Evangelina was not a mad woman, so Verity was allowed a day to rest following the whole ordeal.

Once the next morning came, however, it did not take long for both Verity and Evangelina to prepare everything they needed to leave.

For Verity, the only real possession he had and carried around was his spear. He did have a few sets of clothes given to him by Evangelina, but these were always stored in a small dimensional pouch Evangelina had given him some weeks ago, alongside anything else he could have needed.

As for Evangelina, Verity had no clue what someone like her would need to pack. Whenever she needed something, she pulled it from her own dimensional storage, so it seemed as though she never really left anything behind.

While she was not packing, however, Evangelina had told Verity that she needed to 'get ready', and so he was waiting in front of the main gates of Plamodel, fiddling with a necklace attached to his neck.

'I can't tell if this helped me recover or not…'

Since Evangelina had nearly showered him with healing potions, talismans, and bandages to speed up his recovery, Verity had not had the chance to assess the Meaningful Necklace's efficacy.

Some part of him felt it had come in handy back on that island, but he could not remember what had happened there all that well. His memory was fuzzy, likely due to the extreme fatigue, or perhaps something about the air on the island.

When Verity heard familiar footsteps nearing him, his head turned. "Ah, Master–"

He paused.

Then, he tilted his head.

His master looked back at him, and she stopped mid-stride. "What are you looking at?"

Verity narrowed his eyes, staring at his master intently.

There was something different about her.

The first, and most obvious difference was that usually, Evangelina let her long silver hair hang loosely at her side or she tied it into a ponytail behind her, but now… it seemed she had put much more effort into it.

Verity casually circled behind her, inspecting her like a curious bird.

Evangelina frowned. "What are you doing?"

Now, her silver cascaded freely down her back, soft and straight, yet partially gathered into a delicate crown of twin braids. Holding it all together was a golden ornament in the form of a butterfly.

What's more, though Evangelina was much too beautiful to feel the need to embellish her face, it definitely seemed brighter than usual. If Verity had to put it into words, she almost seemed happy, or…

"Excited maybe?" He mumbled.

Evangelina took a deep breath, reigning in the urge to hit Verity. She had sworn that today she would not bother herself with her disciple's idiocy.

There was no need to sour her mood, especially not today of all days.

Truly, Evangelina would have let it slide…if only Verity had decided to drop it there.

He tilted his head, noted Evangelina's hair, her face, the spring in her step, and his lips parted. "...Are we…going to see someone you lik–"

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Her fist moved faster than his thoughts.

THUD

"AHH!!! DO YOU HAVE TO HIT ME SO HARD!?"

Evangelina, her face ever so slightly flushed, turned away and spoke in a low grumble. "Next time, turn your tongue seven times in your mouth before speaking."

Verity rubbed his head, scrubbing the pain away. 'If you weren't such a tsundere… whoever that person is would have been yours by now…' He thought, not courageous enough to say it out loud.

Following in Evangelina's footsteps, the two exited the city walls of Plamodel, and stared into the wide expanse of the wilderness ahead.

Verity felt that he was going to be carried again, so he prepared to object, at the risk of his skull being cracked, but then Evangelina whistled as she tilted her head toward the sky.

"I don't like using this, but since we're traveling quite far and this city has no teleportation array, I've prepared something."

Soon enough, strong winds circled between the two of them, strong enough to knock over a poor, untrained soldier.

Someone like the gate guardian, for example.

The man who had come after Regias planted his polearm into the ground and held on with all his might to not be blown away.

'It's her again...!!'

As the winds grew stronger, both Verity and the gate guardian finally took notice of the source behind them. They tilted their heads upward, squinting, only to notice that the sky had darkened.

Or rather, it would be more accurate to say that something now stood between them and the sky.

Something colossal.

A chilling roar erupted from above, and as Verity took in what he saw, his eyes widened. "Oh my…"

He almost could not believe his eyes. Considering how fantasy-like this world was, Verity should have expected something like this, but seeing it in person left him speechless.

Above him was a creature that had spread through nearly all fantasy stories of all cultures throughout the entire history of the Earth.

"D-Dragon..!!" Muttered the gate guardian behind Verity who had fallen to his knees.

Indeed, the creature was a Dragon. A colossal, dignified, silver Dragon.

Without allowing any time for them to snap out of it, what had obscured the sky moments prior slammed into the ground before Verity and Evangelina, followed by several entities resembling it, although of smaller size.

Verity's mouth remained agape as a single figure leaped from the back of the majestic beast.

A woman with long purple hair tied in a ponytail behind her appeared. She donned an armor of silver and gold resembling Evangelina's in design and she bore the same dragon emblem which was etched into Evangelina's breastplate.

"Commander of the Dreadmoore Dragon Knights, at your service, Duchess!" The woman exclaimed with a deep bow.

Evangelina clicked her tongue. "...Irina, I believed my command was to bring only one of them… and I'm certain I explicitly instructed you not to displace Karthion for this."

The woman bowed deeper, shouting as she spoke. "I apologize for this transgression, but that is unthinkable, Duchess!"

Evangelina looked down at Irina, her mood souring. "How dare you knowingly ignore and oppose my commands. It seems you have forgotten your place in all the time I've been away."

Immediately, Irina unsheathed her sword and pressed it against her neck. "I will offer my life for this affront, but please, accept the escorting Knights I have gathered!!"

Verity, startled by the act, approached Irina while cautiously throwing his master worried glances. "M-maybe we don't need to go that far? I mean, the Dragon is already here—"

"Shut up." Evangelina interrupted him.

Verity had no choice but to shut his mouth.

With unreadable eyes, Evangelina stared at Irina for a moment, but eventually sighed and climbed onto Karthion's back. "You really haven't changed one bit," Evangelina said as she settled into her seat.

Irina straightened. "You praise me, Duchess!"

Evangelina rolled her eyes, and turned her gaze away, unwilling to deal with this any longer.

At this stage, Verity wasn't sure what to do. Was he meant to follow after Evangelina, or would he have to ride one of the smaller dragons consdeiring he was not nobility.

Before he could even begin considering his options, however, Irina stepped before him and bowed deeply. "Please board our Guardian Beast as well, young master! We have prepared a seat for you!!"

Verity pointed to himself as he raised an eyebrow. "...Young master? Me?"

"Of course!! You are the Duchess' direct disciple, this makes you the young master!" Irina explained, her volume never decreasing.

'Huh, that doesn't sound so bad…'

Verity promptly climbed onto the Dragon's back with a smile on his face. This somewhat irritated Evangelina but even she thought she had been hitting him too often lately, so she let it slide this time.

"Young master…Young master… Does that make me nobility? Hehe…Young master she said…" Verity mumbled to himself.

"I wonder if I cou—"

THUD

Verity let out a scream, but did not question why he had been hit.

'Why is she in such a bad mood lately!?' He thought to himself.

Irina then climbed onto Karthion's back and took hold of the rains. With a smirk, she turned to Verity, and tipped her hat.

"Now then, let us head for the Imperial Capital! Please ensure to tightly hold onto your seat young master, as falling from Karthion's back will result in certain death for someone of your level!"

"Wait Wha—"

Before Verity could protest in any way, Karthion soared into the air at Irina's command, closely followed by the dozen or so Dragon riders that had come with them.

At the gate of Plamodel, the guardian trembled in his suit of arm, his legs too weak to support him. "C-crazy, these people are crazy…!"

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