"Eh? Commoner?" Melina echoed, her expression blank with confusion.
"Is she a commoner?" another lady whispered to her companion, eyeing Melina's luxurious hunter attire and her strikingly beautiful features. Her beauty far surpassed that of anyone present, leaving several of them flustered.
"You still dared to pull me off my horse!" the whip-wielding woman shouted, her brown skin reddening in her fury.
"Well, who goes around hitting random people? That's just plain dumb," Melina said, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
"You—!" The woman's anger boiled over, but before she could continue, a calm voice interjected.
"There's no need to escalate this, further sister. Let's leave it at that," a fair young man said, sitting gracefully on his horse. With long black hair tied into a neat ponytail and piercing black eyes.
Melina tilted her head, her purple and gold-streaked hair catching the sunlight.
"Purple hair with golden stripes," the young man murmured, his gaze locked on her. "How rare."
Melina raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "And you are?"
The young man smirked faintly, ignoring her question. "I am curious, though. What brings someone so unique to a place like this?"
"I'm just exploring," Melina replied calmly.
"Can you take me to that city over there? It seems like you're headed that way," she asked, pointing toward the high wall from afar.
The young man gave her a curt look and said, "No."
The flat refusal caught Melina off guard. "No?" she repeated, blinking in surprise.
"If you take me, I promise to compensate you," Melina offered nervously. She was worn out from flying all day, her wings aching from the long journey of flying the mountains.
"I don't need money," the young man replied with a chuckle, brushing her off with a wave of his hand.
Melina clenched her fists, frustration bubbling inside her. "Ugh, so annoying! Fine, I'll fly there myself!" With an exasperated huff, she released her massive wings, the sunlight glinting off the space scales and feathers, and took off into the air. "Humph! I just wanted to try riding a horse for once!" she grumbled as she soared toward the city.
Below, the young man's sister froze in her face went pale. "She's... she's a Dragon!! Bother Silver…."
Her brother, Silver, looked equally uneasy. "If she was truly angry at us, Anna, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now," he said nervously.
"But I hit a Dragon," Anna whispered, her voice cracking as panic took hold. "Brother Silver, am I going to die?!"
Silver nudged his horse to a gallop, glancing skyward to ensure the Dragon girl was flying away. "Just keep moving. Pretend we saw nothing," he muttered, and the rest of their group hastily followed suit.
Meanwhile, Melina glided down toward the city gates, her nose wrinkling as a putrid stench assaulted her senses. "What is that smell?" she groaned, landing just outside the city.
Her sudden appearance startled the guards, who stood at attention, staring at her with wide, confused eyes.
"Ugh! This place reeks! How can people just walk around like it's normal?" Melina muttered, pinching her nose. She hesitated at the entrance, visibly reluctant to step into the filth-ridden streets.
"Melina, let's not be spoiled!" she told herself sternly. "Be brave and push through this!" Taking a deep breath—well, as deep as the stench would allow—she straightened her posture and put on her best smile before walking confidently past the bewildered guards.
Inside, the city buzzed with life. People bustled through the streets, leading horses, carrying goods, or loading poorly constructed carriages that wobbled on uneven wheels. Melina winced at the discomfort plainly etched on some passengers' faces.
"Excuse me, is there a place I can find an empty shop?" she asked a shopkeeper, her voice polite despite her unease.
The man, busy arranging vegetables on a splintered wooden stand, barely glanced up. His stall reeked of rotten vegetables, and Melina fought the urge to gag at the sight of rotting produce crawling with insects. She forced herself to keep smiling. Back in her Grandfather's palace most of the produce were fresh.