing was enough confirmation.

"All is forgiven." I declare.

The dragons of this reality were truly cultured. They were meme brethren and connoisseur of the dumbest shit, I am proud to be half-dragon.

"I knew you would approve." Her tone was almost smug.

I turned to the small group of blue icons to my right. I had placed a select few Arks I took a liking to off to the side for future forging projects. Sure, I knew my third-rate blacksmithing abilities were nothing compared to that of a dragon's creating an Ark for their master in the Dragon Workshop, but some of these weapons and armors were just fucking cool.

Especially the one that looked like Sauron's armor from Lord of The Rings.

Suddenly, I was hit with a wave of drowsiness.

I shook my head and yawned. "Uhg, what time is it?"

"It's almost 4 a.m. in the morning, Zachary." She informed me.

I yawned once again. "Yeah, it's about time I hit the sack."

I laid down right away, closing my eyes and resting my head on Navi's lap.

"Z-Zachary…?" Navi asked slightly bewildered.

I opened one eye and stared right back at her. "You know what this is you tease. Accept your punishment."

Navi sighed. "I see, a taste of my own medicine. What a petty king I have."

I smirked. "I prefer calling it a strong sense of justice. Now, accept your punishment."

She ran her hand through my hair giving me an amused smile. "Yes, my king."

Navi watched as Zachary's breathing evened out and his face turned a more neutral and peaceful expression. He was sound asleep at long last.

The personification of the Dragweiss giggled as she stared down at the sleeping king of dragon-kind in her lap. He was adorable whenever he made some kind of half-hearted attempt to pull rank on her. It was moments like this she truly appreciated.

Moments where they just spent time together. It could be browsing the encyclopedia she possessed, looking through various Arks, or just talking. It didn't matter why they were together at any point in time, all that matter was that they were together.

Just being with him made her feel...real.

Navi frowned.

It was a shame it just wasn't meant to be. She was the Dragweiss, the personification of the information stored within Vida. She existed purely to guide her until she reached full maturity, at that point both Navi and Vida would merge, ending her existence as a conscious being.

"...What a cruel fate." She murmured.

True, she already knew of her fate even before she viewed Zachary's memories. But to see her fate so clearly laid out for her on a wiki page of all things was a new kind of experience for her.

She bit her lip. It was frustrating.

The small amount of existential dread that washed over when she discovered that the reality they resided in was a narrative passed quickly. As far as she was concerned this was real, Zachary was real, Vida was real. The world was real. So what if the world was a dumb harem story in another reality. It was real to her, and that was all that mattered.

But that wasn't why she was frustrated.

It wasn't due to how incomplete his information about the future was. The inclusion of Ornn was already a major deviation from how the world worked. Not to mention Zachary already knew most of the essential pieces of information as to how the world worked. His training, his half-dragon body, and rapidly growing skill as a blacksmith would more than make up for anything thrown his way.

It wasn't because Mordred had pulled anything devious yet. Honestly, Mordred was the furthest thing from her mind, by all accounts, Vida and Zachary already won due to just how much extra time that got. There was no contest, even almost eight years before it happened it was clear who the victor was.

She was frustrated with herself. Frustrated because she'd disappear one day and leave Zachary. She loved that goofball of a man with all her heart, but it still pained her to know that she would leave him one day. Sure, there was her selfish desirer to keep him to her's and Vida's selves. But it was because she knew the consequence of what her disappearance would bring to Zachary.

He would be distraught. Navi knew that to Zachary, she was irreplaceable in his heart. If she was no longer a part of his life, his heart would be crushed.

But she wasn't real, no tears should be shed for her. But he would do so anyway.

Navi knew just how much he cared for her. If she told him that she knew a way for her to stay alive for even a year longer, he'd drop everything and fight life and limb just to get it.

She knew that Zachary knew about her fate as well, but he never said a word about it. Not because he was cruel, or wanted to avoid the subject of her own eventual mortality. It was because it never even crossed his mind that she wasn't real.

To Zachary, no matter what anyone said, no matter what facts were presented to him, Navi was real.

"You're not allowed to leave Vida and I, king's orders, got it?"

She could still hear the same words he spoke when she told him of her end. A dumb selfish order. Because even if the world told him otherwise, he would still believe her to be real. Even if Navi herself told him that, he'd still just brush it off.

Navi ran her hand through his messy curls. "You're a selfish, stubborn, dumb, dorky, goofball, you know that?"

She was real to him. And that made her feel real.

A few tears slid down her face.

She wasn't allowed to leave them. More accurately, she wasn't allowed to leave him. And to Navi, that's all that mattered.

She smiled down lovingly at him. "Of course, my king, your orders are absolute."

I groggily lifted my head from the table I was sleeping on, a small pool of drool was soaked into the paper I was drawing blueprints on.

"Ah...fuck. I forgot I was still sitting at my workbench when I visited Navi." I winced as I got up and stretch, the loud cracks of my still joints echoing throughout my workshop. "Alright, time to make some breakfast."

I grabbed my phone from the table and checked the time, 12:27 p.m.

Thanks to Zelretch, I had most of my electronics from my original world. The tricky part was getting them powered and charged. Said conflict only lasted twenty minutes until I had the dumbest idea, that actually worked.

I took a few magic absorbing ores and pumped them with electricity magic, and carved a few runes into them that made sure the supercharged ores didn't overload my electronics. It was an easy fix, and though it took a while to refine it to a point that I liked, but it was better than nothing.

I rubbed my eyes as I made my way towards my bedroom, I had to check one more thing before I made food. I am so making a shit ton of bacon.

Silently opening the door, I was met with the sight of Vida sprawled over my bed with my 3DS in one of her hands.

I sighed. "She stayed up all night playing video games again. It's like looking at a younger version of myself. I'm a horrible influence."

I walked back into the bedroom, breakfast in hand. Two plates filled with a large serving of still steaming bacon and eggs, with an equally big helping of orange juice. Can't beat that classic OJ!

I made sure Ornn had something to eat. I'm pretty sure what accounts for a mountain fried rice and noodles covered in curry sauce along with a barrel of cherry-flavored rum works for the forge god.

I set the plat down near her head. "Come on, Vida, wakey, wakey, eggs, 'n' bakey."

As expected, the scent of the best breakfast in the world aroused the dragon from her slumber.

Vida let out a cute yawn. "Mmmmm...Zachary, is that you?"

I smiled and ruffled her hair. "Do I smell like bacon and eggs?"

"Ehhhhhh..." She groaned, still half asleep.

"Alright, alright, I'll feed you."

Fork in hand, I picked up a small chunk of scrambled eggs and held it up to her. "Say ahhhhhh~"

She opened her mouth. "Ahhhhhhhh..." I moved the fork in. "...nom." Vida gave a tired as she chewed.

Vida had grown on me a lot since she had appeared from my dragon arm a year ago. It helped that she had mostly mellowed out of her tsun phase.

I felt her elbow hit me in my side.

"You were thinking something rude again, weren't you," Vida glared at me, all sense of tiredness gone.

I grinned. "Tun-tsun."

Food forgotten, she continuously pelted her fists on my chest. "I am not tsundere!"

I smirked. "Of course you aren't, and I'm sure you staring at me for extended periods of time with a cute longing look on you face while I work is also my mind playing tricks on me."

Her eyes widened in shock as her face turned scarlet. "You noticed that!?"

"How could I not?" I asked rhetorically. "You sit so close and you always have the most adorable expression when you watch me work. Takes everything I have to just not cuddle you or pinch your cheeks."

Vida immediately protected her cheeks with her hands. "Never again!"

"That depends on you. Now, eat your breakfast. I gotta go feed Kenny." I said as I got up.

I picked up my glass of orange juice and gulped it down quickly before I left the room. I was about to head to where I get my spare ore to feed Kenny when…

"Zachary, get over here!" I heard Ornn call me from the entrance of the forge.

Oh lordy. "I'm on my way!" Walking quickly, I made my way to the forge. "Yeah, what is...it…?"

My words died in my mouth as I saw what was in his hands.

A blonde, unconscious woman, who looked like she was a few steps away from getting frostbite. She was also covered in blood, and looked to be suffering heavy wounds...fun.

I had the perfect response. "The fuck happened!?"

Nailed it.

"I was on my way to get more ore when I found her half-buried in the snow," Ornn explained.

I put my finger to the woman's neck, checking her pulse. "Shit, her pulse is slow. She's got hypothermia, she isn't going to last long if we don't do anything!"

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Think, Zach! You've Googled this shit before, dumbass! What do we do!?

"U-Uhhhh," I panicked. "Okay, okay, I-I think I got it. Get her out of the cold, don't keep her in the forge, this place is too hot for her right now, sudden changes in temperature, it might cause irregular heartbeats severe enough to stop her heart for beating altogether." I felt her clothes, they were soaked in cold melted snow. "Shit, she's soaked, normally not a bad thing, but in this case, it's something to avoid. We need to cut them off and dry her off, we got to be gentle with her, limit the amount of movement we put her through."

Ornn looked at me blankly. "You know how you worded that, right?"

"Yes, I do, and I'm not sorry," I deadpanned. "Now, focus on the medical emergency at hand, Grumplord!"

Ornn sighed and handed the woman over to me. "Take her to one of the guest rooms, I'll get a small blade to cut off the clothes."

"Alright," I said as I turned around and walked towards the hallway of doors.

I noticed that the bleeding from her wounds her slow, but keeping them open wouldn't be good at all. They could get infected, and or lead to scarring if not treated right away.

Great, the third-rate blacksmith that is I, has to deal with a serious medical situation. I have my work cut out for me.

Veronica Lautreamont was the first princess of the Lautreamont Royal Family, and heralded as the greatest warrior of the Lautreamont Knight Kingdom, Iron-Blooded Valkyrie.

She was strict and firm, her very voice held enough authority that even dragons would freeze at the sound of it. She had no place weakness, not in her self, nor her loved ones. Yes, despite her cold demeanor, she did have people she cared about.

Her sister, Silvia Lautreamont, was the person she loved the most. Only the people she trusted knew the depth of that love. The very obsessive, borderline incestuous love. But it was love nonetheless.

Sadly, despite her fame and renown throughout the continent of Arc Strada, she herself did not believe she could survive a crash landing in the mountains, near an active volcano.

Her military airship, Silvanus, named after her beloved sister, had been sabotaged by an unknown agent. It had to have been an inside job to pull something like this off. Someone wanted her dead, she was the country's top general. After all, what better way to get rid of her than a crash landing in the middle of nowhere?

Fortunately, she did, in fact, survive, and did make sure that Glenn McGuire, who was her deceased brother's former friend, and someone she actually trusted, was in charge of military affairs while she was gone.

Unfortunately, dealing with a particularly hungry and angry Tigrex after barely surviving a crash landing isn't the best way to start a survival situation.

She was able to drive off the relentless brute wyvern, but only just. Veronica was left with some nasty wounds, a parting gift from her hungry assailant.

So, there was, her prized ship crashed, with everything that was worth salvaging in flames or exploding, her crew dead, and she was traveling the cold, freezing mountains, bleed heavily, with only a matter of time before either she froze to death or blood loss caught up to her. And as expected, she collapsed face-first into the snow.

She heard heavy footsteps approaching her.

"The Tigrex?" She questioned in her mind, she had no strength left to speak. "So, this is how it ends? Pathetic."

At long last, her vision faded to black, and consciousness left her.

When she came to, she noticed she wasn't dead. A good sign if any. Her wounds from the crash and her battle with the Tigrex were patched up, she was in a soft bed, under warm covers. She looked under the covers, quickly finding out she was naked too.

Veronica heard the sound of the doorknob opening and stayed on guard. Sure, whoever was on the other side probably rescued her, but who in their right mind would be living in the mountains near an active volcano.

She got her answer when a young man about her age walked through the door holding a tray with a couple of coffee mugs and a teapot.

He was a handsome, tall, muscular man, with black, messy, curly hair. His most striking features being with amber eyes that seemed to give off a slight glow and his dragon-like left arm.

Obviously, he wasn't human, or at least not completely.

His eyes widened slightly as soon as she noticed she was awake. "Ah, good, I was wondering when you were going to wake up. Half worried I'd have to dig a grave."

Well, he at least seemed friendly enough. There were no weapons on him, but from the looks of those claws on his left hand, he wouldn't really need them.

"So, first things first" He began as he put the tray down on the nightstand next to her bed. "Don't move around too much, as you can guess, you've been through some shit, which includes heavy bleeding, trauma to the head, a dozen or so gashes that looked like you were a Tigrex's chew toy for a bit, hypothermia, and minor frostbite."

Veronica gave a slow blink as she processed the amount of crap she'd just been through. "...I should've been dead at the Tigrex."

"For know, I want you to stay in bed and rest," He prescribed, as he poured the contents of the teapot into one of the mugs. "Drink this, it'll warm you up."

She stared at the steaming mug offered to her before she hesitantly took it out of his hand. She watched as he poured himself a mug and began gulping it down as if the scalding liquid didn't affect him in the slightest.

He pleased sigh. "Ah, that's the good stuff."

Veronica took a sip of her mug, she blinked in surprise at the taste. "Hot chocolate?"

"Oh, you're also probably wondering where in the world you are." The young man addressed. "Alright, so you're near the Zepharos Empire. Specifically, the volcanic mountain range just outside the empire. This place is Ornn's Forge."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Ornn, The Forge God?"

Ornn, God of Forging and Craftsmanship. He was a fairytale told for thousands of years even before the continent of Arc Strada got its name. For years, countless adventures set out to find the legendary forge, but none have ever succeeded.

So, someone casually telling her that they were in the legendary forge of Ornn himself was more than a little suspicious.

He nodded. "The very same, the grumpy goat's been keeping me around as his apprentice."

Now she had to question his sanity, the forge was one thing but to claim to be taught by a god? His sanity was very much in question.

The sound of heavy footsteps approached the room, and a humanoid being that towered over the young man walked in.

Veronica froze at the sight of it. Whatever this thing was radiated power, and had a divine presence that eclipsed even the Mother Dragon.

It had large, stone-like, ram horns with carvings in them. Thick, red, fur covering its face, styled like a beard, he had a large figure and stature that made it seem like he was carved out of a huge boulder. His skin was a grayish blue, until it got to its left arm, which, halfway down, looked like red-hot steel in the shape of an arm. What should've been eyes that were looking back at her seemed to be more like red-hot, glowing, pieces of coal more than anything.

"So, she's awake?" The look of indifference on its face put Veronica's famed glare to shame.

Its voice alone held power beyond anything she had experienced.

Okay, the Forge God was real and the young man wasn't insane. Good to know.

"Yeah," He shot Ornn and amused smirk. "You not to work on your first impressions, old man,. Looks like you scared the life out of her."

"Not my fault she's not made out of stronger stuff."

"She survived an attack from a Tigrex, I'd know those bite marks anywhere."

Ornn scoffed. "Hm, so cardboard instead of tissue paper."

"That's the nicest thing I've ever heard you say," The young man chuckled.

The god looked like he rolled his eyes. "Hmph."

Heavy steps echoed as he left the room.

"Don't worry, he's always when you first meet him." He took the teapot and poured himself another mug of hot chocolate. "So, never got your name."

"Ah," Veronica hesitated, she was still near Zepharos territory, and tensions were still pretty high, between her country and theirs, but she doubted the Forge God would align himself with any country exclusively. "I am Veronica Lautreamont, the first princess of the Lautreamont Royal Family."

His eyes widened. "Huh…?"

He turned his head away, mumbling something about having a "resemblance" to someone.

"Uh, give me a minute," He walked towards the door. "I'll be back."

"Dammit!" She shouted frustratedly in her head. "With how he acted just now, there's a high possibility that they are actually allied with the Zepharos Empire."

Great, just great! She didn't have her sword with her, and she was too injured for any strenuous movement. That she doubted she could take on a god of all things. The best thing she could do was make a final stand.

...Hopefully, the mug of scalding hot chocolate did something.

Veronica tensed as she heard footsteps approach her room. Just as he entered, she was ready to throw the mug at his face, and cave his head in with the teapot, but she was stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what was in his hands.

Her little sister's lost dragon plushie and the boot she lost a year ago.

"Tell Silvia that the next time I blow up my arm for her, to remember to take her stuff back with her." He said in a smug tone.

Veronica looked between her little sister's lost possessions and the young man.

"What...What did you say your name way again?" She asked.

He gave her a shit-eating grin. "I'm Zachary Mohammed."

Veronica would always remember the first time she saw that shit-eating grin for the rest of her days.

Chapter End

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