Dragonlord

Ep 204. As Soon As I’m Out Of This Mess. (2)

Ep 204. As Soon As I’m Out Of This Mess. (2)

At the eastern edge of Caldon’s sands, Senon and its walls were practically the only landmarks active conflict going on, the keep was really just a fancier equivalent of Kavir.

Unfortunately, that was not the case today.

Beginning with the sightings of an enormous airborne creature, the following series of cannon fires had awoken every single knight that had been stationed at the keep. And when the creature had descended from the skies to the ground beneath, dozens had been dispatched in small groups to search for the fallen threat, marking the surrounding darkness with patches of torchlight.

Luckily for the elves, below their airborne keep was but a flat plain – not all too different from the neighbouring desert. Finding a party of three foreigners didn’t prove to be too difficult.

“OVER HERE!”

Following the signalling party’s shouting, numerous elven knights soon surrounded the vicinity. Many were brandishing their swords and spears, their bodies as alert as it possibly could be.

But contrary to their expectations, the dragon they’d spotted in the air was nowhere to be seen.

“Ugh, gimme a break, Iris…was this really necessary?”

“It is. Stop whining.”

“…”

Instead, the elven knights saw a rather strange combination: a sleepy elf who still seemed half asleep, a red-haired elf reprimanding her friend, and a strange, horned half who was staring back at the elves in silence.

But amidst the whining and reprimanding, both elves were keenly observing the knights’ reactions from the corners of their eyes.

Admittedly, it’d been some time since Patrick had awoken: the first cannon fire had been more than enough to jolt the sleeping mage awake. And from then until now, he’d been given little time to comprehend what was going on.

Still, despite his foggy mind, Patrick’s body had reflexively followed his long-time coworker’s barked orders. The two had quickly sharpened their ears – literally – through a spelled illusion, posing themselves as elves to the surrounding knights.

And, as stupid as the idea seemed to Patrick, he was shocked to find it seemingly working.

Somewhat.

“Who are you lot? A monster should’ve fallen in this area. Were you all on it?”

“…”

A peculiar dragonlord wasn’t exactly pleased at being accused of being a ‘monster.’ Nor of having been ‘shot down.’

But Iris quickly placed one hand over Serenis’ shoulders, speaking in her stead to the knight that addressed them. The knight’s tone was clearly softer than it would’ve been to invaders – which left room for talking.

Or, in this case, deceiving.

“Sorry about that…we only meant to return home.”

“…Home?”

“Yes, we’re-”

For a brief moment, Iris scanned the elves that surrounded them.

Unlike the shadowguards they’d encountered in Kavir, the current elves were clad in striking white armor. The enforcer failed to spot any firearms in their possession, instead finding simpler weapons forged of wood and iron. And, most importantly, they didn’t seem as rugged or brutal in appearance as the shadowguards had seemed – if anything, they seemed proud and regal, as any knight ought to.

‘So that’s the flip side. The royal guards…’

As she briefly noted the truthfulness of what the captured shadowguards had told them, Iris continued on with her answer.

“-survivors. From the recent fire in Kavir.”

As Iris threw her conjured deceit, the knights began murmuring amongst themselves.

It wasn’t a perfect lie, by any means. With how little time they’d had, both Iris and Patrick had only been able to cast an illusion on their ears – their attires looked nothing like that of runaway slaves. And to boot, Serenis was still Serenis in every sensible way. Horns and all.

But even so, Iris had ample confidence that the knights would fall for her deceit.

According to the captured shadowguards, they’d killed every single survivor in Kavir: this included Asurians, enslaved elves, and even Karia’s royal guards that had arrived on site afterwards.

Presumably, the last bit were knights that had been stationed right here in Senon, closest to Kavir in proximity: most likely allies to the elves that were surrounding them this very moment.

And, as if to prove her theory correct, the knights had become visibly agitated by the news.

If any elven survivor from Kavir was going to return to Senon, they’d expected it to be in the company of their allies, not on the back of a dragon. But they’d frankly heard nothing from their departed allies ever since, with no updates as to what had happened in Kavir for days on end.

“…”

After a long, grueling silence, the knight finally delivered his answer to Iris.

“…Explain.”

The knight didn’t specify what, of course – but the enforcer before him knew exactly what he wanted to know.

While Patrick and Serenis looked to her with dubious eyes, Iris continued with her seemingly-honest, momentarily-conjured story.

“A huge fire swept through the entire town, but we luckily survived being chained in an underground cell. And…while we thought we’d starve to death there, knights wearing similar armor as yours found and rescued us. They gave us food, shelter…oh, and these clothes too.”

“And? What happened to them?”

“…They said they’d take us back to our homes in Karia. We were heading out of Kavir together with other rescued elves, but…that was when a strange group attacked us. They slaughtered the knights, and everyone else that had been freed. We thought we’d be killed as well, but…”

Then, the enforcer pointed to the staring dragonlord with her thumb.

“…She saved us.”

“She did?...Who is that?”

“Um…I’m not too sure…?”

Shrugging, Iris looked to the dragonlord with an innocent gaze – as if they were complete strangers.

“…”

With a resigning sigh, Serenis then joined in on Iris’ ridiculous story.

“…First, I am not a monster. My name is Serenis, and I am of the dragonkin.”

“Dragon? YOU were that flying monstrosity?”

“…”

“Ah, um…”

The other elves were quick to shoot glares at their outspoken member.

Realizing his poor choice of words, the knight hurriedly lowered his head apologetically.

“My apologies. I’ve…never seen a dragon before.”

“…Do not make that mistake again. We are by no means the same as monsters.”

“O, of course. But, dragon, if you wouldn’t mind…could I ask why you were helping these two?”

“…”

Neither Iris nor Serenis had discussed how they would conjure this lie. In fact, the whole thing had been improvised by the enforcer on the spot – and Serenis had no mind to make some detailed, elaborate lie as to why she’d been at Kavir to help elven survivors.

Instead, the dragonlord stared intently at the questioning knight, crossing her arms in defiance.

“You speak as if I require a reason to help others.”

“Huh? I didn’t mean-“

“Do you take us for monsters after all? The dragonkin are not beasts. We are perfectly capable of recognizing when others are in need.”

“…”

‘Wow. That is some next-level guilt tripping.’

Patrick watched in awe as his sibling effectively silenced the questioning knight altogether. The knight’s gaze had fallen to the floor in shame, genuinely regretting how he’d dared to question another’s good intent towards his people.

Finally, another knight stepped forward, sheathing their sword into the scabbard. They instead extended out their armored hand, pressing their ashamed colleague’s head further down with an apologetic smile.

“My sincerest apologies, dragon. Please know that he didn’t mean to offend you – everyone’s been rather uneasy from not having heard back from Kavir. We appreciate your gesture towards our people.”

“…And I am sorry for your loss. I’m afraid I arrived far too late to help your allies.”

“…It’s alright. They were able to buy time for your arrival, and resultantly saved two lives from those wretched Asurians. A royal guard could not ask for more.”

A warm smile spread across the knight’s lips as he nodded back to the dragonlord – while Serenis herself looked away in a mix of shame and guilt.

She hadn’t lied: she really had arrived far too late to help those that were slaughtered by Letherien’s shadowguards. But what troubled her was how the knights seemed to believe that their dead allies had been able to at least save two when, realistically, they’d died in vain with what elves that had survived the fire.

But before the uncomfortable situation could stretch on any longer, Iris intervened once more.

“Well…again, I’m sorry if we caused any concern. She’d offered to take us back to the capital, and we hadn’t realized that flying there would be…so…alarming.”

“Haha. Frankly, we thought something was invading us through air – an Asurian ploy, is what we initially thought. But now that it’s been cleared up, it’s perfectly alright.”

“…So…it’s alright if we…?”

Iris then slowly pointed to the sky. All she really needed was an explicit statement from the elves to allow Serenis to fly, nothing more.

Unfortunately, the knight shook his head in response.

“I’m afraid we cannot allow you to fly to the capital – other cities will likely be alarmed just the same. But if you’d like, members of the royal guard will happily escort you both to Rosaria.”

“Then…what about her?”

“Well…”

As everyone’s gaze fell on Serenis, the knight nervously rubbed his chin as he questioned the implications of having a dragon crossing into their continent.

“I must say, I’m not too sure myself. What I can tell you right now is that we have no authority to decide if a dragon can be allowed into Kariam soil. As such, I’m afraid we’ll have to ask you to stay with us in Senon for a while, dragon – until the high council can have its say on the matter.”

Iris’ eyes visibly widened at the statement. She and Patrick exchanged nervous glances once, before she hurriedly looked to the knight once more.

“We…have to stay here?”

“Hm? Oh no, not you two. We’ll assign a guard to escort the two of you to the capital.”

“…I was…hoping she could come with us…”

“Hm? Ah, quite close already, aren’t you? In that case…if you’d like, the two of you can also stay at Senon as guests until the council makes its decision.”

When Iris nervously turned to Serenis, she was met with a narrow, disappointed stare. And although the dragonlord wasn’t saying a single word, their very eyes seemed to say ‘That didn’t work out, did it?’

Iris bit the insides of her lips in silence. The outcome wasn’t quite as she’d wished – but if the royal guards had no authority to make a decision regarding Serenis’ entry, then words alone weren’t going to accomplish much.

Finally, the enforcer nodded back to the knight’s resolution.

“…I…see. How long will that take?”

“Haha, I apologize if you’re disappointed. I’m sure the council will allow entry – we just need to go through the confirmation process. Usually, it’s about…a month?”

“A MONTH?”

“Sometimes two. It takes a while.”

Finding herself at a loss for words, Iris’ lips twitched to say something, but failed to produce any words. That was an unimaginable amount of time for a mere confirmation process in her mind – but with elves consulting Letherien for practically every little thing, most technical processes were inevitably slow.

“…Wise Magician my ass.”

After muttering yet another heretical curse under his breath, Patrick budged in, stepping in front of Iris to speak to the knight directly.

“I think we’ll pass on going together then. We’ll return to the capital by ourselves – just the two of us.”

“Oh…are you sure?”

While the elven knight worriedly looked to Patrick, the mage only shot back a curt glance towards his sibling – as if he cared little for their company.

And even when Serenis stared back wide-eyed at her human brother’s apparent lack of concern, he didn’t seem to care one bit as he delivered his answer.

“Yeah. We’ll be fine on our own.”