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Somehow, the Kirin became the main attraction of the supper. Before long, everyone was giving the Kirin a small piece of their food. Surprisingly, the Kirin turned away from meat and accepted only fruits or vegetables, though it favoured fruits more than vegetables.

The Kirin proceeded to down all the fruit slices it was given. Each slice was as big as the Kirin itself but it swallowed every slice whole and moved on to the next slice before even ten seconds passed. The fruit just magically disappeared into its body.

“How is it doing that?” Lyra asked, staring at the Kirin in disbelief much like everybody else.

“It uses Mana to help digest the thing it eats,” answered Erin as she peered at the Kirin’s Mana flow. “Speaking of which, just how much Mana does this little thing have? It can hold more than I can.”

“It is a Demi-dragon,” said Aedan. “It probably has more Mana than all of us combined here. Well, excluding me of course.”

“Wouldn’t that be extremely dangerous?” Nivia questioned. “To have this much Mana but with such a tiny receptacle, I mean.”

“It’s half a dragon but it is still a dragon. And dragons are naturally gifted at utilising Mana. This little creature isn’t volatile in terms of its Mana’s performance. But I say it is volatile enough in other aspects.”

Erin was trying to pat the Kirin while it was feasting on the fruits but it slapped her hand away with its tail. The Kirin wasn’t even looking at Erin. The tail moved by itself the moment Erin’s hand went close. After each slap, the Kirin would turn around and glare at Erin before resuming its meal.

“It hates you,” said Lilian. “Dear, have you done something terrible to it?”

“We did try to kill each other when we first met but I didn’t know what it was back then. It just came at me. Evidently, it’s still holding a grudge towards me for that.”

“Hmm, I wonder…” Musing, Aedan reached out his hand towards the Kirin.

The Kirin stopped eating and spun around. When it saw Aedan’s hand approaching it, the Kirin squealed in terror and dashed up to Erin’s shoulder, cowering behind her.

“Whoa… that was such a huge reaction,” Lyra remarked.

“It’s afraid of you, Master,” said Siv.

“It has good instincts. It knows what I am or at least it knows that I’m more than meets the eye.”

“I thought it hated Erin,” Nivia said.

“It has good instincts like His Grace said,” Amyra explained. “It fled to the one it deemed as the strongest in the group when it perceived a threat. It hates you, milady, but it still acknowledges your strength.”

Smiling wryly, Erin looked at the Kirin on her shoulder. It was trembling heavily while staring intensely at Aedan, hissing.

“Shouldn’t it be revering you instead of fearing you?” Lyra asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be the Dragon God?”

Aedan sighed, rolling his eyes. “I am merely the candidate. I have yet to officially take the throne. As far as it’s concerned, I am just the same as any beast out there with too much strength and power to spare.”

“Also, True Dragons are the natural enemies of every false dragon,” Amyra added.

Erin glanced over to Aedan, her curiosity ignited. “Why is that?” she asked while gently patting the Kirin who was still shaking in fright at Aedan. Erin was cheering inwardly of finally being able to pat the Kirin.

“It’s an old wives tale, sort of.”

“An outright slander that many have taken for a fact,” Aedan grumbled.

“True Dragons perceived false dragons as heretics, a blasphemy to their god.”

“I heard about this,” Aera exclaimed. Her tone was excited but her voice was almost a whisper. “Is it not true? This perception came from scholars.”

“It is true,” said Amyra. “But only to a certain extent. Or rather, it’s true for one particular True Dragon. What was his name again?”

“Dorvus,” Aedan answered in a grim tone. “If you have heard anything negative about True Dragons, he is most likely the source of the rumour.”

“What did he do?”

“He sees True Dragon as the ultimate lifeform and everything else is beneath them. He especially hates false dragons like Wyverns, Drakes, Wyrms, and the such. Kirins, too.”

As if it understood Amyra’s words, the Kirin turned its gaze to the Augur.

“Coincidentally, he’s one of the founders of the Aerysian Faith. Knowing him, he might be the Arch Priest or something by now.”

“He’s still alive?”

“Very much so.”

“Should we be worried about this… individual?”

Amyra shrugged.

“He's a dogmatist. A supremacist, if you will. But he is no impulsive fool. He has a temper but he uses his rage well. He values the preservation of the faith above all else.”

“The Aerysians attacked the kingdom’s army just this afternoon, lest you forget,” Lyra reminded. “That’s asking for a premature end.”

“It could be a different faction or a rogue faction,” Aedan ventured a wry guess. “The Aerysians aren’t exactly a coherent bunch. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry so much about them. They might be a threat but in time, they will destroy themselves.”

“In time, you said.” Erin retorted. “Before that happens, who knows what kind of disaster they would bring.”

“The point is, we can’t predict their next course of action. We can only wait and see.”

“What about the other faiths?” asked Nivia. “Will they truly cease their attempts if we get closer enough to cities and large towns?”

“Logically speaking, yes.”

“But logic doesn’t define most of them.”

Aedan smiled wryly. “You are absolutely right about that. The path ahead is fraught with unforeseeable problems.”

“Enough of all this grim and serious talk,” Lilian scolded. “Can’t we have just one meal without the need to dwell in all the itineraries of our day and the day after?”

“Then, please enlighten us on what we should do, Dryad,” Amyra scoffed. “We don’t have booze. And the stories we know are either grim or depressing. Which leads us to songs.”

“I know songs but I’m afraid I’m not a good singer. Besides, I have a better idea. How about we come up with a name for our lovely Kirin here.”

Amyra was utterly dumbfounded. “Huh?”

“It’s a calm and soothing activity, is it not? We won’t need to be loud or anything.”

Everyone stared at Lilian as if she had just spoken something out of this world. In a way, she had made a baffling statement.

“I’m aware that everyone’s high-strung given what we have gone through so far. I’m just proposing something to help us be at ease. Naming this adorable creature can help us take our minds off of the strenuous things.”

“We are not children, Dryad.”

“Precisely why we need to do something like this. We have strained our vigilance too much. Our nerves need to loosen. Or else, one of us might experience the shudder.”

“The what?”

“The shudder. It happens to those who worry excessively. They shudder and then they proceed to lose the ability to move parts of their body or their entire body.”

“I have heard about such a sickness,” said Erin. “It can cripple a person permanently.”

“I failed to see how your suggestion would help,” Nivia doubted. “That little creature isn't even fond of us.”

The Kirin had calmed down. It was no longer shaking in fear but it was still staring at Aedan warily.

Erin tried to pat it again and this time, it did not slap her hand away. The Kirin looked grumpy but it didn’t reject Erin.

“Huh… it has turned obedient,” Lyra observed.

“It’s currying her favour,” said Amyra. “Lest His Grace tried to approach it again.”

“Very clever.”

“C-can I try holding it?” Aera asked with a hand raised.

“I’m not the one you need to be asking,” Erin said and held the Kirin to Aera’s timidly outstretched hands. The Kirin did not struggle when Erin grabbed it. Its eyes were on Aedan the whole time.

“What did you do?” Lilian inquired, glancing at Aedan with an amused smile. “It’s overly wary of you.”

“Wild creatures are inherently cautious beings and some can sense things beyond the present and the surface. I would talk about my past but you don't want us to dwell on that sort of dark topic, so I won’t.”

“Alright, fair enough.”

While Lilian ceased her inquiry of Aedan’s past, Erin had handed the Kirin over to Aera without any fuss. The Kirin didn’t even seem to notice it was being handed off to another person’s hands until it was already in Aera’s hands. However, the Kirin did not protest or raise a tantrum even when it realised.

In fact, the Kirin’s vigilance fell when it saw Aera. It neither snarled or growled at her. It accepted her hands. It even lay down and curled up in Aera’s palms.

“It likes me!” Aera exclaimed in glee and wonder.

“I don’t believe it,” Erin muttered in disbelief.

“Perhaps it doesn’t see Aera as a threat in any way at all,” Amyra said.

The sense of competition was set alight in the hearts of Lyra and Nivia after seeing how accepting the Kirin was towards Aera.

“Let me try,” Nivia said and held out her hand.

The Kirin sensed Nivia’s hand approaching. It glanced at the Elf but only for a brief moment before turning away.

“It doesn’t like you,” Lyra pointed out.

“Shush,” Nivia huffed and reached closer to the Kirin.

This time, the Kirin slapped Nivia’s hand away with its tail, eliciting a chuckle from Lyra.

“It doesn’t like you, Nivia. Plain and obvious,” Lyra sneered

“And you think you can do any better.”

“Certainly better than someone who harbours so much dishonesty regarding her own feelings.”

Nivia snorted. “Then, why don’t you give it a try?”

Smiling, Lyra inched close to the Kirin in Aera’s palm. She reached her hand out towards the little creature but before she even came as close as Nivia did, the Kirin bounced onto its feet and hissed at Lyra.

The person in question froze with her outstretched arm dangling rigidly in the air.

Nivia burst into a cackle. “It would seem that it hates you more than it hates me.”

“N-no. This must be a mistake.” Lyra was insistent and stubborn. She inched closer to the Kirin despite its warning.

The Kirin did not just slap her hand away. Its reaction was worse than that. It tried to bite Lyra’s finger but she was quick enough to pull her hand back.

“What the fuck!?” Lyra screamed. “It tried to bite me!”

“Serves you right,” Nivia scoffed.

Lyra glared at the Elf.

“For fuck’s sake, can you two stop trying to tear at each other’s throat the first chance you two have?”

“She started it!” said the two in tandem.

Erin sighed.

“Alright, settle down.” Lilian clapped, gathering everyone’s attention. “We’re all grown men and women here. Let us not be bothered by such trifles and get back to our main interest at hand. So, do we have any suggestions for this miniature beast’s name?”

“Ruri!” Aera suggested in a tone far louder than usual. When she realised how loud she had shouted, she shrunk with her face flushed.

“That’s a very good name,” said Lilian. “Do you perhaps have a pet named Ruri?”

“Um… a long time ago. It was the name of a stray cat that I used to feed every morning when I was a child. One day, it just stopped coming…. This little one reminds me so much of that cat…”

“There we have it. Ruri it is,” Amyra cheered. “Now, let us move on to something less drab. How about songs?”

“But none of us sing here.”

“Bollocks. We don’t need to sing. We can also play.”

“We don’t have instruments and we don’t have anyone who can play.”

“Dryad, you are wrong. We have instruments and we have someone who can play.”

Lilian frowned. “Who?”

Amyra grinned. “Me.”