Still, he couldn't fully judge his conclusion as definite.
This was him judging with information he received from the Zevril family's library, Alden would sometimes randomly pop by the annex, call Alan an 'uneducated filthy bastard' dump heaps of books, then just disappear.
"Funny guy." Alan scoffed, putting his thoughts to rest, he glanced at Alden once more, only to see him shaking Arlo for whatever reason.
"Wait." Alan scrunched his face again. "You're telling me you had an entire dragon as your pet."
"Yup!" Julia chirped.
"…And you decided to try escape in a wheelbarrow?"
"Uh…"
"Why didn't you hop on his back and fly out or something! Why would you even take a wheelbarrow?!"
"Umm…" Julia averted her eyes and sulked. "I didn't want to put a burden on him…"
"Oh, trust me, you're no burden to him."
"Are you saying I'm not heavy?!" Julia's face lit up, gazing at Alan with an expectant look.
"Uh… Yeah." He meant Sparky was too strong for her weight to even matter, but yeah, sure, let her think whatever she wants.
"Yay!"
Alan sighed, and turned his attention to other matters, his clothes, literally everyone jumped into the water fully clothed, as such they were soaking wet.
Although becoming sick as an awakened was almost impossible, Alan didn't want to walk around with shirts and pants sticking to his skin.
And so he improvised, bringing his middle finger to his thumb.
Snap
He snapped his fingers.
A wave of white flames with purple hue engulfed his body, wrapping around him like a blanket, a steam of evaporated liquid gently floated up and out of his body, the flames parted, revealing Alan in clean condition, with his clothes and hair completely dry.
When he looked forward, he met the faces of Julia, Iris and Lucian all three stared at him, with water dripping down their features, even Sparky tipped his head.
"What?" Alan frowned slightly. "I just mixed cold flames with hot ones to dry myself."
Even after explain his actions, their eyes didn't change, well, except for Sparky, Alan frowned looking at their unchanging gazes.
"Do you guys also want me to dry you all…?" Alan asked slowly.
Julia started nodding furiously, speaking for the whole group.
"What a weird thing to ask for…" Alan shook his head, but still granted their request.
Snap
Purple whitish flames ignited, engulfing the three drenched people, as well as Sparky, the same process repeated, the flames wrapped around their body, evaporating the water into small mist of water that fled from their body.
"There happy."
"Yes!" Julia answered while checking her clothes.
"Alright then..." Alan paused in his sentence. "Sparky?"
Because the dragon was suddenly nowhere to be found.
"Oh, he does that all the time." Julia explained.
"You mean, he just goes invisible whenever he wants." Alan raised a brow. "Doesn't that mean he just doesn't like you?"
"Nope, he is just very mischievous!" Julia nodded, then her expression clouded over. "I think…"
Alan shook his head allowing Julia to start overthinking, ignoring her Alan looked back at Arlo and Alden in the distance.
"The hell is going on there…" Alan whispered, Arlo had his face buried in his hands while Alden reassuringly patted him on the back.
"Lets uh get them back…"
…
"…Thank you for your hospitality." Arlo slightly bowed his head with his eyes still trembling, addressing Julia.
"It's no problem!" Julia smiled, but then her tone shifted. "But never tell anyone about what you saw today."
"Yes, I understand." Arlo nodded with a helpless look, even if he did, no one would believe him.
Currently, the group was at the entrance of Julia's garden, surrounded by the wide variety of crimson flowers, Arlo and Alden were returning to their rooms.
"Filth." Alden spoke up, glaring at Alan with his iconic arrogant scowl. "Come along, I shall grant you a place."
"Nah." But Alan dismissed his remark with a wave. "Don't wanna."
"What?" Alden frowned.
"Julia said to try to live in a garden." Alan shrugged. "So I might as well try."
"Really?!" Julia beamed, turning to Alan. "You want to stay here?"
"Uh, yeah, can I not?"
"No, no! You can!" She hurriedly waved her hands, then looked away with a slight pout. "I just thought you wouldn't want to after what Sparky did…"
"Oh that, don't worry about it." Alan lightly shook his head, and let out a dark smirk. "I'll get my revenge alright."
"Hehe~" Julia giggled, assuming Alan was joking, but nope, he was full set on somehow making Sparky pay him back.
Pushing his thoughts away, he focused on his real reason for remaining, it was to investigate the foul presence he felt.
Alan glanced sideways to Lucian, making eye contact, and Lucian nodded understanding his intentions.
"Is that so…" Alden awkwardly scratched the side of his face. "Alright then, do as you wish."
He spun around, intending to leave the place, following his example Arlo did the same, after offering another light bow.
As they were leaving, Julia called out. "Where's the emperor?"
"Father?" Arlo stopped in his tracks, turning his head back. "I believe he isn't in the castle at the moment."
"Is that so." Julia nodded, rubbing her chin as if thinking of something. "Alright, you're free to go."
"Yes, sister." Arlo turned around and walked off, with Alden following from behind, their footsteps slowly receded into the distance, before leaving the garden entrance in silence.
"You know, I've been wondering." Alan broke the silence, still staring at the direction Alden and Arlo once was. "Why is Arlo so respectful to you?"
As of right now, the second prince, Arlo, was seventeen years old, meanwhile Julia was currently fifteen, turning sixteen in about three weeks, by all logics, it should be Julia who is formal rather than Arlo, who was also higher in succession of the throne.
But for some odd reason, Arlo referred to Julia with respect and formal language, while Julia remained casual and informal, curious behind the reason Alan decided to ask.
"Oh, that." Julia tapped the side of her head, thinking for a small moment. "It's because of a duel."
"A duel?" Alan raised a brow, it was a fairly odd reason.
"Well..." Julia muttered. "A few years ago we had a duel and the condition of my victory was that he would call me sister."
"Uh."
"And, none of my other siblings liked me..." Julia's voice trailed off as she spoke, dropping her head.
"Alright, I see." Alan turned back to the garden, changing the subject rather than pressuring Julia to speak. "Let's find a place for me and Lucian to stay."
"Mhm..."
...
"I know I didn't ask last time..." Alan narrowed his eyes staring forward. "But why's there's a forest right next to the river?"
The group of four were back to the river, searching for a place to stay, Julia offered the two of them to share her room and bed, but very obviously Alan declined in fact, he was horrified Julia even suggested it.
Then he remembered the large forest he saw besides the river, in the brief time Alan spent high in the sky due to Sparky, he got a chance to see the garden in full view, about half of the garden was a forest connecting to the castle walls.
And so he decided to just camp in the middle of the forest, as Leon, he has many experience revolving around the forest, his dimension artifact held many items that could allow him to create a comfortable environment.
"Oh, I don't know." Julia frowned slightly. "But it looks impressive."
"What did I even expect." Alan crossed over the body of water stepping into the woods.
"Why're you going there." Julia tilted her head.
"Because Lucian and I will be camping in the forest?"
"What!" Julia's eyes flew open, her expression becoming very excited. "Why didn't you say so!"
"Huh?"
"Give me a moment!" She yelled, before dashing off in another direction, with Iris following just behind her.
"The hell was that about." Alan muttered, then shrugged, dismissing it and entering the forest.
...
The two of them found a suitable space for settling down, a flat circular ground surrounded by trees.
"Oi Lucian." Alan tapped his necklace, bringing out a bundle of firewoods from within. "Take care of the tents."
He tossed the woods to the ground gathering it into a makeshift campfire, before snapping his fingers.
Snap
The firewood ignited into a blaze of bright violet flames, spreading heat around the surroundings, Alan could technically choose any coloured flames he wished, but stuck to purple, he felt it suited him quite well.
Alan tapped his necklace once more, taking out four thick logs, placing them around the unusual campfire in a square formation, creating places to sit.
He sat down on one of the logs, tapping his necklace again, retrieving sticks and cuts of raw meat from within.
Dimensional artifacts act as a gateway into a space, inside that space, time and temperature is irrelevant, allowing for anything and everything placed within to remain in peak conditions.
Theoretically speaking, one could also just murder someone, then store their body inside their artifact and no one would found out, something Alan might have a use for later.
Sizzle
Stabbing the meat with the sticks, he placed it over the campfire allowing the flickering flames to lick the surface, slowly dying it to a brown hue, filling the air with a pleasant aroma, Alan fell into a small moment of silence, idly gazing at the crackling fire and cooking meat.
Lucian meanwhile actively set up two tents, one for him, another for Alan, in the knights order this kind of knowledge came as basic training.
"Grrr." The brief period of peaceful silence was broken by a rather familiar growl.
"Oh, Sparky...?" Alan assumed it to be sparky, but quickly questioned it when he saw the source of noise.
It was a small, young boy, his skin was pale, so pale he looked like a statue, though his facial features still held his baby fat making him incredibly adorable.
He was dressed in long, oversized light blue robes with intricate scale patterns that didn't match his size.
His hair was also a blend of light blue, but his eyes, they were a clear, glowing azure, staring back at Alan with reptilian pupils.
"Who the hell are you."
"Kyuu" The response was a sound that did not suit the kid's body.
"Are you Sparky?"
"Kyuu!" The boy nodded with a bright smile.
"I see..." Alan muttered, remembering a certain detail about the dragons that was recorded, every dragon possessed an ability called polymorph, which allowed them to transform into any species or races they wish.
"So this is your human form?" Alan raised a brow, scanning Sparky with his eyes.
"Huff." Sparky hummed and looked away towards the campfire, it seemed the infant dragon was still too young to formulate language.
Alan followed Sparky's gaze, it was fixed on the cut of meat Alan was cooking.
"You want this?" Alan raised the stick holding the cooked meat, hanging it in front of Sparky.
Sparky's eyes lit up, closely followed the meat, going left to right.
"Well, have it then." Alan swung the stick upwards, causing the slice of meat to fly into the sky.
Sparky's eyes closely followed its movements like a cat watching prey, he saw it reach the peak of its throw and when it started dropping.
Before the meat even touched the floor, Sparky's head transformed into an entire blue dragon.
Gulp
The dragon devoured the cooked meat in one motion, for a brief moment it was just a child's body holding a dragon head for its neck, before the scales quickly receded, transforming into the same adorable face.
"Holy shit..." Meanwhile, Alan was scared shitless from having to witness such uncanny scene.