Royal Capital Skycastle
The party entered Royal Capital Skycastle through the gate reserved for n.o.ble use. There were a number of expensive-looking carriages lined up, and they would end up taking one of these carriages over to the castle.
The royal capital was structured similarly to the Citadel City, but the majesty of this place went far beyond Marsfield.
“Originally the Citadel City was built as a fort to protect the Royal Capital. But as Skycastle grew to resemble Marsfield, so too did Marsfield grow to resemble Skycastle,” Duke Marsfield explained.
“We"re already going to be late even if we have our fastest horses fly, so we"ll immediately head towards the waiting room when we arrive at the castle. Once we"ve established a date and time for the audience, then you can make any additional plans,” and then Sir Chaffee explained to the five girls what would be happening.
The carriage traveled through the marketplace and rolled down the residential streets. Apparently this area near the castle is where most of the city"s n.o.bles live. Sir Chaffee"s home was actually not that far away from where they were.
It didn"t take long for the carriage to arrive at the castle"s gate, but the sheer size of the place left all the girls breathless.
The group descended down the carriage steps, trying to enter through the castle gates with Sir Chaffee in the lead, but the castle guards moved to block their way. A man who appeared to be the guard captain stepped forward, confronting Sir Chaffee.
“Sir Chaffee, didn"t you head out earlier in order to bring Warren"s Guardian Dragons here?”
“Yes, and now here they are,” Chaffee responded, motioning the guard captain"s gaze towards the girls. Unfortunately the guard captain seemed less than convinced.
“I know the five dragons had appeared in the suburbs earlier, but weren"t they supposed to have a more………mighty appearance?”
Duke Marsfield tried to give a satisfactory explanation for the puzzled guard captain.
“These girls here are Warren"s Dragon Maidens. The Guardian Dragons came here along with them.”
Before the guard captain even had a chance to question the Duke"s words, Ellis took a step forward.
“Pardon me, Mr. Guard Captain, this here is the mighty Land Dragon.”
As she spoke, Ellis pulled the dragon out from her little string backpack and held the magnificent Land Dragon out with both hands for the guard captain to see. For some reason the guard captain still thought all of this was a joke though. How is this stuffed lizard toy a Guardian Dragon?
“If you"re really a Guardian Dragon, then you should have some kind of special power. Would you mind demonstrating that for us?”
Honestly, Ellis and the Land Dragon were delighted by the guard"s request while Katie, Ah-nyan, Claire, and Pi-tan all clicked their tongues in jealousy. Meanwhile Duke Marsfield and Sir Chaffee were quick to grab Ellis"s arm, begging her to take it easy.
“Well then Rchin, that, let"s try that.”
“Alright Ellis. Will that be okay as a target?”
The two finished their short conversation and headed towards the huge castle gate that had been looming over them until now. The Land Dragon eyed the gate while Ellis activated his Breath Release.
“{Grand Regal Aqua Breath}!”
Alongside the chant came a ma.s.sive amount of mist-like smoke that shot out of the Land Dragon"s mouth, melting everything it came in contact with.
Sadly, that white smoke caused the impressive gate to disappear, replaced by a huge hole in the middle of the entrance.
“Ah, that white smoke is poisonous too, so be careful not to breathe it in.”
Ellis nonchalantly threw out some terrible information for the guard captain. The rest of the guards immediately fled away from where the once grand gate had been.
“Hey hey, now let me have a turn,” Ah-nyan tried talking up to the guard captain from his place around Katie"s neck.
“Hey hey, let me give it a try,” Pi-tan spoke up to the guard captain from on top of Claire"s head.
Since the guard captain was looking rigid, not answering any of their questions, Duke Marsfield took a step forward to kick him back into action.
“Stupid idiot, the entire castle wall will be destroyed at this rate, so hurry up and let us in!”
The guard captain returned to himself after the abuse and gave Ellis"s party a nervous salute.
“Please come in and welcome, Guardian Dragons!”
The rest of the guards lined up behind their captain, giving the girls a similar salute. And just like that Ellis"s flashy entrance cut through their obstacle, leading them closer to their audience.
The supreme ruler of the Almerian continent, the king, Joe J. Skycastle VIII was feeling a little troubled.
It is said that the Skycastle royal family goes all the way back to the previous Hero who had fought in the last Demon/G.o.d War. In other words, if the Hero and Demon King were to fight for the supremacy of the Almerian continent, if things were left alone, doesn"t that mean the Skycastle family would be expelled no mater who won? That"s why the King had been trying to introduce the Hero as a member of the royal family so that when the Hero does defeat the Demon Lord, the story will run that it was the King"s progeny who had saved the day. But things weren"t going as planned.
From the King"s point of view, the entire Brave Party supporting the Hero was useless with the exception of the elite thief Gise.
On the other hand, the Demon Lord"s movements have remained unknown until now. In fact, n.o.body had seen even a sign of the Demon Lord since that first national broadcast. And with the exception of the raid that had occurred on Warren, there had been no large-scale battles with the demon forces.
Now for some reason there were five dragons who had gathered in Warren for some reason.
The King was troubled. To end those troubles he decided for now to try and take a look at those Guardian Dragons. If they grew to like the city, then the King would allow them to stay and become Skycastle"s Guardian Dragons.
The guard captain personally led Ellis and the others inside while the guards already inside the castle led them to where they would wait.
“Hoh, this is the room that was prepared? Does this mean that even the King is intent on respecting the dragons?” Duke Marsfield muttered to himself.
The room they had entered was the picture of luxury. The floor had rug carpets spread out all across it with a leather sofa sitting in front of a low table carved from white granite. That table was a single, monolithic structure and had a bowl of various exotic fruit resting on top. The furnishings weren"t anything too flashy, but their was a sense of depth in how everything was decorated.
“Mr. Marsfield, is this a good room?”
Ellis asked on behalf of the other girls who had all let their dragons down on the carpet, and the Duke responded with a hearty laugh.
“Only members of the royal family should have been invited to this room so far. It"s the King"s personal living room.”
Hoh, Ellis took a moment to admire the view. Nearby, Katie and Claire were picking away at the fruit resting on the table. Frau was examining all the liquor that was being displayed on sideboards along one wall, and Reeve had removed a katana from its sheath that had been resting in one corner of the room, marveling at the blade.
All of the dragons had been spread out around the carpet as if some children had just dropped their stuffed animals.
Watching them all act like that, Sir Chaffee and Duke Marsfield huddled together.
“No no, shouldn"t they be acting a little more bashful here?”
“I suppose they wouldn"t be Dragon Maidens if they were like that.”
“You"re not wrong.”
“More than that, we should find ourselves fortunate that these girls are so friendly to us.”
“By no means would I ever have thought my sister-in-law was going to be a part of this. I"m never going to be able to stand against my wife again.”
“Don"t mind it. You"re a Lord now, and your work is that of a Lord"s. I"m sure Bizon also wants nothing to do with your job.”
Then, before their conversation could get too off topic, the men were able to relax when a knock came on the door.
“Pardon me. The audience will be held soon, so I"ve come to see if you"re ready.”
Unfortunately there were two groups here who couldn"t read the air and started a small commotion.
“Claire, before you say anything you"ll regret, take your hand off that fruit nya.”
“Katie, this is my fruit. Or perhaps I should say, you eat too much.”
“What"s going on Claire, you want to have a match with us?”
“That"s great Ah-nyan, let"s settle this!”
“I"m sorry, would you mind closing the door for a second?”
Prompted by a blonde-haired girl, the messenger quickly went back outside and shut the door. Then a dull sound could be hear even from out there. *BONK!* *BONK!*
“Sorry to keep you waiting.”
The next time the messenger opened the door, there were five breathtakingly beautiful girls all lined up in a row waiting patiently. The messenger didn"t care to notice the large b.u.mps on the heads of the dragon riding around the catgirl"s neck and the dragon resting on the black-haired girl"s head.
“Well then please allow me to guide you.”
Thus was it time for the girls to make their debut in the capital.