Object Recognition

Sabedra sailed ahead towards where she believed Melhnora was, at a slower pace to accommodate me. Her confidence in her navigation skills vanished after finding a valley of bones where a river had been. It turned out that maps in hundred-year-old books were vastly inaccurate. I was more concerned about the unknown bones, but Sabedra only cursed the author for giving her wrong information. She eventually conceded and consulted the Melhnora map, which had stayed in my pocket even through the chaos.

I was grateful for the short breaks from flying, giving me time to rest from the tiring wrist-holding and the turbulent flight. Somehow Sabedra had the energy to hunt for food, and she did that while in her dress.

Our nights were spent in the gentle embrace of the greenery growing from the soil. I didn’t sleep on top of a tree because Sabedra said other creatures wouldn’t dare approach a dragon. She had been wrong about things before, but I trusted her this time. I just wanted an excuse to sleep on something soft.

To my surprise, every night I could fall asleep after lying down for a while. And this time, I gave up on tracing the reason behind my improved sleep quality. It would just be unfounded speculation anyway.

We travelled for three days. According to the map, we should be close to our destination. I kept my eyes peeled, scanning the forest terrain, although the mountains blocked my view. I might see better if Sabedra flew higher, but she kept saying that she couldn’t stand the high altitude.

Finally, I could see a giant structure in the distance.

It was a tower of sorts. Brown, with some branching sections jutting outward.

“Is that a tree?” I asked.

“Absolutely not. That’s the leg of a dead titan.”

“Then what are those branches?”

“Giant arrows designed to kill titans.”

“Then where is the rest of the body? And why is the proportion of the leg so weird?”

“The arrows were enchanted, cursing the titan’s severed leg to rough up and grow.”

So… basically a tree?

“These titans… are any of them still alive?” I asked. If they were still around, that would be horrifying. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t have asked and enjoyed my ignorance.

“I think not. I’ve never seen one. And I’ve never heard of rumors of living titans.”

As we flew closer to the colossal leg, I noticed patches of green growing from the branches.

“Tell me those aren’t leaves,” I said. It might be a tree after all.

“Those aren’t leaves,” Sabedra replied, “because this isn’t a tree.” Arguing with her wouldn’t get me anywhere, so I should just leave it at that.

“Looks like we are almost at the city.” At our current pace, we should get to the tree… titan’s leg in less than ten minutes.

“Indeed, we are,” Sabedra said as she made a swerve, carrying me away from the tree.

“Where are you flying to?”

“Where else but the city?”

“Then why are you flying away from it?”

“What nonsense are you talking about? Look forward.” I reluctantly adjusted my gaze to where we were flying towards.

She was right. There was a bland city lying on one of the mountains. Mostly built from stone, it was as boring a city as one could create. It looked more like a moldy pizza that had landed on a hill. Why did I think that the city was around the tree? I shouldn’t have based my thoughts on stereotypes from Earth, where elves don’t even exist.

“That is Melhnora? Why is its name more creative than its architecture?” I asked without thinking. After saying that, I apologized to Lyla in my mind.

“The city is built for mining mana stones. Only merchants visit this place. There is no need to decorate it.” Sabedra said.

“Mana stones are used to make magic tools, right?” Like Zeroc’s cooler that I broke.

“And for mana potions, which are an expensive way to recover mana.”

“What is the cheaper way then?”

“Mana recovery could also happen naturally from eating. But I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“Why not?”

“Because your body can’t store mana anyway.”

My heart shook at her response. How did I not realize the logical conclusion to the lack of mana in my blood? No matter how much I knew about psychology, it wouldn’t help me use mental magic. I wanted to brood over this revelation, but something more pressing was before us.

We were close enough to see the pizza crust… I meant city walls clearly. And it seemed like we had a welcoming party, which comprised a line of elves aiming their bows at us. My heart somehow reacted less violently than when Sabedra crushed my dreams of using magic.

“Don’t worry. I can take them.” Sabedra said, probably loud enough for the elves to hear. I couldn’t read their expressions to confirm whether they heard it because they were all wearing what appeared to be sunglasses. Anyone could guess that the “sunglasses” were clearly magic items that could assist their shooting accuracy.

More importantly, I heard Sabedra’s declaration loud and clear. And that sent me into a greater panic than when she threatened to incinerate me.

“No. No. No. Don’t hurt anyone. Just block their arrows. I repeat, don’t hurt anyone. You don’t want to start a war, don’t you? Promise me-”

Sabedra shot up to a greater height, shutting me up in the process. “I know. Can you put a little faith in me? I didn’t change into my dragon form, did I?”

Well, restrained wasn’t the word I would use to describe Sabedra. When she hunted for food during our trip, it was more like an act of deforestation. The loud thud of trees falling was still fresh in my mind. If she were careless, she could destroy the city.

She drew in a deep breath and shouted, “I am Sabedra, the Dragon of Knowledge. Bow before me, you peasants!” I wanted to cover my ears, because of both the volume and her disastrous wording, but my only hand was holding onto Sabedra’s wrist.

An elf standing near the center of their formation fired a warning shot that missed us deliberately.

“Okay, they started it,” Sabedra said.

“That was a warning shot! Can’t you tell?”

“Obviously, and that counts as them starting something.”

“Can you let me talk to them?”

“I can’t let you speak for me.”

Just when I was dreading what would happen next, the elves gradually lowered their bows. I saw a conspicuous figure with a different outfit from the other elves, having more parts of its body covered with silky green than the reflective silver of armor.

A voice broadcast from the city walls. “Lady Sabedra, please enter the city properly through the main gate. We don’t mean any harm or disrespect.”

A flurry of complex emotions exploded within me.

The voice belonged to Lyla.