Mid Morning - Early Winter : Kingdom of Kaelallan

It was a beautiful morning to fly. Just below the clouds it was lightly snowing which made it a truly beautiful sight but I was in a bit of a rush.

Quickly getting above the clouds, I cranked the thrusters.

Several minutes later, I figured I was getting close and dove below the clouds once again.

The snow was incredibly thick now, even impairing my vision quite a bit but my gut told me where the city was.

I steadily dove more and more towards the ground until the top of the palace slowly came into sight.

-Wow, a dragon's memory and intuition is truly incredible..-

Quickly finding the area in the courtyard to land I changed to my humanoid form and grabbed Ilios.

Using thruster magic to ease the fall, I landed in the front courtyard with some grace. -Unlike last time..-

I hastily let Ilios down and started walking into the palace once I landed.

Behind me were a few palace guards by the gate that didn't seem to notice me. -Poor guys are out in this cold wearing metal armor..-

Although they seemed to be wearing heavy clothing underneath the armor, they looked like they were freezing.

-That's not my problem though..- Continuing forward, I headed into the palace.

As I walked in I blew the snow off my clothing and called over a maid.

Thankfully she seemed to remember who I was and acted politely. "What can I help you with, Sir Whyte?"

"Do you know where the king or queen are?"

"The king is currently in the relay city of Zan and her highness is in her office." (Kingdom of Zans old Capital)

"Sweet thanks."

Continuing down the hall, I got some odd looks from a few maids and butlers but nothing out of the ordinary.

Finally coming to her office, I gave a light knock and walked in.

"Who is i-"

*Click* "It's been a while. Have you been well?" Although Father visited several times over the last 6 months, I hadn't.

"Vasilias!" Helen quickly hopped up from her seat and came up and gave me a hug. "Kaelallan hasn't been better since we received your help."

"That's good to hear. I was originally just swinging by to pick up Maria but it might be good for me to catch up on the news too." I looked over at the large pile of papers on her desk. "Did anything major happen?"

"A few things but nothing too significant. We recruited several new Nation ranks with the absorption of Zan and Byria including Michael. After things started to settle down, we called him up to give him his nobility and territory but he rejected them saying he wanted to explore the countryside like he did in his younger days."

"So doesn't that mean he rejected his nation rank promotion?"

"No, the nobility and territory are just the sugar on top, the formalities so to speak, and since he helped so much with the mana suction incident, he stacked up a pretty ridiculous amount of contribution points."

"How about Lawton? What's he up to?"

"He's doing well. After he suppressed the dungeon to the east he went with Oliver to Zan. Other than that he seemed to be holding up well."

"That's good to hear. Hows Lucy?"

"She's doing good. School has been a.. new experience for her but she's making friends and getting acclimated."

*Knock-knock*

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Miss." Martha's voice came through the door.

"Can you give us a moment?"

Seeing Helen was going to send her off, I spoke up. "Can you go ahead and bring Maria over? I've come to pick her up."

"..Right away young lord."

-Wow she remembered my voice..-

"I heard you guys are moving."

"Yeah, we are going to a place that we will live in for quite a while."

"Well I hope you enjoy it."

"Haha, it's quite exciting.." I looked up and saw a pure and genuine smile on Helen's face. -This place was definitely worth protecting..-

Our conversation continued for a while, talking about general things like news and simple small talk until Martha returned.

"I have returned with Maria, young lord."

"Alright, I'll be out in a moment." I looked back towards Helen. "Well it seems like it's time for me to head off. Sorry I'm in a bit of a rush and couldn't stay to talk more.."

Getting up once again, she gave me a hug as if she was my mother. "Please don't worry about it, it was good to catch up. Tell your Father I said hi."

"Haha, I will. I'll be sure to visit again sometime soon."

"Alright, no worries if you can't, just remember that you're always welcome here."

With a light wave of my hand I walked out of the office.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, I was met with a familiar face giving a polite bow. "To think you polished up so well.."

"She is still a little clumsy and rough around the edges but she should have a strong foundation to be able to improve on her own now."

"Awesome!" I looked down towards Maria. "How do you feel?"

She lifted her head slightly but didnt come out of a bow. "I feel great M..master.."

I could tell she was nervous but I couldn't tell why. "Well you can relax a bit now." I looked up at Martha. "Thanks for training her on such short notice."

"No problem, Young Lord. Your wish is our command."

"Well I'm gonna head out, Thanks again for everything."

Giving a small and polite bow, she gave her farewell.

As we walked out of the palace through the snow, I started some small talk. "How did you like your training?"

"It was nice.." She reluctantly looked back towards the palace. "T..thank you.."

"Hm? What are you thanking me for?"

"Thank you for that experience.. it was truly.. enlightening.."

I looked back at her with wide eyes. "You’ve changed quite a bit since I last saw you."

She quickly tensed up. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Haha, no, not at all. I actually like this new temperament of yours better."

Staring at me blankly for a moment, she quickly looked away. "So where are we going?"

"Home first. Before we make the flight though, is there anything you want from Kaelallan?"

She looked at me, not really believing my words. "Haah… no.. Lets just get on the road.."

-That's a lie..- "Are you sure?"

She looked around before looking at the ground with a warm smile. "Yes, Master."

"Then I'll pick up the pace a bit." Walking through the snowy city was beautiful but quite uncomfortable so I moved over and picked her up.

She looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Ilios, just follow me until we are outside of the city then you can hop on."

"Woof!"

Looking up towards the wall quite a ways in front of us, I hopped onto a roof top and dashed to it.

Once I made it to the base of the wall, I flexed my legs and launched us over the wall, Ilios doing the same behind us.

Landing on the other side of the wall I made a short sprint away from the city until I couldn't see it through the snow anymore.

"Well, we should be far enough away now." I quickly cleared the area of snow and set down Maria.

She looked at me with a red face.

-Are halfies that susceptible to the cold in their human forms?-