Riding on top of a carriage, Colt was enjoying his time while acting as a lookout with Reis. This had been his job for the past few weeks and together with Butler Go, they ensured that the Pegasi would stay on course.
They had just arrived above the Holy City and was just about to land on the Central Plaza like Lucille instructed him three days ago.
‘I talked to the people in charge.’ She said, so Colt didn’t try to argue. Considering how she’s a Tower Master, it’s only natural for her to have connections.
However, when they got near the central plaza, Risa who wished to experience flying outside the carriage noticed there were actually arrows flying towards them.
Risa did not tell anything to Colt and just laughed before jumping out of the carriage which frightened her older brother half to death!
“HAHAHAHA! Something interesting finally happened!” Risa liked sleeping but she had slept all she could these past weeks so she had waited for magical beasts to appear.
Even lazy people want some excitement in their life from time to time.
But with Reis being with them, no aviary beast would dare get close to them so her dreams of aerial combat was crushed.
Thus, when boredom and disappointment met each other, Risa jumped at the first opportunity to do something interesting. She called out Drako then have it swat the arrows away and then dove down to the central plaza ready to confront the enemies.
Colt saw this and quickly ordered the Pegasi to follow Risa who decided to be active for once in her life at the most awful of times. She may be improving but that’s not enough to fight against someone confident enough to shoot an arrow thousands of meters away!
“Dammit, Risa!” The carriages were pushed to their limits trying to catch up to a Dragon.
Colt wanted to intervene as much as he could but Risa who had adrenaline coursing through her veins made it seem like their group was angry.
“What’s the big idea? I thought we were the guest here!?”
Then there’s Drako saying some bullshit again claiming him to be the Dragon King.
When Colt turned to the armored group before them, he reckoned he had no choice but to take a stand. Though he knew he could command Drako to start wreaking havoc and demolish every single one of these Knights with Fluff’s and Lucille’s help, he didn’t and simply tried to be as calm as possible.
‘They are the aggressors so I think it would be best if I don’t let them think we are easily picked on. Also, my daughters are peeking from the carriage, I don’t want them seeing me being pathetic.’ Colt thought while glancing over to the side.
He sighed.
Thus, Colt raised his hand, stopped Drako, made the most powerful magical beast tremble on the enemy's side to submission and stood before Darius with his head held high.
“…” silence prevailed as Darius failed to make a quick enough response.
Darius had read reports about this man named Colt Edgeworth from what he knew, he’s nothing more than a decorated Young Master who rose to prominence thanks to luck.
Other than his kindness that is far beyond what’s normal, nothing about his combat skills stood out. His greatest accomplishment in terms of combat was killing a supreme commander of an invading force whose strength is not even at Rank-9.
There’s also news of his abnormal rise in aura mastery, but like before, that’s not enough to impress him. Aura without skills was nothing before a Master.
‘Nothing but a shiny empty shell.’ Such was his honest thought without him looking down upon Colt. He actually admired his kindness and contribution to the continent, but he’s not a warrior in Darius’ eyes.
However,the Colt before him was different.
He’s no Young Master, not even a Soldier, he’s a man who Darius could see through.
A being who is referred to by the White Dragon as the King of its race, someone who could make the Black Death Dragon tremble in fear with his mere presence.
Darius knew who he was and how much he had messed up. But... he remained confused about himself.
‘Why can’t I wipe this smile off my face? Why do I want to fight against him?’ a wide grin was plastered on his face as he met Colt’s eyes. He wished nothing more than cross blades with him.
Colt took notice of the change in the air and Darius’ weird expression. His eyes grew sharper as a part of him got ready to fight. Unlike how he was in the past, Colt could now stand up against people who wish to challenge him.
‘I won’t just keel over.’ He does not care about honor or anything like that, but he did like being looked up to by his daughters so he’s not going to simply cower before someone like Darius, ‘Teacher is scarier than you.’
Darius’ smirk was nothing compared to Butler Neun’s who seemed to resemble a Demon from a good angle. Colt was ready to draw his sword.
However, Darius knew it was not the right time for one like him to have such thoughts. So, he corrected himself.
PAH!
Colt raised his brows as he watched Darius slap himself to the face. The man with the hulking body then lowered his head.
“I apologize for being disrespectful, I thought there was an invading Magical Beast so I ordered him to shoot it down. It was because of my orders, please, forgive him if he had offended you.”
“Captain, what are you doing!?”
“Captain Darius!”
A commotion echoed as the Knights raised a ruckus seeing Darius lower his head to apologize. The people who saw this all clamored with fever appearing in their eyes.
They were already noisy when the White Dragon and flying carriages appeared but seeing the young man make Darius slap himself and lower his head was more of a surprise.
“Who’s that young man? For the Captain to do such a thing, who is he?”
“I’m not sure, but I think I heard something about Edgy or something.”
Everyone was making a fuss about Colt wanting to know how he did such a thing when even Colt didn’t know if Darius was alright in the head.
He wanted to ask if Darius was all right when, all of a sudden, he felt a flood of bloodlust coming from the side.
He quickly recognized who it was.
Sigurd had drawn his bow and had pointed it at Colt. Sigurd was glaring at Colt as he asked, “How did you do that?”
“What?” Colt was confused.
“How did you make the Captain slap himself!? This man knows nothing other than to hurt others and he had hit me for the last fifteen years of me being his second in command. I want to get revenge on him so answer me, how did you do it!? I want to do it too!!” he was serious. No strings attached.
“…Seriously, what?”
“Answe — ack, it was a joke captain, unhand me!”
It was getting weirder by the minute. Thankfully, Captain Darius stepped in to deal with the weirdo with the bow. Colt watched Sigurd getting choked by Darius.
“I apologize for that, Young Master Colt. This man is my second-in-command, Vice-Captain Sigurd. He was the one who shot the arrow earlier and as you can see, he has a sort of eccentric personality... I think he was dropped as a baby.”
“Ple—Please, I can’t breathe! Captain!” Sigurd kept on tapping Darius’ hands as he begged for air.
‘He’s turning blue.’ That was Colt’s only reaction.
Sigurd later lost consiousness.
===
It took a while but Darius eventually freed Sigurd and then after organizing his troops and keeping the beasts away, the Sun Knights properly stood in line.
All of them lowered their heads before Colt and the people stepping out of the carriages.
The Sun Knights wished to show as much respect as they could after what happened earlier.
“We greet the Tower Master Grand Sorceress Lucille, the Alchemist of the People Jin, the Hero of the four corners Colt Edgeworth and companions, we greet you upon your arrival.”
The Sun Knights received them with dignity.
With lowered heads, they met with these people who are now considered as living legends of the Regulus Kingdom.
One of these Knights, someone who looked like at the age of 20 and beyond stepped forward to make a proper announcement for the people surrounding the Fountain.
“Lucille, one of the oldest and strongest Mages of the Continent. Jin, the Alchemist who created the cure for the ravaging epidemic. Colt Edgeworth, the young master who fought against invaders, helped the search for the medicine, freed enslaved people from corrupt nobles, and the Great Dragon King! Mina Vera —"
Colt wanted to intervene and make them redo his part, but as he was already on Mina’s part, he controlled himself and just accepted it as fact.
‘I think that the Dragon King part was added just now.’ No one really knows about the matter of being called the Dragon King until today — well, after today, the continent shall know that he’s known as the Dragon King.
He was helpless.
“Young Master, again, please accept my apology as we did now know that you would be coming from above with flying carriages.”
While Colt’s shoulders were lowered Darius approached him to make another apology.
He straightened his back before giving an answer, “Please, do not worry about it. Now that I think about it, most of the faults lie with Miss Lucille not properly informing the people. Because of this misunderstanding, the Captain of the Sun Knight had to lower his head, if anything, please accept my apologies.”
Colt lowered his head to salvage Darius’ reputation.
“Do you want to slap me in return?”
Darius looked at Colt and simply laughed at his actions, “Hahaha, no this is enough, Young Master Colt. So, are you ready to head to your residence?”
“…can we please wait for a minute?” he asked before looking at the people who had been making a ruckus since they stepped out of their confines, "I think this would take a while, in the meantime, I wish for another pair to apologize. Risa, Drako, get over here!"
All the while a Dragon and its partner was apologizing for their rush behaviours, the rest of the family were enjoying themselves. Especially the kids.
“Mama, mama, is this the Holy Land?” Filla asked while looking at the simplistic, yet vibrant structures of around her.
Filla was amused.
Mina wanted to answer, but Lyra also pointed at a monolith in the middle of a fountain then asked, “What is that? What is that!?”
After a week of sitting still and only learning magic, they now saw the light of salvation and it was beautiful. She like magic and spells, but only learning its foundation as boring for someone like her.
Lyra and Filla, who had somehow become the best of friends find magic to be wonderful because it was without boundaries.
Add to the fact that they were learned Magic at a young age, these two were chaos incarnate with a dash of prodigious learning capabilities.
This created the perfect mix of a curious child that could make any parent cry. But, Mina’s smile remained, quietly explaining what was what to the children while the other people who arrived with them take care of things…
“That Silver Fountain of the Saints, the monolith in the middle is where the name of the Saints of the past is written. The water flowing off the fountain and goes into the waterways is purified thanks to the three Goddess’ worldly Gift…” Mina lifted her hand and pointed at the black circle around the fountain’s base.
“You see that black part over there? That’s the—"
Colt was left admiring the smiles of her family and Mina’s dedication to teaching. There was also Lucille who had melded with her role as a nanny.
It was a good sight, it looked as though it was a genuine family trip.
“Young Master Colt’s family are so energetic and unique. It appears you are also blessed with a kind woman as your wife.” Darius praised. He also had a smile on his face seeing children laughing.
It was his job as a Knight to protect smiles like these, and despite being someone so big and terrifying, he’s not some emotionless cunt who only fights. Well, he also likes to fight but that’s not the point.
Colt nodded his head, “Indeed I am, thank you.”
“Once again, I wish we could disregard what happened earlier as a mishap. What do you say I later treat you and your family to a dinner made by my dear wife? She makes a mean Moriam Stew that is local to the City.”
“That would be wonderful, thankful thank you, despite everything else I think we'll [email protected][email protected]#$! [email protected][email protected]# [email protected]#~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Colt was in the middle of his speech when, all of a sudden, someone came rushing to him like a cannonball who hit him squarely in the stomach.
And because Colt was relaxed when he was hit, he got carried off, rolled on the ground and had his head have an intimate time the pavement with so much force that he actually lost consciousness.
When everyone finally noticed what’s happening, the only thing they saw was a woman wearing an eye-catching golden mounted atop the unconscious Colt.
The woman had a big smile, “I found him! I found him! I found him! I found him! I found him! I found him! I found him! I found someone worthy, I didn't think someone who's so intimate with the Goddesses exist!”
Lucille who was watching from the side moved quietly as she quietly retrived Filla and Lyra from Mina's hands.
"Hylda, dear, get Elanor and Haleth here, what's about to unfold is not safe for children."
While Hylda assisted Vyra and Jin to do what Lucille had just said, Filla and Lyra tugged onto Lucille's clothes and asked what's happening to which she responded with a smile.
"Just watch, you'll see why your mother is feared by the Seniors of the Magic Tower and the Academy..."
She said while shielding the children from a flood of bloodlust and jealousy.
And with this flood came the cracked voice asking for her beloved, “Darling?”
"Oh boy, blood is about to flow."