"Henituse-nim and Thornwin-nim, this is the best room we have," the old man said, opening the door, the kittens rushed in and started jumping on the bed. "Mr. Hans said you like sleeping in the same room together, so we moved an extra bed in."
Adara's eyes travelled the room frantically. Second story, 3 windows, two beds, restroom to the side. It was an instinct.
Cale raised his eyebrow at what Hans had said. Sending a look at Adara, she made an 'I'll explain later' gesture. "Seems acceptable."
It really was acceptable, the exterior was old and rusty like the rest of the architecture in the village, but it had everything you would ever need inside. Though the room was a bit cramped because of the two beds. Adara thought the reason it was so nice inside was probably that merchants who were on their way to the Wealthy Henituse Territory stayed at this inn to rest after their travels.
The old man bowed. "This is the first time we have had a noble staying with us, let alone two. Please look favourably upon us, Henituse-nim and Thornwin-nim, even if it is lacking quite a bit and just consider it as a place where lesser beings live."
Adara frowned at his wording. "Lesser beings?" she repeated. The old man flinched, he was more comfortable around them than with Venion Stan, but he still seemed scared that they were nobles. "Between humans? There is no such thing," she remarked. The old man nearly dropped his jaw. "We are all human, are we not? It does not matter if one has more influence and money, and one does not. Frankly," she admitted, "I'd rather be the daughter of an inn owner, than the daughter of a Count. And 'Young Master' and 'Young Mistress' are fine, no need to use our last names."
The old man could not believe his ears.
"Old man," Cale said, patting his shoulder to calm him down. He wasn't sure why but he was getting more agitated after hearing Adara's words. "Relax. We do not like people who put themselves down like that. This is the place where people who come and go from our territory stay to rest. There is no way such a place will be lacking."
The old man's eyes started to shake. He wet his upper lip with his tongue before finally speaking, even if he did hesitate. "Young Master and Mistress, are there a lot of good people like you two in the Henituse and Thornwin Territory?"
Cale made a face. "What the hell are you talking about?"
The old man blinked. "Excuse me?"
"We are the biggest Trash in our respective Territories, probably in the whole Western Continent, almost everyone you will find will have a better personality than us," Adara said.
The old man let out a gasp. On and Hong, who were currently on the couch, were meowing and shaking their heads, and though Cale and Adara saw them, they didn't think much of their actions.
Cale dismissed him. "You can go do what you have to do." The old man bowed deeply and left the room. Adara debated telling him not to do that, but the old man was already stiff and she didn't want to make him more scared.
Cale turned to Adara, getting straight to the point. "What did Hans mean?"
She shrugged. "Sometimes we would sleep in the same bed. The servants thought it improper, 'since we're a girl and a boy' and 'if we really want to sleep in the same bed we'd need to be married first'." She rolled her eyes. "I think they thought we were fucking. But they tried to move a bed in his room so we could at least sleep in the same room after Cale threw a tantrum and broke a few glasses. Which didn't work since your room is a bit too small for two beds, so they just abandoned the whole idea and made me sleep in a bed far away from him. Though there's still a misconception that we like to sleep in the same room," she finished her explanation.
Before Cale responded, she turned her head to the door. Hans was walking towards them. Cale, knowing how to read the signals, wasn't surprised when someone knocked on the door. "Come in," he called.
Deputy Butler Hans came in, with a small boy in his hands. "Young Master, you asked only for this box, right? It looks a lot like the Young Mistress's," he remarked.
"Sure," Cale agreed. "Hand it over."
Hans was curious as he handed the box to Cale. It was the only luggage Cale personally brought with him. And Adara also only brought her small black box with her, and yet he could not figure out where the black sword had come from. Unbeknownst to him, they both had one of the highest quality magic boxes with a magic lock on it. For Cale's, the seal was the logo of the Flynn Merchant Guild, one of the three largest merchant guilds, and one that had an intimate relationship with the Henituse family. Except, Adara's had no logo, and while it had a magic lock like Cale's did, it was even higher quality magic, it had a spatial dimension.
"Isn't a butler not supposed to show their emotions on their face? Especially curiosity?" Cale commented casually, as he looked at Hans.
Hans replied in the same causal, yet more respectful tone. "One of the proper etiquettes of a butler is to show all of their emotions to their master."
Cale snorted, unimpressed. "Funny man."
Hans smiled a bit. "I guess I am a bit funny."
He was starting to get used to the two Trash, it was shown in his growing impudence. But he was much more personable than the other butler candidates, so they did not mind him that much. "Get out," Cale responded.
Hans bowed. "Yes, sir. Ma'am," he said to Adara with a small head bow. He walked over to the door before he remembered he still needed to ask about their travels. "Will we be staying here for three days?"
"Yes," Adara confirmed.
"Take care of everything," Cale ordered.
"Yes, Young Master and Mistress," he responded as he closed the door. While the Vice Captain took charge of the envoy's safety, Hans was responsible for everything else. However, he never complained and took care of everything efficiently.
"He seems like a good butler," On remarked, approaching the two. They were sitting on the bed and Hong had no problem climbing on Adara again. This time, however, he only worked himself into her arms so she'd be carrying him. Cale and On thought Adara looked like the perfect villain, sitting down with a stoic expression while petting a cat.
"It doesn't seem that hard for him either!" Hong exclaimed.
Adara and Cale couldn't help but agree. Ron was Ron, but other than Ron, Hans had the least difficulty dealing with them. He was scared of them, Adara could see it whenever she was holding a bottle but did not find them to be difficult. He would be fun to have as a butler, she thought. Maybe when I have to return I can bring him along, he has an amazing fashion sense. She caught Cale's eye, but he was already shaking his head. She let out a sigh, she found it funny that Cale could easily tell what she was thinking about.
He ignored the sigh, instead opening up the box by putting his index finger on the centre of the magic seal. The box made small noise before opening up. Inside, were items they had prepared during the time they had before leaving for the Capital.
"I'm really curious about what this is," On stated.
"Really curious," Hong added, still in Adara's arms, though looking curiously at the box. "Like Hans said, it looks like your box," he looked up at Adara. "The box that's bigger on the inside! What are we doing with it?"
Cale only vaguely answered. "Things that will help rescue a poor soul, screw over some douchebags, and prevent us from getting hurt."
The kittens were still curious, though they were frowning at his vague answer. They both turned to Adara, but in Adara's eyes, they saw fierce determination and slyness. They suddenly wanted to be part of whatever they were going to do, even if the description was very vague.
Adara was thinking about their plan to free the Black Dragon, she could recall the conversation they had with Billos before they left.
Billos had given them a suspicious gaze. "Young Master and Mistress, just where do you plan on using these things?"
They looked at him with bored expressions. "We don't see why we have to explain that to you."
Billos was still uncertain. "I see. But it is going to cost quite a bit to purchase all of these items."
"Is it possible to rent them?" Adara asked.
"For you two?" Billos smiled. "Of course, it is possible."
The majority of what they wanted were magic items, that were said to be very expensive but if you put Cale and Adara's allowances together, it would be doable. Though they did have to return the items to Billos once they got to the Capital. We have no other choice but to meet up with him, Adara remembered thinking. We can't just send Choi Han to do it for us.
"Two of the items are not able to be rented out to outsiders. I rented them in my name, for you. So you must return these to me at the capital. In person," he had added, dispelling any thoughts they might have had about sending Choi Han. They couldn't do anything but agree.
At the present time, Adara reached into the box and picked up one of the items. It was a round, black orb with symbols engraved into it. Hong put his face to it, trying to sniff it. When he smelled nothing he looked at Adara above him. "Really curious about this."
"A Mana Disturbance Tool," Adara said, casual and indifferent. "It is worth almost a billion gallons."
Both On and Hong gasped, Hong jumped out of Adara's arms and walked to the corner of the bed with his sister. They were trying to be as far away from the black orb as possible.
"It cost 20 million gallons just to rent it," Cale mentioned.
She could also recall the information about the orb that Billos had mentioned.
"It causes a disturbance in the flow of mana within a certain range," Billos explained. "Making all Magic Tools stop working. It is also sturdy enough that, even if something like a mountain blows up, it will not break." Adara thought it was ironic he had mentioned a mountain blowing up.
"Something like a Surveillance Tool will break right away then?" Cale had asked.
"Of course. However, you do need to install this 27 hours in advance. It is created to slowly infuse a force that will disrupt the mana flow so that it will not be noticed by mages."
"How long will it last?" she asked.
"40 minutes," he responded. Smiling. "Isn't it great? Of course, if there are mages nearby, they will be able to resolve the issue within 5 - 10 minutes, maybe less."
"We will keep that in mind." They had smiled.
Adara had the black orb in her hands and rolled it on the bed towards the kittens who were crouching in the corner. Hong gasped loudly, while On meowed and avoided the black orb In front of her eyes. They calmed down in the end but were still slightly uneasy while in the vicinity of it.
"You know how to read a map, right?" Cale asked, bringing out another important item from the box. A map. It wasn't very detailed, but it had the general landmarks around the Henituse Territory. Most of the merchants going to and from the Henituse Territory used this map.
"Of course," On responded, thumping her tail on the bed, they had come closer, pushing the black orb with them to look at the map. "We were potential successors to the Fog Cat Tribe at one point."
"Right. My sister is right," Hong added.
Adara pointed to the village. "We are in this village right now." She pointed to the mountain to the right of the village. "You see this mountain?"
On nodded. "I see it."
"Very easy to see," Hong remarked.
In her head, Billos smiled at them. "Ah, the range is similar to the durability."
It can cover one mountain, she thought. Such irony is rare.
"If you go toward this mountain," Cale said, "you will see a villa in the distance. Behind that is a cave."
They needed not to worry about mages, there were definitely no mages around the Black Dragon right now. The people of the Magic Tower respected Dragons as the Greatest Magic Race, and did not wish for humans to torture and domesticate a dragon. They considered such actions as disgraces to magic.
The people around the cave and the villa were all Knights and Soldiers whom the Marquis trusted, as well as people who do the dirty work for them.
"Don't go near there at all. The villa and the cave, stay away from those places. You cannot get caught," Adara said. She knew about their situations, knew how sneaky they were, but it would be bad if their curiosity led them to go around the cave.
"There is something being tortured in there," Cale said. "We're going to rescue him, so you have to be careful."
"Something?" On asked. "Him?"
Adara nodded. "Yes. It is even younger than you, Hong."
Hong looked at them, surprised and sad. "Even younger than me?"
Cale nodded. "Yes. Four years old."
Of course, this four-year-old Dragon was stronger than a four-year-old cat, but it did not matter. It only made On and Hong's eyes light up as they pressed down on the bed with their paws. "We're going to save him?"
Adara started petting their heads. "Save? More setting free, but sure. Just stay in your cat form and bury this orb in the mountain without getting caught."
Cale had a small pouch in which he put the black orb, before putting it over On's neck like a necklace.
"Where should we bury it?" On asked, wanting to be precise.
Cale shrugged. "Anywhere on the mountain."
"Really," Hong looked at them, "anywhere?"
Adara nodded. "Yes, anywhere."
The siblings nodded at each other, before nodding their heads. "Easy," On said, her sharp cat teeth glistening as she smiled.
"We even managed to get past our Cat Tribe's elders to escape!" Hong said. "This is easy!"
Adara agreed. She knew it took a lot of energy and stealth to escape from somewhere when one of your family members was out to get you. "It will be very easy for you two."
"You two have enough skill for it," Cale agreed. "We wouldn't ask someone useless to do something like this in the first place."
The two kittens looked up at the, with their golden pupils. This pair of siblings, who were almost killed by their own tribe for being useless, for not having abilities when they never even got a chance to learn, were starting to get emotional. Their tails were wagging widely, and they had scrunched up their noses to hold back their tears.
Though Adara and Cale could not understand their reaction. Why were they starting to cry? "We'll give you as much beef as you want when you successfully return," Adara said. She did not say 'if you successfully return' she said 'when'. The kittens felt courage in the fact they believed in them so much and immediately jumped through the window and stealthily headed into the mountain.
However, the two thought that their speed was due to the fact they wanted food. So once they left, they asked Beacrox to make a feast for the two of them, which more than half was given to the two kittens once they arrived.
Adara, Cale, and Choi Han were having breakfast in their room. They were drinking lemonade that Ron had prepared, they were starting to get used to it by now, and started a seemingly random topic. "Have you ever seen a dragon?" Cale asked.
Choi Han blinked. "A dragon?"
"Yes." Adara nodded.
"I've seen something similar once," Choi Han mentioned.
They are not the same thing, Adara thought. She remembered that when she was 16 or 17— she doesn't exactly remember— her father was too busy to go to the Forest of Darkness to check up on a transportation problem, so she went instead. The Thornwin Botanists had wanted to try getting a poisonous plant from the inner region, and Adara volunteered to be one of the people to protect them. They were approached by a vicious monster, one who was somewhere in between lizards and dragons. She killed it easily. That thing is puny compared to a proper dragon. "You did?" Adara acted surprised. "How was it?"
Choi Han seemingly hesitated. "It was a monster."
"How so?" Cale asked.
Choi Han made a little shrug. "Its appearance, its strength, everything. It was a monster in all aspects."
Cale also acted surprised. "Is that so?"
Adara shook her head. "Then you have not seen a dragon."
"Excuse me?" Choi Han asked.
"Dragons are like people," Cale compared. He set the cup with lemonade on the table at the same time Adara did.
"Dragons, Beast People, Dwarves, Elves, they are all like humans," Adara said. "We all have emotions and lives."
"However." Their moods darkened. Choi Han immediately noticed it and sat up straight to hear what they had to say. "Such an existence has fallen into darkness since it was born." They were synchronising again. "The only thing currently lighting up the darkness in its life is torches, and it has never even seen the light of the sun. What kind of life do you think it is having?" They looked at Choi Han through their lashes.
They started tapping the table with their index fingers. "It is being forced to become an existence without rationality."
They tapped. "It has had to suffer through its loneliness, without any family or anything to lean on."
Choi Han's gaze fell every time their fingers tapped the table. His fists were clenched underneath the table, to the point Adara could see the veins on his hand flaring, and his knuckles turning ashy.
They tapped. "It is tortured and abused every day, and is only left alone when it is barely alive."
Choi Han's expression which was originally calm, now stiffened and anger was in his eyes. It was obvious he would react like this. A good person would get angry after hearing such a story. She paused. Was I angry? I don't think I was. I just wanted to murder Venion.¹
[¹]: This is Adara simply being an unreliable narrator. Do not be fooled by this poor child in denial. She can't cope with being a good person, it's too much for her. While Venion was annoying, to begin with, she only wanted to actually murder Venion because he was torturing the Black Dragon. So yes she wants to murder Venion, and yes she was angry when she heard about the Black Dragon's situation. She is simply gaslighting herself, unintentionally I'd hope, because why someone would do that intentionally to themselves is beyond me.
They took a sip of their lemonade, before dropping the bomb. "And that existence is nearby."
~~~
[Fun Fact]: Adara dissociates as a way to cope with trauma. She wishes the world she lived in wasn't real— and finding out that it isn't really real from Cale wasn't very helpful since she mostly relied on the fact that she's here and she's experiencing stuff to stop herself from dissociating— and wishes she could just close everything and just exist, peaceful but mindless. As I said before, she doesn't want to particularly die, but she doesn't really want to be alive (the song Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold really explains it better than I do). These 'Fun Facts' are getting more and more angsty, I'm debating on changing the name to just 'F̶u̶n̶ Fact'.