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Chapter 247
To the Dragon’s Continent!
”Kuu… Kuu-chan!! Kuu-channnn!! Carbuncleeee!!”
I increased my voice when the person, no, the dragon I called out didn’t give any response whatsoever. I thought that due to the strong gust of wind, she was unable to hear me.
But even when I shouted, she didn’t respond at all, which was odd!
Is she wearing ear plugs or what? But ear plugs for her, who’s currently in her dragon size? Yeah… I am not sure there is one.
She should hear me, then!
Is she ignoring me on purpose?!
Right now, I was hanging tight on Carbuncle’s back, holding onto one of the protruding parts on her back that was easy for me to hug and grab on tightly.
I was sitting and hugging it with all my limbs.
Rather than worrying about me falling down–which seemed almost impossible with my current position–I was more worried about the orb that was dangling down from my neck.
The magically glowing orb with a mixture of green and yellow color was beautiful and quite big–it was like the typical orb used in oracles, not like jewelry used for a necklace–, and it was as if a storm was raging inside the orb.
This orb was none other than the dragon orb that Carbuncle promised to lend me, to make it possible for me to enter the continent of the dragons, that was said to be in such a harsh condition that rendered it impossible for non-dragons to live in. Even entering was hard, based on what I heard.
The big orb was suspended using a very thin thread of magic that was also glowing. As such, the orb flew to the right, left, front, back, following the gust of wind that came thanks to Carbuncle’s flying. She was flying at quite a high speed–I was 100% certain this wasn’t a leisurely speed!
Although I was told that the string holding it was a magical one that would make it impossible for the orb to fall, I wasn’t quite convinced with the way the orb was flying around…
But I had no choice but to trust it, and pray that it won’t fall–also praying that I won’t fall..
“KUU-CHAN!!”
After a moment of silence and when I felt the gust of wind wasn’t as strong as before–at least based on the sensation of the wind as well as the sound of the wind I was hearing from my ears–I tried to shout and call out to Carbuncle once more.
We had been flying since dawn, for we tried to depart before the sun rose, during the time when there weren’t many people doing activities outside. Even when I cast my illusion to help conceal Carbuncle’s dragon body as we flew in the sky, I would feel safer with more countermeasures like this.
Carbuncle also said that it would be better to depart as early as possible, since the journey would be quite a long one.
I thought she meant that if we were to depart by dawn, we’d arrive sometime near the evening or even the afternoon… and maybe we could go back in the same day?
But we had been flying for so long, until the land was nowhere to be seen, and it had been an oceanic view for quite some time.
Is Carbuncle getting lost or does it really take so long?
Will we even take breaks during the journey?
However, with how we had been flying on top of the ocean with no sight of land so far, I became a bit hopeless of the possibility of catching a break…
Isn’t she tired?
Anyway, Carbuncle never briefed me on our journey plan, which I also kinda overlooked…
“KUU—–CHAAANNNN!!”
I took a deep breath before I called out to Carbuncle with all I had.
”What? Why are you still shouting like that, as if your life depended on it? You should get used to the sensation of flying and the sensation of the wind by this time, Lyr.”
Finally, she responded to me.
But her words…
She really did hear me and deliberately ignored me all this time!
”That’s not it! I am asking… When will we arrive? We will at least have a place to sleep well tonight… right?” I asked, but when the words left my mouth, I became more unsure if Carbuncle would even have the common sense to take a break during the night to sleep. I could picture that she’d just keep going…
”Oh. That depends whether you want to go straight into the storm or take a detour,” Carbuncle casually answered.
“Sto–WHAT?!” I almost popped my eyes out.
“Storm.”
“…That’s not it. I heard you perfectly. I mean, there is a storm on our way to our destination? When will it subside?” I asked the most logical question. After all, we had no idea how long the detour would take…
“Subside? It never does, Lyr,” Carbuncle said with a tone that seemed to be questioning whether I was sane or not for even asking that question in the first place.
“Uh…,” It just dawned on me that the dragon’s continent was unlivable for races other than dragons for a reason. This–the storm that never subsides–should be one of the examples.
“Then, where are you currently heading?” I finally realized. Carbuncle never asked my opinion on which route to take: going into the storm or detour, yet she kept flying towards a certain direction with full certainty. Did she already pick on a route by herself?
“Ooh. Straight towards our destination!”
“Does it mean… we’re heading straight to the storm?”
“You can say so.”
“…What if we take a detour?”
“Still the same direction, but I just need to start tilting to the right side,” Carbuncle answered confidently.
It’s amazing how she still knew which way to go. I could only see the ocean and no other sign. How would she tell the direction or even our position, then?
“Can you first brief me on our route if we were to take a detour?” First, let’s ask her the questions I have in my mind, but one by one!
“Oh. We just need to drop by on a piece of land of the Eye of the Storm. There,we will use a portal to teleport to my friend’s place where we can probably take a break, before using the portal there that will land us closer to the place where the Thunder Weed Flowers grow.”
Thunder Weed Flowers…
Because it’s rare to the people here, we call it the Thunder Miracle Flower.
But since it grows like weeds in Dragon’s Heritage, Carbuncle just called it Thunder Weed Flowers…
What a discrepancy…
But based on Carbuncle’s brief, she is actually willing to cramp some break, yay!
And more importantly…
“The detour… means we don’t have to brace the storm, right?”
“Nah. We will still get a piece of the storm, but it won’t be as fierce as it is if we were to go the straight, shortest way. The shortest way requires us to head straight to the fiercest area of the storm but it is way, waaay faster.”
“…How fierce is it?” The ‘way, waaay faster’ comment actually made me feel tempted…
“We gotta pass through the tornadoes and hurricanes in the ocean and the land around it!”
“…” Never mind.
“Don’t worry, Lyr. I am a dragon of wind and thunder! These are easy peasy for me!” Carbuncle said in a spirited tone.
“…What about me?!” I almost screamed in tears when I asked this question.
Kuu-chan, the mighty dragon Carbuncle… Do you even take the time to stop and think about your poor and weak companion here? T__T
I am not sure I can keep a steady hold of myself on Kuu-chan’s back while she tries to escape the storm or worse, receive the thunder with her body and withstand it…
“Oh. Right. I forgot,” Carbuncle giggled a bit.
“…” Did she just forget about me or the fact that I am not a mighty dragon like her?
Either is scary, though!
As expected, I have to always double check if it’s with Carbuncle…
At this time, I want nothing more but to complain and tell this story to my trusty friend and Familiar, Fenrir.
But I refrained from doing so, since perhaps Fenrir would be busy and I didn’t want to interrupt him for trivial matters like this.
Currently, Fenrir is accompanying the group that’s returning to the castle, namely Manasye, Maiara, and Clavis. We agreed beforehand that it’d be great if Fenrir could get started to help Eneida as soon as possible.
Apparently, it didn’t have to be me doing the work, even if I am Fenrir’s contractor.
Fenrir said that it’d be best to have someone that Eneida could open up more with ease, so we concluded that it’d be safe to have Manasye to do the job.
I wouldn’t want to disturb Fenrir if he was in the middle of something important, and long-distance communication would take up more of our energies.
Gotta preserve energy!
Still, we agreed to have some kind of a daily report–namely, we would meet in my dreams.
I will just pour my heart out to Fenrir later tonight!
“If we make a detour, will it take too long for us to return?” I asked.
“Hmm… Not really. It’d take less than a week. Five days, maybe?” Carbuncle answered.
So, it’d be a week at most. That is not too long.
Still, how long has it been?
How are Briar and the others doing?
Has our plan and disappearance been known yet?
How long will it take before we succeed and then can return safely?
…Right, there is no use questioning these right now.
I should try to focus on the task at hand and think about it later, since there is nothing I can do about it right now.
Let’s find a way later after we return!
“Let’s take the detour route, then!” I decided.
“Aye!” Carbuncle then slightly tilted her body towards the right direction more.
And then, we spent long hours flying, long enough for me to start to feel cramped in my body… Well, all I could do was to wiggle a part of my body for a little bit, and that’s it. I wonder how Carbuncle could keep going… or is she also forced since there’s only nothing but ocean?
By this time, the sun was already gone. Though… I wasn’t sure if the sun was gone due to the passage of time, or because of the storm that was happening. There was only some wind, rain, and thunder in our current area. But I could see that the area to our front left had a more raging, violent storm going on.
Not long after the mixture of rain, wind, and occasional thunder could be felt, I could see a small land down there, right towards the direction we were heading to.
“Is that the piece of land you told me about?” I asked as I stretched my neck, trying to see what was in it, but as expected, I could see nothing.
“Yeah. Hold on tight!”
“Wha? Huh–?!!”
Carbuncle literally didn’t give me a second to digest what she was saying and to hold on tight as per her command. She suddenly increased her speed and headed downwards.
Thankfully, I didn’t fall down and manage to hold onto her back again.
We landed smoothly, not without kicking up a swirling cloud of dust and debris, creating a dense veil around our landing zone. Thankfully, the rain and wind quickly washed it up.
The first thing I did was to descend from Carbuncle’s body and stretch my body. However…
“T-the wind is so strong!” I almost got swept up by the wind in a moment of weakness.
Carbuncle quickly used her body and wing to lessen the gust of wind and rain coming my way.
I looked up and said, “Thank you.”
“Follow me.” Carbuncle said before she moved towards a certain direction, and I could only quickly follow in order to hide under her wing.
I could only catch a glimpse of the area surrounding us. The ground was mostly muddy as expected. The trees surrounding us seemed to be gigantic and similar to the trees that grew in the tropical area. But there weren’t that many trees around us in the first place…
We finally reached a cave hidden under the rocks and trees.
“Come inside first, I’ll follow suit,” Carbuncle said when I hesitated in entering. The mouth of the cave was small, so…
As expected, Carbuncle transformed back to her humanoid form right after I entered the cave. She quickly rushed inside the moment her body size could pass through the cave’s mouth, and finished her transformation inside.
“Phew. I haven’t done this for so long. It appears that even I can feel tired.”
“…” I was only sitting and holding tight, but my body already felt sore, so of course you’d be tired!
“Let me lie down here for a bit, then we continue. Don’t worry, the portal should be near,” Carbuncle said as she proceeded to lie down–or more precisely, plop down–on the floor of the cave.
I sat next to her.
“Hey, Kuu-chan, the mouth of the cave can only fit humanoid form, but you said the portal is inside… Does that mean the dragons aren’t using their original form all the time in the dragon’s continent?” I asked curiously.
“Yep. We tend to stay in humanoid forms to preserve space, energy and resources. We transform to our original forms more often, though, for example, to travel long-distance. It’d be easier and faster to just fly.”
“Thank goodness. So, I won’t need to face all the big dragons while I’m the only one in my tiny human form, right?” I heaved a sigh of relief. Yes, this has been my concern ever since it’s decided we’d visit the Dragon’s Heritage!
“Alright, I’m done! Let’s walk!” Carbuncle suddenly stood up, dusted her clothes, and stretched her body.
“Eh? Ah, okay!” I quickly followed suit. But it still surprised me since I didn’t expect her break time to be this short!
We walked deeper and deeper into the cave, passing through an area that was oddly very cold and covered in ice. The temperature drop between the normal area and this cold area was something else! I could put one of my feet on the ice and feel cold, while the other feet would step on normal land and feel warmer and humid.
This is crazy!
After walking through the cold area for a while and going even deeper inside the cave, the temperature suddenly rose up like crazy and… we arrived at a place with a lake of lava.
“…”
Better turn off my logic while I’m in the Dragon’s Heritage, or my head might explode.
Carbuncle stopped right in front of the lake, and then pointed towards a certain point in the lake before saying, “The portal is in there.”
Amidst this lava pool?! How are we to access it?
“Are you crazy?! Won’t we be dead first?” I blurted out my thoughts loudly.
Carbuncle chuckled and said, “Lyr, you’re with me! Don’t worry about dying!”
What are you, the god of death or what?!
Carbuncle suddenly used a half-transformation to expose a small version of her wings, tail, and dragon horns. She floated in the air and stopped when she floated on top of the area that she just pointed, before flying higher.
Then, with a wave of her emerald-green claws, a gust of wind was summoned, and several wind claws appeared, heading straight towards the lava. The wind claws seemed as if they were slashing through the lava, and the gust of wind coiled and danced with the surrounding lava, preventing the space that was exposed by the wind claws to be closed once more.
In the middle of the sliced lava, there was a small portal-like formation that was sitting naturally on top of the remaining lava under it.
…That’s amazing.
Carbuncle seemed to know where the portal would be, as evidenced by her unveiling the portal in one go.
“Found it!” Carbuncle smirked. Her golden eyes gleamed as a stream of her green, opalescent wind magic was pointed towards the portal.
The moment the portal touched with her magic, it glowed–first in a yellow glow, before the glow turned into a green color.
Carbuncle flapped her wings and slowly descended towards where the portal was, maintaining a distance between them. She looked down at the portal, seemingly confirming something before she grinned and said, “All set, time to go!”
Before I could even react, suddenly, my body was being lifted up in the air by what I identified as Carbuncle’s wind magic.
Then, together, we dove at a high speed, straight towards the portal that was just activated.
I didn’t even have the time to process the heat that passed through me when I passed through all the lava, when I was already being attacked by the dizzy sensation of using a teleportation portal.
My surroundings, my body, and even my mind felt as if they got distorted by the portal, and…
When I opened her eyes again, I almost wanted to close it again immediately.
All my eyes could see were different shades of red, and it was even hot!
D-did we just arrive at… the hell?!
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