The City of Fortresses
Whoosh!
Bagan flew as one with the clear, transparent sky. He was riding a wyvern on his way to De Pruna, after all. The speed was so tremendous that even with his torso lowered to minimize wind resistance, the air slapping against his skin stung like needles.
Yet the thrill was more than worth it. He never imagined that riding something could feel this exhilarating. Traveling by carriage or ship had never brought him this kind of joy. But a living creature—especially one that flew through the air—gave him an entirely new sensation. Its unrestrained movements combined with blistering speed added a layer of pure pleasure. Even though long rides might normally grow tedious, the feeling of piercing the air with every powerful beat of the wyvern’s wings was indescribable. It never got old.
For Bagan, who could use flight magic whenever he wanted, soaring freely without resistance was pleasant enough. Still, riding atop something like this, experiencing controlled speed, steering, and stability within certain limits, felt refreshingly different. The thought of acquiring one for himself refused to leave his mind.
At that moment, Arien, who was holding onto his waist from behind, spoke up.
“Arien was also lacking sufficient data on flying beasts. Consuming a wyvern appears highly beneficial.”
The words might have sounded frightening to others, but to Bagan they were welcome news. Raising a wyvern from scratch would take considerable time and effort, with countless details to manage. Arien, however, could analyze anything she consumed and transform accordingly. In other words, eating a wyvern would allow her to turn into one.
If that were the case...
‘Even a wild one wouldn’t be a problem.’
Aggressive wild wyverns were impossible to tame. The only alternative would be forcing a magical contract, but that wasn’t right. It would mean stealing a creature’s freedom. If Arien could obtain the data and transform herself, though, there would be no need to obsess over capturing another wyvern. They could simply fly through the sky together like this whenever they wanted. Of course, he didn’t see Arien as a mere mount, but that was the general idea.
“Sounds like a good plan. Next chance we get, we should go hunt one down.”
Wyverns were said to nest in high-altitude mountains. Their habits were similar to the griffins living in the upper reaches of the Moral Mountain Range.
‘Which makes them natural rivals.’
It was a territorial dispute. Both creatures sat at the top of the food chain, so they fought over the best locations. The ice trolls, known to inhabit only the highest peaks where perpetual snow lay, frequently joined this three-way territorial struggle.
Bagan filed the information away in his mind, making a mental note to visit the area sometime soon.
“We should be arriving soon.”
According to Gruon, the distance between the two cities when traveling by wyvern took roughly three hours. By carriage it would have taken several days—the same as the trip from De Meca. Three hours wasn’t just shortened travel; it was practically compressed.
With that thought, Bagan layered mana over his eyes and looked down through the clouds. Since they were flying above them, the ground had been invisible. His mana-enhanced vision pierced the clouds and revealed the earth below. They were flying quite high, so the details were unclear, but De Pruna still wasn’t in sight. He had checked because it felt like nearly three hours had passed, but it seemed they were still early.
Just then, Gruon and Daphne, riding the wyvern ahead, guided their mount down below the clouds. Bagan followed suit, gripping the saddle reins tightly, lowering his waist as much as possible, and bracing his feet. The wyvern understood the command immediately and dipped its head, descending beneath the clouds.
As their altitude dropped, the wyvern flying ahead came into view again. Its massive size made it impossible to miss against the vast sky. What surprised Bagan more, however, was the sight of De Pruna—something his mana-enhanced eyes hadn’t been able to see from above the clouds.
‘It was surrounded by mountains.’
Even from the information Bagan already possessed, he knew De Pruna had been built to naturally repel enemy invasions even without its fortress walls. He simply hadn’t realized the description referred to this kind of terrain.
De Pruna was constructed within a basin. High mountains encircled it on all sides, and the only way to enter the city was to follow sloping paths that wound around the mountains.
‘Getting in or out would be incredibly difficult.’
What caught Bagan’s eye even more than the geography were the three citadels built atop the mountains facing the border. Positioned like chess pieces toward the Sog Kingdom, the fortresses openly radiated hostility toward any potential invaders.
‘No wonder the eastern defensive line has never been breached.’
In the past war between Seiros and Sog, both De Pruna and its three citadels had played decisive roles. No matter how fiercely the enemy pushed across the border, these fortresses served as an impenetrable shield at the front lines. To the Sog Kingdom soldiers who had fought there, De Pruna and its citadels were objects of pure terror. Even their generals trembled at the mention of the unconquerable stronghold.
Facing such a city directly, Bagan couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement.
Flap! Shuuu!
When Gruon’s wyvern ahead drew close enough to the city, it suddenly began a steep descent. Bagan followed, savoring the wyvern’s final powerful wingbeats before folding them. The creature aligned its snout, neck, torso, and legs into a straight line to minimize wind resistance. Falling with gravity, it occasionally spread its wings to adjust direction as it descended toward De Pruna Castle.
Finally, when the city grew close enough to see in full detail, the lead wyvern spread its wings to regain balance. Bagan commanded his own mount to do the same.
Whoooosh!
The sudden resistance brought the full weight of gravity along with the wind. The wyvern beat its wings powerfully and flew straight toward the main castle of De Pruna.
The city gave off a rather stern impression. The marketplace lacked energy, and the citizens’ complexions looked gray and unhealthy. Bagan wondered if living on the border was truly this difficult.
Before long they passed through the bleak city and arrived at the landing area of De Pruna Castle. Like De Marinda, it was an open space in front of the largest building’s main gate. Unlike De Marinda with its fountain and garden, De Pruna had only a cleanly paved path. Perhaps Razeta simply had more money to spend. Come to think of it, De Meca had felt somewhat similar.
The wyvern slowly touched down on the wide open ground. Silver-armored soldiers immediately gathered around. They formed neat ranks to greet Gruon as he dismounted.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
They raised their weapons toward the sky in unison, expressing their respect. The soldiers lined both sides of the path all the way to the main gate, creating an honor guard. There probably wasn’t any particular reason for such formality at the main castle, but it seemed to be the standard procedure. The way they lined up so naturally, as if they did this every day, left Bagan quietly impressed.
‘This place definitely has its own unique atmosphere.’
If De Marinda had surprised him with Razeta’s extravagance, De Pruna impressed him with the quality of its soldiers. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that, excluding De Seiran, every elite soldier in the Seiros Kingdom was gathered here.
“The guests behind me are important. Treat them with the utmost respect,” Gruon ordered the highest-ranking soldier among the lined troops.
“Silver Eagle Legion! We shall obey!”
At the soldier’s signal, the man closest to them stepped forward and addressed Bagan, who had not yet dismounted.
“I will assist the young lady in the rear first.”
He extended a hand clad in steel gauntlet. Naturally, Arien saw this and reached out to accept the escort.
But Bagan wanted to leave a strong impression.
‘Blink.’
Moving only his and Arien’s bodies was possible with a mere thought. They instantly appeared beside Gruon, who had already begun walking ahead.
“Hmm? What’s this? Some new trick? I arranged the escort specifically to show off a bit of our legion’s grandeur.”
“Didn’t really need it. Still, seeing a military force this well-trained is quite enjoyable. Impressive.”
“In any case, welcome to De Pruna.”
“Thanks for the invitation.”
“Think nothing of it. There’s plenty of time before we need to unwind. Let’s head inside. It may not compare to my sister’s castle, but you’ll find everything here except what’s deliberately missing.”
Everything except what’s missing.
“Bagan, that statement contains an error.”
Arien was the type to react to such logical inconsistencies.
“Hmm?”
Gruon reacted to her words, but Bagan explained.
“Ah, this child specializes in analysis. She has a habit of pointing out errors whenever she finds them.”
“No need to worry. I’m not the type to be bothered by such things,” Gruon replied gentlemanly, clarifying his meaning to Arien. “The remark simply meant that while our castle cannot compare to De Marinda Castle, it is still quite respectable. It was a modest, understated way of expressing pride without exaggeration.”
“Understood. In other words, it is a positive expression rather than a negative one.”
“If you wish to categorize it that way, yes.”
Gruon’s eyes sparkled with fascination at Arien’s reaction. Then he spoke again.
“It feels wrong to keep our soldiers standing there like that. Shall we go inside?”
It seemed the legion soldiers could only return to their duties once Gruon was out of sight. The group began walking once more.
As Gruon led them toward the reception room inside De Pruna Castle, he maintained a deeply thoughtful posture, as if something had been weighing on his mind. That curiosity was finally resolved once they received tea from the servants in the neatly arranged reception room and began to talk.
“Now that I think about it, last night’s banquet was so filled with talk of family matters that I never even learned the ladies’ names.”
That was it. Gruon was a naturally inquisitive person. There was no way he wouldn’t be interested in the two mysterious women.
“You’re right. This is Sally, the Spirit King of Condemnation—my contracted spirit. The one in the white dress is Arien, an alchemist.”
As always, Bagan introduced them, and the two returned light bows in greeting.
“So it’s Miss Sally and Miss Arien. Everything you’ve shown has been so astonishing, I hardly know what to say.”
It made sense. From Gruon’s perspective, Sally hadn’t traveled with them from De Marinda, yet she had suddenly appeared upon their arrival at De Pruna. And Arien’s very existence was mysterious—especially when she turned her finger into slime like that and bounced it around for fun.
“Both of them are precious connections. Traveling together with them means there’s never a dull moment.”
“I can see that. A traveler like you must never have a boring day…”
De Pruna wasn’t exactly a city filled with adventurers or mercenaries, so Bagan’s presence felt particularly fresh to Gruon. After a few seconds of silence, Gruon took a sip of tea and spoke again.
Slurp!
“More importantly, since you’re an adventurer, I assume you accept requests?”
“Even without making it an official request, if there’s something you want to ask, I’ll listen.”
“Good. Then I won’t hesitate. Is there any way to restore Daphne’s voice?”
Gruon’s expression had never looked more serious.