Whoa! I expected him to be hot, but his scales are cool and smooth! He really is like a huge reptile. But his scales are hard, not soft like a snake’s or a salamander’s. Maybe because he’s so big?
“It feels nice!” I gushed.
It may have been presumptuous, but I couldn’t resist the urge to hug the dragon’s giant snout.
I want a bed like this in the summer; his cold scales would be so refreshing!
“When you’re grown, if you need me, I will accept you as my master.”
With these words, the dragon spread his giant wings.
“Don’t go!”
When exactly will that be?! Let’s just bond right now—I want you to come live at my house!
The dragon narrowed his eyes in amusement at the way I clung to him, attempting to prevent him from leaving.
“In that case, I’ll entrust you with this,” his voice boomed.
A red light floated up in front of me. It had come from the fire dragon’s body and swirled around before condensing into a round shape.
Then it slowly dropped into my hands.
It’s warm…
The glowing light clutched in my hands dispersed, and in moments it quietly faded away. In its place, I held a red orb. It was a mysterious shade of deep red, even redder than a ruby.
“What’s dis?” I asked with my usual lisp.
“It’s a dragon orb. It connects us. Keep it with you at all times.”
Sweet! I scored a super rare item!
He said to keep it with me at all times, but…it’s bigger than both of my hands put together. And it’s perfectly round, so there’s no way I can hang it from a string to wear around my neck or something… How am I supposed to carry it?
“You just have to think it, and the dragon orb will change shape.”
It can change shape? Now that’s nifty. In that case, I’ll have it change into an item that wouldn’t look out of place in the hands of a child. Hm… Maybe a stuffed animal?
I pictured a certain copyrighted mouse, and the dragon orb glowed. When the light faded, I was holding a stuffed animal that I could easily carry with one hand. It was a perfect replica of the copyrighted mouse. There was just one problem—it was bright red, which made it look terrifying. It looked like a crappy knock-off from the renowned country of copyright infringement.
What am I doing?! Bad self! It’s even bigger now than it originally was. I suppose there’s no chance of accidentally losing it this way, but it’s really inconvenient!
Hmm, maybe some kind of accessory would be better? Something I could wear all the time and wouldn’t lose… I’ve never been the type to wear jewelry or anything, though. I never saw the point since I’d probably lose it.
Oh, I’ve got it!
I pictured the item and stared at the stuffed animal. The light appeared again, and the stuffed animal transformed into the item I’d pictured. The new item was larger than the stuffed animal had been. It was a backpack shaped like a rabbit with long, droopy ears. Of course, it was red.
This way, it doesn’t look strange for a child to carry it around all the time. Since it’s a backpack, I won’t lose it, and wearing it on my back leaves both my hands free!
Furthermore, if I opened the zipper on the rabbit’s stomach, I could put things inside. As an added bonus, it was the perfect size for hugging.
I thought it was a good idea if I did say so myself.
“Okay! Dis is good!” I praised my handiwork.
“Hm… What a curious doll.”
Curious…? He has such an old-fashioned way of speaking.
“You use it like dis!”
I put on the backpack to show the dragon how it was worn.
“I won’t lose it dis way!”
I smiled widely at the dragon, who responded with a satisfied nod.
“The dragon orb serves as a spiritual connection between myself and the person who possesses it. It allows us to communicate telepathically and will convey strong emotions without the need for conscious thought. You can use my magic through the dragon orb, so it will help you if you’re ever in danger.”
Whoa… Somehow, I get the feeling that having this thing is dangerous. After all, if the dragon orb grants these powers to the person who possesses it, someone other than me could also use it, right? Everyone present heard every word of our conversation… I’m not confident I can protect it if someone who desperately wants it tries to take it by force! Yeah, I’m definitely going to complain about that part!
“What if someone twies to take it away?”
“To prevent that from happening, all you need to do is let the dragon orb memorize your magical signature.”
I don’t have any magic!
Thankfully, the dragon seemed to understand the cause of my hesitation.
“It would also work with a drop of your blood. Once it’s attuned to you, no one else will be able to use it.”
So it’s like fingerprint recognition, except using either magic or blood to verify my identity. He could’ve said that in the first place! I don’t want to get bloodstains on my bunny backpack, though… I’ll turn it back into an orb later and do it then.
“Okay! Wat’s your name, Mishta Dragon?”
I totally forgot to ask for a crucial piece of information. It seems like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, and calling him fire dragon all the time won’t do anything to close the distance between us.
“I can’t tell you my true name until we bond, but you can call me Sol.”
Sol… That means ‘sun,’ right? It’s the perfect name for a fire dragon who can control mighty flames! So he also has a ‘true name,’ huh? I haven’t heard anything about that before, but maybe only holy beasts have them? Mama knows all about this kind of stuff. I’ll ask her later.
“My name ish Neema! Let’s be good friends, Sho…Sol!”
Phew, I said it! I messed up the pronunciation a bit at first, but I said his name correctly in the end. Sorry, Sol!
“Well then, I believe I will return to my lair now,” Sol said, spreading his wings once more.
This time, I didn’t try to stop him.
It’s a shame he can’t come live with me, but at least we’ve formed a connection. I’ll have to make do with that.
Sigh… It’s too bad, though…
The beating of Sol’s wings created a draft that kicked up sand and debris into the air. Between that and the strong breeze, I couldn’t open my eyes, and it was all I could do to keep from being knocked over by the force of the wind.
By the time the wind died down enough for me to open my eyes, Sol was soaring through the air a great distance away. Once he disappeared, everyone around me breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“Neema!”
I turned and saw my sister running toward me. As soon as she reached me, she enveloped me in a fierce hug.
You’re crushing me, Karna. Come on; I can’t breathe here! Loosen up, will you?!
Unable to bear the near-strangulation, I began hitting my sister to get her to loosen her grip.
“Oh, sorry, Neema!”
Once the pressure subsided, I gulped in a deep breath.
Oh man, I thought I was gonna pass out for a second there!
“Oh, Neema…! Don’t worry me like that…!”
Uh-oh, is Karna crying? I’m sorry for making her worry, but…
“You shoulda wun away, Kawna!”
She’s the one who made me worry first!
Even though she inherited our parents’ strong magic, it wasn’t a good idea to get overconfident and act recklessly. Healing magic existed, but it required the blessing of the Goddess, so the number of people who could use it was incredibly small.
While I was giving my sister a piece of my mind, I was swept up into another fierce hug. I say hug, but it was more like being tackled by a linebacker!
“Neema! Are you hurt anywhere?”
From the frantic dash my Papa made, it appeared he’d never heard of the concept of aristocratic dignity.
Stop rubbing your cheek against mine like that, Papa!
“Nooo!”
I struggled with all my might, trying to escape Papa’s arms.
His love has become extra intense lately.
“Darling… Neema’s going to hate you if you keep that up,” Mama said as she snatched me away from Papa.
I clung to Mama with a sigh of relief.
Mothers are incredible. Nothing can beat this sense of security!
Papa looked as depressed as one might expect, and I felt sorry for him.
I’ll have to snuggle up to him once we get home.
“You…!” Will broke in with an enormous sigh.
Before I’d even registered the hands grabbing both of my cheeks…
Pinch! Tug!
Not again! Ow, ow, ow! That hurts, damn it!
“Well, I’m glad you’re okay.”
No, I’m not okay! I am currently, in the present tense, taking intense damage, thank you very much! Ugh! Please don’t tell me this is what passes for an expression of love for this demon prince?! What a nuisance…
“Duke Osphe, have the royal magic users look into this incident,” Will said. “I’m sure the palace will want to get their hands on Neema after this. Think carefully about how you’ll proceed.”
“I will see to it that the investigation is carried out according to your orders. But I hate to think of my precious Neema coming to the attention of those power-hungry vultures… Perhaps I’ll get rid of all of them permanently?”
Papa, I’m sure I just heard you say something incredibly unreasonable… It must’ve been my imagination, right?
I looked around to find Will looking dumbfounded, my brother smirking, my sister smiling with guarded eyes, and my mother appearing lost in thought.
Why isn’t anyone trying to stop Papa? Hmm, things certainly have gotten quite troublesome all of a sudden. What am I going to do?