“Home, sweet home. Oh, how I missed being back home. Hey, Emily, can you see how happy I am to be back home?”

The guard names Emily shook her head at her Lady’s carefree smile and words. She had been with Lady Mei for so long that seeing past her mask was second nature to her.

She knew what her lady thought about this place and her connections to this continent. And since she knew, Emily knew she had to keep her mouth shut to survive.

Unfortunately for the others, they did not have the same privileges as Emily and made the mistake of questioning Mei.

“My lady, don’t you hate this place? Why did you want to come back here when you don’t like it here.”

The older guards tensed up as soon as they heard those words. They knew Lady Mei had a short temper and she did not like being questioned much.

‘This guard is dead. We won’t see him past tonight.’

Everyone had the same thought in their mind. The poor guard had unknowingly dug his own grave by angering lady Mei.

“Oh, I don’t like this place. Who said that and when? Did you hear it come out of my mouth? Yes, I might be annoyed that these people are ungrateful to their phoenix benefactor and are crazy about the dragons but I never said I hated them.”

“DID.YOU.UNDERSTAND.ME?”

The guard shook in his place. Finally coming face-to-face with an angry Lady Mei was an experience. Most people fainted even before they got to see Lady Mei’s anger.

The guard was good as he even managed to hold his ground in front of such a glare.

‘It’s always the brave ones who act foolishly. I hope the next guard who replaces him is a little more tactful.

Emily’s thoughts did have sympathy for the guard but she was not foolish enough to say anything in his defense. Why would she risk her perfectly safe neck for a stranger.

“Emily, what’s the next on our agenda? The foolish king is finally awake so I need to visit him. Is there anything else left for me to do?”

Lady Mei did not look concerned about the king but there was a hint of affection in her eyes. Anyone looking at them would have taken Lady Mei for a Tsundere if they saw her.

But Emily knew it was more of a lingering attachment her lady had with the Eastern Royal family.

They were the descendants of Lady Mei’s relatives and had blood ties with her.

As time passed, those ties had gotten weaker and weaker but in the end, blood was thicker than water.

No matter how diluted those blood ties got, Lady Mei still held lingering affection toward that family.

“The Shadall Festival is about to begin soon. Maybe we can take a look around once we are done greeting the royal family. It has been a long time since my lady came out to play like this.”

Emily knew how to flatter Lady Mei. Her Lady had been in a bad mood these past couple of days.

First and foremost, her plea to accompany the inspectors on their journey to Rocx Academy had been turned down. She was then barred from the abyss’s arena.

And now she knew that someone had poisoned the Eastern King and that it had been kept secret from her all this time.

This all combined to drive Lady Mei mad. She was beyond reasoning at this point.

“Hey Emily, don’t those two look familiar? Have we seen them before?”

The question came out of a sudden but Emily was ever present to serve her master. She quickly looked in the direction her Lady was pointing toward but she saw only ordinary people.

The festival had attracted a few people around them and the streets were busy.

As such, Emily was not sure where her Lady was pointing toward. She could not spot anyone suspicious.

“I am not sure what you want to show me, my Lady but I will help you out in whatever way you want me to. Should I go out and ask the city guards to interrogate people?”

Emily expected Lady Mei to drop the case. Her lady did not like using excessive force to get her way.

But much to her surprise, her lady seemed to be considering her suggestion. The look in her eyes was not one Emily had seen before and it puzzled her.

“You know what Emily? I think the city does need to go under curfew. I just saw a highly dangerous criminal running among the common people. We cannot allow people to get hurt, now can we?”

Emily shook her head. She was surprised at her Lady’s quick choice in this matter.

But thinking over something like this would not help Emily. Nor would questioning her Lady like this.

It was just better to do as Lady Mei said for now and to follow along. Nothing good came from going against her words anyway.

===========================

“So we are in the Eastern Continent now? Wow, I never expected to come here but this is nice. How long are we going to stay here? Hey, you aren’t thinking of abandoning me, are you?”

Astoria rubbed her head at the small headache that was forming. The kid, Mary’s questions were making Astoria tired.

She had explained the situation to the younger more than three times already but it was like the younger refused to understand.

It was a given that it would not hit Mary home until she faced the situation but the younger wasn’t even trying to understand.

“Mary, pay attention to what I tell you. Our situation is far from good and we are on a run from the tower. There was a reason I did not want you to get involved but if you are going to get involved anyway, then stay vigilant.”

Mary looked like she would cry at the thunderous tone Astoria used.

It had not been Astoria’s intention to frighten the younger but she also could not afford for Mary to babble to others who Astoria was.

“No, I understand that you are running away from the tower but I don’t understand why. You are such nice people-“

“But being nice is not everything in this world. I might be nice to you but I am not nice to everyone. Now hurry up and decide if you want to go back or not. This is the only time I will ask you this.”

“I want to stay with you and learn. Even if I cannot perform any magic like you or have a lack of talent, I want to try my best.”

Astoria finally gave in to the younger. Frankly, she was tired of this back-and-forth debate.

No to mention, the message Aurora had sent a few minutes prior told Astoria clearly that they were out of time now.

“Fine, here. Wear this cloak and wait around for me. I need to get Ur ready for the journey.”

Mary watched with fascinated eyes as the dragon turned into a dog. It was a giant black thing with a lot of fur but it was friendly looking.

The dragon tried to fly in its new body but was unable to.

“Don’t do anything stupid and bear with it. Your appearance is just until we get out of this town and into a place where no one would kill you.”

Ur quietened down at Astoria’s words. But it was clear that the dragon was not happy with the treatment he got.

Astoria did not care about him at the moment, too busy preparing the teleportation array she had been sent by Astoria.

It would take them to a vehicle that they could use and it was a one-time use item. It was useless outside the Eastern Continent and a lot more expensive than Astoria would have liked.

‘I will buy one and research it once I get time to. I know I can make this thing better and usable in the abyss.’

“Astoria, are you done with the preparations yet? I think Mei is headed this way.”

Aurora chose that moment to open the door and Astoria accidentally set the circle ablaze.

It activated at the touch of magic and took the party to its designed location.

It was fortunate that no accident occurred but it had been a dangerous situation all the same. Even their lender looked worried to see them all shaken up.

“It looks like you all went through a storm. Let me guess. You messed up with your teleportation circle but somehow managed to reach here? You are one of the lucky ones.”

There had been nothing lucky about it. It was only because Astoria had used the back door in time to activate the failsafe.

“There is no luck involved. Just give me the darn keys so that I can get out of here.”

Astoria was pissed off and ready to drive. Luckily, Aurora took the keys before Astoria could drive away.

“Maybe I should drive for now. You know, just as a measure. You can take over once you have calmed down enough.”

Astoria took one second to confirm before she fell asleep. She hated stressful days like these.