The Second Day

"Lohikaarmi, can you fly around and look for the human village you said might be around?" I ask.

"Of course," she says and stands up from the rocky floor.

I just realized that I have never thought about the implications of having a colossal dragon flying around human settlements.

"Oh yeah, Lohikaarmi, are humans… scared of you?" I ask as she is walking out of the cave.

She turns around and says with a deadpan face, "Yes, very much. They occasionally bring me human sacrifices."

"Huh?"

She says nothing and looks at me with her unmoving purplish-blue eyes.

"What uh… do you do with the sacrifices?"

"Nothing. They usually starve to death in the forest."

"Is that right… Well, just… keep in mind to not terrify the villagers too much if you see them," I say.

"Yes, Master."

As she steps out of the cave, I call out, "Wait, one more thing."

"Yes?"

"Take off your armor before you transform. We have a pretty limited supply of clothing as of right now."

"I understand," she says and begins undressing in front of me.

Does she really understand? I look away and stare at the wall.

A second later, the cave becomes flooded by white light, and then comes the seismic shake of the ground along with thunderous flaps.

By the time I look back to the cave opening, Lohikaarmi is gone, and there is a dot disappearing far off over the treetops.

Now it's my turn to do some preparation. I should try to keep my profile as low as possible and inspect the life in Eden first, and with the Exosuit on my body right now, that's not going to be easy.

However, after the encounter with Lohikaarmi, I really do not want to walk around this world without the protection of Cisca's technology. If I just put a couple of pieces of armor over the suit, it should be enough.

I step out of the cave into the flattened and ashen field. Armor pieces are not hard finds. I walk over to a dead soldier and reach out for his plates. Ooh, a night out did not make the bodies smell any better.

I hold my breath as I strip this poor knight of his armor. He won't be needing it anytime soon, plus, he will be contributing to a greater good even after death by serving me.

It is awkward putting metal plates over what essentially are more metal plates that are already on my body, but not long after, I have gone from a Sci-Fi cosplayer to a LARPer.

I can't do much about the boots, so I simply bank it on hoping that people won't notice the thick, black shoes I am wearing.

The little girl also needs some more fabric to be able to cover herself with acceptable modesty. Currently, all she has on is just a loose piece of cloth wrapped around about half of her body.

I take out the multi-tools and look for a pair of scissors, but apparently, out of every single scientific device on Earth, Cisca did not include scissors. Oh well, the knife is good enough.

"Sorry about this, buddy," I say as I begin slicing away the knight's shirt.

This should do. I walk back to the cave and tie the shirt around the girl's neck. It's much better now, but her apparel still makes her look like she came out of a renaissance painting.

While I am waiting for Lohikaarmi's return, I sit down at the mouth of the cave and conduct a quick inventory check as I listen to the birds chirping away.

The mini-nuke is gone. The drone is gone. I have one shot left in the grenade launcher. The rest are either reusable or rechargeable. It doesn't look too bad, plus, Lohikaarmi is basically the first three combined.

Speaking of whom, a dark red dot begins to peek over the top of the trees in front of me. Birds swarm out of the leaves and flurry away in flocks.

FLOOM! FLOOM! FLOOM!

Debris get swept away from under Lohikaarmi as she slowly descends with a few powerful flaps.

Before her feet are touching the ground, she becomes engulfed in white light. Lohikaarmi drops for the rest of the height onto her feet as a human. Her flaming red hair floats down and softly sets on her shoulders.

Usually, I would instinctively part my gaze away from her body, but something is stopping me this time.

All the dirt, all the blood, all the grime have completely disappeared from her silky skin. The beauty and elegance in her stance remind me of The Birth of Venus.

She walks toward me as I snap myself out of my trance and look away.

"Do I put the armor back on, Master?" She asks.

"Y-Yes, please."

Lohikaarmi bends down to grab the plate pieces and slides herself into them. I notice that her hair is wet and glimmering under the morning sunlight.

"Did you… clean yourself?" I ask.

"Yes, Master. I like flying through clouds to wash the dirt off," she says.

"I didn't know dragons cared about hygiene."

Well, I didn't know dragons existed until yesterday, but learning that they take showers using clouds is surprising, nonetheless.

"We don't. As far as I know, I am the only one," Lohikaarmi says.

"Ah, okay," I say, "Anyways, you came back quick. Did you find the human village?"

"Yes," she says and points in the direction she flew back from, "It's in that direction."

"Okay, good work."

"I thank Master."

So, it's even deeper into the forest. There would be no way of telling directions if I get lost in there.

"Comms," I speak to myself, hoping Cisca had made this a feature, "is there a compass I can see?"

Fortunately, the contact lens responds. Two axes of the cardinal directions pop up at the corner of my view. It looks like Lohikaarmi is pointing in the East.

"How big is it?" I ask Lohikaarmi.

She shakes her head and says, "Sorry, I have no sense of the scale of human settlements. I would say it's average."

"I see. What about the distance from here?"

"If Master were to tread through the forest, we should arrive in the afternoon."

That's not too far. I randomly get the thought of riding on Lohikaarmi's back through the air, like in the mythical stories, but then I remember seeing how unsteady the liftoff and landing were, and it's just not realistic without something like a saddle, especially if I have the little girl with me.

"Alright, let's head out, then," I say.

"Yes, Master."