Chapter 205: Sightseeing
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I never knew that this place would be like this!" Attie exclaimed. "Somehow, it feels like home...
The tour guide blew into his whistle. Moments later, a giant, lizard-like ground dragon clambered before the party. This ten-meter long, gigantic creature crouched tamely before the tour guide. On its flat, wide back, there were a few seats attached to it…
Everyone clambered on board. Like a tour bus, the dragon slowly crawled towards the meadows, beginning the journey.
"It's... not cold at all here?" Mia noted in surprise. She had a short dress on today, and her two cute legs dangled from the seat, swaying to the rhythm of the dragon's footsteps. This floating island had a very high altitude, but it did not feel cold at all.
"Haha, that's because we picked a good spot..." the guard, who was substituting as a tour guide, started to give an introduction of the environment to the girls in a grandiose manner. Good location, underground volcanoes, safe from winds from neighboring floating islands – this floating island felt just like normal land.
Baiyi listened on in silence and never once did he attempt to interrupt the tour guide's explanation. In reality, he already felt that this floating island—and a few others—was encompassed by some sort of large barrier. The abnormally comfortable climate might be the result of this, and not because of some volcano as iterated by the tour guide.
Attie, who had once been a king, was bored out of her wits, for she had already grown used to seeing such vast plains. "This place may look very vast, but can it really fit a few thousand dragons?" She asked suddenly.
The tour guide laughed awkwardly before he explained, "Ah, my beautiful lady, actually it was not as rumored from the outside... we may have a thousand riders in the association, but we do not have so many dragons. Furthermore, most of the dragons do not live here. They can be found on the neighboring floating islands."
Whenever a dragon knight prepares for battle, they do not venture out by themselves act. The dragon knight would bring along a small troop of three to five comrades along atop the dragon's back. The extra manpower would then serve either as normal fighters, assistants, or flight controllers.
Therefore, each dragon that took off into battle did not convey only one rider; it conveyed an entire platoon for the battle in the air.
Eventually, the girls sort of understood the point. They had assumed that the 'hundred-strong' or 'thousand-strong' claims that they heard about the dragon knight's club meant that the knights lead thousands of dragons to war.
From the boundary of the vast plains, the party headed in the direction of the mountains. Instead of these so-called dragons, spotted many little animals along the way. This made the girls feel a little disappointed.
"They don't seem to have many left," the Explorer suddenly stated within the Void. "Remember what I said about the opening of the Realm? The dragon knight club experienced severe losses in that event. That year, when I came over, I still saw a few knights undergoing their training..."
Baiyi remembered the Explorer's story well enough. During the event where the realm cracked open, the dragon knights had encountered the king of the land—the phantom behemoth itself. Both parties clashed, and it was rumored that the dragon knights lost hundreds of riders. The collateral damage almost led to the extinction of the club. It was not an easy feat for the club to remain in the present day after experiencing such disastrous losses.
After while later, the group seemed to reach the bottom of a mountain. After a short work forward, they were greeted by a sight of gunfire; a massive army camp sat right at the mountain base. This must be the place where the knights were stationed to undergo their training.
As the ground dragon crawled near the entrance of the army base, the tour guide waved towards his other comrades at the gates. "We have guests today!"
"Damn! You're so lucky! Bumping into more tourists again!" The soldiers exclaimed in envy.
"Wo-aah! Such beautiful girls." A soldier exclaimed, upon noticing the girls atop the dragon's back. He declared in admiration, "They do not pale in comparison to the mistress's beauty..."
"Alright, alright, stop scaring our guests," the tour guide reached into the sack that Baiyi had passed him earlier to extract a gold coin. He pushed it into the palm of one soldier. "Go entertain yourselves with some drinks..." He then led Baiyi and the rest into the camp successfully.
"This level of defense—isn't this a little too...thin?" Thane expressed his dissatisfaction within the Void. "Anyone could infiltrate this easily!"
"Don't belittle their abilities. If they were brave enough to allow visitors here, then they shouldn't be afraid of infiltration attempts. There is a reason why they have managed to exist for a thousand years." Baiyi explained.
"Well, you're not wrong..." Thane mumbled and kept silent.
Although the scene before everyone's eyes seemed relaxed and under control, Baiyi could discern that it was a facade of calm implemented to hide the internal turmoil. In fact, with only a quick glance, Baiyi knew that the tour guide had brought them to a place with nothing on importance. A few kids were practicing on the field, and a small hoard of ground dragons circled slowly within a wooden pen; these places had no real value! In contrary, a number of soldiers could be found patrolling the area along the valley deeper within the army base. Now that surely was a restricted area, without question.
One could only see the most basic of things at this place, but the real deal was nowhere to be seen. Thus, the closest thing to a dragon that the group saw after circling the camp was a few catcalls and wolf-whistles…
The tour guide decided to bring the party to register for a tour at the historical museum of the dragon rider's club. Baiyi could not contain himself, so he called out, "Ah... about that. We wish to see something more... exciting."
"Dragons? Alright, alright, I get you..." The tour guide responded. He changed their route, suddenly, and brought them up into a watchtower. This tower was much taller than the standard watchtower, allowing a much wider field of vision. The peaks of the mountains afar could be seen surrounded by a wisp of mist and within the mist was the faint outline of dragons flapping their gigantic wings.
"This is the best viewing deck in the plains," The tour guide explained, clearly enjoying himself. He pointed at a faraway peak. "That is a dragon's den. Some dragons have an affinity towards humans, but the ones that live there are wild dragons awaiting their riders. After passing the examination, the riders would travel there to pick a dragon, and when they do, they would accompany the dragons for life."
"Actually, do dragons develop feelings towards humans?" Mia asked with full curiosity. "I saw somewhere in a book that they rather see humans as food..."
"Haha, this beautiful lady here, you must be from the realm of Isythre, yes? Only the books from there would make those kinds of observations. However, in reality, the dragons are intelligent and strong creatures. They are known for being loyal friends and companions..." The tour guide trailed on.