“Krai... D-did you eat the c-cows?”

The dragon let out a faint growl and glanced to the side at the fish lined up, curious. Cessilia patted its snout, causing the dragon to lower its head again.

“You d-didn’t even get a d-drop of b-blood on you... D-don’t eat any ag-gain, p-please? We will g-give you fish now. D-do you like fish?”

The dragon’s eyes were still fixated on the cart, while Tessa sighed and went over to take the cart from the triplets. Once she got a rough understanding of how the handle balancing worked, she effortlessly pushed it all the way toward the dragon where she toppled the fresh fish at its feet under the others’ bemused eyes.

“There. Now, eat only that. Fish. Got it?” said Tessa, her hands on her hips. “No more cows, Krai, you’re on a fish-only diet!”

The Black Dragon suddenly let out a very loud and aggressive growl, clearly not too happy about the new menu.

Somewhere behind them, Nana covered her ears, frightened by that growl, and her brother jumped in front of her. Even the triplets had taken a step back, worried and lost. However, the two girls from the Dragon Empire were still standing up to the dragon, neither of them scared in the slightest.

“Don’t be so grumpy,” protested Tessa. “You haven’t even tried it yet, you glutton!”

Krai answered with a puff of hot air from its nostrils, making both girls’ hair fly around. The Black Dragon laid down heavily, blowing clouds of dust all around and putting its head between its large paws with a continuous, faint growl. They could see the large tail angrily flipping in the air.

Cessilia chuckled and stepped forward, putting her hand on its snout with a little smile.

“D-don’t pout,” she said. “We will b-buy the most d-delicious fish for you.”

“It’s not like you’re going to die from it either,” sighed Tessa, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, you’re one cow away from fat, big guy...”

The dragon puffed the hot air out of its large nostrils again, making her grimace. Next to her, Cessilia chuckled and petted it some more.

A few steps behind, Nana and Sabael were completely speechless, and they weren’t the only ones. A handful of passersby who had inadvertently caught the scene were frozen right where they stood, unable to take their eyes off of the dragon, in a strange mix of fascination and terror. Most of the people in the Eastern Kingdom had never seen a dragon themselves, not even from afar or in books. They had very little knowledge about those creatures and had never been prepared to see one. That dragon was huge, so huge its enormous, black-scaled body seemed to take all of the available space in that little area. The beast was clearly capable of ravaging this place in a matter of seconds. In fact, the sharp, terrifying claws were already digging into the white cobblestones a bit, as if it was just butter. Its wagging tail was swishing around gusts of wind and dust, threatening to hit a building at any moment, and no one could tell if the structure could withstand that blow.

Even more impressive were the two completely relaxed young women facing that beast. They were joking and conversing as if a gigantic predator wasn’t right next to them, not even two steps away. If it decided to attack, there’d be no time to run and nowhere to flee. It would be over in a matter of seconds between those terrifying fangs. However, their impossible calm was what kept people from running away themselves. The two girls were acting as if they were with some large dog or any other domesticated beast. The dragon too was acting very strangely. Completely uninterested in the humans around, the red eyes kept following the two girls with curious glances, the head even sometimes tilting a bit in an almost cute way. It didn’t even try to take a bite, only staring as if it could understand what was said. This was too much to process for all the humans present.

When a long and strange growl resonated, people shivered and took a few more steps back. In fact, curiosity was the only thing keeping them from running for dear life. Who else could ever boast that they had seen a real, living dragon? Most wouldn’t even believe it!

“You must b-be hungry,” said Cessi with a smile.

Krai growled at first, showing its teeth, and this time, half the passersby did run, thinking that was it.

“D-don’t d-decide b-before you t-try it!” sighed Cessilia, putting her hands on her hips. “C-come on, t-take a nice b-bite.”

Krai finally raised its head and came to sniff the large cart placed not far away. Tessa took a couple of steps back, crossing her arms and frowning. In fact, it would have been worrying and problematic if the dragon really didn’t like its new diet...

Suddenly, Krai’s head dove and a savage scene began. Cessilia had to take a couple of steps back so she wouldn’t be splattered by the messy eater. That was quite a disgusting scene, seeing the dragon hungrily eat up its breakfast. There were scales raining down, and from time to time, a fin would loudly splat down too. It was obvious the dragon had rarely had fish for breakfast but was enjoying it plenty. Krai would sometimes throw a big chunk of fish in the air, and catch it in one bite before gulping it down with a satisfied growl.

Thankfully, the carnage was over in just a few seconds. Nana was horrified, and her brother didn’t bother to close his mouth either. Cessilia and Tessa exchanged a look, but the older of the two kept sighing and shaking her head.

“I can’t believe you made such a fuss, all for that!”

Ignoring her, Krai was meticulously licking its snout and paws, and sniffing around the cart, as if hoping to find a fourth fish hidden somewhere. Cessilia turned to Nana and her brother.

“K-Krai likes it!” she exclaimed happily.

“G-good...” muttered Nana, her body still half-frozen.

“Let’s grab our stuff while he’s here,” said Tessa. “Now that we know where we will be staying, I don’t want to have to call that guy too often, or they’ll start to think we’re ready to barbecue their castle...”

Cessilia nodded, and the two girls had Krai lower its body again to grab their luggage. In fact, the cart they had brought the fish with was put into use again to carry their bags and unload everything from the dragon’s back. Luckily, they just had to take off some covering layer to be sure their belongings wouldn’t stink of raw fish. The triplets, doing their best to regain their composure, helped the best they could and took charge of the cart once again.

When everything was taken off of its back, Krai shook with a satisfied expression, and extended its large wings to the side, as if to stretch them. Still, the dragon didn’t take off, and instead, lowered its head to Cessilia’s level once again. The bond between them was so clear, it could almost be seen with the bare eye. Nana was surprised to feel a bit of jealousy while seeing such a magnificent creature completely subjected to the young woman’s every move. She couldn’t really understand what this creature really was or why it acted so obedient toward a mere human it could have killed in seconds, but the Black Dragon visibly wouldn’t have touched a hair on the Princess’ head, just as she had said. In fact, it acted almost like her cat at home, asking for attention and pets from the young woman, wrapping its tail and body around her.

“We can’t keep him from flying around, but at least he won’t eat your cattle now,” said Tessa, turning to the siblings.

“Are you sure...?” asked Sabael, his eyes still on the dragon, visibly unsure.

“Yeah, he’s learned to stay away from the humans’ farms and such. He just probably went on a hunt because he was hungry and unfamiliar with the types you raise here. Back home, he usually hunts away from the human villages, or we find him his meat.”

“M-maybe he will start fishing b-by himself now,” added Cessilia.

This wasn’t actually very reassuring to Nana. Not at all. Since childhood, she had learned the patterns of fishermen and how to keep the fish near their fishing zone without scaring them away, so there would always be plenty in their nets no matter what. She could only imagine what would happen to their fishing industry if all the fish in the bay realized there was now a predator this size in the area...

“We will feed him!” she exclaimed with a smile she hoped looked confident. “I-I will let my uncles know we need to keep some prizes for your dragon, and we can give him delicious ones too!”

“Th-thank you,” smiled Cessilia, unaware of her troubles.

Nana nodded, relieved the Princess agreed to that small arrangement. Moreover, the Princesses looked like they had enough money to pay for a decade’s worth of meals for the dragon! Perhaps they could keep the unsold fish of the day for the dragon, and get it used to that? Nana was already thinking of dozens of ways they could keep the carnivorous beast satiated, resolute to find a solution that would prevent anyone from being killed, or emptying their coasts.

“Alright, I think that’s it,” said Tessa as they were done, checking the cart to see if everything was secured. “I guess we can go back now.”

“It would be better,” noted Sabael, looking around. “I think we might have gathered a bit too much attention now, we should hurry back to the Inner Capital, it will be safer for us all.”

Cessilia nodded, and turned to the dragon, gently patting its snout. Krai emitted a low, quiet growl in response.

“You should st-stay away from th-the human habitations, K-Krai. Alright? G-go to the beaches or where they c-can’t see you. There’s a c-coast under my room, you c-can visit me when you want.”

The dragon growled back. Nana wondered if it was just in response to her voice, or because it could actually understand the Princess’ language...

Soon enough, the dragon pushed its snout against Cessilia one more time and sat up, looking around while spreading its wings. Once it stood up in all its glory, that dragon was even taller and scarier. Nana felt her heart skip a beat. It was scary, very scary, but also impressive and amazing. The gigantic creature flapped its wings twice before taking off, leaving a large swirl of dust and wind behind. Cessilia looked up, protecting her eyes from the sun and smiling at the dark figure until it was too far up, and going farther away. Then, the Princess casually walked back to the little group.

“A d-d-dragon!” a man on the side who had been petrified by fear all this time suddenly screamed . “A dragon!”

He ran away screaming a bit ridiculously. Tessa sighed.

“Sometimes I really forget they have this effect on people. And we only came with one...”

“Do you have a lot of dragons in the Empire?” asked Nana, whose curiosity had seemed to chase all the fear away.

“J-just a few,” replied Cessilia, “b-but Krai is the b-biggest.”

“I see... Are they all black? Do they all fly? Oh, and are the others smaller because they are young then? Do you ride them all whenever you want? How high can they go?”

While Nana kept her long list of questions going without rest, their little group began leaving the place, in the same formation as before. Cessilia didn’t mind Nana’s questions at all and managed to give an answer here and there where she could. It was a bit funny to follow their conversation, one’s speech being incredibly fast and restless, while the other was slowed down by her stutter, but did her best to answer happily and calmly.