“Finally!” Roge groused, waltzing out of the north gate of Jadedwater with a skip to his step. He currently looked like a three and a half foot tall bipedal lizard, also known as a kobold, with mainly sapphire blue scales. His palms and underbelly were a brilliant shade of emerald, giving him a somewhat jewel-like appearance. He hid the outrageously shiny scales, courtesy of the church infirmary, with a shirt that started out grey at the top, changing slowly to black as it reached his waist, dark blue pants that Roge styled to look similar to jeans, black combat boots with a bright blue detailing the edges, and a sweeping burgundy coat. He’d styled music notes all along the edges of the coat, signaling that he had a bard-type class to anyone who saw him. Of course, the wand he had strapped to his waist also let him use magic effects, the dragon kobold feeling giddy at the new combinations he could try.

  “It was only a week, my Dragon,” Alton grumbled, the giant dracotaur towering over him. Formerly a minotaur, he’d kept his bovine features and fur, but anywhere he’d previously had skin was covered in silver and copper scales. He still kept to his old style of clothing, that being a pair of brown shorts and nothing else for some reason, Roge’s questions about it while convalescing being dodged at every turn.

  “A week spent in a bed, making no progress. I’m surprised our Master lasted that long,” another kobold grumbled, his golden scales covered up by a classic butler’s outfit.

  “Better than blowing yourself up,” Sean groused, the broad [Lionkin] adjusting the wooden shield on his back nervously. He was covered head to toe in padded leather armor, the leather and wood all dyed grey to make it look similar to metal.

  “I think he’s doing fine,” Marge chuckled, the deer woman nudging Sean in the side. “You’d go stir crazy too if you had to lay in bed all day.”

  “Quite right,” Hops mumbled absentmindedly, the elf’s nose in another one of his books. Now that Roge had a deeper bond with him, the dragon kobold knew that the book was actually part of one of the elf’s classes, similar to his own recipe book. It allowed him to summon knowledge from any book in a separate part of his inventory, Roge thinking it behaved similarly to a hoard. He didn’t say that out loud though, or think it too forcefully. Who knew what his [Draconic Magic] would do to the class if he accidentally added power to it.

  They quickly reached the caravan holding area for the northern road, various caravans of different sizes getting ready to load up for the hard journey. Not only was a good chunk of the road to the northern city, Karne, through a massive frozen swamp, but in the middle of winter, the over one thousand kilometer road would get colder and colder the further they went along. Doubly unfortunately, they were told that there was currently a blizzard blanketing most of the swamp, making it even colder than normal. The caravans that were headed north were fairly expensive, adding on multiple gold coins to the trip to fuel the heating runes layered all over the place on the wagons. The group’s only bit of luck was some of the hoard effects that Roge had acquired, making the trip even remotely possible.

  The first three effects were an obvious boon, allowing any of the party members to summon a cart and wolf to drive them up to the city. It even stayed summoned while the summoner was sleeping. Proton made it possible for everyone to sleep during the ride, Marge having grumbled once she found out she’d no longer need to get the [Caravaner] class. The butler had gotten an upgrade the previous Monday, when the kobolds’ numbers skyrocketed. Thankfully, the dragon kobold was most of the way through his recovery, so the animals multiplying at the beginning of the week didn’t bother him too much.

  Lastly, and certainly not least, was the ice effect, giving the whole party an additional thirteen degrees Celsius of protection against the cold, according to Hops. That made it so the heating runes he’d have to put in the cart wouldn’t have to warm it up too much, the elf having settled on a warm fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Well… warm according to Roge, who started feeling sweltering heat at around sixty degrees. But he could handle the decrease in comfort if it kept his party members alive. After all, according to the elf once again, it would have to go below negative eighty degrees for him to start feeling cold.

  “So, I’ll handle the cart,” Roge stated after they’d gotten to a clear spot, squinting at the setting sun as he summoned said cart to block it. It was constructed of blueoak wood and some kind of green fabric for the covering, the party walking around and inspecting it. “It costs a fraction of my regen, so I’ll still be at full if we hit any monsters along the way. I assume you still have the highest agility?” he asked Marge, the deer woman giving him a smile in return.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Unless yours is over fifty three-“

  “Nope!” Both him and Alton had said it at the same time, both looking at each other and chuckling. “I really need to get an [Agility Boost] plant. You’d be crazy with any kind of buff I could give you.”

  “So that means I can drive up to seventy nine kilometers an hour,” Proton grumbled, everyone looking at him confused before he rolled his eyes. “Forty nine miles per hour. Why your country decided to make up its own measurements I’ll never know.”

  “It does seem inefficient,” Hops commented, finally looking up from his book. “With those numbers, we should reach Karne in about thirteen and a half hours. Do you need a break at all, Proton, during that?”

  “Thank you for the consideration, sir, but I’ll be fine to do it all in one trip. Now miss, if you would?” Marge nodded as she summoned the fairy wolf mount, the creature about the size of a normal horse. It immediately looked at Marge and gave her a happy dog grin, panting and looking adorable.

  “AW!” Marge squealed, moving forward and petting the creature. “It’s so cute!” Roge felt a bit of dread chill in his chest, the dragon kobold deciding that he was never going to see if his friends could summon a member of his hoard. If Marge had one of the fairy creatures out all the time, she’d be insufferable.

  Linking the giant wolf to the cart proved to be very simple, fairy dust raining off of it’s butterfly wings shaping itself into reins and a harness to attach to the front of the cart. Proton immediately hopping up into the driver’s seat, frowning at the wooden seat before making himself comfortable. “You sure you’ll be fine?” Roge asked, Proton giving him an eyeroll In response.

  “I have all of you immunities Master, making me just as hardy as you. I’ll be fine.” Roge sighed and nodded, joining his party as everyone climbed into the back of the wagon. Hops had already gotten to work writing various heating runes around the edges of the small walls on the sides, linking them all together with various shapes. He’d gotten much better at using his inscription wand to draw out runes, the runes in place after a minute and immediately warming the space up.

  “Not much room to sleep…” Sean muttered, his eyes sweeping over the space as he pulled out a hammock.

  “I was… thinking about that,” Roge mumbled, pulling up another one of his newer screens to double check the wording on it.

  “How would you all feel about sleeping in the hoard for the night?” Roge asked, feeling encouraged by Hops’ intrigued look and Marge’s excited look. Alton, who sat off in one of the front corners, nodded at the suggestion, already used to resting inside the hoard during the nights. Sean, on the other hand, had a dark look on his face. “It’s not required. I just… thought it would work better space-wise.”

  “We do need to test out how sleeping would work in there,” Hops muttered, giving Sean a sympathetic look. He then grabbed Roge’s screen to take a look at it, muttering to himself before smiling widely. “Actually? It’s best if Sean stays out regardless.”

  “Why?” the lion grumbled, his frown softening as Hops pointed to the synergy line. “Oh! So I can stay outside and watch over the dolls?”

  “Exactly. If one gets destroyed…” Everyone grimaced at that, though Roge’s eyes looked directly at the dracotaur in sympathy. Hops continued speaking after clearing his throat. “Can you at least say why it’s uncomfortable?”

  Sean stood there silently for a few seconds, his face scrunching up before he sighed. “I don’t like people having control over my life,” he muttered, Roge wincing as he felt the bond to the lion thin by a small amount.

  “That’s… understandable,” Roge muttered, feeling through his bonds and giving everyone access to his [Royal Hoard] skill. “I’ll leave the link open for anyone who wants to join.” Before anyone could say more, Roge’s body morphed into that of a plain doppelganger doll, it flopping over onto the floor with a loud bang .

  ~~~

  “Are you legitimately stupid?!” Marge screeched, catching everyone off guard with her outburst right after Roge had left. “He already feels bad enough and you have to say that with no explanation?!”

  “What are you-“

  “Roge doesn’t *want* to control you Sean,” Hops cut in, his normally calm voice containing a bit of steel as he glared at the lion. “He feels guilty for even being *able* to. And you rejecting his bond while saying that…” Sean looked confused, to which Hops sighed. “We could all feel you weakening the bond to Roge.”

  “I couldn’t,” Marge muttered, looking over to see Alton having already left into the hoard, leaving behind a rather large doll that sat upright against the corner. “But I saw his face.”

  Sean sighed, running his claws through his mane in frustration. “What am I supposed to do, though? I can’t help it, especially since I can’t cut off the bond as easily like you two can. It felt… forced!”

  Both of them fell silent at that, Hops looking off to the side in thought while Marge looked a bit embarrassed. “This is why you need to talk to him, Sean. If you, calmly, tell him this, he’ll work with you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Alton aren’t already working on that contract of theirs.” Hops huffed out a short laugh at that, the three of them being endlessly amused when Roge had let that plan slip.

  “Our dragon isn’t unreasonable like most of the others,” Hops said. “Hell, from what I’ve read most dragon bonds work in reverse to ours. Roge gets practically nothing from the bond, yet we get all of his strengths, with a few upgrades sprinkled in.”

  “…Really?” Sean mumbled, the lion the one now looking a bit embarrassed.

  “It’s how the draconic classes are supposed to work. The dragon hoarding things and gaining power from them. Not hoarding things to empower the things they hoard. That’s just pure Roge.” Hops gave him a long look, tapping his foot on the floor. “Tomorrow, you are talking with him. No more stalling. Tell him your relationship with the previous Roge and your trauma. Once he understands, he’ll do everything in his power to make sure you’re happy.”

  “Sappy idiot…” Marge muttered, transferring herself into the hoard in that moment, leaving just the elf and lion standing there.

  “Tomorrow morning. Okay…” Sean sighed, only then did Hops go into the hoard as well. “It’s going to be a long night…” he muttered to himself, arranging the various dolls so he could hang up his hammock.

  ~~~

  Roge and Alton appeared almost at the same time in the main part of Roge’s [Farm Hoard], the dragon still in his kobold form as he looked around. His ‘plains’ environment looked more like a forest with the amount of trees he had growing everywhere, the flowers and other plants interspersed throughout the area randomly. The cloud ‘walls’ of the area had also expanded, Roge not even trying to estimate the area. On one side a rocky cave entrance was carved into the size of a sheer rock wall, the dragon kobold unable to see how tall the rock face was due to it smoothly transitioning into the fog. On the opposite end sat a cave made out of ice, almost looking like it was carved into the side of a glacier. He knew that the ice drake was laying inside, though he was momentarily confused by the tinkling sound of what he assumed to be metal that came out of the cave opening. Deciding to look at that later, he turned to the dracotaur standing beside him, his bovine face cringing as he stood in a meek stance.

  “We didn’t really get to talk during our infirmary stay,” Roge muttered, giving Alton a small smile. “While I’m not happy about the circumstances around our bond, I’m happy to help however I can. Just know I’m not going to try and force you into anything.”

  “I’m happy with that,” Alton mumbled, looking Roge straight in the eyes. “How may I help, my Dragon?”