I met the new day with a yawn. The sky was clouded and it looked like rain could fall at any time. I took one look out my window and decided I could use an extra hour of sleep. Unfortunately, someone in the dorm next to mine decided sleeping in wasn’t a good habit to have… Because they started blasting horribly loud music.

This world doesn’t have stereos or music replay systems. The people in the dorm room next to mine weren’t just listening to music, they were playing music… If you could call this garbage music, and this was at like 7 in the morning.

Outraged, I dressed myself rather quickly. I wanted to give those musicians a piece of my mind.

I wasn’t the only one. At least ten people were piled outside the door of the music’s origin. Most were covering their ears while knocking, trying to be heard over the noise.

If I had to describe the sound, I’d call it someone mauling a piano. I assumed music in this world would be more classical in design, but I’m beset by surprises nearly every day. This sounded more like Jazz than anything; loud, cacophonous Jazz. To be completely honest, it sounded like a toddler had managed to find a piano and decided to smash all the keys as fast as possible.

People were trying to open the door, but it was locked. I stepped forward and, upon recognizing me, the crowd receded in turn. I grabbed the handle and, with a slight application of force, ripped the door completely off its hinges. Without the barrier between us and the source, the sound redoubled in volume.

The first thing I took note of was the serious collection of dust. The room didn’t seem to be lived in at all. The next thing I noticed was a collection of eggshell shards lying about.

I walked into the room and finally caught sight of the culprit. A small dragon, no bigger than a kitten, was rolling about inside an old piano. It looked to be tangled in the wire.

The room itself was lined, like a trophy collection, with glass cased lizard eggs. It seems one of them hatched and, foraging for food, the little fellow climbed into the piano.

“Oh my word! That’s a Lime Dragon!” Cried out one of the people who followed me in. “They’re known for having powerful venom. We should call one of the professors to come…”

I stopped listening and walked up to the cute little fledgling. It looked up at me with shining eyes. I couldn’t resist it any longer and I helped untangle the poor dear.

“Hey there, little fella,” I said in my cutesy voice, “what’s your name?”

The little green bundle wriggled for a moment before making a terribly cute chirp noise. He tried to bite my finger, but he couldn’t break the skin on my hand. He looked like a lizard shaped puppy!

“You must be hungry!” I concluded aloud as I turned and started walking through the crowd towards the door.

“What are you doing? That’s a dangerous creature! We need to call the professors and…”

I held up my hand, silencing the annoying spectator. “Do not call Mr. Hugglesworth a dangerous creature! Look at his innocent face!”

As if to emphasize my point, the newly named Mr. Hugglesworth hissed at the bad man. I couldn’t resist petting his head with my free hand while whispering ‘good job’.

I left the Academy’s campus with a tiny dragon in my arms. I had yet to make Mr. Hugglesworth follow an order of mine yet, so he wasn’t considered ‘tamed’. It was unfortunate, but until I could make him obey a command of mine I wouldn’t be able to store him. It’s needless to say, but I received quite a few strange looks from passerby as I walked the streets. I couldn’t risk moving fast out of fear of harming my new pet. He was just a baby, after all.

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Along the walk I stopped and purchased some meat on a stick from a vendor. It was strange that such a vendor was operating in the breakfast hours, but who am I to question his business model?

Mr. Hugglesworth loved the meat and devoured it greedily, stick and all. I also nibbled on one. It tasted like beef jerky, but with a bit more salt.

After about fifteen minutes of walking and eating, I arrived at the main square. There, surrounded by numerous guards and an annoying entourage, was Lily. I noticed RED hiding off to the side as well.

“Calliope!” Called Lily as a maid wheeled her towards me, “You’re late! … And is that a Lime Dragon?”

“I’m not late, you’re early,” I replied while repositioning my dragon, “and yes, this is Mr. Hugglesworth, the newest addition to our team.”

“You do know Lime Dragons have terribly strong poisons, right?” Asked one of Lily’s guards as he moved between the princess and my new puppy.

“I’ve heard, but this little fella wouldn’t hurt a fly, would you!?” I said while nuzzling the tiny dragon. He tried to bite my ear. Thankfully his little love bites couldn’t break my tough skin.

RED started walking towards our group. He seemed to be lugging a rucksack filled with something lumpy. It was probably full of potatoes. He seemed adamant in yesterday’s talks about obtaining potatoes for the trip. He claimed he wanted to try to make some food from our previous world, too, so he needed some other hard to acquire ingredients.

“Calliope, if you’re having trouble taming the creature, I suggest you use the orb acquired from the Sixth Prince that allowed him to command Sandy,” said RED as he set the heavy sack down with an expression of relief.

I was, of course, completely delighted at RED’s suggestion. I pulled out the orb and immediately poured mana into it. Unfortunately, I was a bit overzealous and used too much. The orb cracked and shattered in my hand, becoming completely useless.

“... Crap!”

Lily and RED both started laughing, and Mr. Hugglesworth just started biting the ends of my hair. I was also beginning to realize that Hugglesworth is a rather long name. Perhaps I should abbreviate it to Huggs? Yeah, I’ll call him Huggs from now on. His full name will still be Mr. Hugglesworth, though.

It seems I’d have to learn how to train my dragon by myself. If I remembered right, there were a few groomers in the city. Surely I could get a collar and leash for Huggs there!

RED seemed determined to handle getting the food for our trip, so I didn’t need to worry about that. I met Lily’s eyes.

“Lily, can I trust you to take care of shopping for a wagon while I go hunting for supplies to properly tame Huggs here?” I asked completely without shame. Lily groaned, but I could tell she was going to give in.

“Fine, but you have to be done with your shenanigans by lunch time. RED promised to make us a fancy meal and he’ll be devastated if you miss it.”

I gave a thumbs up with a terrible smile, “You got it! I’ll be back before lunch! Don’t you worry, Lily.”

Huggs started biting at my neck. He seemed determined to find a vulnerable spot. It was adorable.