Mid Morning - Early Summer : Bahamut

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*FWOOSH* -Haha! It worked!!- A wave of excitement washed over me as a wall of air slammed into my back.

Quickly falling out of the black sphere, it shrank into nothingness and once again revealed the beautiful, clear sky behind it. -Now, I just need to find out where I am.-

Finally spreading my wings and turning over, I looked down and immediately saw a town of colossal structures along wide streets, with many human-sized buildings and market areas mixed into it.

The streets themselves were bustling with people, but almost all of them were in a humanoid form of some sort, with many having wings and horns.

But humanoid forms weren’t the only thing on the streets; there were also many small, younger dragons that had yet to reach adolescence roaming around as well, each being keenly aware of their size compared to everyone else.

It was honestly a beautiful sight, with many larger dragons flying above the town as well, but the longer I sat there, the more people turned to look at me.

I even found myself getting a bit nervous from all the stares. -So.. where am I?-

Quickly averting my eyes and looking directly below me, I saw a massive stone pad similar to what was in the temple, with three dragons and a big white wolf looking up at me. -Oh, so I did go to the right place!-

Immediately diving down to avoid the gazes of everyone else staring at me, I found a clear spot on the platform and landed. "I didn’t make you wait too long, did I-"

*WHAM* Krystallo slammed her head into my chest the moment I landed. "STUPID BROTHER!"

-Huh?!- Lowering my head to get a better look at her, I noticed she looked mad but also sick. "Are you alright?"

*burp* "NO! HOW ARE YOU FINE?!"

-Ah.. she's queasy from the rune…- I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be worried, but as I looked up at everyone else, I noticed the unusual atmosphere. "Did I.. miss something?"

Mother was the first to snap out of her daze. "Huh? Oh, right! How did you come out of the rune up there? Did something happen?"

"Uh…" -Even if I wanted to explain... How would I?- "I’m not totally sure what happened, in all honesty."

She stared at me with a questioning gaze for a moment before glancing at Father and letting out a sigh. "Haah…" She definitely knew I was just keeping it to myself, but she never said anything. "Well, all that matters is that we arrived safely, right?" Quickly putting on a smile and lightening the mood, she walked over to Kystallo. "Are you feeling alright, sweetie?"

"Mmmmmm…" She further pushed herself into my chest with a groan.

"Haha, alright, in that case, let's go over here to the town and get you something for your stomach." She quickly glanced at Father and had him run into the town while walking with us toward the edge of the pad.

We got some odd looks as we walked since Krystallo was clinging to me like a sticker, but after a few minutes, Father returned with a fairly small wooden container of some sort.

Mother was quick to take it from him and walk over to Krystallo and me. "Sweetie, crush this with your tongue and swallow it."

After having it gently set in her mouth, we all heard a faint crunch, but it was quickly followed by her eyes lighting up. "W..what was that?!"

Both Mother and Father looked like they wanted to laugh. "That was an elixir made from a blackfish, sweetie. It’s good at soothing nausea."

Her eyes went wide instantly. "One of those disgusting things?!"

A blackfish was a simple, small fish commonly found in shore breaks, according to Mother, but several years ago, she caught some for us to try, and Krystallo and I both hated it. -Blegh.. That damn fish ruined my sense of taste for like 3 days…-

But I couldn’t deny that it was funny seeing Krystallo freak out about eating something made from one.

"Well, now that your stomach is doing better, let’s get back to the sky, shall we?" After a quick chuckle and lightening everyone's mood, Mother finally got us back on track, and we took off once more. *Fwoosh*

As we took to the sky, I looked back down toward the town to observe it a bit more, but we almost immediately turned toward the beach and flew back out over the water.

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At first, I questioned where we were going, but after a few minutes, some trees started to crest the horizon. -Is this just a wide canal?-

After a quick exchange of questions with Father though, I was told that where we landed was the island of Emporio, an island in the middle of Bahamut, but our new home was on the mainland, so we had to cross the canal.

-That was just a town on an island?!- Looking back toward the trees that were cresting the horizon, a bundle of curiosity started to form in my mind.

And as we started to approach the mainland, that curiosity only turned to intrigue.

Although there were still no towns or buildings in sight, everything from the trees and bugs to foliage and animals was simply unbelievably massive. Trees stretched up around eighty meters tall, and even a simple, scaled lizard-like creature laying on the beach was bigger than Ilios. -Woah…-

But that awe only grew as we flew inland.

The trees steadily grew larger, as did the creatures, with fish and some semi-aquatic creatures visible in the rivers and lakes that were not that much smaller than me. -Everything here is just.. massive…-

And as if I summoned it by thinking about it, the next moment I looked up at the horizon, I saw a building so massive my mind went blank.

"You can see it now, kids!" Mother looked toward the horizon with a joyous smile.

"What in the world is that building even for?!" To describe it simply, it was a building that stretched nearly a kilometer in each direction and was nearly 200 meters tall. -And here I was thinking the buildings in that town were big… Is that like.. a complex or somethi..-

"That’s our new home, sweetie!" Mother gave me an excited smile but I felt my whole body tense up.

"WHAT?!"

"Hm? What’s wrong?" Krystallo glanced at me and tilted her head as if she didn’t see anything abnormal.

"I don’t know, I just expected that we would live low since we are hiding our names and all."

"Hoho~" Mother’s smile quickly turned smug. "This is living low, sweetie; this is technically our country home."

-EXCUSE ME?!-

"The Whyte family is a very prestigious noble family as well, sweetie. We ‘gifted’ them this estate so we could use it to raise you two without worries of intruders." She turned back toward the estate with a fond look. "Plus, this is the estate I was raised in."

-So, Mother grew up with a diamond spoon just like Krystallo and I…-

We all fell into silence shortly after that, but eventually, I had to ask a question that was dwelling in my mind. "So, where are all the dragons? We only saw three once we got to the mainland."

"Most of the population is in the west and northeast, but the reason we saw so few was because from this estate to the ocean is technically all our land."

-WHAT?! That's like 100 kilometers!-

"In any case, we will eventually head to the west for Krystallo to go to school, so you will eventually see it, in case you are curious."

-Ah, right.- "Will I have to go to school as w-"

"We will figure that out over the coming weeks. I want you to go, but we could let you skip it; you would just have to take the final tests of each year."

-Oh, that would be convenient…-

But before I could say anything, we finally arrived at the estate.

*fwoosh* *fwoosh* *fwoosh-thud* Finally landing, we were immediately greeted by one of the dragons at the gate.

"It has been a while, my lady." The 34-meter-tall, sky-blue dragon lowered his head immediately, drawing attention to a small white-metal band with a snow-white dragon insignia around his leg.

-He isn’t a slave, is he?-

"Indeed, it has indeed been quite a while, Alistair. I hope you have polished up some since we last met." Mother was quick to poke fun at him.

"You can rest assured, My Lady."

Haha, good. We will have a meeting in 30 minutes to introduce everyone, so please gather everyone to meet us in the hall."

"Right away, My Lady." Quickly bowing his head once more, he turned and opened the gate.

As we walked inside though, I still couldn’t keep myself from gawking at the sheer scale of everything.

"Are we really living here?" Even Krystallo finally started to look shocked. "Those guards looked really strong, too."

"Haha, you will get used to it. Alistair is a softie for kids, and just like the other knights, maids, and butlers, he is especially loyal to our family. Alistair was even my personal knight escort growing up."

-Ah.. that makes sense…- Continuing to look around, I eventually noticed Maria looking around with wide eyes. -Right…- "So, where should we take Maria?"

"We will pass her to the head maid, Antonia, once we get inside."

Hearing her mention the maids, an odd thought quickly surfaced. "Will the maids all be in their dragon forms?"

"The young ones who cannot yet transform will be, and you may see some of them cleaning or doing other tasks in their dragon form, but most of the time, they stay human-sized."

Finally making it to the main door of the estate, Mother opened it as if it were muscle memory and walked straight in.

Inside, the main hall was absolutely massive and ridiculously extravagant, with crazy high ceilings and a floor of fancy white tile with gold trim. It was honestly a bit intimidating at first.

But I was worried about something else. -What if my weight breaks the floor…- With a quick decision, I changed to my humanoid form and hopped onto Ilios before walking inside.

Mother looked a bit shocked at my change. "You can stay in your dragon form, Vasilias. There isn’t anything to worry about here."

"I know, I'm just nervous that I might crack the floor with my weight."

"You should be fine; these tiles are meant to handle old elders…"

-Oh, then maybe…- But before I could transform again, we were interrupted by a beautiful but mature draconic woman in a maid's gown.

She threw herself into a bow immediately. "I’m very sorry for not getting the door for you, My Lady!"

"Haah… How many times have I told you that it is fine? I have more than enough strength to open the door now." Mother quickly averted her gaze like she was embarrassed to bring it up.

-Is that the head maid? They seem close…-

"I apologize, Madam." She quickly glanced over the rest of us. "In any case, it seems like we will have a full house for the first time in a while! Shall I have someone show the slaves to their rooms first?"

Mother twitched immediately. "Slaves?"

The maid looked at her with a questioning but pure smile. "The maid, the Fenrir, and the demihuman, My Lady."

Time stopped, and the room fell into a deafening silence in an instant.