Picking up Girls With My System

The vibe of that town was strange, and the silence made everything worse. What had happened in that place? Arthur had no idea but strongly guessed the vampires were behind it.

Sure thing; when Arthur got inside the town, he could see the dry corpses of humans, as if something had drained all of their blood. Vampires could drink any blood — if not poisonous — but they preferred human blood, which is why human towns and villages were the primary targets of those vampires.

“Bastards. They are close to here looking for the inheritance but have the time to slaughter a town! There is nothing for me to see here; I should leave,” Arthur thought, but when he turned around, three people were looking at him.

It was the three hunters he had met before when they entered his shop, trying to look for the beast. Arthur had sensed they were following a few days before that, which is why he never stopped walking to ensure they would not catch up to him.

But why did Arthur stop now? Well, there was a reason for it. The vampires were gathering nearby and were an army! There was no chance for these three hunters to do anything, and as Arthur had the blood essence, he could get out of it if things went wrong.

“I remember you three from the store! What are you doing here? Are you seeing this? Tell me, hunters, what beast can do this?” Arthur said, pointing at the corpses around him.

The hunters were not stupid, and for Arthur to finally stop, something was happening that they did not know about.

“This is the work of vampires, and we firmly believe you are one with a unique ability to change forms! Larry, send him the holy water!

Vampires had weaknesses; the two main ones were garlic and holy water. Larry, one of the hunters, took out a glass filled with holy water, and with the help of his magic, the flask teleported and appeared right in front of Arthur in an instant, and it broke, washing him with holy water.

They were expecting something to happen, but Arthur was alright, shocking the trio.

“This is impossible. You were supposed to be a vampire! Larry, try the garlic!”

Larry did the same thing, but instead of teleporting a flask of holy water, he teleported an entire garlic, making it hit Arthur in the head. Nothing happened again.

Arthur knew well these were useless, as he was not a vampire, at least not yet.

“Elf, what are you?”

“I am a dragon; that is why I can shift forms.”

“A dragon? No, this is impossible. Dragons only live in the snowy mountains farther to the north!”

That caught Arthur off guard. He was only trying to make fun of those hunters, but it seemed they knew about dragons living in the mountains in the demon continent!

“What did you say? My siblings are living in the snowy mountains?”

For a moment, Arthur forgot why he was there and only wanted to know more about the dragons.

“Siblings? Cut the crap, no way you are a dragon!”

Then, a shocking scene happened. The once frail elf changed utterly. His hands turned into sharp claws, and his legs the same. Two immense black wings grew on his back, destroying some nearby buildings.

Lastly, his face changed to that of a dragon, and his body was covered in black scales. A majestic aura descended on the three hunters, kneeling, and they could not believe what they saw.

“H-He- He is truly a dragon!”

​ Arthur changed to his true form, but one way smaller to not attract that much attention, as vampires were nearby.

He looked at the three hunters and said with an imposing voice, “do you believe me now? Tell me everything you know about the dragons.”

“T-There isn’t much. It is said that dragons live in the snowy mountains up in the north, and I know people who have seen them before. But they are not as strong as they used to be and have small numbers. B-But they still have the strength of rank four mages, and some even say they have the strength of rank five mages.”

“I see. Thank you. And about that beast you were looking for, it is not me, and I am tracking it too!”

“What?”

“Yes. The beast is a powerful rank four vampire, and it took my wife away, which is why I am here. For some reason, vampires are gathering around this area, and I am here to collect more information about them.”

“Now everything makes sense! This explains why you have some aura of the vampire. You met him before! We are so sorry to accuse you, lord dragon. Don’t worry. We three now will work as your lackeys in this land, spreading the word that the dragons are back and stronger than ever! We are Dragon Priests now!”

Larry was beside his boss, Garry, and said, “Boss, are you sure? Now we will stop hunting beasts to spread the gospel of dragons?”

“Of course. This has happened since ancient times and will strengthen both the dragon we worship and us. This is a win-win for us, Larry. Remember, we have been stuck in rank three for decades, and this is our chance to change things.”

Terry, beside the two, said, “I trust Garry. Larry, our older brother, knows what he is talking about. This lord dragon is already at rank 3, and he probably lost his power because the faith of the dragons ended, and they fell. But we can change it now, and if the lord dragon gets his power back, the dragons can rule this continent and stop the internal war that has happened since long ago.”

Arthur was watching everything and was trying his best to hold his laugh. “Larry, Garry, and Terry? Three brothers hunt monsters and now want to spread the gospel of the dragons. But why does this sound a lot like celestial energy? If I am not mistaken, the gods who used celestial energy were the ones that attacked and killed the dragons. Could the celestial energy belong to the dragons, but it got stolen by humans?”

The more Arthur learned the more questions he had. But still, it was a win for him. Now he had three people under his command, and they were willing to spread the word about him, so Arthur was sure that with more people worshiping him, the more power he would get.

He turned to his human form and said, “I have many forms, but the one you saw, as a dragon, is the form that never changes, so you can recognize me from that if you doubt. My name, as any humanoid form, is Arthur, and my real name is Placidusax, the Lord of Dragons.”

“Placidusax? Like in the legend? I knew it! Your black scales don’t fool me. Man, I am so excited to work as a dragon priest. I should get some new clothes and a staff. Yes, that would be cool.”

Arthur rolled his eyes and said, “anyway, nice to meet you, Larry, Garry, and Terry. Now, hear me out!”

He then explained about the vampires and wanted to get the help of the new Dragon Priests.