This will be the last chapter for today... Thank you all for reading. There will be more tomorrow.

Tear, Vyne, and Erebus were currently standing inside of a very large clearing. Erebus had the expression of a small child who had been caught stealing candy.

“The Dragon Council?” Tear asked, Erebus had never told her of this.

Erebus scratched his head and sighed a little. “We meet every five hundred years and discuss boring stuff.”

They weren’t able to finish the dungeon because Erebus had been scolded by a scary person.

“I see,” Tear said with a frown.

“You two return to the castle for now,” Erebus said. “I’ll be back soon, I hope.” He pouted his lips, he really didn’t want to go. “At least I get to stretch my wings.”

When Tear and Vyne had left, Erebus’ figure began to glow and morph. The transformation looked as if it hurt, wings started to sprout out of his back and he fell to all fours. The structure of his bones began to shift and change and his body started to grow to a colossal size.

In the place where Erebus had once stood, was now a dragon. The dragon was completely black in color with a single red streak through the middle of his body. The light that hit the dragon seemed to be sucked into the darkness. The eye that was normally covered by his eyepatch was revealed, it was a brilliant green in color. The dragon had such a grand aura that even Yvick, miles away, was able to feel it.

Erebus stretched out his claws and flapped his wings a couple of times before lifting off into the sky.

The reason Erebus needed to transform is because the Dragon Continent could only be reached by flight. And, well, if you weren’t a dragon, you’d get killed instantly.

Erebus set off for the Dragon Continent with a flap of his mighty wings that created. He moved so fast that the moment you thought you laid eyes on his figure, he would be miles away.

The land of the Lower Continent appeared and disappeared under him at a dizzying rate and then he was flying over the sea.

Erebus would’ve normally took a detour and flown around for longer, but that man had been rather angry when he told Erebus to ‘get his ass over here’.

Such a shame, Erebus thought to himself. He would enjoy a time where he was able to stretch his wings.

Erebus entered the domain of the dragons. The sky turned red, and the only clouds were those of soot.

The land here was far more tumultus, there were volcanoes that were constantly flowing. Large pyres-castles were erected on the magma ridden ground, with spikes sticking out of them.

Any dragon that was flying in the air would move out of the way of Erebus. Some would even do something similar to a bow while in the air. Erebus was royalty here.

Erebus nodded at the dragons he passed and continued flying until he reached the largest pyre-castle out of them all. He slowly descended and landed on the designated area and morphed back into his human form.

“Ah,” Erebus said while stretching. It had taken him about ten minutes to cross over the Lower Continent, Tartarus, the sea in between, and the majority of the Dragon Continent.

His attire was different from what he had worn in the dungeon. Instead, he on clothing similar to what he wore in his castle. Only, it was much more extravagant. Also, Erebus was no longer wearing his eyepatch, so his green eye was exposed.

Erebus sighed and strode into the Council’s room.

“Hello!” he greeted as if he wasn’t late.

He was welcomed(?) with six glares from six pairs of eyes.

“You’re late,” the voice that had scolded him earlier belonged to the 1st Seat of the Council: Rolut. He was a stern-looking man, he looked like he was around thirty-five but he was obviously older than that. His hair was completely white and fell to his shoulder in slight waves. His eyes were the same crimson as Erebus, though.

“Um~ sorry?” Erebus laughed as he took his seat.

“No, you aren’t,” a woman growled. She had wild red hair and blue eyes. Her name was Lisset, the 3rd Seat of the Council. Also, she was the violent women Erebus thought Heather would get along with.

A man with blue-grey hair sat next to her. His eyes were sky blue in color and cold. This was Frize, the 2nd Seat of the Council. “Your personality has grown even worse, it would seem.”

Erebus’s head was smacked by the man next to him. Greur, the 6th Seat, was the male equivalent of Lisset. They weren’t related yet they looked like twins.

Sitting besides Greur was Massath, the 7th seat. He was the only one who competed with Erebus for the title of being ‘useless’. His brown hair was overgrown and unkempt and his face was currently resting on the Council’s table. He was asleep.

The last four who didn’t say anything were:

Ayirn, the 4th seat, she was a pretty woman with golden hair and brown eyes. She had a sweet personality and forgave Erebus for his tardiness almost instantly.

Azure, the 8th seat, had a chest that could rival Tear’s in terms in flatness. She was had free-flowing azure hair and golden eyes.

Midrn, the 9th seat, he was a pretty-boy who resembled Vyne. Only, he hated Erebus’ because of his personality. Midrn was a serious man.

Dissolve, the 10th seat, was Midrn’s twin brother. Dissolve, however, didn’t really care about anything. He rarely spoke and mostly kept to himself. Therefore, he could care less about Erebus being late.

That was all of them, including Erebus who was the 5th seat. The gap between the members of the Council and the rest of the dragons was immense. It was because of this gap the other dragons treated them with the utmost respect.

They were basically the royalty of the dragon race.

“So, now that that useless man is here, the 16th Council meeting will be starting,” Rolut said in his sonorous voice.

Erebus clapped and cheered.

This earned him even more glares.

He raised his hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

“Anyway,” Rolut continued gruffly, “we will be discussing the state of this world, currently.”

Serious faces (except for three) all around. Massath continued to sleep and no one bothered to wake him up.

“The humans are growing greedy again,” Lisset said, leaning back in her chair. “They’re starting to reach their claws out into our continent. I know a few dragons have been trading goods with them.”

“Ah.” Erebus remembered something.

“What is it, Erebus?” Frize asked.

“When I was on a ship to the Lower Continent, one of my subordinates found a dealer selling a [Magma Heart].” Erebus scratched his head. “I was wondering where they had gotten it.”

“What!” Midrn slammed his hands on the table, standing up straight. “And you didn’t think to go ask the merchant where they got it from?”

Erebus shrugged.

“If the races outside of ours get their hands on precious stones from our continent, everything could change,” Frize continued. “You’ve seen the powerful weapons Triton is able to craft with the stones he received from us and the Pure Continent!”

Rolut furrowed his eyebrows. “Indeed, this is troublesome. We should make a decree stating no trading any materials only the Dragon Continent has.”

Lisset nodded. ‘That could work.”

“There’s always the black market,” Azure said.

“They wouldn’t dare challenge our authority,” Greur responded. “They know what would happen if they did.”

“True.”

Erebus zoned out during the rest of their conversation. Same with Massath, who had awoken during Frize’s outburst.

“--wait. Erebus, why in Eirlok were you on a ship to the Lower Continent for,” Azure said suddenly.

“I’ve been caught,” said Erebus in his monotonous voice.

Rolut placed his hand on his forehead. “Erebus, what did you do?”

“Hey, why are you assuming it’s a bad thing.”

“Erebus!”

“Tch. I may have become a Quester.”

“A Quester, I see, you became a Quester,” Rolut said while laughing. “Are you out of your mind, Erebus?”

“I was bored.”

“Bored!” Lisset shouted. “Do you know what a headache it would be if the humans found out that a dragon, a member of the Council, no less, was a Quester?”

Erebus shrugged. He didn’t really care.

“We would have to deal with all their complaints. It would be worse than when they found a few dragons nesting in the Main Continent,” Lisset groaned.

“Meh,” Dissolve said. “They wouldn’t dare say anything that would be out of line. So it’s fine isn’t it?”

“Yeah~ it’s fine right?” Massath agreed.

Yes, the careless ones had to stick together in this harsh world.

“Erebus, resign as a Quester,” Rolut commanded.

“Bu--”

“Do it.” His eyes flared with anger and Erebus clamped his mouth shut.

“Fine,” Erebus groaned.

“We’ll continue tomorrow,” Rolut said, standing up. “I already have a headache...”

Thus, within thirty minutes of starting, the Council was adjourned till tomorrow.