Reincarnated As A Dragon Vol. 1: A New World, A New Life (Old)

Chapter 5: A Saviour

I was playing in the area where I normally play in. It's a small area, but I've built some things on it. There is one tree with a treehouse that I built, another with a swing, a track of logs, roots, and wood to practice jumping and running with obstacle courses, and a field right next to my private area where I secretly play with my friends a game I forgot the name of but involves kicking a ball around. My father doesn't let me play with normal people, or we call them commoners.

I escaped the house because, well, I only act like I'm all soft and innocent in front of people because I'm not that comfortable showing what's really in my head. But father worries too much. I could see him stressed before the king's visit and even worse now. There's this dragon that he keeps talking about that is on the loose in the forest and they're hunting it down so it wouldn't hurt anyone, but what are the chances of it specifically going here and finding me? How scary is it anyway?

I can take care of myself! Father doesn't know, but I've been longing to be an adventurer since I was young. I have an affinity with wind magic and concealing magic and I'm also pretty good with the sword for my age. He's too overprotective! Sometimes I don't mean to, but I wish him bad luck. He thinks I'm innocent, a 5-year-old in a 10-year-old's body, but he does nothing about it? Isn't that hypocrisy in a way? Or just not caring?

I normally play every second day here, but he wanted me to stop playing for 4 days because there is a 'danger' in the forest. He already took my dreams of a normal life. Yes, a commoner's life, or an adventurer's life to be more specific, is my preference for a living, and because my father is the lord, just because I am a noble's descendant, I can't get to do all that!

"I don't really want to think of this..."

I then move from my treehouse to the swing. When I go on the swing, unlike other children, I get a bit dizzy. But the intensity of the dizziness is just enough to be both distracting and somehow... Comfy.

I was swinging for a couple of minutes before I heard something in the bushes. I was afraid that it would be the dragon. I brought a short sword just in case it comes, but then I realized I shouldn't have been scared at all.

What came out was a small dragon that is just a little bigger than a house cat. It was purple with a grey underbelly and underside of the wing. It is beautiful, but it got horns which means it's male.

I don't know why, but I was mesmerized by this creature. The same one that my father doesn't want me to meet. It's like I wanna pet it, but I'm scared that it will bite or something. It's small, so it's a lesser dragon.

Why is father so scared of such a harmless creature?

It is just then that I noticed it shivering and noticed the scratches around it at how it had its right foot off the ground. Its left wing also has a hole in it. What happened?!

I approached it slowly and it crept back to the bush. I kneeled and it stopped but is still scared of me.

Why is it scared?

Then I remembered that I still had the short sword in its sheath on my left.

Ohh...

I unsheathed it, showed it to the baby dragon --who flinched--, and threw it to the field.

"Come on, I'm not going to hurt you..."

After I said that, the dragon ran and huddled in front of me. I picked it up and pressed it to my chest. It is panting and shivering. It's also whimpering probably from the pain. Poor thing...

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I can't help it. I can hear my hunters gaining distance towards me and I saw the boy as my only hope. The moment he said that he wouldn't hurt me, I shuffled toward him and let him pick me up. He started petting me with one hand which somehow soothed me a lot. But the pain wasn't gone. I could hear myself whimpering. It was better than the high-pitched roars from before, but I don't want this boy to think of me as weak. Heh, that's the new me now. I'm in a life-and-death situation but my pride still gets over me. I could feel his one hand supporting me struggling a little.