Chapter 12: The Prairie and I

I woke up because even though I was warm, I felt uncomfortable and claustrophobic. I was being held by someone, but I was shaking a lot more than usual.

“Niini?” I muttered reflexively, but Hannah’s voice was the one that replied to me.

“Leila-sama.”

“Hannah?”

“Leila-sama, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”

When I looked up, Hannah’s face was a mess of tears and snot. I wanted to wipe her face, but I had to do something about this uncomfortable feeling first. Why is it shaking so much even though Hannah is sitting down? She had me under her arms, but I squirmed around and stood on top of the seat.

“Woah……”

It was dawn, and a vast prairie spread out before my eyes. A high mountain stood to my far right, and early spring greenery mixed with dead grass were fluttering in the wind to my left. And the rhythmic running in front of us took my breath away.

“Rawpta.”

“No, Leila-sama. This is called a Rug Dragon. It is a fast and docile dragon like the one Master often takes for rides,” Hannah answered truthfully after she wiped her tears and snot. I felt refreshed because I’d just woken up. I can’t believe that the thing father rides is a dragon, not a horse…… Dragons, like I’d first imagined, looked like raptors. The dragon in front of me had a saddle on it, and a man was riding it.

Then what are we riding? I slowly looked to my side, and there was a dragon head to my right. The dragon was looking at the dragon in front of it and chasing after it.

“Dwagon……”

“It’s a docile dragon. It’s fine. Don’t worry. But, Leila-sama, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry……”

Tears were flowing from Hannah’s beautiful dark blue eyes. I’ll think about why Hannah is crying later. The dragon that Hannah and I were sitting on didn’t have a saddle; instead, there were box-shaped baskets attached on both sides of the dragon. The basket seemed light, but it was shaped adequately like a chair and Hannah could sit steadily on it. The other basket probably contained things like water and food.

Before long, the sun rose completely, and I could see a town in front of us. The dragon in front of us stopped at the town, and our dragon came to a halt beside it. The man lightly descended from the dragon in front and took out a bucket full of water from the other basket and watered the dragons along with feeding them some kind of lump.

Then, he came towards us, fiddled with something next to Hannah and the side of the basket quickly opened as if it was a door.

“Get down,” even though he had said that Hannah looked as if she was frozen and didn’t get off. The man clicked his tongue and pulled her down. I came tumbling down with her.

“Hannah, waww,” I patted Hannah’s arm and asked her to let me go. She hugged me tightly for a second but loosened her grip shortly after.

I got down onto the prairie. The withered grass was taller than me; a baby couldn’t see anything after getting off the dragon. Boring.

“You’re a brave brat,” the man muttered as he looked at me. He sat down in front of us with a thud and took out a flask, bread and dried meat from his bag.

“Eat.”

Hannah shook her head.

“We still have 2 days left, 3 if something goes wrong. You won’t have any energy if you don’t eat.”

I reached for the bread and flask when I heard that. The flask was heavy, but Hannah opened it for me and fed me water.

“Hannah, dwink.”

“Leila-sama.”

“No dwink, dwop.”

“…… Ok.”

Hannah obediently took the flask and drank a little.

The bread was hard and dry, it was tough, but I managed to eat it while drinking water. I put the extra bread and dried meat into my poncho pocket. I thought that ponchos made for children didn’t need pockets, but it was unexpectedly useful.

The man saw me do this and raised his eyebrow, but he began cleaning up without saying anything. I said, “Waith.”

“Newd dat.”

Hannah hadn’t had enough water, so I wanted to make her drink some while we were riding the dragon. I pointed at the flask. The man silently handed the flask to Hannah, and she timidly took it.

“We’re changing dragons in the next town. We’re a married couple going to meet their sick parents with their child. You know what’s gonna happen if you say too much or cause a fuss, don’tcha? Got it?”

The man reminded Hannah when we were finished and put us in the dragon basket again. Hannah still looked down, probably because she was afraid of being threatened. Well, of course, it’s scary.

I finally have time. I can finally think. I accidentally fell asleep and the person who took me yesterday was Hannah. Basically, I was kidnapped. So why is Hannah also being threatened? All I know is I will be taken to a place that takes 2-3 days to get to on a dragon.

Hannah is being threatened, but the merchandise is probably me. They won’t kill me even if I cause trouble.

It doesn’t matter how I was treated like when I was a newborn, the current me is cherished by my family. Father is definitely looking for me. But, if he doesn’t notice soon…… I stared at the dragon’s back. I couldn’t feel anyone chasing after us.

All I can do now was get information out of Hannah, not trouble her, and protect this helpless baby body of mine as much as possible.

I decided this while being put on Hannah’s knees inside of the basket on top of the dragon which had started moving.

I’ve never been out of the mansion before now, so I honestly didn’t know. Leila, soon to be one and four months old. It seems like I’ve really been reincarnated into a different world.