Ep 118. Long Time No See. (7)

  “Ilias, Raizel, listen well. It’s possible that…I won’t be able to assist you two in addressing Akeia’s emperor.”

  The two younglings returned a puzzled look to the dragonlord’s statement. And, soon enough, they would ask in unison.

  “Why?”

  “…There may be another enemy waiting for my arrival at Telberk. A divinity…or a simir entity. Ohat may pose an eveer threat to us than the Akeian emperor.”

  The image of the wooden doll fshed before the dragonlord’s eyes. The best-case sario was to think that the doll was the emperor himself – but if it weren’t, and if the doll had truly been uhe trol of a deity like Serenis had first assumed, then there was no harm in preparing for it. Especially if said entity were hellbent on killing the dragonkin.

  Meanwhile, Ilias was still puzzled by the dragonlord’s annou.

  “…Shouldn’t we get more help then? If they’re someone like that death deity…”

  “You worry about such. There is no divinity besides death that could best me in battle. What I’m more ed with…is leaving you two to address the emperor.”

  Raizel rolled her eyes at the news, turning xher head to face Ilias.

  “So that’s why you made Ilias stay. So I wouldn’t face him alone.”

  “…That is the case, yes. And if what Eliold us is true, the empire’s army will be at Telberk as well. Raizel, as strong as you may be…you ot handle all of it yourself.”

  Acc to Karas, the emperor was nigh impossible to best through magic. Then, it made sehat dragons with astute physical capabilities – like Ilias – would make the most useful ally.

  Raizel crossed her arms, refleg on what would happen ohey’d arrive at Telberk. She then g Karas, beaming a wry smile at the professor.

  “Army, huh…well, I’m sure our empire expert hahat. And Ilias and I wreck that emperor in the meantime.”

  “Huh? Weren’t you telli to even think about toug the emperor?”

  “…”

  Raizel narrowed her eyes at the red dragon’s ent.

  She’d said that, yes. But she wasn’t stupid – the emperor had brought the entire kin to their knees once. As capable as Raizel was, she khat besting him alone was an unlikely sario.

  “…Well, you know. Sihings turned out this way and all. Might as well.”

  “Wait, were you actually saying that because you were worried about me?”

  “…”

  “Oh my god, you were, weren’t you! Aww, look at you being a good fr-“

  Wack!

  Ilias’ sentence came to an abrupt end as she felt a metal fist smming over her head. She rubbed her ag skull for a moment, gring at her silver friend thereafter.

  “What was that for?!”

  “Everything.”

  “Why you…!”

  Ilias returhe favor – or at least tried to.

  Unfortunately, the red dragon’s hand ached just as much as Raizel’s head after delivering the hit.

  “Ow, my hand…stupid iron head…”

  “…Ha. Serves yht.”

  Serenis shook her head in dismay. She wasn’t even sure whether that was in the realm of pying hting. Somewhere iween, probably.

  Hence, instead of stopping the two, she opened her mouth to ge the topic – addressing both dragons, as well as Light and Karas.

  “Now, aside from all that…should you all not get some sleep? It’s quite te into the night. Get some rest while you , I’ll remain awake.”

  In fact, ‘quite te’ was an uatement. The sun was on the brink of rising outside.

  However, Raizel begged to differ. As usual.

  “Actually, why don’t we just head ht now?”

  “…?”

  Serenis blinked in fusion at the steel dragon’s proposal. When Raizel took no a to ge or retract her statement, Serenis parroted the youngling for firmation.

  “…Right now?”

  “Yeah. Hey birdhead, you do that coordihingy for Telberk, right?”

  Karas took an additional sed tister his itle before replying. His title was still an insult, but it was worth celebrating that it’d ged from ‘scum’ to ‘birdhead.’

  “Oh…uh, well…I wouldn’t know the locatio coordinates, but I suppose I give a rough estimate based on the map…”

  Nodding her head, Raizel turned back to face Serenis.

  “We’re all up anyways, might as well go before sunrise. We sleep once we’re done.”

  “Raizel, I uand you’re eager to go, but the others are…”

  Serenis looked to the remaining three. Given their daily routines, she was almost certain that they’d o sleep – especially Light.

  Unfortunately(?), that was not the case.

  “I’m fine.”

  “…If Ilias isn’t sleeping, I’m not sleeping.”

  “I’ve spent plenty of nights doing paperwork myself. One sleepless evening bothers me little.”

  “…”

  The dragonlord let out a small sigh. When all four looked at her with an expet gaze, she focused her attention on the half girl.

  Admittedly, Serenis didn’t even want Light to apany them if possible. But…

  “Light. Are you certain about ing with us? I send you back to Partivine. I’m sure Ilias and Karas will be with you by evening.”

  “…I’m not leaving.”

  “…”

  The half girl’s determined eyes locked with the dragonlord’s. Serenis pted on what to say to deter her from going, but Karas soon stepped in front of her, giving a reassuring smile.

  “I’ll be sure to keep her safe.”

  “…”

  Light had experienced firsthand what leaving her family could result in. And she was clearly determio never let it happen again.

  As someone who’d abandoned her own son, Serenis couldn’t bring herself te the half girl to do the same. If they’d die, then they’d die with them.

  Finally, Serenis spoke her final answer.

  “Very well.”

  ? ? ?

  “Hm…”

  Telberk’s fallen ramparts filled Lavnore’s vision.

  He’d already beeed of the outer wall’s breakdown, so one could argue that there was nothing to be surprised about. But…

  ‘It didn’t colpse. Rather…’

  If the ground gives away, then the wall standing on it also colpses. In such cases, it didn’t matter how tough the wall actually was.

  And right now, a rge portion of the of Telberk had been burnt bck. Parts of molten soil were still in the process of hardening. Smoke was still rising from certain areas, and the emperor could even see small pools of va scattered about. Although the sun had barely risen, the area was alit with numerous embers.

  “Why, it’s almost like a volic eruption has taken pce.”

  “Such is the power of a white fme.”

  Turning towards the man who’d just answered, Lavnore raised a brow at the reply.

  “White fme?”

  “The dragonlord’s fmes. The highest form of fire-aspected magic.”

  “Such a this?...It’s a shame I missed it, then. Had I seen it…”

  “This is not magic you replicate at will.”

  Rummaging the innards of his robe, the man produced a glimmering white shard from within.

  “For even a deity was uo hahe fme’s strength.”

  “…Is that so?”

  Discarding his small regret, the emperor dutifully accepted the shard into his own hand. He brought the straone closer to his eye, studying it with great i.

  “I take it this is the item you wished for me to destroy, then?”

  “I’ve fulfilled my end of our tract. It’s time you did yours.”

  “…I believe the dition was for you to apany us to Asarda…”

  As the emperor trailed off his words, the maurned a cold stare to the emperor.

  “There’s no he reason behind my pany was to address the threat Aymeia posed in your quest – and I have dealt with her as you wished. It’s time you carried out your end of the deal, Lavnore.”

  “…Of course, my lord. I was to destroy an item of yours. But I must say, I’ve never seen anything quite like it before…if I may, what is this exactly?”

  “There’s no need for you to know.”

  “…Haha. I see.”

  Though he was ughing oside, the emperor’s thoughts were far from amused.

  He wasn’t expeg an actual answer from the man beside him. He’d merely wao study their responding attitude.

  After all, Lavnore already kly what he was holding in his hand.

  ‘…It’s possible from this distance.’

  An array of spell circles formed above the emperor’s head, surrounding him and the item he held.

  A single instahat was all he had. A fatal gamble that was guarao cim the life of the loser.

  And because he’d won such gambles every time, Lavnore was able to bee who he was today.

  But just as the Akeian emperor was about to unleash his magic upoarget…

  “…?!”

  Boom!

  As his spells dissipated, the emperor averted his gaze from the shard to instead see a ridiculous sight unfolding before his eyes.

  Throughout their time together, not once had the emperor seen his pany show emotion of any sort. The strange man had always maintained an expressionless, almost mae-like expression.

  But right now, that man was visibly frowning. Oher side of their shield was a gigantic, pilr-like heap of metal.

  And at the end of the metallic mass, a silvery woman was coldly staring at the two men.

  “Eh…close.”

  “…”

  Just when the man was about to push the steel dragon’s tail off his shield, a number of fming orbs were shot forth from the dragon’s dire, f him to duder instead.

  “Raizel, stop running off on your own! What ‘smell’ are you even talking about?! You’re imagining things!”

  “No I’m not. ’t you see that? I was right.”

  “…Huh? Wait, that’s the emperor? But there’s two?”

  “The goldie’s the emperor. The brownie’s…eh, who cares.”

  “…”

  The man wore a deep frown – and it wasn’t just because he had suddenly bee ‘the brownie.’ He narrowed his eyes, noting the white figure approag them beyond the two younglings.

  His lips curved into a faint smile as he muttered under his breath.

  “…I didn’t think she’d actually e. With more dragonkin at that.”

  “…”

  Serenis soon came to a stop to stand beside the two younglings. Her eyes locked with the strange man’s up ahead.

  In respohe man lowered his shield, barking a short order to the emperor beside him.

  “Lavake the two younger dragons.”

  “But…my lord, what of the shard?”

  “Eake priority.”

  After those words, the man disappeared from the Lavnore’s vision for a brief moment.

  After charging forth at a literally blinding speed, the man reappeared before the dragonlord wearing an old, rusted armor. He drove his gau into Serenis’ neck with a loud ch, pushing her off her feet.

  Giving way to momentum, the force behind the sudden strike carried the man and Serenis across the burning pins. They soon became a spe the distance, disappearing into the mountains behind them.

  Raizel and Ilias had practically no time to react. Before they’d realized, the dragonlord had long bee invisible in the distance.

  “Lord Serenis?!”

  Ilias hurriedly turowards the dire Serenis had disappeared. But when Raizel refused to move even a single inch, the red dragon shouted at her friend.

  “Raizel, what are you doing?! Lord Serenis just…!”

  “Leave her be. She’s not gonna die to that.”

  “What the heck are you saying?!”

  “She said it before we came here, remember? That there’s gonna be someone else after her. Guess that brownie was the ‘someone.’”

  “B…but still! She might be in danger, we should-“

  “Trust her.”

  “…Huh?”

  “She’ll be firust her and focus on what she told us to do bad help your ‘little sister.’”

  “…Light will be okay. The professor’s with her.”

  “You trust that crow?”

  “Of course I do. He’s pretty scary when he’s serious.”

  “…Huh. Would never have guessed.”

  The emperor mused at the two versing younglings.

  “A red, and…steel? But for a dragon, you have her horns nor wings. It doesn’t seem you’re hiding them on purpose, either…”

  Soon reag the only viable clusion, the emperor’s lips curved into a wry smile.

  “You’re that hatg from before, aren’t you? My…long time no see. I suppose Xar was going against my orders long before I’d realized.”

  “Shut it.”

  Spitting out her answer, metal scales rapidly began to encase Raizel’s skin.

  “Oh? Now, now. I see the dragonkin still haven’t learheir lesson.”

  When the emperor wove his hand across the air, a translut barrier rapidly expanded outwards to ehe surrounding area.

  And soon enough, the metal scales across Raizel’s skiuro their inal color. Even Ilias’ horns and wings had all but disappeared.

  “Wait, this is…”

  “…”

  Watg the two younglings in dismay, Lav out an audible ughter. He provokingly stretched out his arms, inviting his eo attack.

  “I suppose o was not enough for the dragons to remember. e – I will personally drive some humility into your skulls.”

  “…Shut it!”

  Raizel took a slow step backwards. She then kicked off the bed soil to rapidly charge towards the emperor – at a speed no other dragon could even dare to replicate in their human form.

  Not having expected the sudden charge, Lavnore hurriedly wove his arms in the air. Hexagonal yers of light formed between him and Raizel, beginning to encase him whole.

  “S, shiel-“

  “Wanna know something iing?”

  Raizel stomped the ground with a thunderous sound, halting herself inches away from the staggered emperor. One hand was rolled into an iron fist as she screamed at her enemy.

  “This form hardly makes any differene!”

  Raizel’s fist demolished the emperor’s half-casted shielding spell, burying itself into his face with a heavy ch.

  And the sound was disturbing enough to freeze Ilias in pce.

  “…Uh…gosh…that looks painful…”

  Not having experiehe empire’s invasion first-hand, Ilias couldn’t help herself from feeling at least a tiny bit of remorse for the emperor.

  Though, it wasn’t like she nning to stop Raizel anytime soon.

  ? ? ?

  “Um…professor?”

  “Hm? What is it, Light?”

  “…Should you be this rexed right now?”

  “I don’t see any reason to be tense.”

  “…Really?”

  Five people had traversed through the portal: the three dragons, Karas, and Light herself. The coordihat Karas had estimated based on Telberk’s location had ially led them straight into the keep’s insides, right betweeer ramparts and the iructure.

  As soon as they’d arrived, Raizel had run off somewhere g to smell something in the air. Ilias had busily chased after the steel dragon. Even Serenis had followed the two younglings after entrusting Karas to ‘address matters here.’

  And so, Karas and Light had bee in the middle of the keep to fend for themselves. With no ability to fly like the dragons, they were doomed to be surrounded by the swarming soldiers.

  “Hey, what are those? Halves?”

  “Judging from their clothes, they look like mages. Probably novice res from Asarda or the resistance.”

  “They got guts droppin’ themselves in here. That, or real rotten luck…heheh.”

  “Let’s get ‘em over with quick. Did you see those dragons flippin’ outta here earlier? I always wao taste what drago was like.”

  Noting the soldiers’ bloodthirsty eyes, Karas let out a tired sigh.

  ‘The army hasn’t ged a bit…a, not a single nizes me.’

  There was nothing to be surprised about; for humans, a hundred years was enough to flip the world twice over. It was only natural that present soldiers wouldn’t reize some ander lost in history.

  But based on that precise history, Karas was retively certain of ohing.

  The empire’s soldiers couldn’t possibly pose a threat to him.

  ‘Though, I am a little ed about Light…’

  ing one arm around his student, Karas pulled the half girl closer to his side.

  “Light. Do not leave my side, no matter what.”

  “…This IS a dangerous situation, isn’t it?”

  Karas thought the question through for a moment.

  Admittedly, it was quite a dangerous situation fht – but saying that out loud didly seem like a good idea.

  And so, the professor simply beamed back, tapping the half girl on her back as he answered.

  Well, he was trying to answer, anyways.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll-“

  A deafening noise drowned out the rest of the professor’s words. An enormous stone pilr had erupted forth from the ground in front of them, hitting dozens of soldiers that had been standing in its pce.

  But before the soldiers could even prehend what had just happehe mass of stone began to lightly tremble. A fireball that had been hidden within the pilr exploded outwards, causing it to rupture into hundreds of meteors that struck the surrounding viity.

  Although Karas and Light remained unscathed through the whole ordeal, the same could not be said for Akeia’s unsuspeg soldiers.

  ‘Hiding a fire spell within ah spell? That’s…’

  Taken piece by piece, the spells weren’t anything plicated. It was just a rge pilr, and a basic fireball.

  But the manner in which they were applied was ohat could hardly be found outside of extremely old texts. Other than experienced army warlocks, such applications were hardly learned, much less used.

  But uhe shocked professor, Light seemed retively unbothered. After taking just a few moments to catch her breath from the sudden mana drain, she tugged on Karas’ coat, pulling him towards the dire Ilias had gone.

  “Professor…e on. We should go after them.”

  “…”

  The outes of Felicir’s appearaill hauhe half girl like yesterday, and there was no guarahat the same thing wouldn’t happen to her dragon sister. Hence, if this army was sided with a divinity like him – if they were Ilias’ enemies – then there was no room for passion of any sort.

  However, reasons ot justify all outes.

  Dozens of soldiers had been severely wounded by Light’s spell just now. Some had died from the initial strike.

  Karas couldn’t tell if Light was even aware of the damage she’d just incurred; the only thing that seemed to the half girl right now was that her sister had disappeared from sight.

  ‘But if she hadn’t done so…then I would’ve done so.’

  A fairer person could reasonably state Light’s faults in this moment. However, Karas was not one of them.

  The least he could do was dirty his own hands, so that his students wouldn’t have to any further.

  ‘If you wish, then by all means.’

  After a brief nod, Karas respoo Light in kind.

  “…Of course. Let’s things here quickly so we follow after her.”

  Praybird