My Evil System

"Are you . . . Balaur?" I asked instead.

"Yes." Balaur continued to wipe his bottles clean like he couldn't be bothered to spare me the barest glance.

I slowly sauntered in his direction and stopped just a few meters from him.

"Why are you still cleaning your cups when this town is going into ruins?"

"None of your business."

"Could it be . . . you're packing?" I said as I roamed my eyes on the barrels that were held together by ropes. There were also wooden boxes on the side full of items and fruits.

"How are you going to get out with so much stuff to carry?" I tapped my chin and wondered. "The roads are cut. There's no secret passage here, and there are no waters to sail on boats. So the only way . . . is to fly."

I chuckled. "But with this much stuff an air balloon wouldn't be able to carry this weight. You either had to carry it on an airship or on the back of a giant flying creature . . . like a dragon perhaps?"

Balaur paused, and he finally looked at me with his dark metallic slit eyes.

"Boy. If you don't want a world of pain. I suggest that you scram the fuck off."

I laughed. "Are dragons supposed to curse like that?"

The glass on Balaur's hands shattered to pieces, and a dark smoldering aura enveloped him all of a sudden.

"Boy, I don't know where you found out about it, but you wouldn't be leaving in here with that knowledge alive."

"Really? I'm not your enemy, though." I leaned closer to him and whispered, "I am what you seek. The only living man who could return you to Dragon Island."

The good thing about having the [Evil Eyes] was the advantage to the quests. All information was laid bare to me so I could exploit everyone's weaknesses.

". . ." Balaur's killing intent was dose off by cold water. His face told me that he was contemplating whether to kill me or hearing me out.

"No one knows of this island," Balaur said after a while. "The dragons had long changed their home due to poaching of their eggs and kidnapping of our kin."

Like he was entranced, Balaur began to talk of his past.

"I was once a proud dragon. Soaring over a vast woodland territory filled with a multitude of creatures that cowered before me. Then came this . . . Hunters. I was young and naïve, and that proved to be my downfall.

"For their wizard, it was not enough to just defeat a dragon. I was captured. Bound. I became the subject of this wizard's dark fascination. Eventually, this growing curiosity drove the wizard to madness, and he began to vivisect me, prying for any magical secrets.

"And then, one day, I snapped. Though the wizard was dead and my belly full, I was still imprisoned within the bowels of a remote tower. As luck would have it, this tower had long been coveted by a band of thieves. Without the wizard's magic to protect it, these thieves finally capture the fortification, only to discover a dragon sleeping within.

"I was stripped of all my scales by the time they found me. My hide was scarred beyond repair. I hardly look like a dragon. They could have killed me, but I planted the seed of an idea in their minds that I could be useful. They sold me to some noble house, and they offered to rehabilitate me, forge a new set of scales for me, and in turn, I would march with their armies and bring down the walls of their enemies."

Balaur was an incredible threat to almost any kingdom or nation. I thought as I read his information while he talked of his past. A mighty dragon in any battle presents the potential threat to reshape nations that were not strong or resourceful enough to stand against such a mighty enemy.

My eyelids lowered a little when I read the end of his profile. It said that the soldiers rallied behind him were slain by Balaur and that the house he served soon crumbled under his doing.

"I was beginning to balk at the commands of my captors," Balaur said in the end. "I wanted to regain my freedom, so I killed them all."

"And then you shapeshifted into a humanoid form and went to hiding ever since. Dreaming of the time that you could reunite with your kin," I ended.

Balaur nodded, and his slit eyes turned into a dot. "So if I were you . . . I would be very careful of my next words. Your life depended on it, boy."

I smirked under his pressure gaze and said, "I'll strike you a deal . . . Kill the Grendelkin, and I will help you reunite with your kin."

Balaur was silent, shocked, before he thundered, "Do you take me for a fool?"

But he couldn't kill me. Not yet, at least. Until he was sure that I really knew where Dragon Island was.

I walked back and forth and told him, "You know, I always expect that there would be dragons. Even in my real world, I find them . . . fascinating."

Balaur's brow twisted at my words. He must have thought of his time with the wizard who experimented on him.

"And now that I'm in front of one, I'm very curious about your species." My eyes widened, pupils turning to a dot in excitement at the prospect of having a dragon as my minion. "You see, I have a skill . . . that can see anything . . . even this Draconic Island that you couldn't find."

Balaur looked at me in suspicion. "What's your proof?"

"That fact that I know you're a dragon is proof enough." I pointed at my eyes, and my grin widened when Balaur's walls were breaking. "I can see anything. Your dreams. Your fears. Your desires. Everything is within my sight."

". . ." Balaur raised his chin and stared down at me. "If . . . if I kill this Grendelkin, will you tell me where my kinsfolks are?"

"That's the deal."

". . ."

"Then make a blood oath with me."

System, what is he talking about?"

<Certain creatures can seal a deal with their blood alone. It's like a contract, and both parties should fulfill their agreement least suffer death>

Is that so?