Ophelia and The Dragons

Chapter 3

"No one has ever become poor by giving."

-Anne Frank-

***

Ophelia's P.O.V

A hundred years had passed since I found the dragon's egg and made Helios my familiar. Since he arrived, I no longer felt lonely. 

After a hundred years, Helios had grown into a young adult dragon. His physical appearance as a human also matched with the age. 

At the moment, whenever we are standing side by side with each other, it looked as if we were the same age.

"Ophelia, why can't I sleep beside you anymore?" He asked.

"You're all grown now, so you need to sleep on the floor bedding instead. I shouldn't even allow you to sleep in the same room as me, but you wouldn't sleep elsewhere, it's troublesome." I replied as I chopped some meat for dinner. 

While Helios could hunt on his own, lately he had been asking to taste the food I cook for myself as well in his human form. 

I was a bit worried if the spices and herbs used in my cooking could harm him, but it's been a few years since he ate my cooking and he's still alive and well.

"You're so mean, Ophelia. You used to hug me more often when I was a child. You don't do that anymore." He pouted. 

How could I hug him when he looked like a grown man now. Helios had become a really handsome young man. 

His red eyes remained the same and he still looked relatively youthful, but his body had become bulky.

 He had a lot of muscles and abs. Perhaps because he was a dragon who moved around a lot, it sculpted his body into this perfection.

He also refused to wear clothes a lot lately, complaining it's too hot so he liked to go around the manor half naked. 

Sometimes, after he transformed from dragon to human for, he would be completely naked. I had to cover my eyes a lot and used magic to put something on him. It has been troublesome. He's also

"Stop whining and sit down, the food will be ready soon." I told him.

Just as I was done cooking, I suddenly heard the sound of something falling outside of the manor. Helios noticed it as well as he became alert.

I went to check it and Helios followed closely beside me. I walked out and found an old woman lying on the ground not far from my manor. 

I checked it and realized it was a human. It must be one of the villager from the foot of the mountain. How did she end up here?

I could have ignored her. After all, humans have destroyed everything I had, my family, my village, my happiness. I could have let her die out there, but I couldn't. 

There was still a part of me, the healer my family raised that just couldn't leave her alone. I ended up taking her inside the house and realized she had an open wound on her stomach. 

It must have been from wild animal attack.

"Helios, can you leave us alone? I need to concentrate to heal this woman." I told him. Helios nodded and left the two of us alone. I used my mana to heal this woman. 

A burst of light radiated from my hand, slowly covering the wound until it completely healed. A few moments later, the woman woke up and she was shocked to see me and the wound in her stomach healed.

"What happens? I was sure I was bitten by a wolf, so how come the wound has healed? Who are you? Are you a witch?" She asked, panicking. 

Ah, it was one of the thing I worried about the most.

"Yes, I am a witch." I replied, wondering if she would scream and run away like most people would. To my own surprise, instead of getting scared, she grabbed my hand and thanked me profusely.

"Thank you for saving me, I will be sure to remember this!" She said before standing up.

"It's almost dark, I have to go back to my village. My children would be looking for me. I will return this gratitude to you one day." She told me. 

I eventually walked her out of the house and watched as she disappeared from sight.

"Ophelia, are you sure it's okay? I know what the humans did to you and your family. I also know what they did to us dragons in the past. Why did you help her? What if she told others about your existence and they come to hunt you down?" He asked me. 

It sounded more like a concern. He's right, it's part of my worries too, but I have cultivated enough magic to make this place disappear so the humans wouldn't be able to find us if they had bad intention.

This seemingly small event would lead to several other events because the news of a healing witch started to spread among the villagers. 

Several months after this, I started getting visitors on the regular basis from the village. It started with one person and led to two, three, so on and so forth. 

Most of the people who came were those who had lost hope. 

The doctors couldn't save them so they chose to come to a witch like me, someone they used to despise. 

Before I realized it, healing people became a regular activity for me. In exchange, they would give me some fruits and vegetables from their farms or even live animals like sheep and goats. 

Those who were wealthier also brought money, even though I had no use of the money here in the mountain, I kept them since people don't necessarily appreciate what they received for free.

That evening, after healing someone and used up quite a lot of my mana, I fell on my bed, completely exhausted. Helios came beside me with a glass of energizing potion and told me to drink it.

"Ophelia, you have exhausted yourself too much. Is it even worth it? You shouldn't heal someone for the time being. You need to recover your mana or you may even fall sick yourself." He reminded me as he helped me lay down on the bed.

"I know, I will sleep for the entire day tomorrow. Please tell off anyone who come on my behalf." I ordered him.

"Don't worry and just sleep. You need rest." I closed my eyes and let the night breeze lulled me into sleep. As I was losing my consciousness, I felt a kiss on my forehead and a soft whispering voice on my ears.

"Sleep well, master."