"This energy was released by you, but it doesn't have an owner to it somehow."

  Thea perceived that there was no will inside of the dragon energy. All mages and creatures with mana would leave a tiny fractional amount of willpower or mental energy into their mana. Knowingly or unknowingly. It's how they are able to control it.

  The energy had actually been under the control of the fog dragon Thea thwarted away just now. But with it sent away, the energy also somehow lost its influence.

  "Hmm, try controlling it."

  Thea suggested to Janna.

  "Control it?"

  "Yeah, since it's your power, I think you should be able to control it."

  "I guess..."

  Janna held up her hands. She thought of moving the dragon energy into her body.

  "Did it work?"

  "Shut up, Thea. It's only been two seconds. I'm not a talented mage like you. Let me try to focus here."

  A minute later, Janna was still in the same position.

  "...I don't think it's working."

  "What did you try to do?"

  "I tried to take it into my body like what we usually do with mana."

  "Did you at least move it somewhat?"

  "I succeeded in that. Although slow, I can move it. It just wouldn't go into my body."

  "Let's try another thing. Can you gather it into this bottle?"

  Thea took out a clear, diamond shaped bottle from her magic bag.

  "How do I do that?"

  "I don't know. Just give it a try. This bottle is made to store dangerous liquids, so it could work in storing all this dragon energy."

  "Fine, I'll give it a try. Give it to me."

  Janna took the bottle and held it in front of her chest. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard on stuffing the bottle with the dragon energy. And miraculously, she was able to succeed. The fog surrounding them disappeared.

  "Wow, I didn't think that it would all fit in this one tiny bottle."

  Thea shook the bottle full of dragon energy. It was now a blue liquid with shiny white particles inside it.

  "It condensed into a liquid. It looks pretty, doesn't it?"

  Both the girls were fascinated with the beautiful colors in the bottle.

  "Hello?"

  That's when a rough low pitched voice came from the side of the forest.

  ---

  Thea and Janna arrived near the village. They were followed by three figures.

  "You're okay!"

  Rennet greeted Thea and Janna. He felt relieved to see a human shaped Janna. And happy that the two lived. Even though he had only been with them for a short while, he had developed a bond with the two and everyone in the village.

  "Thank god you didn't turn into a dragon!"

  "Haha, I'm glad too."

  Rennet looked behind them to a towering two meters tall figure. The figure was followed closely by two more behind him.

  "Who are these guys?"

  Rennet himself was 1.85 meters tall. But these guys were even taller than him and he felt like they were challenging him even though it was just a height difference and there was nothing that they were doing that could be a point of contest.

  "We met them just now. They came to investigate the unusual energy."

  "Hello. Moo~"

  The front figure greeted Rennet. It was a muscular furry humanoid with a bull's head. He had two curved horns that were pointing upwards to the sky. He wore little clothes, only covering the genital area and buttocks. It was a rag that circled around the waist and went down to the thighs.

  He wasn't wearing anything other than that. But on his back was a giant double sided axe that looked mighty heavy, held by a cross shaped strap that straped around his chest. It fit him as it would require muscles like his to swing it.

  It was minotaurs. Three of them.

  "I've never seen your kind leave the mountains of Agelada"

  Rennet extended his hand to the minotaur. The minotaur at the front also reached out his hand. It was similar to a humans, but it was more muscular. And he had one less finger.

  The two met their hands in the center and a war started.

  "Is that all?"

  The minotaur smirked.

  "I thought I met a minotaur. Not a cow."

  Rennet's response was like a grenade on the pride of the minotaur. He flexed all his muscles and squeezed hard on Rennet's hand.

  "And I thought I saw a bear, not a human."

  The minotaur's remark was also devastating to the pride of Rennet. Beast-people like the minotaur and Rennet took pride in their beast nature and get angry when they are compared to the less advanced or less powerful creatures.

  Without the use of aura, the two were evenly matched in strength. Even though the minotaur had way more muscles than Rennet, the bear factor in Rennet's blood gave him much more strength.

  "Hah!"

  The two of them stopped after the exchange.

  "You're not too bad. Though next time, I don't know if you'll be a challenge."

  Rennet spoke to the minotaur.

  "The name's Narza. You could use a bit more muscles, moo."

  It seemed the two had become friends through the small exchange.

  "About what she said earlier. My clan lives in the forest, we don't know anything about our kind living on some mountains."

  "Either your ancestors left the mountains, or they left for the mountains from here. Doesn't really matter to us, though. You can find out for yourself in the future if you need to."

  Rennet made a plausible guess.

  "Our tribe lives with the words 'forget the past and look to the future'. So learning of our past is not too important. We felt a powerful and dangerous energy from the edge of the forest, so I came to investigate."

  "I apologize, again."

  Janna apologized.

  "It is of no concern now. And you said you had no control over it. So let's forget about it."

  It wasn't that Narza didn't want to find out more about the energy. He was scared because the energy was of a dragon, so he didn't want to know anymore.

  "Anyways, I'm just glad that my student is safe and sound."

  Rennet patted Janna on the back.

  "You rest today. No more training for the day."

  A rare rest day was given to Janna.

  They walked to the village when Janna slowed down. She was hesitant to step into the village.

  "Don't worry, Janna. It won't happen again. I put up some extra protection on the seal along with repairing it."

  Thea understood Janna well enough to know that she was worried about losing control inside the village.

  "You can stop worrying and take a rest."

  "Mmn."

  The emergency situation ended with Janna not knowing that a dragon was trying to take over her body. While Thea was hiding a bloodlust inside her heart.

  A dragon was trying to take over the body of her best friend. Although it had failed this time, it could try again in the future. Thea was feeling a strong desire to kill that dragon. But Thea hid her feelings perfectly. Only Rennet felt something dangerous in the direction of Thea. But he always felt that, so he thought it was the usual.

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  Thea went back to her lab and was determined to experiment on the bottle of dragon energy that Janna had stuffed inside. She had to cast spells that would be able to handle the dragon energy because the equipment would not be able to handle the energy.

  She needed new testing materials too since the ones she had would be useless in the face of dragon energy. It was a lot of work that would take months and months.

  ---

  Later in the day, a group of ten kids came to the orphanage. Nem and Gwyn were included in the group. There was also little Caity. They were all below the age of ten and adorable. Well, some of them were little kids with snot and dirt on their hands.

  They knocked the door to the orphanage. Leaf came running out to see who it was at the door. She first peeked through the window next to the door. She saw it was some kids and her own little brothers so she opened the door.

  "What happened?"

  Leaf asked them.

  "Noona. where's Janna-Unnie?"

  Nem asked Leaf.

  "Can we come inside?"

  One of the other kids spoke after Nem.

  "Hey, don't ask that. My dad said it's rude."

  Another kid reprimanded the kid who had just spoken.

  The kids started talking but they each had different things to say.

  "Wait here for a second. I'll go ask Unnie."

  Leaf left the kids at the door.

  "Wow. Nem, your sister is so cool."

  Somehow, the kids united and changed the subject to Leaf.

  "She's so pretty."

  The few girls in the group also praised Leaf.

  "Hehe. That's my big sister."

  While Nem was feeling proud for his sister. Leaf was walking back.

  "Thea-Unnie said you can come in."

  Leaf came back and told them. The kids immediately rushed in.

  "Stop! Leave your shoes at the door."

  Leaf shouted at them. They rushed in with their shoes on, which were dirty. But they had already dirtied the floor and Leaf would have to clean it later with Thea. Leaf didn't like cleaning.

  Even though she would still do it, because she felt she was indebted to Thea for taking her in when she had walked into the village after running away from her home.

  "Urgh...have some manners."

  Leaf complained to the kids.

  "What's manners? Can you eat that?"

  The kids were uneducated. It was the same with most people in the world. Most people really only needed a house, food, and a healthy body. And knowledge of money. People weren't really educated on language, math or societal behaviors. Not that every place would require you to take of your shoes at the door. But it is expected to take off dirty shoes before entering a clean house.

  "Well, it's fine. Just take of your shoes now."

  Leaf remembered that not everyone else learned from Thea like she did. She was the same as them just month before. Many of these kids were living in shabby and quickly built home, so they wouldn't have cleanliness as a top priority. They had more worries than that, so Leaf didn't want to stay angry at them.

  "Wait here. I'll bring you cookies....don't touch anything."

  There was not much to touch in the orphanage though. It was a bit empty for a place people lived. Not much effort had been done to decorate it.

  Leaf went to the kitchen to get some cookies that Janna had baked in a large batch before. They were kept in a special container that would keep the cookies chill so they don't spoil or go bad. Thea would recast a magic spell on them every so often.

  It was high up in the kitchen cupboards so Leaf had to take some time to reach them.

  While she was doing that, Janna came out of Thea's room, at the end of the hallway away from the living room, where she had been resting. She saw Leaf struggling to get the cookies, so she helped her. Leaf thanked Janna and went back to the kids with the cookies.

  Janna went back to Thea's room and stood outside the door. A few minutes later, Jeanne came out of Janna's room, which was opposite Thea's room, after hearing the commotion inside the orphanage.

  "Janna? What's all that noise?"

  She saw Janna leaning against the wall.

  "J-Jeanne?"

  There was an expression of anxiousness on Janna's face.

  "What happened to you?"

  "Nothing. It's..."

  "Clearly something happened. You're not very good at hiding the emotions on your face."

  "Aha."

  Janna did an awkward laugh.

  "Thing is..."

  Janna explained the whole dragon situation to Jeanne.

  "That's the blue energy you used in your fight with me? I can't believe that was dragon energy."

  "It's not the real dragon energy. Just something that has some amount of dragon energy."

  "But that's still amazing. Not many people can even do that. Only the dragonkin are known to do it."

  "Well, my family are dragonkins."

  "Really? But you don't look like the ones in the books I read."

  "That's because of Thea's seal."

  "The seal you just mentioned?"

  "Yeah, dragon blood is really dominant. It could make you go berserk if you're not careful. But in my family, it's not that concentrated so it only vaguely shows outside. But I was born with an abnormally high level of dragon blood. It's a curse I was born with."

  "It's a curse?"

  "My nanny said that it would someday take over me and I'll transform into a dragon forever, unless I met someone that could help me."

  "That must've felt really scary as a child."

  "Actually, I thought it would be cool to become a dragon as a kid. Hehe."

  "But not now?"

  "Of course. As I grew up, I could feel that if I lose control of the dragon blood, I'll become a mindless beast and destroy everyone and everything in sight."

  There was fear visible on Janna's face.

  "And you're scared that it will happen again?"

  "It's almost happened earlier, I...I don't want to hurt the children."

  Janna was crying tears of fear. She was scared that she'll lose control and cause harm to the villagers and the children. Jeanne put a hand on Janna's shoulder.

  "Hey, what about the seal? You said it does what?"

  "It...it controls...the blood."

  Janna was speaking through tears.

  "What are you scared of then? Don't you trust Thea?"

  "I do. But...what if I..."

  "What are you worrying about then?"

  "What do you mean?"

  Janna wiped the tears from her cheeks.

  "Didn't you say it yourself yesterday? If Thea says something, she always does it?"

  "...I think she said that about herself."

  "Ok, maybe she did. But you agree with it, right?"

  "I do."

  "She said the seal won't break again, right?"

  "She did."

  "Then trust her words. Trust her and don't make yourself suffer."

  "I don't know...I just feel so-"

  "Then how about learning to control it better."

  "Control it?"

  "The dragon blood. If you could perfectly control it, then there wouldn't be anything to worry about, right?"

  "...you're right. I just have to work harder so that it doesn't ever happen again."

  Janna wiped the tears away. She and Jeanne sat there for a few moments longer.

  "Well, are you okay now?"

  "Yes...thank you for the pep talk."

  "Don't thank me, you've done so much for me too. I'm just returning the favor."

  "We haven't done much for you."

  "You and Thea have already done a lot. Even if the magic that Thea talked about doesn't work, I'm still grateful."

  "Thea's magic will work. It doesn't fail."

  Janna confidently declared.

  "But the seal you mentioned broke."

  "That was made like ten years ago. And it's about sealing dragon energy, so we can give her a little leeway, can't we?"

  "That's true. So she's that talented as a mage?"

  "She's amazing. She was at the top of our class at the academy every single year. And she doesn't even study spell-casting that much."

  "Wait, she doesn't?"

  Hearing that, Jeanne was a bit taken aback.

  "So then..."

  "Oh, you don't need to worry about the magic spell for your procedure. Thea has the most fundamental and core understanding of magic and spell-casting. I think she might even be the best in the world. She won't fail in making the spell for you."

  "Your confidence in her is a little relieving, but I already decided to trust her so you don't need to give me solace."

  "I'm confident Thea won't betray your trust."

  The children outside suddenly got very loud.

  "Are you going to meet them? Or are you still worried that you'll hurt them?"

  "I'll meet them. I trust in Thea's seal."

  With rebuilt confidence, Janna and Jeanne headed out of Thea's room.

  "By the way, isn't her room too bare?"

  "Thea likes her room simple. But I never let her have it that way in the academy dorms. These days, she keeps most of her stuff in her magic bag."

  "But isn't it still too empty? There's nothing to show that someone lives here. Like, where even is the closet?"

  "Hmm, you're right. We'll have to do some decoration. I'll ask Silas for some furniture."

  "Silas is the guy you have a crush on, right?"

  "W-w-w-w-what? Who said that?"

  "Really? Leaf was sure about it though...why is your face so red?"

  "N-no reason. Let's move."

  With that, they moved out of the room and walked towards the children. It was only a few steps out.

  "Janna! You didn't come play today so we got worried."

  The children rushed to Janna as soon as they saw her. But stopped right before reaching her.

  "AH!"

  They all pointed towards Jeanne. Their expressions were as if they'd seen a bloody ghost.

  "The blonde Valkyrie's ghost!"

  One of the kids said. His voice was shivering.

  "Blonde Valkyrie?"

  Janna turned to look at Jeanne.

  "Me?"

  Jeanne knew that she would have to face the ire of the villagers at some point, and she was ready to accept the challenge. But she didn't think that she would be called such a name.

  "Hey, kids. Don't be scared. She's not gonna hurt you."

  Janna explained to the kids.

  "But she attacked the town."

  "She hurt you."

  "Grrr..."

  The kids were not kind to Jeanne. It was understandable. Jeanne had come to force them out of the village. They were already struggling in life after their homes were destroyed from the on-going war.

  It also didn't help that the kids loved Janna and Jeanne had fought Janna.

  "Hey, don't be like that. What did I say before? Never make assumptions about others."

  Janna wanted the kids to accept Jeanne.

  "But you also said not to trust strangers. Especially ones that look nice."

  "...ok, I did say that. But you can trust Jeanne...because I trust Jeanne."

  "But mama said we shouldn't trust any soldiers from Zatiax. She told me miss blonde Valkyrie is an evil person. And I shouldn't talk to them."

  Little Caity said.

  "It's ok, Caity. I'll talk to your mom. She'll understand. Jeanne here isn't evil, she's actually really kind. She helped me just now with a tough situation."

  Janna knelt down and held Caity's hands in her hands.

  "She helped you?"

  Caity twisted her head to the side.

  "But you had a fight with her?"

  "You can become friends even after you fight."

  "Really?"

  "Yes, there are many stories where the enemy is just someone who was misunderstood. Like the one with the knight and the dragon. Do you know that one?"

  "Ooh, I love that one."

  One of the other girl in the group exclaimed.

  "Anyways, I'm telling this to you guys now. You can treat Jeanne the same as you treat me. She's a kind and caring person. She only attacked because she was forced to and she had to do the best that she could for the soldiers in her company."

  "..."

  The kids were hesitant. Even though they trusted Janna, it wasn't easy for them to overcome their fear and the past.

  "Mnm."

  It was little Caity who was the first to walk up to Jeanne. She held out her hand. It was visibly trembling.

  "H-hello."

  She was asking to shake Jeanne's hand. Jeanne of course shook her hand back.

  "It's a pleasure to meet you. All of you."

  "Your hand..."

  Caity felt Jeanne's hand.

  "It's so hard."

  "My hands?"

  "Yes, they're like wood. And they're so warm."

  "That happens because of swinging your sword."

  Jeanne explained to Caity.

  "Wait, Jeanne? That's not normal."

  "What do you mean? It's abnormal?"

  "Yeah, look. My hands don't have them. Unlike a normal person, using aura correctly should mean you have nice hands even if you swing a weapon a lot. It's supposed to heal your calluses."

  "It does that? But everyone had hands like me in the army...except the higher ups."

  Jeanne came to a realization.

  "...my brothers used to make fun of me for my hands. Unlike them, I had a red fire like every other soldier in the army."

  It was because of the red fire that she had rough hands like a farmer.

  "I like your hands!"

  Little Caity suddenly shouted. She saw Jeanne's saddened expression and immediately thought of cheering her up.

  "Oh, you're so cute. Thank you. What was your name, sweetie?"

  Jeanne found it so adorably cute. Caity herself was a cute child, but she also found how Caity was trying to cheer her up to be cute.

  "I'm Caity. Caity Lune. Mama said my name means pure."

  "A very befitting name. I don't see an ounce of wickedness behind your eyes."

  "....really?"

  Caity shyly put her hands behind her back. It was very adorable.

  "Wow."

  Jeanne was so captivated by little Caity. During her army days, which wasn't that long ago, she didn't interact with any children.

  "Caity's my favourite. Isn't she just such a cute angel?"

  Janna whispered in Jeanne's ear.

  "You're totally right, she's so seraphic."

  With that, the two and the children spent the rest of the day together. It was a fun time for them all. Janna forgot all her worries from the seal's malfunction, and Jeanne found a new enjoyment in life. While the kids got to know that Jeanne was not a bad person, just someone whose path aligned with misfortune. They would help Jeanne become an accepted citizens of the city Thea was building.

  The next day, it was time for a meeting about the future of the town. There were almost two thousand people, including the dwarves, so it could be called a small town. But there was barely a thing that showed people it was a small town. So a meeting needed to be held.