As he opened his eyes, the banging sound grew louder at the door. Drake stood up from the floor and went to the door, opening it. But before he could fully open it, someone pushed the door hard from the outside.
As the outside light blinded Drake, he saw the figure of a young woman. She wore a full black dress. As she walked in, Drake's expression changed from disdain to relaxed.
It was Sylviya, a girl who was born in this nest and grew up with Drake. Her hair reached her shoulders and glistened in white, but her skin had a dark tone that contrasted beautifully with her hair. She was marvelous to watch, simply by walking through the door with the luminescence of the World Tree behind her.
There were two bodyguards who accompanied her to the nest from the Queen's chamber. Usually, girls of her age are supposed to live in the Queen's chamber and train in their etiquette and diligence, since women are divine beings in this world and they are the ones who give birth to the young ones through a perilous process. But Sylviya came to see Drake on special permission, saying that he was injured and had done a great deed in the Cradle. She basically sneaked out of the Queen's chamber to see and talk to him.
Seeing her made Drake's heart fill with ease and warmth, because they had loved each other ever since they were little. Both of them had faced great obstacles in their lives for certain reasons, so they were always there for each other.
Just as Drake was about to say, "Hey, Syl..."
A flying kick landed on Drake's chest. As it did, he fell to the floor.
Sylviya yelled, "Idiot! Idiot! How many times have I told you not to hurt yourself, you fool?!"
Slight tears swelled in her eyes, but she did not cry. She grappled him from the back.
The man standing behind said, "My lady, you shouldn't—"
She shouted, "Shut up!"
The man was taken aback and stood still.
Sylviya asked Drake, "So what made you feel like you can fight a ravager as a listener, huh? What?! Tell me now! Why would you do something so foolish?! Didn't you think about your other teammates? What would have happened to them, you idiot?!"
Drake did not seem to struggle. He was happy.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. It just appeared, and the captain said it was okay, so we thought we might take it. Even they didn't know it was fully grown."
"Oh, is that so? Then why did you say to old lady Deazen that you regretted not killing it? Come, say it now!"
Drake's face slightly fell as he heard what he had said to the old lady from Sylviya's mouth.
"Ahh, it hurts. Could you please let me go, my lady?" Drake said in a subtle tone.
As Sylviya heard him say that, she stood up and moved elegantly to the side. Then she sat on the only bed that was there and said, "I send people here every day to clean it and take care of it properly, but you sleep on the floor. Why can't you accept these things? Don't you want to marry me?"
Hearing her, Drake was flustered, and his cheeks turned red. He coughed and said, "Cough, cough... Come on, Syl... sorry, my lady. But now that you're in training, I can't just call you by name, can I? So please restrain yourself from doing these kinds of things."
He had a proud look and said, "I'll take care of it and do what I can, and I'll strive for greatness. You just focus on honing your powers and train your etiquette a little bit."
Suddenly, Sylviya stood up. Drake was taken aback, thinking she was going to hit him again. But instead, she came near him with a troubled look on her face and hugged him.
"It's not that I don't believe in you. I'm just scared that something might happen to you. I know it might be foolish, but you're too precious to me, so losing you is just..."
Drake tightened his grip and patted her head. Then he said in a reassuring tone, "I said don't worry, right? Nothing will happen to me. Don't you know your future…" He paused, "Yeah, I am so strong that I fought a ravager as a listener and lived to tell the tale?"
She had a faint smile on her face and hugged him tighter.
Suddenly, Drake asked, "So how is your training going? You're not making any trouble, right?"
Sylviya replied with a carefree expression, "Ohh, yeah... training. Yeah, I'm good. You know, the other day the Queen even congratulated me."
Drake was both happy and worried.
"What? The Queen? But what did you do to get the Queen's attention? That must be quite a feat! What did you do? Tell me, my lady! I'd be glad to hear about my lady's achievements!"
Hearing him, Sylviya turned red and hid her face in embarrassment.
The guard behind her said, "My lady, you shouldn't disclose the information of the Queen's chamber until the end of training."
Sylviya was so disappointed. Drake had only asked something about her; he would not ask about what happened or what she did. So it was a very exciting thing to happen to Sylviya, but the Queen was absolute. Already she crossed the line by doing something during training and just earned her reputation by being known to the Queen, she could ruin it again and this time, she really might be exiled. So she did not say anything.
"I'm sorry, Dre... I'll become a beautiful mother of our clan, just you wait!"
Hearing her talk responsibly made Drake feel at ease and happy.
"It's okay, my lady. I'll wait for your return, and when you return, I will be with the deadliest team in existence."
Sylviya opened her mouth to say something, but just smiled and said, "Yeah, Dre... good luck there. Just be careful. I shouldn't say this, but I can't resist it. Love you, Drake. Take care."
He just stood there with a sad expression. After all, he could not reply to what he heard. It was very painful not to return the love you received. He just said, "Yes, my lady. See you soon,"
with an unhappy and halfhearted face.Sylviya left the house and got into a large royal ripple. It only had five fins and limbs, unlike a normal ripple. It seemed women used this kind of royal ripple to travel long distances.
With an undetermined expression on his face as he sat on the bed, Drake said, "I need to grow stronger, at least to keep myself alive. And if I get a chance to uncover what is going on with me, that would be a bonus, right? Sylviya, I miss my girl... ahhh."
With that, Drake stood and went outside the house and started to glide far beyond his nest into the village and stopped near a familiar store. It was a restaurant. It was kind of unique; it did not have a name, just "Restaurant."
He went in. A man in his late fifties stood there as the tender. After seeing Drake, his brow, which completely hid his eyes, rose a little.
"Well, well, who came to eat? Quite a surprise, kid! Even I wasn't that brave at your age."
Drake was in disbelief.
"Really? How do you even know? Word really travels much faster these days."
"Indeed, child. After inventing this species that lived invisibly among us all these years, communication really improved."
As he said that, a rat-like creature with extended fins instead of hands and legs appeared near him out of nowhere. It had a very thin, long tail. Drake was not that impressed.
"Yeah, yeah, it truly is useful. You can just blab whatever you want, whenever you want, and whoever it is. Must be really nice to have someone to talk to like that, isn't it, Sir Noctis?"
Noctis felt a slight guilt, since Drake did not have either of his parents, so it must be really lonely to have such things around.
Suddenly Drake said, "So, did you know it?"
Noctis was confused. "Know what? I'm not some kind of fake astrologer to predict things. Come on, spit it out!"
Drake said with a proud tone, "Well, guess who is in the team led by the commander?"
Hearing him, Noctis was utterly shocked. He almost dropped the glass he was wiping onto the floor.
Looking at him, Drake said with a doubtful expression, "Why is he even wiping it here on the water?"
Then he regained his calmness like a gentleman.
"Ahh, hmm. It must be nice to be young. When I was your age, it was really difficult to even see the commander. Such a figure took interest in you? Just what did you do to that ravager?"
As Drake was eager to talk about the fight he had, the creature that was idle near Noctis suddenly flashed a news announcement in the water by opening its mouth.
URGENT NEWS! URGENT NEWS! COMMANDER LEVIZE MISSING!