Chapter 129: Popular Among Nobles

A few days passed after the problem with the Wyverns, and Zishan continued checking the rewards he had received from the Emergency Quest whenever he had the time.

There was quite a lot to go through.

He already had enough experience with Ice Mana and Frostbound Dominion after using both of them during the fight, while the rewards related to his First Ascent had already served their purpose. His Ascent was done, his blank white Imprint was sitting somewhere inside his soul where he still did not fully understand it, and he now had <anno data-annotation-id="1da60409-ecf8-cb91-5db5-2e019e662efd" data-title="310 Distributable Stat Points">310 Distributable Stat Points¹</anno> waiting for him whenever he decided what to do with them.

He had not spent those yet.

The Beast Nurturing Space upgrade was something else he still needed to properly check, though Silvy had been occupying most of his attention whenever he looked inside.

The little dragon did not care whether the space had gained some new function or whether the environment had changed after the upgrade. She seemed perfectly happy running around inside, playing with the projections and doing whatever else caught her attention.

Zishan cared a lot more about the fact that she was inside in the first place.

He had not taken her out since the Wyvern incident.

There had been several moments when he almost did, especially whenever he checked inside and saw Silvy playing around without a care in the world, completely unaware that those damn Wyverns had followed her all the way to the capital.

Each time, however, the same thought stopped him. He still did not know what was attracting them. Until he figured that out, keeping Silvy hidden was safer.

He fucking hated that, but Ernest’s words from several days ago had already sunk in enough that he could no longer pretend only Silvy mattered if bringing her outside placed everyone around them at risk.

The capital itself had taken a few days to settle.

Too many people had seen the Wyverns for the Kingdom to simply pretend the whole thing never happened. There were already stories spreading around the capital before Zishan, Elinox and Ernest even returned, and some of them had become ridiculous enough that Zishan almost wanted to know who started them.

One version claimed that an entire group of dragons had tried to invade the capital.

Another insisted that Crown Marshal Ernest had personally fought a Dragon King somewhere outside Olmost. Zishan had overheard that one near the Holmes estate and nearly stopped walking.

’A Dragon King? Where the hell did they even get that from?’

There was another story saying Elinox killed more than a hundred Wyverns by herself and threw all their bodies outside the Kingdom afterward.

He liked that one more.

At least, Elinox had actually killed Wyverns.

The Kingdom eventually released enough information to calm everyone down. The Wyverns were gone, the capital was safe, and whatever caused the incident had already been handled. Patrols remained heavier than usual for several days, though people gradually returned to their normal routines.

And with the capital settling down, the plans that had been interrupted before the fight could finally continue.

Zishan had almost forgotten about those plans.

He, Elinox, and Ernest were supposed to visit a guild.

There were several things Ernest wanted him to understand about guilds and how they operated in Cyrune, although getting him registered was the main reason they were going at all. Zishan had never joined one before, had barely seen how they functioned beyond hearing about them from other people, and apparently being part of one could be useful even if he was already serving in the military.

So several days after the Wyvern incident, they disguised themselves again and left the Holmes estate.

Ollie came with them. Well, only Ollie. No Silvy for now. Zishan was trying very hard not to keep thinking about that part.

He adjusted the clothes he had been given while they walked through one of the capital’s crowded streets, then glanced toward Ernest and nearly stopped.

The Crown Marshal was wearing sunglasses, and Zishan had to look away for a moment before turning back just to make sure he had actually seen that correctly.

Dark lenses covered Ernest’s eyes, framed by something metallic that looked far more expensive than the ordinary accessories being sold from the nearby stalls. They did not look bad on him either. If anything, the huge man’s build somehow made them look natural enough that Zishan might not have questioned it if they were back on Earth.

The problem was that they were not on Earth.

Zishan slowly started looking around. He checked the people walking in front of them and some people near the shops. Then, he moved his gaze to a group of wealthy-looking men crossing the street farther ahead.

Not one of them was wearing anything similar.

Ernest kept walking for several more steps before saying, "If you’re wondering why nobody else around us is wearing these, I’ll save you the trouble. They only came out recently; they’re expensive, and they’re mostly popular among nobles."

Zishan’s eyes returned to him. "I didn’t say anything."

"You didn’t have to. You’ve looked at me three times since we left the estate, then you started checking everyone around us as though you were trying to prove something."

Zishan looked at the sunglasses again. "I’m just wondering how something is supposedly famous in the capital when you’re the only person I’ve seen wearing it. We’re also trying not to draw attention to ourselves, and you’re walking around with something nobody else on this street has."

Ernest adjusted the glasses with one hand. "I already told you. They’re expensive. Most ordinary people aren’t going to buy something this new when there are cheaper alternatives, and this isn’t exactly the part of the capital where nobles usually spend their day walking around."

Zishan just looked toward Elinox instead. She was walking beside them and had heard the whole thing without joining the conversation once.

"Are they actually popular?" he asked.