After discussing for almost an hour on their own, by the end of the day, they agreed to leave first thing in the morning.
“Let’s not give time for authorities to catch up on what’s happening.”
Cherry halfheartedly glares at Serein who is looking at her as if she’s a funny comedian or something. She finds herself sighing as she realizes that there’s no point in arguing with her, especially not when Serein shrugged off Cherry’s displeasure.
Well, at least they do reach a conclusion on when they should leave. They agreed to depart the very next day, even before the sun shyly rose from the horizon.
Which brings them to this moment.
—Done with their preparation and getting dressed appropriately, with Cevahir posing like a nobleman in the storyline that Serein has formed around the half-dragon in disguise while the rest of them dress like servants or knights to serve their young master.
‘Actually, in a way, it is not that far off from our current reality.’
Gil commented internally as he thought of how Cevahir can easily gain admirers just from his bloodline. Even though hybrids are often banished for not being pureblood, there are of course some exceptions.
And one of those exceptions could be found by finding out what kind of hybrid you are.
‘Humans will definitely be overjoyed for this fact–’
Though at the same time…
Side eyeing the silver-haired male, that one-legged knight wonders to himself–
‘Was that the reason why Cevahir-min is here instead of with the other dragons?’
As someone who is blessed with knowledge and the ability to read and write, Gil naturally loves to read. He was enchanted by the books that talked about other beings, especially into more powerful beings than humans such as monsters, strong races like elves, and of course, the most interesting of it all, the Dragons.
They are said to live on a secluded island that they own. No human or other being has ever set foot on the sacred land of those supreme entities.
In a matter of fact, people are only able to say that the magical place is not imaginary because it is noted down by the First Empress of the Amaranth Kingdom as part of the documentation of the Heroes’ journey before it comes to its inevitable end.
Experts’ confirmations on the authenticity of the Wise Sage’s hand-written journal are pretty much the only reason for people nowadays to believe in its existence despite no other living beings stepping foot on the said island— the exact reason why there are still a whole lot of people who were skeptical even after the clarifications given by all sorts of experts, mainly historians, over these ancient documentaries.
‘Could it be that he was banished for being a halfling instead of a pureblood?’
Back to his train of thoughts, Gil’s eyes then dart to the two ‘empty’ spaces on Serein’s and Cevahir’s shoulders where the two invisible wyrms are sitting quietly.
‘Then what about those two?’
Sam and Pam don’t seem to have any other DNA flowing in their veins unlike their older brother, or at least that’s his judgment from their appearance alone.
Gil remembers some little facts about the two hatchlings that are said by the eldest of the two.
“Big brother was the one who saved us from them… He has been protecting us and keeping us safe all these years since then—”
Well, obviously, that sentence is followed with a lot of threats towards humans and humanity if ever his big brother got injured because of the two– not that he ever did what he said– but either way, he remembers that sentence perfectly.
—While his thoughts are occupying his mind, they soon arrive at the dock where there is a long line of passengers like them.
“Right, so, how should we get to the ship?”
Serein wonders with a voice loud enough for their small circle to hear.
“Eh?”
Cherry turns to her with confusion on her face.
“Were you a Native to the Kiraan Kingdom, Serein-shi?”
Well, that adventurer doesn’t seem like it, though, seeing how the native of this Kingdom has darker skin than other regions. It is all because there are so few trees around and just how bright the sun shines from the lack of shades.
‘But she has Stiriacrus, doesn’t she?’
And remembering how her mother has always been, Cherry ponders if her guide’s paleness is due to the said illness, or—
“Oh, no. I’m not.”
Serein’s reply cuts her train of thought and turns her to focus on what the adventurer told her afterward.
“Definitely not a Native.” Serein clarifies, “I simply travel along with the Pirates normally. It’s cheaper.”
An easy answer, really. After all, by being an Adventurer, you’ll be severely underpaid unless you work extremely hard and are part of a guild, more often than not. This occupation literally will cost your life if you’re bad at it.
Instead of getting paid, the cost of the ‘freedom’ you can get is quite severe– Which is why Cherry let out a soft gasp before nodding.
“I see, I see…”
The Pirates.
Although it’s not as safe as getting on official transportation like this one, it’s indeed friendlier for the wallet due to how often it got into a battle against sea creatures or other pirate ships.
‘Well, I mean, Serein-shi is a decent fighter, I suppose?’
Fairly enough, Cherry has never seen the adventurer in real combat before, and she lost against Aidou. That fact might indicate her as a non-reliable fighter, however, on the same topic, even Cevahir almost lost himself. So, for her to not be killed instantly, that by itself is already a great thing achieved by mortals.
Although, what that disguised princess missed is the internal panic behind the shaking eyes of Serein.
‘Thank god she didn’t ask about anything any further.’
She was quite relieved that Cherry did not pry deeper into this conversation, mainly because she just randomly answered the Mage with what she knew will happen in the actual timeline of her draft.
‘Arlia will have a shortage of money and thus he can’t afford to get on this ship.’
Which is why Serein had not been so greedy over her negotiations with Cherry and Gil before. She was trying to avoid being in the same boat as the childish and reckless main character she had planned him to be. Things seemed to be in her favor since now she can afford tickets for the four of them with her own money.
It’s almost surreal how this turned out, actually.
All of these achievements she has experienced lately almost felt like a dream instead of reality.
He feels close to a ticking bomb in a way due to all of these fortunes that just keep on piling on him.
‘Should I… Be wary?’
Suddenly, she can feel chills running down her spine, to which she then tries to ignore this trail of thoughts altogether before she can possibly jinx herself—
A hand was stretched in front of Serein, barging into her line of vision.
“Hmm?”
–That hand belongs to the princess.
“We need to give our identification cards now so we can ride the ship.”
Cherry informs the others after finishing her little talk with the ship’s Captain now that they have reached the front of this long line. She was waving hers and Gil’s IDs before then approaching Serein to take her card first.
‘Damn. It looks like the real thing.’
Serein looks at Cherry and envies how convenient it is for her as a princess to obtain such a thing. It is hard to distinguish between the real thing and this fake card.
‘But again, Cherry won’t go into so much trouble to acquire some fake identifications. These IDs are probably made by experts. It’s the only way they can be this close to the real thing.’
Serein simply puts these narrations aside and hands Cherry her adventurer’s ID ‘book’. She considered using the merchant’s identification she got from her father, however, she settled with using her other choice.
It isn’t for a deep reason. She just didn’t want the others to have more leads to her real identity just yet.
Cherry nods despite her own curiosity when she can’t find anything more about this mysterious person. She really wants to know more because Serein keeps revealing shocking information, secrets, connections, and more, but this young woman is still a mystery to her.
But then again, Cherry feels a little relieved to know nothing more about Serein.
‘Maybe it’s best for me not to find out…’
She doesn’t know if she can afford to know more about this peculiar person.
Cherry then approached Cevahir and stood in front of him, waiting to get his ID. However, she waited for a long time and nothing happened.
She glanced at the other two, sending a message through her gaze.
‘What is wrong? Should I ask again?’
It was then that something clicks in Serein’s brain and she immediately blurts out–
“Cevahir-min… Perhaps you don’t have an identification card?”
A soft hum is heard from the half-blood dragon who opens his mouth to answer,
“It’s been a while since I came out, so I don’t have an ID since I don’t need it.”
The blunt response quickly came, making the three humans want to facepalm or just stare at the man in disbelief.
“… My bad.” After recovering from her first reaction, Serein raises her hand and starts to say, “This was a miscalculation on my part.”
While keeping it polite on the outside, she’s cussing her own name internally.
‘See!? You jinxed yourself— asdfghjkl… what a dumbass!’
There’s an odd breeze passing by, and this time, Serein does not need any of the three dragons to tell her that it’s Aiston probably dying of laughing at her.
“I think we need to find some other way to go.” She mumbled, almost showing her distress when Gil chimed,
“Other way to go?”
That one-legged knight, who is now walking with a cane for a temporary measure, can be seen to be glaring in disapproval at their guide as he continues, “You don’t mean for us to go with that ship, right, Serein-shi?”
Per se, she also dislikes how this story plot will lead them. In a matter of fact, she might have been hating this turn of events more than Gil or Cherry ever does.
With that being said, it seems like there’s no other choice after all…
Nearly clicking her tongue, Serein stoically responds to Gil.
“We’ll be getting on a pirate ship instead.”
It’s not a question as Serein’s words actually held some power given the temporary position she has as their guide. In addition to that, she also doesn’t leave a space for anyone to interject her when she speaks again.
“As you can see, I opted for the best choice there is, but you just witnessed it yourself as to why we couldn’t continue with that plan.”
Her words are firm and somewhat heavy, especially when she then adds, “We can’t expose Cevahir-min’s identity.”
‘—Well, not now anyway,’ She quietly thought, ‘And definitely not by those bastards.’
Becoming involved with officials of the Kiraan Kingdom, or worse, their nobles will be a huge pain in the butt and Serein truly can’t bring herself to deal with them, willingly or not. It was too much for her.
‘I rather have to fight with some more monsters than dilly dally on their sticky webs trying to extract my dear sanity away.’
The bad possibilities far outweigh the good possibilities and thus, she doesn’t want to test out her luck here and decides to choose a riskier yet at the same time somewhat safer option, which is joining the dreaded main character at the start of his journey.
‘All that I need to do is to stay in our lane and never interact with that punk ever again.’
Supposedly avoiding a certain someone in a ship filled with so many people won’t be that bad… Right?
—
Author Note: Heyya folks! Anemic Bunnicula here~! Here goes another update for the week + Art that you can check on the discussion channel. Hope you all would enjoy it, and I’ll see you again in the next chapter, Chao~!