Mid Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan
"You can have anything you want from the vault. Even if it's dozens of items, including the family heirloom." Although Oliver kept a serious face, I could tell he was reluctant to speak.
But even still, I felt my mouth start to water. -I wonder what it’ll taste like…-
Looking over at Helen, I assud she was going to object to it, but she seed to be in agreent. "So how long is the contract valid?"
"I'm not too sure."
"So, if I went on the offensive, and destroyed the Tower myself, would the contract end?"
"Yes."
-So if Father manages to get Bahamut’s support, I can get that juicy mana core for free...- Although I didn’t want to show it, I made my decision at that mont. "I still need so ti to think about it, but consider it valid unless I say otherwise."
The serious expression on his face slowly shifted to one of relief. "Take your ti." After discussing a few more minor details, he eventually tapped the silencing artifact again and had everyone co back in. "So Viviana, I heard about you from Martha, but tell a little about yourself."
As the conversation progressed, the joyful and caring family atmosphere steadily filled the room and caused a distant, blurry mory to surface in my mind.
It was simply the scene of sitting at a small wooden table with three people around it.
At first, I felt nostalgia and loving warmth from the mory, but after another mont, it shifted to unfamiliarity and discomfort. -Is this really my mory?-
"Are you alright Vasilias? Is sothing wrong with the food?" Oliver’s voice was drowned with anxiety.
"Ah, I’m fine… I was just reminded of.. sothing." Silence filled the room as I reached for the silverware to finally eat. -When I was first born in this world, I was so confident that I was that human on Earth, but as ti passes.. those mories feel so.. unfamiliar…-
Not wanting to think about it too much after that, I started eating and sparked so idle conversation among everyone.
Thankfully, my mind got sidetracked with the discussion, and I ended up actually having a decent evening after that.
The food was only moderately good, but more importantly, there was a lot of it. I ended up eating over a dozen plates. -I could really go for a field bison right about now...- "So, Oliver, are there any big field bison around here?" I leaned back in my chair to enjoy my temporary satisfaction.
"Field Bison? Ah, you must an War Bison. We don't have them around here, thankfully. If they were common, towns would be destroyed constantly."
-Were field bison really that strong?- Struggling to believe that, I thought back to how Mother would bring them back like they were a couple fruit she, ‘stumbled upon’. -I guess dragons are just on a different scale…- "Maybe I should fly ho and grab one..."
Oliver imdiately tensed up, likely thinking I was going to leave. "What are you looking for?"
"Sothing big to eat. I'm just used to field bison."
Viviana's face was covered in confusion, but she didn't open her mouth to ask about it.
"The biggest monsters nearby are bluefin in the deep part of the bay."
"Oh? How big do those get?"
"20 ters on the big side. They live really deep though, so I can't recomnd going after them yourself."
"How deep is really deep?"
"A few kiloters at least. We do occasionally catch so if you want to see if I can get one for you though."
Although I wasn't exactly scared of deep water, I couldn't say I wasn't nervous. -I'm not sure whether I want to confirm the validity of Mother’s stories just yet…- As I felt a shiver pass down my spine, I tried to put on a smile. "If you could check, that'd be great. Anything else that's big, like 10 ters or more, works too."
"I'll be sure to take a look. In any case, thank you for joining us for dinner, Vasilias and Viviana. I need to get back to work, so I will take my leave first." On his way out he gave a shallow bow, making Viviana freak out a little, but things quickly cald back down.
"I'm gonna take my leave as well. I want to go stretch my wings so. I'll still be close enough to help should a problem arise though."
Viviana was, again, incredibly confused, but was too nervous to ask about it.
"Ah, when you co back, I'd like to speak with you, so please co by my office." Helen stopped as I pushed my chair back in.
"Are you not going to sleep tonight?"
"Haah, no matter how much I want to, I have too much paperwork given by the nobles making a fuss over the incident in the academy for to do so."
"Ah, sorry about that. If there is anything I can do to help, just let know."
"Don't worry about it, thank you for the offer though." She put on a caring smile as I stood up to leave. "If there is anything else you would like for paynt, please just ask." She stood up and gave a humble bow.
"That mana core will probably be more than enough, so don't worry. In any case, I'll be back before sunrise."
She was quick to straighten back up and put on a smile. "See you then~"
Giving another nod, I finally left the dining room and made my way to the plaza for a short pit stop. -I might as well check up on her, right?- But, honestly, it went about as well as I expected.
"Hey bastard, when are you going to let out?" Maria glared at with anger-filled eyes as I walked up to her.
-Thank goodness I put up a silencing barrier beforehand…- "Maybe if you told where the halfies you know are, I'd consider it."
"I've told you already, I have no idea about them. They could be dead for all I know."
"Then that sucks for you." Noticing a bit of deterioration on the tal, I reached up to repair it. "You’ll be sitting here till things get figured out, so you might as well nap or sothing."
There was a short pause before she looked away from . "If death is the only thing waiting for , just kill now."
The acceptance of her demise was honestly quite impressive. "The thing is, death may not be what is waiting for you. You never know. You might end up being a slave though."
Her fiery eyes imdiately locked on again. "I'd rather die than be a slave to a damn dragon like you-"
*DING* The entire plaza sank a few centiters as I drove the ring into the ground a bit more. "Your tongue is really sharp for the situation you’re in."
"Eck.." She groaned as the ring pressed her neck to the ground.
"I'll be back in a day or two, so don't get too comfortable." Hopping off her back, I noticed her eyes were full of resistance, but I couldn't really bla her. -I'd be upset if I was in her situation too...- "Alright, let's go Ilios."
We left quite quickly after that, not wasting any ti leaving the city and heading into a nearby forest.
We ended up scaring away just about everything in the vicinity as we got there, but it didn't really matter. -I think hobgoblins are the strongest thing in this forest anyways.-
Glancing down at Ilios after changing to my dragon form, I noticed he was looking up at with unbridled joy. "Haha, you can hop on, Ilios!"
Almost imdiately, he leapt onto my back and climbed up to my head.
Usually, dragons would never let anything ride on them, and I was no exception. To dragons, letting a creature ride on them was equivalent to saying you were below them, but to , Ilios was a different story.
Instead of feeling inferior like most dragons, I just felt like I was letting him have a fun ti, similar to how I would let Krystallo ride on my head if she asked.
"Well, if you sit up there, you need to hold on!" As my wings spread, Ilios casually sat down and looked up at the sky. *FWOOOSH*
Getting above the clouds in a few seconds, we finally looked up into the clear night sky and over the world around us.
"No matter how many tis I see it, it's truly beautiful isn't it.."
"Woof!"
"Haha!" Looking down, I could see the city with stunning clarity. The various markets, hos, and even people walking along the streets gave the city a special type of beauty.
A small part of was reminded of cities on Earth, but as I reminisced about them, an odd thought crossed my mind. -Does it really matter if I was that human on Earth?-
Quickly sifting through the countless mories, I couldn't find a single reason to return to Earth.
To now, it was simply a world I had no attachnt to. -But maybe... Maybe one day I'll find it to see if my mories are really just illusions...-
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