The reason why Ghost was forced to fight in the arena is because he killed the master of the arena's favorite offspring.
We were riding on Sly's back in his dragon form as Orm's childhood home is a bit far from the territory.
Ghost is sitting behind me as he held me tightly, keeping me from falling down as I do not know how to keep my balance stable.
He is in high spirits as I gave him a bracelet same like Sly's, earlier at the castle.
He begged for my forgiveness as he confessed that since he was used to fighting for his life for so long in the arena that he became emotionless as he concentrated on surviving or else he might suffer pain worse than death because of the cuff that the master of the arena placed on his neck.
He told me that he was in a "floating" state as he didn't recognize Sly as well as me.
Well, to be fair, I did covered half of my face despite not wearing a cloak during in the middle of our fight.
Not really a fight since I knocked him down fast because of his glass jaw.
It was pure luck that he has a glass jaw or else I have a feeling that I could have died there as Ghost concentrated on killing his opponents rather than merely defeating them.
I asked him his reason for killing the master of the arena's favorite offspring in which he suddenly turned red in the face and averted his eyes.
Raising my eyebrow, I told him I would not teach him fighting techniques and some recipes in which he hurriedly told me the reason.
With embarrassment, he confessed the whole story on how he was depressed with everything that happened with Bahar and me and how he felt helpless on not being able to protect me and seeing me disappear before his eyes almost made him lost his mind. He suffered from several tortures as a punishment from the order of Chieftain Monarch in which he comforted himself with the thoughts of me as he hoped that he might see me again someday.
By the time he was released, he worked with Sly in maintaining the businesses in which he delivered an item to a client in the area near the arena. He told me that visiting the tavern after the delivery was his greatest regret as while he was drinking several bottles of liquor, the offspring of the master of the arena taunted him about how his lover must be dead as Ghost seemed like drinking himself to death.
Of course we can expect Ghost to react negatively as he's always been a bit hot-headed and easily get into fights except when I'm around most of the time.
But this time, the brawl between the two of them became deadly as the bully called many of his companions to attack Sly.
Of course, he defeated them all easily and was about to leave when the bully tried to kill him using a magical weapon in which as Ghost tried to defend himself, had accidentally smashed the bully's head into the ground.
He exclaimed that it wasn't his intention to smash the bully's head but he was aiming to smash the bully's weapon.
Ah.
He needs to control his movements.
And we know what happened next.
....
Sly landed at the edge of a forest in which he told me that we need to walk at this point as we might get attacked if we fly towards their village.
Good point.
Especially if we are facing the famous prey tribe that can manage to fight off predators.
Ghost frowned for a moment then he asked us on how we can manage to go towards the village if they can smell us from far away as they are a tribe of winged serpents that has a very good sense of smell.
Oh, right!
I rummaged around my bag much to Sly's amusement as he knows that I'm about to do something chaotic again.
No, it's not chaotic as we need to repel them.
And what is the best repellent for serpents or snakes?
Cinnamon and clove oil.
....
The reason I've brought cinnamon and clove oil from earth is that I was planning to show it to Ghost and ask him if he can find something that has the same taste as cinnamon as it can provide a good flavor for sweet treats as Lion seems to like what I cook and I was planning to make something similar to a fruit pie.
As for the clove oil, I was planning to use it on Lion as he seems to enjoy the body massages that I gave him.
Sigh.
Saving Orm is our priority right now.
Both Sly and Ghost curiously smelled the cinnamon and clove oil in which I was devastated when Ghost told me that he doesn't know a leaf or fruit that smells exactly like it.
Wait.
I told Ghost that cloves comes from flowers and cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree in which he became interested, telling me that he didn't thought of that. He took a sample from each one and placed it inside his pocket, assuring me that he will try to find something similar to it.
Sly asked me if I have a plan or something in which I told them that I would use the invisibility bracelet and that the three of us would go directly to the village and ask for Orm.
Ghost was about to ask me where I got an invisibility bracelet in which Sly told him that he would tell him everything what happened later.
I told them that we would not fight them until we have to as we are trying to avoid any conflict until we can find Orm.
But to be on the safe side, we need to apply the cinnamon and the clove oil on our bodies.
I made a bit of mixture from cinnamon and clove oil in which I decided at the last moment to use everything instead, making the mixture extremely pungent smelling that made me sneeze several times.
Sly made a face in which I suggested to use his dragon ability to close his nostrils in which he guffawed, telling me that he can only do that when he is in his dragon form.
He will try to tolerate the smell as he is concerned about my safety.
As I applied the mixture on Ghost's body, he began panting in which Sly glared at him while Ghost simply closed his eyes.
I bit my lip as I tried to think of pure thoughts or else the pervert in me would come out as I discovered earlier that I'm ovulating for real.
Pure thoughts, pure thoughts.
I began chanting all kinds of sutras in my mind when suddenly, Ghost let out an unintentional moan when I applied the mixture on his leg.
Now I'm beginning to think of perverted thoughts.
After applying the mixture on Ghost's body in which his face has a pretty shade of crimson, now it's Sly's turn to pant and moan as I tried to tease him by applying the mixture slowly on his body.
After I'm done applying the mixture on their bodies, I hurriedly applied the mixture on my own body as they looked at me with burning desire in their eyes.
Uh, no.
I don't want trouble with Lion later.
Such a shame.
....
We went deep inside the forest in which we heard several movements that hurriedly slithered away as we must have been close to where they are hiding.
Nice.
The mixture is definitely potent enough to drive them away.
After what seems to be more than an hour of walking, I noticed that there was no longer any movements around us.
Both Sly and Ghost gave me a grin in which they can't see my face as I'm wearing the invisibility bracelet. They can still feel me as they are holding each of my hand.
I must've look like their offspring as both of them are extremely tall while I'm very short as my height is 4'11. I don't know how tall they are exactly but both of them have the same height.
Their height should be taller than 6'0 as some of my partners in training back on earth are around 6'0 in height.
Anyway, I can see the tops of several buildings to my surprise as I'm expecting to see huts as they mentioned that the tribe are living in a village.
Huh.
To be fair, Orm is quite tall for me but as Sly and Ghost mentioned to me, Orm is the runt among his father's offsprings in which it made me realize that his entire tribe may look like giants to me.
I don't know if it's good news or bad news to me.
....
Yes, they do look like giants.
I can feel my legs shaking a bit as I saw what seems to be endless noodles slithering all over the place.
Only those noodles are gigantic.
And hideous, extremely hideous looking that I want both Sly and Ghost to sleep beside me later as I might have nightmares after seeing their appearances.
The endless noodles hurriedly slithered away as the three of us are moving towards them.
One of the noodles who is flying above our heads as he covered his nose, asked for the purpose of our visit in which Sly told them that he and Ghost are looking for Orm as he used to be working with them and that they needed him for something.
Suddenly, all of the noodles stopped in their tracks as they all hissed with laughter.
Now I understand Orm's trauma.
I was thinking of good recipes using a serpent's meat in which I can feel Sly secretly squeezing my hand.
One of the serpents pointed to the extremely fancy looking mansion behind him in which he told Sly and Ghost to wait at the gates as they aren't allowed to go inside in which all of the serpents hissed with laughter again.
Poor Orm.
....
Sly and Ghost acted like they were talking to each other as they tried to tell me to go inside the mansion and look for Orm as they will try to distract the rest of the noodles as the noodles that were inside the mansion came out of curiosity, in which some of the female noodles looked at Sly and Ghost with interest. Ghost began to grimace in disgust at the female noodles in which Sly elbowed him on his abdomen in which both of them gave a megawatt smile towards the female noodles.
Good luck as female serpents are well known to be extremely "ready to breed anytime" as I read about it from a famous animal magazine on earth.
The pungent smell of the mixture that I placed on our bodies doesn't seem to bother the female serpents as the looks in their eyes showed that they are ready to do intercourse with the two right then and there.
I hurriedly went inside the mansion as I prayed for Sly and Ghost's safety.
....
The mansion is empty as I tried to run around, looking for Orm's room.
I saw on what seems to be Orm's room that looks very fancy and has all sorts of treasures inside. I know that it is Orm's room as I saw the clothes inside the closet that looks similar to what he would usually wear.
But he's not there.
That's strange.
After exploring all of the rooms inside the mansion, therefore I concluded that he's not inside the mansion.
Where could he be?
Maybe I missed something.
Everyone in this tribe knows that he's inside the mansion but he's not in either of the rooms unless....
I felt my blood turned cold as I've got a bad feeling that he might be somewhere hidden away, keeping others from seeing him.
Now I have more reasons to do a recipe using serpent meat.
I tried wracking my brain, recalling all the rooms that I explored in which I seemed to remember seeing a door on the floor at their liquor room.
Surely, they did not?!!
I hurriedly went towards the liquor room in which I saw the door with a lock on it. Earlier, I just assumed that it was just a room for storing some liquor that are sensitive to light.
How cruel!
I hurriedly used my lock picking tools to open the lock in which I hurriedly opened the door and went down the stairs.
Inside, I can see Orm coiling himself in a ball position, trying to hide himself at the darkest corner.
He looked like a shadow of his former self.
Orm....
I don't know what to say.
Except that I'm cursing his family, especially his father.
The fancy room that he had was just for show whenever his father comes to visit which is rare.
Is this how he suffered most of the time?
But Orm was powerful and talented in magic and fighting unless....
His mind was already conditioned since he was still very young.
He was different when he stayed with us.
Now I felt bad for not giving him attention.
In fact, I felt bad for not knowing more about everyone, especially Lion.
That was a huge mistake. I should make it up to them.
No wonder he was so obsessed in painting me as everyone showered him with attention and compliments.
Also whenever I asked him to make me something, he would do so with much enthusiasm.
He felt needed, wanted and somehow, being cared for.
I've got a feeling that he was treated the opposite here.
It seems that I was trying to avoid spending time with the rest of the pack since I was putting too much boundaries between them and me, realizing that what I did is a huge mistake on my part.
I should change my ways.
Also trying not to step over the line at the same time.
As I slowly approached Orm, I can see him trembling with fear in which I stopped in my tracks and sat there, singing the song that he heard me singing before underneath Pinky's branches at the castle's garden.
I can hear him uncoiling himself in which I just continued singing while closing my eyes.
He hesitantly slithered towards me, glancing around in which I remembered that I was wearing my invisibility bracelet.
His hands tried to cover his ears as he cried, mumbling things that he is losing his mind and to stop torturing him.
I slowly removed the invisibility bracelet while crying, in which he looked towards me in disbelief as I softly called his name.