"Come here."
Liszt beckoned.
Rio remained where it was, and only after quite a while did it slowly crawl toward Liszt. Dragons had four legs and a pair of wings. They could fly, stand upright on their hind legs, or walk on all fours like dinosaurs. Yet Rio was now crawling with its hind legs crouched beneath it, its forelimbs raised, and its wings braced against the ground to keep its balance.
It moved very slowly, in a thoroughly strange posture.
Just like the turmoil in its heart. From the wrinkles in the scales on its dragon face and the struggle in its dragon eyes, one could sense it clearly.
It drew near.
Only a meter away, it stopped, swallowed, and could no longer tear its gaze away from the roasted beef leg.
There was no way to know what its condition was like in its magical form, but in its flesh-and-blood state, it had to consume meat. During the time he had raised it, Liszt had naturally done his homework, thoroughly summarizing the Little Fire Dragon's habits, behavior, sounds, and logical thinking.
A dragon's intelligence was absolutely comparable to that of an adolescent, even if Rio was only a newly born young dragon.
It was far more intelligent than a Great Elf—Great Elves had roughly the intelligence of ten-year-old children. They could speak clearly and communicate normally, but they would not take the initiative to think through problems.
Animals with higher intelligence were clearly easier to communicate with.
Aside from the language barrier, Liszt and Rio could basically use language, behavior, and emotions to supplement one another and communicate without obstruction—Rio could directly understand Liszt's Snake Script and, aided by his expressions, grasp his meaning; Liszt could likewise judge Rio's meaning from its tone and behavior.
When Rio lived