🟠 Chapter 43:
After Number Five told us everything he knew, we decided to go rescue Elithius. Since we had no idea what kind of nasty surprises the gang's headquarters might have in store for us, we brought Number Five along. He looked nervous at the idea of coming with us.
"Wait, wait! Why don't you handle this yourselves? If the boss finds me, he'll cut my head off."
But Ryo didn't care.
"You're part of the gang. Having you with us will help us sneak in and take the prince."
"Oh… I was thinking of fleeing this kingdom and faking my identity so the boss wouldn't kill me after failing to steal the prince's necklace from you. But you want to bring me along to die."
I tried to reassure him so that his fear wouldn't cause problems.
"Don't worry. If we run into trouble, we'll escape."
Still, he didn't seem convinced.
"Escape? From the gang? You must be joking. You had trouble facing me before. I don't think running will be enough."
While Number Five was complaining, Haizen punched him in the face. Then he grabbed him and said:
"Seems like you underestimate us, you handsome fool. You'll see for yourself how we'll take that prince from your lair."
"How will you do that? Number One crushed you before."
"That was before. Now the situation is different. And stop complaining—we're taking you with us anyway."
"There's nothing I can do. I'm completely tied up. My survival depends on yours. Fine, I'll rely on you."
Since things were out of his control, he had no choice but to depend on us. The situation was going to be dangerous, and we had to take the prince with as little damage as possible. This wouldn't be our final confrontation with them, of course—assuming we even got out alive the first time.
We mounted Ryo's back and set off for the gang's headquarters, guided by the location of the prince in his necklace. We flew high above the city, even higher than before. We passed the spot where we had fought Number Five to retrieve the necklace. A group of men in black and white royal attire were patrolling the area. I asked Ryo about them.
"Ryo, who are those men? Are they police?"
"They're the capital guards. Seems like they noticed what happened between us and Number Five back there."
While we observed the scene below, Number Five asked a question I had been thinking about.
"Hey, dragon, aren't you from the palace? Won't they notice you were there?"
It was a strange thought. Hadn't the citizens noticed this before? Curious, I asked Ryo to explain.
"I'm not well-known among the city's residents. I only roam around the palace or outside the capital when necessary. If someone reports seeing a dragon to the guards, they might recognize me, but it doesn't matter. Once we recover the prince, I'll explain everything to the palace."
He didn't seem too worried about being discovered. He'd tell them anyway once we recovered the prince. But one thing seemed off—most city residents wouldn't call this creature a dragon. They'd probably call it a flying lizard.
We continued following the necklace, which led us to one side of the city. There was a large market bustling with people, filled with all kinds of fruits and vegetables. But there was a problem—Ryo was too huge to move among the crowd. I told him.
"Ryo, you're enormous. You can't go through the crowd like that."
He looked at me with a smile and said:
"Don't worry, I have a good idea."
I hoped it was better than the eel-fish incident. He landed on one of the neighboring six-story residential buildings. We were on the roof, and Haizen and I lowered Number Five, who was still tied up. I asked Ryo how he planned to handle the problem.
"So how will you deal with your size? Do you have a magical tool to shrink yourself, or can you take a human form?"
Ryo shook his head, confirming my guesses were wrong.
"No, neither of those. It's simple. Remember the stone the prince hides his belongings in?"
"You mean the trash bin? Yeah, I remember… wait, are you going to fit inside it?"
"Exactly."
Amazing. His ideas were incredibly simple. I thought he'd be smarter. Didn't he consider that we'd have to deal with this ourselves, even though he was the one closest to the prince?
"You want us to attack without you?"
"Unfortunately, there's no other way. We can't draw attention. But once you get inside their headquarters, I can come out of the stone."
"Fine. Haizen, are you okay with this?"
Haizen nodded.
"Yes, I have no problem with it."
Ryo tossed the storage stone toward me so I could pull it.
"Alright, do it."
I aimed the stone at him. Ryo was drawn into it until he disappeared completely. I didn't even know living creatures could fit inside that stone. I couldn't have done this with my own skill.
Once that problem was solved, we had another—Number Five was tied up. Passing him through the crowd like that would draw suspicion. Haizen noticed and asked how we'd handle him.
"What should we do with him now? If we free him, that gravity skill of his will be a nuisance. If we don't, people will wonder. Any ideas?"
Number Five seemed happy that we were struggling with the problem of taking him along.
"Don't bother, guys. There's no point in taking me with you anyway. What will you even gain from me?"
Then an idea struck me. It might work, though Haizen might not like it.
🟧 Narrator's POV:
In the capital's fruit and vegetable market, there was a man in a black suit with a black cloth covering his head. He was pushing a cart full of oranges when a girl noticed the fruit and wanted to buy some.
"How much for these oranges, merchant?"
The man in black looked a little nervous at her approach and tried a poor trick to make her leave.
"Actually, each orange costs two gold coins."
Two gold coins was a lot for one orange, but the girl didn't mind.
"Perfect! I'll take five then."
The man in black was surprised by her insistence.
"Wait, you fool, why are you buying five? Don't you see that's expensive?"
The girl didn't care.
"Fine, here you go. Ten gold coins, now give me the oranges."
The merchant had no choice. He handed her the five oranges, but when he picked up the fifth, something resembling a foot appeared in the cart. The girl noticed immediately.
"Hey, what's that?"
The merchant hid it under the other oranges, trying to evade her gaze.
"Nothing. Take your oranges and forget what you saw."
"Thanks. You know, I really need these oranges. I think they'll help me in the elite exam. Some stranger who fell from the sky destroyed my personal business… oh, he's gone."
The merchant didn't care about her story and continued walking until he reached a trading company's headquarters. There, two guards noticed him. Seeing his hair, one said:
"Look, it's Number Five."
The other added:
"He looks kinda weird. Why is there a black cloth over his head? Doesn't he have a hood with his suit? That cloth looks separate."
When he reached them, they greeted him.
"Hello, Number Five. What've you got there?"
The man in black said:
"What the boss requested."
The two guards were a bit surprised since the voice didn't come from the man but from the cart, but they ignored it. The man grabbed the oranges and asked the guards:
"Would you two like some oranges?"
They agreed.
"Oh, thank you, Number Five. We don't know what you brought, but thanks for the oranges."
As soon as the guards took the two oranges, they exploded in their faces.