Soldiers do not dream of bird girls

"Sakura, where's Raphtalia?"

"She went to grab Keel. Poor boy has been trapped with Fitoria for about a week." Sakura replied as she pricked her feathers.

As they both sat in the room Ren walked into the room with a confused expression on his face. An expression far from the reaction Naofumi expected.

"So. How did it go?"

"Better than I imagined."

"What, so she doesn't hate you?"

"Oh no she hates my guts. But she says it's only natural because of the law of monsters? Whatever that means."

"Oh it's a real law. She's probably referring to the entry on how the strong dominate the weak or something to that effect." Sakura replied as she plucked out a feather. "Damn acid."

"The more you know. So, what now?"

"She told me that if I want to make amends, I should focus on saving the world. But I have a feeling that won't be enough."

"I say you're thinking about this too hard."

"You don't get it though. This is a child's life I ruined. Not only will she grow up without a father, but she'll constantly have to deal with the fact that she's traveling with his killer. What am I supposed to do?"

"We'll you're on the correct track right now. If you truly want to make amends, do as she asks and build from there. You aren't going to do much if you just keep moping about it."

Ren sighed. "You're right. Looks like that 4 years really does show the gap of experience between you and me."

"Oh, whatever faces that away." Naofumi got up and shook hands with Ren. "We'll meet back here in 3 weeks, we'll make up plans for the next set of waves then."

"Alright then Naofumi. Good luck in Siltvelt."

"Actually, I can use your help with something?"

/~/

"Hell no! I refuse to ride on a lizard!"

"And I refuse to let a fat bird ride on my back!"

"Who are you calling fat, you overrated fire breather!"

"You obviously! And it's lightning not fire you dolt!"

The two monsters stepped forward, weapons in hand, but Naofumi pushed both of them apart.

"Oi, none of that. We have no time to waste on your petty squabbles."

"Naofumi. Sakura knows she isn't very reasonable at times, but she is not going to tolerate any of this."

"Same here Ren."

Naofumi and Ren both sighed as the argument between their respective monsters started to gather a crowd. Naofumi walked over to Sakura with a rope, while Ren went over to Draco holding a bag of coins, both of them grumbling as they knew what they must do.

/~/

"I swear when I get out of here, I'm dragging everyone to the ground with me!" Sakura shouted as she struggled to escape her restraints. Being tied to the dragon's back, she was pretty much being forced to ride the creature until she got out.

"Stop moving. Break out of that and you'll fall."

"That sounds like a blessing."

"Ha. How does it feel to fly for the first and only time in your life?" The dragon mocked.

"Draco. Any more insults and you aren't getting this money!"

"But that wasn't our deal!"

"Then keep flying before I change it again."

"Hmp." Draco pouted.

Ren and Naofumi looked over to each other, and just nodded their heads as they continued to fly.

/~/

"We're about to hit the border of Melromarc. Once we get close, keep flying and don't stop."

"Getting past security can't be that easy. What's the catch?"

"We have some anti air as well as our own dragons. If we stay at this high altitude, it'll be easy for us to avoid the anti air. The drakes on the other hand."

"We can deal with them… probably."

"Don't worry about that. I have plenty of dragon kill-." Ren stopped himself, remembering the back of who he's currently riding on.

"Even with those skills, I say avoiding a possible confrontation would be the simpler solution. Raphtalia."

"Okay. As the source of your power, a normal demi human commands you. Let the way of all things be revealed and hide us from sight. [Dreifach Hide]" An orange light appears around the dragon as it disappears from sight.

On the outside, nobody was able to see them. But on the inside, the party continued to fly through the air and reach the border.

"Agh."

"Raphtalia, what's wrong?"

"Something is trying to strip away the illusion. I can't hold it." Raphtalia's focus drops as the dragon reappears back into the air. A bell can be heard from the ground as several knights spotted them in the skies.

"Sorry, I tried."

"Don't be. Everyone, hold on." Draco dived a bit to pick up speed, and started to rush towards the border wall. Several of the knights at the wall aimed their ballista bolts at the dragon, and fired a barrage.

"[Airstrike Shield]" A green shield appeared below, and crashed into a few of the bolts. Even though they broke through, they lost momentum and started to fall back down. Every other bolt that made it through was either a miss, or just dodged by the evasive maneuvers of the thunder dragon.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Keel complained.

"If you're going to hurl it, do it away from my scales please." Draco demanded.

"Shut up. The second barrage coming this way!"

"I got it."

"[Zweite Holy!]"

"[Thunder Sword!]"

A beam of light and stream of lightning flew through the bolts, breaking through all of them. Despite them easily winning, Naofumi was surprised that they made it this far, and was now confident that they could make it past without injury, This was his thought before he heard a roar.

Noticing that it didn't come from the dragon he was on, he turned to quickly find a ball of flames flying at them. Swapping to his thunder dragon's shield, Naofumi activates the skills and successfully eats and sends back the fire ball. But when the smoke settled, the dragon was just fine, with it getting into a formation with several other dragons.

"Right fire dragon. The things resistant to fire damage." Naofumi grumbled, thinking this was his fault for insulting their weak security.

"Draco, evasive maneuvers."

"Okay Ren."

The party held on to dear life as Draco performs all these maneuvers to dodge the drakes' fire. But no matter how much she moved, they would always follow with perfection.

"I can't shake them."

"You truly are worthless drake. Sakura will handle this, [Zweite wind cutter!]" A blade appears in Sakura's mouth and she uses it to cut herself out of the ropes.

"Dead or Alive Naofumi?"

"You can choose."

"Dead it is." Sakura drew her sword and jumped off the drake. As expected, the dragons chasing them just move slightly up and dodge her entirely, but what they didn't expect was for the bird to jump off the air itself, and cling onto the drake's tail.

"What the!" The rider called out. He pulled out a crossbow and aimed it at Sakura, but a small gust hit him and knocked it out of his hands.

Climbing onto the dragon, Sakura ran up to the knight and clashed blades. The knight held his ground, but Sakura soon overpowered the soldier and knocked his sword away, soon being kicked to the ground by the bird.

"Hmm, Sakura will let you live." Sakura sliced off the wings of the dragon and jumped off while carrying the knight. By the time they landed, the knight had already passed out, most likely from the kick he just received.

"This is fun, do you want to join."

"Not the time!" Naofumi exclaimed.

"Fine. Taking Keel."

"W-what!" Keel tried to protest, but he was picked up and tossed over to another dragon by Sakura. Ren was also grabbed by the bird and was tossed to another drake as well.

"Don't do that!" Keel shouted. But by that time, he was already on another drake and could do nothing but watch Sakura and Ren fight.

"Die Demi."

"Huh."

The knight swung his sword at the surprised dog, but the dog ducked and punched the knight in the torso. To the knight's surprise, the bite-sized kid actually packed a huge punch. And that one strike left a dent in his armor, and severely knocked the wind out of him.

Keel then continued his assault, landing several well placed punches to the knights torso that continued to dent his armor. The knight finally had enough and caught one of Keel's punches. He tried to toss Keel off, but the dog quickly pulled out a dagger and stabbed it into the dragon's back, stopping himself from falling.

The dragon roared out in pain as the dagger slid across its back, and the barrel rolled to shake off the pain. Both Keel and the knight hung on in their own methods, and climbed back up.

The knight ran over to Keel and swung his blade, but Keel hit the blunt end of the blade with his palm, sending the sword away and exposing his legs to an attack. Kicking his leg, the knight loses his balance and falls to his knees. When he finally looked up, the last thing he saw was a foot coming straight towards his face.

Naofumi was also impressed as he watched from afar. Sakura's results in the mid air battle were obvious, being the strongest in his party. Even Ren was pretty predictable, since his skills could easily blow up a house, that poor knight stood no chance against him.

His main focus was on Keel. The young dog demi human was performing much better than he anticipated. His level was only 23 which was massive growth from the original. But stat wise, he could've easily completed with most enemies they've faced so far without issue. Whatever that whip method was, Naofumi was planning on abusing it thoroughly.

"Look at that. He's mimicking the fighting style of Fitoria, or at least a very scuffed version of it."

"Intimidating or not, she's very efficient at her training." Raphtalia replied.

"Still. It was only 4 days since we were attacked. To see results this fast is a bit frightening."

"[Wild Wind Kick!]"

"[Dragon Buster!]"

Being on their respective dragons, Ren's blades burst into flames, and form itself into the form of a dragon head. When the attack connected, the dragon's head was cut through like butter, and died immediately.

Sakura, carrying a few knights in her arms, kicks the dragon with a devastating kick power by wind, and twists its neck. She then jumped over to Ren, and grabbed him as well.

Returning over to Draco, Sakura drops her hostages, and Ren off before returning back over to Keel.

"Alright, that's the last of-."

The drake that Sakura kicked away earlier appeared behind them. As it was charging its breath, Raphtalia and Ake jumped off Draco and onto the drake.

Raphtalia slid down its back and cut off its wings, while Ake slammed his claymore down into its head, finally killing it. Once the drake started to fall again, Naofumi caught both of them with his rope shield, and pulled them back in, Sakura soon returning with Keel as well.

"Okay, now that's the last of them."

"Sakura, next time you kill something. Make sure it's actually dead."

"Hey, that filth gaining another spurt of life is not my issue."

"That filth is something more majestic than you'll ever be chicken."

"Oh my apologies, it looks like I missed one." Sakura took another step forward, but Naofumi grabbed her by the shoulder.

/~/

"I swear Naofumi, when I get out of here I will-."

Naofumi left Sakura to tire herself out while Keel watched her to prevent escape.

After dropping the knights off into a nearby lake, the rest of the flight soon turned out to be very uneventful. Some other flying creatures like griffons and wyvern tried to attack, but they were swiftly handled by the party.

Naofumi during this trip was very annoyed as well. He would be getting tons of exp along with his party. But since Ren was nearby, all the exp he would have gotten ended up being nulled. At least his party could gain levels.

"Hang on guys." Ren called out. Everyone on the dragon held onto the giant saddle on Draco's back as she dived towards the ground. She then flapped her wings before hitting the ground to stop all her momentum, and finally landed.

"Here we go. Outskirts of Siltvelts castletown."

"We aren't flying in?"

"We can't risk another panic/attack like the border. It'll be easier to go through the front gate." Naofumi turned to Ren.

"I guess a thanks would be in order."

"Don't bother. I know you won't say it. Just be careful here. Heard they aren't too kind to humans."

"I'll cross that path when we get there. Hopefully it's as easy as flashing my shield."

"That is a valid strategy. Me on the other hand."

"I've prepared for that too. Raphtalia."

"Right, [Zweite Illusion.]"

Raphtalia touches Ake's shoulder, enveloping him within a bright light. When the light subsided, Ake stood there with a set of twisted horns, and fluffy wool on his chest and arms.

"What is this!" Ake whined in embarrassment.

"It's a perfect disguise."

"Why a sheep of all things. Couldn't you have made me a dragon or something cooler."

"It was per Naofumi's request."

"I, for one, think you look cute Ake."

Ake sighed. "Thanks Sakura… hey!"

Ake went over to argue with Sakura, while Naofumi mounted Draco once more.

"I'm having a bad feeling about this plan."

"Oh calm yourself Ren, it should be as simple as walking in."

/~/

5 minutes later

"It wasn't that simple!" Ren Shouted.

They made their way to the front gate, and what seemed to be a simple task of showing he's the shield hero, turned to a battlefield as they thought he was a phony due to the sword hero and illusion magic on Ake.

"[Airstrike Shield!]" Naofumi's shield appeared in front of their makeshift crate barricade, and blocked several fireballs flying towards them.

"Kill the sword devil. Don't let him through!"

/~/

Meanwhile with Motoyasu

"Damn it, why is it empty!? It was filled yesterday."

"Myne?"

"L-l-lord Motoyasu." Myne stammered as she accidentally knocked a few documents on the floor. "Oops. I'm sorry for-."

"Don't worry, It's quite alright. What are you doing here anyways, I thought you were out grinding with Lesty and the others?"

"Oh ummm, well you see. We were, but then we returned early. I then wanted to check on the funding for the village."

"Oooh. Sorry, that must have given you the spook. I used it all yesterday."

"You what!"

"Yeah. When you went to sleep I decided to work on a few things. Despite being retired, the old lord was very helpful in his suggestions on what to do. Then it was just a manner of checking the damages and allocating the funds to the correct areas. With the damage being very miniscule, I ordered a few materials plus some extra for later, several filolial since the previous ones all ran away, and I lowered the tax on the gate since many were complaining about its pricings. With all of that out the way, I also ordered the knights to clear the cave so we can have our mine, not you by the way, back in commission, bringing in more income from there, and drawing in more cities to trade with us. I thought this was going to be hard, but with everything already laid out, it became trivially easy. Right, Myne?"

"R-right. You're amazing, Lord Motoyasu." Myne lied as she seethed with anger. Her plans at a new money bin was just shattered while she was getting her beauty rest.

"You okay Myne? You look a bit stressed."

"I'm doing wonderful. Just a bit under the weather at the moment. Now if you excuse me.." Myne left, barely able to contain her anger.

"Okay. Get well Myne!"