Making the Royal land his next destination, Michael left Aragoth before asking Olivia to send a message to the Sunrise sect about his sudden departure. This time Michael didn't mount the pegasus but used his flying sword to soar through the skies with Gaya. Each and every second mattered to Michael, while on his way to the Royal land, he tried to probe the system about a cure for the Baby dragon but the heartless system remained silent, no matter how desperate he was to save his baby dragon.
Although the system bailed on him when he needed it the most, he somewhat felt the system had no choice but to ignore him. He missed the snarky comments, the little interactions with this greedy system, he hoped the badass system would return to its normal state soon.
Good thing he met Oliva at the time when the baby dragon fell ill or he would have been clueless about how to save the scaly bastard. Surprisingly, Gaya took turns in cradling and caring for her frenemy. He could tell that she's missing the baby dragon despite the pointless enmity between them. Her motherly instincts kicked in, making her worry about the baby dragon. Even after houses of non stop flying, she only spoke a couple of times with him, the rest of the time, she cleaned the blood off the dragon and gently poured healing potion into its mouth as well as applied the potion on its greyish scale.
"We'll save you dicky, I promise" when Michael was looking at the distant sky, she whispered in the dragon's ear, she then gently kissed him on the head.
"Hu" the baby dragon startled her by letting out a weak 'hu',
"Human look!" he stopped flying after the sudden shout came from behind, he turned back to see the baby dragon lying in her hands with slightly opened eyes. Michael came to the baby dragon with a loving smile on his face, "keep fighting champ, we'll cure you" he too put a gentle kiss on the dragon's head
The three of them hovered in the sky like a family, she cradled the dragon-like he was her baby while Michael was the big daddy of this small family. He wanted to cherish this relationship with her and the baby dragon.No matter how strong he became, these two would always be his family, if anyone tries to even harm a single hair on their body, he would massacre their entire bloodline.
The fire of healing the baby dragon burned brighter and hotter within their hearts as they resumed flying towards the Royal land where the Emperor resides.
Both of them continued to fly stopping only to replenish the Arch Energy in their body, even Michel wasn't an exception to this. During these small breaks, she did not eat anything, not even a biscuit, this showed how serious she was.
At least something good came out of all this, Michael thought looking at her cradling the baby dragon. After all, there was no real reason for them to fight in the first place, he was a baby while she was a fully grown adult, they didn't have to carry the torch of enmity between the two races.
The baby dragon was acting on his instincts, Gaya on the other hand just hated Dragon for no good reason but he could tell that she's changing, at least she would no longer want him dead.
Eventually, after traveling for five continuous days, they saw the outskirts of a buzzing city surrounded by gigantic walls. Outside the walls, lush green fields, wheat fields that looked like golden blankets, crisscrossing rivers, and small yet charming houses filled the land. What made the kingdom look extremely vibrant and majestic was the ocean behind it, the rising sun painted the blue ocean and the walls with its golden rays, making the city within the walls look like a city made of gold.
However Michael was not in the mood to bask in the beauty, he wanted to get into the city and began searching for this so-called Doctor.
"Flying is prohibited in this kingdom, we have to walk" Time was in the essence but they had no choice, they descended to land on a stone-paved road. Lines of fancy carriages with various flags on top of them, groups of people, and merchant carriages moved towards the gigantic main gate made of silvery metal. The two of them barely attracted any attention as many cultivators like them descended when they reached the outskirts to comply with the no-flying rule.
Michael hated to wait in the line behind all these carriages yet he could not do anything. He might be a mighty existence in the River town but here, he was like a small fish, he realized this factor after noticing numerous Core Formation cultivators going in and coming out of the city.
While moving at a snail's pace, Michael noticed shrieks and cries coming from the merchant carriage in front of him. He looked through the door crack to see green humanoid creatures and vaguely saw a few human faces.
"Slave Traders" Looking at the curiosity on his face, Gaya whispered.
"And those are goblins, nasty creatures" She growled. Since he could do nothing but wait patiently, he decided to ponder more about these Slave traders. If he created a list of disgusting things that needed to be gotten rid of, slave traders would definitely hit the top.
"Tell me about these slave traders, can we buy elves?"
"Where did you get that idea?" his question made her raise brows,
"No, you can't, enslaving another race is forbidden by the church and the Guardians" Michael was confused, if enslaving was forbidden what the heck is happening in front of him,
"Those are crooks and outlaws, human. Those goblins were probably banished from their tribe for their crimes while those humans may be rapists, murders, or both. When they commit a crime punishable by death, some kings would give them two choices, death or enslavement. Many would choose the first but some prefer to live as a slave than die as a free soul, and you, do you have an elf fetish?" she pinched him hard on the shoulder, it was not a question but rather a warning.
"Nope" He shook his head,
"So does this rule apply to every kingdom in this continent?" Michael asked while running the spot she mercilessly pinched him,
"Pretty much yes, in some kingdoms in Ozer Continent however give slaves the option to become a gladiator in arenas for the pleasure of nobles"
"Gladiators?" How could Michael not know who gladiators are? The mere mention of the word Gladiators brought back the sweet memories of many tv shows and movies he watched, each and every gladiator was a badass.
"Of course, not anyone can become a gladiator, a rich noble should first decide to buy the slaves and train them in their own school of gladiators. Survive long enough in the arena, a gladiator could get the glory, gold, and even freedom but I never heard of a gladiator who survived the arena to earn freedom from their masters"
At this moment, Michael wanted to go to one of the kingdoms that have arenas and gladiators, if he could buy a small army of Gladiators somehow, he would become unstoppable in the future. The Dark Lord could definitely use the Gladiators to his advantage.
"State your purpose of visiting the Royal land" Eventually Michael was a couple of carriages behind to enter the city within the walls.
"I'm a humble merchant sir guard and I'm here to deliver the goods ordered by his royal highness, the secon-"
"Go" the head guard immediately let in the slave trader in front of Michael.
The guard did not ask any further questions as he opened the gates while Michael stepped forward to meet the guard,
"State your purpose of visiting the Royal Guard," The head guard who clad in full iron plane armor asked Michael.
"This is our vacation period-"
"Fifty gold" Gaya was interjected by the guard. She didn't seem upset though because she knew the guards had no time to listen to all their stories.
Nodding her head, she quickly placed a pouch of coins in the guard's hand. Just by weighing the pouch in his hand, the guard guessed the amount inside. The guard behind the head guard gestured at them to enter through the small door beside the main gate, they were just too lazy and sluggish to welcome these travelers with any pleasantries.
The inner city of Royal Land was built along the banks of a mighty river and was truly an architectural metropolis. The skyline was littered with impressive towers and majestic buildings made of marble as well as stones that shone in the daylight and more seemed to be on their way. Its charm was matched by the backdrop of pristine skies which have helped shape the city into what it is today.
The city itself looked simply gorgeous. Many houses had pinewood rooftops, oak wood walls, and luscious gardens.
The streets were paved with stones and filled with a buzzing crowd. Since Michael had no idea of where to find the Doctor, he decided to find the place that's filled with rumors and actionable intel, an Inn.