Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

With a chicken leg hanging from Lina Inverse's mouth, she silently watched the golden-eyed Golden Dragon give a polite bow to the disguised Trickster Priest. The latter in question was perfectly expressionless while returning the formality, despite a smirking Luna in the background. Breaking into quiet peals of laughter, the bandit killer imagined Milgasia's reaction upon discovering the handsome violet-haired man's true identity.

Oh, this was going to be so good. Where's a camera when you needed one?

After hours of persuasion and coaxing (if you consider dragging said people from the buffet by the legs), the group travelled round the globe to their next destination: Sairaag. Ryo and Rui were abandoned, allowing the pair to bask in the awe and attention of the respective opposite genders in the party.

Amelia was most displeased. Shooting fiery glares at the hooded chimera, the Princess eyebrows knitted together as the memories flew back at her.

"We've found the houshi," the cursed youth's emotionless voice muttered.

"Don't hurry us, Zel, there's still a variety of desserts I want to sample!"

"You're incorrigible."

"And you don't know how to relax! Grab a sit, and let's-"

A sharp bark caused the fiery girl to leap up, spitting her mouthful of punch accurately upon Gourry's face. His quiet girlfriend instinctively wiped his face with a clean napkin. "Lina! Enough! Let's go!"

Before the quivering girl to do anything, her elder sister grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her away from the dining table…

Snatching up a cream puff, Amelia laughed. "She acts like a mouse whenever Luna-san's around."

Sapphire eyes gleamed, then came a mumble. "Levitation."

The Princess of Seryuun was floated, screaming and thrashing in a rather undignified way, out of the room.

Why didn't he just do that to Lina-san, the justice-lover huffed. His biasness to Lina-san is so blatant. Hmph.

As if on cue, both the bandit killer and the chimera sneezed simultaneously.

"Bless you," they said together.

"Thank you," returned the echo.

Even Zelgadiss mouth twitched slightly amidst Lina's laughter.

The Knight of Ceipheed suppressed the urge to widen the smirk on her face, as the Trickster Priest sent the former a mental image of himself blowing a raspberry at her.

It was mid-noon. As per usual, her little sister, quite evidently young not only physically but mentally as well, dragged the entire group for lunch at the nearest restaurant. Of course, there were two other willing participates, and all three were once again engaged in their routine battle for the "last surviving meatball". Poor meatball.

Luna raised her eyes to the ceiling with a mental sigh. All these stops for food were starting to get tedious. She has been a little too lenient upon her immature sister. The Knight's face crinkled into a smile. It was time to take action and relish the old times.

But…for now… the violet-haired woman resumed her position, displaying utmost attention, knowing well enough that it extremely irritated a certain mazoku who just had a major hair change.

"So um…"

"Sean."

"Yes, Sean san…what do you specialise in?"

There was a cough, with audible sniggers in the background. "White magic."

"I see. Out of curiosity, why are you travelling with these people?"

The handsome man hid his eyes with his bangs and instinctively lifted his hand for the usual annoying pose. "That is…." Upon receiving hard nudges in the ribs, he conceded, muttering, "…because I believe in defending our world from all those big, bad mazokus."

Nodding his head in response, the aqua-eyed Golden Dragon smiled. Listening quietly to the conversation at the corner while sipping a cup of his favourite drug, the chimera snorted.

"Big, bad mazokus?" a lady exhaled a cloud of smoke into the air. "How degrading."

Several wolves lying by her side growled softly, their fangs glistening in the darkness as they bore an almost humanly grin upon their features.

Laughing quietly, the lady stroked them all. "Yes, my dears…he is amusing indeed…quite a nice haircut I must say."

Snapping his fingers, the violet-haired man beckoned a waitress over. "I'd like a glass of water please."

The waitress blew her bangs off her face in exasperation. "Don't you ask for anything other than water?"

"Of course not. It's free." A glance was thrown upon the dust cloud at the neighbouring table. "I personally feel that adding more money to the bill would have us spending the day washing dirty dishes."

As the waitress stomped away muttering repeatedly that "the customer was always right", the blonde Dragon fixed a gaze upon the man.

"You remind me of someone."

Plastering an innocent smile across his smooth face, the violet-haired man gave his reply. "You must be mistaken." Luna wondered with a roguish grin on her face how long her partner could keep that stupid smile there without cramping his muscles. He succeeded rather well.

The Golden Dragon looked up at the azure blue sky, dotted with white clouds: the very picture of serenity. The group was on their way to the last temple, the bandit killer sporting several bruises. Her elder sister bore a noticeably satisfied expression. Closing his own golden eyes, the blond houshi smiled. "Don't you just feel at peace with such surroundings, Sean san?"

A strangled voice murmured its reply. "Yes indeed…so peaceful."

"You appear to be such a good man…an expert in white magic, a defender against evil…"

"Why, thank you," croaked the voice.

"You seem to have developed a rather…nasty twitch…Sean san."

The disguised Trickster Priest slowed his pace till he was beside the smirking Knight of Ceipheed. "You don't have to make this worse than it already is, Luna," amethyst eyes flashed indignantly at the latter. Luna's only response was to widen her smirk, while nearby, Filia sighed, wondering how dense Rairyuu's houshi could get.

Sylphiel observed the antics of the trio silently. On the surface, they appeared like such mild-mannered people. Mere mortals, they seemed. Oh how deceiving appearances could be. Can the world not be trusted anymore? Can one not accept a fragrant flower from a child and not suspect the child's innocence? The image of Hellmaster floated within her mind. Such naivete…and yet…such dark thoughts and power within. The gentle girl gave an involuntary shudder.

Sometimes I just think too much, she sighed, as her dark eyes fell upon her beloved mercenary, who was currently cracking jokes as an attempt to cheer a moping Lina up. Perhaps that's why I fell in love with Gourry…

A sudden clap broke the midnight-haired girl from her reverie.

Milgasia stepped towards a large elegant temple. "We have arrived," was the Dragon's simple announcement before he got down to work.

Karyuuou's miko watched as the blue-eyed Golden Dragon began drawing the horrendously (or rather, ridiculously) detailed magic circle.

Putting his level of density aside, Filia thought with her hair whipping around with the wind, I can't fault him for his efficiency.

Milgasia. You have done well.

The blue-eyed Dragon's face glowed with pride, before sinking down upon one knee. His head bowed, blond hair falling over his bright eyes.

"My Lord."

Open-mouthed and gaping, Gourry stared at the awesome sight of the Thunder Dragon as did the rest of the gang. Towering over them stood Rairyuu in his magnificence. His body emitted a gentle golden glow as its claw reached up to gesture upwards.