Meriel looked down on the city that must have been Manilir. The bells started ringing only seconds ago, probably some of the guards noticing them. But it was too late. Only a few seconds separated him from landing in the city. He would surely cause a large disturbance. Probably already has, but disturbance was what he needed, or at least he told himself that.

  He gripped onto the wing of Aurelia as strongly as he could and shouted: "Land!"

  The dragon immediately began descending faster than before. Not fast enough to throw him off, and Meriel could feel that she was slowing herself down for his sake, making him appreciate her even more. They spoke a little after she agreed to be a bit more casual yesterday, and Meriel finally felt like they broke the ice between them quite a bit.

  No time for distractions now, though.

  The dragon hit the ground very quickly, and at an angle, so a large cloud of dust shot into the air as her feet connected. All of the elves cleared the area, and Meriel couldn't see anyone except the guards on the wall. But slowly, as he climbed down from Aurelia's back, some of the elves from the surrounding stalls began reappearing again. Looking over cautiously as they saw a human climb down from the back of the dragon.

  Meriel finally climbed down and patted Aurelia gently, telling her to shift back into her human form. Immediately she began forming into the form he knew her as, and the elves around seemed to be even more confused.

  Soft clings of metal hitting stone made Meriel turn around to them, and he saw an elven guard who looked like a human in his forties, holding onto a spear aimed at Meriel as he approached. "Hold," the man said, and Meriel nodded.

  "I am not here to attack or to do anything aggressive, but I would like to speak to the mayor if possible," Meriel said calmly, and the guard's ears twitched almost like an animal's. The man was a tall one, a little taller than Meriel himself was. But Elsa prepared him for the average height of the elves, at least somewhat. Meriel had also heard that Lavarzans were taller than the other nationalities around them. Just how tall did these elves need to be?

  "Why are you here then? And where is that dragon?" The elf said, looking around as if such a large creature could hide behind the corner.

  "Right here," Aurelia replied, nodding gently. The man looked between the two, his eyes going from Meriel to Aurelia and then back again several times over, and then he put the butt of the spear on the ground and shook his head.

  "They don't pay me enough for this all," he mumbled, and walked closer. "Well, I assume the dragon could have already killed me, so… welcome to Egoros, I suppose. How did you tame a dragon?"

  "Business secret," Meriel smirked and looked towards the center of the city, chuckling inwardly as the guard rolled his eyes at Meriel’s reply.

  The town wasn't large, truth be told. But elves didn't like to gather in one place like the humans did. Instead, they had an epicenter for trading and other things that any civilization needed but preferred staying high in trees around the city, making short walks instead of populating one dense area. Meriel quite liked it, truth be told, but it wasn't feasible for any other civilization.

  The trees here were almost magical in how majestic they were. Their canopies so thick that one could imagine even building houses there. Well, he didn't even have to imagine, for that's exactly what the elves did.

  There were tens of guards now, coming in hot. All of them were wearing the same green and silver clothing that the guard in front of Meriel did. But they seemed younger, more muscular. All of them had the look of apprehension on their faces as they aimed their spears at Meriel and Aurelia.

  But thankfully, the man who spoke to Meriel just moments ago immediately walked forward, aiming to meet them just a few paces away. Meriel only stood still.

  "Master, do I get rid of the threat?" Aurelia asked, and Meriel almost shivered at how emotionless her voice was when speaking of murdering dozens of innocents. Apparently, he would have to teach her some ethics as well.

  "No. We don’t solve problems by killing. I need… to be a non-threat to them. Our arrival was just for show, so they take us seriously."

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  "Why not do something like that back in Mura then?" she asked, putting her finger on her face while thinking.

  Meriel almost groaned. Yes, yes, apparently dragons think alike. "We'll see about that, okay?" He did think about it a bit more than was the truth, but if he could spend time with Elsa in Mura, then he would prefer to hide his identity. After all, nobody would bother a dropout university student, but they would bother the legendary mage.

  "Tell me if you change your mind, Master." Aurelia bowed slightly and put her hands on her lap, looking over the guards nearby with a dangerous expression. Meriel looked at the guards again and the one who met them first had already turned back to them and was closing the distance.

  "Well, I don't know why exactly you need to speak to someone in charge, but your request has been granted. Follow me, I'll take you to the Mayor's Hall." He ordered and turned away without giving them a second to reply.

  Well, that was easy. I should do diplomacy with a dragon at my side more often.

  The man was still shivering visibly as he walked away, but it wasn't quite as bad as some of the others who looked ready to faint, almost as if a ghost walked amidst them.

  "These elves look strange, Master," Aurelia mused as they walked in between the houses made from wood.

  "Strange? How?" He gruffed.

  "Well, I expected them to be like humans, but only have pointed ears, like Brother Ziggy. But they look strange. More feeble than humans do. Also taller. I haven't seen almost any humans quite as tall as the average male here is," she said and pointed to the guards walking in front of them. Several were walking behind them too, of course, giving them an escort straight to the heart of the city.

  "Ziggy isn't a true elf. I don't know why he even looks like an elf at all, but the elves are a bit strange, I agree. But who wouldn't be strange, when you spend centuries doing the same menial task? One century was enough for me, and doing that over and over again doesn't seem like something I'd be keen on doing. It's just a different perspective on life. Not just the physical aspects." He looked at Aurelia now, saying the next few sentences in a quieter tone.

  "When dealing with elves, always remember that they look at life on the whole continent like something that changes constantly but doesn't affect them. Just like we humans think of the weather. You've been alive for only a little, but you will understand this later on."

  If Aurelia had anything more to say, then she chose not to do so, and she only nodded and let Meriel focus on the town in front of him. He expected the elves to live in a different way than the humans of Lavarza did, but didn't quite expect so many differences.

  First off, the elves were not many. For every house he saw, he could maybe count three or four elves walking around the streets, and that was with him getting their attention by walking in the middle of a giant procession. He was used to large crowds in the markets, especially during the festivals, and although the elves didn't have quite as many holidays as the humans of Lavarza did, they didn't need any merchandise to keep themselves going. How this whole society functioned was completely alien to him, though not in a bad way.

  As he noticed before, all of the houses were made from wood. But they didn't seem like the wooden structures humans would make, carved and made from several symmetrical pieces. No, these buildings looked like trees in and of themselves. Each one completely different from the next. It was still easy to distinguish what was what because of how the front and the decoration of the tree looked. And also because of how different the sizes were, but it was definitely a strange experience. It felt like Meriel was a giant walking through a forest yet there was a shop in every corner.

  Another thing he noticed was the fact that there were no kids. Not an uncommon thing to see in elven cities, or at least Elsa told him so. Apparently, although they could ‘make’ more elves when needed, the elves always preferred to live only for themselves. And whenever they made kids, they made several in a short span and then lived on, having done their part in keeping the natural order of things, as they would dub it.

  The largest building or tree was visible from all around. However, it was almost as tall as the trees around the clearing, but what it lacked in height it substituted in girth. It was huge. Not as large as the Academy of course, but as wide as several houses stacked next to each other. There were openings all around with some elves peeking out of the windows, all of them wearing the guard's clothes like the men in front of him.

  Meriel even thought about talking to the guard who he met first, but he quickly decided not to. He didn't want to make any connections here. He only needed Elsa to get to her as quickly as possible, and then he would be out.

  There was no door, nothing to block them from coming inside. Several of the guards stopped outside, with the guard they met first guiding them forward. A few guards remained at Meriel's side.

  Were they taking him lightly? Or did they assess that they couldn't stop him no matter how many there were? Honestly, he wasn't quite so sure about which one was the case, or whether he could beat them all. Aurelia was formidable, surely, but the elves were well-trained and had centuries to master their fighting ability.

  But they had no magic. No access to mana.

  He told himself to focus more and stepped into the town house. He was one step closer to Elsa. He could feel it in his bones.