-Afternoon. Nefiru's POV-
"Kyaa~" Shaila shrieks and covered her face with both hands then giggled. "But you have to stay naked since there aren't any clothes big enough!" She supplemented looking all over my body then at the spot next to the water tank.
"You are not naked..." Lester frowned at the inappropriate conversation alternating his gaze between Shaila and me.
"I am actually naked since my scales are part of me like hair, but I suppose they feel a little like clothes." I point out the misconception, then turned my neck around. "Erm...can you cover that disgusting smudge? To think all that was under my scales." I request to cover the mess left behind with his Earth Magic and got closer to Shaila. "You know, there's still a bruise on your face..." I voiced my observation lowering my head close enough to her smiling face that my breathing starts blowing her hair.
Although it's not forced, her smile looks so fragile now. I'll still ask details when the time is right. Behind the smile forming on thin lips is the sad past of a girl forced by more than one man and perhaps she wanted to tell me herself or maybe wanted to be asked, but knowing such taboo after just one day could make things awkward between us for a while.
Hearing it from Shaila would be more dramatic and I would have resorted to licking since it's not possible to comfort with a hug that won't snap her like a twig, though only the tip of my tongue is not rough like sandpaper, it's one of the few part of my current body that actually feels closer to previous body's sensations. I think I understand dogs a little more now since my sense of touch with the paws is rough like wearing industrial gloves and sometimes I imagine having fingers again, similar to the phantom limb effect, but still can't tell how soft Shaila's skin is.
"...You already know Magic combinations huh? What a cheating dragon..." Lester mutters while making the ground swallow up the muddy mess.
"Uh...I'll just do this..." She informed and brought her right palm to her face then a light shone between the fingers.
She did say that Light magic heals small cuts...that's probably light stimulation of cell regeneration, and it's not very accepted on earth but here is used to recover a loli's cute face from bruises. I nod inspecting the light shining from her right palm over the wound on the right cheek with my head at her eye-level.
"Done~" A moment later Shaila finished and reported with a beaming smile then extended an arm to pull my horn. "C-cute...you are all purple-blue now, your eyes are pretty and you smell nice." She stuttered staring into my right eye while her thin lips slightly separate.
I'm a handsome dragon! Not a cute little bunny... I pull back the head and unfold my wings to a span reaching ten meters while deeply breathing in, then raised my head towards the house with eyes closed.
"GRHOUAAAAA..." I let out all the air from my lungs in a reverberating roar that echoed throughout the courtyard.
...That felt good, and I'm not sure what that would be in dragon language, but my intent behind it was announcing myself to the world... I am a Dragon, and I'm here.
Done relieving myself instinctually, I open my eyes and look around at the commotion the guards are making by the barracks. I ignored the guards staring without approaching and started moving my open wings around noticing my lack of exercise with them then made sure they wouldn't hit anything before flapping gradually until swirling dust clouds were rising up then stopped when I heard coughing.
They are quite wide when a single wing could cover my whole body, but it's not possible due to the angle they can move, and it seems that keeping all the support bones extended to tense up the membrane is quite tiring. Well, the wings have to catch up every time my body grows, and the support bone frame still looks delicate, but I should not keep them folded all the time since the lack of exercise could delay my flight capabilities. I should be capable of taking off, but staying in the air seems troublesome with the flight mechanics of a creature hardly aerodynamic when just the shifting weight of the legs affect the center of gravity and have to synchronize the tail for counterbalance during flapping. I concluded and folded back my wings with care so they wouldn't feel uncomfortable while recalling how natural it was flying for my parents.
"Son of a Mogo! Everyone is on edge because of what you did this morning and yesterday pranks." Done covering the mess, Lester protested while pointing to the bored guards peeking out of the barracks. "That lightning-water explosion made every metallic object in our land turn slightly red hot for a short time, but it was enough to ruin many steel armors, weapons, and kitchen utensils, though iron gates wouldn't open and we had to break the wall to make an entrance." He reports the damages caused by my rampage pointing towards the iron gates. "Sighs, haven't you caused enough damage for one day? I should've bought that wolf from the auction..." He mutters in a low voice.
I turn my neck behind me and stare at that uncle from yesterday sleeping again on the recliner chair by the hole in the wall.
Oi! Do your job! I guess that explains what happened to the armors...I can probably demagnetize the gates later, but that should wear off soon since it's doubtful to be a permanent magnet and they were so rusty already that it just took a little magnetism to make them stuck.
Although this place looks quite fortified when it didn't have that hole in the wall, I'm confident that escaping from here is easier than from a fucking volcano, but isn't this place a little overkill for this little town? Oh, wait, there are giant snakes behind the backyard, a few miles to the northwest and there's tall grass reaching up to a person's neck all around that could hide them...in fact, there might be some of them wondering inside that field right now, though I only found old tracks when venturing there.
"Nefi, I want to ride on your back, and go for a walk." Shaila impatiently demanded while doing hand signals for me to lower down.
"Yeah, you should have bought that wolf and any other pet from the auction. Also, what's a Mogo? I think I was born from a dragon though..." I turned to Lester by the stables affirming his mutter then asked.
"Wha-" Shaila was startled by my declaration and stopped climbing to look back my head.
"Mogos are small and ugly humanoid creatures, round head, and protruding fangs with pointy ears, they are pests. Why would you want other pets beside yourself?" Lester describes the monsters that sound like the generic goblins found in stories then stares waiting for my explanation.
"To eat them all, of course, though I don't like Wolf taste so much compared to snakes and never got to actually hunt them on my own since their high Rankers can come with a few howls." I recalled my trespassing on wolf territory that didn't get far before being discovered. "What other territories are around?" I attempt to assess the level of danger in my current map that is this kingdom.
"Hehe...Nefi's a glutton!" Shaila involuntarily laughed and climbed over my back from the right foreleg then sat at the base of my neck with her legs over each side while gripping the wiry hairs.
I turned my neck to look at the surreal scene of the little white-haired girl riding my scaly body then get up from the ground and started strolling towards the barrack's window where Alphonse is leaning on while Lester follows on my right. I'm a horse now it seems, but she has a happy expression hugging my neck while my steps shake her body that feels like a plushie to me, and it's better than to ride my head since it limits my mobility. The short black dress with embroidery looked better than those riding clothes, but the scales or the Spikes that are growing along my Spine within the hair fibers would have made her uncomfortable on the sensitive parts and in the worse case, hurt her. However, knowing dragon biology, they should grow bigger given time, but don't want them cut off just so she can ride, and I wonder what other parts will grow on me...maybe more horns?
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
"And you need to eat like a glutton too or do you want me to regurgitate horse meat for you?" I threaten hovering my slightly open jaws over her head.
"Ugu...I'm eating as much as I can, but my belly is small..." She protests with upturned eyes while Lester sighed loudly and shook his head.
"Every territory has at least one high ranking beast to be able to maintain it and that includes the green snakes to the coast and those wolves up north, though equally matched creatures tend to avoid each other, and your father has weaker wolves as his food supply because they don't fight over territory. The territories around our kingdom that I know, are the FireFox clan north on this mountain range has a Divine which is quite territorial, you already know wolves in the northeast and the snakes on the west, but on the ocean, there are also powerful aquatic creatures which are why our port city of Oriole is further south. The Catkin tribe live in the south between the coast and the southern mountain range, but they are friendly if you are just visiting while the residents on the mountain range aren't all aggressive either and there's a high ranking golden dragon that visited villages in the past out of curiosity. To the East is the country of Erydon that loves wars, but they don't invade us seriously since there's not much to take from our little kingdom and there's an Ancient Forest on their southern borders which is also quite dangerous for you." Lester explains the directions of all communities of beasts near this kingdom.
"I never had the chance to explore this country...does it have a name or is it too small to have one? Anyway, where are we in the landmass and how many others across the ocean?" I turned to face Lester and inquired about the geographical locations to situate myself in this new world.
"These are the two landmasses standing over the ocean..." Lester extended his hand towards the ground and manipulated with magic to make drawings appear. "This country is called Aurum and is situated here on the west coast of the continent Arundo between the north and south mountain ranges." He points at the left side of the arrowhead-like continent which has the central tip on the right while the other two reach the poles of the world. "This is Telum, a country from the closest tip tried to invade us through the ocean once but became a laughing stock when Dad, Alphonse, and Lucious killed their leaders at night...they expected a full-out war and not someone sneaking into their fleet at night.." He narrates pointing at the horizontal grain of rice-like continent that's completely surrounded by water at the equator of the planet.
The cause of the mountain ranges extending along the west coast is tectonic plate Subduction of Telum into Aurum. It looks like Telum is fucking up Aurum or a short arrow is slowly forming then an underwater ridge where the plates separate should be on the other side, but there are probably other Plates underwater with islands, though Lester's map is a little small.
"If you had continued east without getting captured, you would have arrived at the Siwa river which comes further north on the right side of the mountain range, next to the Silverstein Nobles and flows into the two Dams guarded by the Bidlakes, then south through the capital before curving west on the southern plains. To the East across the northern plains is the Domenour family that protect our borders from Erydon kingdom and to the East of the capital is the Copperfield family in charge of agriculture, but there are villages everywhere besides the towns near roads despite being a small country... The Siwa river goes through the capital's three circular districts, the merchant area in the outer region, the Noble zone in the middle and royal grounds at the center, though there's no problem with flooding with the massive walls or the irrigation channels diverting the water." Lester describes his drawing on the ground that is not at scale, but most notable things are shown.
There were humans East of the volcano huh? Two families even, and those close to the two lakes southeast of the volcano are the Bidlakes where Father ate that water dragon. I wonder how's prey on that side, and the lakes may have fish, but it wouldn't be easy to catch before learning lightning magic. At Shaila's protest to continue moving, I kept strolling and reached Alphonse by the windowsill.
"Speaking of residences...I want to move away from the stinky Stables, but Shaila said I couldn't sleep in her room and she doesn't want to stay with me outside..." I turned my head to look at her. "Bad pet owner, you are supposed to spoil me more but don't brush me or pick my teeth now that I cleaned myself." I complain to the little girl who flinched under my gaze.
"Uh, huh…I-I forgot, I'll get it later." She informed stuttering then I nodded and turned back to face Alphonse and Lester by the window.
"Also can you guys dismantle the horses to preserve them? I don't want to eat rotten meat and how's the back of this building? It's closer to the forest and shouldn't smell so bad." I request then point with my head towards the alleyway door on the right side of the house.
"You can sleep with Alphonse here, he bought a big and comfortable bed with his new raise." Lester scoffed signaling towards the black-haired person who just smiled triumphantly in turn.
"I wouldn't stand the smell either." I sniff towards the open window and shook my head in disgust.
"He says he's not into dragonesses either." Lester translates for the sneering Alphonse. {We'll store the horse meat in the magic freezer, and you can stay in the backyard but don't eat any maid or the chef...especially the chef, and if you want the meat, ask in the kitchen.} He affirms then sternly warned.
"Ha! Old man...the only thing you got over me is experience since I was just born, but I'll make sure to stand on top by the next mating season." I declared smirking, but the old guy just found my provocation amusing and laughed without saying anything else.
I continued exploring the premises knowing the old guy didn't want to antagonize me when there was no retaliation. Now that I think about it...I'm a virgin dragon....I have a feeling the next mating season is going to be very intense for me, precisely because it's my first time going through it, though it would be weirder having offsprings four months after being born since it seems I became a slave and awoken my memories after the call ended. These mating seasons are excellent to procreate since everyone's gotta do it, but what about having sex for fun the rest of the time? Although I don't feel horny like a human male anymore, can't give up pleasure just like that, and can force my body with lightning, but what to do when every other dragon is like this? Ugh, it would be bizarre trying to jerk off as a dragon while thinking of human porn...I should find a way to delete that from my brain someday, but I guess it's too soon to rush these things and it's better to leave it to a chance meeting with a trustworthy dragoness.
In the meantime, I should focus entirely on pleasures I can feel now, like Magic, hunting and playing with Shaila since there aren't any other entertainment methods available here anyway... During my time among humans, I have yet to hear people sing, dance or play any games as even the kids have to spend their hours trying to reach Rank 1 to stop being a regular person. This world is so different from how I imagined and my own perspective in this body makes me doubt reality sometimes when looking at the people as if they are toddlers while also considering them edible, but I guess it's going to feel like this for a while longer since I'm a young dragon. I didn't think I would miss Earth this much...my family, the technology or the entertainment, and it's not the first, but this time, I moved to a town in another universe where the laws of physics seem slightly different, but things won't all be bad in the future...I'm sure.
It's been four months away from everything I've known for almost thirty years, and can't help but wonder how dull it would feel alone in the forest like this since I'm a guy who had to try many different things over the course of his previous life to stay entertained. I think I would try greater risks out of boredom and fight stronger predators until my luck runs out...actually, that's what I'm going to do since going back to that forest means rolling the dice, especially fighting ranked magical beasts for their mana, but who could be strong enough to help me hunt? Another wild beast would be awesome, and the best candidate I can think of is a lone wolf kicked out of the pack since that happens on packs from Earth, but how does one befriend a wild creature? I doubt the usual cliches of saving their offsprings or bring them food when they are hurt would work since I'm not that lucky to encounter such situation in the first place, but maybe my own siblings can help, and I could request of Alphonse to have his sentinels keep an eye at the volcano top for when they leave.
We reached the steel gate the size of a garage door, and on the building side facing East, seven windows are visible, but one is next to the kitchen door coming facing the alleyway. Lester takes his arm through a hole to unlock and open the gate with a metal screeching then we made our way to the backyard where a pile of short wood logs are stacked in the right corner of the walls. Oh, that seems good for sleeping and going outside the wall, but I should ask Lester to build a gate to come and go to the forest. I climb over the wood pile and look towards the familiar forest around a mile away in the distance with a view on the western side of the volcano where I jumped out.