The Night Before Our Journey

"Ah, have you brought everything you need?"

The night was still young when Chiya came to the Lecture Hall. She stood in the doorway with her nightgown, which covers almost her entire body, unlike her usual daily clothing.

After idling for a while, she glared at us, her teammates who had gathered inside the room, with each holding a set of cards in our hand.

"I hope so— Heek!?" The lady jumped in shock, she felt something cold was poking on her behind. "Huh? Are they… elementals?"

As she looked to her back, there stood a couple of ice wolves with a saddle on their back. And attached to it, they carried a pair of bags on their side, all of which were filled with luggage.

"Yo Chiya, make a way! Those children are here to bring our food."

Hearing Hada shouted from inside the room, the ashen lady quickly opened the door wider so the wolves can enter. The pack ran themselves into us and we started taking out the food they brought.

"Are they another one of Lady Falisha's elementals?" Chiya then asked.

"Nope, they're Hada's, all his ice elementals are wolf-like," I answered.

"What do you mean wolf-like, look at them! They're literally a darn wolf!" Hada got so offended by my statement and angrily pointed at the shape of his elemental. It's hilarious.

"I—I see…" Awkwardly Chiya closed the door and move closer towards us. Her gaze, however, was fixated on some part of our group.

"Uh… I've never seen you guys in this class before."

She talked to the two people whose skin is as black as charcoal and whose eyes are colored in maroon red. They blankly stared back at her, and their red-black hair waves along with the sway of their head.

"Ah, I guess this is the first time you've seen them like this," I said to her.

"Huh?" The lady then looked at me, ever so confused.

"It is us, ashen one." The man of the pair then spoke, and his voice is as deep as the ocean, with the power to make the whole class tremble.

"Revian!? Then the one beside you is… Althea!? When did you guys get this small and… black?"

She was dumbfounded and glared at the two giant bodies sleeping behind us which is the beast form of the dragon twins. She then glanced back at them, slowly realizing their condition.

"They both using Universe Magic, a power bestowed to Mrs. Senaria's family so they can easily run the Guild's errand," I humbly explained.

"Hoo… that's cool! But why Kaoma (Chaos tribe)?" The way she asked was almost sounded rude yet innocent at the same time.

"You'll learn more of them later, now sit, let's play some games!" Hada yelled at her while giving her a set of 4 cards, inviting her to play 41, which is a game where 4 players raced to achieve 41 points or the highest points overall.

"Thank you but, later Your Grace, there are still things I need to check onto." She replied while allowing herself to sit right beside me, hence beginning to open her personal dimension.

"Well, your loss." Hada then moved her card to Anna's side instead. With that set, now the game will be played by himself, Revian, Althea, and my lovely spouse.

Hazana is also present in this room, but she chooses to spend her time reading some books while leaning her back on Reavian's beast body. She has a goal to increase her intelligence statistic, based on what's written on our class' gym.

"Let's go!"

While the others are playing, Chiya and I started to make a list of what we've prepared for the journey we'll be taking tomorrow.

She opened her journal and began checking every single thing based on what's written in that book, which contains a list of items we've been told to bring by Sir Mahanta.

"By the way Your Highness…" She called while her eyes were still fixated on her journal.

"Hm?" I responded. Sound only.

"Why aren't there many other archstudents here, aren't we supposed to ride before dawn?" Chiya asked.

"Well most of them are in their room at the dorm, the ones who are here are either like us who like the atmosphere of the Lecture Hall or like that cat over there who's looking for a heat source." I pointed my index finger at a Sarma who've been sleeping right on top of Althea's beast body, with a fire crystal floating closely near her.

"Cat!?" Chiya couldn't help but shift her gaze towards where my finger's heading, to satisfy her raging curiosity. After a short glance, she realized the shape of that sleeping girl resemble that of a human, but with cat ears and tail.

Just like every Sarma, she has pink-colored hair or fur…? Not really though, the only things furry are her tail and ears. Her claws, however, are sharper than any feline, though since she's a Sarma, they're meant for healing not killing, just like how being hit by the Nu Manah arrow gets us healed.

"Oh, yea… I forgot I've seen her yesterday in class, she's a Mojang Maung right?" Chiya asked whether that's the name of the girl's combat class.

"Yep, when she arrived here, she immediately pleased herself to sleep on my lap, since Genka's body is a lot hotter than other tribes, but Hada felt annoyed by it since her presence disturbed our card game, so I put a fire crystal there for her to sleep with."

Her body temperature felt kinda ominous though, she's a plant after all. However, I don't mind her on top of me at all. She possessed a skill that can revitalize anyone touched by her. The specialty of Mojang Maung.

"That's… clever I guess… speaking of which Your Highness, why do we need a bug repellent? You also asked me to buy a lotion for mosquitos…" The lady showed me the goods she prepared for tomorrow.

Insects aren't really troubling up there in the Cities Above the Clouds, the coldness there is just too harsh for those creatures to mess with humans.

"One of our destinations is a tropical rainforest, there's a ton of those tiny critters living their lives there," I answered.

"But isn't it winter right now on Land?" She looks wondered.

"There's no such thing as winter in tropical climate Chiya…" Well, I can't blame her, Kaput Island is a bit of an odd specimen.

Even though they solidly consist of a single Island, each province here had its own biome which is totally not based on their placement on earth.

Meanwhile, Selebes Island doesn't have such thing as a biome, because of Behemoth's prayer, any plant and any animal can live on every side of Selebes Island.

Technically that prayer also applied to Kaput Island, but this Island had its own rule that made each province unique to one another.

"Oh well… my personal dimension is pretty spacious anyway, and we have 4 Scientists here with us." She continued happily listing other stuff.

"Yeah… that skill is extremely convenient and overpowered."

I envy them sometimes, personal dimensions are unique only to the Scientist. Even if I'm an expert in magic like Melati for example, I'm still won't ever be able to create one.

"Look on the bright side Your Highness, we won't ever have trouble with supplies for our 4 days journey~" She realized the sadness on my face and tried to cheer me up with a bright smile.

Chiya is always pleasant to be with when the night comes, she's somehow less perverted and less masochistic under the shade of the moon.

"My Prince, you done? We're about to play the game of bullshit." Anna asked me from her circle, she knew well how I love that game.

"Wait! Almost!"