“I’ll beat ya,” Zeke and Camila threatened.
Lawrence chuckled and apologized. He coolly finished his parfait, showing his nerves of steel—his life was on the line. After a quick meeting, they left the café with Lawrence footing the bill, of course.
“I didn’t get enough meat,” Zeke grumbled. “Let’s go for another round. How about some drinks? Can you handle your liquor?”
“I’m not fond of alcohol, so I’ll pass on that offer,” Lawrence replied.
“We’ll make you come with us one day,” Camila replied. “I promise to get you blackout drunk.”
The three had their arms around the others’ shoulders as they laughed. But all too soon, Lawrence’s smile faded away.
“Will it happen…someday?” he muttered.
As the trio entered a sparsely populated alleyway, Zeke turned to face the Kratos strategist. The sun was still high in the sky when they left the Lehrsatz manor, but the star had begun to set, and the reddening sunset was almost blinding. It hid Lawrence’s expression well.
“When did we become like this?” Lawrence asked quietly.
When? When did they grow to dislike dragons? For some reason, it felt like the question had several layers that overlapped with what Rolf had asked the knights before.
“We’re the force of justice, the Azure Gold Dragon Wings!”
The voice came from above. The trio didn’t expect the enemy to name themselves.
“Huh?” the three said.
A flurry of arrows rained from above, and Zeke knocked them all away with his greatsword. Camila prepared her bow, and the three stood back-to-back, ready to face the small assailants surrounding them. Wait… They’re so tiny.
“Are they kids?” Camila muttered.
“But they’re wearing the uniform of the Arks,” Lawrence pointed out.
The kids all wore black mantles with borders, and there were around a dozen of them. A child heard Lawrence’s observation and stepped forward.
“We’re the Gold Azure Dragon Wings,” a little girl said. “Please don’t lump us together with the Arks.”
A child behind her clicked her tongue. “We already called ourselves the Azure Gold.”
“We won the game of rock, paper, scissors. Don’t try to overturn that decision.”
As the two kids argued, Camila fired an arrow as a warning, and the kids easily dodged it.
“Oh?” Camila smiled. “You’ve got some fast reflexes. But I won’t miss next time.”
“Please stop,” a child replied. “We can’t show you our identity, but we’re on the side of justice. We have no intention of fighting.”
“Yeah? But no idiot in the world will take your words at face value,” Zeke replied.
“As proof of our goodwill, we’ll return the queen to you. She’s in that wooden box.”
Camila again pulled her bow back, and Zeke crouched low. Neither Lawrence nor the knights gave even a passing glance at the box, and some of the kids visibly panicked. Perhaps they expected a bit of an opening with that box, or at the very least, assumed that the trio would let their guards down.
Lawrence drew his chin back and gave a low chuckle. “You’re either the same age as me or a touch younger. Why don’t I give you a special lesson? From our point of view, we can receive far more concrete evidence if we catch you and force you to speak.”
“Huh? But check the box!” one of the kids cried. “The queen’s really—”
“And we can check that later, after we destroy you guys!” Camila roared.
She fired another precise shot, but the kids dodged it again. It was clear that they were trained very well. They weren’t ordinary kids.
“I told you! We should’ve just left it and run!” a kid shrieked. “Ugh, this is why you elites are a lost cause!”
“I-I-I-I thought that the Knights of the Dragon Consort would understand!” another replied.
“Oh? You know of us? Quite adept at gathering information, I see,” Camila said.
As another of her arrows made the kids lose their balance, Zeke’s greatsword followed it up. But the kids were nimble and scattered, fleeing for their lives.
Lawrence clicked his tongue. “We’ll focus on one of them! Get that girl!”
“What a coincidence! I’m aiming for her, too!” Camila replied.
The girl dodged Zeke’s greatsword with the slightest movements, but Camila didn’t aim for the child’s body. The knight targeted the girl’s hem. Camila’s aim was true, and the arrow glued the girl’s mantle to a wall, stopping her movement for just a few moments. Lawrence threw his dagger, but another child parried the attack. The girl ripped her mantle and fled, but Zeke already swung his greatsword—his aim was to capture her uninjured. Just then…
“Chiiirp!”
Everyone froze at the powerful roar of a bird; even the air around them trembled. The kids were the first to snap back to their senses, unfazed by the bird that appeared in the alleyway with the sunset behind it. The kids then jumped up on the roof.
“Don’t let them run, Zeke, Cami—” Lawrence started.
He was soon interrupted by a powerful gust of wind from above. A red dragon gloriously flapped its wings.
“Hey, tell the Dragon Emperor he’s next!” a kid shouted.
When the powerful wind died down, the kids had already vanished.
“Wasn’t that Meine and Sauté?” Camila wondered. “What’s going on? And where’s Raw?”
“Chirp.”
“Yeah, I don’t understand you. I get that you’re acting with purpose, though.”
The bird was famous for doing its work well, and with Meine’s appearance, it was as though the two had emerged to allow the kids to escape. I can think of a few possibilities…
“Camila, Zeke,” Lawrence called, snapping Camila out of her thoughts.
He opened the wooden box, and Zeke peered inside with an inexplicable expression. Camila pursed her lips as she gazed inside. The box was very simply furnished, but a blanket and a few pillows allowed more comfort. The small queen was quietly snoozing away, a sleeping beauty.