Truth, Food and Poison
After the servant leaves, Scarlet finally puts me down on a chair and moves me so close to her that our chairs are touching while surrounding me with her tail. She pulls out a book and puts it on the table, the title says, ‘A comprehensive history of Blaze’. Scarlet opens the book to a page of two portraits, one of a pretty woman with dark red hair and one of a handsome man with pink hair.
“These two are our parents. Look, dad even has the same kind of pink hair as you do, just without the black parts. He also has a very similar scale color to yours.”
Getting a bit closer to the book I say, “So that's what they look like…Everyone in your family is so beautiful…”
Putting her arm around me she gives me a smug look, she answers, “Kikikiki, that’s right! There are no exceptions.”
“So…It says these are the Queen and King of Blaze. It would be very mean if this is all a prank so I don’t think you would do that…Should I call you by ‘Your Highness’ now?”
“Pfft, only if I’m allowed to call you by your Highness too. We’re both princesses after all!”
“Huh…”
Tilting her head in confusion, Scarlet asks me, “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
“I dunno…It’s just…I’m from the slums Scarlet. Wouldn’t I dirty a title as big as princess?”
“What!? Of course not! Rose, you’re more than fit to be a princess! You’re kind, you’re smart and you’re immensely talented in everything you do! Even Ifrit thought that you were worthy! Also you’re not ‘from the slums’ you were just kidnapped and abused there!”
“Still…Being a princess comes with many obligations. You have to be smart, you have to be skilled, you need to be highly educated and you have to be pretty and sociable at all times while everyone constantly puts you under pressure to be better. I’m not sure I can do that…”
A bit surprised, she says, “Wow…You almost sound like you’re speaking from experience…It’s true that being a princess isn’t just fun and games. But I also promise you something Rose, if you grow up and you don’t like the responsibilities then you won’t have to do them. If you just want to be my little sister and be a spoiled princess that just does what she wants, then I’ll make sure you can live that way. I don’t want you to feel burdened by our family.”
“Pfft. So, if I just want to waste money and become some arrogant brat that goes around ruining our family’s reputation, will you still support me?”
“Of course! I’ll get you the best tailors and jewelers money can afford and I’ll make sure to clean up all the messes you make!”
“Hahaha, you’re so stupid manya. Don’t support me when I’m being selfish, I don’t want to make life harder for you.”
“Kikikiki, now see, that's the trick! As long as you are happy you can’t make my life harder. I’d much rather have a spoiled, trouble-making, happy sister than a prim and proper princess that isn’t happy.”
Leaning my head on her shoulder I say “Thank you Scarlet, I appreciate it. But you shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Heh, that’s one thing you have yet to learn, Rose. We Dragons do not make promises we won’t keep. We don’t give promises lightly and we’re honorbound to fulfill them when we give them.”
“Why would you go so far for me then?”
“Because I love you of course!”
“But…I can’t even say it back yet…”
“Pfft Rose, most babies can’t even say their first words until they’re at least fifty. You have time.”
“But…I’m not a baby.”
“Oh, really?”
Scarlet pulls out the letter I got from Holly.
“Uhum. To quote the Goddess of Children, ‘Your physical body is currently 38 days old which for a dragon like you is basically freshly hatched. As for your new dragon body, think of it as a rebirth rather than a change to your appearance,’ I don’t know Rose but you are not beating the baby allegations with that.”
“It also says that I’m mentally way older!”
“Ah yes excuse me, as a reincarnated five year old you of course had the world already figured out. I mean you were able to form full sentences for two whole years at that point, how could I ever not take that vast well of knowledge and maturity into account?”
“...”
“Alright now you’re just being mean.”
She chuckles, “Not at all, I just want you to stop putting pressure on yourself that you don’t need to have. I understand that you needed to live like an adult man for the last two years but that’s not who or what you are. It’s just what you were forced to be. You can’t be happy as long as you keep holding on to that identity to please others.”
“...”
“Bu- sigh Are there other pictures of our family in this book?”
“Heh. Of course there are!”
Flipping through the pages, she shows me a painting of a dark red dragon with multiple scars and what looks like a red beard hanging down from its chin, “This is our grandpa, the previous Dragon King.”
“Why is he not in his polymorphed form for the painting?”
“Because grandpa preferred to stay in his Draconic form most of the time.”
“Isn’t that inconvenient? Did he sleep in a cave or something? I can’t imagine him fitting through any door. Also how much did he eat? It must have been a lot!”
“Kikikiki, I see you’re finally showing real interest! It is a little inconvenient but the palace and the streets are generally designed in a way for us to fit, so he slept in a bed in the palace. As for food…It doesn’t really matter what form you take, you still have to eat the same amount generally.”
“What? But you ate a bunch of pigs when you were in your draconic form and ever since then you’ve only eaten the same stuff we’ve been eating.”
“That’s because of the pigs you gave me. Generally speaking we need to eat as much as we use up. I’ve been basically just lounging around with you and barely moving so the bit of food I’ve been eating and the reserves from back then are generally enough.”
“What about me though? Shouldn’t I eat less since my body is so small instead of more?”
“Not really, think about it, your tiny body has to somehow keep up with carrying that large body around and not just that, you even train and use mana. That’s a lot of strain, so of course you need to eat a lot to keep up.”
“Hmm…I guess that makes sense. So if I just didn’t move all day I could probably live off some berries and a glass of water?”
“Probably, yeah.”
“Huh…That’s kind of cool. So, how do you switch between draconic form and polymorphed form? Also how did you do that mixed thing in the bath where you had scales in your polymorphed form?”
“Essentially how it works is you need to visualize the feeling of your other form and your body will adapt. So I just need to imagine my arm from my draconic form…”
Her arm transforms into a Dragon arm “And if I want to go back I just need to imagine the polymorphed arm,” Her arm then transforms back.
“Alright, let me try as well.”
Closing my eyes I imagine what it feels like to be in my other form, then when I open my eyes I’m still the same.
“Hmm, it didn’t work.”
“Honestly Rose, that makes me feel a little glad. It would have been strange if you could do that on your first try too, especially since you barely spend any time in your draconic form.”
“Hmm…So I need to spend more time in my draconic form?”
“Yes, it will be good for you. It’s not healthy to strain yourself in this cursed polymorphed form all the time. It’d be best if you only stayed in your draconic form for a few years but I understand you can't do that. So, how about half a day, each day? We can do mornings like that and after your nap at noon you can be in your polymorphed form again. ”
“Won’t that be dangerous? We’ll be on the road again tomorrow. I can't defend myself while I’m in my draconic form.”
Rayla chuckles, “Have some faith in us, oki. We’ll take care of you. We usually arrive for quests in the early afternoon anyways so it should be fine.
“Yeah, your big sisters will take care of you, Rose.”
“Hmm…Okay I’ll try that then.”
Scarlet then shows me more of our ancestors and after a few minutes, multiple waiters walk into our room with an extra table and a bunch of different appetizers.
One of the waiters, an Owl-Beastkin woman with white and black feathers instead of hair and piercing yellow eyes, moves to our table, puts down a pitcher of water and fills three glasses, one for each of us.
“Since your Highness requested sweet drinks, we brought you an assortment of different sweet teas, lemonades as well as flavored milks and juice drinks. Unfortunately though, while I do recognize your Highness, I’m not well versed enough in your guests so may I ask how I should address them?”
“This here is my cousin Rayla, you may call her Lady Rayla and this is my baby sister, you may address her as Princess Rose or simply with ‘your Highness’.”
“Understood, I’d like to formally greet your Highness Rose and Lady Rayla as well. Please enjoy yourselves, the main courses will be brought out in about forty five minutes.”
Looking at the table, it is full of different small meals that look like they’re from all over the world. Weirdly though, some seem to have warning labels on them.
“Why do some of these have warnings on them, manya?”
“Because not every race can eat every meal. These pastries here for example have cinnamon in them which means we can’t eat them but Rayla can. And this bread here has raisins in it which means Rayla can’t eat it.”
“Huh…What happens if we eat cinnamon?”
“Cinnamon is poisonous to us and has a similar effect that alcohol has on other races but for someone as young as you it could be lethal.”
“L-lethal!? Why do they even have things on the menu that can kill us!?”
“Because most races are fine with it. It’s a popular spice in sweets and often found in cuisine from the middle kingdoms.”
“And what happens if you eat raisins, ane?”
Rayla thinks for a bit and answers, “Essentially they’ll make me vomit, make my heart race and in a high enough dose could give me a heart attack. Chocolate is also pretty bad for me, if it has a high enough coco percentage and I eat a whole bar it could cause me to faint or even die.”
“I didn’t know that…Are there other things we can’t eat Scarlet?”
“Well there are many but in terms of things unique to us, there is cinnamon, mint in a high enough dose can give you seizures, every edible part of the agora tree is also pretty toxic for both us and Rayla and will cause vomiting, diarrhea and maybe even heart problems, both garlic and onions are pretty toxic to us but they also taste and smell horribly so you probably won’t eat them in the first place.”
“What? But I like both garlic and onions!”
“Hmm maybe you did before you were reincarnated but I doubt you still do.”
With a disgusted expression Scarlet picks up a bowl of soup and brings it over to me. It stinks horribly, like rotten garlic and onions.
“This is Mondorian onion soup, it has both onions and garlic in it.”
“It smells disgusting…Did it go bad?”
“I highly doubt that. Both garlic and onions just smell like that. Can you give us your opinion prima? “
Taking a sniff of the soup, Rayla says, “It smells fine. As for the taste…It’s great.”
“Oh man…That sucks. I really liked garlic and onions...”
“Pfft, it will be fine. We might have some different dietary restrictions but there are also things that we enjoy a lot more than other races! Like raw meat for example and spicy food and a whole lot more! That's part of why I ordered everything. I want both of you to just try new things and expand your palette so you know what you like and what you dislike. Just try to eat slowly, Rose. Or else you’ll go into a feeding frenzy.”
“Okay.”