Their travels proved to be safe and boring. Though boring was probably a trivial word since the dragon used that time to monopolize Cale and Hans' attention to ask roughly a million questions.
Thanks to the dragon's relentless questions, Hans was now privy to the same knowledge that Ron and Beacrox possessed. The deputy butler now knew of Cale's past-or for a lack of a better term, the life he lived before. It wasn't Cale's intention to have Hans aware of this, it was just easier to tell him so that he could answer the dragon's questions easier and without lying, and since the deputy butler was always in the carriage with him, Cale decided to tell him his tale.
They finally arrived at the dusty, dirty, boring city of rocks. Small rock towers were on every porch or windowsill of every house. Restaurants and inns had gardens with rock towers as their center pieces. Everything was plain, boring, and brown.
Cale sighed as the carriage was led to one of the better inns in Puzzle City. Inside the carriage with him were Hans, Ron, and the black dragon. Outside of the carriage was Beacrox, the driver, and two knights. Cale had insisted to his father that knights were unnecessary for a simple vacation that no one even knew he was taking. He had obviously lost that argument but was lucky to only be granted with two knights instead of the ten that his father originally wanted.
He needed to thank his stepmother when he saw her next time. She had persuaded his father to allow him to have some freedom with the minimum amount of protection needed. The only problem, the two knights were the vice captain, Hillsman, and another high-grade knight, Moyle.
Cale and the invisible black dragon left to explore the city with Ron while the others stayed behind to unload the luggage.
Being back in Puzzle City was strange for Cale. When he was in his early twenties, this city had been completely destroyed when White Star released monsters upon it. The monsters had been a terrifying ordeal that had demolished quite a few cities in the Roan Kingdom and even made their way to neighboring kingdoms, wreaking havoc across the Western Continent.
There had been eight monsters in total along with White Star and his forces. The King, Alberu Crossman, and the punk bastard, Choi Han, were able to take out half of the monsters with the help of their closest allies.
Everything was blurring together. The barren city filled with ruined buildings and dead mana was overlapping with the bustling pristine present version of the city.
"Are you all right, Young Master?" Ron asked, noticing the blank, teary-eyed look on his young master's face.
"Yes. It's strange to see this place not ruinous." And it was. The boring brown colored city was surprisingly lively. "It's very lively, though I don't understand how Taylor Stan was able to stay here for so long."
During his brief and scary run-in with the crazy priestess on the battlefield, he had run into her again at a bar. Most of the people he met in his past life he had met in a bar or on the battlefield. One place was where he felt safe and normal, while the other one was where he tried to end his life on so many occasions.
Ron gave him a confused look. "Do you mean before? To the best of my knowledge, Young Master Taylor has never stayed in Puzzle City."
Cale nodded his head in affirmative. "Before, he never gained the use of his legs back. Still don't know how he accomplished that," Cale muttered. That had been big news in the Roan Kingdom. Taylor Stan had made a deal with his highness, Alberu Crossman, and the next day Taylor had the use of his legs. "In the past, he and the curse crazy bitch," Cale actually really liked Cage. She was certainly entertaining company when out drinking, "stayed here for probably close to a year. I don't know how they did it, this place seems boring to me."
-"Human! Human!" The young voice of the dragon filled his mind. "I want to eat that!"
Cale looked around to find that the only place serving food was a small stand selling skewers. He sent Ron to get them a bundle while he led the invisible dragon to an empty spot hidden from the view of onlookers.
"Here you go, Young Master." Ron had returned with the steaming food. He handed one skewer stick to Cale while giving the rest to the dragon. "I know street food is not up to your standard, Young Master, so just bear with it until we return to the inn. Beacrox will have your meal prepared for you upon our return."
Cale sniffed the roasted meat and vegetables. He ate the skewer with little to no complaint. He still preferred exquisite food made from the best ingredients but he wasn't going to complain too much when it came to edible food. As long as it wasn't greasy, rat meat, bugs, or grass then he could probably stomach it. He really hated being out on the battlefield, especially when rations were limited.
They finished their food and made their way to the center of the city. The dragon chatted happily in his head as it flew above the stone towers.
-"Do they really make your wish come true?"
"I'm not sure." Cale was pretty sure that the wish thing was just a gimmick but he wasn't going to spoil the dragon's fun by telling him that.
-"Can we build a stone tower?"
"Sure. Find some stones that you like and you can build one on the window ledge when we get back to the inn."
"Don't take any from preexisting towers," Cale added as an afterthought.
Cale really should have known. Instead of taking a few minutes to scour for rocks nearby, the young dragon took a whole hour scouring the city for the perfect stones.
They entered the room that Hans had reserved and Cale slid into the chair with a sigh. Ron sat a glass down in front of him and poured him some of the wine that he had brought with them. The old butler had quickly learned that Cale preferred sweet wine on long, hard, or boring days. He was just glad that Ron no longer tried shoving lemon tea down his throat everyday after Cale had thrown the teacup, shattering it against his bedroom door one day.
"I'll inform Beacrox that we have returned," Ron told him before leaving.
Cale brought the glass to his lips and took a tentative sip after swirling the contents. Being a lout may have been a cover but fine wine was to die for.
The now visible black dragon had the window opened and was carefully stacking the stones. His happy mumblings filled Cale's ears as the rich and fruity wine slid down his throat.
"Done! Look human!" The dragon pointed a talon at the very straightly made rock tower. Was that why it took so long to find the rocks he wanted to use? Nearly every single rock was round and flat.
"Impressive." The little dragon's chest puffed up with Cale's compliment. "What did you wish for?"
The dragon's tail drooped and his excited smile turned small and unsure. The dragon looked away from him and tapped its claws together. "I wished for a name." The dragon turned trembling eyes onto him and his voice grew louder with false confidence. "I have decided to allow you to give me a name! Give me a good one and I may decide to use it!"
Cale caught the glass from slipping out of his hand. The way the dragon had asked Cale to give him a name would have been cute if it wasn't so shocking and horrifying. How was he supposed to name a dragon? This dragon was a little different from the dragon's described from the legends but he was pretty sure a common name wasn't going to cut it. Did that mean he would have to make up a whole new one?
"I'll come up with something just for you," Cale told the dragon with his own false confidence and an arrogant smirk plastered on his face before downing the rest of his drink. This was going to be a long and mentally exhausting vacation.