Page 40 of The White King's Favorite

“So... uh... How do you call out a dragon?” she asked. “To be honest, I’m a bit nervous because I have never seen a real dragon myself, but I am a bit excited too! It must be huge, right? Since you came with it... Is it really not eating humans anymore? I mean, I am rather... appetizing, I think. It won’t be tempted, right?”

“I p-promise, he won’t,” chuckled Cessilia.

Luckily, they had arrived at the plaza before Nana could bombard her with any more of her endless questions. It was a large circular area, with white cobblestones and a couple of benches but, as Sabael had mentioned, it was mostly abandoned, except for a handful of passersby who wouldn’t even stop. In fact, Cessilia thought this place must have been beautiful in the past, although the trees around had dried out, and that old, decrepit fountain wouldn’t even show a single drop of water...

Their little group stopped, and Tessa raised her arm to gesture for everyone but Cessilia to not step any further. Meanwhile, her cousin slowly moved to the center of the plaza. It was big enough to hold the dragon indeed, as long as Krai didn’t decide to move around too much. Then, she put two fingers in the corner of her mouth, and let out a long, complex whistling song.

“...You can call a dragon like that?” whispered Nana.

“Nope, that’s just Cessi,” said Tessa. “Krai knows how to recognize her voice and her song, he wouldn’t answer anyone else the same. ...Trust me, I tried.”

Sure enough, a shadow quickly appeared in the sky. Cessilia smiled and stepped back a bit, leaving Krai room to land. In the back, Nana and her brother were both completely speechless and, of course, scared. If it wasn’t for Cessilia’s confident smile and Tessa not moving an inch either, they might have really run away. That dragon was gigantic, taking up almost all the space in a plaza that could have held two or three hundred humans, and getting bigger as it slowly landed in front of them.

Krai let out a low-pitched growl, its red eyes fixated on Cessilia. The young woman smiled brightly and walked up to the dragon, her hands behind her back. It turned its head to follow her, tilting it with curious movements.

“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.

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