After destroying the tortoise, the two of us were teleported back to Kokunachen. After parting ways with Regus, we headed inside. It was already long past midnight.

“Sorry for disturbing your sleep.” I was about to open the door when Emori grabbed my sleeve. I turned around. “What is it?”

“Is… something bothering you?”

“... What?”

“You went out in the middle of the night on your own, when you said you didn’t want to grind earlier.”

“Ah, I just thought that since we would be spending a few hours on the trip doing nothing anyway, I might as well go grind now and sleep later.”

“I- I see… You should have brought me along.”

“I can’t take you into the night, in the middle of a foreign country. Besides, it’s not like I can use Teleport here anyway.”

“But, what if something happened to you?”

I might have made her worry. It must be scary, being woken up in the middle of the night, one of your friends desperately calling for help. I rarely asked for support before, so she might have thought that I was in huge trouble.

To be fair, thanks to that tortoise’s slow movement speed, I could just get out and return the next day.

Still…

“Sorry for worrying you, but don’t worry, I wasn’t in any danger. The tortoise is too slow to catch me anyway.”

“Is that so? Still, please don’t go alone next time.”

“Fine, I won’t.”

“Alright, good night.” Emori scurried back to her room. I entered my room and took a quick warm bath before getting changed and settling into bed. I looked up at the dark ceiling.

Who would have thought I worried the princess.

In a way, my current friend group is certainly unique, especially compared to my past life. Friends with the princess of a country, a dragon, and a noble. I was also acquainted with Prilus and his bethrothed, the future rulers of a country.

If the current me went back into the past and told past me, would past me believe me?

Past me would probably just laugh me off. No, he might not even laugh. He would just think of me as some random drunkard and left.

I sure have changed…

I turned to the side and closed my eyes.

* ••

I ended up sleeping for only about three hours. By six the following morning, we boarded a ship that took us straight toward the capital, where we would be attending school. We were supposed to be present in the morning assembly, something the schools in Nanawak did on a weekly basis, but thanks to the delay, we wouldn’t be arriving until much, much later.

As planned, I continued sleeping until we were approaching the capital.

* ••

West of Ikakaya, the capital of Nanawak, was the port city of Suraz, where we disembarked. Ikakaya was located far from the nearest port, or any body of water for that matter. It meant the rest of the trip there was supposed to be on a carriage.

After we arrived, several luxurious carriages carrying the Nanawak emblem were parked on the side of the road. The attendants opened the doors for us, revealing comfy, cushioned seats.

“Welcome, esteemed guests,” said the attendants.

“Thank you.” Emori pulled the ends of her skirt and bowed, exercising maximum respect-

“Can’t we just fly there?”

-Only for it to be messed up by Maya.

“Fly?” Nayala tilted her head. “Oh, right. You’re a dragon.”

“Correct. Should we fly there instead?” Despite her question, she was already pulling the ends of her shirt.

“Maya stop!” Everyone shouted at the same time. Maya sighed and took a piece of white cloth and returned to the ship.

“She never changed.” Solicea laughed wryly.

“She… never changed?” Nayala looked on in shock.

Solicea shrugged. “Never.”

“Dragons don’t get why humans are afraid of showing their bodies,” I explained.

“There is… so much I need to learn.”

I understood Nayala’s surprise somewhat. Dragons preffered the comfortable, cold areas of the western mountains. Maya had no trouble surviving in this heat, but no dragon would make this place their home for life. Couple that with the fact that they rarely interact with humans, it was natural that most people lived their lives without ever meeting one.

“Is it alright if you prefer flying,” Akareseki said. “We have delayed you long enough. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, I cannot let Her Highness Nayala come with you.”

“It's alright.”

“I’m back.” Maya stepped off the ship, her body covered with white cloth. She began her spell, the cloud of magic covering her. We all stepped aside.

“Woah…”

The onlookers revel at the sight of the majestic dragon.

“Sorry,” I apologized to Nayala and Akareseki.

“Ah, no worries. It’s alright.” Nayala waved her hand.

“Which direction am I flying in?” Maya asked. More crowd gathered by the port, witnessing a dragon for the first time in their lives. The attendants quickly formed a perimeter, keeping them a distance away from us.

Nayala pointed toward the east. “That way.”

“Alright.”

The rest of us hopped onboard.

“We’ll see you there.” We waved toward Nayala and the rest. Maya flapped her wings, and we took to the skies.

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* ••

“It's beautiful…” Solicea murmured. Even if there was nothing but sand as far as the eye can see, the wide desert plains of Nanawak had their own charms. “I just realized something. Maya, you do know where you are going, right?”

“... It’ll be obvious.”

“What do you mean it’ll be obvious?” Solicea asked in exasperation. We had been flying for quite a while. We had passed several large towns at this point. Everytime we flew above them, a couple of the townsfolk would look up and gaze in awe at us.

“Don't worry, we're going in the right direction.” I showed them the compass I got from the Hunters’ Union.

“We haven’t passed it, have we?” Emori asked.

“All of the towns so far are small. There’s no way it’s the capital.” Maya flapped her wings, going faster.

“Say, what happens if we got lost?” Solicea leaned a bit, looking downward. “It's nothing but sand out here.”

“We'll die a thirsty death.”

“Are- are we really going to die?” Emori panicked.

“I'm just joking.”

“Put more energy into your jokes, Maya!” Honestly, Maya always tells jokes with her flat tone. I couldn't believe she got into an acting club.

“What kind of roles does she play in the club?” I asked out of curiosity.

“The president often gave her the straight-faced type of character. There was this one time when he tried giving her a grieving wife kind of role. She was so bored of the funeral that her husband woke up.”

“Ex-husband. He died, so the marriage was no more.”

“He would have stayed dead if you looked a bit more sad.”

“I am acting sad, though.”

“Well, it certainly doesn't show on your face.”

“Do I need to cry?”

“The story is about a wife that is left by her loving husband.”

“Crying isn't the only way to express sadness.”

“That doesn't mean you can ask the funeral staff when the thing will end!”

I couldn't help but giggle. The other visitors probably looked sadder than her. That's just who Maya is, I guess.

“Oh, look, is that it?” Emori pointed toward a distant city. The massive city stood in the middle of the desert, surrounded by desert farmlands. Tall walls surrounded the massive city, with one large building in the middle, surrounded by another layer of walls.

The city of Ikakaya, the capital and largest city of the Nanawak Empire.

“Where could we land?”

We looked around. Due to the surrounding farmlands, we couldn’t land too close to the city. We didn’t want to land far away, either, as walking in this heat is a pain.

“How about there?”

There was a large empty road on the northern side of the city.

“Alright.”

Maya descended and made her approach, making a soft landing. We looked around, made sure no one was near us, then handed Maya the piece of cloth. We turned around as she changed back to her human form.

“Do you want to change the rest of your clothes here?” I asked as I handed over her luggage.

“I’m fine walking like this. Come on, let’s go.” She led the way. Maybe because it was already quite late when we arrived, but there was no one in the fields.

“Wouldn’t it be funny if we got the wrong place?” Solicea asked as she took in the sights. It was quite different from all the places I visited so far, even the other towns in Nanawak.

“I wonder about the students heading to Syla…” Emori murmured as we approached the city. Unlike us, they probably didn't come to Syla by walking.

“They’re probably going there for normal studying.”

We ended up roping a bit too many people into this little trip of ours.

Is it really necessary for this to be a student exchange?

We eventually arrive in front of the city’s gates. Soldiers guard the entrance. Unlike the full knight armor the knights in Syla wore, the uniform here consisted mostly of leather with some parts covered with steel armor. One in every three soldiers had a musket strapped to their back.

Most of them wore light brown colored clothes with matching pants, same as the uniforms of the Hunters’ Union.

I wonder if they're related…

It might just be a coincidence, though. Some of the soldiers had different uniforms colored in a darker brown. Maybe they ran out of uniforms or something?

“So many firearms…” Emori muttered. Muskets were a rare weapon back in Syla. Only special forces used them. This was because of a difference in the monsters that lived in the land.The monsters here tend to be larger and more heavily armored, but they moved slower compared to the monsters in Syla.

This meant the musket's slow rate of fire but high damage output was preferable.

That is, assuming they weren't fighting something like that tortoise.

“Have you ever fired one?” Solicea asked Emori.

Emori shook her head. “I only saw them a couple of times before.”

The only time the public eye could, under normal circumstances, see the use of muskets was during Syla’s victory parade. It was an annual event held on the twenty-second of the fourteenth month, as a celebration to the end of the demon war.

Actually… now that I think about it…

This year would be the one hundredth year anniversary of the demon war. If the demon king would return, that time would be the perfect time.

Game wise, at least. Of course, the real world functioned differently from a game. Such coincidences didn’t happen often.

“By the way, where is the school?” Maya had walked a bit farther than the rest of us, meeting the first intersection. “Should we continue straight?”

“I doubt the school is located so close to the walls, we should-”

“Halt!” Soldiers appeared from the intersection, brandishing their muskets and spears.

The three of us rushed to Maya’s side.

“What’s going on?” Solicea asked. They didn’t seem happy to see us. Did Nayala not tell them of our arrival? Did we walk into some kind of trap?

“Is something the matter?” I stepped forward. Standing at the center of the group was a soldier with black colored shoulder armor and a flintlock pistol hanging on his waist. This one must be their captain.

“You’re under arrest.”

“Huh?” All four of us exclaimed at the same time.

“... Hehe… a fight. It’s been a while since I last fought someone-”

“Maya, don’t even think about it!” I held out my hand, preventing her from stepping any further.

“Aww… no fun…”

I used Connect to call Nayala.

“He’s firing a spell!”

“Wait, no, it’s-” Before I could get any more words out, the group rushed at us. Maya pushed my hand away and punched a couple of them, sending them flying back.

“So strong!”

“We still have the numbers! Don’t falter!” The captain began issuing commands, pulling out his flintlock pistol. Before he could get a shot out, Maya’s punch sent him flying. Other soldiers closed in on us, attempting to surround us. I utilized Bind to hold them all in place.

“Woah!”

“He’s dangerous!”

Panic began to spread. The surrounding civilians retreated. We were too close to the walls. There might be snipers above. I tried thinking hard about what I could do as I maintained my spell.

Ah!

“Maya, come back here!” I yelled. Maya had run off, taking out several of the soldiers. Luckily, despite being commonly used, not everyone carried a musket or pistol with them. The ones that did were tied in my spell, the ones that didn’t were sent flying by Maya’s punch.

“What should I do, what should I do?” Emori looked around in panic.

“Don’t use your spell!” I warned. Her spell would obliterate any unlucky soldier standing in its blast.

“Ok- Okay!”

I tried using Connect over and over again. I could hear footsteps coming from behind us. Must be reinforcements.

“Solicea, come closer!”

Solicea held her spear, pointing it at the soldiers. “Alright.”

I waited for her and Maya to return, before changing the spell. I switched my spell to Solid Cage, painting a large silver circle directly underneath us. A metal box covered us, protecting us from the attacks, buying us a bit of time. I disabled Bind, and immediately, shots were fired, their ammo attempting to punch through the thick steel walls.

“We need to do something!”

The musket’s balls rang on the outside, attempting to poke holes into my spell.

I concentrated, reinforcing the cage.

“Can any of you Connect with Nayala?”

“No, there’s no reply!”

Was this all a trap? Why would they do that to us? Not like Nanawak had a terrible relationship with Syla, either.

With the growing intensity of the attacks, I decided that we couldn’t linger around for much longer.

“We’re teleporting!” I painted the picture of Kokunachen in my mind, then half of the symbol for Teleport. I held out my hands. Emori grabbed my right, Maya grabbed my left, while Solicea held onto Maya's.

Emori and Solicea then moved so they could pick up the rest of the luggage we brought.

“Alright, ready!”

I completed the symbol for Teleport.