Time Flies

[Haaaah] Ria let out a long sigh. It was kind of strange since she was using spirit speech to sigh, but she got used to it at this point, to the point where it felt like she was actually speaking.

Fallios gave her a strange look. [What's up?] He asked suspiciously.

Ria looked at him from her place on the floor of the carriage. [It's stressful not having certain abilities I had when I was human. Like jumping or being able to be held normally] She lamented.

Fallios gave her a pitying look. He had been with her for over two months now, so he could physically see her struggles with his own eyes every single day.

Unlike Ria, Fallios still had the ability to jump and be held, and although he couldn't do it yet, he would be able to fly soon too.

Compared to her, Fallios was extremely lucky. It almost made him feel ashamed that he felt lucky when his friend struggled just to go up a small hill.

[Soon, you will grow big enough to not have to jump at all] Fallios consoled. It was really the only thing he could say to her at this point.

Ria nodded. It was true, and both of them could see it. She grew as fast as Fallios did, although she grew in width and not length, like Fallios does.

[Thank you]

Fallios nodded and didn't say anything. They've been riding on Arlitos's carriage for three days now, and they were both already a little sick of it.

When they were in the enclosure, all they dreamed about was to go outside again, but now they were stuck inside a carriage all day long too.

When the sky turned dark, Arlitos would find an inn and sneak them in through a box, but soon that trick wouldn't work.

They just grew way too fast.

Arlitos told them that in the future, they would be camping outside when they could no longer get away with sneaking into an inn through a box.

Ria sighed and helplessly shook her head. Even though she was about eighty percent sure now that Arlitos was strong enough to make them stay by force, she still felt he was being a little too careless about them.

-

"I guess it's about time." Arlitos mumbled. He crossed his arms and placed his hand on his chin, tilting his head to look at the two reptiles curled up in their shared bed, which he made inside the carriage.

He suddenly clapped his hands. "It's been a week since we've been on this carriage, who wants to go camping!?" He cheerfully asked.

[…]

[…] Ria and Fallios looked at each other.

[I'm slower] Ria suddenly said out of the blue. Fallios knew what she meant, though.

He reluctantly got up and nudged Arlitos's hand, swaying his tail lazily. Arlitos smiled down at him. "I guess you're excited then?" He asked.

Fallios responded by blowing a cloud of hot smoke into his palm and turned around to go curl up around Ria again.

Arlitos shook his head. His reptiles seemed to have differing personalities. The dragon seemed to be lazy and nonchalant, although he would have differing reactions sometimes, like when he saw the man he killed his parents.

It wasn't like Arlitos didn't understand though.

As for Ria.. she was playful at times, lazy at other times. She mostly copied what Fallios was doing- which was mostly lazing about, because she was in the carriage all day anyways.

Though, she isn't one you should mess with if you want your pants to stay dry.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, he lightly punched his palm. "Ah."

The duo looked up at Arlitos, bracing themselves for another one of his energy bursts. "Although I can't name the dragon since you most likely have a name, shouldn't I still be able to name the tortoise?" He abruptly said.

Ria widened her eyes in realization. They hadn't noticed it since Arlitos never explicitly called them "the tortoise" or "the dragon", it was true he had never names them.

She had completely forgotten since she technically already had a name. Ria looked at Fallios. [I guess it is time to get a second name, like you] She said.

Fallios slightly nodded in agreement. Ria could somehow feel that he anticipated what her new name was going to be.

Arlitos placed his hand on his chin again, looking up at the roof. "Well, I was told your species's name was Eiga." He muttered.

He wanted to give her a good name since she was obviously born from a powerful species.

He became sidetracked when he thought of her species. According to his research, the Eiga was a colossal tortoise which roamed the land thousands of years ago and didn't have many members since their fertility and incubation rate was extremely bad.

Their shells were white at the base, but became black the higher up on the shell you looked. They could hibernate for years at a time, carrying literal islands on their backs by the time they woke up.

Actually, their was an old story about an Eiga Arlitos had heard about.. what was the Eiga's name again?

Suddenly, Arlitos's blue eyes lit up. He turned to look at Ria in pure joy. "Freia! Your name is Freia!" He said with a wide smile.

[Freia…] Ria pondered on the name. It did sound feminine enough.. eh, whatever, she'll take it.

[It's a bit long though] Fallios said. He had gotten used to her name, which was only three letters long. Saying Arlitos, Fallios, and Freia in one sentence was too long for him.

Ria nodded her head in agreement. [I'll use Freia as an official name. You can call me Ria when we're talking, since my official name still has the letters of my name in it] She said.

[Good] Fallios said as he lightly stretched and closed his eyes. Ria followed suit. Arlitos was a bit too energetic for the two lazy reincarnates, so they learned the habit of closing their eyes when he got too hyper.

Arlitos, who had no idea what the two of them thought about him, looked at the two sleeping reptiles with a smile on his face.

"I hope we become lifelong friends." He said in a whisper, deeply bowing to the two.

-

The crackle of the campfire illuminated the four people sitting around the campfire.

Well- two people and two reptiles, but the two actual humans in the group didn't know that Ria and Fallios were actually reincarnators.

The group consisted of Fallios, Ria, Arlitos, and an Asian man named Turro. Turro was the coachman of their carriage, and apparently was a part of whatever noble family Arlitos belonged to.

Ria had to be shown the definition for certain words since they couldn't just be figured out through context alone. It meant that she still didn't know what position Arlitos held in this world, but she didn't have to care about that for now.

Anyways, they hadn't really met Turro before since they were always snuck out of the carriage in a box.

"Nice to meet you two." Turro said as he nodded to the reptile duo with curiosity in his eyes.

He looked like a rough man with little facial expressions, but they were a dragon and a seemingly extinct tortoise after all. It was hard not to react to the two of them.

Ria and Fallios slightly nodded to Turro as they shared a piece of raw cow thigh. Apparently, Ria was able to eat meat, though she was never fed it inside the black market.

As for the raw aspect of it, they had pretty much completely accepted their situation by now.

Although they weren't humans in this life, they still were people in the other's eyes.

Ria lightly knocked her head with Fallios and smiled happily in her heart.

[Let's live long lives, Fallios]

[Agreed]