"Now that... is what I was sold on." Nico grinned as he laid his eyes on the city rising ahead.
Even from more than a kilometer away, the massive white walls surrounding the city commanded attention, with tall watchtowers rising atop its battlements.
"Master," Nom-Nom chirped as she squinted at the huge gates of the first city she had ever laid eyes on, "Do you see all these people? There’s so many of them!"
"Yeah... that’s a lot of people," Nico replied. He didn’t need draconically enhanced eyesight to see the line of people before the gate.
"These must be the people seeking asylum from the Night of the Red Moon," Peko added. Despite her usual stoic expression, even her gaze carried a soft flicker of excitement.
The trio had initially approached from the south, but Amaya had taken them east before dropping them off.
According to the cover story she had given them, they’re from a village located on a small island far east of the mainland.
Nom-Nom, an injured Greater Dragon, had been their guardian deity until a local village boy, Nico, came along and impressed her enough that she became his Familiar.
So now Nico, his ’elder sister’ Peko, and Nom-Nom had made the long journey to the capital after learning that Lady Amaterasu’s Crusader fell during the last Night of the Red Moon.
With a little help from Amaya’s memory work, Nico’s story became one people needed in a time like this.
"Alright, Nom," Nico said as he turned towards her, "... release your draconic aura."
Nom-Nom nodded with a grin, and the next second, three black wings with a violet sheen to them erupted from her back.
And the presence of a Greater Dragon rolled outward. Even the birds stopped chirping the very next second.
From a distance, Nico saw the outline of the crowd ahead ripple.
"They’ve detected us," Peko said, confirming it.
According to the document, Nom-Nom was to release her aura, signaling their arrival to the city, and an escort would be sent out to retrieve them and take them to the city.
"And now we wait," Nico said, as he sat cross-legged beneath a tree.
Both Peko and Nom-Nom joined him a second later.
"Master, what do you think the city will be like?" Nom-Nom asked with eyes still on the white walls and the people in front of them.
"Loud if my experience is anything to go by..." Nico replied with a small smile, "And the smell... that’d be even more apparent for you two, since you both have enhanced senses."
Seeing them tilt their heads in unison, Nico couldn’t help but laugh out loud.
[They almost seem like sisters... they even have the same eye color.]
"Imagine the smell... Hundreds of people, food, ale... and everything in between, all stacked together," Nico continued, "You two can forget about the forest’s fresh air entirely."
"That’s..." Nom-Nom said, looking genuinely distressed about it.
"A headache." Peko completed the sentence.
"Sorry for ruining your fun..." Nico laughed before adding with a smirk, "Too bad I won’t be able to relate... human nose and all."
Nico laughed even louder as he watched Nom-Nom pout.
"They’re here," Peko spoke through the laughter.
Sure enough, a cloud of dust was rising from the direction of the city gates.
A small group of figures in white and blue armor was galloping toward them on horseback, with a horse-drawn carriage rolling behind them.
"Well, that didn’t take long," Nico muttered, pushing himself up from the ground. "Let’s get ready to greet our escort."
It only took a few minutes for the riders to close the distance.
As the sound of hooves thundering against the ground grew louder, the trio stood side-by-side to greet them.
The three armored knights slowed their horses to a halt, and Nico found his gaze instantly locked onto the rider at the front.
She was riding a massive white horse, looking every bit the commander she likely was.
Clad in intricate blue and white armor, with a shield strapped securely to her back and a sword resting at her hip, her raven-black hair was tied loosely behind her head, revealing a face that struck Nico with a very obvious case of you know what.
Her piercing blue eyes swept over the group with an assessing gaze, and Nico felt his heart almost leap out the moment her gaze swept past him.
Nom-Nom, on the other hand, was just thrilled. She stood there with her three jet-black wings flared wide to their full span, and an excited, toothy grin plastered on her face.
Peko stood silently to Nico’s right. Her posture was relaxed enough to fool anyone who didn’t know her. But beneath the veneer, she was analyzing every movement the knights made, ready for anything.
"That Greater Dragon, and the woman aside," the woman spoke flatly, "... you seem lackluster at best."
"Come on," Nico said, putting on an expression he thought looked cool, "... It’s what’s on the inside that counts."
"That’s rich coming from you," the woman said with a disdainful smirk, instantly calling Nico out and sending him into a coughing fit.
"My master is awesome!" Nom-Nom cut in immediately, with utmost sincerity blazing in her eyes as she folded her arms and flared her wings even wider.
"He better be," The woman replied before lifting her head proudly as she said, "My name is Dove. I am the Knight-Commander of Shinkotsku."
She then gestured to her right.
"This is Vice-Commander Kurogane Masanobu."
The massive beast-folk man with white bull horns inclined his head once before the trio returned the nod in kind.
She then gestured to her left.
At a handsome man with green hair and teal eyes. He sat on his horse with his nose pointed to the sky as he looked at them with unhidden contempt in his eyes.
And before Commander Dove could speak, the man announced himself.
"You stand before Alaric Vayne, heir to the House of Vayne, and a proud Knight of Shinkotsku."
Dove shot him a look laced with mild irritation before sighing.
Turning her horse around, she said, "Board the carriage. We will escort you three to the housing we’ve arranged for you. After that, you’re on your own."
Before Nico could even nod, Alaric spoke again.
"Commander... Just look at them!" Alaric scoffed with his nose scrunched up, "Pantheon is clearly mocking us! Sending these rejects..."
Jabbing a finger at Nom-Nom’s wings, he said, "They gave us a crippled Greater Dragon that can’t even fly, and a Tier 5 woman with a bunch of affinities. And you said it yourself... that man is lackluster at best."
Nico saw Nom-Nom’s grin freeze in place.
After all, a Dragon is only as great as the number of wings on its back.
And as her wings slowly curled inward, Nico’s expression went cold.
Dove drew a breath to reprimand him, but Nico beat her to it, "And you look like a lucky gigolo who failed upward into knighthood... But you won’t see us making a mountain out of that molehill."
Alaric’s eyes widened. "What did you just -"
"Here’s what’s gonna happen," Nico said as a rare bestial grin crept onto his face, "That gigolo is going to take back what he said, get off his horse, and apologize to Nom-Nom."
"Or what?" Alaric sneered with killing intent flickering openly in his eyes.
"Or... We’ll walk into that city, leaving a trail of bloody footprints behind us... Consequences can go fuck themselves."