I lied in deep slumber unaware of the current situation I was in. The sounds of the horses running and the wheels of the carriage continued to move across the desolate tundra. Suddenly one of the wheels hit a pebble making the carriage jump a little.
"WAAA wait, who? what?!?" my thoughts ran bizarre for a second after suddenly waking up. I was confused a bit as to why the ground was shaking and whether it was night time. I wondered if I was growing near a road to hear the sounds of carriages. But sounds didn't cease so I was confused.
I just assumed it was night time and continued to think about how I was going to train. I couldn't really move that much and if I did I would go to sleep due to the exhaustion. That thing before with the caterpillar had earned me some skill points, but my Stamina ran out really fast. To top it off my spikes moved slower than a turtle. But, It seemed like I had gotten some good defenses against bugs.
I began to wonder how I lived my life in the other world. And with that, I thought, "All right!! Tomorrow I'm gonna train hard and-" Suddenly I was interrupted by a voice.
"Mistress, I don't think boxing up the cactus was a good idea. We've got at least two days of journey ahead of us", the sound was that of a guy, it had a worried tone to it, to which a female voice replied, "well, I don't want the soil to dirty the inside of the carriage". The guy replied, "It may die if it doesn't get sunlight".
Thoughts started running wild inside my mind, "Wait, I'm boxed up? (O_O ') Am I hearing people talking? Just when I thought I could gather my bearings, this happens. Oh, God. Why art thou so cruel?"
The girl unwillingly replied, "All right then, I think I could open the lid for now."
The lid opened revealing 2 people. A young girl who seemed to be in her early teens, she had light blue colored hair with a darker shade of blue for eyes. The person looked cheerful but was pouting at the moment. The other person was a guy in mid-teens. He had silver colored hair and purple eyes. He had a weird blank look on his face and spoke with no enthusiasm like he had no care in the world. The cactus was placed in a small white bowl with blue marks inside a small wooden box.
The guy replied in a Sarcastic manner, "Mistress is intelligent, Master Yukiyo doesn't give mistress enough credit *bam* ow..." The girl punched the guy on the elbow, thought the guy seemed to be acting to be hurt. The girl angrily replied, "Shut up, I've had it with your snarky remarks. I can only see that idiot brother of mine took you in just to irritate me."
The guy had a sharp gaze directed at the girl for a split second though the girl didn't seem to notice. "Well, Mistress Aria is very scary. So I think I am to be used as a means to keep your anger in check." He said. "Listen here, if you don't want me to slug you stop being an asshole." She explained.
"Mistress, please do not use vulgar words, master Yukiyo will get angry at me.", he replied in a worried tone. "Geez, why did brother Elijah even send me with you here.", she sighed.
"Mistress, if I may, I think you insisted on coming." He said
"Well that was because... i... thought..." the girl was stammering a bit as she directed her gaze outside, her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed embarrassed," Mmmmm... just shut up!!" She shouted, to which he replied, "But I wasn't even speaki-" but was interrupted by her, as she said, "Shut up Seito! Still, I don't see why Brother Elijah wanted this cactus" trying to change the subject.
Seito replied," Haven't you read the description in the books mistress Aria, we have been traveling for a few days". She answered, "Ummm... I don't really like reading books and the scenery always takes my attention so it's hard for me to study' while looking away from his gaze. Seito snarkily replied, "well you should at least see what it is. Also, I don't know about the scenery, you have been complaining about the cold for a few days now and have often insulted the scenery. So I guess it takes your attention in some way."
As he said that, Seito took out a large book from a bag. The book was substantially thick, with a leather cover. It had brown colored pages with an assortment of different plant drawings with a lot of writing. He opened the book changing the pages and stops at a page and hands out the book to Aria.
For me, it was an interesting turn of events as I could finally gain some more knowledge on my species.
"Hmm... Snow Dracaena Hylocerus undatus commonly referred to as snow dragon cactus.... they dwell at the base of snowy ranges of Regalia, and are native to the region. They are really hard to come by as they get eaten by caterpillars and other bugs due to the sweetness of their body... though they depend on these bugs for delivering their seeds during the season of spring," She said.
I was rather shocked by the sudden discovery.
She continued, "They usually live short lives and get hunted down by many other creatures looking to eat it... fewer than 1000 out of 100,000,000 survive to adulthood in 3 years whose seeds are than spread by other creatures the thorns of the cactus which are found on the caterpillar pupas is actually used as a spice by the locals. Out of the 100 billions of seeds only a 1% reach proper growing locations... they produce fruits which look like it's covered with scales resembling a dragon's skin the reason due to who the name its fruit is called the dragon fruit.... hmm there is the description... so we got a fruit plant... the rarity seems to be
The shock became greater when she finished, It wasn't a good shock. Even though I was rare and a valuable commodity, after hearing that I was a sweet round fruit like stuff and my spikes were a sort of spice, the only thing I could picture myself as a spicy watermelon. I wanted to cry so bad.
Even the A.I. was unintentionally mocking me. I was caught by these two so I began to think that I was going to be a slave. Rather than a slave, I was just a material. Even Slaves have some sort of rights, I was just an object. Being a plant is Hard.
"Hmm, even though brother Elijah is so rich, he could have bought this cactus at home. I can't understand the whims of the prince sometimes. But he is still way kinder than Yukiyo." She said. The guy replied, "I think Master Yukiyo is also kind." Aria shocked at that statement replied, "HUUH?! Kind!! How? I can't imagine that bloodthirsty demon to be kind to anyone. Everyone at the castle hates him, except for a few people including Brother Elijah, his maid, you and a few people."
With that, he came closer to Aria and spoke in a softer voice, "You see, Mistress. Make sure not to tell anyone I told you about this, Master Yukiyo will have my head for this."
The girl gleefully replied, "Ohhhh, a secret about that demonic Being, seems interesting." Seito continued, "You see, a few weeks back when I came back after an errand I heard someone. I crept slowly towards the door and I saw Master Playing with some puppies with the maid."
Aria shocked at this replied, "Are you sure he wasn't ripping them to pieces and drinking their blood". Seito a little taken aback replied, "Mistress you sure had a vivid imagination.
"Hmmm, so he also has a soft spot, that monst-"She murmured but was interrupted as the carriage suddenly stopped. "Woah" The girl, with the sudden shift in the movement of the carriage moved towards the guy, he also came forward trying to get a hold of the girl, then suddenly they head butt each other. Seems like sudden romantic kissing scenes only happen in fiction.
The girl rubbing her forehead shouted, "Hey Driver what happened? Why did we-" A loud rugged voice suddenly interrupts her, "Get outta da carriage!"
Through the frost covered glass, it was hard to make out who was there. They sounded like thugs and I could only make out about 10 people from where I was. Suffice to say there were many more. They were wearing some cloth to cover their face. They were equipped with swords, spears, axes, and bows. Though the jet black clothes seemed quite overboard, and with the number of belts on their clothing they could be easily mistaken for an edgy teen going overboard with cosplay.
The thug shouted in an angry tone, "Now Dear missus an' mate care to come out here or do we 'ave to drag ya out here."
The situation seemed really bad for these two.