The golden Dragon shining with an amber luster soared up from the forest, tearing apart the sleeping clouds high in the sky, shrouding and dyeing all things in the world.
Holding the eggshell on the lawn, I stared blankly at this scene, not knowing what to do.
This was my first time seeing a real Dragon in reality.
Even though I had written tens of millions of words about otherworldly novels, read countless stories of heroes and Dragons, and described to my readers hundreds or thousands of times the enormity of a Dragon’s body and the majestic aura of a Dragon’s soul, when I truly stood on the swaying lawn of another world, watched a Dragon rise into the sky with my own eyes, and witnessed the azure sky being covered by Dragon wings, I was still shaken by this creature that existed only in fantasy.
At this moment, before this Dragon, it seemed even the sun above the sky had lost its color.
The Dragon waved its powerful scaled wings, creating a terrifying hurricane that knocked the large trees in the forest below—trees that I could already consider giant trees—askew, caused a large number of fruits to fall to the ground with plop plop plop plop, countless birds to flee in panic from the forest, and several sika deer that had been drinking water around the small wooden cabin to run out of the forest and lie on the ground to resist the hurricane.
Immediately after, the originally blue sky turned a brilliant gold at a visible speed.
This Dragon with golden scales had used some unknown magic to make the entire world brighten; many sparkling star-like specks, like scale powder, fell from the sky and, under the waving of the Dragon’s scaled wings, were rolled into one vortex after another and scattered flying.
Sunlight passed through these falling glittering stars, like curtains full of lights, and also like the myriad lights of ten thousand homes in the night on a holiday.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—”
Soon, the hurricane high in the sky blew onto my face, lifting my long hair and blowing the Sailor Uniform skirt beneath me, as if a pair of strong, powerful hands were dragging them, letting me clearly feel my long hair dancing in the wind.
Because I was too shocked, at this moment I forgot to run, forgot that I was a frail little girl, and forgot that this was another world.
I just held the eggshell like this, quietly looking at the sky.
The Dragon high in the sky seemed to notice me on the lawn as well; it kept its wings spread, slightly lowered its head, and cast a gaze full of powerful momentum toward this side.
The sun slanted down from both sides of the Dragon’s head, dyeing its enormous body in a sacred color.
Sun shines upon the heavens, girl and Dragon.
I thought, if someone could photograph the scene of me and the Dragon looking at each other at this moment, it would surely paint a grand scroll like the creation of the world.
This was a very beautiful Dragon, golden all over, with some scales the cyan-gold of a starry sky, glittering in the sunlight.
“…”
After looking at me for about 3 minutes, the Dragon high in the sky began to descend.
Before long, accompanied by a gust of wind, it landed on the lawn less than 50 meters in front of me, its enormous Dragon head less than 1 meter from my eyes.
“Roar…“
Amid a low beastly panting, this Dragon slowly extended its head toward me.
I wanted to flee, but my mind went completely blank.
When the Dragon head was only about 30 centimeters from my head, the Dragon’s movement stopped.
Compared with me, who was less than 1.4 meters tall, even lying down and lowering its head, the width of this Dragon’s upper and lower jaws was taller than my body.
I saw a slightly questioning look appear in the Dragon’s crystal-like eyes.
“Uh… th-that…”
Because the distance was too close, at this distance and angle I could clearly see the Dragon flesh occasionally exposed in the gaps between the scales near the Dragon’s nostrils; in my panic, I raised the eggshell in my arms.
“You… do you want to eat this?”
‘What, what, what, what did I just say!’
‘The Traveler’s Station never said there were Dragons near the forest!’
‘Will Dragons in this world eat people? Are they the evil faction or the good faction? What should I say, what should I do so I don’t anger it…’
“Roar…“
The Dragon let out a pant, and a warm airflow struck my face, once again blowing my long hair backward.
“I… right now the only thing I have in my hands that can be eaten is this.”
With my brain half-crashed, I broke off a large piece of shell from the eggshell in my arms and handed it to this Dragon.
“…”
There was no doubt that with such a huge size difference, not to mention this piece of eggshell, even if I jumped whole into the Dragon’s mouth, it would not be enough to fill the gap between this big fellow’s teeth.
This is not using exaggeration or similar techniques; it truly is not enough to fill the gap between its teeth.
The largest animal I had seen in my previous life was the elephant I saw during a one-day zoo trip organized by a club in college; based on my memory of an elephant’s size, this Dragon eating an elephant would probably be like a human eating a large meat bun.
As for me, let alone that, I could only count as a soup dumpling.
“Mmm…“
However, to my surprise, after noticing the eggshell I handed over, the Dragon before me clearly hesitated for a moment, then opened its bloody huge mouth.
I took the opportunity to put that piece of eggshell in.
“D-do you want more?”
Seeing the Dragon’s big mouth close, I felt a bit reluctant.
“That… this is my dinner for today, there is not much left…”
“…”
The Dragon did not answer; it only held the eggshell fragment in its mouth and pulled its big head back.
Afterward, from the lawn, it looked at me one last time, waved its enormous wings, and suddenly flew up into the sky.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh—”
The Dragon’s super-large wings stirred up a hurricane, blowing up my Sailor Uniform skirt, blowing grass clippings from the surrounding lawn, and once again scattering countless starlights.
“Roar—”
A loud Dragon roar resounded across the land.
The risen Dragon circled the great grassland twice in the sunlight and brilliant magical starlight, then flew toward the western horizon.
Before long, this Dragon disappeared at the end of the horizon.
The golden starlight around the lawn disappeared.
“Huh?”
For a long time after the Dragon left, I still had not recovered from the shocking scene just now.
‘It… left?’
‘Does this count as… being saved?’
‘I feel like I can’t use the word saved either, because that Dragon didn’t seem to intend to do anything to me… Oh right, I even gave it such a big piece of eggshell fragment! At least enough for me to eat for one night!’
I lowered my head and looked at the eggshell, which now had only a bottom left, not knowing whether to cry or laugh.
‘Generally speaking, your own eggshell can only be eaten once in a lifetime, right? It’s a non-renewable resource, right? Yet I divided more than half of it for a strange Dragon. If it goes back, finds it delicious, and comes looking for me again next time it wants to eat it, but I can’t produce any, what then? Will it get angry and eat me too?’
‘Also, when I go back later, I still have to share a bit of the remaining eggshell fragments with the Sunward Field Mice that helped me, and then I won’t have much food left for tonight…’
This little bit of eggshell is absolutely not enough for dinner.
In other words, today I cannot skip the step of collecting food.
Judging from the angle of the sun in the sky, if the timekeeping rules of the Lumina world are the same as the human world, the current time is about 1 PM.
Then, before dark, I have about 5 hours to prepare food and water for myself and to collect as many things that can be used as weapons for self-defense as possible.
“Whimper…“
Looking once more in the direction where the Dragon disappeared, my heart was filled with mixed feelings.
After standing blankly on the lawn for a while, I hugged the eggshell tightly and walked toward the forest entrance not far away.
—No matter what, at least I survived from the Dragon’s mouth.
“…”
…
[Erlinni Isha’s Notes]—
Strictly speaking, Dragons are not native Elemental Creatures of Lumina; most of them come from Dragon Island, and compared with the Loli Continent Lumina, Dragons prefer to run off to the Kongguo Continent or the Salsa Continent for fun.
Therefore, there are not many sighting reports of Dragons in Lumina.
As Elemental Creatures, common Dragons include Black Dragons, Fire Dragons, Forest Dragons, and Desert Dragons.
The most mysterious Dragon is called the Gold Dragon or Starry Sky Dragon because its whole body is golden.
When this kind of golden Dragon appears, it makes the entire sky golden, as if a meteor shower has fallen.
It is said that this starlight magic brings good luck to those bathed in it.
In the ancient library of Lumina, there is an old book that describes the Starry Sky Dragon this way—the ancient Dragon God who governs the wealth and fate of Dragon Island.
The personality of Dragons can be compared to cats.
In most cases they will not obey humans, are very tsundere, and will not actively ask humans for anything, but almost all Dragons repay kindness.
If one day you meet a Dragon, try giving it a small gift.
In most cases, Dragons treat human gifts with contempt, but once they accept a gift, congratulations—from the moment they accept it, you have formed a dragon bond.
One day in the future, this Dragon will definitely repay the kindness in its own way, and the way it repays kindness will be very… passionate?
In short, please be sure to prepare yourself mentally.