(3 month and 13 days after Klada Disaster)
[Lynn's POV]
Warm, golden lights pierced through the throne room's window from behind King Hal's seat, shining it in the eyes of both me and Kyrielle.
"(Here's the Card.)" A member of the royal guard handed me a gold plated metal card.
"(I am honored to receive this.)" I gracefully accepted the card with my both hands.
"(With this, Kyrielle Buffet and Lynn Howard is granted the Royal Right of Passage across the entire Bostnia Continent with the privilege and rights as if they were a noble. That card shall serve as the proof of this privilege, treasure it well. This evens out the favor between us, Lynn-dono.)"
"(Naturally, your Highness.)"
A right of passage is like a passport, and would allow me and Kyrie to accept quests, use infrastructure made by the republic government... when given Royalty privilege, our expenses will become discounted, and we can be granted entrance to anywhere in this continent except another King's castle.
"(Thank you, King Hal.)" (2x)
"(Now I shall bid farewell to these two human visitors. It is my honor to personally house you two as guests to my castle, may your journey to the Centralia Continent be smooth, and may fortune be upon you.)"
"(In tandem with you... we wish you well also, your Highness.... We will now... take our leave.)" I
While stuttering because of her lack of experience in the Bostnian language, Kyrielle replied to the king.
Compared to the Kyrie back during when we first arrived at this continent, she can now speak in understandable sentences.
We turned around and walked out of the throne room's gate.
"(Lynn-sama, Kyrielle-sama.)" (2x)
"(Lucia, Linia, it's good to see you two. Now, it is time to say goodbye, I hope you two have a way better time working in here. If possible, you can visit the Centralia Continent and even find us there!)"
"(Haha, we would certainly like to, but that would be impossible.)"
"(I see... that is a shame then. Well then, do you two have anything to say to us before we leave?)"
"(Thank you for being kind and treating us like equals despite our appearance. We wish you two a safe journey back home.)" (2x)
"(Thank you. And Kyrielle?)"
"(Thank you to Lucia for... taking care of me and teaching me about.... all kinds of things like royalty ethics and even... the Bostnian language.)"
"(Naturally, Kyrie-sama!)"
"(Mm!)"
"(As for me, thank you Linia for taking care of me during my stay at this castle. You have also entertained me quite a lot with your reaction to my jokes!)"
"(Ahaha, I have been entertained by your jokes as well, Lynn-sama.)"
"(Well then, it's time for us to bid farewell now. Help me give my regards to that saucy Court Mage as well, alright? Goodbye Linia and Lucia, may we meet again if there is a chance.)"
"(Goodbye Lucia and Linia.)"
"(Goodbye. Be safe and remember to take care of yourselves, especially you, Kyrie!)"
Grabbing our travel bag by the hallway outside, we exited the castle and walked out of the castle, finally arriving at the stable where we picked up Lizzie, our travelling ride Geen Lizard.
"Oogrr!"
"I know I know, you must have been lonely during these past twenty days..."
'Nibble!...'
"Ouch! Don't eat my hair, it's not food!" It seems that Lizzie missed Kyrielle and is angry at her for leaving it alone.
With Lizzie following us, we went over the bridge that cross over the castle's river, and into the city. Heading for the eastern gate, we exited the city.
In our new outfit choosen by none other than our two personal maids, we headed out towards the South East, where we once again walk under the scorching sun in a desert.
"Don't forget your hat, Lynn."
"That's right, I was so used to hooded coats that I didn't even remember to put on my hat!"
I grabbed the black colored Hat hanging by my waist and put it on my head. Kyrielle also put on hers, which is blue and red in color. We wore a matching set, only just different in color.
"...These 30 days was rather fun." Kyrie mumbled out, with a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Yeah. It's a nice city to live in, if I wasn't going to escort you home I think I would've stayed there forever."
"Mmn... To be honest I have a small temptation to stay as well, but I have my family and my friends waiting for me back home.... Plus, I have someone who I wanted to umm... confess to."
She curled her finger in one of her twin tail, and played with it nervously.
"Confess to?... Hah!... No way, Kyrie you are in love?!"
"S-shut up! I just have a crush on my friend, that's all!"
"Ahh, how girly of you Kyrie! You are such an innocent and pure girl that you make my heart flutter!"
"Stop it or I'll punch you!" She pouted her cheeks in anger.
"Haha, what a good reaction you have!"
"Hmpt!"
"Ooggrr!"
Together as a girl's team of three, we once again travelled like we did before.
Following the road, we headed directly east where we arrived at the foot of the mountain ranges. The city is really far in the distance now, and appeared really small because of it.
After we crossed yet another bridge over a river that is directly under these mountains, we came across a T junction...
If we continue forward, we would be heading directly into the mountains, straight for the Bost Volcano. While it is a really cool land mark to visit, it's extremely dangerous for Kyrielle to do so right now simply because it might erupt at any moment.
Instead, we headed for the road on the right, which headed at the direction of South East and is a road that goes around the mountain ranges rather than straight through it.
We took a short rest at the T junction, where Kyrielle are her lunch, and then we continued walking on the road right next to the mountain. It was then....
"Roar...!"
"Oh my god look Lynn, it's a dragon! It is by the mountains!"
I looked to my left, towards the rocky mountains....
"....There's no dragon."
"It just flew behind that mountain, watch it'll come out any second now!.... Any second now...."
"Ogrr..."
"...."
No dragon appeared.
"...Lets just continue walking shall we?"
"...Come on it really was there alright?!"
I turned back forward and as soon as I'm about to continue walking....
"Roar...!"
"There it's out again! See?!"
I turned to the left side again and.... Just some normal mountain ranges. Obviously I knew that the roar is indeed from a dragon, but I pretended not to know that just to mess with Kyrie.
"....There's no dragon."
"It flew behind the mountain again, you are just too slow!"
"For God's sake you ARE a dragon! Stop fantasizing hallucinations."
"It's different! I'm not entirely a dragon, I'm a dragonkin! Besides, I'm not hallucinating anything, it just somehow hides behind the mountain every time you look there!"
'Roar...!'
We both turned towards the mountain again.... Still no dragon.
"....Lets just go." She finally gave up after I failed to see the dragon the third time, what a comedic moment hahaha!
"Ahaha! I was just messing with you, I knew that there was a dragon there! See, it came out now!"
She looked at the mountain and we finally saw the dragon flying there. It was circling around one of the tallest mountain there and that's why it'd be hidden behind that mountain easily.
"It wasn't just my hallucination?... Lynn you jerk!" She pouted her cheeks again from anger. It was cute.
"Hahaha!"
'Roar...!'
With magnificent red scales, a wing span that is at least 3 times in length of it's body and horns protruding from it's body, the dragon flew at a really high altitude.
It's color contrast with the Rocky background, and as such it is a really nice sight to behold in person.
"It looks so gorgeous...!" Kyrielle was once again dumb struck by that thing.
Normal dragons like that are rather common to see around mountainous areas, and is actually way more common than Drakes, their feathered cousins.
These dragons can take off from anywhere and with a giant pair of wings they can fly huge distances without stopping. As such, they can actually show up at the sky of some of the most unexpected places, like in the middle of a city or in the middle of a plains without any mountains nearby...
And just like drakes, normal ones can't use any breath attacks at all. Only the stronger ones can use breath attacks, and only the strongest ones can actually cast magic and be sentient.
Their huge wings make really loud flapping noises that could be heard even a large distance away. This also meant that they are chase predators that chase down their preys, as compared to the surprisingly dangerous and effective drakes, which are ambush predators that attacks unsuspecting victims.
Plus, it doesn't help that these dragons are highly territorial, and constantly roar whenever they feel that their territory is... threatened? Doesn't that mean that this one if defending it's territory?
"Look at that, Lynn! There's a pair of giant eagles approaching the dragon."
Two eagles, most likely a pair of love birds is circling really close to the dragon on the air above it. This behavior of the eagles meant that they are sizing down their target.... For what did they want to fight this dragon? For home? Honor? I don't know.
The two eagle's circle gets increasingly smaller before the two suddenly changed directions at the same time towards the opposite direction. As if they had a planned attack, they went farther away to surround the dragon before they actually dived down at the dragon to begin the fight.
The dragon seeing this immediately chooses to fly directly towards one of the bird, and barely dodged the dive attack of that eagle. As if it is already familiar with the attack pattern of these eagles, the dragon immediately swung it's tail as it dodged, using it like a counter attack.
The tail sweeps onto one of the eagle's head and landed directly. The eagle lost its balance and starts falling from the sky.
After a brief second of falling, it regained it's consciousness and then flewed upwards again, resuming the fight.
Simultaneously, the other eagle immediately raised it's speed and chased after the dragon. Both the bird and the dragon did incredible spins while flying, as the oversized bird chased after the dragon who is doing evasive maneuvers around the entire mountain.
The eagle finally chased up to it and exposed it's large talons with blade like claws to slash and grab at the dragon. Seeing this, the dragon immediately turned backwards and slashed at the bird's talon using the claws of it's leg as well.
The two collided with each other, blood was spilt from this exchange. The bird's wing was slashed into ribbons while the dragon only had a shallow cut in its torso.
The bird starts losing control and drops down, while the dragon regained its balance and hovers mid air. The dragon then frantically searched the air around it to find the other eagle.
However, without the dragon noticing, the other eagle had flanked to the top side of them as they are fighting, and thus dived straight for the dragon's head up in the air.
The clever trick is that the eagle had used the sun to cover itself up so that the dragon wouldn't see him approaching until it's too late.
The dragon finally saw the bird coming down and in an attempt to counter attack, it swung it's tail upwards as the eagle dived with it's talons.
The bird directly collided into the tail swipe and slashed at the dragon's tail as it did so. The tail swipe had hit one of the talon and most likely fractured it. The bird lost balance after this hit connects.
However it did some damage to the dragon as well. The claws from the talons made terrible cuts to the dragon's tail and blood immediately spilled out of the tail as if it was a water tap.
'Groo...!' The dragon yelled out in pain, and groaned so loud that even at this kilometers of distance, we could still hear it.
Both the bird and the dragon regained their balance... But instead of continuing with the fight, the bird decided to retreat. With the other talon that wasn't hurt, it flew down for the mountains and grabbed onto it's partner.
Lifting it's partner, the bird flew away from the dragon that hovered mid air. The dragon pulled it's head behind, and then opened it's large mouth in a motion as if it is inhaling a large amount of air. And then....
'Roar...!!!' As if it was announcing it's victory, the dragon roared loud into the sky and made the very mountain tremble. Even at this distance we could still hear it, which speaks volumes about how loud it truly is.
After only 3 exchange of blows, the fight had ended. It was a short dog fight, but it was one that has many intricate details because of the strategies, way of attack and even the acrobatics in flight used.
"...That was a brilliant sight." Kyrielle muttered that after the dragon made it's victory roar.
"Yeah... Even I have never saw a fight like that before either."
"Does that mean this doesn't happen often?"
"Not really, these fights actually happens white often. In this world, dragons, drakes, giant eagles, and giant dragonflies are natural enemies. All of those four is the apex predator of their respective zone's sky, and is at least B ranked in threat."
"There's even dragonflies?"
"Yes, though they only exists on the Weyn continent. These four natural enemies share many similarities in the way they fight, but they are different from each other in the more intricate details of their abilities."
"Which is?"
"Giant eagles can fly the fastest out of the three because of their light feathers and large wingspans. Dragonflies has the slowest flight speed out of the three, but they makes up for it with their maneuverability and agility by hovering and changing directions suddenly."
"That is cool!"
"Dragons are in the middle of those two, being capable of hovering, but not with the agility of a dragonfly... and flying faster than dragonflies but slightly slower than an Eagle... A drake is basically just an Eagle that can't fly in command, but it has the physical prowess of a dragon."
"This means that the success of their fights depends on the way they use their strength right? Since they all share the same weakness which is having really low defense, they must rely more on wits and tactics to score one or two hits in, right?"
"Smart girl. You know a lot about fighting don't you?"
"...not really. I just try to experiment with new ways to fight every time I see potentials."
"I see... Not many people even does that, and it is often these very same people that creates dangerous spells, techniques and war tactics... You are rather gifted in this way of fighting it seems."
"Right... Maybe you are correct."
"Mmn. Let's keep going then."
We continued walking in this road, and soon it was already near the evening. Like usual, we searched for a suitable place to camp out at night.
I started a bonfire as the day turned night, and sat near it together with Kyrie. She did her own things while I inspected our equipment. Finally, I took out the map that was given by the kind receptionist from the first city, and checked on our current location.
Curiously, Kyrie got closer and peeked at the map. "...where are we now?"
"Here." I pointed to one part of the map, right next to a large range of mountains.
"Hmm... wait, we are really near the edge of the desert already."
"I think so. With just about 9 days of traveling, we would arrive at the border of the desert and enter the forest areas."
"Hold on, if we are so close to the forest then why do we need to worry about the rain monsoon?"
"The reason we stopped at that city for a month is because these forests actually become swamps during the rain monsoon. You don't want to walk in these diseased filled mud water right?"
"Yeah... there's no way I'm walking inside a dirty stinky stagnant swamp!"
"Dont say it to the beast men on the Weyn continent, since they live in swamps and they would be hurt by that statement."
"Ahaha... no offense. Anyway, I am sleeping first. Good night."
"Good night. Make sure you feed Lizzie some clean water before that though."
"Okay."
"Oogrr."
After feeding that over sized lizard, she went straight to sleep. She is sleeping rather soundly for someone who's literally sleeping on the ground, inside a shallow trench and using only her desert coat as a blanket....
I also dug my own trench near the fire and then lied down inside it, using my coat as a blanket... Now I get why she fell asleep so quickly, it's actually kind of comfortable. Not as comfortable as the soft bed back in the castle, but still.
"...how strange."
I found myself smiling again after lying down. It has been a long time since I have felt so human like, with all this new sights in the continent that I have a deep history with, and also taking care of someone else.... It's not that bad of a feeling.
Slowly as I thought of that, I also started to drift off into sleep myself.
"....zzz"
_______________
I suddenly found myself standing in a barren land... No, not the desert type of barren, but a destroyed and leveled city kind of barren. A No Man's Land.
"...Well well, what do we have here?" I mumbled that out naturally upon seeing this.
Smokes are everywhere and covered the entire sky, craters are everywhere on a flat land full of debris from collapsed buildings, and finally, Kyrie was behind me.
"...what destructive power is that....?!" She said out in disbelief.
....what?
"What destructive power?" I asked her. In response, she pointed her finger up to the sky.
The smoke cleared up now and I could see clearly. There it is up in the sky, a big floating castle, with four slabs of giant concrete that appears to have magic crests on it. It is indeed a plot of land flying up in the sky, with a fortress on top of it
What's worse is not the castle... It's the major window with an inverted image of a city that is present on top of the sky, as if the very sky itself was cracked open into the heavens.
Within the window is an inverted world in itself, right above a city... It's like we could see an upside down city through this giant tear in the sky, and it doesn't make any sense what so ever.
"What the hell is that?!" I yelled out and leapt up from my make shift sleeping trench...
...I woke up from a dream huh?... This is weird because I have never had any dreams since 5 years ago now. Well, this maybe partly due to me not sleeping a lot, but whatever.
...Though I had seen the sights of a destroyed city multiple times already, it is not something that one could grow out of... and my past trauma is now coming back to haunt me.
War is not something that one simply just grows out of. It left a deep scar in my psyche, and it also made me who I was today. I'm just done with wars already...
War never changes, and people like Kyrielle shouldn't be in one. Come to think of it, the whole reason I feel so attached to Kyrie is because she reminds me of my past self....
Well, it's not something I should think about for now. Us approaching a country that is having a civil war is making me feel anxious, that's why I had this dream I think. It's bad to overthink....
I looked around, and the campfire was burned out. Kyrie slept soundly in her very own place, and Lizzie as well in her own trench dug by Kyrie.
The sky is as beautiful as ever, with a big golden moon alongside the galaxy's belt and a canvas full of stars. A sight that no matter how many times I saw, I'd still be amazed by.
Maybe I should consider becoming an astrologer after all of this us over huh? Well, now is the time to go back to sleep, so I'll worry about that later.
(Chapter 50, end)
(Volume 3 complete)
Author :
Thank you for reading so far off! This volume concludes the mundane journey of Kyrielle and Lynn.
I hope you'll continue reading my story, so long.