Chapter 715 The Scentless Dragon Gets a Scent
?ZON! Arad landed in front of his house and walked inside. "I'm back." He called.
"I felt you teleport in." Aella poked her head out of the kitchen, "Weren't you in the dungeon?"
"I had to teleport out. Sena sent her helper to inform me she'll come to visit soon," Arad replied as he took his shoe off, finally settling down and walking inside, not intending to leave. "I'm exhausted," He dropped himself on the couch, causing it to make a painful crack.
"Don't break it!" Mira glared at him from the kitchen.
"Sorry," Arad immediately stood back up, lifting the couch from the front to look beneath it. "I don't think it broke," He said, seeing a shattered beam in the middle.
"I know the sound of wood when it shatters," Mira walked out of the kitchen, "It can carry your weight, but it's not designed to withstand a two-hundred-kilogram man falling on it," She pushed his face aside and stared beneath the couch.
"It's broken," She glared at him, and he looked away.
Thud! Mira grabbed him by the head, "Look at me. I told you not to drop on it like that,"
"I forgot..." He replied, still looking away.
Mira sighed, "It doesn't matter, does it?" She extended her hand to him, "Give me a tenth plank and six small nails. We can patch it,"
"Really...Sorry," Arad pulled what she asked for from his stomach.
Mira pointed beneath the couch at the shattered beam. "Look, it's broken in the middle. Use that plank to patch it. Put three nails on each side in a triangular shape,"
Arad put the plank in place and pushed the nails with his thumb.
"You made that look easy..." Mira said with a worried face, "How strong is your grip,"
"Enough to bend steel," Arad pulled a thick steel bat from his stomach. That was supposed to be a club. He clenched his palm on the shaft, squeezing it like dough.
"That's terrifying," Mira replied, pointing at the sticking part of the nails above the beam. "Then, can you bend those without any tool? I don't want them sticking out without a need."
Arad extended his hand and bent the tips of the nails sideways. "Can they slip out?"
"They usually don't, but it's good practice to always bend them." Mira replied as she sat up, "You can put it down."
Arad slowly lowered the couch, "So it's fixed?"
"Temporary repair. I'll change that beam when I get enough time," She looked at him, "Please sit gently on it from now on. That works the same for everything else."
"I'll do my best to remember that," Arad sat on the couch as Mira headed back to the kitchen to help Aella.
CLICK! The main door opened, and Eris walked in, "Aella, I'm back." She called, waving to Arad, who stared at her from the living room.
"Elvish tea, it's already ready. Wash first, and I'll get you a large mug," Aella replied.
As Eris walked into the living room she stared at Arad, "Those are the same clothes, you didn't change or wash?"
"I did clean myself with my void," Arad replied.
Eris approached and grabbed him by the arm, "Come with me." She dragged him out of the living room, "Nothing beats water and soap,"
"I'm sure my void works better," Arad cried.
"That's the problem. The void burns everything and leaves you scentless. It's really unnerving to people with a strong sense of smell when they see you but can't smell you. We have lemon soap, so use that. It'll at least leave something on your scales." She reached the bath's door and pushed it open, walking into the changing room.
"Who's there?" Merida called from inside the bath.
"It's me and Arad," Eris replied, "We're going to the sink, don't worry about us." The changing room was linked to the bath, the toilet, and the washing room, each separated by a solid door.
Eris dragged Arad into the washing room and threw him a bar of soap. "This for you. Get used to it."
Arad held the soap bar with a worried and sad face, "It smells weird,"
"It smells like soap and lemon. It's not weird, it's nice." Eris glared at him.
"No..." Arad shook his head, "You don't get it. It smells strange, really strange. I can pick the soap and lemon smells, but there is a third one mixed in there."
"What kind of smell?" Eris sniffed the soap, "I can't pick anything,"
"I'm sure my sense of smell is stronger than yours," Arad replied, "I'm a wyrmwolf after all,"
"Even if there is a smell, would it even matter to you?" She stared at him, confused. Why is he so keen on not using that soap?
"It smells..." Arad sniffed the soap again, "I can't pinpoint it, but it reminds me of Claug."
"She didn't use that soap," Eris sighed, "She can't. She's a massive drakaina that can't take a humanoid form."
Arad shook his head, "It's not Claug's smell. It's similar to her. It's also similar to Ignis's smell..." He started thinking about it. "It's just smells weird to me,"
A mouth appeared on Arad's neck, "[It's the scent of a drakaina, a female dragon in general. If he used it, other dragons might mistake him for a drakaina.]"
"That's it!" Arad gasped, pointing at the mouth on his neck, "She's right, now that she mentioned it."
"How in the hell?" Eris sniffed the bar of soap. "I can't smell anything,"
"[It's faint, but it's there.]" Doma added, "[Soap is mostly made by pink dragons as it's their element. This bar of soap is made by a drakaina. It's of a lower quality as it retains a bit of her scent.]" She explained.
"So it's not pure," Eris looked at the soap, "Can't we find him another one that is pure?"
"[That'll be hard. Pink dragons sell low-quality soap in bulk to humanoids as they can't tell the difference while selling the higher-quality ones to dragons. Keep in mind that if a human uses a pink dragon's high-quality soap, they can wash their skin out. It's that strong and harsh."
"So it's designed for dragons," Arad said, "Where do I find it?"
"[I don't know, I'm not a merchant. But I suspect it's bought by the bulk from the dragon directly and then resold through several merchants until it reaches the end user. And I never heard of a pink dragon living around this area,]"
"We should ask Sara or Lyla. I'm sure those two can give us a lead." Eris nodded, putting the soap back at the sink's edge, and pulled a large water jug. "I'll wash. What about you?"
Arad looked at his hands with a passive face, thinking about it. "Give me a second." ZON! He teleported to the main door and put on his shoes.
"Where are you going?" Aella asked.
"To get something important," He walked outside and teleported into the sky. ^Where were they?^ He looked around the forest, shifting into his draconic form and slowly flying all over the place, sniffing the cold air.
It only took him a few seconds to find them, a large patch of pine trees.
"Found them!" He said with a smile, landing beside the trees. He sat on his hind legs and extended his claws forward, pulling a large tree from its roots.
"[Those smell nice.]"
"I know." Arad crushed the tree between his claws, grinding it into a paste.
"[Mix them with some water or oil to act as a binder,]" Doma suggested, and Arad pulled Aisha out of his stomach as she wanted to get out. She sat on his head and looked down, "Water is bad, and don't you dare use olive oil. You'll mess it up." She tapped Arad's head.
"What should I use then?" Arad looked up, but he almost made her fall from his head.
"Careful!" She grabbed onto his scales, "You need binding oil. Find a herbalist or an alchemist and buy it. That's faster and easier than making it,"
Arad nodded with a smile, "Got it," [Gemini] A clone of him appeared out of his side.
"Get the oil," Arad said.
"You crush the trees." The clone replied as he started flying.
Arad nodded as he used his wing as a bowl to crush the trees.
The clone flew to Alina and shifted into a humanoid form right before reaching it.
"Is anyone here?" Arad called as he walked into Cain's shop, "Old man Cain, do you have binding Oil?"
Cain walked from the back room wearing a thick coat and a scarf, "It's cold outside. What brought you today."
Arad's clone took a few steps toward Cain and screamed into his ear, "Binding Oil! Do you have it?"
"Ha?" Cain put his hand beside his ear and looked at Arad's clone, "Butting Oil? What's that?"
"You're messing with me?" Arad clone stared at him.
Cain laughed, "I heard from the start. How much do you want?"
"That depends on how much you have." Arad's clone replied.
"Come on, tell me. Don't worry. My supply is bigger than you expect."
Arad's clone stared at Cain with a suspicious glare. ^Let's scare him a bit,^
"A hundred one hundred liter barrels." He said, waiting for Cain to say that he didn't have it.
"That's all?" Cain waved his hand, "It's in the backyard. Follow me."
Arad's clone blinked twice...^He must be joking,^ But soon, they reached the backyard, and he fought the whole one hundred barrels waiting for him.
"How in the hell did you get those?" Arad's clone gasped.
"When you're as old as me, you'll have a lot of reliable suppliers." Cain giggled, pointing at the barrels with his cane, "You can take them and pay me later if you don't have the money. I'm not pressed for it,"
"How much are they?" Arad's clone asked.
"One gold coin per barrel, it's one silver coin per liter," Cain looked at Arad, "This would be a hundred gold coins."
"Isn't that expensive?"
"It's cheap, one liter is a silver coin, but it can make twenty 0.05 liter bottles of perfume that could sell at an upward of fifty silver coins. You won't find such a price anywhere else," Cain looked at Arad.
Arad's clone sighed and pulled a bag of one hundred gold coins, "My mouth dragged me,"
"Thank for you your patronage." Cain smiled as he took the bag, "The sound of clinging coins. It never gets old."
Arad's clone sucked the barrels into its stomach and turned toward Cain, "Thank you, I'll be back later." He immediately teleported back to Arad.
Cain tapped his back as he walked inside, "It's cold..."
***
"Got the Oil?" Aisha asked, staring at Arad's clone.
Arad clone smiled in his draconic form, pulling one of the barrels, "Got one hundred of those," He reached forward and showed her the content of the barrel.
She stared back at him, "You didn't have the money for this. Did you steal it?"
"No, I bought, one gold coin for a barrel."
"Is the seller an idiot? One barrel of this could very well go for over five hundred gold coins. If not for one platinum coin." She scratched her head, "How did they even manage to get such a large quantity made?"
"Does it matter?" Arad replied as he extended his wing forward to use as a mortar. He then filled it with the crushed trees.
He and his clone then started using their front claws to mix the trees while pouring the oil from the barrels using their tails as extra pair of hands as per Aisha's instructions.
"Arad, do you have some dwarven fire wine?" Aisha asked.
"I do have some barrels,"
"Good, pour that in,"
"Really?"
"Just do it,"
Arad pulled several barrels and started adding them with his clone.
****
Several minutes later...
CLACK! Arad opened the door and walked inside, "I'm back."
"Why do you smell like pine?" Aella stared at him.
"I made this," He pulled a small potion filled with his green, cloudy perfume. "It isn't that well made, but gets the job done."
Eris stared at him as she walked into the living room from the hallway.
"As thick as a pine tree, and now smells like it." She stared at him with a passive face.
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