“I assume things are bad?” The dragon broke everyone’s silence with a question, not pushing Raccelline off in the slightest. At the same time, he noticed the rather depressed faces of the five, presumably they expected something more than a youngling to protect the princess with them.

“Eternals have a new Great Sage, and they attacked the empire. They also killed at least one of the nomadic Great Sages outside the empire… And it seems that they’ve infiltrated various kingdoms around here,” from the group, it was the obviously wizard who answered his question first. A concise reply which he greatly appreciated.

“Her family?” Most of their eyes widened as they didn’t expect the dragon to actually focus on Raccelline to such a degree. The two couldn’t have met for more than a day, so what led him to be so caring of her?

“We don’t know. They teleported her away with that relic around her neck before the situation concluded,” replied the bulky warrior, from the way everyone looked at him it was clear he led them all. Perhaps not the most intelligent, but someone with clear visions and a keener sense of battle.

Perfect to lead in combat was the dragon’s basic analysis.

Over the next few minutes, a back and forth went on as the dragon came to learn just how far things in the outside world changed this past year. While things on the surface seemed alright, the infallible chaos was close to making its introduction, and from that moment on it’d become a hellscape all across the continent. Wars over food, resources, wealth… And power.

At least, that’s how the group of five saw it. But to the dragon, the identity of Eternals meant something a little different. Namely due to a random book whose name he read but never paid attention to.

One about a war so long ago that only a few sparse libraries on the continent held knowledge on it… And naturally, the thousands-of-years-old curated memories of dragons.

Though he hadn’t actually read the book, the fact alone that there were Great Sages involved was enough to make a hasty decision. “We need to leave the continent immediately. Even as an adult, we’ll all die the moment this war really begins,” he knew better than the humans here what the power of a Sage represented. To them, it was unimaginable how far that gap was…

A natural flaw of those who never come in contact with higher-level powers.

From the shadows, a feminine voice came out, “And how do we just leave?”

He saw that figure long ago in his mana sense, but said nothing as some grew uncomfortable at such things. It was easier to just let her stay there and pretend he never noticed.

“Two options. We hide for years, and I transport you through teleportation. Or, we take a boat, I know which I prefer already.”

“Why a boat? There are airships, or even just teleportation arrays directly there!” The female wizard made an excellent point in rebuttal, but even that sounded like a floundering response.

“Because we cannot afford it.” For a few moments it confused the group but they all came to understand soon after.

Even if the dragon sold some of its knowledge for such a thing… They were too weak to explain how they afforded it. Such a thing might draw attention, especially to those who wanted to rob them. And a group of Steel ranked warriors and Sprouts aren’t exactly a highly defensible group. No one truly knew what to say though, and the dragon asked them to just rest while they thought of a plan, it mattered way more than anyone actually learning about the others.

A plan meant a goal, and that meant direction. What use is an icebreaker if they ended up dead in a random ditch?

“We need resources that can increase our max MP, it’s holding us back from evolution. How hard would it be to gather those before leaving?”

“Can all of you evolve within a year with enough mana?” He needed the whole group to be Gold or Sapling ranks before they left the continent at the least, it would be a solid enough lineup that no one questioned how their group funded an expedition that expensive. Not to mention, it would generally be enough that they’d never be robbed or killed while travelling.

Very few Gold ranked warriors ever become bandits or warlords. It just wasn’t economical given that they could earn a stable pay at any lawful place, only those peculiar ones took on such a dangerous and bloody lifestyle.

As for Mithril ranks and above, the value of banditry dropped off too fast for any to bother.

Everyone nodded after turning their heads to one another as a sort of momentary discussion through facial expressions alone. It rather impressed him how they communicated like that, but the results were rather conclusive in the end.

“We only lack knowledge of our chosen paths, but you’re a dragon so…” It was clear what the large warrior suggested of him, and in fairness, he already accepted that outcome as well.

“Don’t worry, I can provide skills and spells. Additionally, I’ll help pay for your weapon techniques.” They all sighed in relief at the dragon’s confirmation, at the very least this trip hadn’t been a complete loss as they received this critical factor. It was truly too ridiculous for a group like them to afford everything through safe hunting practises. Adventurers who rose quickly were either supported by someone bigger than imaginable, or took grand risks which fortunately paid off.

Not that it always did.

“You know more about this land than me. Select some places fit for us, and have things you need.” While the wizard summoned an illusory map, he remained standing with Raccelline leaning against him.

Her tears had stopped, but the tight grip which just barely avoided crushing him only made things clear. He’d been the last thing she saw before whatever happened at her home, besides friends in the capital he might be the only outsider she knew of. As she took comfort in the act, he opened up the book he saw long ago and read through it quickly, for the most part skimming through information.

However, by the minute, his mind worsened as facts about the Eternals came to light. And now, the realisation of what ‘war’ meant only deepened. Or perhaps, it’s best to say he unveiled the true horrors of what approached.

“Do any of you know of the war from 10,000 years ago? Swept over the whole world, was horrendous and all.” His broken Baranot broke the group of humans from their huddle around a map and stood in thought for a few moments. However, it was obvious that only the priest and wizard put any real thought into the matter, but they knew very little about ancient history in the first place.

Few schools taught about things before the empire’s conception thousands of years ago. Primarily due to them having so few records, although the elves supposedly knew of things from over 20,000 years ago!

The dragons and a few others reigned well beyond that though, with unbelievable records that none truly knew the depths of.

Surprisingly, the priest responded here as the wizard fell silent. “Is it one of the Great Wars? I know of the third and fourth, but not the first two.” He spoke with a clear candour, one which made him imagine this priest gave sermons rather often.

“Yes… The second to be exact. The Eternal War as we called it. When the Eternals unified and rose up, they did not seek to conquer the world, but rather dominate it entirely. It was the Third world’s darkest time, as they nearly exterminated all other races on both continents. All except two.”

“Elves and humans? How did they lose?”

“A shaky partnership. They believed their enemies to be completely defeated, and began a giant civil war in the subterranean world, which allowed support from other worlds to arrive and finish things off. It was a bit more complex, but I doubt it happens again.” The dragon wrapped up the brief history lesson in hopes they could move back over to discussions on more immediate problems. “While you all decide what to do. Your help in some matters is appreciated.”

“What is it?”

“Just a bit of revenge, nothing too tough.”

Perhaps it was a bit soon to ask this of a group of strangers that he only met fifteen minutes ago. But with Raccelline still glued to his side, and her body coursing with mana as some degree of guarantee, he truly believed they possessed the upper hand here.

Also, he actually had a small supply of gold tier weapons to hand over, albeit not bows for that archer. There were a few arrows though, so maybe this would go rather well.

* * *

“You’re really sure it’s fine to just give us all this stuff? This is still a very risky idea, and how do we even kill the lords?”

“Worry about that afterwards. For now, we just need to wait a few days until the storm clouds come. I need you to be completely sure of your skills at the time, we only get one shot at this.” They didn’t like the sound of this all, but had discussed the plan in relative depth for the dragon to get its revenge. In effect, there should be little to no danger, but there’s no such thing as a perfect plan. Not only did it require that storm, but the wizard, Mala, spent the better part of a day refining a small pile of mana-filled plants into an easy to consume powder for rapid mana recovery.

Normally, such a random pile retained a huge amount of toxicity as plants interacted in a variety of ways. But the dragon’s innate resistance to all toxins and poisons weaker than itself played a huge part.

What it needed such a crazy amount of mana for left them scared, but his reassurance that it wouldn’t be too bad for them helped…

Although they couldn’t be sure how truthful it all was.

The day changed things immensely though. Firstly, the dragon got to know the names of everyone here, as well as how they met Raccelline wandering around a village whilst innocently asking strangers to help her find him. Things went on a massive goosechase from then on.

“You actually traversed a third of the continent on that alone? Raccelline, there were no others you could have gone to?” He momentarily forgot this was a young child, and she just dropped her head whilst shaking it slightly, once more going silent from just the littlest reproach.

He should’ve expected that. From what the others mentioned as well, she never truly left the capital, likely on account of her insane talent and power. Who knew what’d happen if someone got their hands on her…

It was rare, but cannibals and such do exist. And incredible, talented individuals are said to taste better.

“I’m sure a lot happened over the months. But go back. I want to know more about you five. Why? Why all of this?”

They all stood in place for a few seconds, lacking a convincing answer that went beyond the idea of ‘Rewards from a dragon’. And for a while no one said anything as even they felt a bit small in what awaited the world. That was until the archer, Jaren, spoke up, a man who generally stayed silent but clearly retained vigilance at all times. “We might be in over our heads on this… But we don’t want to be nobodies in all this. Heroes are a bit much, but surely with your help we can– We Know that there’s so much more. Also, dying an early death does not please any of us.”

It certainly exaggerated things a bit, but wasn’t that what they did this all for? Why they risked their lives as adventurers? And even now took on a faint hope that a dragon would reward them for saving the princess of the empire.

At first, the reply sounded a bit daft to the dragon, but as the eyes of everyone else changed in response, it became clear that this description resonated a bit more. Not that a year-old-dragon is the absolute best judge of character.

“Well then, I will finish up my business here. And then we can try out this arrangement. I look forward to this deal.”

“Wait. What do you get out of this, outside of our help today?” The rogue in the shadows popped out to ask a question at the last moment, clearly the wariest in the group. In truth, he considered this matter first, and came to a simple conclusion of why it benefitted him the most.

“I’m a dragon, how else do I get to walk around?”

Didn’t he want to find a human companion in the past? Well, now he had six of them, and they weren’t that bad. Pretty talented all things considered… Just a bit poor. For now.