บท 26: Milking a story
Black buildings.
Black spiked buildings.
They were everywhere.
Maria looked through the curtains, staring at the city and the people around.
Tall beautiful people with horns and some even had wings and scales and- odd hats?
Dragonborn.
“It’s beautiful-” She murmured.
Not just the people but-
The streets, the vendors, the city-
Maria and the others had finally Arrived in Dragondale- the capital of the Dragonborn.
However, humans and other races were mixed within the Dragonborn. Yes, they numbered way less than the natives, but there were still plenty.
The houses were quite tall- maybe three- four story? She wasn’t sure if they had floors here but the houses, really were tall and on the slim side. Almost all the houses had sharp jagged edges and most of them were triangular in shape rather than rectangular. They all had some sort of fancy symbol on the roof- a seven-headed dragon?
“Yes, truly.” The princess agreed, almost puffing up her chest in pride. Whenever Maria praised her land or her people, she just looked prouder and oddly excited.
People were just walking around as if everything was normal. They wore casual white shirts and leather pants and one-piece dresses; some even had blue, red, and brown dyes.
But almost all the dresses were made from special breathable fabric woven with mana. They didn’t look sturdy- but in fact, they were sturdier than most armor humans could produce. And they were awfully light too.
But sadly, they refused to sell their cloth to outsiders.
‘They have signs…’ This was a new world and the language was different. Yet, Maria had no trouble understanding the language. And now, she could even see the signboards and get their meaning without even trying to.
“We should be arriving shortly, my lady,” Xercs said from the outside. He was driving the carriage.
Just behind them, about a hundred or so more carriages followed. Foot soldiers, cavalries, sorcerers, the whole army was behind them too.
They were back- they were back from a war.
And all the people who saw the leading carriage- bowed once, paid their respects, and moved on with their days.
Things moved perhaps a bit too smoothly.
***
The royal palace- was big.
This building was perhaps the tallest and widest building in this whole place. Still, it wasn’t even one-fourth the width of the building back in Nasth.
A garden of nothing but grass covered the place in all fronts along with guards here and there. ‘Why call this a garden if it has nothing?’
The city itself was on rather high ground and in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by marshes on all sides.
They called this place impenetrable due to the location.
But sadly, it had already been penetrated about six times before.
“Come, let us go meet father!” And Risa was perhaps a bit too excited.
Squeak! The eagle on Maria’s shoulder woke up and made his declaration clear.
The guy never left her shoulder- never; it didn’t eat nor defecate. It even tried to crawl into the bathroom, but after nearly escaping death that one time- it didn’t dare to venture there again.
“Sure…” Maria was going to meet whoever she could, extract information, read some books about how things work and then travel to various places and find out just what was going on.
She didn’t really have a reason. Perhaps she was searching for a way to save people, for a way to escape from reality or perhaps she just wanted a meaning in her life?
Or maybe she was just bored and just wanted to see the new world- who knows?
***
The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior.
Everything was made from black marble. The similarity to the castle of Nasth was perhaps a bit too striking.
‘The architecture is also similar…’ Of course, the castle of Nasth was at least a few times bigger than this and definitely had more floors but this place was much livelier. And there were actual people!
Maids, soldiers, nobles-
Just walking around-
Bowing-
This particular castle had only three- but each floor had really high ceilings.
A massive double door!
Creak!
“Now entering, Princess Alexdandrite Nervaine Risa and the mighty lady Marianne Silvers of the Owen lineage!” A herald shouted really loudly, almost hurting Maria’s ears.
“That’s us!” Risa whispered and pulled Maria inside the large room.
Majestic!
That was her first thought.
People in armor, people in robes, and people in magnificent clothes. All were Dragonborn and all had this menacing aura. The epitome of ‘Mind your own business.’ vibes.
Really big room with lots of people and lots of decorations.
And eerily quiet too.
Risa bowed; Maria followed suit.
She was so busy looking around the room, she forgot to look at the king.
A blunder.
“Raise your heads,” The voice came. “Please, it’s a shame for us to see you bow, my lady!”
Gentle but sharp-
‘Rather young?’
At least that’s what the voice implied.
Maria was slightly intrigued as she raised her head. But once she looked at the king- ‘What?’
He was tall, skinny, and kind of facial hairless.
The king- was younger than Risa.
Even the clothes he wore were baggy and- ‘Is it me or is he malnourished?’
Definitely not what Maria envisioned as a king.
Actually- was this guy-
“Why does he look younger than you?” Maria whispered.
“I’ll explain later,” Risa whispered back.
“Ah, my daughter!” The king stood up and gave Risa a hug before finally, setting down on the floor, bowing before Maria. “My lady, thank you for your generosity on the battlefield. Without you, this war would have certainly been lost.”
Silence.
“Pl-please get up.” This was awkward.
The king of the country bowing before a girl from another world and in front of all their people no less.
Actually, everyone followed suit and just bowed as well.
‘They do a lot of bowing in this world, huh?’
Squeak! And the eagle was obviously proud, tilting its head up.
The king stood up and took a seat on the throne; the nobles also stood back up.
“I have heard that you wish to travel and explore the current states of the world. You wish to help the people, you wish to enrich us, ah! Such generosity!” He shed a tear. “To think your holiness would care so much for us…”
‘Ho-ly ness?’
The stout-looking people in the room also shed some. Some audibly weeping.
At this point, Maria wasn’t even surprised. ‘These people really know how to milk a story, huh?’
She sighed. “Risa said you had some books? Can I take a look? And do you have any scholars who I can question in private?”
Fantasy-
This was a fantastical world.
Filled with different creatures-
Different mechanics- magic!
The king blinked twice. “Of-of course!”
[[A/N]]
OG readers, thanks for supporting me. And that's why here's a thank you, as a bonus chap and some answers in the very next one.
Thanks for reading. Have a nice day XD
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