Chapter 107: The New Home
Armani dissolved the sound barrier just as Carrie climbed down from Bluey’s neck and carefully made her way toward them.
"What were you two talking about?" she asked, settling between the two women.
Martha smiled. "Nothing important, sweetie. I was only reminding your aunt about something amusing."
Carrie regarded her suspiciously. "What was so funny? I want to laugh too."
Martha’s smile widened. "I was talking about the night we watched that horror movie."
Carrie’s eyes instantly widened. "Mom! You can’t tell her that!"
Armani leaned forward with interest. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened," Carrie answered hastily.
Martha laughed, but Carrie immediately protested, "You promised you would never tell anyone! Why does everyone in my family keep breaking their promises to me?"
She turned toward Armani. "Auntie, don’t listen to her."
Her reaction only made Armani more curious. "Now I definitely want to hear it."
"No!"
Armani looked at Martha. "Tell me, Sister. What happened?"
Carrie grabbed her mother’s arm. "Mom, don’t embarrass me!"
Martha tried to maintain a straight face, but the memory was already making her laugh. "Well, we watched a horror movie together a few months ago, and Carrie was absolutely terrified."
"It wasn’t scary at all!" Carrie insisted.
"That was exactly what she claimed throughout the entire movie," Martha continued. "She sat there criticizing every ghost, calling the characters idiots for entering dark rooms alone, and explaining what she would have done in their place."
"When the movie ended, we all returned to our rooms to sleep. But the moment she closed her eyes, she started having nightmares and couldn’t fall asleep."
Carrie covered her ears. "I don’t want to hear any more of this."
Armani glanced between them. "So she came to your room?"
"No." Martha shook her head, laughing. "To preserve her dignity, instead of coming to her mother, she went to her brother’s room and asked whether she could sleep beside him because she thought he might be lonely."
A fond smile appeared on Martha’s face. "And what a considerate brother my son was. He protected her pride by claiming that he had also been frightened by the movie and wanted his little sister to stay with him."
"Carrie immediately climbed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around him..." Before Martha could continue, Carrie slapped both hands over her mother’s mouth.
"Mom, no!"
Armani, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, gently pulled Carrie’s hands away. "Let your mother finish."
"Why are both of you bullying a child?"
"The next morning," Martha continued between bursts of laughter, "Zac walked into the kitchen and asked whether there were leaking pipes in his room."
Carrie squeezed her eyes shut. "Please stop."
Armani covered her mouth, already realizing where the story was headed.
"Even with her brother beside her, she was so frightened that she wet the entire bed."
"No!" Carrie screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing across the sky, and both women burst into laughter.
"It wasn’t my fault," Carrie muttered indignantly.
Armani nodded with an impeccably solemn expression. "Naturally. The ghost must have done it."
Carrie stared at her in utter betrayal. "You’re even worse than Mom, Auntie. I’m not speaking to either of you."
With that declaration, she returned to Bluey’s neck and sat down with her arms crossed.
The rest of the journey continued with Carrie and Martha sharing stories from their lives while Armani listened patiently.
***
Even at Bluey’s tremendous speed, traveling directly from Mello City to Central City would still take several days.
The Eastern Alliance spanned an immense territory, and Central City lay far beyond the traveling range of ordinary flying beasts.
Armani, however, had no intention of spending days in the air. After several hours of flight, she guided Bluey toward an isolated stretch of wilderness.
Carrie peered down at the landscape below. "Did we reach the city already, Auntie?"
"No, sweetie. We’re taking a shortcut."
Armani retrieved a small silver object from her spatial ring. It resembled a circular plate covered in countless intricate symbols.
Martha recognized it immediately. "Is that a spatial node array?"
"Yes. Traveling from one country to another takes far too long, so I always carry one with me. It can transport us instantly to a designated node near the borders of the countries surrounding Central City."
Carrie leaned closer. "What does it do?"
"It folds the distance between two locations," Martha explained.
Carrie stared blankly at the silver plate. "Can you explain that in normal words?"
"It makes a very long journey much shorter."
"Oh. Now I understand."
Armani placed the array plate on Bluey’s back and activated it.
A glowing circular formation instantly spread beneath them, intricate symbols expanding outward until the entire wyvern was enclosed within the array.
Brilliant light engulfed all of them.
When Carrie opened her eyes again, the surrounding scenery had transformed completely. The desolate wilderness was gone. In its place stood a bustling coastal town filled with people.
Armani pointed toward the town below.
"This place is called Cape Town, the final settlement before Central City. The enormous river surrounding it is the Lolita River. From here, the rest of the journey is much shorter."
Bluey released another thunderous roar and accelerated once more.
Barely half an hour later, the distant outline of Central City finally emerged on the horizon.
Carrie stared ahead in awestruck silence.
The city was so vast that it appeared to stretch beyond the horizon. Multiple layers of towering walls encircled it, while colossal skyscrapers pierced the clouds. Neon lights illuminated the sprawling streets below, which teemed with people, flying beasts, and countless aircraft.
Even from a distance, it resembled less of a city and more of an entire nation enclosed behind walls.
"It’s huge," Carrie murmured.
"Yes, it is," Armani replied. "Although we call it a city, it’s nearly the size of a country."
Without slowing down, Bluey flew directly toward the outer barrier, an immense protective formation surrounding the city.
The moment the enormous wyvern passed through it, warning signals erupted across the outer wall. Several guards immediately looked up, and one of them nearly dropped the device in his hand.
"Is that a beast?"
Another guard stared at Bluey’s receding silhouette. "That thing just passed through the barrier without the slightest resistance. How is that possible?"
The first guard immediately grabbed his VSB and contacted the command post. "Sir, we have an unidentified beast entering Central City."
A voice barked from the other side. "What do you mean, an unidentified beast? The barrier is still active."
"Yes, sir, but it passed straight through anyway."
"What? Are you out of your mind? What does it look like?"
The guard narrowed his eyes as Bluey flew deeper into the city. "Sir... it looks like a dragon."
The voice on the other end fell silent. "A dragon?"
"Yes, sir. It has dark bluish-purple scales and is heading toward the inner district."
Another prolonged silence followed.
Then the officer spoke again, this time with unmistakable caution.
"Do not engage."
"Sir?"
"Pretend you saw nothing and leave it alone."
"But, sir, what if it causes havoc? Shouldn’t we try to capture it?"
"Capture it?" the officer shouted. "Are you trying to repeat what happened at the harbor?"
The guard’s face immediately turned pale. "Sir... do you mean it belongs to..."
"Yes, that lunatic woman. It belongs to that lunatic woman, understood? Ignore what happened and continue doing your job."
"Understood, sir."
The guard immediately ended the call and turned toward the others. "We saw nothing."
The other guards, having overheard the officer’s outburst through the VSB, nodded without hesitation.
Bluey passed through the outer reaches of Central City and continued toward the inner districts.
People on the streets stopped and looked up as her enormous shadow swept over them. Some pointed toward the sky, while others hurriedly pulled out their VSBs to record the spectacle.
"Is that a beast?" someone in the crowd asked.
"Yeah, and an enormous one at that."
Another man frowned. "Isn’t flying a beast through inner districts prohibited?"
"Whoever owns it must be important enough to disregard the city’s regulations."
Oblivious to the commotion below, Carrie stared at the sprawling city with wide, fascinated eyes.
Before long, Bluey crossed the inner district and headed toward the core district of Central City.
Unlike the modern architecture of the outer and inner districts, the buildings here possessed a distinctly aristocratic and traditional appearance. The residents were far from ordinary citizens as well.
Even when Bluey flew directly over their heads, most of them barely reacted and continued with their affairs.
"Why does this part of the city look so different?" Carrie asked.
"Because this is the core district," Armani explained. "Most of the land here belongs to prominent families and influential individuals."
"Is that why there are so few people?" Carrie tilted her head. "Do rich people not like having neighbors?"
Martha covered her mouth to conceal a smile.
Armani considered the question before replying, "Some of them don’t even like their own families."
"That sounds very lonely."
"It often is."
Bluey soon began descending toward one of the district’s larger estates.
An expansive lawn stretched beneath them, enclosed by towering walls and a transparent defensive barrier. Cherry blossom trees lined the stone pathways, their delicate pink petals drifting gently through the air.
Several ponds were scattered throughout the garden, filled with vibrant fish, while clusters of bamboo grew along their banks. At the center of the largest pond stood an imposing stone statue of a meditating Buddha.
Beyond the garden rose an elegant Roman-style mansion. A large swimming pool occupied the area near its entrance, surrounded by stone paving and meticulously maintained greenery.
Bluey landed in the center of the lawn, causing the ground to tremble beneath her immense weight.
The three of them climbed down from her back, and Armani looked up at the wyvern and smiled. "Thank you for the ride, girl."
Martha also reached out and gently touched one of Bluey’s scales. "Thank you, Bluey."
Carrie hurried around to stand in front of her. "Come and visit us whenever you have time, okay?"
Bluey lowered her head in acknowledgement before spreading her wings and taking off from the estate. "Bye, Bluey!" Carrie called, waving both hands enthusiastically.
Once the wyvern disappeared into the distance, Carrie finally took a proper look around the estate.
Her mouth slowly fell open. It was easily the most magnificent place she had ever seen.
"Auntie, whose house is this?"
Armani glanced toward the mansion. "Mine. And now, it’s yours."
Carrie’s eyes lit up. "You mean we’re going to live here?"
"Yes, Carrie. From now on, this will be your home."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Can I go explore?"
"Be my guest."
Carrie immediately dashed toward the mansion. "Don’t run near the pool," Martha called after her.
"I won’t!" Carrie abruptly changed direction, having nearly run straight into it.
Martha’s expression then grew somewhat uneasy. "Kitty, is it really necessary for us to live in the core district?"
Armani looked puzzled. "What do you mean, Sister?"
"This estate is enormous, and there are only two of us. We don’t need a house this large."
"This is the only property I currently have available in Central City," Armani replied. "I don’t own anything suitable in the inner district. But if you dislike this mansion, I can purchase another residence."
"No, that isn’t what I meant. I’m grateful." Martha looked around the vast estate. "It’s just that, after living in such a modest house for so many years, all of this feels excessively lavish."
"Don’t trouble yourself over it, Sister. You’ll become accustomed to it soon enough."
Armani smiled gently. "After everything you’ve endured, you deserve a little luxury."
"You always know exactly what to say, don’t you?"
"What can I say? I have a wise elder sister."
Martha laughed.
Suddenly, Carrie’s voice echoed from inside the mansion. "Mom! There are twelve bedrooms in here!"
Martha shook her head.
"She’s remarkably fast," Armani remarked.
Martha closed her eyes and released a weary sigh. "This is going to be a very long day."