On the way they encountered a few animals, some familiar, some not.
They were all restrained with magic, lying flat on the ground.
Soldiers stood near them, but they didn't try to carry them anywhere, seemingly only there to look after them for a while.
While Cyril was carefully observing their surroundings on the way, his ears subtly listened in on the conversation in front.
Cedric, in his ever optimistic demeanor, approached the knight Alfred, chatting about random things.
How is it to be a knight? Do they get paid well? How do they feel about the public's current view of them? What were the more dangerous cases they've encountered?
At first the knight replied with a smile, but as the time went on and the barrage of questions continued, that smile became a bit twitchy.
"Will you fight that giant snake now?"
"Where are you leading us?"
"All right, that's enough." Alfred finally raised his hand, motioning Cedric to stop.
"We've received orders to evacuate all people from the zoo, and that's all you'll get to hear."
Cedric widened his eyes and nodded casually, his face a picture of innocence.
"I understand. Obviously you have your situation. The fight with the serpent will definitely engulf the whole park in chaos."
His eyes seemed to hold only respect for their profession.
The purity of his gaze seemed to stun the knight.
"Ye-yes. That's right, I am glad you understand."
A pity. I wanted to view their fight.
"Yeah... It would've been so exciting!"
Soon they've finally reached the gates. The place has changed a bit since they passed here.
Now there were no 'gates' here at all, just an empty hole in the wall leading to the outside.
The entrance was guarded by soldiers, keeping out the large crowd that gathered to observe the chaos.
The area just outside the zoo looked somewhat trashed, with rubble and deep gashes in the stone. But it seems the battle here was long since over.
Some distance away on the plaza near the zoo was raised a podium that wasn't there before.
In front of it was gathered a smaller crowd of people, all eagerly trying to ask questions to the people on the podium.
There stood a middle-aged man with a self-important face, surrounded by guards on all sides.
This was a man even Cyril was familiar with.
His name was Lucien Chalmers, a noble acting as the governor of the city center.
While the Emperor was the unquestionable authority in the Empire, he rarely appeared in person before his people. The Emperor was only one person, and the nobles helped him keep control of their monolithic city.
Lucien was a man of rather mixed public opinion. Some say he is fair and just, helping the city prosper more than ever before. While some call him a cold and calculative person, only caring about profit and not human lives.
"How could you allow such a situation to happen? Shouldn't you have conducted proper checks before allowing this zoo to open?"
"Who is responsible in the end?"
"What will you say about the magic creatures that escaped into the city?"
Lucien raised his hands, asking for the crowd to quiet down. The guards at the side helped him as well by raising their weapons.
He pointed towards another man on the podium who was hiding in the corner.
It was an overweight gentleman with a completely pale face, sweating buckets.
"That's the owner of the zoo," Cedric whispered as their group went past the podium. His gaze was conflicted, but leaned toward the negative.
"To answer these questions I want-"
Just as Cyril half-listened to the speech, the knight walking behind him shoved him forward.
"Don't get distracted," he grumbled in an unfriendly manner, his hand resting on the sword.
"...?"
Cyril only sent him a glance and continued walking.
"How dare he?! ...tsk."
Aren't we out already? Why do they keep escorting us?
"Don't stay here for long, fellas. We have something to do," said Alfred from the front.
"But we are out already," Rose protested with a frown.
"Don't be nervous. It's just a routine check."
They were led to a building right near the zoo.
Originally it was a store, now repurposed by the knights for something else.
"You'll wait here. One by one people will call you. Just follow instructions, and it will be over quickly."
Alfred sat on a bench and motioned for them to join him with a friendly smile.
Flynn leaned on the wall, completely silent. His presence appeared somewhat threatening.
The group obliged with the request.
Cedric eagerly walked close to the knight, about to sit near him with a question already forming in his mouth.
Alfred, noticing that, quickly pointed towards him.
"You go first."
Cedric froze, then shrugged and went through the door with a relaxed face.
The knight visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
...
Next, the group stayed in a somewhat awkward silence, waiting for their turn.
To pass the time, Cyril was playing with Tigris and Morpho.
The knights stared at the two magic creatures with him for some time now.
Finally, Arthur decided to ask a question.
"These are not from the zoo, right?"
Morpho immediately flew up in dissatisfaction, angrily flapping her wings, while Tigris didn't really care.
"No, they are with me."
"Rude."
He was the only one now sitting here from his group.
Once there was a knock behind the door, Cyril stopped petting Tigris and placed him on his shoulder.
Morpho flew on his other shoulder by herself, and together they entered the mysterious door.
It was an empty staff room with a single mage in dark robes sitting on a bar stool. On his legs he held a big book, writing something down in it.
Both of the knights followed after Cyril, standing by the door and making themselves unnoticeable.
"Please." The mage pointed towards another bar stool in front of him.
Cyril calmly sat down, trying to ignore the knights' stare, with Morpho and Tigris on his shoulders.
Why are they staring with such suspicion?
The mage in a dark robe stretched out his hand, and a sizeable magic circle appeared, engulfing all of Cyril.
"Don't move, and don't let your pets move." The mage said with a focused expression.
"They are not pets!"
They sat like this for some time. Then some more time.
It took noticeably more time than when anyone from his group did it.
"Is there something wrong?" The knight Alfred said somewhat solemnly.
Now he was standing right behind Cyril.
"N-No, it's just harder than usual. This young man has good mana control," the mage quickly said, a few beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
"I see..." the knight said, audibly relieved, and continued in a lighter tone.
"You've got a bright future ahead of you, young man! You are from Ailanthus, right? Maybe we will even become colleagues in the future, haha."
Cyril managed to pick up the sound of a sword going back in its sheath.
They were ready to cut me down... What is happening here?
After a few more minutes, the mage was finally done. "It's clear."
He then took a pen and leaned closer to the book in his hands.
"Name?"
"Cyril."
"Do you have a family name?"
"...Thorne."
The mage had casually written it down but soon froze.
"Thorne?" he asked as if making sure.
"Could you be Nostro's son?!" Alfred quickly stepped into his field of vision, an excited smile on his face.
He and the mage in a dark robe stared at him with bated breath, awaiting his next words.
"...Yes."
"No wonder, no wonder! Of course that man's son would be a talented mage!"
Alfred immediately heartily laughed and slapped the mage near him on the shoulder.
The mage in a dark robe quickly scratched something in the book, his eyes also excited.
"Hey, Flynn, did you hear that?!"
Alfred turned towards the other knight in the room, who replied to him in a grim voice.
"I knew it from the beginning."
"And you didn't say anything to us?! We could've made fools of ourselves in front of a Thorne!"
"You just did."
Flynn simply hmphed in response and turned his head away, finally moving his hand away from the sword.
Alfred shook his head and looked at Cyril, his gaze much more polite now, as if meeting a grandson.
"...Did you work with my father in the past?"
These two looked to be in their 30s at most. His father was active about 20 years ago.
"Well, not often, but I was on the same mission with him a few times. That man's power is the stuff of legends." The knight said with a longing expression.
Surprisingly, these men were older than they appeared.
Now that Cyril thought about it, this shouldn't be surprising. His father also appeared way younger than his actual age.
Besides, the current Emperor's rule would soon reach a hundred years, and there had been no talk of succession yet. But since he was rarely seen, Cyril always imagined him as an old man. Maybe that wasn't actually the case.
"Wait, you thought that way, despite his son being the same age as you?"
...Maybe the Emperor is just energetic for his age?
The mage in a dark robe continued with a nostalgic smile.
"Anyways, even if we were newbie knights, we would still have heard stories about your father. Everyone keeps saying to the new arrivals."
"Yeah, we especially love to do that!" Alfred laughed towards the ceiling, hands on his hips. "No matter what rumors are going about him, in my eyes he's a hero!"
"It's a pity your father retired. We even tried numerous times to recruit him back, but he always denied us."
"Though last time he actually accepted to visit the Tower for a talk. We were quite looking forward to it, gathering all together, but in the end..." The mage shook his head in disappointment.
"So what? The man retired, but his son is here, looking quite strong!" Alfred crossed his arms with an excited expression.
"I dare say the future is looking bright."
"Thank you. Can I go already?" Cyril blankly observed their fan-like actions. He felt the less time he spent here the better it was for his psyche.
"Of course! Let's go, young hero." Alfred patted Cyril on the shoulder with a smile.
"A bit strange to hear your father being praised, isn't it?"
Yeah...