(MC POV)
I looked up at the sea dragon that was currently glaring down on us with a clearly pissed off face.
"Is it you? Foolish mortals who dare intrude upon my domain and make a mess out of it?" It growled.
Ok, I'm not that insensitive to not understand that we are the rude ones here. Even I would be upset if some unknown stranger comes to my courtyard and summons a planet in the sky for seemingly no reason.
That's why I'm not going to just wipe this dragon from existence simply because it gave a justified reaction to our actions.
It would be a different outcome altogether if it tried to attack us first though.
I held up my hand in greeting, at the same time also signalling the two girls to refrain from attacking it as well.
"Oh, hello there. We didn't know that this was your territory and might have acted a little bit rude. For that, I do apologise. If it will assuage you of our impertinence, we will take our leave now."
The dragon hmphed at me, "You think you can just come into my territory, make a mess of it and leave like nothing happened?!"
I really wanted to point out that we hardly even made a mess out of anything and nothing really happened anyway.
Like… Does the sea even look different to you?
Ok, maybe it's something I can't see, so let's give it the benefit of doubt.
"I apologise again, but how did we make a mess here? If you can tell us, I'll be able to fix it."
"Hmph! Don't act innocent in front of me! I know what you're all here for! You Practitioners think being able to throw some fancy things around makes you special enough to take whatever you want without consequences!"
"Huh? Sorry, I really don't understand what you're saying now."
"Are you still pretending?! Why else would you come all the way here in the middle of nowhere?! You think I wouldn't know you're trying to take the Treasure of the Deep?!"
"Treasure of the deep?" I repeated.
"Hmph! I knew it! Thieves and plunderers, all of you! Only one fate awaits people like you! Death!"
Guiying and Kiyomi were in front of me in an instant, both of them prepared to defend me against the sea dragon's wrath.
I raised my hand again to get its attention while standing on the surface of the sea, "Sorry, I think there's a misunderstanding here. We simply came here to play in the sea, we didn't even know there was some kind of treasure here at all."
"You think such lies will save you from your fate?!" The dragon roared, rearing its head back.
Before I could get another word in, the dragon shot its head forward and let out a breath of frost that was big enough to completely envelop us.
Kiyomi raised her hand and waved it in an arc, redirecting the dragon's frost breath away from us with casual indifference.
"Master, why are we still listening to this overgrown lizard?" Kiyomi asked, not even looking in the dragon's direction to show how little she thought of it. "It's ruining Master's vacation time with us."
I smiled wryly at her, "That may be true, but aren't you interested in this treasure of the deep?"
Guiying puffed her cheeks, "The only treasure worthy of our attention is Master."
Oh you, why do you have to be so cute? Head pats for you! And you too, Kiyomi!
"Ehehehe~ Master's head pats~" Guiying giggled.
"Mnnn… Master…" Kiyomi purred.
"How dare you ignore me!" The dragon roared indignantly, raising its head once more to attack.
Guiying was most definitely not amused by its repeat attempt and leapt up into the air, her leg glowing for a moment as she infused it with her lightning before kicking the dragon across the face.
The result was the dragon being smashed back into the sea with a loud smack, kicking up several waves from its impact.
Not to be left out, Kiyomi also joined in by smacking the other side of its face with a giant pillar of ice summoned from beneath the sea, sending the entire dragon airborne for a few moments before it crashed back into the sea.
You know girls… I think there was still space to be diplomatic but I guess this works too…
I snapped my fingers and teleported it back in front of me, the dragon needing another few seconds to realise what had happened.
"So… I think this can constitute as self-defence, yes? Do you still want to continue? Because I think the two of them wouldn't mind continuing."
Both Kiyomi and Guiying glared at it to make their point.
The dragon shifted back quickly with its head bowed, "Please accept my sincerest apologies!"
"Wow, that's a very quick change of attitude," Guiying noted, vocalising the thought in my head.
"The treasure is only significant to weak mortals… If you can beat a dragon like me around like that, then I know for sure you aren't here for it…" It explained, keeping its head bowed slightly.
Well, who knows, I might just be a collector that likes collecting these kinds of things and how do you even know I wasn't just coming to get it for someone else? But I guess I should just keep my mouth shut for now, it would be such a waste to kill it.
Anyway, I know the real reason for its change of attitude, it's just afraid of getting killed. Not that I blame it for that.
"Hmph, you really are pathetic for a dragon if you can't even tell that our Master is no mere mortal," Kiyomi scoffed.
The dragon bowed its head even lower, looking like some kind of beaten puppy, "I have no excuse."
"Now I'm curious though, what exactly is this treasure that you speak of?" I asked, bringing the topic back.
The dragon hesitated before finally relenting, "I can show it to you, oh strong ones, it lies at the bottom of the ravine below us."
It lowered its head to rest on top of the water and we realised it wanted us to climb on top of it.
Seeing no reason to reject its offer, the three of us clambered on top of its head before it dove into the sea.
I was prepared to erect a barrier around us to shield us from the water but it turned out to be unnecessary as the dragon had already done so for us.
The thought that it was simply dragging us to the bottom to kill us crossed my mind but it's not like that would have succeeded even if it tried so I ignored that possibility.
It slithered into the ocean's depths quickly, diving straight into the depths until we found a source of light at the very bottom that stood out in the darkness of the sea.
Even at this distance, we could feel there was some sort of power radiating from that light source. It looked like a shard of cracked porcelain aside from the fact that it was emitting light.
Only when we got closer did I realise what it actually was.
An Origin fragment, a piece of my original self.
