“It’s impressive how quick you can remember these places…” Solicea murmured. The spell succeeded. We arrived back in our inn lobby in Kokunachen, much to the surprise of the other people.

“Come on, let’s head outside.” Fighting inside a closed space like that would be troublesome, so we escaped out. Maya, still wearing the white cloth, changed into dragon form right in the middle of the street. It was already dark, but our sudden appearance managed to draw in the attention of nearby pedestrians.

Not wasting any more time, we departed the street and flew further north, away from Kokunachen.

Maya managed to find a small town a bit away. We landed there, the sun had long set in the west. She changed into her white cloth and we entered. The hunters stationed there didn’t bother us, letting us past into town without a fuss.

“I wonder how long it will take before information spreads,” Emori murmured. “Shouldn’t we return to Syla for now?”

Emori shook her head. “But we don’t know what happened to Nayala...”

We hadn’t communicated ever since this afternoon, when we left her for the capital. We probably should have stayed with her instead, taking the long way there.

But at the same time, Nayala didn’t oppose it.

I wonder if I can contact the Eastern Wolves…

I decided to postpone that for later, preferring to find a place to rest for the night. Luckily, the town’s inn wasn’t fully booked. There was an issue, however.

“This is all we have.” After asking for the price, Solicea brought us to a corner of the establishment. “We could only rent one room for a night.”

“That’s quite troublesome.” I hadn’t traded my money for Iyal. Being a small town in the middle of the desert, there was no money changer around this place. Even if there was, it wouldn’t be open at this hour.

Maya glanced at me. “If you’re worried about him, I can tie him up for the night.”

“I would rather sleep outside.”

“I- I trust Fortis won’t do anything weird…”

“Thank you for your trust, Emori. But if you’re uncomfortable, I can go find somewhere else to sleep.”

I’m still a level 100. All I needed to do was clear a dungeon. It would be a while before monsters discover that empty dungeon, so I would be fine. Even if something approached me, I should be able to sense it coming.

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Solicea waved her hands. “How long have we known each other? We trust you.”

Four months, not a lot of time, but I’m glad they trusted me.

“No one opposes the idea, right? I’ll get us a room.” Solicea turned back and headed to the front desk. The innkeeper gave us a key.

“Come on, let’s go.” Solicea led the way. We went up the stairs, navigating to the third floor. “I asked for the highest floor and a room with a large window. When she asked why, I simply said I wanted a good view.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t say because we want to be able to escape at a moment’s notice,” Maya blurted out.

“That’s you, Maya.”

“Me? I would have said something like ‘I need your biggest room in case I need to blow this place up’.”

“Please don't blow this place up.”

“It's a joke.”

We arrived at our room. Solicea inserted the keys and opened the door. The room was quite small, with two single beds and a small table. A candle was on the table, with matches on it.

“Do the people of Nanawak not use magic?” I approached the candle, using Fire to light it up. The candle’s glow brightened up the room.

Emori approached the window. “Should we keep the window open?”

“Make it wide, in case there's a ruckus tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Put the belongings in one spot.” I optimized our position in case the knights barged in tomorrow. I placed Maya in the bed closest to the door, the most likely place of entry.

Emori had ridiculous power, but she might have panicked and accidentally shot her spell. If that happened, someone would definitely die. Thus I placed her away from the window, with Solicea being the closest to it. I placed myself between the two beds, on the floor, ready to support both sides.

“Are you sleeping there?” Emori asked. Everyone was already in bed.

“Don't worry. I've slept on the floor multiple times before.” By that, I meant in my past life. I often played games until dawn, sometimes even going past that. By that point, I tend to be too tired to bother going back to bed, so I just slept wherever I was at the moment. The sofa, the floor, I even slept on the table once. My past lifestyle was a complete mess.

“When did that happen?” Maya rolled over to look at me. Little of that sluggish lifestyle carried on to this world, so she only saw the proper me.

“Sometime before you came.”

“... Poor kid.”

“Said the dragon that slept on hard rock.”

“It’s not as uncomfortable in dragon form.”

I guess dragons would be too large to sleep on a bed anyway.

“Just get to sleep, no need to worry about me. We have things to do tomorrow.”

Finding out what happened to Nayala, tackling monsters, escaping from Nanawak’s soldiers. So many things happened within a span of a few days. So much for our regular student exchange.

“Good night everyone.” Solicea stretched her limbs and closed her eyes.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

We all went to sleep.

* ••

The sun hadn’t yet shone when I opened my eyes.

I rose from the floor, glancing to my right. Maya was still sleeping peacefully on her bed. I could hear her breathing but nothing else from that direction. At least the knights weren’t trying to sneak up on us.

I glanced at my left. Solicea was asleep as well. Stars shining brightly in the night sky, decorating the world beyond the horizon.

“Fortis?” Emori, who sat on her bed, turned her head toward me. “You’re awake?”

“I guess… How about you? You didn’t sleep?”

“I slept, but I received a Connect from my brother.”

I wonder if news had spread to them. Would they call us back if they knew the situation we were in?

“... Should we talk outside?”

I nodded. Emori carefully got off the bed, and we tip-toed out of the room, closing the door as softly as possible.

We walked a distance away, toward the end of the hallway. Luckily, there was a balcony at the end, where we could look outside and talk without disturbing anyone.

The desert’s cold wind smacked my face the second we left the building. I pulled my hand up and created a fire, warming me and Emori up.

“The desert’s quite different from our home.”

“It’s hot during the day, cold during the night.” I leaned in on the railing. “So, what did Prilus say?”

“My brother… received word about Nayala’s disappearance.”

“She disappeared? So… no one can contact her?”

Emori shook her head. “Unfortunately, no.”

“What happened?”

“Monsters attacked her convoy. The soldiers managed to fend them off, but…”

“She disappeared.”

“Yes, and not just her. Mister Akareseki is gone as well. Apparently, there’s a misunderstanding of some sort in the Nanawak military. Since we were supposed to be them, they suspected us to have something to do with it.”

That is certainly quite the pickle. I didn’t want to risk getting into jail. If we couldn’t explain ourselves there, Emori and the rest would be stuck, as I’m the only one who could use Teleport. If I asked to be in the same cell with them… they probably wouldn’t let us.

“Did your brother ask us to come back?”

“That’s… I think he’s trying to hide it, but he’s worried about Nayala.”

“He’s not worried about you?”

“‘Stay with Fortisbel at all times’, he said.”

So deep inside, the prince trusted me.

Huh, that certainly is an interesting piece of information.

“Considering our levels, if I were him, I would also be more worried about Nayala…”

“I’m worried about her as well,” Emori muttered.

“This means we’re going on a hunt tomorrow. We’ll find Nayala no matter what.”

Emori nodded. “Still…”

Emori lowered her eyes. I noticed that she was trembling a bit.

“Are you cold?”

“Ah? No, thanks to your fire.”

“... Hmm… then, scared?”

She paused for a second. “... Yeah. I have never been a criminal in my life.”

“You’re not a criminal, Emori. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She glanced up at me. “You think so?”

“We’ll be fine. We’ll sort out this misunderstanding eventually. Besides, I’m here.” I let out a little laugh. It was embarrassing to talk about myself like that, but Emori did smile a little.

“Alright, I’ll trust you.”

“Thanks. Should we head back?”

“Yeah.”

We left the balcony, heading back to our room.

* ••

The next morning, we used what little left of our money to buy breakfast. Luckily, the inn here didn’t charge us ridiculous prizes for some bread and fish.

“So, what are our plans for today?” Maya asked, finishing the leftovers from her fish.

“We should look for Nayala. If not possible, then we’ll return to Syla,” I answered before wiping my mouth.

It wouldn’t be long before the news hit the towns away from the capital. We need to move quickly. After paying for our meal, we gathered our belongings and departed, taking to the skies.

Once we were airborne, I tried using Connect to call Nayala. Like yesterday, there was no response.

Just what happened to her?

I tried thinking about who else to call. Nayala hadn’t introduced us to anyone here… wait.

Maybe they?

I imagined the face of Regus, then used Connect.

“Wh- What? Who are you?”

“You’re Regus, right?”

“You’re… You’re the kid from back then!”

Why is he talking as if we met a long time ago?

“Yeah. Have you seen Na- I mean, Her Highness Nayala?”

“Boss? She hadn’t talked with us after we parted ways that night.”

“Can you Connect to her?”

“I’ll try.”

I cut off the Connect so he could try contacting Nayala. After a while, I used the spell to connect to him again.

“I cannot Connect to her for some reason. I don’t think she rejected me…”

“Oh dear…”

“What happened?”

“She went missing.”

“What?” Regus screamed, internally. I covered my ears, even if it did nothing. “H- How come?”

“I’m not sure. Do you receive any wanted notes about me?”

“I’ll check.”

I cut off the spell. Maya managed to find an oasis where we could refill our water and descend. We got off. Without turning back to a human, Maya drank a whole lot of water, the rest of us taking a drink and filling our pouches with as much water as we could. I approached one of the nearby trees and sat down, resting in its shade.

“Fortisbel?”

I Connect with Regus again. “Any information?”

“Amira asked around. She says there’s an arrest warrant out for a party of four, with a dragon among them.”

Amira? I wonder if that's the name of the girl that was with him.

“... That’s it?”

“No. The boy is a high value target… And… Oh My Sands… This isn’t for you, is it?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s us.”

“But, an arrest warrant for the princess of Syla? What is going on…”

Oh, dear. We’re entering political territory, aren’t we?

“I don’t know what’s going on over there, but we weren’t involved with the disappearance of Her Highness, although you probably won’t believe us.”

I glanced at the others. They looked at me with worry.

“I call bullsands. You and Her Highness Emori saved both us and our boss’ ass back in that dungeon. If you wanted to kill her, you would have done it there. Wait a minute.”

The Connect cut off.

I would have done it in a different place, though. Killing Nayala, I mean. Not that I want to, but doing it in front of people means taking unnecessary risks, even if I intended to kill everyone after it…

Wait, that’s not what I was supposed to be thinking about.

“Alright, head to our base. We’ll talk here. No worries, none of us will harm you. We’re located east of Kokunachen. You can’t miss it.”

“Alright.”

“We’ll be waiting.”

I stood up. “Everyone, we have our next destination.”

The others swiftly prepared for the trip. We boarded Maya’s back and took off.

“Where are we heading?”

“First to Kokunachen, then after that turn east. Prepare for combat.”

“Are we fighting the soldiers?” Emori asked.

“No. They promised to not harm us, but there’s nothing wrong with being on guard.”

“And here I thought we’re here for a simple student exchange.” Solicea sighed.

Me too, Solicea. Me too.