Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 20: Camping

We walked a short distance away from the village before I erased our presence and got my wings out.

“Oh, are we flying now?”

“I figured we would cover some ground,” I said before taking Liz in my arms. “By the way, I don’t even know how far away the capital is.”

“From here, it’s maybe three or four days with a good horse.”

“And with a good dragon?” I asked with a smirk.

“I don’t really know how fast you are, maybe a day? Meaning we will need to find somewhere to sleep.”

“I have stuff with me for camping if you want.”

“I have some camping supplies in my magic bag as well.”

“Also, let me know if you get cold. My [Wind Barrier] should help, but it’s still colder up here,” I said as I looked at Liz’s bare legs.

Liz tightened her grip around me. “I can just siphon your body heat.”

After a few hours of flying, including a few breaks to let Liz rest, it started getting late, so we found a spot to camp for the night.

“You know, normally people would avoid camping in forests altogether, never mind this deep in,” Liz said while I pulled out a tent from [Inventory].

“Dragons like to sleep secluded,” I said with a smirk.

“I guess it’s my fault that I still cling to my own common sense.”

I let out a small laugh. “You should really know better by now.”

“But still,” She said while looking at the tent, “Isn’t this a normal tent?”

I looked at her and tilted my head. “Uuh, I guess so? Is that no good?” 

“Nono, it’s fine. It’s just that, since it’s you, I half expected you to pull out a house or something.”

“Do you want me to?”

“Wait, can you?” She asked in a slightly surprised tone.

I just grinned at her and continued putting up the tent.

After we gathered some firewood, I made some seats with earth magic while Liz started on the fire. When we were done, I sat down on the bench I had created and pulled out two meals.

“Eating piping hot restaurant food in the middle of the forest is a first. Usually, it’s something simple to cook or travel rations,” Liz said while looking at the food I gave her.

“You will have to make due with this. I’m not sure I could even manage cooking something simple,” I said and laughed.

As someone who lived on delivery and microwave food in my old life and grew up as a dragon that can survive on the mana around me in my second life, I'm sure I would destroy anything I would put close to a fire.

“As bad as it sounds, that kind of makes me a little bit happy.”

I looked at Liz and raised an eyebrow. “You are happy that I can’t cook?”

“I’m just happy that there are things you can’t do,” She said and looked into the fire. “You seem like this perfect being that can do anything and everything… It just makes me feel a little inadequate.”

I hadn’t even thought of that. Without realising it, I just went at my own pace, pulling her along for the ride. Maybe she feels like she doesn’t contribute enough? It’s not like I have traveled with anyone before, so I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t do. Now I’m glad I didn’t pull out my house. Even disregarding the time I spent asleep, I have been alive for at least a hundred times her age so it makes sense that I would be better at some things, right? What should I say to her? Maybe I should just be quiet? No, she would probably take that the wrong way. 

Also, who is this perfect being she is talking about? I only have my strength and my magic. I don’t even think I could wash my own clothes in this world.

“Are you trying to butter me up for something?” I asked and nudged my shoulder against hers. “You’re putting me in a tough spot. The illusion of a perfect being will shatter quickly if you get to know me better.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

I chuckled at her skepticism. “It’s true. I wouldn’t survive if I didn’t have my magic. I’m lazy and messy. I don’t cook or do any other household chores. The list goes on,” I said and pulled out an object from my [Inventory]. “Do you know what this is?”

“A plate?”

“A dirty plate, to be exact. I don’t even know when I used this, but it was probably thousands of years ago. I have never bothered doing any dishes. I always bought cooked food and after using a plate I just tossed it into [Inventory] and bought more plates.”

“Just how many dirty dishes are you carrying around?”

“Let’s just say it’s a lot.”

“You could probably make a fortune selling antique tableware.”

“Do you think they will be worth more with the sauce still on them?”

“Who knows,” She said and smirked. “So you are bad at household chores? A lot of adventurers are.”

“I also can’t handle money,” I said and pondered. “And I can’t deal with nobles.”

“I think most people don’t know how to interact with nobles.”

“They usually at least show respect towards nobles, no matter if it’s due to fear, admiration, or genuine respect. I, on the other hand, think that respect is earned, not given. Why should I have to show respect to some pompous asshole that demands to be treated a certain way because he got born into a certain status? And if they want to use that logic, I’m the queen of dragons. That’s above human royalty and nobles in terms of status.”

“I don’t think our king would agree to that,” Liz said and smirked.

“That would just be a difference in opinion, right? This land was part of the Dragon Empire long before humans settled here. And do you remember what I said about dragon society? Might makes right. I’m fairly certain he would agree if his castle disappeared,” I said in a menacing voice.

Liz looked at me with a slight concern in her eyes. “Just what have you planned for our trip?”

“I was just giving an example. Besides, humans are the same. They try to cover it in layers of politics and deception, but the end result is the same. The only difference is that for humans, wealth is strength. Nobles can’t do anything themselves and instead have to get strong people to enforce their rule like the weak trash they are.”

Liz raised an eyebrow and looked at me suspiciously. “You are getting awfully worked up over this.”

“I’m sorry,” I said and took a deep breath. “It’s just that I have seen so many nobles that remind me of the purple flight. Weak people who have somehow weaseled themselves into a position of power without effort and somehow think I should be honored to kiss their feet. That’s why I avoid interacting with nobles if possible. Don’t get me wrong, many nobles are probably good people, but I have had to deal with a few that made my blood boil. Granted, I don’t know how nobles behave in this time period, but they rarely seem to change. The whole ‘better than you’ mentality tends to warp their personality.”

“I can’t really say about the capital, but at least the lord of Baruda seems to be a decent person if you listen to the townsfolk, fair taxes and a sense of security in the town and all that.”

“Oh right, speaking of him, I apparently saved his daughter from bandits when I went back to town after I cleared that dungeon. I forgot she would come to the adventurers guild a few days later. I wonder if she will be upset that I skipped town.”

“Casually saving the lord's daughter on your way back to town sounds like such a Luna thing to do,” Liz said and sighed.

“I will take that as a compliment.”

“By the way, this is probably a silly question but what should we do with keeping watch during the night?”

“I will just put up a barrier so the camp can’t be seen and anything that comes close will instinctively walk away from it,” I said nonchalantly. “So don’t leave the camp because you won’t find it again.”

“Of course you will,” Liz said and sighed. “But wait, if we don’t need to keep watch and we didn’t cook any food, why did we even light a fire?”

“Oh, well… I just thought it would be cozy when it gets dark,” I said, feeling a slight heat on my cheeks..

Wait, why am I embarrassed? That’s Liz's thing. I'm supposed to be the calm and collected one. It might have been cheesy to say, but it was still romantic, right? Do I want to be romantic? What is our relationship? Are we friends? Friends with benefits? More? Do I even want a relationship? I have only known her for a few days.

“It’s pretty cozy,” Liz said and leaned her head on my shoulder.

Okay, that is not something you would do with a friend, right? Haha, imagine having friends in either of my lives to use as a reference. Brain, can you stop making me depressed?

I leaned my head against hers and gazed into the flames. Neither of us said much until it was time to go to sleep.