Liora and Izaru were in the carriage now. With the prince.
The carriage smelled faintly of polished wood, royal incense, and… Liora's excitement. Which was the strongest smell of all.
"Why are you so excited to go to a palace?" Izaru asked, arms crossed, voice flat. "Haven't you been to the Demon King's palace before?"
"Nope," she chirped. "I was stationed at the Assassin's HQ."
"…So you've never seen it?"
"Nope."
"Are there many other creepy buildings like those?"
"Yep!"
"Then where's he gonna do the ritual?"
"At the Fallen Shrine. Supposed to be a scary place from what I heard."
"You heard?" Izaru raised a brow. "So you've never been there?"
"Nope. Only the Demon King knows where it is. He discovered it a few years ago."
"Umm…" Prince Cain's small voice cut in. "What are you two talking about?"
"Oh. You don't know, huh?" Izaru leaned back lazily. "I'm just here to save my students. They're basically the heroes."
Cain's eyes widened. "You're their teacher?! No way!"
"Why? Do I not look teacher-y enough?" Izaru deadpanned.
"I met them! They told me about their teacher. I didn't know it was you!" Cain practically bounced on the seat.
"You know them?" Izaru asked, actually interested now.
"Yes! They were summoned to our Kingdom. In our palace, actually."
"Didn't they tell you my name?"
"They did. I just… forgot." Cain shrank a little. "Sorry."
Izaru sighed. "It's fine. At least you didn't call me 'Hey you.'"
"Rude," Liora muttered with a smirk.
"Anyway," Izaru continued, "you know anything about this shrine?"
"I don't," Cain admitted, shaking his head. "But there might be records in the Royal Library. You could check there."
"Thanks." Izaru nodded.
The carriage jolted to a stop. Howls echoed from the trees. All three peeked out—and there they were.
Five glittering, writhing, armoured nightmares.
"Mythril Centipedes?!" Cain squeaked. "The knights aren't strong enough to kill those!"
Izaru groaned. "Great. Giant shiny noodles." Then he waved lazily. "I don't feel like fighting right now. Liora. You're up."
"Okie!" Liora hopped out of the carriage with way too much energy. "Time to stomp some bugs!"
Izaru muttered under his breath as he leaned against the door. "She's gonna enjoy this way too much, isn't she?"