Journey Inside a Dragon's Belly

Ryan felt like he was being pathetic. He usually disliked receiving letters and thought there were too many of them, yet after only two days, he had already started missing them. Had Penelope been subtly training him?

Just like Percy in the original story—in the summer when they had originally been dating, he wrote every day and even bought an owl specifically for it, completely unafraid of being found out.

But why did Kate find this not strange at all? Weren't she and Penelope the closest?

Just then, Kate came up from the fourth floor after working out and showering. Seeing Ryan's expression, she said something that startled him.

"Ryan, are you wondering why Penelope hasn't written yet?"

"You are? No, wait—it's you who's wondering!" Still trapped in a mortal mindset, Ryan immediately bit back.

"Hehe, let's say it's me, then! Did you forget that Penelope went on a family trip to France? As a Muggle, too." Kate smugly smoothed the short hair beside her ear.

"A Muggle? Could Penelope take a family trip using magic?" Ryan narrowed his eyes.

"Ryan, you're weird! Anyway, Penelope should have arrived in France today, right?" Kate answered awkwardly.

Ryan found it a little strange, but his intuition sensed no danger, so he said nothing more.

Lunch was still much the same as last night's, with the only addition being sour meatball soup—meatballs made from beef and rice.

They probably knew I liked rice, but beef-and-rice meatballs were weird enough already, and the sour soup was seasoned with lemon juice. I didn't mind it yesterday because the spices were rare and my taste buds were encountering them for the first time, but today, it wasn't all that great.

The afternoon passed in a blur. Kate cried out in surprise several times, claiming she had seen two gleaming golden horns, but whenever Ryan went to look, there was no trace of a dragon.

"Ryan, look!" Kate suddenly jumped up.

"What? Did you see a dragon again?" Ryan raised an eyebrow.

In the already dusky sky, a black speck steadily approached them.

"Ryan, it must be our new transportation! Is it a dragon?"

Hah, didn't Kate hate dragons? Did this count as hunger marketing? Ryan thought.

Still, Kate had guessed correctly. It was a dragon—a Romanian Longhorn with two gleaming golden horns and blackish-green scales.

But when it drew close enough for a better look, it turned out to be merely a dragon-shaped aircraft. Unlike Britain's strict legal regulations, Romania did not permit only broom-shaped flying devices. Aside from the popular flying carpets, motorcycles and aircraft shaped like Muggle airplanes were also common.

In that case, there was nothing strange about this dragon, right? Like hell there wasn't!

Had the protection laws gone to shit? Ryan discovered that it had not been enchanted like the Knight Bus. Muggles could see this gigantic thing perfectly clearly.

Amid fierce winds, the giant dragon stopped behind the castle, its mouth facing the fifth floor. A thin, frail wizard stepped out from inside.

What followed was another long advertising spiel for Terror Trips. After the frail wizard politely confirmed that they had packed their luggage, he gestured for them to enter the aircraft.

"Ryan, this is so cool! I finally get to see a dragon! It's not real, but we can even go inside its body!"

"Go, go, go!" Kate charged off like a horse let loose from its reins.

How interesting. Ryan seriously doubted the purpose behind making a mode of transportation like this.

First, it constantly gave hints along the way, introducing the Romanian Longhorn and the service of viewing it, while emphasizing that it was free.

It built their anticipation to the fullest. Then, when they were sulking because they could not see a dragon, it suddenly brought out a vividly realistic Romanian Longhorn-shaped flying device as their transportation.

What was this, playing them to the limit?

By that logic, Vampire Selvato making them stay here for a day had not been just to avoid something. It was also to build up their anticipation.

He had to admit, it was incredibly lifelike. The entrance was the dragon's teeth and tongue, both made to look utterly real. Walking over them even gave him a sticky sensation, as though he were stepping through dragon saliva. It was creepy as hell.

He could even hear the dragon—or rather, the flying device—breathing.

When he reached the head, at the junction between the throat and skull, a long, pitch-black passage led downward. There was no sound inside at all. Even Kate's voice, which should have carried through, had vanished. The soundproofing was excellent.

The frail wizard walked over as well and bowed slightly in greeting.

"Mr. Ryan, the cockpit is in the head. The belly is where you and Miss Kate will rest. We should arrive tomorrow morning, and music will notify you then as well." The frail wizard took out his wand and tapped the uvula in the dragon's throat. A passage opened above the dragon's mouth.

After watching the frail wizard disappear into the dragon's mouth, Ryan jumped down as well. It was a very long slide, and he could tell from his body alone that it had been enchanted.

The most obvious spell was the Slide Charm, Slide Charm, which could turn a staircase into a slide.

This spell was also extremely ancient, having been used since at least the Middle Ages.

In the original course of events, during the final battle at Hogwarts, Hermione had used this spell to help herself, Harry, and Ron slide down quickly and escape the Death Eaters' pursuit.

The aircraft dragon's neck was not particularly long, nor did it have many twists and turns. Logically, he should have reached its belly long ago.

Yet Ryan kept sliding for about a minute before the darkness ahead slowly faded away.

Wow, he had just ridden a slide through a dragon's mouth!

Before him lay a flesh-colored floor that looked soft to the touch.

This room was even larger than the previous carriage, and its decor was equally inhuman. Vein-like structures bulged from the walls, making it seem as if they had truly entered a giant dragon's body.

"Ryan! Get over here." Kate sat on a sofa resembling the top of a heart, with a feast spread out before her.

A menu stood beside it, introducing the dishes on the table: braised dragon meat, poached dragon tendon, black pepper dragon steak, and curry dragon hind leg.

Eating dragon meat inside a dragon's belly—wow, cooking with the original broth.

All this dragon meat had been magically treated to remove its "toxicity." It was a specialty dish of Romania's wizarding world.

Dragon meat was very cheap here, even cheaper than pork, but it was not sold for takeaway. Every part of a dragon was regulated in Romania, and only local restaurants could purchase them.

"This sofa—I thought it would really feel like a heart. I almost didn't dare sit down." Kate said as she ate dragon meat stew noodles.

Still, once he sat on it, the sofa felt just like an ordinary one. Beside it was a one-way transparent window through which they could watch the passing scenery.

They had clearly already taken off, yet inside, it still felt as stable as standing on solid ground.

Even the decor grew more pleasing to the eye the longer he looked at it, making Ryan wonder whether his sense of aesthetics had been violated.

It was like when he had watched Kamen Rider Ex-Aid in his previous life. At first glance, it looked like garbage, but later, it became genuinely addictive.

The dragon meat tasted like chicken. Then again, chickens had evolved from dinosaurs. If you stretched the logic a bit, chickens counted as dinosaurs.

And dinosaurs counted as dragons, so wasn't this basically no different from eating chicken?

Still, it was closer to turkey, with a rougher texture.

No wonder dragon meat had not become popular in other countries. It might be regulated, but if it were truly delicious, how could it be unavailable anywhere else?