As it turned out, the first day of the trip was nothing more than a big celebration. As Morrigan found out soon after leaving the Demon Castle gates, the city was eager to see her off on the journey. The main street through which they rode was lined with demons as far as the eye could see. They cheered as the princesses passed by them, wishing them good luck and even offering them gifts.

"Shouldn't we accept those?" Morrigan asked as she saw a little demon girl stand on the side of the street while clutching a lone fire flower in her hands.

"Our wagons are already full. We cannot start accepting whatever offerings commoners have deemed worthy to give us. If you want to return their goodwill, then just smile and wave," Viana instructed, hunkering deeper into the carriage and ignoring the shouts from the outside.

"You can be really heartless sometimes," Deziara grumbled.

"I am being practical. There are just too many people out of there. Besides, not all of them are here to wish us well on our journey. Some are eager to get rid of us. Especially you, Morrigan," Viana said grimly. Morrigan nodded and looked outside the carriage window. They were fast approaching the place where the little demon girl was standing.

Seeing the carriage come closer, the girl took a shaky step forward and held out the flower as high as she could. There was no chance for Morrigan to reach it from so far away, but she took hold of the flower with her levitation magic and had it float to her. The girl watched in awe as Morrigan took the flower and smiled down on her.

The expression of glee and embarrassment on the girl's face was absolutely worth it. She nervously ran back to her mother, who chuckled happily at the sight while the demons who saw the gesture cheered even louder.

"Have a safe journey, Your Highness!"

"May the darkness watch over you, Princess Morrigan!"

"A hundred cheers for the beautiful princesses!"

"That was a nice thing to do, Morri," Deziara said with a smile.

"Don't come crying to me when it comes back later to bite you," Viana scoffed.

"Oh, sure, the flower will turn into an angry monster and eat us all," the black-haired girl teased. But Viana didn't reply to her taunt, instead solemnly looking out to the crowded Linberor streets.

The ride during the first day was slow and it took them several hours until they left the capital. Morrigan felt mentally exhausted by the time the busy crowds were finally out of their sight. The whole time she had smiled and waved at the people who had come to see them off. The muscles on her face felt like they were cramping up from the forced position.

"Please, don't tell me it will be like that everywhere we go," Deziara groaned.

"No, it won't. At least not when we arrive initially. Our traveling routes are not public aside from the four sacred places we have to visit. But once people realize who we are, the crowd will gather quickly," Viana explained.

"Oh, no…" Morrigan groaned, imagining how everyone would swarm to them the moment they arrived. Would they even be able to see anything at that rate?

"What? Did you expect a fun sightseeing trip? We are princesses. Duty always comes first," she said sternly. Both Morrigan and Deziara sighed and began to silently peer at the retreating cityscape.

The houses on the streets were becoming more sparse and the streets themselves became rockier and harder to traverse. It wasn't a real problem for the giant badgers, but Morrigan felt her whole body shake constantly. Initially, she just found it mildly discomforting, but after some time it became almost irritating. Thankfully, the first day was planned to be rather short in terms of travel, and after two more hours of traveling, the entourage arrived at their first stop – a luxurious inn on the outskirts of Linberor.

Once the carriage stopped, Deziara leapt out of the carriage in one fell swoop, completely tired of sitting in one place for so long. Morrigan followed after her, trying to keep some semblance of decorum, but she also felt herself rushing out of the stuffy carriage. Viana was the only one to exit the carriage as a proper princess, waiting while one of the guards would help her step out.

"You two need to learn some patience," the eldest princess scoffed.

"How is the journey so far, princesses?" Azrael came up to them snickering all the while.

"It was great. We got to see the whole capital," Morrigan retorted with a smile on her face. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing how uncomfortable the journey actually had been for her.

Maybe I should create a motorcycle with my paint magic? That should be a more comfortable way of moving around the Underworld. If only Father hadn't forbidden me from creating things from Earth…

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"The whole capital? Sweet, naive, little princess. That was merely the main street," Azrael retorted with a grin. Then he suddenly jumped to the side as Haku landed right where he was standing a moment ago. "Hey, watch where you're landing!"

"Sorry. Haku saw Morrigan and couldn't contain himself," Galandir said mischievously, while Haku sniffed at Morrigan and Deziara who gave hearty scratches under his chin. Viana rolled her eyes and retreated from the scene entirely, ordering the servants to take the luggage she needed for the night inside the inn.

"Oh, really? And you didn't see me standing here?" Azrael grumbled at the elven boy.

"I can't see past Haku's head very well. He's rather large," Galandir shrugged, swiftly jumping out of the saddles and landing on the ground with a flourish.

"I can't believe that I'm actually paying you to take care of this monster," the white-haired demon retorted.

"Calm down, Azrael. I'm pretty sure Haku wouldn't have actually landed on your head," Morrigan said, barely containing a smile.

"I'll get you back for this, you little miscreants," Azrael huffed and snapped his fingers, signaling his own servants to move.

"Where will you and Haku stay?" Deziara asked, looking over at the inn. It certainly looked impressive. A giant mansion with black marble walls and a white roof that appeared to radiate light that lit up the nearby area. It looked like it could easily have the whole royal family inside it along with all the servants each person needed.

However, it did not look large enough to house a dragon. The adjacent stables were large, clearly meant to accommodate many mounts. But not large dragons.

"That's a good question…" Galandir scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking around the surrounding area. "I suppose that empty space behind the inn is as good as any."

"We should probably talk with the innkeeper. He could suggest a good place for Haku to spend the night," Morrigan said. As if called, a large demon dressed in fine clothes that did not quite suit him came out of the inn.

"Welcome, welcome, dear princesses!" the man said and bowed low before them, his curled horns nearly touching the ground. Morrigan worried that he'd just tip with how top-heavy he looked, but he straightened out without much issues. "Welcome to The Jewel in The Dark. I am the owner of this wonderful inn – the name is Horace."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Horace," Morrigan said, putting on her perfect princess persona, and inclining her head ever so slightly towards him. According to what Viana said earlier the owner of this inn was not a noble, so she was warned against curtsying before him like she normally would.

Morrigan didn't really like this kind of selective etiquette but decided that it wouldn't be wise to cause a scene over something so minor so early in the journey. After all, Viana had already decided that meeting this man was above her station and that she wouldn't engage with him. But as the star of this tour, Morrigan had to show proper courtesy.

"Oh, trust me, Princess. The pleasure is all mine. When I heard that you'd be coming to rest at MY inn. Boy, I bragged to all my buddies and they went green with envy. That'll teach them after all those times they told me that opening an inn on the outskirts of the city would never work," Horace prattled on. Morrigan did her best to keep up her smile while from the corner of her eye, she saw that Deziara was slowly retreating from the scene.

Even you, Deziara!

"May I ask a question?" Morrigan said before Horace could continue his rant in earnest.

"Of course, Princess Morrigan. Anything you need, I can provide for you," he said smugly.

"Where could my dragon stay for the night?" she asked, pointing at Haku, who was clawing at something in the soil while Galandir curiously looked over him. Horace visibly paled as if he had only just noticed the dragon. Despite him being right next to them this whole time.

"The dragon you say?" he gulped audibly and sweat formed on his forehead. "D-Does he like to burn stuff?"

"On occasion, but I'll ask him to hold back for the night," she smiled at him brightly. The demon paled even further, and Morrigan swore that she could see his knees begin to tremble.

"I suppose he could stay in the gardens. If he is careful…" Horace replied although it was clear that he did not want Haku anywhere near his gardens.

"Wonderful! Do not worry, he'll be under careful watch of Galandir at all times," Morrigan tried to appease the innkeeper.

"Is that the elven slave next to the dragon?" Horace raised his eyebrow, his knees still shaking.

"He's not a slave. Galandir is a… dragon keeper. So treat him with respect," she warned him, and the innkeeper nodded shakilly. It was likely that he had changed his mind about her visit being something to be happy about.

"Of course. I shall go… prepare the garden for the dragon," the innkeeper said in a hurry and disappeared back inside before anyone could object.

"Dragon keeper? I like that title. Can I call myself that officially now?" Galandir snickered.

"Sure. Just make sure Haku doesn't destroy too much stuff," Morrigan said, looking at the giant hole the dragon had already dug on the side of the road.

"I promise that at least half of it will be left intact. Let's go, Haku. We'll go check out your place for the night," the boy motioned the dragon to follow. Haku nuzzled against Morrigan's side affectionately, then padded after him dutifully, his long tail swaying from side to side, making people scurry out of his way.

Morrigan also signaled to bring her luggage inside when she noticed a pair of eyes peek at her from behind the building. She stepped closer, curious to see what it was, but then the eyes disappeared into the darkness.

What was that? Is somebody watching us?

Curious, Morrigan walked over to where she saw the eyes, however when she reached the place, there was nobody there or anywhere nearby for that matter.

"Is something the matter, Your Highness?" One of the maids called out to her.

"No. I guess it was just my imagination," Morrigan said and hurried inside. But there was an unpleasant sort of nagging at the back of her mind. This would be her first night outside of the Demon Castle. But could she really expect everything to go well and without any incidents? This was not Earth. One couldn't just go on a trip and expect nothing to go wrong. Even trips on Earth often went wrong with luggage being lost and things being poorly timed.

I'll have to keep up my guard. Asdeus is still somewhere out there. Not to mention that something bad always seems to happen whenever I leave the Demon Castle.