Reincarnated as an Orphaned Dragon!

Chapter 7 - "Tournament Prelude"

--- Lava

Many of the church priests were switched out, though Aya still remained, so she must be good enough at magic to fulfill her duties normally.

At the very least, she was trying to take care of me like Gramps asked.
She even paid for a room at an inn so I'd have a place to stay.

Lumen didn't like her at all and remained hidden, an understandable reaction after being siphoned of magical energy by a church.

Even so, I kept ditching her and making her panic after losing me.
Every time she left me alone, I snuck out of the city, which wasn't hard using dragon-level magic.
As soon as I got away from the city, I left human form to relax in the surrounding forest.

Meanwhile, Aya looked everywhere trying to find the child she had lost.

Stretching my wings and talons out was so comfortable, I could just... fall right asleep.
But I couldn't!

This was no place to sleep, what if a beast attacked me while I was sleeping?!

I kept myself awake with that in mind, when I heard a sudden commotion.
Silently, I approach the noise and peek out from the foliage to see what was going on.

I'm suddenly witness to a lot of kids fighting each other with wooden weapons.
And when I looked closer I noticed Taz and Chase were part of them!

So this is where they are, I wonder where Ria is...

'I wish I could compliment them myself. They look like they were made for this.' I thought.

I even overheard them talking about some kind of tournament.
'Blooming Talent Tournament? What's that?'

I absently inched forward as I tried to hear more, breaking a branch, which, in turn, created a snapping sound.

"What was that?!" A few of the exhausted kids jumped.

The man wearing armor was coming straight for me!

Quickly, I turned around and ran without even thinking.
'What if they saw me? Would they even listen to me?'  I panicked.

"Everyone be alert tonight! There are dragon tracks here!" The man commanded the kids, whom stiffened at once, clearly trembling just from the idea.

Why can't I just be comfortable in peace?

That was enough relaxing for the day, I decided to return to Aya early.

"There you are! Are you hurt?! Stop leaving me like that, you'll get me in trouble!" She complains while checking me all over.

I whine and throw another fake tantrum for food, hoping this same trick works on the priest woman as well.
I'm really not even hungry, I just want to taste some of the deliciousness that wafts by.
Maybe if I act pitiful I'll get better food.

"Oh, so you're just hungry, is that it? You could have just asked, little one." Aya coos at my exaggerated complaints and leads me to a restaurant as if she were my parent.

'I've still got it! It works every time! But I hope I grow up quickly... Maybe I should just enjoy being a kid again while it lasts.'

As soon as I stepped inside the local restaurant with Aya, my senses were exploding with irresistible smells of meat.
As a dragon, I could smell everything, every sweet and savory dish attacked me all at once.
I could only imagine what modern food from earth would be like in this body.

Many of the people at other tables stared at me as I stuffed more and more into my mouth.

A girl with red hair and red eyes was quite the rare sight, so it makes sense they would be staring.
Especially when that girl was also devouring inhuman amounts of food as if she were a beast.

Though, technically I AM a beast...

"Ahh, that was good!" I yawned, completely satisfied.

The resulting bill was definitely not what Aya expected, and she learned better than to bring Lava into another restaurant.

On the way back to the inn, I found a poster advertising the upcoming tournament.
It made me excited to know Ria, Taz and Chase were going to be participating.

There was no way I could allow myself to miss it.