Reincarnated as a Dragon – The path of the Dragon God

“As in, you are able to travel back and forth from your world to mine?” Chloe continued with her line of questions.

Henry nodded with a solemn expression. “Yes.”

“Is that one of the rewards?” Yula asked.

“I assume so,” Henry answered with uncertainty.

“But she didn’t even tell you that.”

“She didn’t but… I think she knew I would be able to feel the changes.”

“So, we can now travel between worlds?” Yula’s face was glittering.

“Unfortunately, it’s just this world and Ulrum,” Henry said. “And also the subspace that will be our home in the near future.”

“I can help with the design!” Yula yelled cheerfully with a hand raised. “No offence, Henry, but the cave was very restricting for what I had in mind.”

Henry smiled wryly. “I’ll leave it to you then.” Then, he turned to Chloe. “What about you, Chloe? What do you plan to do now?”

Chloe was just staring at Henry with a gaze that spelt her disbelief.

“Why are you giving me that look?” Henry asked.

“N-nothing…” Chloe looked away.

Henry squinted his eyes. “Clearly it’s not nothing.”

“...Can you really travel back and forth between your world and mine now?” Chloe asked after a short pause.

“Do you not believe me?”

“I do. It’s just…” Chloe’s words trailed off as she fiddled her thumbs under her lowered gaze. “This place you mentioned… Ulrum?”

“Yes?”

“It’s your home, is it not?”

“Yes, it is.”

“...What is it like?”

“Oh?” Yula beamed at Chloe’s question. “Are you perhaps interested?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t interested now, would I?”

“I don’t mean that kind of interest. I’m asking whether you want to visit our home or not.”

Henry raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“I do want to but…”

“But?”

“I have never travelled far from home before. I haven’t been to another country before, let alone another world. I really want to go to Ulrum but… It’s another world, you know? There’s so much preparation I have to make, my heart and nerves, first and foremost.”

Yula tittered. “Now that you mention it, I didn’t bring anything with me when I decided to move to Ulrum. I was basically empty-handed.”

“Then, how do you manage? Never mind the luxuries such as phones and the like. What about clothes and toiletries like toothbrushes, soap, and shampoo?”

“Never needed soap or shampoo,” Yula said, shrugging. “I think it’s a part of my powers. It helps retain my hygiene and health. I don’t think I have ever gotten sick before.”

“But what about clothes?” Chloe asked, staring at the dress Yula was wearing that wouldn’t look out of place in the mediaeval times or the modern times.

Yula smiled in response as she raised strands of darkness from her own shadow under her. “I have these babies to take care of those routine hassles for me. I can make clothes with these and I also groom my hair with them.”

“Why can’t I have powers like that?” Chloe grumbled.

“You’re not moving there,” Henry said. “You’re just visiting, no?”

“Still, you can’t expect to just go there without any preparations. I need at least some change of clothes.”

“Well, we can just go to your home now and pick up some clothes,” Yula proposed. “Say, how far is your home from here?”

“An hour bus ride.”

Yula looked towards Henry. “We’re not in a rush, are we?”

“There’s no rush and we don’t need to take the bus.”

“Are we suggesting that we walk?” Chloe asked.

“Yes,” Henry answered and flicked his hand. Immediately, a rift appeared beside him and on the other side of the rift was an alley.

Chloe widened her eyes when she realised which alley was this. It was the one behind the condominium where she lived with her friend.

“Huh, it works,” Henry exclaimed lightly. “This reward might be even better than the pocket dimension.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Yula said cheerfully and walked through the rift.

Henry followed after Yula and Chloe stepped through the last. Once all three of them were through, the rift closed up by itself.

“Wait here,” Chloe said and disappeared inside the building, leaving the two by the entrance of the condominium that was a revolving glass door.

The two waited for nearly an hour before Chloe finally reappeared from the building.

“I’m done. Let’s go.”

But Henry and Yula did not move a single muscle. They were both staring at Chloe. More precisely, they were staring at the luggage bag she was dragging behind her.

She might as well bring her entire wardrobe with her.

Henry commented silently.

“It’s bulging,” Yula remarked. “The zippers looked like they would come off with a slight touch. Just how many sets of clothes did you pack?”

“Ulrum is a forest, is it not?”

“A large one, at that.”

“Then who knows what can happen in the wild? I don’t know how long I intend to stay, so I might as well pack for the extra nights. I brought soap and my toothbrush with me too. And…”

“Yes?”

“Please tell me I can charge my phone somewhere in Ulrum.”

Yula burst out laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” Yula shrugged with a coy smile. “I’m just remembering the time when I was still… engrossed with the need to interact with an electronic device every minute in a single day.”

“Speaking of that, how do you do it? Discarding the need to interact with modern devices, I mean.”

“I wonder…” Yula mused, tipping her head to the side as she thought long and hard about it. At the end of her thoughts, she only shrugged. “I don’t really know.”

“Huh?”

Yula gazed warmly at Henry. “It felt natural to separate myself from those indulgences. Before I knew it, I no longer felt the need for that kind of distraction. In my head, Henry’s love was all I was looking forward to every day and the adventures with him to come. I suppose you can say I simply found a substitute for my cravings.”

“Wow… So now I’m a substitute.”

Yula snickered. “It’s just an example and I couldn’t find a better word.”

“No words are needed,” Henry said and snaked his arm around Yula’s waist, pulling her into his embrace.

Before Yula could register what was happening, her lips were sealed by Henry’s own. They were kissing, under broad daylight in the middle of a street at that. The kiss did not last long but fluids were exchanged and their tongues touched.

A pearly string dangled between their lips when their lips parted.

“W-what was that for?!” Yula stammered with flushed cheeks.

“Payback,” Henry answered simply. “And I was… inflamed after such a lengthy and strenuous battle. And shouldn’t you be used to this by now?”

“We’re out in public! We shouldn’t be doing this. People are staring!”

“Let them stare all they want. Their curiosity is fleeting. It’s not like any of them truly gives a shit.”

“I do. I don’t want them to see… that side of me…. That’s only for your eyes, Henry…”

“Oh, but you show this side of you to Sarynn, Rayne, and Alayne, no?”

“Those three are different. Sarynn is already like a sister to me, Rayne and Alayne would be in your harem sooner or later.”

Henry couldn’t help but chuckle at the confidence in Yula’s words.

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes as she came in between the two and pushed them apart. “Alright, that’s enough, you two. Have some decency. We’re out in the public, for fuck’s sake.”

While smiling wryly at Chloe, Henry grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her into a hug.

“W-what the fuck are you doing!?” Chloe cried out in surprise. She immediately shoved Henry away, or at least she tried to but she was no match for Henry’s strength.

“I have wanted to do this for so long…” Contrary to Chloe’s frantic response, Henry was in serenity as he wrapped his arms tighter around Chloe.

“This is so out of the blue.”

“Is it? I always have the hots for you. I wasn’t sure before but now I am.”

“That’s nice and all but we’re in public and your wife is watching!”

“Oh, don’t mind me,” Yula said in a frivolous tone. “If we weren’t out in public, I reckon he would have already kissed you.”

Chloe frowned with her eyes widening in disbelief. She pried herself free of Henry’s embrace and dragged the couple back into the alley where they emerged from.

“Have you two lost your mind?” Chloe screamed at them but she kept her voice as low as possible.

“What makes you say that?”

“You hugged me and Yula in public. Not to mention, you kissed her right there and then too.”

“What’s wrong with that? Is public display of affection considered illegal here?”

“No,” Chloe replied sharply.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

Chloe wanted to shout but she held her tongue and glared at Henry.

“Oh, could it be…” Yula leaned her face closer to Chloe. “Are you perhaps a virgin?”

“W-what are you saying!?” Chloe shrieked. “What does that have to do with anything!?”

“That’s not a denial.”

“The hell it isn’t!” Chloe hissed. “Even if I am one, what does it have to do with—”

“Didn’t you have a boyfriend?” Henry asked.

“Had you not met my boyfriend?” Chloe returned the question. “Well, ex-boyfriend and late.”

“We met but… I can’t exactly say I know him well considering he was already way off his hinges then.”

“Well, he wasn’t much different from usual. He was already eccentric enough long before he was… corrupted. Everyone around me was in a relationship and I got curious. I wanted one too. I picked Keith because he was the most… tame-looking boy out of all the available boys. I figure he was the safest bet.”

“And irony ensued.”

“Tell me about it,” Chloe huffed. “I don't know if he was worse than the other boys but he certainly wasn’t boyfriend material, that’s for sure. We kissed, that’s as far as we went.”

“What about the other stuff?” Yula asked.

“What other stuff?” Chloe furrowed her brows.

“You know…” Yula made a few hand gestures that could only be described as lewd.

“Of course not! Didn’t you hear what I said? We only kissed, that’s all.”

“Seriously, you had a boyfriend for how long? And you have only kissed?”

“I’m not the kind that would hop on a boy’s dick just after the first date,” Chloe said with a stern gaze.

“I would…” Yula said, giggling. “And I had.”

Chloe’s frown deepened and she looked towards Henry with eyes that seemed to be asking “Are you aware of this?”

“Yula was a virgin before we met and she never had a boyfriend,” Henry explained. “And we pretty much banged after our first… meeting.”

“...This is making me hesitant about going with you two to Ulrum.”

“Nope~” Yula pounced on Chloe and hugged her tightly while rubbing their cheeks together. “You are coming with us. You have already packed.”

“You’re heavy. Get off!”

“I am not.”

“You have two massive mountains on you.”

“They are my love handles.”

“No, they are not.”

“Henry would disagree.”

Smiling wryly at the two, Henry clapped his hands to get the two’s attention. “Alright, we have stalled long enough. Let’s get moving now or else we will miss the feast.”

“Feast? What feast?” Chloe asked while trying to shove Yula away from her.

“You’ll know.” Henry flashed her a grin and opened up a rift. But instead of a landscape of some kind on the other side, there was only darkness.

Chloe frowned. “I’m not going in there.”

Henry sighed. “Yula, if you would be so kind?”

“Oh, not at all.”

“What do you—” Before Chloe could finish her question, she felt herself being lifted off the ground and carried towards the rift. “Oi! What the fuck do you two think you’re doing!?”

Without offering any verbal response, Yula leapt into the rift along with Chloe who was being carried by her shadows.

Henry followed immediately after and closed the rift before anyone started peeking into the alley due to Chloe's screams and cries.