Sitting on the ground a few feet away from the cavern entrance where the golden dragon is resting while Khaleesi does her best to console me and after a solid ten minutes I decided to consult her on what to do.
"Do you think that we can sneak around that dragon…or distract it somehow?"
"Of course not!" Khaleesi gasps almost in outrage at my question. "What are you even saying?!"
"I mean, that thing's asleep right?" I ask pointedly, " Can't we just sneak in and pass, the dragon and out of this place?" I continue my train of thought while looking at Khaleesi seriously in her green eyes.
"That thing is a dragon…trust me it may look like it's sleeping, but the moment we enter it's territory it will detect us, it'll wake up and kill us in an instant, One puff of that golden breath and we'll be turned to solid gold or silver for the rest of eternity!" Khaleesi exclaims.
"Thanks for that image..." I mutter softly while feeling thankful that Khaleesi doesn't try to soften the blow as it does help me get an accurate understanding of our situation.
"You're welcome, my bonded one." At Khaleesi's reply I prop my head up with one hand on my cheek, and sigh tiredly.
"So you can sense the exits or something like that?" I ask Khaleesi who nods her head up and down rapidly.
"So…can you tell how far away the other exits are or how many of them there are?"
"No, I'm sorry they're so far away I can't even detect one other exit, I wandered in here for four whole years just to finally find this one... And then I got so excited and tired that those goblins managed to capture me."
"Then we are going to have to go through this way to get out of here after all...'
"Do you have any skills… magic, anything besides your thunderstick my bonded?"
"Of course I don't…I'm a farmer and my world doesn't have magic outside of stories and if it does only a few have it and I'm not one of them."
"A farmer…do you have any kind of combat job or class?"
"Nope…I mean I've done some things…dark evil things and I've gotten some training from certain family members but I wouldn't really call myself a combatant."
Khaleesi hums and presses me for further information. "Well what kind of skills do you need for being a farmer?"
'I feel like we're getting nowhere talking like this…she must mean something along the lines of a game character's skills."
"Plumbing, Mechanics, carpentry, metal working, animal care, some sales and finance skills…a few other things I guess that I can't think of off the top of my head."
"Ah...so you only have craftsmen-like skills…wow, you're completely useless, aren't you?"
"Don't forget where you'd be without this useless human, Miss bbq'd fairy princess."
"This fairy princess, is the one who led you to this exit, you know?"
"Ugh..." Both Khaleesi and I sigh in unison.
'Hmm…' I hum as my shotgun clicks against the wall.
'Hmm, maybe…if it's the type of dragon that covets rare treasures…maybe, I can sell this old thing off to it…if it can talk that is..' I mutter in my head as I come up with an idea.
"Hey Khaleesi…can that dragon talk?" I ask while feeling a bit dumb.
"I think so, yes."
"Seriously, hmm…I have an idea then!"
Kessie shrugs at my surprised reaction…with an exasperated expression on her face.
"Well…that being is on a different level than us, it is a great being, and great beings can do all that which lesser ones can…how would you an inferior being a human at that ever be able to do something that a superior species can't…especially when that superior species is a dragon."
Even with Khaleesi's grating talking down to me I feel a small spark of light at the end of a long dark tunnel… 'Probably not the best expression to use…' I mutter softly in my head.
"So…do you think that I could get through to that dragon and open a bit of dialogue...?" I ask while thinking that typically the scariest things in the world are the things we can't understand…but if I can understand the dragon and it can understand me I…we might just make it out of here alive.
"Why would a dragon ever speak with a lowly human like you, my bonded?"
"Haa…you constantly keep saying that fairies are superior to humans, right? and yet here you are still talking to me, right?...so it stands, maybe the dragon will give me a chance as well."
"Are you kidding me…that Dragon wouldn't even give me a chance to speak to it and I'm a fairy princess…It's a dragon! You did see it, didn't you? In terms of mana, and basically everything else, it's on a whole different level. I'm just like a sparkling little jewel…a small, fragile fairy, that's all I am...!"
Khaleesi suddenly stops talking as she seems to come to a realization about something. "Wait…what is that dragon doing all the way up here anyways? They're supposed to live way, waaay down deep in the very bottom of the dungeon."
"Really?" I ask.
'Though that does make sense.' I think.
"Hmm, yes…in any case, dragons aren't supposed to sleep next to dungeon entrances."
'Hmm, does this mean that dungeon monsters have a lot of autonomy…compared to usual stories where they are just murderous constructs… slaves to the Dungeon itself?' I wonder.
"Yeah, it does seem a bit harsh to put the boss fight two seconds from the door...do you think that there's a reason that thing's waiting here?"
"Hmm...maybe..." Khaleesi replies to my question as she puts one hand to her chin and another on her hip as she becomes deeply entwined in her thoughts. "...It might have been running away from something bigger and meaner…before ending up here..."
'Bigger…meaner…yeah…we definitely need to get out of here…' I express my urgency in my thoughts.