At Furberg city, the guard standing at the gate yawned, it was a bit past sunset and they were getting sleepy. As one of them looked at the horizon, he spotted two carriages racing toward them. “Close the gate and tighten the security, two suspicious carriages are approaching!”
As they heard his words, the gatekeepers closed the gate and called the armed guards to stand with their spears. The lord has been furious this past day as they discovered a merchant to be a traitor, the details weren’t disclosed to them but they knew the merchant did hurt the lord’s daughter.
“There have been sights of disguise magic being used, make sure to check anyone with high profile and with urgent matters.” Disguise magic can last barely a few minutes so those who used are in a hurry if someone claimed to be a merchant or a noble and wanted quick access they should be stopped immediately.
“Stop, show your identities!” The two carriages stopped at the gates and Miko hurried with her adventurer plate, “Please hurry, we’re the dragon’s fang and we’re heavily injured!”
“Dragon’s fang…” He gave her a suspicious look, the dragon’s fangs he knew were ridiculously strong, and getting this badly injured didn’t seem real. “Wait a moment please until the appraisal orbs arrive from the guild.” He took her plate and walked away, his plan to wait a couple of minutes to see if they were using a disguise.
This was bad as Daraku’s condition was getting worse, his face was turning yellow and he was going in and out of consciousness. Miko was suspecting it was due to internal bleeding as well as some of his poison getting into his blood. Sofia’s condition was getting worse as well as her limbs were turning blue. Zaleria was getting impatient to the point of jumping from the carriage to talk with the guard herself. Cain was unconscious to tell her to stop and Gracie didn’t bother as well.
Miko froze as she saw her walk out, Cain was saying that red dragons were impatient and can explode at the slight annoyance. This was clearly a misunderstanding and Miko preferred to wait then start a fight as that might take longer.
“This place has a leader, right?” Zaleria asked as she wasn’t accustomed to human civilization, her knowledge only extended to cover the fact that a kingdom has a king and an army. Those men in front of her resembled the army so she was expecting a king to be there.
“There is a city lord, his name is William. Why do you ask?” The guard replied without even realizing it, Zaleria charm was akin to mind control. Sadly the people who can control the gate were inside the wall where the charm can’t affect them.
“Good, this makes things easier!” Zaleria’s body swelled, growing wings and claws as flame erupted from her skin. A violent gust of scorching hot winds washed over the gate as the gargantuan creature leaned over the wall.
“William! Come out or I will burn this place to the ground!” Zaleria roared shaking the whole city and causing massive panic. The guard screamed in terror as she looked down at them “It’s a dragon!”
Leon was close by in the barracks when he saw the massive dragon emerge and could feel the condensed magic coming from it. His body stiffened as he gulped down, ‘I hear of dragons threatening cities for gold and sacrifices, is this really our turn? Now of all times?’ He quickly got on his horseback and hurried to the scene to see what was going on.
“My name is Leon, the lord’s son. Would be all right to speak with me before my father arrives?” He said with a shaking voice, he didn’t know what he was doing but being faced with the guards he had to act his role.
“I don’t really care, open the gate as we have injured people!” Zaleria’s words almost made no sense to him for a moment.
“Injured?” He gasped trying to understand, ‘Is there another injured dragon behind the wall?’
“They are your own people, you either open or I will kick this sand wall down!” Her threat didn’t seem to be empty, her size alone convinced him she was capable of such a feat.
As Leon rushed out from the small gate, he immediately recognized Alice’s carriage. She was of course using a regular carriage to blend with the regular folks and avoid bandits. Leon recognized it as he had the one who created it mark it with an obvious scratch, he and his father wanted to keep an eye on Alice in case she got into trouble.
“Open the damned gate!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, the thought of his sister badly injured inside the carriage made him forget Zaleria’s existence.
The gates crackled as they slowly opened. The guards hurried to their tasks while keeping an eye on the massive dragon sitting by the wall.
Whoosh! The dragon’s body suddenly turned to flames and disappeared, from the flickering embers a woman jumped into the carriage without the guards’ notice. That caused a second panic as the massive creature disappeared as fast as it appeared.
“Was it an illusion? Is that even possible?” One of the guards said, “I swear to god my belt has melted a bit from the heat, that was a real dragon!” They started mumbling about the abnormal event.
Luckily, Leon had already confirmed Alice being unconscious in Leyla’s carriage alongside the others.
“Go back to work, clear the road!” Leon screamed as he jumped to Leyla’s side making her heart skip a beat. She always saw him from afar and was mesmerized by his clean figure and fiery red hair.
“Drive as fast as you could, I will direct you!” His words quickly pierced her ears, “Y-yes!” Her response was a bit slow but she only saw him point with his hand. “Turn right!”
The carriages quickly raced through the chaotic streets, the people had just been panicking about the dragon and now they see their Lord’s son race across the street in an old carriage.
As they reached the church, Miko immediately jumped from the carriage and called the nuns. “We have extreme injuries, get everyone capable of casting healing magic. Those who can’t, help me carry them inside.” She quickly started by pulling Daraku out for two nuns to drag him inside on a two-wheeled cart. Takeshi was too heavy to the point where five people were needed to carry him, half of that was due to his heavy armor. Yamauba on the other hand woke up and walked on her own, she looked half-asleep as if the pain has already numbed her brain.
On the other carriage, Leon scrambled to carry Alice inside but she immediately woke up and asked him to carry Cain, she was just out of MP. “It will be bad if those wounds left scars on you!” Leon said completely ignoring the dying Cain behind him.
“Oh, brother. Hurry we don’t have that much time!” She pushed him away and he turned toward Cain. ‘I can’t have her hate do I?’ He thought, looking around.
“Wait where did they go?” He gasped, as both Cain and Sofia were nowhere to be seen. Leon immediately rushed inside the carriage with Alice to check and it seems that Selena and Gracie carried Cain and Zaleria had taken care of Sofia.
Leon seemed happy as this gave him a chance to care for his sister. “Now come on Alice, I will carry you inside!” As he said that, he noticed two nuns already rushing with her inside. ‘My chance!’ He screamed internally.
It didn’t take that long for William to rush into the church, the guards have informed him of everything that happened and he seemed to be worried.
As he was rushing through the church hall toward Alice’s room a woman stood in his way.
“Get out of the way woman!” He growled pulling his sword as did his personal guards, “I have no time to talk with the likes of you!”
The woman frowned at the insult, her eyes slowly deep green as she clenched her fists.
“Father please back down!” Alice screamed, “You as well Zaleria please try to calm down!” Cain said with a shaking voice. He was barely able to stand and Alice has to give him her shoulder.
“I always find you half-dead, I worry for my daughter’s future with you!” William growled.
“You lock the city door in front of my grandchild. I worry for her future living under you!” Zaleria growled after his words.
“Let us calm down and have room to talk, I’m sure there is a misunderstanding!” Leon said after he finished having his mental breakdown for losing the opportunity to carry Alice.
‘He is calm in such a situation, I was right to let him handle the war. We better listen to him.’ William thought as he grinned.
‘He opened the door to my granddaughter; he is more competent than this fool.’ Zaleria thought as she dropped her hands ready to talk.