Arc 8.10

"Cyrus, you have grown up so much."

Hugging her tight, I say, "Sister, sister, sister."

"Cyrus," says back to me.

"I missed you so, so much."

"Cyrus."

"I wanted to always see you; I was so scared by myself."

"I need you to listen to me."

"I am so happy you're ok."

Suddenly feeling a thud on my back, I pull back and turn my head to see Atalanta, "Cyrus, you're choking her!"

Looking at my sister, I see she has almost been crushed to death, with her face looking blue. Shaking her, I say, "Sister, sister."

Using her bow, Atalanta whacks me across the head and says, "Calm yourself, you idiot, do you really think you're going to get anywhere being all ruff like that?"

"S-S-S-Sorry!"

With her face returning to normal, my sister says, "You really have gotten strong."

Hearing this, I proceed to hug her again. "I can't breathe."

From behind us, I hear, "Let go of Lady Pari right now."

Turning around, I see the funny man has caught up to us.

Standing up, my sister says, "Easifatan, this is my brother Cyrus." Then she reveals my tail.

Suddenly, his face lights up as he says, "Of course, he was, because there is no way I would lose to a normal human man."

Snickering, Atalanta says, "Is that the way you have chosen to preserve your fragile ego? How small of you."

"Stop talking about my height, you pest." Enraged, he says, "Sorry, Pari, but I still need to arrest these two; they are intruders."

"I can guarantee they are here for no bad reasons."

"This isn't about the law anymore; this is about my pride. I CAN'T STOP UNTIL THESE TWO ARE FIFTY FEET UNDER!"

As he finishes screaming, my sister gives him a chop on the back of the head, sending him right to the ground. "Bad boy. Sorry about that, you two, he can get a bit carried away with his power, so before that happens again, let's go inform the king of your presence."

As my sister starts to walk away, she turns around and runs up to me, "Sorry, Cyrus, I forgot you need to hold my hand to walk."

"I d-d-don't need to."

Grabbing my hand, my sister says, "Ehhhhh! But you used to have a panic attack every time I forgot. Then I had to say I love you, Cyreepoo, three times until you forgave me."

Holding her hands over her mouth, Atalanta tries to hide her laughter as she says, "Aww, how adorable Cyreepoo."

Embarrassed, my face turns bright red. Seeing this, my sister says, "Cyreepoo, what's wrong?"

Orb, save me!

-Break-

Φ "And thus Alibaba married his son to Morgiana as a way to thank her for saving his life. The end."

As the woman finishes recounting the story, the sand people who finished acting it out collapse back into lumps of sand.

The moment this happens, people start to fill the area with applause, which I can't help but join in on. "That was amazing, wasn't it, brother?"

Looking over at my brother, I see he is lying over beside Anto, completely asleep. Seeing this, I poke at his face and say, "Wake up."

Jumping up out of fright, he says, "AHH! Is it over?"

"How did you even manage to sleep through the story?"

"Her voice is so soothing that I tend to fall asleep whenever I hear it. But Orb, how did you enjoy it?"

"It was amazing, I never experienced anything like that before, it was like I was living the story."

"Well, that's good to hear. I am happy that an intruder like you was able to enjoy Jedidiah so much."

"This place is amazing, how could I not?" Stopping for a moment, I say, "What did you just call me?"

"What you didn't like being called an intruder, you intruder."

Realising his words, I try to take a step back and prepare to activate my legacy, but before I can do that, my arm is grabbed and pulled close to him as he stands up.

Trying to break free, I realise how strong his grip is. This strength is too irregular, "You're using spirit arts."

"Correct Orb, but just like everything else, you realised too late. I happen to know the faces of every citizen of Jedidiah, and from the moment I saw you, I knew you were an intruder. Earlier, when you saw me talking to the guard, I was telling him that he should go and check the corners of the city for Yamal while I dealt with you."

This is really bad, I need to break free and leave, but he has Anto right behind him, and if I were to try and create any ice, I would injure the crowd leaving. "You set me up by bringing me here."

Freeing my hand, he whacks me on the head and says, "I didn't do anything of the sort."

As I hold my head, he says, "The reason I brought you here is simple, I wanted you to get a true feel of this country I love so much. That's about it. So, I hope that if you understand the greatness of this land, you won't do anything bad here."

Looking at him with a dumbfounded face, I say, "That's incredibly irresponsible, your first response should have been to report me to the nearest guard, you don't know how dangerous I could be."

Laughing a little, he says, "You are really berating me over not harming you, you must have a few screws loose. But nevertheless, I don't have to worry about such things."

"Why is that?"

Standing up, my brother says, "Because I am the king, Ahmed Abrahams."

Hearing this, I stare at him in shock. "I know, I am pretty amazing, right, Orb?"

With a face full of pity, I say, "How lame!"

"What do you mean lame? My reveal was awesome!"

"Not that, the fact that you were complimenting yourself while we were hanging out. Like, you really talked the king up, but knowing the fact that you were just blatantly complimenting yourself sort of just makes you come off as lame.

You were really just putting yourself up on a pedestal right with a giant smile on your face, my god, have some shame."

Looking at Ahmed, I see he is fuming with anger but then he calms down and says, "Well what about you, the entire time we were together I was treating you like a foreigner, I was introducing you to things you should already know as a citizen of Jedidiah, even with all those hints I threw you, you still didn't catch on. If I am lame, you're an idiot!"

As his words dawn on me, I start to feel extremely embarrassed, but to counter this, I say, "I was so drawn in by the sights of Jedidiah that I lost myself, but what about you? You were just blatantly stroking your ego."

"Looks like I wasted my time, you pose absolutely no threat to my country, considering how stupid you are."

"I can break this country down if I wanted to!"

In a dismissive tone, he says, "Whatever you say, Orb."

"Don't test me."

Cleaning his ears, he says, "Try it if you can."

"Well, you just watch, I am going to freeze this whole country!"

"TRY IT, IDIOT!"

As a fist hits Ahmed on the back of the head, I hear someone say, "STOP INVITING PROBLEMS!"

Looking at who hit him, I see the woman who was reading the story to us.

"First, you disappear for an entire day, then when I find you, you're picking a fight with someone. I swear, does your idiot brain even work!?"

"Scheherazade, he started it."

Shoving an apple in his mouth, Scheherazade says, "I don't want to hear it." Looking at me, she says, "Who is this?"

"Oh, he is an intruder I befriended."

Giving him a death stare, she says, "So you're telling me, you have just been walking around with a dangerous stranger whom you know nothing about, instead of doing any of your actual duties!"

Seeing Ahmed sweating profusely, he says, "Isn't it my job as king to keep track of potentially dangerous things towards my citizens?"

"Oh yeah, so please tell me how you kept track of him today."

Raising my hand, I say, "We goofed off and had fun throughout the whole day."

As the murderous aura around Scheherazade increases, Ahemed turns his head to me and says, "Orb, this isn't a game, I could die!"

Hearing his pleas, I start to laugh a little.

With a smile, she says, "So you were off playing today!"

"I might have had a little fun, but I swear to you that wasn't the point of what I was doing, please forgive me!"

"Of course, I will."

"Really?"

"Yes! Now go to sleep." She says, crushing his head into the ground.

Seeing this, I ask, "Is he ok?"

"He will be fine, despite how he looks; he is very durable."

"But isn't he your king? Should you really be treating him like a piece of cloth?"

"I happen to be the caretaker of this idiot, so it is my job to make sure he takes care of himself, but as you have seen, he is always running himself ragged and the only way to get him to rest is through excessive force."

Picking him up, she looks at me and says, "Well, let's go, I believe there are other intruders here, we should reunite you with them."

"Wait, are you sure you should be trusting us?"

"If you were a threat to Jedidiah Ahmed would have killed you on the spot, but since he didn't, I have decided to trust you. So, let's go!"

Picking up Anto, I begin to follow her as she moves.

Φ Dragging me through the streets, my sister says, "You really grew up to be handsome Cyrus."

"T-T-Thank you."

"Oh, I see you still stutter."

"S-S-S-Sorry!"

"Don't apologise, I was completely expecting you to be like this, in fact, I am completely amazed you talked properly, even a little. I thought that was above your capacity as a creature!"

Walking up beside my sister, Atalanta says, "Are all dragons this naturally beautiful?"

"You humans sure are strange. Cyrus and I would be considered hideous by dragon standards."

"If that's true, I think a beautiful dragon would probably scorch my eyes. But forgetting that, do you have any fun stories about Cyrus?"

Quietly, I say, "P-P-P-Please don't."

Being cut off, my sister says, "Well, where should I start? Oh, I have a rather funny one, for about the first seven years of Cyrus's life, he thought I was his mom instead of his sister, so he called me mommy every day."

"Oh, how adorable."

Hearing this, my face turned bright red. "When he found out I wasn't, he cried for five days straight."

As Atalanta laughs a little, my sister says, "And whenever he did anything, I had to constantly stand right beside him and tell him what to do step by step."

Turning her head, my sister says, "Don't worry, Cyrus, all of that stuff between the both of us is in the past, you look like you can take care of yourself now, or at least I hope you can."

"I will t-t-t-try my best!".

"That's good to hear. But Cyrus," Pulling me close to her, my sister says, "So whose is this woman with you, is she your wife, do I have nieces and nephews!"

"N-N-N-NO!"

"Aww, what a shame. If you need some help seducing her, you can count on your sister." Turning her head, she says, "Atalanta wants to become a Damavand!"

Freaking out, I say, "SISTER!" But I notice Atalanta isn't where she previously was, looking for her, I see her in front of a giant statue.

As my sister and I walk over to her, I see she has a face of utter shock.

My sister says, "This is the statue of this country's most prominent king and founder, the first king Solomon. Are you interested in the statue?"

With her eyes transfixed on it, Atalanta says, "Oh, not really, it is just I never thought I would see it here."

As I stare at her in confusion, I hear, "Cyrus!" Turning around, I see Orb and a woman approaching us. But the woman has a tall man passed out on her back, while Orb holds a fat Anto in his arms.