Chapter 1: A Dragon and a Knight
Airelina Frembell, or in short, 'Airi', is my one and only dragonoid partner. She is wearing a white tank top underneath her shockproof blue blazer, and a black short skirt utilized for easier movement in battles. She was a year older than me, but her petite figure makes her more look like a younger sister of mine.
Her butterfly wings-like bow on the back of her head danced as the breeze of the explosion of the ice ball she just deflected.
"Are you okay, Amphy?" She said with a jolly smile. "Like, totally?"
"I told you a thousand times, it's Amphere not Amphy." I groaned. Then I drew one of my photon sabers and showed it to her. "You need a sword?"
Actually, I'm no expert in two-sword style. I'm better off using only one photon saber, and I'm still studying dual wielding. I just used it a few minutes ago without much knowledge about it.
Airi took it and prepared herself into a centered stance, ready to clash with the ice dragon who finally recovered from the impact of its own attack.
The Black Phantom is still there at the head of his dragon. He smiled at us. "You are not going to use Vesryn Pulse?"
"We'll try to kick your ass in this form first! Totally!" Airi shouted, pointing her sword to the flying white dragon.
"You're…the Crimson Dragonfly…" the masquerade's smile faded. There was a long pause. Then he patted his dragon's head. "We're not going to win this, Emy. We should retreat."
Crimson Dragonfly? Is he pertaining to Airi? What is he talking about? Are they going to flee this early?
The ice dragon roared in acceptance of its master's proposal. It flapped its wings and dashed upwards. The strong blow of wind made the bushes in this garden sway. Pink and white petals waltzed through the thin air.
"I'm pretty sure that we will meet again, young Dragon Knight!" The masquerade took his hat off and bowed as he and his dragon soared up in the sky. It was extremely fast that their silhouette in the sky suddenly disappeared.
I can't just trail that fleeing Black Phantom right now. My main purpose is to keep the duchess safe. Chasing the assassin means leaving the manor, and it will leave the duchess vulnerable to another attack. So the best course of action is to do nothing.
I sighed, retracting myself from my surge of adrenaline. Part of me says that I want to fight that man longer, but I can't fight him head on with someone to protect in mind.
"Will you please bring me down now?" It was the duchess, who I was carrying on my right shoulder.
"…O-Oh."
As soon as I brought the duchess down, her face became red. I am certain that she was blushing and embarrassed, but still she mumbled "thanks" to me. I smiled in response.
"Hey, Amphy!" Airi shouted. "HERE'S YOUR TAIYAKI!!!"
Smack! She slapped a paperbag containing hot fish pancakes she just bought earlier! It's really hot that made my cheek suffer from burn! Good thing my reflexes are superb enough to catch the falling fish pancakes and returned it to the paper bag even though it's sweltering.
Airi held her hips again and pushed her face towards me. "Don't you dare leave me again, okay!? Like, totally!"
"Y-Yes ma'am…" I looked away while forcing a smile. How forceful.
"Fufufu…"
I was surprised. The duchess was chuckling. I never knew that this young brat can laugh, given her arrogant serious form.
"I've never seen any Dragon Knight who was being scolded by his Dragonoid."
Well technically Airi is my senior…but she's a dragonoid. Most people think lowly of dragonoids but I'm not selfish enough to take away her honorifics.
"Is that girl the duchess?...Like totally???" Airi whispered at me.
"Yes. I told you before, right? She's a twelve year old kid." I whispered back.
Airi walked closer to the duchess then lent her hand to her. Airelina has a thing for cute kids, even though the duchess speaks more like an aristocratic adult.
"You must be Duchess Carousel. I am pleased to meet you…Totally!"
"It's Corasell. Nice to meet you, Miss Airelina." The duchess shook Airi's hand with a smile. Hey, why is there a special treatment? She's not rude with Airi!
Airelina is usually hostile to nobles, especially if it was a human noble. But duchess Corasell is well known for being a kind noble for dragonoids like Airi. The duchess even seems to trust dragonoids more than humans, given that her introduction with me is not friendly at all. Her approach at me and Airi is a lot different.
We went back to the office for some briefing. The wounded bodyguards are now being treated by the duchess' medic team so there's nothing to worry about.
The dragonoid maids prepared us some green tea and a slice of black forest cake to our table. Airi was really pleased to see the cake, so she immediately munched it down. She already finished her slice so she asked me if she can get mine, so I gave it away.
The old butler was standing beside the duchess. He really looks like a bodyguard. But he is useless in battle, given the circumstances earlier.
"If I may ask, milady… You have an idea who is the one behind this assassination attempt?" I asked the duchess after sipping my tea.
"There are a lot of nobles who hates my family for generations. Dukes, knights, and more importantly, government generals. They all hate me for supporting the dragonoids. It seems like my only friends are the dragonoids themselves."
Duchess Corasell is the author of the Dragonoid Rights Bill which she passed on the senate. That particular bill is still being studied by the highest nobles of our country. And that bill might be the main source of hate.
Actually, her parents were the ones who originally drafted the bill. But due to a fortuitous accident that was never disclosed, her parents died, leaving her the only one who could live in their legacy.
The Dragonoid Rights Bill will give basic rights to all dragonoids to our country, making them free. It will make dragonoids and humans equal in the eyes of the law. It will make dragonoids able to have the benefits a human being has, as well as ownership of properties and granting them free education. They will never be treated like an object or a slave if the bill was approved by the senate.
Most of the humans who hate the dragonoids are angry at her because of this, especially the nobles. They are scared of dragonoids because of their abilities. They wanted the dragonoids to stay being their slave and property.
If the Duchess were killed, no one will have the power to push the bill to effect. So pretty much all human beings can be a suspect in this case.
I don't care about the Dragonoid Rights Bill. I'm just doing my job to protect the duchess from any potential assassins and to keep her safe until I got reassigned to another task. I really don't care about the clown acts Estoff keeps forcing me into.
"Sir Estoff already knew that there would be an assassination attempt, which is why he sent you here." The duchess said.
"That guy is really doing what he wants…" I said to myself.
Sir Estoff is also a Dragon Knight, a senior of mine. He also serves as my battle mentor. Every battle techniques I learned in the Dragon Knight Academy were taught by him. If it wasn't because of his adamantt personality, I could've rejected this mission. Well, there's money involved so I accepted it like an ordinary errand.
"I never thought that an uninspiring boring bland teenager like you is a skilled Dragon Knight." The duchess said. It's a brutal insult, not even close to being a compliment.
Am I really that tedious? I just kept my silence. Well, I think she's right about me. I really have that mild personality.
"Amphy is one of the most powerful knights I ever seen, totally!" Airi said happily. "Well he has an unexciting personality so he just keeps his silence a lot."
Darn this lizard. You two get along in so many ways. Like totally!
"Tell me, what kind of dragon are you?" the duchess asked Airi.
"Futuretech Dragon. Why?" Airi tilted her head.
"Wow. Futuretech Dragon's powers are hard to control."
"That is because Amphy is totally amazing~ We have a ninety seven percent compatibility rate, that is why I chose Amphy to be my dragon knight!" She said. For the nth time, it's Amphere. Stop making weird nicknames.
The duchess' mouth opened like an oval. "Ninety seven percent… How did you achieve such a high compatibility rate? How did you two meet?"
"Well, I think it's meant to be…totally…" Airi looked at me and smiled safely.