“Wait! People will see us if you fly all the way to town.”

“You don’t have to worry about that. You didn’t notice but I used [Erase Presence] when we left the cave.”

“[Erase Presence]? What kind of spell is that?”

Those eyes are starting to sparkle again. Maybe I should hold back on what magic I show her unless I want to start holding lectures… But then again I do enjoy talking about my favorite subject with someone that is actually interested.

“Would you like to take an educated guess?” I threw her a cheeky smile.

“A spell that makes us invisible?”

“I’ll give you thirty points for that answer.”

“Thirty? Thirty out of what?”

“A hundred.”

“Thirty out of a hundred? Then what is the right answer?” Liz asked with a frown, "Oh before that, can you fly over that way? I left my horse outside the cave entrance and I would like to know if it’s still there.”

If the horse is still there does that mean she won’t fly with me anymore? Hey you useless adventurers, you better have done a proper job and taken the horse with you!

We arrived in front of the entrance to my lair. “Looks like they took the horse with them. Can you follow the road? It leads back to town,” Liz said and pointed to the edge of the forest we were hovering over.

Good going taking the horse, I appreciate it. 

“Anything for you princess,” I said with a smile, "Now to answer the previous question. It basically makes you invisible but it also erases your magic signature, bloodlust, suppresses all sound and erases any scents in the area.”

“That sounds impossible. What skill does it require?”

“Level eight magic manipulation to erase the magic signature, level seven mental resistance to act as a lid to suppress bloodlust, level ten illusion magic to make you invisible, level six infiltration to silence sounds, and level five wind magic to erase any scents.”

“What? Five skills for the same spell?! Is that even possible?”

Why is she reacting like that? I'm pretty sure compound spells using several skills were completely normal the last time around.

“Uhm, yeah?”

“Compound spells use two or max three skills! Using five is unheard of.”

“I can explain that later. For now we have other things to focus on.”

“Why can’t you tell me now?”

“Well the thing is, I see three men with an extra horse resting about one kilometer up ahead. Weren’t we going after them for your friend?”

Liz looked away and I could feel gloom fall over her, "I can’t believe I forgot about Mira…”

Well technically it’s the second time you forgot about her but let’s not say that.

“Also, I have been wondering. Why would those three run away when your friend got grabbed? Surely they would be able to handle one measly wyvern?”

“They should be, they are all C rank.”

That doesn’t really tell me much but then again, judging the strength of humans is hard when you are on my level.

“Also why would they think there was only one wyvern? Wyverns prefer to hunt in packs so If they were far enough into the cave to get grabbed all of them would have attacked.”

“But then…” Liz looked deep in thought.

“Either they lied about your friend getting grabbed or they lied about the number of wyverns.”

“The tactic we discussed revolved around dealing with one wyvern. I don’t think they are stupid enough to put their life on the line to fake that.”

“So she probably didn’t get grabbed. Then the question is, did she die somewhere else? But then why would they give a false report? Is she alive somewhere? Then the odds of those three below us would know where she is,” I said and looked down to gesture that we caught up with them.

“They can’t see or hear us right?” She asked while I descended a few meters away from where they were resting.

“Correct, so, what do you want to do?”

“I need them to tell me about Mira but I don’t think I can take all three…” She said and turned her face towards me.

I guess she wants me to help but there is no need to look at me with those emerald eyes. I already decided to help her back in my cave after all. It has nothing to do with her being my type or anything, no sir, not me. I only have pure thoughts.

“There is no need for puppy eyes with me,” I said and gave her a smile, "But I don’t think we should do anything here.”

“Why not?”

“This is the road to the city, correct? So it’s safe to assume they are going to report to the guild?”

“Yeah, if they don’t report it and I just disappear they will probably face more trouble since they were on a quest with me.”

“Wouldn’t it be more fun if we went to the town before them so we could get premium seats to their performance?”

“I guess, but…”

“Also, wouldn’t it be trouble for you if your party got killed and you came back alone with no witnesses of what happened?”

“But aren’t you a witness, Luna?”

“And what do you want me to say? They left you to die so I killed them? I don’t think that will fly.”

“Yeah I… I suppose that’s true,” she sighed, "So what do you suggest we do?”

“Well these three don't seem to talk about anything worth listening to so let’s go to town and see how things unfold when they arrive. How far is it to the town?

“From here it should be around one hour on horseback.”

“Okay then, hold on tight.”

Liz nodded and tightened her embrace.

“You are surprisingly calm for your first flight.”

“I thought it would be worse but if I have to fly I figured the dragon queen would be my best option.” 

I cringed a little. “Please don’t call me that.”