Chap 19: At Mothien Capital...
1737 Words
It took Galen half of the day to arrive from the gate to the urban area of Mothien Capital. Compared to the days where Saeza forced him to practice his physical strength, it was actually like another day for his training.
When Galen reached the entrance of the urban area, Liana and Frank had been already waiting for him at there.
“Aye… Galen, I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything to convince the guards…”
Liana suddenly stopped her line when seeing Galen’s current appearance. She went speechless and stared at him. Normally, she saw his body a lot of times during a year training with him, but this is her first time seeing him under the clear sunlight.
Galen was currently being topless, with the white shirt being tied around his waist. The drops of sweat running through the skin on his muscular body accidentally attracted the vision of the surrounding girls around him.
Is that the weak Galen that she used to believe one year ago…?
“Don’t worry, Liana. This is nothing compared with Saeza’s training.” Galen wiped the sweats out on his neck and wore back the shirt. Then, he blushed when noticing Liana keep looking at him “Liana, please don’t stare at me like this…”
“Eh… aye aye! Nothing!!!”
Is it her or she could feel her heart was pounding in her chest so hard? Liana thought.
***
Galen and Liana walked through the main avenue of Mothien Kingdom. Everything was so lively with the noise of the crowd echoing from every direction. Everyone was wearing medieval-style costumes. The buildings here were so identified with the blue and red color, marked on them all kinds of the shops: Weapon, armor, accessory, jewel, food materials, tavern, inn, blacksmith, etc.
Around them, they could even hear the music from the bards on the street. Galen wowed when seeing them playing: Almost all of the bards playing by group, rare to see them playing solo. Usually, he saw them playing with a harp and a melodica, such a weird composition but somehow hear very lively and good to Galen. Flying around the bards, Galen could even see a small monster playing music with them too. They had the same size as Frank, and looked like a flying lizards. They used an instrument looking like a double drum to cause the beat.
Is that creature a baby dragon as well?
Galen asked Liana by pointing to that creature flying around the bards.
“Oh, nope Galen. They look like a baby dragon, but they are called draco.”
“What is the difference between a dragon and a draco?” Frank asked.
“Dragon and draco are from the same branch of creature – wyvern branch. But dragon is bigger and wilder than draco.” Liana answered “Unlike dragon, draco is very easy to train and they are very friendly with human. That’s why people often raise draco as their pet.”
Galen then noticed a pet shop, they were selling draco inside the cage. However, those dracos adorably greeted the customers by wagging their tiny tails and scratching on the cage, looking like a dog expecting for being adopted.
It actually melted Galen’s heart by their cuteness. He was sure that one day, he would buy a draco as his pet.
“Hey, but you already have me, right?!” Frank looked at Galen with jealous eyes.
“So, you admit that you are my pet right, Frank?”
“…what?! I’m your friend, not your pet!”
“Then why are you jealous on a draco?”
“I… I…”
“Hahaha!” Galen and Liana burst laughing when seeing Frank being awkward and almost cried “Sorry Frank, I was joking.”
“Huh! I’m angry now!!”
Now since Galen, Liana and Frank had reached to the capital. The very first thing Galen would do the most when they arrived at this place was…
***
“Please enjoy yourself!”
“Thank you so much, mister!!”
Galen used Frank’s money pouch in order to invite the whole team to a meal at a restaurant. After one year of eating disgusting food by made Saeza, eventually, they could have a proper normal meal. It was a simple dish of soup with roasted veggies and meat inside. However, it spread a delicious smell that urged their stomachs to grumble so hard just by watching it.
Liana wiped their drool, her eyes sparkled as she looked at Galen with excitement.
“Really Galen?! We can eat it??!!!”
“Dig in hahaha! They are cheap actually.”
Liana couldn’t understand how Galen thought about money. Maybe because had been living as the prince since his birth, so he didn’t think about the value of the money?! Those three roasted veggies already cost six coins of gold, which is super expensive for an adventurer like Liana.
“Don’t think about it too much, Liana.” Galen said “Just eat it.”
“THANK YOU FOR THE MEAL!!!”
Everyone kept staring at Liana. She completely lost her feminine side and ate the soup intensively like she had been almost starved to death. It tasted so good, so delicious! She thought, while eating. This soup recalled the meal that her father used to cook for her in the past.
A drop of hot tear rolled down on Liana’s beautiful cheek. She kept eating, while Galen looked at her with a smile.
He also gave a try the soup. This familiar taste… he used to think that he would never have a chance to taste ever again since decided to give up his royal identity as the prince. But it also opened him a new experience, he was sure that he would buy a book about cuisine in this capital’s library. He wanted to bring a smile for Liana everydays, even himself, so he would surely learn how to cook during his adventurous journey.
“Liana, since we newly entered the capital, let’s call it our day and take a visit this place to gather information first. Also, I want to go to the library to buy a cuisine book.”
“Aye sure!!”
Frank looked at them laughing again, felt like he had been kicked away.
“Love birds…” Frank said with an annoyed face.
“What did you say, Frank?”
“Nothing.”
***
After eating lunch, Galen, Liana and Frank were looking for the library. Luckily, thanks to Liana’s weredragon identity. Everything had gone so smoothly: Libraries could be found anywhere in Mothien Capital. But they could find almost all of the book at the central library of the capital, which is located on the south-eastern side.
Even, at that library, they could even find all books about magic and the academy as well. Galen sparkled his eyes when hearing about the magic book, he had to go there!
But the reality was different than he thought…
“Eh? You said I cannot enter inside there?”
“We are sorry. The central library is the exclusive site for noble members and weredragon only. So Miss Valentine can enter, but you cannot, Mr. Barrister.”
Even to a calm person like Galen, this kingdom’s racism reached the point that he began feeling annoyed now. But since this is their country’s rule, it couldn’t be helped. Galen didn’t want to cause trouble either so he left the central library area with a disappointing sigh.
“Don’t be sad, Galen. Maybe we can find any valuable book at the local libraries.”
“Yeah, yeah that’s right.” Frank agreed with Liana. Then he asked her “Liana, do you know why this kingdom loves dragon and weredragon?”
“I don’t know, Frank. Maybe we can find the answer at the local libraries?”
At local libraries which only sold old books, however as Liana said, Galen was surprised by the value of the books he could get there. Well, their appearance didn’t matter to him with crappy and damaged covers, some pages even got ripped away. As long as he could get the book and the information that he needed, it could be enough for him.
Galen also tried to read a book about Mothien Kingdom and their overall information. There was a piece of information that immediately caught his attention.
“Liana, Frank, look at this.”
“What is it, Galen?”
“I know why this kingdom loves dragon and weredragon.”
Liana and Frank gathered to the corner where Galen was standing. Their eyes focused on the pages of one book, with surprising vision.
“In basic, each kingdom has their own culture, so Mothien Kingdom is included as well. In this country, they have their own unique religion: They worship dragons and it’s the core of their belief.
Since the Princess of Dragons, Sephylim is one of the children of Goddess Galadriel, the folk in this kingdom believes that dragons are also descendant of the Goddess and their protectors since the creation of this world. That’s why they worship dragons, especially weredragon – the race where they believe that they are children of Sephylim, a perfect combination between dragons and humans. Not only that, weredragon is also the symbol of the friendship and collaboration between human and dragon in this country.”
Everything had made sense. This kingdom was the only place where dragon didn’t attack human. Instead, they freely flew through the city, people there were scared of the dragons like other countries and decided to live with them.
“I see, I see.” Frank closed his eyes and thought “No wonder people here love Liana so much, because they think that Liana is the child of Sephylim.”
“Yeah.” Galen rubbed his chin and thought carefully “Liana, in this kingdom, since we are here for Iresthea’s Core, it’s better if you don’t catch the attention too much. We will only use your identity when necessary.”
“Aye understood, Galen.”
Suddenly, Galen, Liana and Frank heard the voice of the stranger calling behind them. It was a voice of a girl, however, what she said gave a chill of their spine.
“Oh ya? This is bad, this is bad~
You kids are after the Core of Iresthea?”
- Writer
