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I just wanted a nap

In a cave in the lands of Hertra is a four man party of heros. From what the informant said in the town the dragon who resides here has no traps or minions to rely on. In fact the informant at the bar made an odd wager. " You shall return feeling defeated but unscathed." That was the condition for his victory. In fact the whole town felt their presence a huge joke after learning of their goal. Still what dragon has no minions or traps in it's lair? They soon found out. In a large cavern laid a single dragon in the middle. It's blood red scales gave a glow that lit the whole space. Signs of massive battles and magics can be seen in the cavern. Good they thought. The dragon was asleep. They made their preparations in secret to deliver a first and lethal strike...

Needless to say a week later the informant collected his winnings. This is not the first time the informant had made such a wager but it was the last. Not an hour after paying off the tax on the bet he was enjoying a light snack of an apple as he and everyone around looks to the cliffs to the north. The north where they heard a dragon's roar come from. While everyone else was distracted the man vanishes. His half eaten apple drops to the ground with a pile of cheap clothing he was wearing. When he appeared again his appearance looked different. Before he looked like an average gambler. With loose fitting clothing and black hair of an average height. Now his skin was all red instead of the pale white it was before. He is in a business suit that is from a more advanced era. Horns came from under his black hair by a few inches and a tail whipped from behind him. In front of him is a dragon with it's mouth wide open yawning. Even he took a step back in fear to the sight even if the dragon meant him no harm. " Tony, what is the news?" The demon Tony smiled happy with his own haul. " Dashing the dreams of so many heros. Destroying so many fates with your god like defense and my scheme. It was well worth it." The dragon nods remembering his first encounter with the demon. It was in his dreams well over a decade ago. The dragon just entered his nap and the demon thought he would be easy prey. After a long battle of attrition they eventually settled down to a talk and that lead to their current agreement. He would settle in the town as a gambler and information broker. Something natural to all demons. Even dream eaters. While the dragon slept he would leach off that by dragging down any who would dare challenge the sleeping dragon. The information was usually the same but the wagers would greatly change to the individuals he dealt with. It always came to the point of the demon winning big against more attractive prey and losing small often to the small unappetizing ones. This way the town will not harbor ill will toward him. It became quiet literally a place where people's dreams are broken. The perfect growing environment for a demon like Tony.

The dragon stretches and the demon waits to conclude his business with the dragon. In truth the demon wanted to have the dragon sleep for another century but it woke early. The dragon settles again and decides to look into his dimensional storage. He sticks his head in and when he comes back out a giggle like a young innocent woman would have seeing a bath full of hansom knights. Without the nosebleed. " How many idiots came when I was asleep?" He asks Tony but then shook his head as he looked around. The thought crosses his mind at that moment. 'Just how durable am I?' He looks around and sees the after effects of dozens of high level spells that could have been used to level a human capital. Any other dragon would have been scared having such spells cast on it. Even he was unsure how to act with such knowledge. " So are you satisfied?" The dragon nods. " Let us next meet let us be friends." The demon nods as well agreeing with the dragons comment. " And let us give an out if we must fight as rivals." The dragon raised up as the demon vanished. Walking threw the remains of the smoke that hid the demon's teleportation magic he giggled again thinking of how much wealth he had in his hoard. Of course the demon did his job. It saw the opening the dragon presented and in the end the deal was struck. The demon would make wagers with those that would seek to slay the dragon. No big loss for the demon if the dragon was slew but the bets made would be often involving magical energies the demon desired. No where else could the demon absorb the energies of so many high class warriors, mages and priests with so little risks. It is almost as valuable as a mana source. Of course even taking the titles of heros was a bonus as well. Mortal greed was great. Even if they knew he was a demon in disguise. And the dragon got a fair compensation from the demon with gold and other valuables. The markets of the underworld were full of such things for bargaining with mortals. Of course the demon did not pay the full worth of his cut but the dragon also knew there would be no way he could conclude what that amount would be. Still to earn so much while taking a nap was fortunate for him. No other dragon would dream about earning so much in their sleep.

As the dragon walked down the single path out of his cave he stretched his muscles in his legs and wings. He was of course still sleeping for over a decade. This was his second sleep sense becoming a mid adult dragon. The first was under the care of his mother, a forest guardian to the east. He does not know his father. The first century of his life was uneventful. He would kill beasts for food and sleep when tired. Of course he looked at his sister in interest at times as well but never pursued it. She had no interest in him so he thought it a lost cause. As he awoke from his first long slumber he found the forest burnt gone and his family missing as well. New life was starting to appear only a few years before. He was disheartened but not very troubled as he moved on in search of food. When he came to this unclaimed cave with the village nearby he did not think much of it. For fifty years he lived here without any interactions from another. Till the demon. He decided to go down to the village, now a town, and exact some payment for his presence.

When the dragon landed the town became alarmed. Many were already packing up to leave but a food stall laid abandoned and the food looked good to the dragon. He takes all the skewers off the burner and eat them as is before dropping a gold nugget on the counter. " All right someone of authority come out now or I burn this place to ash." He yelled calmly. He looked around the other stalls and started eating from them as he waited and paying a gold nugget each at them as well. It took a good ten minutes for three individuals to come out. One clearly was not in a position of authority as she was bound and chained. " Oh, malevolent dragon. What brings you to our humble abode?" The dragon takes a moment to look at the woman chained before looking at the man. " I just woke up from my nap. I know your village, or should I say town now, has benefited greatly from all those that have come here to try their hand attempting to slay me. I want my share." The one that spoke was shocked. " Um." The dragon lowered his head to get closer to the man. " One silver a person each year." In truth the amount was not a lot as a whole. No more than a few dozen gold for the entire time he had been sleeping, but the average income was half that a month. At worst that was a poor family of four annual income after food expenses. Except the town was rich and everyone was not some bum but worked in some way or another. " I shall grant you one year to pay the total of twenty two years I slumbered in addition to the year that shall pass making twenty three silver per person." The human coughs. " Well might one, our population was far less when you first." The dragon cuts him off. " And who's protection allowed your population to grow by such bounds?" The man coughed and took the chain from the other man that lead to the woman. " Then will you accept this for all those years." He bows and offers the chain to the woman. Some dragons liked enjoying the wombs of smaller creatures. At this moment the dragon did not have such a fancy. However he looked at her closer and noticed an affinity for wind in her veins, and her scent was heavily of human but that was not what she was. She was an elf. He moved his claw slowly to take the chain by pinching two talons together. The iron chain squealed to the light pressure he applied. He then pulls her into his other claw before releasing the chain and waving his claw. The aura around the town instantly changed to his magic barrier. If another dragon saw him do that they would thing there was something wrong with him casting such a strong magic for so cheap, but for him he did not even notice the change in his status. The cost was nothing compared to the well that was him.

The dragon then took the elf into the village after a few more instructions. The town mayor was ecstatic to get the blessing of a dragon. One that he personally knows has been alive and survived decades of attacks with nothing but his own body. Even if he had to pay the dragon out of his own pocket the fee he would not mind knowing about the blessing now, but to pay twenty three silver per person, assuming he was going by the current population, he could not pay the near two hundred gold. Plus the elf was also a problem. She is an illegal captured elf seized from a noble who lost her gambling not a week ago. One of the reasons for the lack of money was because the noble put her up as collateral for the bet with the heros that last came to slay the dragon. He was the one the funded their expedition and with no money to pay and even in debt, all he had left was the elf. The man barely was sent home with the same set of clothing he wore when he cashed out. Even his horse, a nice thoroughbred was nothing but just a donkey with a rope around it's neck. But the elf was left to the mayor. He had a loving wife and three children already. He had no fancy for the elf. Nor would he let his eldest son 'have his fun' with her. Nor could he let her go. Or all that money would mean nothing. And he could not sell her either. Sense after the noble left he discovered her paperwork was all forged. He then took into consideration of the dragon. It was much more gentle than he thought. In fact he knew nothing about dragons but their stereotypes but that was enough to figure most things in the world. Big, dangerous and greedy. But when he watched the dragon 'pay' for his meal from the stalls, with gold nuggets no less, he thought different of it. He heard what 'most' dragons are like but also that 'some' dragons are more humble and gentle. They often would interact kindly with the humans around it. From the moment the mayor decided what he will do from now on is the moment the world changed forever. From his decision the world was saved from the wrath of an unkillable dragon.