Volume 3, Chapter 2: Female Troubles and Preparations for War

Discourse #14

Hell, in dragon language, refers to the place dragons go to when they die. It is a place of nonexistence, a place of oblivion. It is merely a concept—unlike humans, dragons do not have religions.

So when dragons curse, Eden in particular, for example, they use the word “hell.” The word wishes you to oblivion, to nonexistence.

That said, my birth kingdom, as you know by now, is not a religious place. There is no official religion or any such entities for which humans could believe in. Sure, there are the few religious people who lived here and there in the kingdom, but for the most part, Shail Kingdom is nonreligious.

Elisa Ballard, the adventurer I had met during my second tribulation, for example, used the word hell, so I could only assume that she had been influenced by some form of religion. Another person would be Grandmaster Kizam Vulcram who once used that word, which can mean many different things in different religions.

Curious, I had asked the grandmaster and had found out that he was somewhat religious, believing in a god of death.

Ah, it is the little things and words that can tell us much about a person.

Trust me on this, I am a very observant dragon.

Yet, at the same time, do not trust me, for I am a deceiver, a liar.

Saying that, I formed a small smile toward Marius Whitewill, the halfblood vampyre who was listening intently to my story. When he noticed that small smile of mine, the halfblood vampyre became startled, as if he had not expected me to smile.

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{70 Days Remaining}

With the surprised appearance of the two naked female dragons in their human forms, I decided to head to my room in the Fifth Manor House before going to the meeting in the Fourth Manor House. Judging from the clock on one of the buildings, there was still a little time left before the meeting would start.

For now, I was half-naked outside one of the pathways connecting the Third and Fourth Manor Houses.

The reason why?

I had given my tunic, shirt, and cloak for Eden and Kiara to wear. It was only logical since I didn't wanted to attract attention with two naked females trailing behind me. I already had enough of an infamous reputation—there was no need for it to become worse.

Thankfully, I didn't need to give up my lower attire to the two women (I shall use that term to refer to Eden and Kiara, though it is slightly incorrect) since my upper clothing was large enough cover up their upper legs, especially Kiara, who was the shorter female.

It was also a good thing that this part of the garden was usually desolate, so no one witnessed the two naked women falling from five feet above me.

“Though I need not tell you this, act naturally and follow me to my room so I can obtain some clothing for the both of you,” I said in calm voice with a relatively untroubled mind.

The untroubled state would only last for a while, however. Through the bond I now shared with Efari, I could vaguely tell which direction she was in. For now, she was out in the rougher sections of Asolance, most likely devouring some poor soul's life essence.

The time was still morning, about two hours or so before day would become afternoon. Thus, there were few people out in the gardens and pathways I purposely chose. The stares I received from some of the servants and guards, however, could not be avoided. There were just too many people here.

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“This dress and underwear is a little tight on me, Eden,” Kiara commented casually, trying to make herself more comfortable in the simple, white dress she wore.

“Really?” Eden said. “I fit perfectly in this black dress, though. It must be because your human breasts are much larger than mine.” She moved a hand to touch Kiara's breast. Then her eyes stared downward at her own body, then looked up again, comparing herself to Kiara. “Hmm. Yours are definitely larger.”

While Eden and Kiara were dressing up and conversing with each other, I was sitting comfortably on a chair, looking somewhat interestedly at the two dragons. My expression, however, did not betray any of my feelings. Mine was a blank and indifferent face.

Through my observations and inferring from the fact that I had lend the two dragons some of Efari's dresses, I could estimate that Eden's stature was closer to Efari, while Kiara's stature was a bit smaller, though she was bigger in certain areas.

Had Kiara and Eden been normal women instead of female dragons, they would have certainly expressed modesty and shyness dressing in front of a male. Thus, the two females in front of me had no qualms about dressing in front of me.

And it wasn't as if I had anything better to observe than the two women in front of me.

...Hah. That sounded like an excuse, but you can make up your own mind about my words.

“There are some extra boots by the corner,” I said, interrupting their conversation. “Try to find the closest size, though it will be somewhat uncomfortable since it will take time for you both to adjust.”

“Huh,” Eden said in a surprised voice. “I would have never taken you for a considerate male.”

I feigned a smile at her words, saying, “You are a beautiful dragon, after all. It is natural for me to be considerate.”

My words of flattery, however, fell short when Eden burst out laughing. Her dark green eyes flashed with a strange light, though it must have been my imagination. “Instead of calling me beautiful in this weak human language, dear Verath, I'd rather you call me dangerous.”

“You are too warlike for your own good sometime, Eden,” Kiara scolded. She turned to look at me with her golden eyes, and touched the hems of her dress, giving me a somewhat graceful, if inexperienced, bow. “Do I look beautiful, also?”

I stood up from the chair, returning Kiara's gesture with a half bow. Then I put on my most serious, yet indifferent face. “Of course, I would give up my tail in honor of your beauty, much more readily for you than a certain somone.”

It was unexpected—the fireball came straight for my face. And it was only by diving to my left that I dodged it. I rolled a bit on the floor, before finally getting up. The place where I had previously stood at was now on fire, the flames hungrily devouring the chair and spreading to the floor and the table nearby.

I didn't need to do anything, however.

The fire was soon extinguished as the chair and its immediate surroundings became encased in ice. The threads of white-colored magic had come from Kiara.

“So what was that fireball for,” I asked Eden with a little bit of surprise. Her attack had come out of nowhere.

“Nothing. I was just a bit annoyed.”

“I apologize. Eden can sometime become a little heated.”

I looked at the mess they had created. Parts of the floor, the table, and a somewhat blackened chair were encased in ice.

Ice and fire, huh...I thought to myself. I wasn't particularly surprised by the fire element since dragons were naturally strong with fire. The ice, however, was surprising. I would need to be somewhat wary of Kiara and the easily provoked Eden.

“No need for apologies. It can be easily rectified. Anyway, you two should stay in this room while I go attend a meeting.”

“A meeting?” Eden said, the disdain evident in her voice. “With these humans? What are you even doing here in the human lands, and for so long at that? You should be practicing with other dragons, rather than wasting time here.”

“True, but I was a little bit curious about this place.” I turned my teeth into sharp rows of fangs and gave a grin toward Eden and Kiara. “And haven't you heard? There's a war coming.”

Imparting those words, I quickly exited the room, somewhat troubled by the future.

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Inside the second floor of the Fourth Manor House, I entered the room where the meeting would be held. It was a spacious room with a huge table in the center with a laid out map of the western part of Valian Continent's Central Region (human lands). The map was particularly focused on Shail Kingdom and Falinor Kingdom, which was a little to the north of Shail Kingdom. On top of the map, there were also various pentagon shaped army pieces of different colors.

Disregarding the huge center table, there were also multiple chairs spread out in all corners of the room, most of them occupied by Knight Commanders. The group that stood out, however, were General Ochram, General Lavok, and Gold Knight Commander Lana standing together while intently looking at the map. To the other side of these two generals were the six Grandmasters, including Kizam and Rineal Vulcram.

Whispers broke out among the Bronze and Silver Knight Commanders as they saw me enter the room. Lana, in particular, looked up from the map and turned around.

“Greetings, General Verath,” Lana casually said.

Form her tone, I could not tell if Lana, who was older and more experienced than me, was dissatisfied at me being made a general before her. It also seemed as if I was the only one who had not been informed beforehand of my promotion. I silently cursed at the two Ministers of War for making me the black sheep out of the group.

“Good of you to arrive here on time, General Verath,” commented General Ochram. The slight emphasis on the last four words of his sentence left no doubts in my mind that he was rebuking me for being a little late.

I nodded slightly, while returning a greeting of my own. My nod told the general that I accepted his criticism, since it was not good for a general, especially a newly promoted one, to arrive later than his seniors. There could be no excuse and even if I made one, they wouldn't believe me.

You wouldn't either if I suddenly said “Sorry, two naked girls fell from the sky, so I was a bit late. Can you let it pass?”

No, something like that would definitely be disbelieved and mocked.

“Very well,” General Lavok said, breaking the silence which had fell upon the room. “Let us begin the meeting.”

I walked toward the center table to take up my position beside the two generals and Gold Knight Commander Lana. Even without looking around the room, I could sense some dissatisfied stares at my back and hear some whispers, voices which were too low to be clearly heard. I could tell from this that some them clearly disliked the fact that a white-haired stranger, who was younger than them in age and experience, to be promoted a general.

It was almost inconceivable seeing that my appearance only looked to be about a little over eighteen years old, though somewhat mature, if I could describe myself as such.

Silence came over the room as most of the men and few women stood up to get closer to the map and the generals hovering over it.

“As you all know by know,” General Lavok began, “Falinor Kingdom has declared war on us. It is, however, not an open and official declaration yet. No, it is more of an indirect declaration. It is laughable, because I would consider marching a considerably large army to invade another kingdom quite an official declaration of war.”

“No matter though. The point is that we have received genuine news from the compatriots and spies we have in the other kingdom that they have broken the Shail-Falinor Treaty.” General Lavok stroked his heavy beard and looked toward General Ochram who was his senior by a few years, and nodded at him to take over.

I observed General Ochram with feigned, uninterested eyes. He was a clean shaven and heavy-set man with hair that was streaked with gray. His more than six feet and a half height and large body, however, was more like solid muscles that had lost somewhat to age. No doubt the general had been a most impressive man in his youth.

With a deep voice, which suited his appearance, the general started speaking.

“At this moment, in the Asolance garrisons and nearby barracks, there are about 12,000 soldiers being retained, 4000 of them under General Verath's command, and 3000 of them under Gold Knight Commander Lana's command.”

General Ochram moved a red pentagonal piece toward the edge of the northern region of Shail Kingdom, where Milgard Outpost was. Seeing that, I wasn't particularly surprised since I had been somewhat informed of the basic plan a few days ago. I had been a Gold Knight Commander, after all.

His next words, however, came as a total surprise, though I managed to maintain my indifferent facade.

“All of the Bronze Knight Commanders and some of the Silver Knight Commanders will be put under Verath's command. They are to go take up defenses in Milgard Outpost. The total forces will be”—there was a short pause, almost unnoticeable—“twenty thousand soldiers. And the vice-commander of this vanguard shall be Gold Knight Commander Lana.”

Using my peripheral vision, I could see some of the Knight Commanders in the room were surprised. How could the two most senior generals let an inexperienced commander lead them? A commander who had barely even done a year of service? It was unthinkable!

“General Verath's forces shall be the vanguard that will meet with the armies of Falinor Kingdom, which I suspect will be here in perhaps two months time. He will engage and harry them until reinforcements arrive from King Balan and the other regions.”

“General Ochram!” a Bronze Knight Commander spoke up; it was easy to distinguish his rank since he was wearing the official tabard that went along with the position—and come to think of it, I never did bother to wear mine. “What are the estimations of the enemy forces?”

“150,000 soldiers plus their royal magi battalions,” General Ochram softly said. His voice, though soft and almost like a whisper, carried across the room with ease.

Silence fell among the men and women. The number of enemy forces was too high! At best, Shail Kingdom could only field over 100,000 soldiers while maintaining some order inside the territory.

Though most of the men and women in the room were surprised by the number, I already knew somewhat of it, so I was composed and indifferent as usual. I only waited for composure to seep back into the room and waited for the two senior generals to continue.

The meeting went on for a few more hours. It was a long afternoon of arguments and inputs from the other senior Knight Commanders. There were, of course, also some objections brought up to my leadership, but the two generals stayed firm to their decision (no doubt, the two Ministers of War had something to do with that).

Thus, the beginnings of a plan was set.

I was to lead an army of twenty thousand soldiers with a few squads of mages mixed in against an army that outnumber mine by quite a considerable margin. And since there was only 12,000 soldiers stationed near Asolance, the rest of the 8000 soldiers in my army would be gathered from the other parts of the northern region.

As for the two generals, they would each be commanding three separate forces to oversee the rest of the northern borders, and reinforce my army as needed. There would be seven total fronts, six of them commanded by the two generals.

In total, once we were reinforced by the soldiers in the nearby eastern region and north half of the central region, we would have around 55,000 soldiers. The other 60,000 soldiers and the rest of the Shail Kingdom's battalions of mages would arrive later. The projected estimation for reinforcements, after considering the supply trains and marching huge armies from the western, southern, and further reaches of the central region, was a little over two months time.

Falinor Kingdom was not idiotic enough to send their whole army just charging at one place, so this was why we couldn't just have one front. No, they would split their huge army of 150,000 soldiers and battalions of mages into different vanguards and strategic groups.

The only thing we knew for certain about the enemy army was that they would be invading from the northern borders of Shail Kingdom, primarily through the Northern Grasslands, just north of Milgard Outpost. It was the most strategic place.

And I was to head to Milgard Outpost as quickly as I could and set up defenses. The royal battalions of mages assigned to me would also arrive at the outpost as soon as they could. They would be under my command and would also help set up defenses.

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Having taken some of Efari's life essence each time we exchanged, there was now a bond between the two of us. I could, at all times, feel the general direction where she was. And through this, I could also judge if she was close to me or far away from me.

I had also gotten used to this bond since I could ignore it if I did not focus on the bond too much. Thus, my feelings were not swayed in any particular direction over this establishing bond. Though I was a little on guard each time we would exchange.

Right now, however, I was feeling troubled.

The meeting had taken longer than I had expected and it was late afternoon now. I was outside of the Ffifth Manor House watching sections of the manor explode brilliantly into flames. There were servants, guards, soldiers, and knights all rushing over to see the commotion.

A young maid then came running toward me, seeing that I was the highest ranking person on the location. She was a somewhat pretty woman on initial observations.

“Commander Verath,” she said, her words coming out in quick bursts.

The maid had used commander instead of general as my title, since only a few knew of my position. The news would be spread soon, but for now, most people still thought I was a Gold Knight Commander.

“What happened?” I asked, though I already had a clue what was happening. The threads of magic and my bond told me.

The fearful look in the maid's eyes was also a big clue. “I was about to clean the hallways near your room when two women came bursting out of nowhere. Then flames also started appearing out of nowhere, burning the whole hallway. I ran out as quick as I could, warning the others!” The heaving maid took a deep breath.

Then she looked down at her torn black and white maid uniform. Some of the white frills on it looked blackened as if they had went too near a fire and there was a tear near her chest, most likely obtained from running. A look of realization crossed her face and she covered her chest.

By then, however, I was already ignoring the somewhat blushing maid.

Instead, I was more focused on what to do as I watched another section of the manor explode outward, two glass windows cracking into thousands of pieces. Out of another window, an enormous whip of flame came bursting through it.

I thought over my situation a bit with a calm look while the maid kept staring at me. Crowds of onlookers were now gathering outside, but none of them dare went in. The noises of the explosions and the random bursts of fire were too frightening.

I decided then.

They say that an experienced general knows when to retreat and that a very experienced general knows when to retreat before a battle even started. Right now, I knew that I needed to retreat.

At least, that was what I would have liked to have done. Instead, I went inside the Fifth Manor House, the crowd of people parting like split hair when they saw me.

The noises, the magic, and my bond told me that the battle was taking place in the third floor of the house. As I dodged a falling timber on fire, I made my way past the hallway and toward the stairs. The stairs were still relatively untouched, since they were made of stone and other not easily burnable material than wood.

On the third floor, I saw the most beautiful scene and the two most beautiful women I would ever see in my life peacefully getting along.

Hah, I am only kidding.

I only saw two monsters—a somewhat transformed Eden and an Efari with a cold glint in her dark, black eyes—battling each other amidst the flames. Kiara was on the side sitting gracefully on an elegant chair, and watching the battle with some amusement while occasionally stopping the fires from becoming too severe by using ice magic.

Three black horns had sprouted from Eden, two to the sides of her head which curved almost all the way around to the back of her head and one small middle horn on top her head. Strangely enough, the horns looked quite suitable on her with her long blonde hair, dark green eyes, and delicately tanned face.

On the other hand, Efari's jet black eyes had turned even darker, as if her eyes were black pools that could drown your whole being. Surrounding every tip of her body was a faint sheen of white aura. It did not look like magic, so I could only guess it was some sort of special ability a Matriarch Devourer had.

I grabbed a chair nearby in the living room and situated it beside Kiara, who was watching the battle.

Although Kiara had looked engrossed in the battle, she was not surprised by my appearance. I reevaluated her personality and strength once more at that. She was turning out to be a surprising character.

“How went your meeting, Verath?” Kiara said in her sweet, soft voice.

“It dragged on for a bit, I suppose,” I answered back, sitting on the chair I had put beside Kiara.

The two female monsters battling with each other still had not noticed me.

Efari was busy negating every fireball and whips of flames Eden sent at her, while at the same time busy trying to catch Eden.

Seeing that, I judged Eden to be more of a long-range type and Efari to be a close-range type. It was quite interesting to see Efari fighting, since I had never seen her done that before. I only knew that the Matriarch Devourer was strong since she had not seemed surprised at the existence of dragons.

The two females disappeared into a room, and that room suddenly burst apart with a flaming explosion a moment later. Then Eden and Efari reappeared inside the living room again, where we were calmly watching a distance away, about thirty feet or so.

Kiara suddenly turned toward me, her golden eyes tinted with red and white, strangely staring at me. They felt threatening, somehow. That was the feeling I got from her stare. “Is that woman your wife,” she asked in a gentle voice which sounded forced.

Forced into a somewhat troublesome spot by her question, I simply answered, “You could take it that way, I suppose.”

“Hmm...” Kiara said, stretching out the “hmm.” It would have certainly made me nervous had it not been for my control of my dampened emotions.

The silence stretched on for a while before she broke it. “I suppose I can share,” Kiara said with a smile on her face, “though I must admit, most dragons do not like to share. I just hope you can handle me.”

“Right...” I said, a little surprised by her words. I could not tell what the female white dragon was thinking.

“Oh. I think they have noticed you,” she informed me.

I turned my head toward Eden and Efari and saw their glares directed toward me. The flames surrounding them made an unnatural glint in their eyes, or it could have been my imagination.

“Good evening, Eden and Efari,” I said politely, a small smile formed on my face. “Your dresses look in need of repair. Perhaps we should all go for a nice shopping trip, and then a walk then?”

My words were factual. Parts of their dresses were burnt, especially around the edges and there were small holes, revealing pink and black underwear. As for who was exactly wearing what, I will let you decide.

A lash of flame snaked toward me. Its speed was fast enough that I had to block it with a hand covered by my own flames. Then I sensed and saw green threads of magic forming underneath my chair. I countered forcefully with my own black threads of magic.

An interesting fact I had found out about mages—it was difficult for your threads of magic to intrude on another mage's personal territory, especially if that mage was stronger than you in terms of magic. Thus, you couldn't just ambush a mage with a fire pillar from beneath—the opponent mage would either sense it coming or suppress it.

Eden and Efari looked at each other for a brief second, before nodding. As if forming some sort of temporary truce between the two of them with that exchange of nods, they then came walking toward me, who was still sitting on the chair.

“So, dear Verath, might I ask who these two...dragons are?” Efari asked in a voice that could cool a desert, a voice that could make a bear shed its skin. Yes, a forced shedding of not fur, but skin. “They are, I hope, certainly not two dragons you are engaged to.”

I carefully observed my surroundings.

The intense red of the fire burning parts of the floor and parts of the walls of the Fifth Manor House looked quite interesting. Beautiful. Like scarlet roses and blood dyed on a black surface.

“May I say that I was forced, and that these circumstances of mine are not of my own making, but of others?” I calmly said.

“What foolish nonsense are you speaking of, clown,” Eden said in a cool, collected voice, quite different from her usual nature. “I command you to sever all ties with this cur who is not even of our race.”

“What was that, you overgrown lizard!” Efari retorted back. “You should not speak such words lest you bite your own tongue.”

Safe, I thought to myself. Let the two women direct their dislike toward each other. I was content to be on the sideline, disinterestedly listening to their shouting contest.

“How about we have a truce for now, since we are among humans now and battling with each other will have many uncertainties. I also feel that this manor shall not last much longer,” Kiara said in a cheerful voice. “Let us just temporarily end with, say, each of us getting a favor from Verath?”

At that, all three females turned the full force of their stares onto me.

I could only let out a weak affirmative. “Right.”

Trust me, you would see the logic in my action too, and how I could only accept.

When you are alone in a living room with three female monsters, two of whom are dragons of comparable strength to you and one of whom is a Matriach Devourer, whose strength you still could not grasp perfectly—

You would also wisely choose the action to go along with them.

What can I say...Women are strange creatures.

Wait, let me rectify that. Women are strange monsters.

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When I came back out of the Fifth Manor House—correction, dragged out by the three monsters—I was quickly surrounded by the crowd of onlookers. Some of the males were also furtively staring at the tears in the dresses of Eden and Efari, who showed off some skin.

In the end, the situation was resolved before it became even more troublesome. Kiara, at my request, used large-scale ice magic to extinguish the roaring fire. It was quite an impressive feat of magic, but it only made me more wary of her.

When I was asked who the two new females were, I told them that they were from where I had come from, and were close acquaintances of mine. My shaky lies were accepted, and they didn't particularly dig deep into them. I was a general, after all, and had proven my loyalty many times over.

Still, Kiara, and Eden.

They were a mystery. I could still remember when I had first saw them in Navra's chambers after the first tribulation. The green colored wyrm and white-colored wyrm had been brought in by a large blue dragon together. It made me think that they both had survived the first tribulation, even though only one wyrm should have survived.

The greater mystery, however, was Kiara.

She was a white dragon, which was a rare color. Only a few dragons in past histories had been born with that color. And when I had asked the eldest for more details, he had only shown an amused smile as an answer.

Thus, I never asked again after seeing that strange, amused smile of the eldest.

Volume 3 (Chapter 3)

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