I was about to go find a nice spot to sleep when I heard a suspicious sound coming from behind me. As it turns out, it was that one imperial knight from the carriage. I couldn't be bothered to remember his name, but it was something along the lines of Sir Tomato.

  "There you are. I knew that a beast like you would head straight into the witch's territory. Surrender and your sins shall be forgiven as long as you serve our glorious emperor." (Sir Tomato)

  He was clearly ready to use force to capture me if required. He even had a greatsword drawn. This was not a fight that I could win by using brute force.

  Obviously, surrendering was never an option. I mean, seriously, I was not about to just roll over and obey. I was a half dragon, not a dog.

  I suddenly had a great idea. I teleported one of the goblin swords from my storage far above him. It was a bit costly in terms of mana, but it could work. I just had to keep him distracted for a few seconds while it fell...

  "As if I'd ever surrender to you assholes. The Empire experimented on me and turned me into a monster." (Dragonfly)

  "You ungrateful thing, don't you see the honor tha-" (Sir Tomato)

  The sword struck one of his arms at that exact moment. It left a rge gash that would probably prevent proper use of his arm for a while. The same trick wouldn't work on him again, but it had done it's job. He couldn't use his greatsword properly with just one hand.

  I teleported another sword into my hand and braced myself. I wasn't too sure as to how to attack for now, however.

  "You little-" (Sir Tomato)

  He rushed at me with his sword held up high. I felt like he was actually just trying to kill me now. I managed to block his strike using my own sword before kicking him in the shin. Unfortunately, his armor was pretty solid in that spot, so I didn't do as much damage as I would have liked. Still, he lost his bance for a moment. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I bsted him with my draconic breath at point bnk. I did also hit a few trees in the process, but that was unavoidable.

  Unfortunately, he wasn't burnt to a crisp. He was a bit burnt, but nothing deadly. There was probably some sort of magic at py here...

  I didn't have any time to reflect on that as he swung his sword at me shortly after. He seemed to have cooled down a bit and didn't leave himself open to an obvious counter this time. Still, I managed to block and back out of his range.

  "What the hell are you... You shouldn't be this strong at level 1!" (Sir Tomato)

  I felt extremely insulted at that comment. I wasn't even close to level 1. I couldn't hold myself back, for some reason.

  "I'm level 5, not level 1." (Dragonfly)

  He looked quite upset at that, for some reason. He was red as a tomato, actually.

  "That's not any better. You... You are a monster! I shall sy you to save our great empire!" (Sir Tomato)

  "Oh, will you shut up about how great the empire is for five seconds? It's getting annoying." (Dragonfly)

  I decided to take the initiative this time. Using my wings to boost my speed, I tried to swing at him. He parried my strike despite his weakened state, however. In fact, he actually managed to disarm me... that was bad. He must have seen the scared look on my face as he started gloating while walking closer to me.

  "Ah, seems like I win, you beast. This is the power of the great Gcius Empire. Now, it's time for you to die." (Sir Tomato)

  Anyways, I just grabbed another sword out of my storage and swung at his valid arm while he was distracted by his own stupidity. The hit nded without any issue. I had successfully disabled both of his arms.

  I quickly started swinging my sword at him over and over again. He managed to block some hits, but the rge cuts on both of his arms were slowing him down massively. He was slowly getting more and more injured without being able to fight back.

  After what felt like hours, I managed to make him fall down and finished him off. I felt... relieved, mostly. I didn't really feel great about killing a sentient being, but I had to. I was fine, really. Yeah.

  I did learn a lesson from that fight, at least. Never start gloating until your opponent is dead. It was, as I had just witnessed, a horrible idea. Would recommend it to all of my opponents, tho. It makes my job a lot easier.

  At that moment, I heard something strange. Was that... someone cpping? What?

  "Oh dear, what a show! I hadn't seen a fight like that in a long while." (???)