Land of Big Lizards

"OK, Merlin. What kind of shenanigan you're planning here?"

Currently, the wizard and his companions were drinking the local drink of Dragonia, a juice called Living Dragon Blood, which didn't contain even a single drop of blood, let alone one that was from a dragon. The drinks were provided by the touring guide for the thirsty and tired tourists after traveling around the kingdom.

Alto-Eris decided that it was the perfect moment to nip a problem in the bud.

"Really, Alto?" Merlin spoke, having the gal to sound offended. "I just arrive here and you immediately accusing me of causing anarchy."

"I said 'shenanigan,' not 'anarchy,' which makes me even more suspicious." She glared at him. "And in case I need to remind you…"

"Here we are, the Town of Long Quan!"

Alto-Eris proudly declared the name of the resort town to the group of tourists. Even from the outside, they could already see the hot springs that made it famous domestically and abroad along with the heat from the water.

"Now, before we go in, let me tell you about the types of spring that you will encounter here." She stated. "First, there's the Boiling Hot Water, the spring that is created with the help of the Ryu that – where are you guys looking at?"

The Dragon stopped speaking upon realizing that the tourists was focused on something else. She turned her head to look at the direction of their gaze and almost jumped in shock at what she was.

"Hey, this is hot spring! This is for taking bath, not boiling egg!" A Wyvern chastised one of the tourists under her responsibility – a wizard – who was, well, boiling an egg.

"But that doesn't mean you can't use it to boil an egg." He replied, still calmly boiling the food. "And done!"

"Great. Now we have to clean it up." She complained as she stared at the spring.

The wizard walked back to the group as he peeled off the shell of the egg. Once it was done, he put the entirety of it into his mouth in one bite, happily chewing the food.

"Mm, soft-boiled egg." He muttered before swallowing down. "My favorite."

She didn't know why, but Alto-Eris had a feeling that this wouldn't be the first time he would done a mischief.

"In my defense, I was hungry." Merlin said.

"Yeah, I actually think that as well." The guide replied. "Which bring us to the next problem…"

"Welcome to the Love Ride, one of the most popular diner in Dragonia!"

Upon arriving, she was glad that her timing was correct; while there were still customers, the diner was for the most part empty, having enough room for her group.

"In this place, food is made so quickly it often surprises those who don't know about it, to the point that it's called 'fast food.'" Alto-Eris explained. "Go ahead, everyone. Order whatever you want. I can assure you that despite its simplicity, the food here will not be something you can forget. Not need to worry for the bill for we will handle it."

Soon, the tourists went into the diner and began to order the food and drink. She could see the waitress furiously wrote down the order as quickly as she could, causing the Dragon to giggled a bit.

"You know, it's rare to see you here."

Hearing that, Alto-Eris turned her head and saw a Wyvern approaching her. Not just any Wyvern, but she's none other than Shirtiya, a fellow tour guide and member of the Dragon Knight.

Oh, and she was also the daughter of the owners of Love Ride.

"Hey there, Shirtiya!" She greeted her. "This is your day-off, if I am not wrong, right?"

"That's right." She nodded. "Anyway, what takes you here? No offense, but you usually don't bring your group here."

"Well, there is an…incident happening earlier that caused them to become hungry." Alto-Eris explained. "So, I decided to bring them here; fast to make yet nonetheless fulfilling."

"I see." Shirtiya noticed that she didn't tell her everything, but decided that it was not important.

As they watched the tourists enjoying the meal, both of them noticed that there was an exception among them; a white-haired wizard who simply sat, looking at the scenery through the window.

Alto-Eris recognized him as the one who boiled the egg at the hot spring.

"Hey, is there something wrong?" She approached him. "If the problem is money, then don't worry. I already said that we will be the one who pay."

"Ah, that's not the…"

Before he could finish his words, it was revealed why the man did not have any piece of food on him; he was simply waiting for his order.

"Here you go." The waitress stated as she put down the order. "One peta-mac set!"

The order was none other than a burger so high it almost reached the ceiling, a bag of fries as big as someone's head, and a drink so big that one has to hug with their whole body to drink it.

As the Dragon stared in shock at the amount of food, Shirtiya slowly approached her fellow guide and knight.

"Um, I'll…help with the bill." The Wyvern awkwardly stated.

"You said we can order anything that we want!" Merlin indignantly shouted.

"How would I expect you to order something that's reserved for ten people?" Alto-Eris retorted. "Though, yeah, alright. Some of the blame lies on me."

"See, if you…"

"However, there's still that incident."

"With this, I declare that our tour has ended today." She announced. "Thank you for you…"

Before she could finished it, someone suddenly fell nearby, crashing just a few feet away from them. When the dust settled, she could see that it was a Dragon. The unhealthy color of her skin indicated that she was no ordinary one though.

"Is she alright?" One of the tourists asked.

"Oh, don't worry." The guide assured them. "Despite their look and origin, Dragon Zombie is…"

"ZOMBIE?!"

Upon hearing the scream, Alto-Eris tried to calm the person down. But before she could even open her mouth to do so, it was too late; a stream of mana beam hit the Dragon Zombie directly, leaving nothing but scorched ground where she stood.

Slowly, everyone's head turned towards the source of the spell. When their eyes dead set on the caster, it was revealed to be…

"You again?!" The Dragon Knight shouted.

"What?" He spoke, confused.

"In my defense, I thought she wanted to eat our brains."

"Dragon Zombies don't eat brain!" She told him. "In fact, how do you even reach that conclusion?"

"You see, if you look at the undead race, there's a pattern. Vampires drink blood, Ghouls eat meat, and Ghosts absorb spirit energy. Though to be fair, that's the only thing they could consume." Merlin explained. "Considering how stupid the Zombies are, it is likely that the part of living being that they need to consume is the brain."

Silence fell upon them as Alto-Eris rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to fight back the impending headache. The wizard's companions simply watched them, as if they were enjoying a comedy sketch.

"That…is…surprisingly logical, when you think about it." The Dragon admitted. "However, I can say with confident that there's no Zombie that want to eat brain because it will kill the owner of the brain, which is a no-no for monsters. Maybe in the past, but definitely not today."

"I see." He nodded. "Speaking of which, what's the status of the Zombie? Did you girls try to resurrect her again or…?"

"Most of the time, Dragons become Zombies naturally. Well, as natural as a necromancy could be." She explained. "Anyway, resurrecting a Dragon would cost a tremendous amount of energy. So, if you ever see a Dragon Zombie, then that means she has a regret and basically resurrects herself."

"Then she has…"

"Nope. I don't know how, but you manage to scare that Dragon to the point that she now decided to remain in the afterlife." Alto-Eris stated. "You're lucky that due to your good intention, your…very misguided action is forgiven."

Merlin nodded with his free hand covering his mouth. She squinted her eyes, wondering if she was indeed seeing it right, that he was smiling at the news.

The Dragon shook her head. She was likely seeing things. As annoying as he was, the wizard was not a heartless bastard. That was something every monster could detect.

"By the way," She decided to change the subject. "Who are the women with you?"

"Oh, they are my coworkers." He said, pointing at the black-haired Zipanguese woman. "Her name's Katou. She's both a Kunoichi and a Living Doll."

"Greetings." Katou replied, bowing as she did so.

Alto-Eris looked at the outfit that she wore. Indeed, it was similar to the ones worn by the Kunoichi albeit a bit more covering. She also noticed that her arms looked like doll's, which explained what Merlin meant by her being two races at once; he was actually talking about her profession and her race.

"The other one is Avi, a Golem." He introduced the dark-skinned woman. "Don't borrow money from her. She's a cheapskate."

"Racist." Avi retorted, a pair of her arms folding in front of her chest while another pair was on her hips.

"Well, you're technically not a Jew, so I don't think that counts."

She wanted to ask what or who was a Jew, but decided that it would likely be in vain, considering Merlin.

"It's nice to meet you." She said. "I must say, it's impressive that you manage to handle the guy."

"Well, we're not with him every day." The Zipanguese woman replied. "So, we have much break time."

"Correct." The Golem added.

"I see." Alto-Eris then remembered something. "Oh, that's right. The tour is about to resume, so you better be ready."

"Well, if the route is the same," The wizard. "Then we're about to reach our destination, Avi."

She didn't say anything in return, merely rising an eyebrow as a sign of interest.

"Everyone, welcome to-" Before the guide could finished her words, someone already went ahead. "H-Hey, be patient, will you?"

She tried to catch the Golem, but the latter was faster than expected. In the end, Avi was standing in front of the building, examining the minerals that were shown. The staff simply raised an eyebrow before shrugging her shoulders.

"W-Well, as I was about to say," Alto-Eris tried to salvage the situation. "Welcome to the magic shops of Ryu Street! Here, many items are sold, including the highly-prized Dragonium, which is currently being checked by our impatient fellow."

True to her words, the dark-skinned woman investigated the mineral. Each of her hand holding a stone.

"Alright, everyone! Go ahead and buy souvenir for yourself and your loved ones back home!"

With that, the group dispersed with everyone going to different places that interested them. Usually, it was one of few times when the guide could be more relaxed and take a rest. However, knowing who part of her group was, the Dragon decided to walk towards the shop that sold Dragonium, where Merlin and his coworkers were.

Her eyes widened upon noticing several boxes near them. That, with the addition of the wizard handing over a big pouch filled with gold coins to the owner, indicated that the trio were intending to buy that much.

"So fast…" She commented.

She needed to make sure that they didn't plan to do anything bad with that many materials. While she doubted that Dragonium could be used for nefarious purpose, as her predecessor told her, "it was better to be safe than sorry." Ensuring the safety of the people of Dragon was, after all, her duty as the Dragon Knight.

"My, that's a lot." Alto-Eris commented as she approached them. "What are you guys doing with that many?"

"Well, I myself just need a bit for my Mystic Codes." Merlin told her. "Most of them would be used by Avi."

"Oh, why would she need that many?" She pressed on. "I mean, with this much, you can basically armed the entire…"

"Adam."

Both of them turned their eyes towards the Golem, who had finished her business.

"With these materials…" She spoke. "I wish to be closer to my goal of creating Adam."

"Adam…" The Dragon muttered the name.

It was quite a common name for male. However, it also hold quite a significant status, for Adam was believed to be the name of the first human created by the Chief God. And considering how Avi was talking of "creating Adam…"

"Correct me if I am wrong, but…" Alto-Eris said. "Are you saying that you want to create a Golem? A male Golem?"

Before, there was only one type of Golem; genderless. They could be made to resemble human a lot but nevertheless possessing no gender. After the ascension of the Thirteenth Demon Lord, female Golems came into existence, with everything one would expect from the gender.

But there was no male one.

"Well, she already made some Golems before." Merlin explained. "But yeah, creating Adam is her goal of life. Perhaps it would take her more than one lifetime."

"A Golem creating Golems. I suppose it's only a matter of time until I heard everything."

"I know, right? You should have spent more time with other people, Avi. Heck, you even created Golems to serve as your maids rather than hiring a Kikimora or someone to do that."

"No. I hate people. The further they are from me, the better."

The Dragon blinked upon hearing that. While some races of Monster acted quite cold to others, they still possessed a hidden heart of gold, as they put it. But this was the first time she heard one hating to interact with other people.

Anyway, she wondered why Avi desired to create this "Adam." Golems were, in general, created in order to fulfill the desires of their creators. They, to put it bluntly, lacked a desire of their own. Even when they were looking for a husband, after gaining him, they would go back to how they were and simply fulfilled his demands.

Could that be the desire of her creator before for some reason that man was unable to do it? She had heard about them before, located beyond the reach of civilizations, madmen who played with nature and life. Perhaps her creator was one of those men, wanting to create a new race with Adam and Avi being the first. And for some reason, only Avi was created.

Wait, if that was the case, then didn't that mean Avi desired to create Adam because…

"Hey, Merlin." The Dragon called him. "I need a moment with you. In private."

The wizard raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless followed her. He simply waved his hand to his coworkers, telling them to "go ahead and do whatever you want." After walking for a while, both of them found an alley that was quite empty.

"Well, I admit that I am not exactly what a Dragon would call a perfect partner, but…" He suddenly stopped talking upon being punched in the gut.

"You know it's not that, idiot." Alto-Eris stated as the wizard coughed. "I want to know what's wrong with Avi. Why does she want to create Adam? Why doesn't she just find a man normally like others?"

"Why does it matter to you?" He asked. "It's not exactly your business."

"At the very least I want to make sure that you do something about it." She replied. "Us Monsters can't help but, well, help people if we find out that they have a problem. Some might not agree with how we do it, but that's how it is."

"If that's the case…" Merlin smiled. "Let me tell you the story of Doctor Victor Frankenstein."

Once, there was a man who desired to create the perfect human. In order to do so, he decided to make Adam and Eve, the names of the first man and woman. After many, many failures, he was one step closer to being able to attain his goal.

Yet it was during that moment that Victor Frankenstein became disturbed by his experiment. He looked at his latest attempt; a failure, he considered her. Thus, he decided to scrap it all together and washed his hands off.

But no matter how much he considered her a failure, the Creature was still a living being. When she awoke for the first time, he ran away. Knowing that she was "incomplete," she began to chase him.

Along the journey, the Creature met many people. All of them was terrified of her and chased her away. This hardened her resolve in finding her creator. When they finally met, she asked him to create a companion for her, promising that they would disappear into the wilderness, never to be seen again.

Victor Frankenstein refused. He destroyed every trace of his experiment. Many times, he attempted to kill the Creature.

After almost losing her lives many times, she broke down and killed her creator. It ended the threat of her live, but also sealed her fate of forever being alone.

In the end, the Creature drifted away on a raft, lost in the darkness and distance, never to be seen again. Whatever happened to her, only gods could answer.

When he was done, the wizard noticed that there was a sobbing noise. It didn't take much to guess who that was.

"There, there." He patted her shoulder. "I can assure you that she is in better place now."

"I…I know." She said. "That…that doesn't mean…those things never happen."

"Well, what is life without misery or two?" Merlin stated. "Anyway, we should go. They must be waiting."

"Y-Yeah. Let's go."

When they arrived, they saw that Katou and Avi were eating scorpion-shaped bread. Now that she had a closer inspection, Alto-Eris noticed that the latter seemed to have…problems emoting. To be fair, Golems were never known for their emotion. However, they only needed a little push to open up. She doubted the same thing could be said for her.

It also explained Avi's dislike for humans. If she experienced nothing but rejection and hatred even from her creator, it was natural that she could not find any love for them unlike other monsters. While that obviously no longer the case, the experience already shaped who she was. Furthermore, "Avi" sounded quite close to "Eve," sounding like the corruption of the original name.

Adding everything together, it made sense why she would want to create a male Golem, effectively a male monster. For her, that was the only option available. Every monster desired a husband to spend her live with and the intense dislike that Avi possessed towards people meant that the normal method was impossible.

She had heard tales of how men who endured suffering and misery finally found peace and happiness upon meeting the monsters. But for it to be the monster who suffer and broke? She had no idea how to fix that.

"You girls done with the shopping?" Merlin asked them.

"Indeed." The dark-skinned woman replied. "We could now proceed to Seven Islands of Court-Alf."

"I take it that you're intending to see the minerals that they sold there?" Alto-Eris asked.

"Yep. It's a shame that we need to cut our tour short." He said while scratching his head. "But in the end, I am just a guide to make sure these girls don't get lost. Everything that happen is up to Avi."

"I see. Usually, I would say that that's too bad." She said. "However, considering your goal, I know just how importance it is to you."

Katou and Merlin suddenly looked at the Golem. At first, she was confused by the stares, rising her eyebrow. After a minute or two passed, she finally realized the meaning behind them.

"You…have my thanks." Avi said, clearly not used in saying that.

Then, without any warning, the Dragon suddenly put the Golem into a hug.

"Good luck." She whispered into her ear. "Gods, please help this woman finally find happiness."

"So, what was all that about?"

The white-haired man paused his writing, turning his attention to the Golem, who was currently performing an inspection on her body.

"I don't know." He replied. "I just told her the story of Frankenstein's Monster."

"People are sure weird." She commented. "Anyway, which island we should visit first?"

"It's harder to say." The wizard explained. "Every island has something that makes them unique, which means there is a lot of choices for materials. Who knows, we might even need to visit all of the islands."

"I see. A lot of place to search."

"If you ask me, we should begin our search with either Nevia or Sadia. The former is where the artisans and sculptors gathered while the latter is the most technologically advanced thanks to harnessing the power of thunderstorm."

"Sounds like something Tesla would like."

"Don't tell him about the island, OK? Last thing we need is for him to use the energy to create a death ray or something, which will be unpopular there."

"Understatement of the century."

KNOCK KNOCK

Both of them stopped their conversation upon hearing the knock on their cabin door.

"Yes?" Merlin asked.

"Guys, we're about to dock in the port." Katou called them from behind the door. "Hurry up."

"Well, you heard her." He began to pack up his belongings. "Ready to continue our date?"

"You're the only one who called it that." Avi made the snarky remark as she put on her clothes.

With that, they exited their room, ready to continue their search for good mats.

Answers to some reviews:

ENDDRAGON369: That would be…kind of hard. Close to impossible, actually. During Babylonia Singularity, it is stated that Merlin visited the prostitutes of Uruk daily. So, listing the women who has been with him would be…

For Merlin's strength, to put it into perspective, he's a Grand Caster and his nature as half-incubus means that he's more than qualified to be the Demon Lord.

ptl: Just wait and see ;)

Questoris: Think MGE Golem wearing Avicebron's outfit except the mask.

356: You are correct!

Phantom Thief of Hearts: Eh, it's not that hard. Merlin has Demonic Energy and being a male, that means he must be an Incubus.

As soon as they realize that the voice in their head is not their voice and that it sounds like his voice ;)

Karakuri is a reference to Karakuri doll. Look it up. You'll understand.

Well, let's just say that the ink would change quite a lot about human-monster relationship, for good or ill ;)

To put it simple, Katou, Avi, and Merlin share a lot of similarities though have some differences as well.

For their appearances, you are correct regarding Katou. As for Avi, imagine a Golem wearing Avicebron's outfit and feet without the mask.

MoonCell: Merlin has and can control Demonic Energy. Since he's a male, usually that means he's an Incubus.

For omakes, perhaps. Currently I am still not sure.

If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.

Review, please!