“You seem to know the capital well,” Jet commented, following along at Gideon’s shoulder.

“Mmm. Grew up here. Spent a lot of my adulthood here, too. Who knows? We probably bumped shoulders in the streets a thousand times and never knew it,” Gideon said, shrugging.

“Ah… I only came to the capital after I entered the military. I mostly lived out in the country, on the fief,” Jet replied awkwardly.

Gideon frowned at him, then nodded. “Right, lesser nobility. I nearly forgot. What was your father, a Count? A Baron?”

“One of those,” Jet said, smiling slightly.

“Well. I suppose we didn’t meet, then,” Gideon said evenly, not particularly bothered by it, nor interested in continuing the topic.

They walked on in silence for another few minutes. Kat bobbled ahead, looking all around them, then fell back, careful to hang near the group. Angel hummed to herself, adjusting her bangles a few times. At last, Elly drew close to Gideon and Jet and smiled, hands tucked behind her back.

“Gideon, a mage of your power… why didn’t you join the University,” she nodded toward a majestic building passing them by on the right, “or one of the Towers?” Elly nodded to the left, where in the distance, an enormous tower made of white stone climbed steadfastly into the sky. Even as she nodded, a burst of fire launched from one of the tower’s windows, followed quickly by a mage, who hung out the window, fanning her face for air as smoke billowed into the sky.

Gideon shrugged. “Too much theoretical work, not enough dragon-slaying.”

“The guards often request the Tower mages for help on difficult quests, though, I thought,” Elly said, tipping her head.

“Not all dragon quests are difficult, and not all difficult quests involve dragons,” Gideon pointed out.

Elly nodded. “That’s fair, I suppose. You value your freedom?”

Tugging pointedly on the collar, Gideon turned a baleful gaze on Jet. “I sure do.”

Jet ignored him. “And if you weren’t a complete and total asshole, maybe you’d have it.”

“What? Come on, Jet. If people were imprisoned for being assholes, we’d be out of nobility in a hurry,” Gideon pointed out.

Jet cast him a sideways glance. “Consider it sanity insurance. For me.”

“Why does your sanity ride on me getting punished? Jet… that’s a little suspect,” Gideon said, smirking.

“You’re a little suspect,” Jet replied.

Gideon rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah, yeah, good job bringing it to the kindergarten le—”

“Because you’re short, and suspected of crimes,” Jet clarified.

Elly tried to swallow a smile, but couldn’t. She covered her mouth with her hand and chuckled. Behind her, Leo glanced at Jet and Gideon and smiled too, shaking his head.

“That’s… fair enough,” Gideon said, shrugging as he nodded.

The shops grew further and further between. Fewer people wandered the streets. Slowly, the flat ground gave way to rolling hills, populated by grand manors with tall fences that carved out expansive gardens and private forests. Instead of buildings packed into narrow rows, now the manors sprawled over vast plots, perched atop hills, and overlooked hedgerows and flowerbeds. These manors paid no attention to the city’s strict and neat order, instead wandering where they liked.

Angel sighed, rolling out her shoulders and stretching. “Nice and shady…”

“It is rather peaceful back here,” Elly agreed.

“Reminds me of home,” Jet agreed, looking around. All this green land, the rolling gardens… it isn’t quite the fields and the village I’m used to, but if I close my eyes, I can almost pretend.

“I think you mean boring,” Gideon grumbled, hands in his pockets. He squinted around, scowling at the pastoral landscape and fine manors.

“You don’t like this?” Elly asked, tilting her head.

“He’s just being contrarian,” Jet replied dismissively.

Gideon rubbed his nose. “It’s just so boring. A big house so they can look down on everyone and pay a lot of money to only use it a few months of the year. Stupid and boring.”

“What if you had the money to own a big house you only used a few months a year?” Jet asked.

Gideon brightened up. “Then I’d look down on everyone like the trash they are and lord it up in my fancy manor on the hill.”

Jet gestured. “And there you go.”

“Well, no, wait, I take that back. I’d do better things with my money, like kill dragons,” Gideon declared.

“Eat ice cream?” Kat suggested.

“Never! I’ll never eat that filthy dragon-assisted filth!” Gideon declared.

“Didn’t you have a cup already?” Jet asked.

Gideon paused. “That was a special case.”

“What special case?”

“The special case of me being hungry,” Gideon explained.

I don’t know what I expected, Jet thought, shaking his head.

The further they grew from the heart of the city, the larger the estates became, but at the same time, the quality grew less consistent. Some of the manors stood in stoic emptiness. Others remained perfectly painted and kept up, gardeners and butlers wandering the estate. A few manors slumped in disrepair, completely ruined and dark.

Gideon drew to a halt before one of the latter. Tall iron spikes barred the entrance, a formidable black iron gate blocking their way. Up a winding road through an overgrown, wild forest, a dark manor hunkered, shaded even in the daylight.

A shiver ran down Jet’s spine, something he couldn't repress even though he knew it was illogical. It’s just an old house. There’s nothing scary about it.

“Here we are,” Gideon said, putting a hand on the gate. It creaked loudly, metal squealing, and slowly swung open.

Something moved in the window. For a second, a pale face appeared, little more than a white smudge behind the dirty window. Jet stumbled back, startled.

“Jet?” Elly asked, looking at him.

Jet blinked. The face vanished.

“Nothing,” Jet said, resting his hand on his sword. A trick of the mind, surely. A flickering curtain, or some vagabond who’s taken up residence inside. Nothing worth fearing.

“Did you see something? This manor is famously haunted,” Gideon said, smirking.

“Haunted?” Kat squeaked, grabbing her shirt nervously.

“He’s only teasing Jet,” Elly said, stroking Kat’s shoulder reassuringly.

“A trick of the light,” Jet said, waving his hand. Ghosts? Don’t be ridiculous.

“So you did see something,” Gideon said, waggling his eyebrows. He chuckled and kicked the gate wide. A fearsome creak emanated from the rusty hinges.

Jet flinched and instantly rolled his eyes at himself. Stop reacting. That’s what Gideon wants.

Besides, what am I afraid of? There’s me, Gideon, a top-tier mage, and a dragon on our team, plus a healer and a dancer in case we ever fall behind. If there’s anything in that manor, it should be afraid of us. Shaking his head at himself, Jet tugged his jacket into place and stepped forward, leading the way.