An embarrassing encounter.

The lady who owned the dragons wanted a daughter. The phrasing, perhaps, was a little misleading.

This short lady with long dark green hair and slightly green skin said she would let me borrow one of her land dragons if I gave her a daughter, leaving me completely bewildered.

Leonel: "Uhm... I don't think I can help you there. You might need to ask a different kind of person."

Green lady: "Oh, you don't want to help me find my daughter?"

Leonel: "Ohhh, so that's what you meant!"

Green lady: "Well, of course. What did you think I meant?"

I could see an evil grin on her face. She was doing it on purpose.

Leonel: "Well, I'm looking for a missing classmate who went east. Did your daughter, by any chance, go east too? Otherwise, I cannot help you."

Green lady: "To be precise, not only did she go east, she is living there. But I don't know her exact location, so I want you to find her and give her this mirror."

The green lady gave me a hand mirror in the shape of an inverted triangle with a long grip. It had a green frame, perhaps made of jade.

Green lady: "This mirror is part of a set of two. When I pour some magic into one of the mirrors, my face and my voice travel across a mana path from one mirror to the other. It's an instant communication device, but they are hard to build, so you don't see them very often. I want you to give this one to my daughter once you find her. She should be in the town of Rida, 25 lakes to the east."

Leonel: "Okay, that sounds easy."

Green lady: "Okay, we have a deal. Feel free to take this baby land dragon with you. Once you reach the town of Rida and get off the dragon, it will start running full speed back to this town all by itself. They have been trained to do so."

Leonel: "Wait a second, are you telling me that this thing that looks just like a velociraptor and is bigger than me is just a baby?"

Green lady: "Well, I don't know anything about these velociraptors you speak of, but yeah, it's a baby. It will be twice its current size in a few years."

Leonel: "Damn..."

Green lady: "I will give you a few things I prepared for you. If Miss Iria says you need these things, then there must be a reason for it."

The green lady gave me a tiny dagger and a leather backpack. The dagger looked like a typical RPG dagger. The backpack contained basic supplies such as water, bread, and something that looked like a bunch of dried, peeled bananas. There was also what seemed to be a piece of dried meat in the form of a human heart... I'm sure I'm overthinking...

Green lady: "The dagger's grip will absorb heat from its surroundings, to a certain extent, and transfer it to the blade. The more it absorbs, the hotter the blade becomes. I heard you can use fire magic, so it might be useful to you."

She is right. It might be useful, but not for the reasons she is thinking. If the grip on this thing absorbs heat, and, assuming I only focus my mana on my hand and not on my arm, then I might be able to avoid burning myself by having the dagger absorb the heat from the flames that would otherwise hurt me.

Leonel: "This is more than I ever expected. Thanks a lot, green lady!"

Green lady: "Green lady? Well, you are not wrong, but I do have a name..."

I got on the back of the BABY land dragon. I still cannot believe that this thing is just a baby. And started heading east.

Leonel: "Bye, green lady!"

Green lady: "Make sure you find my daughter!"

Almost as soon as I left the town, I noticed that even though I was given some supplies for free, I did not have any money. All I had in my wallet was a single "peso" coin, which is one of the most devalued currencies in our world, a keychain of a little green alien (which I nicknamed Tom), with no actual keys attached to the keychain (because I lost them...), and a "lucky bullet" which is just a .22 caliber bullet with no gunpowder in it. It also has two holes so you can insert a string through the bullet to use it as a necklace. This "lucky bullet" has failed to bring any luck so far. I guess I'm gonna need to find a way to get some money once I reach the town of Rida.

Money doesn't magically appear when you need it. But I may have found something similar.

Something resembling a tiny earth elemental, around 120 cm in height, which probably descended from the nearby mountain, was slowly walking to the right side of the road. You could see strands of copper and gold in the rocks that made up its body. It was essentially free money for me. I didn't have to think twice.

I stopped the land dragon and headed toward the earth elemental. I didn't want to blow myself up, so I avoided using fireballs this time. I grabbed the magic dagger, channeled just a bit of fire magic into my hands, and let the grip of the dagger absorb it until the blade became hot red. It was ready to be used.

I quickly ran toward the earth elemental and tried to stab its head, thinking it would probably defeat the enemy right away. I was wrong. The enemy quickly dodged my attack with a simple short-step move. Then the bastard hit me in the back. It was painful, but it didn't cause much damage. It was a tiny enemy, after all. But I felt like an idiot. This guy was basically playing with me. I tried attacking again, but the same thing happened. He dodged my attack and hit me in the back again. I was furious; this walking gold mine was beating me up. I briefly considered using magic out of sheer anger, but stopped myself. I knew it was a bad idea. I tried attacking a third time. He dodged my attack again, but this time, the bastard kicked me from behind. I was simultaneously tired and angry.

Leonel: "I'm going to take you down even if I lose my arm in the process! You heard me?!"

Then I heard a voice from behind me.

"No need to lose an arm over such a little thing."

I turned around and saw a short girl, probably around 155 cm in height. She was wearing brown shorts, boots, and a t-shirt. She had bright red eyes and orange hair in a ponytail tied with a red ribbon, with bangs and side bangs. But more importantly, she had orange scales on her arms and legs. She even had horns, a tail, and tiny wings. She was not a human. She was clearly a dragongirl.

And right behind her, a tall girl, wearing a beautiful white dress with golden ribbons. She had light brown wavy hair, bright yellow eyes, and what could be described as... well-endowed frontal attributes. You know what I'm talking about. They were huge. She also had dark skin and brown scales on her arms. She even had large horns and a very long and thick scaly tail. But... she did not have wings... was she a dragongirl like the other one? She kinda reminded me of a "mother nature vs. mommy nature" internet meme that I saw a few years ago on a social network, but that one had green hair.

The short dragongirl got closer to the earth elemental and smashed its "head" with a single quick punch. I guess the dragon scales on one's hands make a huge difference when it comes to punching.

I wasn't happy. This girl easily defeated the enemy that I couldn't even scratch. Are we, otherworldly humans, really that weak by this world's standards?

"Who are you, and why are you so weak?" said the tiny little short girl.

I was already depressed from having been humiliated by a tiny earth elemental, so I didn't even want to waste time with pointless conversations.

Leonel: "I'm a human from another world."

I just said those words with a dead voice that denoted a serious lack of energy.

I walked toward the land dragon, but then the little dragongirl grabbed my right arm and stopped me.

"Wait a second, what do you mean by that?" was the question she asked me in a very energetic voice.

I was now stuck on the road of a long and pointless conversation. This was precisely what I wanted to avoid... ugh...