"Alright, we're here."
When Shien's voice rang out from Yulin's back, the pitch-black dragon had already stopped flying. Flapping her wings, she hovered above the clouds without moving forward.
"We're here?"
Aiyi woke up at just the right time, though she still looked incredibly sleepy.
"Mm."
Emerald opened her eyes as well, but she looked dazed, as though she could not muster any energy at all.
Shien handed both Aiyi and Emerald over to Lasha, then leaned out from the dragon's back and looked down.
"Enchantment: Far Sight."
Shien cast magic upon his eyes, extending his vision across a great distance as he gazed at the ground below the clouds.
There, a city stood alone upon the earth, coming into Shien's view.
It was a fortress city.
Its walls were built high and thick, enclosing the entire city within them.
On top of the walls, Magic Weapons resembling cannons had been set up and aimed in every direction, presenting a rather intimidating sight.
Before the city stretched a continuous range of mountains.
"Is that Cosmos, the place we've been hearing about?"
Aiyi seemed to have woken up a little. Like Shien, she looked down at the ground, and whether through magic or her own eyesight, she could clearly see the city beneath the clouds as well.
Lasha held the still-dazed Emerald in her arms. It was unclear whether she had seen the city below, but she began explaining in an even tone.
"Cosmos is the northernmost city in the Kingdom of Mithra. It lies on the border of Duke Streim's Territory. Since it is the kingdom's closest city to the Ragna Empire, it is also a fortress city specifically built to block the Ragna Empire's route south."
"It is one of the kingdom's checkpoints and one of its defensive lines."