Arrival
Xander's teammates stared at him strangely, and he kept a perfectly straight face despite the odd situation.
"... So I'm familiar with her. I've seen her multiple times already." Falael pointed at Mary who just stood slightly behind Xander, poised and demure as ever.
"What am not familiar with," Their hand moved to his shoulder. "Is that thing."
"... In my defense, it just sort of... happened." Xander shrugged his free shoulder and glanced at the occupied one.
On it, a black, scaled creature lay asleep. On its back were a pair of leathery wings, and on its head were two tiny protrustions, aka, horns. And overall, it was barely a few inches long, so it was definitely comfortable on his shoulder.
It was also asleep.
He looked back at his teammates who were staring at the creature with a mix of confusion and interest, but nothing beyond that.
'Well, it's not surprising. With how rare they are, forget knowing what they look like, the public barely even knows they exist.' Xander sighed in his heart.
As for what he was referring to, well...
It just so happened that the little creature that had made a bed of his shoulder was a baby dragon.
'I now have two entities that seem to see me as a bed more than anything else... That sounds VERY weird.' He rubbed his temples as he recalled what had happened back in his room.
When the egg hatched, he and Mary were—understandably—very shocked. And when Xander asked how Mary, who was an Elemental Spirit, didn't know it was a dragon egg, she responded saying she'd never seen one before.
'And yet,' Xander glanced at Mia from the corner of his eye. 'She seemed to know exactly what it was the moment she noticed it.' It was certainly a baffling affair, and for a while, Xander didn't quite know how to react.
It was a dragon, after all. What if its kin some day noticed and tried to kill him for sullying their pride by watching over one of them? Or forget that, how did one even take care of a dragon???
Just the logistics of it made his head hurt.
In the end, he consulted Mia, and she gave him an answer he wasn't sure was reassuring or worrying.
'I'll take care of the things you can't handle.'
...
What did that mean?
'At least it seems to like me.' Xander sighed and glanced at the sleeping creature on his shoulder again. If he was being honest with himself, it looked kinda cute...
That, and there was absolutely a certain childish part of him that was excited as hell. If one ignored the implications, who wouldn't want to own a dragon?
'Granted, it's probably less about owning and being tolerated. Something tells me there will come a day where I can't really stop it from just leaving.'
"Well, if everyone is all set, I suppose we can start going?" Xander finally spoke, drawing everyone's attention from the small creature.
"Uh, I'm ready, and I'm sure everyone else is. But discounting that thing, would they allow her to come with us? She isn't exactly a student, nor is she on our squad. And I highly doubt the people there would be receptive to use bringing a maid to the battlefield." Aubrey gestured to Mary, and Xander just smiled.
"That shouldn't be an issue at all. Mary?" He glanced back at his taciturn maid who simply nodded.
In an instant, green winds engulfed her figure, causing everyone except Xander and Mia to shield their eyes.
When the wind subsided, they were surprised to see a green bird now perched on Xander's shoulder.
"What that..." Curtis was the first one to come to his senses, then he paled.
"W-Wait... the only creatures that can swap between a humanoid and beastial form are..." He trailed off, and the other two stiffened when they realized where he was going.
"Correct. Allow me to reintroduce you. This is Mary, my maid and trusted ally, who also happens to be an Elemental Spirit."
"... And you're just telling us this now?" Falael asked with a strained voice.
"Did you guys ever ask?"
"..."
A few seconds of awkward silence later, the group finally headed towards a building which had a collection of teleportation formations that would send students to different areas around the kingdom.
The process that followed was actually relatively swift. First, a guard at the entrance took their scroll and ascertained the legitimacy, then they were directed to a teleportation formation large enough to contain about 50 people that was being manned by a few mages in robes.
"There isn't a corresponding teleportation formation in your destination, so we can only send you guys to a nearby town that does have the corresponding formation. Then you'll need to travel from there." One of the mages explained, and the group showed their understanding.
A few seconds later, all 5 of them (plus Mary and the dragon) stood in the middle of the magic formation, and the mages started to chant. As they did so, it started to light up with silvery-blue light. And in moments, the whole thing had lit up, humming with dense energy.
'Incredible.' Xander marveled as he watched it, and moments later, he felt space starting to twist around them.
Once that feeling registered, it happened.
What proceeded was... difficult to explain. But if he had to, he'd say that above them, space seemed to stretch impossibly upward, like a tunnel, and another "floor" with another magic circle rapidly closed in.
And just as it seemed like it was going to crash into them, the scene changed. Next thing he knew, Xander was standing in another spell formation in a completely different area.
'... Wow.' Just as he was about to express his amazement and inspect his surroundings, Mia suddenly snapped her fingers.
...
And the group found themselves in a new area once more.
'... Huh?' Everyone blinked.
One moment, they were standing within a spell formation. In the next, they appeared on a road with a walled town a few kilometers ahead.
Stunned, they all subconsciously turned to Mia who just shrugged.
"Taking a carriage from there would have taken too long." She explained like it was perfectly reasonable.
"... Then why not just transport us directly from the school?" Xander asked in exasperation, not exactly surprised that she could teleport, considering the things she'd do frequently.
"Stressful."
'... So it would have taken too long to use the carriage to go from town to town, but it was also too stressful to just... do the teleportation directly?' He felt like bashing his head into a wall.
Without saying anything else, Mia raised her hands towards him, and he picked her up purely out of habit, princess carrying her since both his shoulders were occupied.
That's when he felt everyone's gazes on him, and their jaws were—unsurprisingly—on the floor.
"... I'll explain on the way there." He finally said with a sigh.
***
By the time the group reached the gate of the town, Falael, Aubrey, and Curtis all looked adequately dazed as Xander more or less broke down the reason Mia never did anything, why Sergeant Alya seemed wary of her, and her frequent visits to his room. Granted, some details were omitted.
Falael in particular looked especially pale, which wasn't surprising, considering that they nearly wanted to fight her the day before.
'... But come on, y'all should have at least suspected something. Moreover, she handed my ass to me yesterday by simply existing. They can't say they are completely shocked by the revelation.' He smiled wryly.
At this point, they finally reached the gate of the town, and they were immediately told to halt.
"Halt! Who goes there? State your business!" The stern voice of one of the guards jolted everyone from their daze, and Xander glanced up.
'Quite wary, these ones.' The stone walls were nearly 9 meters tall, and in front of the gate were four guards, two spearmen and two mages. On the wall, mages and archers alternated, each already aiming their weapons at their group.
Falael and Curtis started to reach fir their wands.
'Don't, we'll just antagonize them.' He spoke via the telepathy spell that had been established between them. Then he spoke.
"Good day everyone. I understand you may be wary, but worry not, we have no nefarious intentions." Then, instead of explaining more, he took out the scroll and held it out, a bit awkwardly due to Mia, but he made it work.
One of the spearmen carefully went forward and took the scroll from Xander, then he opened it and read carefully.
A few seconds later, his eyes constricted, then he looked towards the rampart and called out. "Get the captain! These ones claim to be from Avoma." That made the surrounding soldiers change their posture, and one of the archers quickly headed down.
The next few minutes were an awkward and tense staring contest between both sides as they waited for whoever their captain was.
Just as they were beginning to grow impatient, someone hopped from over the wall and landed in front of the gate with a soft thud.
The four guards immediately saluted, and the figure gave a terse nod of acknowledgement as he scrutinized them.
The squad did so as well.
The man was tall. Huge, actually. A bear of a man, some might say, with bulging muscles all over. His armor was the signature black and gold of the Kingdom, but there was no protection for his tanned arms.
His face was sharp and angular with a ginger beard making his features even fiercer, with a shallow scar on his left cheek. A black cape fluttered behind him, and on his hands, two gauntlets inlaid with gemstones sat.
He locked eyes with Xander, and Xander similarly stared at him.
"Oh?" His lip curled up slightly, and a sudden pressure surged from his body and washed over Xander.
Despite this, though, Xander didn't flinch. He just kept his expression calm as he endured the pressure. A moment later, it eased, and the man laughed boisterously.
"Very good. Seems like Avoma has sent some good fledglings this time." He said as he glanced at the group.
"I've read the scroll so I know it's legit. Your journey here must have been a bit tiring. Come on in." He gestured to the guards who whistled, and moment later, the gates opened.
As they did, he looked back at the group and grinned.
"Welcome to Landor kids."