Looking for Him (III)

Taking a sharp right, I flew towards where Moca pointed.

"It would best that we veer away from human civilization."

"Okay!" I knew well that having a dragon flying over the human city was a terrible idea. Mainly because of the history behind dragons with the humans. They were the ones who sent out their human heroes to slay the black dragon in the first place, and I didn't want to start another war. I believe two wars is enough for me, especially on such a large scale like that one.

I flew through the night, flying high up in the sky through the clouds. It was a pleasant experience and something I would never get bored of. The freedom to go anywhere I want, how I loved it. There was no waiting time to get on an airplane, boat, or a carriage. All I needed to do was flap my wings, and I was off into the sky.

We continued our journey east, enjoying the scenery at the same time. Dragon Kingdom was made up mainly of flat plains and gently rolling hills. There were barely any mountains or even large obstruction of infertile lands at all. It had a fertile soil that was considered the best out of the twelve continents, making it an ideal location.

Compared to the Gryphon Kingdom, where the Beastkin lives, it's not as fertile; it was known for its rich forest. Beast-kin and humans had a long history of war, but that didn't compare to the Orcs.

The Orcs that lived on the east side of the Dragon Kingdom in the Titan Kingdom. They had constant squabbles every five years. They never saw eye-to-eye or found each other likable. One thing that stopped large scale invasion from the Orc was the Sandharva Dessert that encompasses one-third of the Titan Kingdom that created a natural barrier for both sides.

Near spring, the wild Fire Gazelle crosses over the dessert into the Dragon Kingdom for breeding. The Fire Gazel is one of the Orcs' main staple foods, so they follow their food source. This is when the fights begin and become the most intense, and from my understanding, it was spring. Until mid-summer, the Fire Gazelle will cross back over into their territory, bringing bountiful meat.

The tension was high; even though both kingdoms had created a non-aggression pact between the two kingdoms for the past twenty years, there still has been squabbles here and there. The reason is mostly because the non-aggression pact is made by the largest tribe members of the Orcs.

So far, their tribe isn't under one banner and instead are in smaller groups that move along with the Fire Gazelle. The three largest tribes in the Titan Kingdom are the Fire Hammer, Ice Arrows, and Earth Scythe. In which case, I find their tribe name weird.

The only reason the Titan Kingdom is even named in such a way is because for reference sake. Plus, the Titan has always repetitively been born in that vast land area, never stepping outside its own kingdom.

I sighed inwardly, the thought of a possible fight occurring was possibly high, mostly because of it being that time of the year. If I could, I would love to stay away from it, but I wanted to know what Phil was doing or why he went missing. Was this stupid of me? Probably, but my curiosity and my anxiety of him doing something foolish and possibly blowing up something was high. If I wasn't there to stop it, who would?

Flying for the whole day straight without stopping wasn't as tiring as I thought; the food that I ate like crazy kept me going. Though Moca and Tart somehow found a way to have tea, breakfast, lunch, and dinner throughout the day on my back. We only stopped to have bathroom breaks, and I just continued forward.

I wasn't even hungry the whole day, making this trip a lot faster. There was just too much energy inside of me that I didn't really want to land. Flying didn't take much energy because it was more gliding than constant flapping, saving a lot of energy from being wasted.

Eventually, I stopped and found a nice cave to take a rest. We didn't stay very long and left the moment I woke up. Tart and Moca caught a couple of small deer, cooked it, and packed it on my back for later. I didn't even eat breakfast because I still felt bloated, and eating any more made my stomach queasy.

On the second day of traveling, I saw the famous capital, Starlight City, where hundreds of thousands of humans tended to flock. Beautiful buildings were built on flat land; I saw five different circular walls, one larger than the next. It wasn't anything like my city but made out of stone. This was the normal civilization that this world had, while my city was considered an oddity.

Small brick houses to wooden houses littered the streets, carts being pulled by horses on wheels, and the stale air of horse manure could be strongly smelled even high up in the air. Especially when the wind was blowing across my face, making me want to hurl. I had to climb up higher, so I didn't smell the typical smelly streets.

I was glad that there was a sewer system back in my city because the stench was awful. In the olden time, I heard how people threw out dirty water, piss, and their feces out the window. Just thinking about it made my stomach twirl.

Anyways, there were some beautiful spots inside the castle walls. The castle that was in the middle of the city was beautiful. Overarching arches, the brown and white bricks that seem to sparkle underneath the sunlight, and even the nicely arranged plants and trees decorated around it. It looks like a fantasy castle straight out from the picture book.

Even still, I didn't go any closer to inspect the beauty of the human city. I had to stay up high in the sky, out of human sight as much as possible. It didn't take long to pass their vast land and eventually fly towards the land's swampy area.

More trees and large forming lakes took up half a day worth of trip until I found a ledge to sit down and rest on. No wild animals or beast came storming in to kill us, especially because of the silent intensity the Moca and Tart gave off that kept them back. At first, I had to wonder why we weren't attacked, until Tart told me it's because they were giving off bloodlust to the surrounding area to keep me safe. Having two S class monsters as butlers were truly useful at times like this.

On the third day, we came out from the swamp and back to the open plain. I haven't even seen many trees here than the past two days, though, by mid-afternoon, I saw large numbers of wild herd of Wild the Fire Gazelle grazing on the fertile ground. Just as far as my eye could see, I saw an endless amount of Gazelle.

They weren't the typical Gazelles back at Earth. Their body was three times larger than a normal gazelle with impressive horns. It curled into different weird shapes that remind me of an elk's horn, but with more off shots of its horn sticking every which way like a king's crown. Only the males had these impressive horns, while the females were simple and straight.

Their coat glistened red like fire underneath the sun, making me realize now why they were given such a name. Even their legs were bulky with power, allowing them to spring up into a full outburst of speed if needed too.

Everywhere, I could see new calves, following their mother. When my shadows passed through the herd, the Gazelle momentarily scattered but quickly settled down, when there was no apparent danger.

"How much further do we need to go, Moca?" I asked.

"We should arrive on the first set of tribes. If we see one, we should land and see if we can converse with them," said Moca. He was gazing out towards the distance, searching for any Orc Tribe members."

Tart raised up his nose and took a quick whiff of the air, and he turned his head towards his right. "Over there. I smell an unusual odor coming from the right." He pointed.

I followed his advice, slightly shifting my wings towards the area that he pointed towards. A few miles later, I saw a large group of Orcs clumped up together with their tent set up.

They were the typical Orcs that I have seen in games back at Earth. The greenish to gray colored skin, bulky muscles that screamed power, and ugly tusk jutted out from their mouth. There was even a nasty small horn twisting out of their forehead as the leathery skin glistened in sweat as they moved around in the heat. I noticed the closer we got towards the dessert, the hotter the temperature got.

The male Orcs had pulled their black hair into an oxtail, while the females had their hair braided into a ponytail. Every one of them wore plated armor and had a weapon on their shoulder, hip, or hand. Every single one of them looked like they were ready to go to war, any second now, and I wasn't sure if I should even land anywhere near them.

"Land over there, young mistress." Moca pointed towards a reasonable distance away behind a few thick trees that could hide me. "I'll go in and negotiate with the Orcs."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to go in by yourself?" I asked, I banked left and spiraled downwards.

"It will be a fine young mistress." Moca chuckled. "I am the so-called Hundred Face Spider."

"Ah." realizing that what he said was true. I landed with a thump onto the ground as my wings tucked behind me. Everyone jolted, but no one fell off my back.

Both Moca and Tart slid off my back and landed lightly on their feet.

"Please wait here. I'll be back quickly, young mistress." Moca bowed and, in a blink of an eye, disappeared as if he teleported.

I searched around, wondering how he was able to disappear and reappear a good fifty yards away. He kept blinking in and out as he made his way quickly towards the Orc, making me quite surprised how nimble and fast he was for an old man.

"Don't worry, young mistress. Moca can take care of himself well." Tart gave me a friendly smile." If he gets serious, he could wipe the whole tribe away without breaking a sweat." He reassured me.

I gulped. For Moca to wipe out the small tribe that I just saw was shocking, mostly because I saw that over a hundred of them congregated together. Orc's power didn't compare to a human, they were considered three to five times stronger than humans in general, making them formidable.

With a weak laugh, I felt terrible for the Orcs. I really hope they didn't piss off Moca and gave us the information that we needed. The thought of senseless slaughter didn't sit too well with me.