After a few minutes of walking, they reached the entrance of the empire, where the knights stopped them for inspection. Once Nolan and the others showed their adventurer plates and confirmed they were participants in the tournament, the knights let them pass.
Outside the walls, they moved far enough from the gate so no one would notice Nolan summoning a wyvern. He didn’t want people to know he had tamed one, let alone see him riding it. Even if someone spotted a wyvern in the sky, they wouldn’t suspect it belonged to him.
Stretching his hand forward, Nolan summoned four wyverns. Among them, the largest, a king wyvern, lowered itself with a heavy thud. Nolan climbed onto its back, and Celia, Linda, and Lyra followed quickly after.
"Back to Sindra," Nolan commanded.
The wyverns spread their wings and rose into the air. As they soared higher, Celia, Linda, and Nolan gazed out at the vast horizon, quietly admiring the breathtaking scene spread beneath them.
"Wow, this view is amazing," Celia said.
"Yes, it is," Linda agreed.
"Guys, it looks like we forgot something. We didn’t even say goodbye to Cynthia," Nolan said.
"That’s true. We should have stopped by," Lyra added.
"Well, all I can say is, bye-bye to Cynthia’s cooking. I’m going to miss it," Celia said.
"I feel a strange energy from Sindra. Something’s telling me to go back there," Nolan said.
"Me too. It’s not just a person, something’s wrong. I’m sensing a huge surge of mana from someone," Lyra said.
"From who?" Celia asked.
"The Divine Dragon King. I’m going back to find out what’s wrong," Nolan replied.
"The Divine Dragon King?" Nolan repeated. "Wow... he’s the one you said is unbelievably powerful sometimes."
"Yes. If he activates his true form, he could defeat me. And his power, he’s about twenty times stronger than I am," Lyra said.
"Wow, it’s truly strong. With someone like him... if I were to fight him, I’d have to go all out now. My power would increase much more. I can feel my mana rising. I would have to give everything."
"Yes, you would," someone agreed.
"But not just that. When I was in my Behemoth form, when I first turned human, I couldn’t change back. Now I can. The Divine Dragon... he’s a Divine Dragon King. You don’t want him to go Divine. There used to be a seal on his power, but for some reason it feels like the seal has been broken. If that’s true, no one will be able to stop him unless the gods and the Akenje themselves decide to intervene. Or you. They’re the only ones who could defeat him," Lyra said.
"Well... so he’s that strong, right? A seal... I don’t understand all of that. We’ll talk more when we get to Sindra," Nolan replied.
They fell quiet for a while, watching the clouds. After a few hours they finally saw Sindra come into view. They kept their distance so people wouldn’t notice, but as they prepared to land, some bystanders caught sight of them.
"Wow! Didn’t you see that?" someone cried. "What should we do? Did it attack?" another asked.
It did not attack. The wyvern landed in Nolan’s backyard and then, as if by magic, vanished into the ground.
"That was a long ride," Nolan said.
Celia and Linda stared at the house as they dismounted. "I’ve missed this place," Linda said. "It’s been a long time
"Wow, it’s truly strong. With someone like him... if I were to fight him, I’d have to go all out now. My power would increase much more. I can feel my mana rising. I would have to give everything."
"Yes, you would," someone agreed.
"But not just that. When I was in my Behemoth form, when I first turned human, I couldn’t change back. Now I can. The Divine Dragon... he’s a Divine Dragon King. You don’t want him to go Divine. There used to be a seal on his power, but for some reason it feels like the seal has been broken. If that’s true, no one will be able to stop him unless the gods and the Akenje themselves decide to intervene. Or you. They’re the only ones who could defeat him," Lyra said.
"Well... so he’s that strong, right? A seal... I don’t understand all of that. We’ll talk more when we get to Sindra," Nolan replied.
They fell quiet for a while, watching the clouds. After a few hours they finally saw Sindra come into view. They kept their distance so people wouldn’t notice, but as they prepared to land, some bystanders caught sight of them.
"Wow! Didn’t you see that?" someone cried. "What should we do? Did it attack?" another asked.
It did not attack. The wyvern landed in Nolan’s backyard and then, as if by magic, vanished into the ground.
"That was a long ride," Nolan said.
Celia and Linda stared at the house as they dismounted. "I’ve missed this place," Linda said. "It’s been a long time.
"Yeah, same here — it’s finally good to be back home. It hardly feels like we ever left. But for some reason I can sense someone has trespassed on the property, and not just anyone — the very person who’s after you, Nolan," Lyra said. This content belongs to novelꜰire.net
"But do you really think it’s him? We don’t even know for sure," Nolan replied.
"Maybe, but I’m sure you can also sense the faint mana still in the air — it doesn’t belong to the person who lived here. What if the intruder left a trap, or some magic explosive around? Let me check."
She closed her eyes and used one of her detection skills to sweep the property. Slowly she opened her eyes. "No — there’s no trace of a trap.
Good. But this person... we’re going to have to deal with them. I don’t know how we’ll find him, but we have to," Nolan said.
For some reason I don’t understand why someone is trying to kill me. Have I done anything wrong since I came here? I haven’t stood out that much — it’s only been five months since I came to this world. How the hell did this even start?" He thought.