FFFFFFFWAP!… FFFFFWAPPFFFF!…

Deathwind flaps his enormous wings, then lightly adjusts his flight path to a gentle descent towards the capital.

With his arms crossed in frustration, Straf watches the cockpit of the Concorde plummet towards the ground, then explode on impact in a small magic reaction, strewing bits and pieces of its airframe all over the resulting crater. He looks around, and finds another, larger crater elsewhere, considerable distance away from each other. Both halves seem to have crashed away from civilization.

「Tsk… And we were going to head for the Eastern Kingdoms too…」

Straf grumbles, turning his gaze to the long mountain range in the east.

《The Eastern Kingdoms?… Do you want me to take you there?》

The dragon asks in his booming voice in Straf's head.

「Nonononono! I want down on the ground!…」

Cycelia perks up and shouts with her emerald eyes wide open.

《Very well! I shall land in front of that city!》

Deathwind replies, and dives faster.

「Eek!」

Cycelia lets out a yelp as the wind picks up on the dragon's back. Straf remains unaffected, staring at the scenery below with his mouth aslant, and arms crossed.

A panic begins in the city when the citizens spot the dragon flying overhead. They clear the streets and run into nearest available buildings, screaming in terror. The market stalls are quickly abandoned, and the capital appears to become a ghost town. Deathwind dives sharply for a fast horizontal landing.

Fffffffwap! Fffffwap!…

He flaps his wings gently, readjusting his flight path. He levels out just above the ground, speeding forward, before gently tilting upward as he loses his speed.

…FWAPPPPWF!… FWAAAAPWFF FWAPFF FWAPFF!… THUDDD!…

The ground rumbles as Deathwind's legs tear the dirt apart on landing. The armored Ministry of Security guards at the gate are staring with their jaws dropped. The dragon flaps its wings to slow down, sending tempestuous winds forward. Leaves scatter into the air far above the treetops in a distant forest ahead. When sufficiently slow, the dragon takes a few jumpy steps, trotting a few gigantic paces, before finally coming to a halt.

《We are here. I apologize for my mistake, Redwing's kin.》

Deathwind lowers his head to provide easier access to the ground. Cycelia stands up and gingerly makes her way down his neck, then slides off the side just before his massive head.

「How about apologizing for my fucking plane, huh? Do you have any idea how much work it is to convert jet fucking turbines to work with mana?」

With his hands in his pockets, Straf grumbles as he follows Cycelia off.

《Indeed… I can imagine my carelessness has set you back significantly. I have not seen a human fly before. To make up for it, you may call me, and I will take you wherever you need to go-》

Deathwind raises his head when Straf jumps off, and his lidless eyes blink while looking at Cycelia.

「Nononononono! Carriages are fine! Carriages are fine!」

Cycelia cuts in, shaking her head and waving her hands in front of herself with a giant, awkward smile on her face. The guards at the gate stand frozen, blinking in disbelief at the sight of Cycelia dismounting a dragon with Straf. They glance at each other, then return their wide-open eyes to them.

《…If you insist. I will return to my resting place, then continue my search for the culprit. Be well, Redwing's kin.》

The dragon takes a few massive steps away, before breaking into a run and leaping forward.

FFFFFWAP!… Fwwapf! Fwapfff! Fwapff!…

Deathwind flaps his wings, taking off into the air again. Cycelia shields herself with Straf before the wind can hit them both. A powerful gust impacts the gate guards, knocking them out of their shock, while Straf watches the dragon depart with his mouth heavily scrunched to the side, completely unaffected by the dragon's wings.

「…Ahhhhhhhh, man. I kind of wanted to see the Eastern Kingdoms too. Guess I'll have to wait until the plot wants me to go there.」

Straf lets out a frustrated sigh, then shrugs and heads for the gate. Cycelia follows, briefly glancing at the black dot in the sky.

「Straf, I don't think I want to go on anything faster than a horse anymore…」

She meekly comments while clutching onto her silver medallion.

「Well, Lia, I've got bad news for you. In my world, planes and cars were the main method of transportation.」

「Geh…」

Straf replies, glancing over his shoulder at her. She winces in discomfort at the idea. They pass the gate, and the guards bow low, slightly confusing Cycelia.

「…Where is everyone?」

She remarks while looking around the empty, silent streets.

「Dunno. Maybe they're sleeping in…」

Straf shrugs as they continue onward towards the palace. Frightened eyes peek out from the buildings' windows, and carefully opened doors…

…

A few hours later, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia is studying with a focused gaze on her magic tome. She flips a page, and begins reading it.

Thwack.

「Hm?」

Something impacts the glass pane in the window, distracting her. She stands up from her desk, and walks over to it.

「Ah. From the Academy of Magic?…」

Cycelia's brows rise when she sees a mana construct in a form mimicking a bird. It flaps its wings, hovering outside her window with a rolled up, tied, and wax-sealed letter in its talons. Its body shifts and blurs as it very loosely keeps its bird-like form, appearing more like odd lightning that arcs back and forth from its bird-shaped boundary.

Cla-clunk…

Cycelia opens the window, and holds her dainty hand out under the magic bird's talons. It drops the letter into it, then disappears like a popped balloon into solidified mana, which evaporates and diffuses into nothing after a few short moments, sparkling brilliantly like shattered glass under a beam of light. She closes the window, and looks at the letter in her hand.

「Hmmm…」

Cycelia humms, tilting her chestnut head as she sits back down in her desk. A blue seal of wax stamped with the silhouette of the Mage Federation's battle fortress keeps the letter rolled up.

Crack…

「…I didn't really expect a letter, though.」

She breaks the seal with a very soft crack of the fragile wax, and unwinds the string, mumbling under her breath with her brows furrowed. She unrolls the sheet, and begins reading.

「Eh?… Grand master?」

Her eyes narrow in brief confusion, then her brows furrow further as she continues reading.

《…I received a letter from the Federation before, but this is directly addressed to me from the grand master himself?》

She continues reading, and lets out a troubled sigh, tilting her head with a fatigued expression on her face. Her shoulders slump.

「They're being unreasonable… This reads like a slight, but it's too politely worded… There's no way I'd just hand over my family grimoire like that….」

Cycelia thinks out loud, shaking her chestnut head with a tight-lipped grimace while reading.

「…I can't go back on my word with Tolwick either. It may read as a slight, but I'd hate to be rude to someone trying to be polite… For starters, I'll assure them I don't mean to use the grimoire.」

She lets out another troubled sigh, and sets the letter down next to her open tome. She slides open a drawer, pulls out an ink pot, a quill, and a sheet of paper.

「…That being said, it will be a while before the reply gets there. Delivery by foot is nothing like those magic birds… Magic sure is convenient…」

A little envious, Cycelia rests her elbow on her desk, and her rosy cheek on her fist.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

「…I'll just tell them that I'm not handing it over or using it. In the worst case, I'll just sponsor the mages' guild in the capital.」

Pop!

She shrugs, pulls the cork out of the ink pot, dips her quill in, and begins scribbling on the sheet…

…

A few hours later, after the sunset, in the Murusburg mages' guild…

Gluglugluglugluglug…

A quiet gurgling and bubbling comes from a large glass flask filled with foamy green liquid. Sitting on a stone slab with a glowing rune engraved into it, its neck narrows and turns, and eventually ends at a flat-bottomed, narrow-necked beaker. Purple liquid condenses in the smaller beaker, slowly dripping in from its cooled steam. The large, wide-brimmed pointy hat nods as Emilia sits on a stool nearby, trying to watch the process, but dozing off and waking up every few seconds.

「…Emy, you're still here?」

The guild girl asks, peeking her head into the alchemical apparatus-filled backroom.

「Eh?… Ah… I have to watch this to make sure it doesn't overflow… Or overheat… Or foam up and spill… Or…」

With her glasses on the very bottom of her nose, Emilia turns her head towards the guild girl, obscured by the brim of her hat, and recognizes her by her legs. She turns her head back to the distilling potion, then explains with a slurring, deeply fatigued voice. She nods, and falls asleep in middle of her explanation.

「…Ah. Nhh… Good thing I just need to wait for it to distill, and not stir it every few minutes…」

Before she has a chance to tumble off her stool, she wakes up and lets out a tired sigh.

「Emy, go to bed, I'll watch it for you.」

The guild girl says, and walks in.

「…No, it's fine… It'll be done by morning anyway…」

She replies, and falls asleep again.

「…Ah.」

Emilia wakes up, and realizes Tahandra is holding her by her shoulders from behind.

「Emy, just go to bed, I'll take care of it. You'll fall asleep and break your glasses at this rate.」

She says with a soft smile, leaning down slightly. Emilia lets out a large, fatigued sigh.

「…Alright. Sorry.」

Emilia replies, and stands up, wobbling slightly.

「It's fine. Sleep well, and don't bother getting up until you're rested.」

Tahandra replaces her at the stool as Emilia shambles out of the backroom, dragging her feet with her arms hanging limp.

「Uhhh-huhhh…」

She nods, and nearly loses her hat as it gets stuck in the door frame. Emilia backs out a few steps, grabs both sides the brim, and pulls it downward a little, squeezing through…

…

Less than an hour later, in Emilia's room…

With her gigantic hat placed on top of a coat rack in the not-quite-so corner of the room, Emilia is sleeping contently in her bed with her blanket pulled up to her chin.

Thunk!-CRASH!…

「Nh?…」

A loud noise of shattering glass and creaking metal wakes Emilia. She blinks her groggy half-asleep eyes up at the ceiling, then reluctantly sits up.

「…Did I dream that up?」

She slurs as she thinks out loud, rubbing her eyes. Emilia then leans onto the window sill by her bedside, and looks for the source of the noise.

「…Huh? Why is it so dark outside?」

Furrowing her brows slightly, she looks around the darkness that is normally lit by a lamp.

Thunk!-Crash!…

Her head perks up at the sound, apparently more distant than the previous one. Somewhere else in the city, glass shatters, metal creaks, and a light disappears.

「Ah… Someone broke the vampire lamp?…」

She squints, and can't make much out of the blur, but the faint glimmer of shattered glass where the lamp should have been gives her an idea what might have happened.

Thunk-Crash…

「…Not my problem. That Moonlit Avenger weirdo really ought to cut it out. What did the lamps do to him? Is he a vampire?…」

Fwompf…

Another distant vampire lamp crashes to the ground, and Emilia plummets down onto her bed. She shrugs, and pulls the blanket over herself again.

As Emilia falls back asleep in a near instant, a few glimmers of orange and red zap through the darkness outside…

…

The next day, early in the morning, in a fortress by a highway…

The soldiers in the barracks are waking up, and officers are circling around the room, kicking awake the lazy veterans with only a few weeks left in their levy cycle.

「…The year is over soon, huh?」

Julius remarks, sitting on his bed across from William.

「Yeah… This has to be the worst levy cycle of my life. The worst levy cycle of my life so far.」

William nods, and turns his gaze towards the nonchalant veteran, who simply shrugs in his bed as the officers scream their faces off at him.

「…Looks like everyone is betting that we'll be out soon- Well, you will be out soon. You think so too?」

Julius asks, watching the officers forcefully throw the half-naked veteran out of his bed by tilting it to the side. He drops to the floor, and reluctantly begins putting his equipment on.

「I don't know… Two wars in a row? They can find the room for a third…」

With a shrug of his shoulders, William replies with a tight-lipped grimace, and begins putting on his unit's armor on, starting with the resistor sabatons.

「You know… I said this before, but I'll miss you, William. I'll probably get along with whoever gets your bed, but it kinda won't be the same…」

Julius shrugs, smirking a little as he starts putting on his equipment as well.

「I'll see if I can get some booze to celebrate the end of the year. When you're out, you'll owe me.」

William replies, stands up, and slips his helmet on before any officer has a chance to complain.

「Yeah… If I live to that point. It was a pretty rough year so far… Ha ha…」

Julius returns an awkward, nervous smile, and puts his face-concealing white helmet on as a mustached officer approaches to inspect them…

…

A few hours later, in the capital, in Straf's office…

With his cheek on his fist, Straf is sifting through documents, reports, statistics, and letting out a tired sigh every few minutes.

「…Straf!… Straf!…」

In the hallway outside, Cycelia's voice shouts from beyond the closed door, slowly getting closer.

….Thudthudthud THUD!

「…Straf! There's trouble! There's really big trouble!」

Cycelia exclaims with her emerald eyes wide open.

「If it has anything to do with people emigrating to Parnatau Kingdom-」

「No, Straf! We might need your help!」

She energetically shakes her chestnut head, and Lily appears in the doorway behind her, seemingly mildly upset. Straf raises his brow.

「…Is Lily hungry, or is this related to her too?」

He asks, pointing at the little vampire.

「It's not as related to me as it is related to vampires. I was just informed of the situation last night by my Ministry agents.」

Lily replies with a serious expression on her face, crossing her arms.

「What situation?」

Straf asks, throwing the document in his hand aside.

「Demons took over Murusburg last night! Some really powerful vampire is commanding them!」

Cycelia exclaims, and points her finger down the hallway. Straf stands up, and places his hands in his pockets.

「Alright…」

He nods, and heads for the door. Cycelia moves out of the way.

「…Let's go to the fancy map room.」

Straf shrugs, and heads for the war room. Lily and Cycelia exchange confused looks, and follow…