At this moment, from the height of the stars, I gazed down at the human town below. The night air brushed between my hair, as I brought the wind magic to a halt, pausing Jamie and me in the sky.

He seemed to enjoy being up high. It was apparent that he had never processed the ability to use wind magic. I was shocked, after remembering the strong magic that had been used by ARC during the battle that wounded my wing.

I wonder if I would be able to learn more about ARC during my time here.

Speaking of which, Jamie mentioned that he was going to be in the army. The warriors that my legion had battled in the wars had tremendous fighting and magic abilities. I wondered how skilled Jamie was in fighting, as it appeared that he lacked mana usage. I couldn’t sense a strong reading of mana on him either. Mana was a born trait; it could not be developed; that was the rule of magic usage.

“You said that you’re leaving to take exams for the army?” I asked, breaking the silence.

Jamie hovered, staring down at the view of the town, “Yeah, I’m heading to Trane. It’s a large kingdom to the South of here. The main fighting organization is there.”

I avoided making a surprised face at the mention of such an advanced kingdom. I had never heard of Trane, as I couldn’t remember it being on the map.

This meant that I must go.

“Does this Trane have strict visiting rules?” I pondered, trying to figure out if I was going to be able to get in without hassle.

Jamie shook his head, “No. But, we’ll have to reinstate your identification card. We can do that in the morning.” He reassured, yawning and bringing his arms over his head to stretch.

Oh yeah. Those guards asked for an identification card too. I assumed that it must be how humans maintained security.

Would this be a hiccup? No. If anything, I can use suggestion magic to convince the teller to agree to my terms for the card. Although, I know there would be no previous information on me. I’d have to think of a story.

But first, I’d have to find my way to Trane.

This human appears to have relaxed around me. Perhaps?

“Would I be able to go with you?” I glanced around with pleading eyes. A little puppy eye from a dear dragon never hurt anyone.

Jamie cringed, narrowing his eyes, “I guess, but if you make that face again, I’m going to ditch you. If you’re able to leave after we get your card figured out, I will come of age in a few days. The trip will take a week since we’ll have to go on foot. Is that too short notice?”

I shook my head, “No, that’ll be good.” Checkmark. Being able to tag along with my human guide is beneficial. I was so glad that I didn’t kill him in the forest.

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“It’s getting late. And my legs hurt from walking all day. It gets dangerous at night with low-level demonic creatures roaming the forest. Stay inside if you can help it, most doors are able to hold them off if demons wander over the walls. Let’s head back.” Jamie yawned again. Humans had low energy levels, didn’t they? They ran at twelve-hour intervals.

“Sure, let’s go.” I waved the wind magic towards the direction of the potion shop, lowering us down in front of the darkened building.

Jamie pulled a key out of his pocket, unlocked the door, and turned back to face me, “Thanks for using your mana to fly us back. I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot, but you’re not that bad.”

Little did he know, I was actually that bad. It was a tad amusing but I held my neutral expression towards the human. This really needed to work to accompany him to the larger town.

He stepped into the shop, his eyes inviting me in, “Asta if you have nowhere to stay, I sleep in the back. There’s an extra set of blankets if you need it.”

I nearly forgot that was the name I was using.

The offer was tempting, but not like I needed it. But the more I thought about it, I would have to relax this form soon. My muscles felt stiff and slowly my body would revert itself if I weren’t careful.

I’ve held onto this form for too long.

I held my hands up, shaking my head, “It’s fine. I’ll find a hotel. I saw one while we were touring the town.” That was a lie, but it seemed to work.

He nodded, another yawn escaping his tired eyes, “Knock if you can’t find a place. Let’s meet here in the morning to get your identification card.”

I nodded, waving as he closed the door, waiting till it was closed all the way to drop the welcoming expression on my face.

Phew.

It was hard to butter people up, especially humans. Oh well, what choice did I have? Despite the pleasant conversions, I still didn’t like humans. Jamie and the Potion owner, Mr. Homburg, were decent to use for my visit to this world.

These thoughts were interrupted by my reminder that I needed to get out of this form. I peered down at my hands, noticing the darkening of the nails. I closed my eyes, checking the mana levels that went into the transmutation spells. They were lower than I would like. I exhausted too much mana on the wind spells all afternoon, which was messing with the transformation magic that had been constantly being put on my body.

It was eight layers. If you thought of it as a gauge, with each layer representing a gauge, it assumed much of my magic to maintain. There was spatial magic that when into it. Sure, I could do cloaking magic but that wouldn’t account for my normal size, mana type, voice, or physical touch.

A real pain.

There wasn’t a point to stand here and weep over it. I stuffed my hands in my pockets, trying to hide the emerging talons. Although, it would have been fine to swing them about. Most likely. It was late and there were barely any humans out if you didn’t count the passed-out homeless ones under their covers.

My plan was to go back to the woods and hide there till morning. I wanted to try to contact Dagon too. He was worrying, and Adbeel was going to give him a headache if I didn’t notify them that I was okay. Plus, if Jamie was correct and there were lower-level demonic creatures, then they wouldn’t dare mess with me. Even if they did, it had been a while since my last meal anyway.

Demons weren’t the most loyal species when it came to them getting hungry.

I could relax my form and chill till sunrise. Really, this trip was like a huge vacation. My father’s wrath was the source of my listlessness for the time being. Who knows when I will get another chance like this to be a bum?

I rounded the same street where I hopped over the wall and peered around to make sure no one was nearby. With a simple jump, I easily cleared the wall and landed on the grassy plains on the other side.

“Time to relax,” I cooed, starting to stroll towards the tree line. I didn’t even make it halfway.

“Stop! You! Who goes there?” A deep voice yelled, followed by a heavy pounding coming my way.

Huh? Should I walk faster?

Before I could hurry to the tree line, a rough hand yanked my left shoulder hard, forcing my body to come face-to-face with the same glaring guard from earlier.

I cursed, wincing as my other hand flew to my shoulder. Once again, a stabbing pain echoed throughout my body, jolting my senses.

After the initial pain subsided a little, I met the eyes of the guard with deadly rage.

How dare this human?

His grip tightened, and he spits, “Oh, it’s you. Get back to the town, you twerp. It’s dangerous out here.”

He was right. It was quite dangerous here.

He waved his hand; his face was smug as he motioned me to follow like a dog. This human had made no effort to hide his condescending nature.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in fear.

“Your nails…” His hand jerked back, his sword already unleashed from his sheath, the metal centimeters away from my face.

My nails had relaxed back into long-sharpened talons. Everything about them screamed that I was not human.

I sighed, not taking my eyes off the point of his sword. My stomach grumbled.

The guard stood alone, the other guard still at the entrance gates. He was a fool to venture alone out of sight.

It worked for me. I peered around us, at the vacant grassy plain. No one in sight.

A smirk.

Well, I didn’t want to waste energy to fight. But this chance? It was too tempting to pass up.

“Goodness, you’ve seen way too much.”

My form took a more horrifying one. A familiar one, as my body grew to tower over the walls.

I’d have to take care of this first.