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    Arthurious walked back to his room as he sighed, changing clothes, and then sleeping over his bed. ckie jumped over the bed, even as big and heavy as he was now, the bed somehow didn''t broke, and resisted the beast over the bed.


    "ckie… Is mom angry because you grew up? But why?" he wondered. "Does she hates me?"


    "Mee…"


    ckie licked Arthurious'' little hand as if trying tofort him.


    Arthurious began to cry little tears as he cuddled over his cushion, he seemed heartbroken after being treated like that.


    "Will you not leave me alone?" he asked.


    "Meee…"


    ckie licked his hand again and then rubbed his face over his hand.


    "Sniff… If it wasn''t because of you… I wouldn''t have anyone…" cried Arthurious. "Mommy doesn''t seem to like me anymore… I am a nuisance to everyone…"


    "Meee!"


    The little goat moved closer to Arthurious and cuddled at his side. Arthurious hugged his goat and rested over ckie''s fluffy belly.


    "So warm…" he said, as he slowly fell asleep.


    .


    .


    .


    Within the slums of Riverside City, a group of thugs walked across the dark streets filled with poverty, until they reached an abandoned-looking house where there was an underground stair moving down.


    They quickly took the stairs and began to walk down, reaching another cepletely, it was a ce filled torches illuminating the damp underground area.


    In the way they found some people with their own monster pets, but after some recognition, they let them pass.


    The thugs made all their way down and reached an area that seemed like arge room, inside of that room there was a group of thugs walking around and moving to many other rooms, carrying all sorts of monster parts, and also living monsters caged inside cages.


    There was also a single man with a robe, and a ck eye-shaped ne sitting over a ck seat while reading a book.


    "L-Lord ck Eye…"


    One of the thugs slowly approached the man sitting there, as he looked at the thug. His ck eyes were actually the real deal, and seemed to be filled with darkness, he was pure darkness…


    "What is it?" he asked with a cold tone of voice. "Don''t you see I am busy here?"


    "W-We know… But we thought that this was important enough that we had to report it to you at any cost." Said the thug.


    "Huh? What is it then?" asked the man. "Better be something worth it."


    "Yes, we found… a girl with a strange dragon. The dragon looked almost of a legendary creature…" said the thug. "Perhaps it could be useful for the research?"


    "Hm, a little girl? Was she royalty? We cannot mess with royalty yet… We don''t want to bring the attention of the entire Empire towards us, my Boss would kill me if that happened." Said Lord ck Eye. "Answer me."


    "A-Actually, the girl looked poor…" said another thug. "We have seen her before."


    "Yeah, we have seen her before, she''s a nasty kid that always runs away." Said a second one. "She always tricks us and ends up making us get lost, we never can catch her."


    "And why are you chasing down a little girl for no reason? We deal with monsters here, not human trafficking… Nheless, if she now has such a valuable pet, it wouldn''t be a bad idea to target her…" said the man. "If she''s really poor and nobody cares about her, try to find something more about her before you act."


    "Yes, we''ll do…"


    "We''ll do as you say…"


    "Very well…"


    The man, however, stopped them before going away.


    "How did the dragon looked like?" he asked. "To estimate how much it could cost to sell it alive or if its more worth it to cut it into pieces."


    "T-The dragon was like a sea serpent."


    "Yeah, it had very big scales that looked like azure-colored metallic armor…"


    "He was very beautiful and refined. The creature was clearly of a regal family of monsters…"


    "Oh, I remember it was emanating a strong presence of water, it was blue colored…"


    "Right! It had a very strong aura to it… the aura of the girl was also a bit weird…"


    Lord ck Eye suddenly stopped the men midway through their conversation.


    "You said the girl had an aura? What color?" he asked. "Golden?"


    "Y-Yeah… golden color…"


    "It was faint, but it wasing from her."


    "We were able to see it thanks to our monster pets enhancing our vision."


    "Hmm… Did that aura… Erm, where did it came from?" he asked again.


    "From the chest…"


    "Ah… Indeed. It is as I feared. Well, make sure to also bring the girl alive to me." He said.


    "What? Really?"


    "What''s so valuable about a bratty girl?"


    "We can''t have our fun with her?"


    "Hm. No. She''s important. If she really has that aura, don''t hurt her too much to make it lethal." Said the man. "Don''t do anything too funny either, or I will burn you alive, you hear me? If you do it well, you''ll get well paid."


    "Y-Yes! We understand!"


    "We do! We really do!"


    "Then go away from my sight, I am busy reading this book about monster fusion." Said the man. "Make sure to grab some provisions on your way out."


    "Yes!"


    The men walked away as Lord ck Eye continued reading the book, he held on to his hands, as he began to think about the girl that the thugs told him about just now.


    If it was really what he thought she could be, these were certainly big news, it could means a whole new set of possibilities for him, something that he had not considered before, if that girl… could truly be what he thought it was, of course.


    "If that girl is really that… Then… this means a lot of things… This is really big… To think there would be a Fragment here… Boss would be certainly happy."


    The man gave an ominous smile, as he began to leisurely read the book once more.


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