The King's Beloved

~ [Music Recommendation: "You are so beautiful" by Eddy Kim (Instrumental only - Goblin OST) - available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in the loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter XD ~

Seeing the flushed faces of Rania and Elliot, Luna lifted her chin and looked smug.

"Eehh? What's this I'm seeing?" Luna snickered. "You can't lie to me! Did you two -"

Whoooooossh! Whooooooosh!

Ducis' transformed into a dragon and flapped his giant black wings, almost creating a whirlwind in the process. 

"Stop your nonsense, midget. We don't have all day," Ducis lectured her in a booming voice. "Hop on my back".

"Tsk!" Luna clicked her tongue. "Just when I was about to get to the juicy part, hmf!"

Getting on Ducis' back, Rania, Elliot, and Luna flew towards the floating castle. 

"Wow!" Rania's eyes sparkled in delight as they flew high in the sky. For a human, who would have thought that she'd be able to ride behind a dragon's back for real? "This is amazing!"

Elliot chuckled at Rania's cute and somewhat child-like behavior.

"How's your first time riding on a dragon?" Elliot asked her, grinning.

Rania's eyes kept on twinkling. "It's really great!" She closed her eyes as she sniffed the fresh air and let the calm wind kiss her cheeks. "I never thought flying would be this fun".

"It is fun to fly!" Luna added. "That's why I so love my wings!"

"Since you have your own wings, why don't you fly on your own?" Ducis picked on Luna.

"Tsss … Why are dragons so stingy and petty?" Luna rolled her eyes.

"Now, now, we don't want any arguments, okay?" Rania quickly mediated. "I wonder if there would be a day when you two don't fight?"

"But it's not my fault," Luna pouted towards Rania. "Didn't you just hear what he said? He said I should just fly on my own! All I said was that I loved my wings! It's not my fault". Then, she snuggled Rania's arms and acted like a sorry kitty.

"There, there, yes it's not," Rania patted her head. "Maybe Ducis enjoys teasing you?"

Ducis' expression turned to disgust in a blink of an eye.

"I beg to differ," Ducis replied. "I don't amuse myself with such frivolity".

Rania and Elliot chuckled.

"By the way, Ducis, I always thought your scales would be smooth. I never thought they'd actually be a bit rough and very solid.," Rania commented as she touched the scales on where they sat.

"I purposely made it rough so you all won't slide off," Ducis answered. "My usual scales are indeed smoother.

"Oh, I see. That's very nice of you. Thank you".

"Thank him too, Luna," Elliot turned to Luna. "He made it specially for you".

"Say what?!" Luna grimaced. "Why me? What did I do?"

"Ha-ha-ha!" Rania laughed. "Of course! We all know, I and Elliot won't fall or slide off even if Ducis kept his scales smooth. We can just grab onto something".

"Yes," Elliot agreed. "I wonder who's the clumsy one amongst all of us?"

Luna sulked. "Fine, I'm the clumsy one. Ha-ha … Thank you, Ducis," she admitted in a monotonous tone.

"Don't be so sure about that. I didn't do it for you," Ducis disagreed.

A few more flaps of his wings and the team was now in front of the Floating Castle. Upon landing, everyone got off, and Ducis transformed back into a man.

"Who goes there?" one of the many guards stationed in front of the castle, asked them. He was a large, beefy man with a mustache and beard covering almost half of his face. His voice was profound and fierce. He seemed to be the head of the castle guards since the others were lined up on his back.

"We're travellers and we're looking for a temple," Elliot answered in a calm manner.

"There is no temple here".

"Of course," Elliot thought. "It's never been easy finding the temples". Turning unto the head of the castle guards, he inquired, "Hmmm … I see. In that case, do you have lodgings? We need to get some place to rest".

The castle guards discussed amongst themselves.

"Alright, we will grant you temporary entry so long as you do not carry any weapon with you," the head of the castle guards decided. "And we will need to place tracking magic on all of you for security purposes".

"We agree".

And so, the team was permitted to enter the castle gates. Upon entering, the very first thing they noticed was the lively and festive atmosphere of the town. Aside from the carnivalesque decorations, there were bands and loud music playing all around the town, and many people were singing and dancing to its tune. There were guards stationed at every corner, but even they would get dragged on the fun by some of the villagers.

The whole town had a medieval atmosphere, with tall houses and shops that could be seen almost everywhere your eyes could reach. The road had beautiful patches of mosaic art, magic-infused street lamps, trees at each corner, and a large town circle where a huge fountain resided. A couple of benches encircled the fountain, along with many flower beds.

"This seems like a fun town," Rania assessed. "I wonder what's going on? What are they celebrating?"

"Let's ask them," Elliot answered.

As they stepped inside the town, Luna's eyes glimmered in delight.

"R-Raniaaaa," Luna called out in a very expectant and happy tone. "I'm seeing lots of new things! I wanna see! I wanna see! Can we take a look around first? And I wanna taste some new food, please?" Luna kept on giggling and prancing nonstop in her excitement. "Please, please, please? Pretty please?"

Rania laughed at her. "Ha-ha-ha! You're so cute Luna. Alright, let's go ahead and look around first and use the opportunity to gather some intel. We need to know what we need to do here to pass the trials afterall".

Elliot nodded in agreement. He surveyed the surroundings with his eyes, and everything seemed to normal, just a typical occasion. No anomalies could be found anywhere. Everyone was just … happily celebrating. Deciding the coast was clear, they went as planned and wandered around town.

"Hmm …," Elliot pondered for a bit. His lips curved into a smirk after thinking of a brilliant idea. "This town doesn't look so bad". Then, he approached Luna and said, "Luna, you want to look for good food right?"

"Huh? Yes, of course! Food is my top priority!" Luna answered enthusiastically.

"Then go with Ducis and look around. Since we can use magic here, your charms on the bracelets should work and we could communicate with each other".

Luna blinked her eyes. "Huh? Oh yah! The bracelets! That's right, it should work now. But wait, why do I need to go with Ducis? I wanna go with Rania!"

"Hmm ... We need to go somewhere. It would be much faster if we separate. So you go with Ducis, I go with Rania. See you both in about an hour or so. Let's all meet back here at the fountain, or use the bracelet should anything arise," Elliot went on and on, not letting anyone give him a rebuttal. Once done saying his piece, he grabbed Rania's hands and went on their way.

"Master, wait! Why do I have to go with this midget? I want to -" Ducis tried to complain, but Elliot was now many steps away from them. "Sigh … just my luck. Stuck with the fairy again".

"What are you saying 'just my luck'? I'm the one with rotten luck to always end up with you! Hmf!" Luna pouted. 

And the two bickered around for a while before really being able to wander around and check out the deliciously different foods in the town. 

Meanwhile, Rania was confused about where Elliot was taking her. She didn't remember them discussing anything about going 'somewhere' as far as she knew.

"Elliot," Rania called out to him. They were now out of sight from Ducis and Luna. "Where are we going? You never mentioned anything to me about this 'place' we would be going to".

Elliot grinned mischievously at her. "Yes, I didn't. We're going on a stroll. Just the two of us. I read something similar before - lovers going on a walk together, or strolling in a city. Doesn't sound so bad, right?"

Rania blushed upon hearing his cute motives.

"T-that's … Hey! We need to get to the temple fast, okay? I hope you still remember we don't have that much time".

"Yes, I remember. It's not like we're doing this just for a stroll. Just think of it like we're doing it for research".

"B-but …"

"Hush … No more but" Elliot pressed his forefinger on Rania's lips. "Come on!"

And so, Rania and Elliot went for a stroll around the town, with their hands holding unto each other. Rania's face was pink for the whole time, and her heart kept on rapidly beating in her chest.

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