Heron was not given any magical healing powers or advanced medical knowledge or overpowered curing skills when he had isekai’d into his second life.

  At least, not that he knew of.

  And he was beginning to worry since he didn’t have an IV bag or life support available STAT, nor did he know how to be a nurse in any way, shape, or form. The only medical experience he had was when he went to urgent care himself only to find ulcers due to stress from his shady company, or when he applied a band-aid on a paper-cut, or inhaled a painkiller and almost choked on it.

  Yes, he was clearly a pro-healer. Not.

  There was nothing he could do about it so he did what he knew best–head empty and pray things would work out.

  With the warmth beating in from the open window and the sound of birds chirping, Heron chopped his vegetables absentmindedly. His shirt shifted at the folded edges as he moved his arm rhythmically with each chop. From behind, he could hear the munch and crunch of Lucifer.

  In the last two days, Heron had taken it upon himself tidying up his cozy cabin which had been improved over the past few months. While he still had no glass panes for windows, he’d created some wooden shutters to provide better insulation during the night and also added some basic torches on the walls for lighting. He’d also created an irori in the center of his cabin so he could cook indoors.

  Of course, Heron had to go the extra mile of keeping Charcoco away from eating all the charcoal in his new hearth.

  Don’t be silly. There is nothing to worry about. They’re mana overloaded, not ill.

  Wasn’t that the same thing? From Heron’s perspective, both the black dragon and elf girl seemed very ill. He knew exactly what it felt like when he cast too much magic and used too much mana. Not good and very bad. He’d only passed out immediately one time—from the melon bread—and a few other times had conked out right after. He’d never gotten to the point where he was unconscious for multiple days in a row.

  Heron didn’t question Lucifer out loud, but he thought about the situation as he turned around while holding a wooden cutting board full of chopped vegetables. Kneeling down, he scraped the chopped carrots, celery, and potatoes into the pot and set the pot to hang over the irori to cook the pot of soup. Summoning some salt and seasoning, he adjusted the flavoring before stirring slowly.

  From the corner of Heron’s eye, he could see Lucifer sitting at the dining table, its white fur fluffy and rabbit teeth chewing. In the past months, it had graduated from only viciously munching on grass to enthusiastically crunching on carrots. He supposed dragons did eat carrots after all.

  Back in my day, I used to mana overload all the time.

  “And how old are you?” Heron asked as he stirred the soup, his eyes focused on the pot. The scent of seasoned vegetable soup wafted through the air as he stirred.

  I have no clue. Crunch, munch.

  Well, that was not helpful at all. Heron glanced over to his bed where the elf girl lay. Her chest rose as she breathed in and out, clearly still alive. She appeared to be sleeping, but the past two days, he had failed to wake her over repeated attempts of nudging, prodding, and poking. She was undeniably unconscious no matter how hard he tried to awaken her.

  With the soup boiling over the irori, Heron stood up to check on the elf girl for the third time this morning. Standing over her, he clasped his hand on the leather padding on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. Her red hair shifted on the cotton pillow and he unclenched his fingers, letting her go. Standing up straight and sighing, Heron observed the elf girl in his grassy bed. Would she really be fine without any fluids or nutrition during this trying time?

  Yes, she’ll be fine. Also, hello? What about the dragon? This is discrimination.

  Heron was fairly certain that Lucifer had no clue what discrimination was due to its lack of experience in any socialization or experiences. While he and Lucifer rarely touched upon their past prior to meeting one another, Heron felt that the topic would come up when it needed to and never tried to force it. So, neither of them ever visited or shared their history and that was that.

  Turning his head to look at Lucifer, Heron chuckled. “I’ve been checking on it too, don’t you worry. You said it yourself, you’ve mana overloaded before and turned out fine. But I’m pretty sure if I mana overloaded and was out for a few days, I’d be dead meat—“

  A shuffling sound came from the bed. Heron’s eyes widened as he turned to face the elf girl—

  Only to find a shiny, pointy silver glint that caught his gaze as his breath caught in the back of his throat.

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  He didn’t dare swallow.

  The dagger made him very uncomfortable.

  His eyes flicked from the blade that was pointed at the base of his neck to the elf girl who was clearly and very much awake. Her green eyes met his, her expression unreadable besides the furrowing of her brows. She was fully sitting up now, and physically braced in an I-could-stab-you-if-I-wanted-to position. And he was so grateful that she didn’t just slit his throat and call it a day.

  Slowly inhaling, Heron very slowly raised his hands to the side, demonstrating that he was completely unarmed—he wasn’t even holding a spatula. The girl didn’t budge, her eyes locked on him. Oh no, did they even speak the same language?

  “Where is she?” Her voice was light and airy, but her expression remained serious.

  Oh thank the gods, Heron could understand her.

  “Who?” His voice cracked as he responded.

  “My companion.” She said coldly, her eyes narrowing.

  Companion?

  She means the dragon.

  Lucifer’s voice was small in Heron’s head. During the entire interaction, he had heard it leap off the table and was probably hiding in the stone oven. That was where Lucifer always went to hide whenever it was in rabbit form—especially if there were loud noises or any sudden movement. Good thing Heron never had the oven on by default, otherwise he’d have one roasty-toasty rabbit.

  “Your companion is outside.” Heron didn’t move, his eyes still focused on her.

  The elf didn’t say anything. Instead, she slowly shifted off the bed, her dagger still pointed at Heron. They moved in parallel, where Heron still had his hands up as if he were surrendering and she continued to threaten him with a dagger that was far more dangerous than a butter knife. Heron hoped that she wouldn’t stab him and leave him for dead because then he’d really curse the isekai god for not giving him overpowered healing abilities.

  Backing away step-by-step, the elf girl slowly made her way towards the front door, her dagger still raised. Heron didn’t move and watched her exit his cabin, shutting the door. Then, he heard her chanting outside and could see a blue glow that emanated at the edge of the wooden frame. The glow wavered for a moment before settling after the chanting stopped. What was that?

  She just used magic on the door.

  She just what?!

  Heron bolted over to the front door, his hand wrapping around the wooden knob. He jangled and wrangled the door.

  Nothing.

  “Did she just lock us in here?”

  Maybe.

  Heron was not a fan of that. Not in his own house! Rushing to one of the front windows, he slammed open the shutters.

  Just to meet the gaze of the elf girl once more.

  Except she was kneeling by the black dragon, her palm resting on the head of its snout as a golden glow radiated from her palm. Her mouth moved as she chanted silently, her eyes locked on Heron. His plan had been to crawl through the window to chase after her, but he changed his mind. He felt he was at a much safer distance by just watching from the window instead.

  What was she doing?

  She’s waking it up—

  At the sound of Lucifer’s voice in Heron’s head, a loud rumbling shook the ground. Heron’s fingers clutched onto the edge of the window as he held his breath. If his cabin toppled because of this unprecedented situation, it was going to be a lot more work to fix compared to the exploding rabbit hut that had happened a few months ago.

  The black dragon stirred from its slumber, its wings slowly unfurling as it uncurled from its stasis. The elf stopped chanting and turned her attention towards her companion as the dragon’s eyes slowly opened, revealing golden-colored eyes. Slowly, it shook itself awake as it stood up, stretching its wings.

  For the first time, the elf girl smiled softly as she gently touched the dragon.

  When she turned her attention back to Heron, she was no longer smiling. Heron chuckled nervously as he gave them a wave. Neither of them waved back. Crossing her arms, the elf faced him completely as she glared at him.

  “Unidentified citizen, you are now under arrest.”

  What.

  Heron blinked, his waving hand frozen mid-air. What did she just say? Did he hear her correctly? Firstly, this planet was uninhabited and Heron was the only person on this planet. Technically, that would make him king of the world since he didn’t have competition.

  Excuse you, I am the Lord here.

  Besides Lord Bun, Heron would be the monarch of this tiny planet. At least, that was what he had thought. Evidently, he’d been wrong about that.

  “Uh, am I in trouble?” His mouth was dry as he dropped his hand to his side.

  “Yes, you’re under arrest.” The elf stared at him, unblinking.

  “Can I ask why?”

  The girl didn’t respond. Instead, she whipped her head to the side, her red ponytail flicking. She didn’t say anything but the dragon nodded, as if it understood her. Then she turned back to face Heron once more.

  “You don’t belong here.”

  Oh crap, did she realize that he had been isekai’d? Was that a crime? And if he had committed a crime, wouldn’t that imply there was a society somewhere out there?

  All this time, Heron had unknowingly been under a civilization’s jurisdiction and he didn’t even know who they were!? Unbelievable.

  “Okay, you’re right about that.” Heron said slowly before taking a step back from the window frame. “So… what does being arrested mean?”

  Tapping her foot impatiently, the elf girl clicked her tongue. “I’ll be taking you back with me.”

  Where to? Was he getting kidnapped again?

  Sighing, Heron ran his hand through his hair. He could hear Lucifer making incoherent panicked rabbit noises in his head as it ran around in the stone oven like a maniac.

  THEY’RE GOING TO EAT US ALIVE—

  Heron blocked out the jumbling of the rabbit’s mumblings and focused on the girl and dragon in front of him across the open window. Before he could get a word out, a deep rumble sounded across the air. Except this time the cabin didn’t shake. And it was the sound of… a grumbling stomach?

  The elf’s eyes widened as her cheeks tinted pink. She glared at Heron and he rapidly shook his head, denying that he had heard anything. The dragon next to her almost looked smug and the elf laughed and punched it playfully. Then she cleared her throat and crossed her arms once more.

  “Want some soup?”

  The elf blinked as Heron covered his mouth. Did he just blurt that out? While he was in the middle of being arrested?

  That was genius, yes. Give them soup and they won’t eat us—

  Heron grimaced as he gave the girl and her dragon a sheepish smile. The elf and her dragon glanced at one another before looking at Heron again. Great, he had just invited the equivalent of an intergalactic police officer (?) and her trusty steed of a dragon to have his basic vegetable soup. Way to go, accidental bribery.

  What could possibly go wrong?

  Dreadspire: The Weakest Druid

  Dreadspire was a single-player game designed to break the unbreakable.

  Eryndor Leafshade, he found himself trapped in the body of a druid, the weakest playable race in Dreadspire.

  Dreadspire proves that no one was ever meant to win.

  Only the strongest may ascend

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