Ch24 - Princess

Ugh… I groaned as dizziness strikes me when I am trying to sit up after waking up.

[Good morning, sleepy head.]

Taki greeted me with a sincere smile like he is relieved. It looks like we are in a small cave and Taki is sitting by the cave entrance, most probably on guard duty. I am still in a daze when I greeted Taki back. After sobering up a little, I started panicking when recalled the events that happened yesterday.

[Where are we? And what exactly happened yesterday?]

[You collapsed after turning Dawn into crisp and an Azurias suddenly showed up and took you away. You have no idea how worried I was… I even started panicking and was lost about what I should do…]

He showed a grim expression when he explained what happened to me. I was abducted by an Azurias and still alive? Taki must have rescued me somehow. Azurias is a platinum blue coloured elder dragon with the title of 'Lord of the Skies'. As its title implies, it is no small fry but the big shot of the big shots.

[Luckily, that girl over there found you not too far away from us but the Azurias was nowhere to be found.]

When he said that, he pointed to a girl sleeping beside me.

[Eh? Who is this?]

I asked, surprised by the girl sleeping beside me. I thought it's Lily beside me so I did not think too much about it but now that I take a closer look around, there is someone on both sides of me. On my right, there is Lily sleeping while clinging onto me. On my left, there is a girl that I have never seen before. She looks a bit younger than me, maybe fourteen? With long silver hair like mine but with purple highlights at the tips of her hair. She looks really cute trying to snuggle beside me while she is still sleeping. But, the thing that really stands out is definitely the horns and tail. She has small horns growing out towards the back of her head from the top of her ears and a long white lizard tail with a purple glint protruding out from the end of her spine.

[Mnnh~]

The girl groans as she wakes up. Still rubbing her eyes while looking towards my direction.

[Just at the right time. She can tell you herself.]

Taki said with a smirk.

For a moment, the girl just stares blankly at me.

[https://i.imgur.com/0xorEbY.jpg]

Having a cute girl staring at me is actually making me nervous. About a minute later, her face suddenly brightens up, a drastic change from her lifeless expression from before.

[https://i.imgur.com/eKnaQvI.jpg]

[Kalia! Do you feel fine? Does it hurt anywhere?]

From being happy to see me awake turns into worry shortly. She looks sincerely worried about me. Seeing someone this cute so worried about me, my face can't help but soften.

[https://i.imgur.com/uwtypzP.jpg]

[Don't worry. I feel fine.]

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

I said as I raise my hand to pat her head. Her hair feels so smooth and silky, I may get addicted to patting her head. The person herself also does not seem to dislike it as her face displays a face full of satisfaction.

[Oh right, I almost forgot. Who are you?]

After snapping out of it, I stopped patting the girl and asked her the question that was in my mind since a while ago. For a moment she had this disappointed look when I stopped patting her before answering my question.

[Sorry for the late introduction, my name is Istrea, the Princess of the dragon kingdom, Riucornia. Please just call me Strea.]

Istrea said and pulled on the skirt of her long white dress to do a curtsy as she introduces herself. A-a-a a Princess?! So I just nonchalantly patted a Princess's head?!

[Mou~ Even though I am a Princess, there is no need to be so shocked right? Just treat me like anyone else. I will hate it if you start to get all formal with me.]

She said while pouting. Ugh… Her angry face is cute too. But even if she says that, meeting a real-life Princess will still make people nervous. Right?

[That's right Kalia. There is no need to be so nervous around Istrea. Unlike humans, the dragons don't flaunt around their status even if they are from royalty.]

[Dragon?]

I asked while tilting my head to a side with the tip of my index finger touching my lower lips. Eh did I just did a girly action unconsciously?! After thinking for a few seconds, my face turned red when I realize the pose I am in and so, I quickly change into a more manly pose. Puffing out my chest while my left hand is clenched on my waist and my right hand rubbing my chin, a cool thinking pose!

[Dragons…]

I repeat in a more serious and manly tone. Thinking deeply about the meaning behind Taki's words.

[Wait, Strea? You are a dragon?]

The reason she has horns and tail finally makes sense now. I did not hear of any dragons with a humanoid appearance before though.

[Of course, isn't that obvious?]

Strea replied while looking at me innocently like she was stating the obvious.

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When Lily woke up, she started crying and clinging onto me again. I must have had her really worried about me, just like I was when she fainted during the fight with Dawn.

[Onee-chan! Onee-chan!]

Having her like this, my heart also started to ache. I hugged her back with all my strength and patted her head. During this time, I can feel water dripping down on my face. We are so indulged that we can't even feel the warm pair of gazes on us.

[https://i.imgur.com/OQksGp7.jpg]

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Anyways, it seems that my injuries had been healed. Taki said he fed me some potions when I was asleep. Apparently, potions are very expensive because they are very rare now. Due to the high demand but scarce materials, there are just not enough potions going around. Nowadays, most of the hunters just keep one potion with them for emergencies. Having that said, potions are also not a miracle cure. Potions only stop bleeding and increase the rate of recovery, closing up wounds and cuts faster. Since my injuries were not that bad to begin with, potions were enough for me to make a full recovery.

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[Ehhh! Strea! If all the dragons are like you, doesn't that mean that we had been murdering people?!]

Lily suddenly shouted halfway during her meal having come to a sudden realization. We are currently having breakfast prepared by Taki, a soup made by a mixture of ingredients like mushrooms, herbs, meatballs and some spices. Hearing Lily say that made me drop my spoon when it is already halfway up to my mouth.

(Is it the same for the dragons in DHO when it was still a game?) < Is what I am thinking.

[No worries over there, dragons that are intelligent and can turn into human form are what we call elder dragons. So normal dragons and wyverns to them are just like goblins and kobolds to humans in fantasy games. As for the elder dragons that appeared in human territories, they should have lost their mind because of corruption. I will tell you all the full details when we get to Distodia.]

Taki explained like a lecturer teaching his students. It is amazing he knows all this when the world is still this ignorant about the dragon race. Wait… Then what about the Steela that I fought before? The Steela doesn't look like it has lost its mind at all, there was also no black aura that indicated that it was corrupted... Let's put that aside and wait for Taki's explanation. Since he said 'should be', there must be more reason behind the elder dragons appearing in human territories.

While all this is explained, Strea is just looking at us while eating quietly. It is like she is leaving all the explanations to Taki. Looking at them makes me think that they already know each other since long ago.

[So how do you know so much?]

[I will explain that when we reach Distodia as well. Having to repeat everything twice is too much of a drag.]

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Without getting any more answers from Taki, we packed up our stuff and continued our way to Distodia.