Chapter Text
It's when he turns 20 that izuku realises he wants to explore more than just his little village in Musutafu.
Sure the life there is peaceful, and the view of the sunset over the endless fields would soften any man's heart. Izuku never doubted that his birthplace was beautiful, or that the villagers were honest companionable people. But as he grew older, it just became more and more clear, the farmers lifestyle couldnt bring him happiness.
Or at least not until he had seen more of the world than this little corner of it.
He had spent all his life reading about the wonders of this world; mermaids and barbarians and mages and knights, princes and princesses-
All of them fancinating and perfectly out of his reach. He knew if he stayed in his forgotten little hometown he would never get the chance to see the wonders of the world for himself.
When Izuku finally told her of his plans, Inko Midoriya was not fond of the idea in the slightest, but Izuku had already made up his mind.
No amount of pleading and reasoning took to Izuku, no matter how much he didn't want his mother worrying over him. He had accepted, after months of contemplation, that this was something he had to do.
And so, carrying only a backpack with maps, his notebook and his mothers endless words of advice he set out on his journey.
He crossed forests with only his knowledge on survival skills and herbs to help. Some nights he stayed at villages, gathering food and supplies; while others he spent under the stars.
In a month he had experienced more than he had his entire 20 years in Musutafu. Every day he would find something fancinating to scribble down on his notebook-he would be needing a new notebook soon- be it a foreign plant he had only ever seen in books, or even a pack of centaurs, prancing about in the midday sun.
The thirty-fifth night finds izuku sitting in the bar of the inn he is staying at. It's a homely looking room, with a hearth burning in the center, as groups of villagers gather around tables making lively conversation or playing card games.
A waitress passed around the room
refilling their cups with ale; she must have been the busiest person around.
Izuku sat in a corner, feeling content with his belly full of the delicious gülash the landlady had cooked, and his head buzzing a bit from the alcohol.Setting his plate aside he pulled out his notebook and a map; he had yet to decide where he would set out to next and also calculate his financial state.
As he was going through excerpts of his notebook on the habitats of unicorns, he picked up parts of the nearby conversation, which peaked his interest.
"I'm tellin' you, Maud, it was an egg of the dragon kin."
"As if. I'm bet my horse you can't tell the difference between an egg and a rock."
Izuku looked over at the nearby table, startled. Sitting there were two men, local farmers probably, Izuku guessed, based on their heavy-set physique and worn tanned skin.
The dark skinned man on the right, named Maud apparently, looked the most intimidating with his stony expression and deep voice. His companions, a man just as big and menu tones lighter, looked way friendlier despite his thick beard, covering most of his face.
The topic of their conversation though was what caused him to look over.
As they kept on talking between them, Izuku started muttering maniacally.
He remembered very little on what he had read about the clan of the dragon kin.
They were nomads, he knew that much. Which made them extremely hard to find; probably for the best since they were constantly hunted down for their precious scales while their eggs were said to have healing powers.
Izuku would have loved to be able to experience their culture one day and learn about their customs and physiology. He had heard of no other creature that could change between two forms, much like they changed between human and dragon bodies.
Unfortunately he had no idea where to start looking. Unwilling to ask two strangers in a seedy tavern to enlighten him, he consorted to subtly listening in on their conversation, as he pretended to look busy over his miriad of papers in front of him.
As time went on though, he came to realise the men were straying further and further away from the topic and there was no chance of hearing anything else of substance.
Izuku then internally accepted his fate, gulping down the remainder of his beer. There was no way around it, all the books he had read on the topic insisted no one had any inkling of where the dragon kin were to be found. So the thought that there was a chance these men had any information on the matter... The chance that a dragon egg might have been found; it would be a very stable starting point.
A thought of his mother crossed his mind as he mulled over what he was about to do in his head. Talking to drunk strangers in a tavern at night- Izuku almost snorted- she would be mortified.
Nevertheless, determined and slightly inebriated, Izuku put aside his social anxiety and joined in, in the nearby conversation.
"Excuse me, did you say you found a dragon egg?"
Once they notice he was talking to them, the men turned to look at him, scrutinizing almost.
"Ya see Maud! By God, a stranger would faster believe me than you!"
The dark skinned man, Izuku, assumed was named Maud looked exasperated as he scolded the other man for confirming this so freely to a complete stranger.
Turning to Izuku now,
"And what's it to you? The conversation wasn't for your ears anyway brat. Snoopin' on other men's business never did nobody any good."
The glint in his eye had Izuku's palms start sweating.
"I-I didn't mean any offence!" He stuttered out almost too quick to be intelligible.
Well, he had nothing else to lose, honesty is the only way to encourage trust.
His eyes darted around and he awkwardly dug through the papers in front of him as if looking for something in particular. Finally he held up a page from his notebook with some scribbles on dragon kin and a map.
"I'm not looking for trouble sir, I'm just passing through. I come from Musutafu and uhh- when I overheard, er- accidentally of course, you talking about the dragon kin, I couldn't help but ask. I.. hope to find them one day you see, their culture seems very interesting I want to learn all I can. But they're nomads so, I can't really know *where* to find them, so I hoped, if you told me where you found the egg iwouldhaveachanceinfindingthem-"
Realising the tsunami of information that had just poured out of his mouth with an accelerating speed, Izuku's rambling abruptly stopped.
His cheeks coloured, partly from shame and partly for the alcohol in his bloodstream.
The two villagers stared at him intensely.
Then, to add to the list of extraordinary sights Izuku had witnessed on his journey, the rough stony expression on Maud's face slowly crinkled and formed into one of mirth as he snorted out a laugh.
"Seven hells kid, slow down will ya. I get it, no priss lad like you can be of any threat anyway." He took a long gulp from his cup. "Listen to that Greg? The kids' from Musutafu; I buy the best corn seeds form there I do. Always take root."
Izukus' forehead wrinkled; his village doesn't produce that much corn.. and what they do produce doesn't make seeds that good. Was he trying to bait him?
The other man- Greg apparently- didn't take the signal and started to protest his companions words, as Izuku started
"With all due respect, I have never heard of my village producing such good corn. In fact if say our strong suit lies with our tomato crops and mushroom production."
Maud looked pleased with the answer as he drank deep.
"I must have confused it with someplace else, my mistake."
"Maud you ol' fart, you keep forgettin' like that, you'll catch up to your age."
Maud smiled slightly.-
"Maybe in mind. I'd still the handsome one though."
Greg's chirpy demeanor, hadn't been fazed at all, as it seems, by the interaction, because the next moment he had turned to Izuku ready to conversate.
"Whatcha say your name was lad?"
"Uh, I didn't. I'm Midoriya Izuku, sir."
"Midoriya then. Tell me, why so interested in the dragon kin?"
"Well, sir, they fansinate me. All my life I've been reading on all sorts of mythical creatures and occurrences. In fact, I left my hometown just to be able to have a chance in seeing some of them," he went on.
" And the dragon kin. Well they are one of the most interesting creatures I have ever read about, but I had given up on finding them long ago. Until I heard your conversation that is.. I'd love to experience their culture up close and understand them better."
"Well," he hesitated, looking at Maud, who shrugged, still concentrated on emptying his cup.
"Midoriya.. you seem like a good lad. Not like one of them hunters. Rubbish men, the lot of them." He snapped out of his tirade, eyes zeroing on Izuku.
He got up and at on the chair opposite him, bringing his face close to him.
Izuku could see the tiny droplets of beer in his thick red beard, and smell them in his breath.
Despite that, he moved closer
"No one has found the dragon kin in a long time boy. Thas' jus' cause nobody knows where to look. They're nomads, they could be anywhere. Well, "
He sat back and took a swig, checking for any potential eavesdroppers.
When he didn't see any he moved closer to Izuku again.
"I'll tell ya this boy. My momma saw them buggers, in all their dragon glory. Fierce woman she was. Ever since I was a wee lad, she would tell me an' my sisters tales of them great beasts. I know this boy; they are nomads, but they don' jus' go anywhere. They follow their path.-
The path of the Dragon, they call it."