Early Afternoon - Mid Summer : Cirillo Knight Academy

"Hehe.." After finishing our training session, I felt truly great.

I managed to have a major breakthrough in my footwork technique to actually push past the sound barrier halfway through the spar.

-To think I would stumble across it like that though..-

The discovery was a complete accident, but a very welcome one.

"How are you holding up Ilios?"

*Panting* "Woof!"

"Hah.. good.." I couldn't help but laugh seeing Ilios lazily roll over.

As I was petting him, I looked over towards the knights and noticed they were in shambles. -Man they must've had some crazy training..-

Half of them were collapsed from exhaustion and the others seemed to be gasping for breath.

-I wonder what they were doing..-

After a couple more hours, the knights gradually left the field and went to a large building near the gate, leaving me alone in the field again.

Thinking of what kind of training I should do for the rest of the day, I simply settled on magic.

Once I started practicing, the rest of the day started to pass and night started approaching.

-I guess I should start heading back..- But instead of flying straight home, I figured it was best to at least tell Orion I was leaving so I stopped by his office building.

Just inside the building was a small receptionist desk with a young looking draconic woman behind it.

"Young man, you aren't supposed to be in here. The younger knight training grounds are east of here."

"I'm not here for that, I just came by to let Orion know I was heading home."

The receptionist who had her head buried in papers looked up with a confused expression. "Why would you need to tell Sir Cirillo that?"

"Because he was the one that escorted me here." -For a receptionist, she's pretty nosey..-

She looked at me with wide eyes for a moment. "Well, he is busy at the moment so you can leave a name and message for me to give him when he is done if you'd like."

"Sure, that works. Just tell him 'Vasilias went home already'."

"O..okay, Ill give him the message as soon as I can." She was acting a bit odd but I didn't question it too much.

"Thanks, well I'm off then." With a light wave of my hand I quickly made my way back outside and got up in the air.

As I was flying away, I felt like I was being watched and glanced back to see a couple of the knights from earlier glaring at me from their rooms.

-What are they mad at me for?- They seemed genuinely upset but I didn't have the time to waste on them and left the training center.

Once I got back home, I flew straight over the gates and landed in the back yard.

The knights guarding the estate all gave me odd looks as I flew over but none of them stopped me. -How surprising..-

As I landed, I saw Chloe run out to me and give a deep bow. "Welcome back Sir Vasilias! If I may be so rude to ask, where is Knight Cirillo?"

"His receptionist said he was busy so I left him a message and came back on my own."

"Ah.." Chloe immediately became a bit nervous.

"Is something wrong?"

"No sir! Nothing of the sort."

-..sure..- "Well in any case, did I miss anything?"

"Nothing serious but Miss Asimi was looking for you this morning."

-Ah..- Now that I had a moment to think about it, I realized that right as I got here I fell asleep, then immediately after waking up I ran off to the knight training facility. -I should probably work in some time to spend with her..- She was my grandmother after all. "Do you know what she wanted me for?"

"No sir.."

"Do you know where she is? Ill go pay her a visit."

"I think.. nevermind. She is in her office. Would you like me to guide you?"

Although I knew the way, I figured it wouldn't be bad to have her walk me there. "Sure, please lead the way."

We quickly made our way inside and up the stairs in the main hall. On the way, I ended up changing to my humanoid form since her office was both upstairs and human sized.

"This is her office Sir Vasilias." Chloe gave a slight bow and motioned to the door as we walked up on it.

"Awesome, thank you."

*Knock* *Knock*

"Please come in." Asimi's voice radiated out from behind the door.

*Click*

As soon as I opened the door I was met with a stunning, snow white draconic woman. She was standing right behind the door with a joyous smile.

-What the..-

"Oh your true form is adorable too!" As soon as the door opened enough, she darted out into the hall and gave me a strong hug.

"Ugh-" -What kind of strength is that?!- Although my humanoid form was weak compared to my dragon form, I always assumed it was incredibly strong compared to other true forms but her hug felt crushing. Her true form's physical strength was simply monumental.

"Oh I'm sorry sweetie! Did I hug a bit too tight?" Her face immediately filled with worry and concern.

"Haha no. I'm fine Grandmother. I'm pretty strong you know!" -I guess my humanoid form is still young..-

"Oh good.. I was worried for a moment. Well, how about you come inside for a bit." She lightly pushed me inside and closed the door behind me.

"Sorry for not paying you a visit after I woke up.. I got a bit sidetracked."

"Its alright sweetie, I heard you went to train at Cirillo's training center. Was it fun?" She quickly tidied up a small couch in the room and sat down.

"Of course it was. I did some agility training with Ilios." I walked over and sat down next to her as she motioned me to sit down.

"Oh? Did you make any improvements?"

"Actually yeah, I managed to break through a pretty large bottleneck."

"That's great to hear!"

"Haha, it was only a matter of time for me to break through... Well, a bit off topic, but I heard you were looking for me this morning?"

"Ah, yes. There was something Id like to talk about." She reached up and rubbed my head a bit while wearing a comforting smile.

"Please feel free to ask anything."

"Well lets start simple. What is magic to you?"

My ears twitched a bit hearing the unexpected question. "Well.. I think magic is simply a versatile tool you can use to manipulate the world."

"So not as a weapon?"

"Well sure, but any tool can be a weapon."

"Hm.. okay. I heard from your parents that you like to experiment and play with magic quite a lot.. is that not in the pursuit of strength?"

"Not entirely, no. Its also in the pursuit of discovery."

"Haha.. to think Id ever hear a young dragon say that.." She gave a proud smile as she looked at me. There was a short moment of silence before she continued. "Well, it seems like you need to get going. Your mother will get mad at me if I hold you here any longer."

-What? Already?- I glanced over at her, totally confused.

She looked over at me with a warm smile and kissed me on the forehead. As she pulled away, she gave an ominous bit of information. "Once you get strong enough, travel to Siratha. Its an elven and demihuman nation on the Western Continent.. you will be able to learn more about the Ancient Fenrir there.." Her face had a bit of worry on it.

"O..okay." It caught me a bit off guard since her demeanor changed so much but it was a hint to where I could find information I had been yearning for.

"Haah.." She leaned over and hugged me tightly again. "Now go and have a good time with you Mother and Sister."

-Ah right!- It was already sunset outside, meaning I was late to the science lesson. "Sorry to have to leave early Grandmother! Ill be sure to come by more often.."

"Haha, I hope you do.." She walked up and gave me one last hug before finally letting me go. "Now quit lollygagging and go teach your Mother something useful."

"Hehe.." I couldn't help but smile as I made my way outside for the lesson. -She's.. different than I expected..-