"Hello, Cyril!" Myra waved at him as he walked up to them.
"...Hello, Tigris, Morpho." She also waved to the tiger and the butterfly on his shoulders, who both greeted her back.
Myra was dressed in the grey academy uniform, the same as him.
As Cyril walked closer, Rose pulled out a ticket and gave it to him.
"Don't lose it."
Unlike them, she was wearing a casual outfit, a blouse and pants that were easy to move around in. By her waist hung a weathered leather bag.
"Why didn't you dress into something more appropriate?"
My uniform is appropriate.
Cyril ignored Rhamn's complaint and observed the ticket in his hand.
It had a metallic sheen to it with an intricate tiger engraving.
Tigris peered into it, his blue eyes shining for a moment.
"Getting interested?" He patted the cat head near him with a subtle smile.
"...Where is Edmund? I don't want to be late."
"There he is." Myra pointed behind them.
Edmund also arrived at the scene, wearing an expensive-looking suit. It was as if he was going to an evening party instead.
"Good day, everyone." He bowed his head lightly towards them and leisurely walked closer.
"Good day. Right, let's hurry."
Rose quickly skipped the pleasantries and walked ahead towards the manarail station.
The rest quickly followed after her.
On the way, they eagerly discussed what they might encounter there.
At least Rose did, while Cyril listened and occasionally offered a word of his own. Myra and Edmund were even more quiet in comparison.
"I've heard there will be exotic animals in there. We need all the time we can get."
...
After a lengthy ride, they were finally in the city center.
The buildings around them grew taller and more elaborate, while the guards on the street increased in number.
They exited near a wide plaza, surrounded by high-rise buildings. Despite the size of the area, the number of people here seemingly decreased compared to near the edge of the city.
The view was grand, and the buildings were decorated in various magical ways, but it was somewhat desolate.
"I picked a good place for us, follow me."
Edmund grabbed the lead this time, walking ahead with his gait becoming more elegant.
Rose cautiously observed her surroundings and followed after him, no longer sharing interesting facts about animals on the way.
Myra walked by Cyril's side and leered at Rose, who slowly joined them.
"Heh, nervous?"
"...I just didn't think Edmund would pick a place so high-profile," Rose said as she observed where they were headed.
Edmund walked towards one of the tallest buildings here. It was made out of white stone, with magic lamps shining yellow on its walls. It looked luxurious, as if lined with gold.
"I don't think I have the money to pay him back..."
"Don't worry about it."
"...!"
Edmund suddenly slowed down, glancing at Rose with a smug look on his face. Despite some distance being between them, he managed to hear her whispering.
"We are friends, right? If you gave me money, I wouldn't accept it."
"...Besides, it didn't cost me anything. My dad owns this place."
"I thought your father was a treasurer?" Cyril said, slightly surprised.
"This doesn't prevent him from buying a few businesses here and there."
Maybe it should.
"At least we get a fitting place for us."
In silence the group walked towards the entrance. The doors opened on their own, and they walked inside.
There was a luxurious lobby with a wide desk, behind which a worker bowed to them.
An attendant quickly came over to them, offering keys to four rooms. Edmund casually took one, said goodbye to them, and left to quickly settle in.
Rose stared blankly at the luxurious lobby, then back at the card in her hand. It had obvious traces of magic on it, clearly not something cheap.
"I forget sometimes, but you two are powerful nobles..."
"Aren't you a noble too?" Cyril replied as he put the key in his pocket.
"Emphasis on powerful. My grandpa was rewarded with a title for his contributions towards healing magic. Compared to you two, we are nobles in name only."
"Hmm." Cyril shot her a glance and walked away. The attendant behind the desk awkwardly observed the butterfly and the tiger he carried but said nothing in the end.
Soon he too disappeared from the lobby, leaving the two girls alone.
"Did I say something wrong?" Rose tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Never mind. Let's go."
They walked towards where the two had disappeared, then froze.
After taking a turn, a few turns, the luxurious corridors didn't change much. Every corner here looked grand and also the same.
It felt like they could enter the local closet and confuse it with a VIP room.
"...Where do we go?"
Rose observed the many doors around, then shot Myra a look.
Myra only shrugged in response.
...
After a short while, Cyril was already back in the lobby, sitting on a soft couch.
Morpho calmly sat on his shoulder, a small magic circle shining in front of her. After exploring the lobby to her heart's content, she decided to not waste time and practice the first part of Selene's technique.
"She is so hardworking!"
Tigris lay on Cyril's knees tearing into a meat snack the attendant kindly brought as his tail swung back and forth.
"He is so cute!"
Edmund silently sat on a couch near him, one leg over the other.
One of the doors of the lobby opened, revealing an elevator. From there Rose and Myra ran out in a hurry.
"Sorry we are late. This place is confusing."
Cyril got up on his feet, putting Tigris back on his shoulder, while Morpho continued practicing.
"You got lost? You could've just asked someone." Edmund said as he got ready as well.
"But we didn't. Let's go already." Rose eagerly switched topics and went towards the entrance.
"The zoo isn't far from here, right?"
"...Yes. That's why I picked this place. We are right at its doorstep, you could say."
Without wasting any more time, they went outside.
After walking for a short while and turning a few corners, the group arrived before the main gates of the zoo.
Right near other buildings, in the middle of the city, was raised a high wall, stretching to the sides for quite a long distance.
The wall's sides were filled with various banners, magical projections, and sculptures of various animals.
Despite that, it almost looked like a fortress.
Beyond the wall in the distance within the zoo was visible a tower with a tiger statue on top of it.
Tigris excitedly meowed and pointed towards it with his paw.
"Yes. It looks similar to you! How interesting!"
The group stood marveling at the sight of the place.
"How quickly they build things... Last year this place looked nothing like this." Edmund muttered and walked towards what seemed like the entrance.
Giant double doors with different animals inscribed on them. They were as tall as the walls themselves.
Below, inside of them were many smaller doors, fit for human use.
A large crowd was gathered in front of the ticket booths to the side.
"Morpho." Cyril lightly nudged the butterfly on his shoulder.
She shook off her training, dismissing the magic circle, and looked around.
The butterfly flinched in surprise, then curiously observed everywhere around them.
"Do we have to wait in line...?" Myra whispered with palpable despair in her voice.
Rose pulled out her ticket without too much confidence and glanced at Edmund.
"I think we have VIP tickets... maybe we can skip the line?"
Edmund smiled slightly and shrugged. "A servant bought my ticket. I didn't bother to look into it. It looks the same as yours though."
"I'll ask."
Tired of waiting, Cyril walked towards one of the booths selling tickets. One happened to have nobody in line
"Do we get a special line with these tickets?" He pulled out his ticket with the metallic sheen, showing it to the attendant.
"Yes, sir. Head to the leftmost door."
"Thanks."
He quickly turned around, about to leave but found someone blocking his way.
It was a lanky man with pale skin. He wore a tuxedo and a matching hat that only showed a little of his pitch black hair.
Huh?
Finding the person familiar, Cyril froze. Morpho tensed up on his shoulder, while Tigris tilted his head in confusion but still half hid, feeling Cyril's hostility.
"Hello, Cyril. Haven't seen you in a while" Cosmas waved, looking at him with a polite smile.
Immediately Myra's strange reaction to the zoo's name came to his mind.
"Are you planning something here after all?" Cyril said as he cautiously observed his group. They talked among themselves, clueless to his encounter for now.
"...I am planning to visit a zoo. Can't I?" Cosmas said and shrugged, acting innocent.
He then chuckled and pointed at him
"Alright, don't look at me like that. Actually, I am here because of you"
"I noticed a few knights present among the crowd at the zoo. That's a bit weird, isn't it? It's like they are planning to fight an archon here! Ha ha!"
He laughed, though his laughter slowed down gradually, as his own face was reflected in Cyril's blue eyes.
"Ahem... I wouldn't be caught like this. And they don't know about you... Not that you are strong enough to warrant a single knight, let alone so many... So who knows what they are planning?"
Just as Cyril's face was growing darker Cosmas's face turned a level brighter and he waved goodbye.
"Anyways! Be careful. Something about this place isn't right! That's all!"
Quickly he stepped away into the line nearby and disappeared behind a few humans. There was no sight of him anymore.
"Each time we see him, he seems less... important. There is no ceremony to his appearances!"
Maybe...
Cyril shook his head and returned to his group, where Myra shot him a curious gaze.
"Why the delay? Who was that man?"
"Some senile old man confused me with someone else."
"Although Cosmas is actually way younger than us, hehe."
"Oh."
"We can skip this line, let's go."
Cyril quickly walked towards the leftmost door, other following after him.
He showed his ticket to the attendant by the door and walked inside, stepping inside a corridor.
"Both Myra and demons have something to say about this zoo. Are you not concerned?"
No.
"That's right, it's more exciting this way!"
On the way down the corridor he grabbed a booklet from the stand with the words 'Magic Life Zoo' on it.
It appeared the zoo was separated into different zones: a jungle, a mountain, a forest, a desert, and others.
This zoo is pretty big...
"It might be the closest we can come to nature as citizens of the Empire." Rose muttered as she read through the same booklet near him.
"True."
Cyril opened the door at the end of the corridor and finally stepped on the zoo's territory.
The start was in the forest zone, with wide paths of stone diverging from here in many directions.
Some paths narrowed and led into the thicket, disappearing somewhere behind the trees.
Others were wide 'highways' that carried people to different zones.
The group looked around them and compared their surroundings to their maps.
"What's going to be a good route..."
"Let's skip the forest for now."
"I want to see the lake area."
They had a brief meeting, deciding on which route to take.
"We've seen the forest back during the special lesson in Ailanthus, so let's go somewhere else." Cyril suggested as he observed the paths leading towards the lake or the jungle.
More snakes can be found in the jungle...
"Let's just go somewhere already. We don't have much time." Rose said, eagerly clutching a notebook in her hands.
She was ready to write some things down.
So the group set forth, curiously observing everything around them.
Do we have to walk all this distance on foot...?
...
They've encountered their first animal while still in the forest zone.
A deer walked onto the wide path, attracting the zoo visitors.
"Look at him!"
"Mom, it's a deer!"
"Oh dear..."
The animal freely walked in without any fear, letting the eager kids pet its fur without restraint.
Cyril and the group walked closer but remained at a distance, obstructed by the crowd that gathered.
That deer is not running away...
The animal's beady eyes stared into nothing.
Rose near him quickly jotted something down in her notebook, while Myra and Edmund stood there with bored faces.
Myra, who lived near the forest her whole childhood, casually approached a stand nearby while Rose was busy standing still.
Soon her face was colored with intrigue.
"Cyril, look!"
"What?"
He looked at the stand, to where she was pointing.
It was a map of the forest zone. They had the same on a specific page of their booklet.
He didn't bother to view it in detail, since he had already been in a forest once.
Oh.
However, here were animals he wasn't familiar with.
Particularly a name in a bolder font than the rest.
The apex predator of the Freewind Plains, the shadow wolf? A special kind of wolf that doesn't form packs. Instead, it relies on magic...
That's a magic creature...
"Rose, we'll take a short stop here." Cyril said and went in after seeing her nod.
Myra and Edmund followed after him.
Morpho flew in the air, exploring the woods without straying too far. Tigris stayed on his shoulder, refusing to walk on his own.
They passed deeper into the woods until reaching a conspicuous rock in a clearing.
Sunlight beamed down through the crowns of the trees, bathing a large wolf with pitch-black fur lying peacefully there.
Every part of its muscular body felt like it radiated power. As it breathed, razor-sharp fangs peeked out from its mouth.
It wasn't barred behind a cage, transparent wall, or spell. It simply lay there out in the open.
Are they not afraid of animals attacking people?
Cyril observed a few visitors who were here already.
There were kids among them who leered at the wolf, whispering among themselves in excitement.
One of them even went closer and grabbed at the wolf's maw.
The kid raised the corner of the magic creature's mouth, revealing giant fangs, their size enough to puncture a skull clean through.
"How are they fine?" Edmund said, staring at the kids in shock.
"There is a spell on animals here. It basically pacifies them." Myra explained, her gaze complex.
The wolf's eyes were closed even as the kids were playing with its nose, completely unresponsive.
Cyril walked closer, now feeling an obvious presence of a spell working on the wolf.
Huh.
His approach surprised the kids, and they turned around.
They briefly stared into his blue eyes and suddenly scattered back to their parents.
"Woah. Mom, that guy!"
"Let's go already, sweety. There is a cute fox nearby!"
"Yeah!"
The family went away, only shooting a few wary glances at Cyril, at his blond hair that was often the mark of a noble.
Cyril looked away from them, back towards the sleeping wolf.
Suddenly the beast opened its eyes.
Cyril was startled but didn't step away, staring back.
"..."
It's like staring in the eyes of a human...
Its beady black eyes looked at him unflinchingly.
As he stared into it, Cyril began feeling a perplexing emotion. There was some emotion in there, but he couldn't tell what.
It thanks me... Or not... What is this...?
Suddenly he looked away, observing its tail instead.
The beast lay back down, closing its eyes.
"It looks cool," Edmund said as he approached.
"It's written that shadow wolves have the power to control their... well, shadow. They use it to form clones of themselves, acting as their special pack." Myra read out information from the booklet.
Soon Rose caught up to them. The moment her eyes landed on the wolf, she excitedly opened her notebook and scribbled away once more.
"What a majestic beast..." She said in awe.
"A pity we can't see it in action. Apparently there was a show earlier with it participating, but we missed it."
Edmund nodded in agreement while Cyril stayed silent, contemplating.
"What's wrong, Cyril?" Myra looked at him with confusion.
"Did you not think there was something wrong with its eyes?"
"What? Is it ill or something? Should we tell the staff here?"
"...Never mind."
His face turned blank, then returned to its usual calmness.
For some reason Cyril felt his enthusiasm about the zoo drop a little.
"I feel the same... Though there's still that potential drama Cosmas and Myra predict. We are good."
...
They didn't stay for too long. Once Rose finished, they quickly walked back the way they came from and continued on the highway.
Morpho had a great time flying around in nature, greeting various people and animals.
Looking at his older sister having so much fun, Tigris eventually decided to do something himself.
He pawed at Cyril's face a few times to get his attention, asking to put him down.
"He is so brave!"
At first Tigris cautiously moved close to the group, not straying further than a few steps.
But with time, his curiosity conquered his fear, and Tigris began running around the place freely, mostly trying to follow Morpho.
"Look after him, Morpho!" Rhamn worriedly waved at them as they ran.
Many people mistook both of them for the animals from the zoo and tried to approach them.
Morpho was barely holding herself back from batting these people away, her antennae twitching in annoyance.
Tigris first tried to shoo them away as well, but once one of them pulled out a snack, he stopped and let himself be under their mercy.
In those moments Morpho swooped in from the sky and grabbed the easy-to-bribe cub, carrying him away from temptation.
The sight of which confused and scared a few people. How could such a tiny creature hide this much power?
Of course the two siblings didn't dare to venture too far from Cyril.
Cyril himself proceeded to enjoy the zoo with the group, to the best of his abilities.
Animals practically presented themselves to the visitors.
"Look, it's an ice bunny!" Rose pointed, her blue eyes shining.
Near a small crowd, on a cut-down trunk, stood a white rabbit on one leg.
Its ears flapped in the air, and snowflakes appeared around it, gently falling down.
They all eagerly approached it, watching the show for a few seconds.
"Ice bunnies' main food source is animals they freeze to death. They eat the meat still frozen and are generally rather bloodthirsty." Rose whispered as she wrote something down in her notebook.
"A case from exploration records even mentions how one ate a whole battalion of guards."
A few families near them flinched, subtly pushing their child away from the cute bunny.
Cyril stood over it as the bunny tilted its head to look at him.
Its white eyes were round, and its small mouth was half open, making a tremendously cute picture.
Cyril slowly pet its head, feeling its ears in his hands.
Comfortable...
"Oooh! Maybe we should make a bunny!?" Rhamn crouched in front of the magic creature, her red eyes glued to its white fur.
Maybe we should ask what Morpho thinks?
"I'll ask her!"
Cyril turned his head towards the red butterfly. She just fluttered over here, followed closely by Tigris on the ground.
Morpho flew even closer and glanced at the bunny.
The bunny glanced at her, its expression the picture of cuteness.
Morpho's antennae twitched. She suddenly lunged forward, picked the bunny up, and flung it in the air.
"...!"
Cyril speechlessly observed as the bunny silently flew through the air, its face retaining its cute expression the whole time.
...I guess not.
"Not fierce enough, huh?"
The bunny landed on the ground a short distance away, its body briefly shining blue on impact, completely unharmed.
Morpho then landed on his shoulder, twitching her antennae with dissatisfaction.
Surrounding visitors all stared at him and the butterfly on his shoulder.
"...Let's move on." Cyril got up and nonchalantly continued walking.
Myra chuckled and followed after him.
Rose walked and wrote at the same time, while Edmund too carried a mischievous smile.
They continued exploring the zoo.
They saw many animals they've only heard about before. While a vague feeling of discomfort was still present, Cyril's curiosity got stronger the more animals he saw, masking it.
This place is way bigger than I thought...
"I am so inspired! This is a treasure trove!"