Nolan was silently trying to make sense of Melina's girl's heart, as changeable as June weather, when a crisp, rapid clang-clang-clang suddenly reached his ears.
Both of them paused.
It sounded like an alarm. Judging from the urgent rhythm, something had clearly disrupted the Ancient Dragons' life, unchanged for a thousand years.
Could Farum Azula forbid romance? Were these stone-like Ancient Dragons so hard-hearted that seeing other people being affectionate made them uncomfortable?
But after a second thought, Nolan figured they probably would not call down lightning over a little bonding.
If that were really the case, Lansseax would have been blasted to dust ages ago.
"The alarm is coming from the church! The north is requesting support!"
A Beastman's voice rang out, and Nolan and Melina leaped into a broader cluster of buildings.
Standing on the platform, they looked into the distance and saw a great crowd of Beastmen rushing in the same direction like a surging tide.
The Beastmen chattered among themselves in the language of the Ancient Dragons.
After all, they were only servants of the Ancient Dragons, and this was Ancient Dragon territory. Even if they had a language of their own, they would only use it in private.
Servants had to understand their masters. Masters had no need to understand servants.
Just then, with a howl of wind, an enormous crimson Ancient Dragon streaked overhead like a bolt of red lightning.
Its huge wings beat hard, whipping up fierce gusts, and it let out a burst of excited laughter.
At the sight, Nolan moved like a phantom. In the blink of an eye, he sprang into the air like a bird and landed steadily on the Ancient Dragon's broad back.
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Who is it? Who's bold enough to ride on this lady's back..."
The Ancient Dragon suddenly felt someone on its back and flew into a rage, turning its head to curse.
But the moment it saw who it was, all that arrogance vanished without a trace. Even the back of its neck seemed to go cold.
"B-Big Brother, it's you." The Ancient Dragon's voice suddenly turned stammering, in stark contrast to its earlier swagger.
This arrogant red Ancient Dragon was none other than Sethlinsax. As an Ancient Dragon, she certainly had every reason to act proudly in this city, but the instant she saw Nolan, she shrank like a frightened quail.
"Big Brother, someone's come onto our territory, and they seem pretty strong. Those ugly things can't deal with them."
Sethlinsax obediently served as Nolan's mount while reporting the situation to him, her tone full of disdain.
Opening by attacking someone's looks? Was that polite?
With that honeyed little mouth of Sethlin's, the fact that she had spent so long in Farum Azula without being beaten to death by the other Ancient Dragons could only mean she had a tough life.
"Someone has invaded your territory, and you're this happy about it?" Nolan looked at Sethlin helplessly and could not resist patting her lightly on the head.
Sure enough, birds of a feather flocked together. Anyone who could hang around with Lansseax was hardly decent.
Still... there really were intruders?
Nolan was a little surprised. Aside from him and Maliketh, who else would be bored enough to come all the way to Farum Azula? There was nothing here but stiff, rock-hard Ancient Dragons.
After Nolan patted her, Sethlin giggled foolishly twice and explained,
"Big Brother, you don't understand. Life in Farum Azula is the same for a thousand years at a time. It's completely boring!"
"Every day, all there is to do is stare at those hard, rock-like Ancient Dragons. There's nothing else at all."
"Now that something interesting has finally happened, of course I'm going to take a look!"
Sethlin had gone to Stormveil Castle for much the same reason.
Originally, inviting Nolan had been Florissax's task alone, but in order to get Florissax to bring her along, Sethlin had gone to great lengths and spent a long time saying every nice thing she could.
"Speaking of which, why are you the only one here? Where did all the other Ancient Dragons go?"
Nolan suddenly realized the sky around them was strangely empty. He looked around and found not a single Ancient Dragon in sight.
"Unless it's something huge, they don't care at all. All they know is how to guard that old fellow Placidusax. They're just as boring as this city."
Sethlinsax muttered with a gloomy look.
"Right?" She suddenly turned her head, her gaze landing on Nolan with a hint of expectation.
That final question sounded almost like a child begging for candy. She wanted someone to answer, "Right."
Nolan smiled faintly and replied softly, "Right. It really is boring."
Those words gave Sethlin a little comfort. At least someone felt the same way she did.
Just then, Nolan's attention was suddenly drawn to something below.
He stared downward, as if he had noticed something unusual, then pointed at the ground and said, "Look. What's that?"
Sethlin was startled by Nolan's sudden change in tone. She followed the direction of his finger in a slight panic, but saw nothing.
Though confused, Sethlin did not give up. She narrowed her eyes and looked more carefully in that direction.
Finally, in a corner of the city, she spotted a faint trace of red.
"Is that... blood?" Sethlin murmured, puzzled.
"Let's go have a look," Nolan suggested.
"What's there to see about blood?" Sethlin could not make sense of it.
"Do you see blood everywhere in Farum Azula?" Nolan asked in return.
Sethlinsax shook her head. Other than her, the other Ancient Dragons would rather be real stones.
Those Ancient Dragons could find any random place, lie down, and stay there quietly for years or even decades.
By comparison, Sethlin herself was rather restless and often liked causing little bits of trouble.
But even if she occasionally annoyed those Ancient Dragons, at most they would kick her away.
Those old fellows would never get serious, much less take things far enough to draw blood.
"Besides, don't you think there are too few Beastmen in that area?" Nolan continued.
Hearing this, Sethlin's heart tightened. She hurriedly turned her gaze toward that area and scanned it carefully.
Sure enough, just as Nolan had said, the number of Beastman guards there was clearly far lower than elsewhere.
"There are intruders over there too?" Sethlinsax's heart sank, and an ominous feeling rose inside her.
For someone to reach so deep into the area without being discovered meant the infiltrators were terrifyingly strong, strong enough that the Beastmen had died before they could even react.
Through efficient slaughter, those infiltrators had directly paralyzed Farum Azula's eastern defenses.
"What should we do? Should we tell Josda?" Sethlin suddenly had no idea what to do.
"Didn't you say they're guarding your Lord Placidusax? What if the infiltrators' target is Placidusax?" Nolan said.
"We don't know where the infiltrators are. If they go straight for Placidusax and you call the Ancient Dragons over here, wouldn't you be helping them lure the tiger away from the mountain and invite the wolf inside?"
"Right, right, right. Big Brother makes sense." Sethlinsax hurriedly nodded.
"We'll handle this ourselves," Nolan said.
"Can we really handle it?" Sethlinsax asked hesitantly.
After meeting Nolan, she had finally understood what it meant for there to always be someone stronger, and a sky beyond the sky.
She used to think about sneaking out of Farum Azula to play outside, but now she had lost that thought completely.
"With Big Brother here, what are you afraid of? Don't you trust Big Brother?" Nolan glared at her.
As it happened, he did not understand Farum Azula very well. How could he possibly let this little Ancient Dragon girl, delivered right to his door, run away?