Being aboard a dragon was like riding on an elephant, only that it's three times larger, and instead of a seat, you have a whole floor to sit on, sleep on, and roll on. Talk about cruise quality.

The ride felt slow, but not any slower than a group of four walking on foot.

We were a few hours deep inside a forest, and even though the forest wasn't so dense, there were still times when trees stood on our way. And then the dragon would stop, uproot and eat it by the trunk if it's hungry, or it would just take down the poor tree entirely by ramming it with its forehead. Yes, that was how large the big baby was. Judging by how long its neck was, just standing on top of the dragon's head would allow one to see the treetops. Though I wouldn't wanna, I'm the biggest wuss when high altitudes are concerned.

But if dragons can demolish trees in its path, aren't forests a little in danger? Well, Laianne says no.

She said dragons don't normally get the chance to grow until this big, they either get eaten by predators such as lion wasps, or die of old age. Dragons this big will then be claimed by the kingdom and given to high-ranking officials as personal carriages. Normal-sized dragons can only travel smoothly on roads, while bigger dragons are more like monster trucks that can go off-road, so no risks of deforestation there.

This dragon is Alrod's pet as he is a governor. His name is Danrel, the team pet trope is already up. Apparently Danrel here was a baby dragon I happened to give Alrod years before I last died. He's not older than feudalism, but he's old enough.

“We must be far enough from Artrud now, Lord Alrion.” Said Alrod.

Cautious, I scanned the moving forest scape around me. An endless sea of pale trunks and dark leaves, midnight zephyr blew from west to east, as if giving life to the stiff and still branches. Rustling of the unseen wildlife creatures prowling under the shroud of dark brushes, ravens crying, and the audible flapping of wings. Not a trace of civilization, just the pure fierceness of nature that wouldn't think twice about sending unwary trespassers to their deaths. Should be good enough.

“Okay.” I nodded. “We'll set camp here for now.”

“Understood.” He replied and put a hand on a meager part of the dragon's broad neck.

The dragon stopped in its tracks as if understanding us, making the wooden floor quake. If it wasn't for my hand that gripped the rail I would've rolled over until the other end of the platform. Laianne though, managed to stay upright, while the girl... She's still against the rail.

She was a foot away to my right, and during the whole ride, not once did she talk. Often she would space out, stare up at the sky, not a care in the world. Sometimes though, she would look at the dark nature around us with innocent amazement in her eyes. She would sit down when her legs are tired, and after a couple minutes she would return to sightseeing.

Coupled with the fact that she doesn't understand our conversations, one would honestly think she was a deaf-mute.

Once the floor fully stabilized, Laianne and Alrod gathered our necessities and stepped down the ladder. I would've follow them then, but before I took my first step down, I noticed the human girl was just in one corner of the platform, leaning over the wooden rail, her gaze bound to the unseen distant and her head clearly absent. I walked up to her and poked her shoulder.

Her body jolted the instant my finger touched her bare skin. I could almost hear her heart pounding against her ribcage as she turned to me, eyes wide open.

“Hey.” I said.

She didn't answer and just stared still at my face.

What was she thinking about, I was curious, but she probably wouldn't tell me.

“Aren't you coming?”

She looked around, at the entirety of the platform, at the dragon, then at me.

“… Come?” She said in a hoarse undertone.

“Yeah.”

“… Come where?”

“Down.” I said.

“Down...?” She tilted her head.

I nodded and held out my hand to her. She looked at it, then back at my face, hesitation in her iceberg eyes. They were larger than normal. Her eyes were adjusted to accommodate the darkness.

“I'm not really sure if I'm still a human, probably not anymore, but what I can guarantee you is that I don't eat people, and that I won't hurt you.” I said.

The worst I can probably do to you is chain you to a wall. Wait, is that considered as hurting someone? Well I guess it depends on how energetic the one getting chained is.

“Alrion, though I was Arenson Randall not too long ago.” I couldn't help but smile wryly.

She looked down at my hand again. After thinking for good three seconds, she stacked her right hand over mine in a timid fashion.

“Jana.” She muttered. “Jana Mirren.”

Her eyes looked up at me, uneasiness in the form of tears coated her eyes like twisting glass. I didn't know why but something about her cold eyes felt, odd. Unsettling. It wasn't their color nor how they looked like as a whole. I found myself staring at them, perhaps subconsciously trying to find what was odd about her eyes. Our gazes were locked on to each other for a second, two seconds, three, until I finally lost count.

Then the floorboard creaked, like an untimely wake up call.

I turned around, Alrod stood by the ladder way, unmoving.

“... Lord Alrion?”

“What.” I let go of the girl's cold hands. “Don't ask, we weren't doing anything.”

“We're done setting up.”

“OH...

I'll be right there, then.” I said.

Alrod descended the ladder with aura of suspicion tracking his back.

“We should go.” I told the girl, Jana. “I think Danrel can't sleep when someone's still aboard.”

Jana tilted her head. “... Danrel?”

“The dragon.”

She instinctively turned to the dragon who was then giving her a sidelong glance with his reptilian yellow eyes.

“O-okay...” She muttered.

On the ashen ground covered with white dead leaves were three normal triangular tents large enough for one person or two to sleep in. They were erected in a circle close to a campfire. A campfire with normal, scarlet flame. Laianne was sitting on the ground near the crackling fire looking bored out of her mind, and was twirling a strand of her black hair around a finger.

I got off Danrel, with Jana timidly chasing my back. As soon as our feet were off the ladder, Danrel lay down with a plop, his white fluffy belly down to the forest ground, along with his head. He closed his eyes and began to snore, clouds of dust belching out of his nostrils. What a cute little fella.

I joined Laianne by the campfire, while Jana scurried off and crouched down near the dragon's snout that was larger than her. I think she wanted to touch him, but was too afraid because of Danrel's size.

Alrod, he was nowhere to be found so I asked Laianne. She said Alrod went out to gather water since he saw a stream flowing near us on the way here.

Shortly after, Alrod returns holding two wooden buckets of water. He said that since humans need to bathe, one bucket would be for the girl and the other one for drinking and cooking. I asked if Asterians don't take baths, and Laianne looked at me like I was a moron.

“We take baths, from time to time. But it's only because soaking oneself in water is relaxing.” She said.

“Though that doesn't mean that we don't clean ourselves regularly.” Alrod chimed in and sat by the fire. “We coat ourselves with Aster to cleanse our bodies.”

“Oh... So you don't need water to clean up. That's pretty neat.”

Alrod nodded solemnly, while Laianne's eyes were drilling my face for some reason.

“Enough about trivial things.” She said, irritated. “We can ask you questions now, yes?”

Oops, forgot about that.

I craned my neck and looked around first before nodding. “Yeah, I did promise, though I can probably guess the things you two will ask me.

‘Why I brought you here’, huh?”

They both nodded.

“Well, the short form.” I put my index up. “The castle walls had ears, while the ceiling had eyes. There's a traitor among your men, Alrod.”

Laianne looked pretty surprised, though I don't know why Alrod was so calm. It was like he already knew. One thing about Alrod is that if he's calm, you won't have a way of knowing what's going on inside his head. Poker-faced.

“Well, Alrod?”

“Yes, Lord Alrion. You may very well be right.” He said.

“So that's why you were acting strange.” Laianne held her chin. “I didn't know you were astute enough to think of a plan.”

“You know what? I might've fallen for you if it wasn't for your impertinence.” I said.

“Really?” Her imaginary dog ears perked up.

“Yeah, totally.”

She averted her gaze.

“But if that's the case...” Alrod's eyes were shut. “We should've just walked on foot, so that the traitor would easily lose us.”

“I also thought of the same thing. That's why I told you to not prepare a dragon before, because dragons are big and showy, the traitor won't have problems tracking us down when we're riding a big fat dragon.”

“So then why did you change your mind, Lord Alrion?”

“Because I figured out that I wanted the bastard to track us after all.”

“Pardon?” Alrod said.

“Huh? That doesn't make sense at all.” Laianne wracked her head.

“Or maybe it makes perfect sense?”

I must've been wearing a smug face then.

“Let me tell you two something. After our encounter with the son of Nariod, I had nothing else on my mind then other than wanting to train and enhance my combat abilities.

But then there was a mole in the castle, and that meant the enemies will be able to track my progress and gauge my current power.”

“… Then?”

“So instead of wasting time trying to pull one traitor out of a hundred people, I decided to just do my business somewhere else, take you two with me to some secret forest or the like without letting anyone else know.

Wait, are you guys still following me?”

“Somehow...” A yawn escaped Laianne's mouth, while her father was as silent as ever.

“But then she came into the mix.” I pointed behind me where a girl was petting and rubbing the snout of a black gargantuan dragon.

“For a reason I'd rather not elaborate, I had to take her with us, but she was such a pain then that I began weighing the pros and cons of riding a dragon. That's when an idea suddenly hit me.”

Laianne drew close and lent her ears. I could tell her interest was piqued.

“If we left without a trace, the traitor wouldn't be able to keep up. I will be able to train in peace outside Artrud, but it also meant that the traitor would be safe and sound inside the castle until we return.

But, if we let the whole world know we're going out of the town by riding a big ass dragon, which was what we did, the mole won't be sitting still and will try to chase after us and observe us from afar for the whole journey.

That's what I was aiming for. ‘She’ already did us the favor of leaving the sheep ranch herself, and while she's out here, observing us, we will have a greater chance of catching her than back at the castle where she's practically camouflaged.”

“I see...” Alrod nodded a few times. “Though why are you telling us that now, when she might hear us?”

“Before she can hear us she would have to get close first. Asterians don't have super-hearing, yes?”

They both nodded.

“Then she'll have to be painfully close before our voices are within her earshot.”

“How cunning of you, Lord Alrion.” Alrod praised.

“Why thank you.”

Laianne walked up to me, her eyes closed. Somehow I got the feeling that she would do something bitchy.

“What are you going to do?” I looked up at her.

She put her hand down on my head and began patting me and ruffling my hair.

“It seems like our Dark Lord is growing well.” She said. “Good job.”

I swatted her hand away.

“You're really annoying, you know that?”

She crouched down beside me.

“Don't be so mad now, Lord Alrion.” She whispered. “As a reward for being so clever, how about let's sleep together in a tent? Since there are only three, it would make sense for one of them to accommodate two people, right?” She said with a smoky seductive voice and blew a cold gust to my ear.

I wonder, do Asterians have something like mating season? Either that or women here really are just open about their sexuality.

“No actually.” I crawled backward. “At least one of us would be up for guard duty at any given time so three tents are just fine.”

“Now you're just making excuses.” She said with narrowed eyes as she crept forward. “As long as we're near you, not a monster would attack us so there's no need for guard duty.”

“What about Danrel? Won't lion wasps try to eat him?”

“Like I said, as long as Danrel is near you, he's safe.” She said, stubborn.

“But you can't sleep with clothes on, right?”

“What about it? You already saw me naked anyway.”

“Hey shouldn't you be more conservative than that? You just told me you're still on your youth.”

“Hmm...?” She stopped her advance and sat up. “Men should be the conservative ones, not the other way around.”

“What?!” I froze.

Cause of death: Major culture shock.

“Hey Alrod, is this true?”

For some reason, Alrod's eyes were far away from us.

Damn Alrod. Damn Asteria.

“I forgot.” Alrod stood up and dusted off his robe. “I will be hunting lion wasps for our dinner now, Lord Alrion.”

“Ah that's great for practicing my abilities, let me help.” I said.

“Well, with all due respect my lord, you can't, because you have an aura that wards off wildlife.”

“What!”

“I will be right back.” He disappeared into the dark shroud of eternal night.

“Ugh.”

“You know, if you want to train your control of Aster so bad, I can just teach you a few things.” Laianne said.

“Really?”

“Yes.” She puffed her chest. “My power might not be as intense as father's, but in terms of controlling it, I'm far more capable than him.”

“That's pretty amazing you know, since Alrod is a lot older than you.”

“Well? Hold out your palms.”

I did as she ordered, and my summer training camp began.