19. Even Toddlers Get Hangry

I'd always thought that riding a Raag Dragon meant being tossed around while it galloped at full speed, so I was a little taken aback by this slow, steady pace. I figured that since they were kidnapping people, the dragon must have been pushed to it's absolute limit yesterday.

And yet, it had protected me. Thinking about that makes me remember Hannah, too, so I force myself to seal those thoughts deep down. What should I do in a situation like this?

I pulled a piece of hard bread out of the poncho pocket. Now that I thought about it, I'd been given water, but I hadn't eaten breakfast. People tend to get pessimistic when they're hungry.

The water flask had been placed somewhere within my reach. I started nibbling at the small, hard bread. Munch, munch. Munch, munch. But it's tough without any liquid. Come to think of it, there's no one here to open the flask for me. This is bad. Munch, munch.

I tucked the rest of the bread back into my pocket, gripped the flask with both hands, and looked up—only to find myself met by a dozen staring eyes.

It seemed they had been watching me eat. If that's the case, couldn't they just stop for a bit, or maybe give me some fresh bread? I felt a flash of irritation. I held it out to the person closest to me and said,

"Wawa. Open it."

I held up the flask to show them.

"Alright, we're taking a short break!"

The man called out to the column. Alistair came rushing back, urging his dragon to hurry from the front.

"What's wrong with the brat?"

"She says she wants water. Or rather, she's probably hungry. She was gnawing on some rock-hard bread."

If he saw that the bread was hard as a rock, shouldn't he be doing something about it?

"Bart! Mind if I give this little thing something to eat!"

"Go ahead. We're already running quite a bit behind anyway."

"Thanks."

Alistair is short, but he opened the basket and pulled me down from the dragon with a firm tug. Unlike my big brother, he's incredibly strong.

"This is the only thing that looks like it's ready to eat."

With that, he tore a long strip of bread small enough for me to hold, added some cheese, and popped the lid of my water flask. Cheese! After living on nothing but water and bread for three days, I lunged at the cheese. For some reason, everyone stood there in breathless silence, watching me munch and munch while I took a sip of water. Alright, I'd had a bit of bread too, so I was satisfied. I handed the rest of the cheese back and tucked the bread into my pocket. Alistair raised an eyebrow at the sight.

"If you want it, I'll give it to you anytime, so hand that over."

"No."

He says he'll give it to me anytime, but he hasn't actually given it yet. After three days of this, I'd become a somewhat hardened toddler.

"You're some kind of princess, aren't you? Why are you so greedy for food..."

The man nearby muttered that. I'm not being greedy; I'm practicing risk management. Besides, even if I am a princess, a one-year-old isn't exactly eating anything special. I decided to pretend I hadn't heard him and struggled to my feet.

"Cheese, thank you. I'm done."

"O-oh, okay."

Gratitude is important, after all. Alistair looked stunned by my behavior for a moment, then hurriedly settled me back into the basket on the dragon's back.

"What a weird brat. She's creepy."

Muttered the guy who gad given me the food. Well, he could think I was weird for all I cared. If I hadn't been so weird and demanding, I might have withered away before even making it here.

As the dragon began to plod along, I shifted the luggage on my back as much as I could to create a little nook to nestle into. It wasn't even noon yet, but I was exhausted. If that was the case, I had no choice but to sleep.

"She's out cold."

The man who called me a weird brat muttered that. The town the men were heading toward is called Trentforce; even though it's in the frontier, it's actually located directly west of the Royal Capital. However, because the steep Walsole Mountains lie between them, there is no travel between the two, and those in the Kingdom likely aren't even aware that Trentforce even exists.

"What's wrong, Mil?

Alistair brought the dragon to a halt again.

"Oh, I just noticed the brat had fallen asleep."

"Ah, Lilia? She really is a strange kid."

"You think so too?"

"Yeah."

Trentforce is a fairly large town with plenty of small children. Even though Alistair is just a novice hunter, he works among the adults, so he has many opportunities to interact with young children. But this kind of... how should I put it...

"Calm? No, more like... mature?"

"That's it! Even an adult woman would look, you know, more terrified than that!"

She cried when she realized her companion had died, but then again, can a toddler even truly understand death?

"Alistair, are you sure you're up for taking this child in?"

Mill asked this, looking at the baby with concern.

"Don't say that, Mill. Is one of you lot actually going to take her in instead?"

"Well, that's..."

Mill hesitated. The people of Trentforce weren't the type to sell off children. However, those pale eyes were the mark of nobility. No one wanted to go out of their way to invite that kind of trouble into their lives.

"I wasn't raised by my father, but I lived in the Kingdom until I was eight. I know enough about how to handle those with magic. I'm not cold enough to abandon one of my own."

Alistair had drifted from place to place within the Kingdom because of his eyes. Lilia's violet eyes were undoubtedly those of one of the Four Marquises. Alistair instinctively reached up to touch his own eyes. Mine are the same. The color of a summer sky.

My mother moved us from place to place, as if she were constantly afraid of something. She was a skilled lace maker, so we never struggled to find food no matter which town we were in, but the moment someone noticed my eyes, she would move us immediately.

"Is Daddy not coming?"

Instead of making fun of me for being so small, she explained everything clearly: that my father was a nobleman, that even though he was a noble, he didn't seem happy, and that's why she didn't want to hand me over to his family. She didn't tell me exactly why he couldn't be happy, though.

And so, I grew accustomed to living with my eyes hidden. I saw time and time again how the eyes of people who had been kind to us would turn cold the moment they discovered my eye color.

In my current home, I make a point of showing off my eye color and use my high mana capacity as a way to make a living. Even though Mother is gone, I'm much more free than I was when we lived in the Kingdom. I don't know what kind of life Lilia lived, but she should at least be able to live a life of freedom here. Probably.

Alistair remembered the warmth he felt when he picked Lilia up. In the end, perhaps he was the one who was truly craving that warmth.