The remaining journey to Daria was as uneventful as it could've been. Apart from a few kobolds and goblins, rarely any real threat tried to assault the Duke's convoy. Was it the effect of being escorted by the dragonkin, or mere coincidence Haruki couldn't know, and neither did he cared to find out at this point.
"You mentioned something about not being able to cross the tundra, why is that?" Glancing at Tiara through the open carriage window, Haruki decided to clear his doubt before they reached Daria.
"Hmm?" Resting her index on her lips, she peered upwards as if thinking about something. "I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you, only the first duke was supposed to know all the details."
Doing a playful flip in the air as she followed the carriage, Tiara gave Haruki an innocent wide grin. From the look on her face, it was clear that she was more aware of the situation than she was letting on, nut making her spill out any secret won't be easy task.
"Can you hear that?" Still traveling in the Duke's carriage, Jenna's ears perked up upon hearing something unusual. "Are those...drums?"
"You can hear them too?" Doroke added while flying on the other side of the carriage. "Seems like they have made quite the preparations for your arrival, Duke!"
Unsure as to what he meant, Haruki got off of his seat and leaned into the coachman's window. There as he looked into the distance, he saw hordes of men with drums standing by the city gates, and right behind them were countless attractive women swaying their hips in wait for his arrival.
"Stop! Everyone stop!" Clasping her hands, Tiara ordered the carriages to halt.
However, with the final authority laying with Haruki, they didn't slow down until he gave his approval to Jenna so she could pass it down further. Once the convoy carriages came to a halt, the adventurers were left a bit baffled about why they had to stop so close to the city gates.
"Lord Frost, why have we stopped?" Kane asked as soon as Haruki got off the carriage.
"Ask the dragonkin," referring him to Tiara, he moved forward to get a better look at the vibrant duchy lush with greenery.
Unlike Laria, the city of commerce was brimming with wildlife and vitality of nature. Rabbits hopped in its forever spring forest, and the bird chirped about happily while gliding through the skies. The warm rays of the sun falling on Haruki's skin reminded him of the time he had first woken up in the forest with his new demonic body.
'So much has happened,' opening his eyes, he glanced over to the infamous Phoenix castle. 'But this is just the start of my revenge, the life in these lands will be mine to crumble and corrupt.'
Amplified by the effect of sadism, Haruki's desire for revenge was ever-growing.
"We can't go further from here, mama will get angry if she learns we invaded a city," Tiara's voice from the background, brought Haruki back to the present.
"Yeahhh...after uncle killed a bunch of humans last time, sh-Agh!" digging her nails into her brother's arms, she stopped him mid-sentence.
'Again with the secrecy?' As curious as he was, Haruki had other much more important matters to attend to. Turning back to the adventurers, he walked back over to his carriage.
"We shouldn't waste any more of our time sitting here then, if they wanna leave let them leave," ordering the others, Haruki climbed back into the carriage.
A bit dubious about the whole thing, the adventurers exchange unsure glances at each other. What irked them wasn't the straightforward behavior of the duke, but how ungrateful he sounded towards the two dragonkins. After all, they had helped severely in escorting Snow safely so they at least deserved more than a casual brush-off.
"Your mother, Rose..." Noticing the concern in everyone's eyes, Haruki decided to at least pretend to be somewhat grateful to the siblings. "She's well, I'll let her know you two are doing good on your own too."
"Really?!" Flying straight into the carriage, Tiara wrapped her arms around Haruki, shortly followed by Doroke wrapping Haruki in a hug. "Tell mama, we miss her!"
Sniffling under their breaths, their grasp on Haruki tightened. It was clear that they missed her a lot, and if possible Haruki wouldn't have minded two new dragon guards defending the castle, but judging from how they kept dodging the question as to why they can't cross the tundra, he had little hope in them ever accepting that offer.
"We should go now, Tiara, Doroke, please get off of Master," Asuka ordered the siblings from outside the carriage. The contorted look on her face made her jealousy apparent to everyone.
Watching her cheeks puff up like a child, the adventures around her, couldn't help from bursting into giggles and laughter. Realizing their gazes on her, Asuka eyes widened in shame before covering her face in embarrassment.
"Don't laugh!" She complained, and yet it took a while for laughs to die down.
As the silly moment passed, it was time for Haruki and the others to part with the siblings. Spreading their wings wide open, they waved their hand at everyone before leaping high up in the sky away from the sight of any onlookers.
'Now, what am I supposed to do with this thing?' Before taking their leave, Tiara had infused the brooch with some stabilizing magic. According to her, the reason Haruki fainted so easily after using its power was simply that it was draining too much mana cause of its instability from being used after so long. 'It seems like, that girl knows more about the Frost family than me.'
Tucking the brooch back into his clothes, Haruki and the adventurers finally made their way to the castle gates. Unbeknownst to them, the false fanfare and celebrations were merely a facade being put up by the duchess, who expected nothing but rotting corpses inside the convoy carriages.
To her surprise, however, as she stood by the gates with wide open arms, Margarette Phoenix was in for a surprise.
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