Vol. 2 - Chapter 64 - Katariona Meets the Dragon King Princess (Part 2)
Chris and I looked in the direction where Slyphine-sama had flown away.
"A divine dragon. Her human form was also beautiful, but as expected of a dragon king."
"If the Dragon King Princess’s breath hits, will Leon and the others be able to withstand it?"
"I can at most defend myself, but I can\'t use magic to attack. They are the strongest race in the world and magic doesn\'t work on them."
My stomach growled.
"Now that I feel relieved, I\'m hungry. It\'s cold at the top, so let\'s have lunch in the Dragon\'s Lair."
Today\'s lunch was the traditional Hinoshima rice balls that Kikuno-sama had taught me. And as usual, I asked the God of Time to bring me a freshly made bento using Space Magic.
Just as the God of Time came out to carry the ingots, I asked him to serve our lunch.
"I\'m going to put soy sauce and miso on the rice balls and bake them."
It\'s said that baked rice balls are made by coating them with soy sauce or miso, also called yaki-onigiri.
"How do you start a fire? I don\'t know anyone who can use fire magic, do you?"
"I\'m glad you asked," I said with a proud smile.
"I\'ll use the light from my Sacred Magic. Watch and see."
I will use the convergent nature of light that Flare-sama taught me. Concentrating the light on a single point on the dry wood, after a while, smoke started to appear, so I blew on it and it ignited.
"I started the fire. Now we need to make a bonfire to keep the fire burning."
The wood for the bonfire was also brought by the God of Time.
"It\'s a primitive way to use light, but I guess it can be applied in this way."
Chris gazed at the lit wood with admiration.
"It is very difficult, though. If you make a mistake adjusting the light, you end up with a hole."
I had practiced several times in the forest, but once I almost started a forest fire. I hurriedly put out the spark, but it penetrated several trees and caused the Dryad maidens a lot of trouble. I apologized later and cast a lot of Recovery Magic on them.
"You mean you can skewer them with light? Yurie is the strongest and most fearsome of them all."
"I don\'t skewer people! It\'s a technique I invented to make fire when I find myself in a tough survival situation. It\'s a technique I invented to see if I could make a fire in case of such event."
I turned the other way pouting when Tojurou-san teased me.
"Let\'s just leave the foolish Hikoshiro alone and grill up some rice balls."
Kikuno-sama used Earth Magic to make a kiln, and then we put a net on top of it. The ladies applied soy sauce and miso to the rice balls and put them on the net to cook them. The fragrant smell of roasting soy sauce and miso permeated the air.
"I thought I would only be able to eat yaki rice balls back home.
After the rice balls were cooked, the next step was to retrieve the miso soup out of the space and serve it to everyone.
"Now then, let\'s eat."
Just as I picked up my grilled rice ball to eat, I heard the sound of wings in the sky. It seemed to have descended at a tremendous speed, and then appeared in front of the kiln, taking the form of a person.
It was Sylphine-sama. Her sapphire eyes were full of expectation. And her white skin was flushed, due to her excitement.
"Rice! Miso! Soy sauce!"
Huh? Her pronunciation of Hinoshimakuni was spot on.
"And yaki-onigiri and miso soup ......?"
Slyphine-sama\'s stomach grumbled as she spun around to look at me.
"Can I have some of this, please? That\'s right!"
The Dragon King Princess dropped to her knees! It was a superb sliding dogeza on her knees.
"My share will be reduced. ...... mugh!"
Leon hurriedly closed his mouth.
"Please raise your head, Slyphine-sama. And if you don\'t mind, let\'s have dinner together."
She raised her head as if she were flying, her face sparkling. It was a sudden change from the dignified appearance of the past, to a face like that of a normal girl, which was somewhat cute.
I serve her grilled rice balls and miso soup. She took the yaki onigiri with trembling hands, and as she took a bite, tears spilled from her eyes.
"It\'s delicious! I never thought I\'d find rice, miso, and soy sauce in this world!"
"Is it so delicious that it brings tears to your eyes?"
The way Sylphine-sama nodded her head while munching on a grilled rice ball was so cute.
" We still have more, so please keep on eating."
I had prepared a lot of onigiris, thinking that the men, especially Leon, would eat a lot. The rice was grown in the greenhouse following Kikuno-sama\'s instructions, so we were able to harvest a lot.
"And yet, the Dragon Princess. Sylphine-sama was it? How did you recognize the smell of grilled rice balls?"
"Dragons have a well-developed sense of smell. I forgot to give you the scales, so I came back and smelled a nostalgic fragrance."
"I never received the scales, did I?"
Leon frowned as he greedily placed several rice balls on his plate.
Nostalgic? Do they have rice, soy sauce, and miso in the Dragon King\'s world?
Sylphine-sama was also chomping down on a rice ball, not to be outdone by Leon.
"Thanks for the food! I\'ll give you the scales I promised."
With a full stomach, Sylphine-sama plucked out a single strand of hair that was flowing in the opposite direction on the top of her head. Her hair transformed into silvery-white scales after a while. Its size is about the size of a child\'s head.
"This is called a reverse scale, it\'s a precious thing that only exists on a single dragon scale."
"What!? If you touch it, won\'t the dragon lose its reason and start raging?"
Tojurou-san almost spewed out the miso soup he had been drinking.
"Is that the case with the dragons of Hinoshima?"
"When I was a kid, the old dragon god I met was like that. He had a single scale on his throat that was pointing in the opposite direction, and when I touched it I asked, "What is this?" As soon as I touched it, it suddenly broke out in a frenzy. It was hard to calm it down."
"That was a tough time. We almost had a natural disaster."
He talked about it so simply, as if it were just a memory, but the mere thought of the wrath of a divine being on the scale of a natural disaster was terrifying.
"After all, different countries have different gods, don\'t they?"
"The shape is also different. The dragon god of Hinoshima has a long body like a snake. His arms and legs are short and he carries a dragon ball in one hand. It has no wings, but it is capable of flying."
For a while, Sylphine-sama, Kikuno-sama, and Tojurou-san were talking about the dragon gods.
"You look beautiful as a dragon, Sylphine-sama."
"Yes. Your human form is also beautiful, but I wonder, do the dragon gods have many beautiful forms?"
Chris and I were playing on the ground, drawing pictures, wondering what the God of Time, who was from the Dragon tribe, would look like in human form when Sylphine-sama called out to us.
"The little girl with silvery-white hair, like mine. What\'s your name?"
"My name is Katariona Yurie Grandeur."
I curtseyed as I introduced myself to Sylphine-sama.
"Yurie? What an unusual second name for a citizen of Findalia."
"My ancestors were from the Hinoshima nation. Those born in my family have unusual second names like mine."
"I see," smiled Sylphine-sama, putting her hand on my head.
"May I call you Yurie then? You may call me Sylphy."
"With pleasure!"
Sylphy-sama asked the gods of our country as well as Chris and Tojiro for their names in the same way.
"Grandeur is the territory under this mountain range, correct? Yurie ...... that ...... may I come visit you again to eat rice?"
It seems that Sylphine-sama liked the rice balls.
"You are welcome to visit us anytime, Sylphy-sama."
"Thank you. So there are still humans like you who are favored by the gods. I wish I could give you all of my scales, but it takes time for them to grow back. I\'m sorry."
With that said, Sylphy-sama drew a circle on the ground and pouted. She is so cute that I want to pat her head. I\'m not going to do it, though, because it would be disrespectful.
"Being given such a precious scale is a blessing in disguise for me."
Sylphy-sama, who had been disappointed, looked up and patted me on the head, saying, "Yurie is a good girl."
She offered to come back and deliver the scales to me when they grow back. I politely refused her offer because I was hesitant to do so, but she insisted that it would only make her feel better.
"Well then, thank you for all your help. Farewell!"
Sylphy-sama changed into her dragon form and flew away.
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