After travelling for three-more-days, the carriage arrived at a border wall that extended out on both sides. In the center was a massive gate with four guards stationed there to as the border patrol. Alongside them were four large dragons, which were lying down on their bottom and watching them silently.

“Woah!” Luna exclaimed with great fascination at the sight of the four dragons. “Those are dragons!”

“Yes, they are,” agreed Lucia with a smile.

“They’re just like the ones shown in my bedtime stories,” said Luna with great happiness upon seeing a living dragon for the first time. “They’re so big, powerful and majestic.”

“There’s nothing majestic about them,” cut in Alex coldly.

“Huh?” Luna turned to look at her childhood friend with surprise while Lucia looked at her student in surprise. “You don’t think so, Al?”

“Yeah, Luna. I don’t think they’re that great to be honest,” replied her childhood friend curtly. “They look big and strong, but in reality, they’re just overgrown reptiles. That’s all. They’re not that great.”

His childhood friend looked at him, flabbergasted by his lack of respect for the mighty creatures. Lucia couldn’t hold her laughter in and burst into a roar of laughter.

“Miss Lucia! Don’t tell me you think so too?!” Luna asked worriedly as she turned to her.

The older girl quickly controlled her laughter and replied to the young girl, “Well, you are right that they are big and powerful, but so are we, Luna,” and she winked at her.

“We are?” The younger girl asked apprehensively.

“Yes,” said Lucia confidently with a smile and a nod of her head.

This made Luna feel an array of mixed emotions such as confusion, concern, doubt and fear. A few minutes later, the border patrol person waved his spear and made the carriage slow down to a stop just near the gate.

It seemed that the border patrol people gave the man controlling the horses before saying, “Oh. It’s these Angels.”

Lucia instantly clicked her tongue while Alex frowned when he noticed the tone with which the words were spoken. They were filled with a lack of respect and felt almost like they were looking down on them because of their race.

“Identify yourself and your goods,” one of the four guards said callously.

“Goods?” Luna asked, looking confused as she glanced around. “There aren’t any goods here.”

“It’s okay, Luna. You didn’t get what they meant,” said Lucia with a smile before making a frown.

Alex looked at the expression his teacher was making and understood that things were not all okay.

There was an exchange of dialogues between the coachman and the guards, who were trying to find out who they were, where they were coming from, what their intentions were once they go inside the carriage, and what their eventual destination was. It was a slow progress because the guards kept delaying to respond to the coachman and kept asking questions a few seconds later.

“They’re wasting our time,” muttered Lucia with irritation.

Her student nodded and said, “They’re obviously doing this on purpose.”

Just then, Luna turned to Alex and asked, “Al, I’m hungry. Are you hungry too?”

“Yes, I am,” he agreed in return and turned to his teacher. “Miss, we need to get a move on.”

“I think so too,” she agreed with her student and rose to her feet. She moved forward and walked out of the cover of the carriage to appear in full light and asked, “What’s with the delay?”

They turned to her and clicked their tongue before one of them said, “Please wait in the back, madam. We are currently processing your details and such.”

“What processing?” She asked back seriously. “I’ve never heard of there being any kind of processing that needs to be done before entering a country.”

“Madam, I think you should control yourself and do as your told,” the same guard replied casually, almost ignoring her seriousness and taking it lightly. “It is our duty to ensure the safety of our people in case you are ones with ill intentions.”

Lucia glared at him before turning to ask the coachman, “Sir, did you give them the letter to allow safe passage for us.”

“I did, miss,” he replied to her immediately.

“What is this? We are still kept here and being delayed in our travel when you’ve already received the permit?” She asked and turned back to face the arrogant guard.

The guard in question, smiled sillily at her and said, “We are currently checking for its authenticity.”

For a moment, she did not know what to say or how to respond to such an unbelievable response.

She finally got herself together and asked, “What nonsense are you spouting? You’re taking this long to check a magically sealed permit? That does not make sense.”

The guard chuckled and said, “This is why the Angels are known as bird-brains, miss. You think too little.”

It was a dire insult to her racial status, and the other three guards chuckled as well at the insult. Lucia scowled at the man who made such an insult before recovering and smiling as she prepared an insult of her own in retaliation.

“I suppose that’s why dragons are known as meat-heads because they’re too thick headed to think big.”

In an instant, the smirks on all four of their faces was wiped away and was replaced by looks of shock instead. Lucia, on the other hand, widened her smile with satisfaction by the result she achieved.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” She asked them and winked at them coolly.

“You dare—!” Began one of them as he gripped his spear tightly.

“Don’t start with that when you guys dared to go first,” she spoke swiftly and cut him off in mid-sentence. “Anyway, I don’t like it when I’m kept waiting for long periods of time, so hurry it up already or else… blame yourself for what will happen next.”

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