Volya City, Federal Administrative Complex, Administrative Quarters.

The first three floors are dormitories for the general staff. Each floor has a mess hall, a public bath, a common room, and a training room. The fourth floor of the Administrative Quarters is home to the highest echelons of the Belfron Federation. Each of the rooms here is fully furnished to be like a home, it has a living room, a kitchen, a bath, an office for administrative work, and a bedroom.

Currently, Pietr Rusvich is walking along a corridor on the fourth floor. He was on his way to check on his daughter, the Federal Premier, Tania along with his personal attendant

"Have our intelligence network found anything regarding Cavaron?" Pietr asked the attendant by his side.

The attendant was a young bespectacled man with suave light brown hair combed to the side. Fixing his glasses, he read out a report from his hands, "No, sir. Ever since his disappearance two days ago, we haven't heard an thing. However, the captain of the team dispatched to the south mentioned that the Archaeologists and Treasure Hunters seem to know something but cannot figure out what it is. Also, the residents of Kintab's Recluse are not cooperating with the investigation, they always try to avoid the topic."

Still walking, Pietr rubbed his bearded chin, "Hn... Agrithos should know something, but as I am now, I can't touch him." He knew Agrithos was very close with Cavaron especially since Cavaron became his best student. "Pass on the order to keep looking for answers."

"Yes, sir." Pietr's attendant jotted down everything Pietr ordered on a notepad.

A few more minutes, Pietr came to a heavily guarded door. There were six lightly armored soldiers wearing the Federal Army uniform in front of the door. When Pietr came into view, the soldiers tensed up and saluted.

"At ease." Pietr ordered. "How is she? Any problems?"

Apparently, this was the door to Tania's quarters. The soldier nearest to Pietr answered the question, "No, sir. The Premier has been quiet for the past few days. The only time she spoke up was when she asked to have some administrative papers delivered to her as she said she still needs to work. Other than that, everything is fine since she also eats the food delivered to her. The guards and rangers posted outside her window also reported nothing out of the ordinary."

Pietr nodded, "Alright. Step aside for a while. I'm going inside to check on her personally." The guards did as they were told and opened the way to Pietr.

Opening the door, Pietr arrived at an office and Tania was in the middle working on some documents. She was so busy working that she didn't even notice that her father entered. This scene brought a small smile to Pietr's face as he watched her confined daughter attend to her tasks as the Premier. Taking care not to disturb her, he went closer and stood behind her chair to watch what she was doing.

Tania was currently reviewing and fixing some documents regarding the tax collection and the distribution of funds to each administrative department. The pile of papers on her left side was filled with reports regarding the Archaoelogists' Guild. Pietr, seeing the reports on the very top of the pile became alarmed, "T-this..." and startled Tania.

"Kyaa!", Tania nearly flew from her seat when her father suddenly spoke. The guards outside ran in when they heard her shriek. "Is everything alright!?"

Pietr turned to the guards and told them what happened, then he ordered them to go back outside.

"Papa, what are you doing here!? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Tania was fuming since she was disturbed in the middle of work. "If you have something to say, please do so. I still have work to do."

Pietr listened to his daughter's words and said, "Sigh... can't a father visit his daughter?" Then he looked up, "Oh mama, up high. Our little Tania is grown up now." and said sarcastically since he still remembered the incident with Cavaron.

Tania just stood there silently with her arms crossed. "No need to be that mad. Anyway, what are those?" He pointed to the pile of documents about the guild.

Tania looked at where he was pointing and said, "I was worried about Wynn, Wynn Osfort. The elder sister of the soldier that caught me, Lucas Osfort." While looking a bit sullen, "She disappeared over a year ago. It was also the time I stopped receiving letters from her. The last sighting of her was at Kintab's Recluse, a guild dig site."

Pietr was shocked as he thought about Cavaron, 'Could it be? Cavaron went to look for Wynn given their relationship?'

Tania spoke again, "The spymaster that I sent to investigate wasn't able to get any leads aside from my missing friend. It appears Sage Agrithos ordered to put a lid on all information regarding his granddaughter."

'It's the same with Cavaron... something must have happened.' Puetr thoglught as he listened to Tania speak, 'Hn... should I tell her about Cavaron? But that might send the Federation into a panic.'

Tania noticed her father's silence, "Papa, is something wrong? You are awfully quiet. Your voice would usually be booming at any time of the day." and asked half in jest.

Pietr ignored Tania's smirk and just said, "No, nothing's wrong. Hm, should we dispatch a search party for Wynn?"

Tania shook her head and replied, "No, there is probably a reason why Sage Agrithos didn't report her disappearance to us." She looked out the window, "Supposing that nothing too grave happened, I think Cavaron could easily solve this problem, don't you think so?" and looked back at Pietr with a grin.

Pietr's jaw dropped when she mentioned Cavaron, "How... how did you know?" Tania just shrugged and said, "I didn't become Premier just by luck, Papa."

She approached Pietr and hugged him, "If something very bad does happen, I can mobilize a portion of the army without alerting the citizenry." and smiled at her aging father.

Pietr just kept his silence and sighed, 'She really does take after you, Natalya.' and thought of his late wife.

---

Deep within the Felrok Ruins.

Cavaron and Shamira ran through the corridor after beating an army of undead and eliminating a Death Titan. Cavaron, having drank a quarter of Dragon Blood, received a surge of energy and practically busted through the hordes of undead blocking their way to the inner sanctum where the necromancer reportedly resided in.

Shamira had nothing to do but let the hyper-Cavaron run out of excess energy and just flew behind him as he busted one barrier after another. > has already disappeared due to the last resort he did against the Death Titan. All that was left were the effects of > and the Dragon Blood. Shamira just used this as an opportunity to recover mana no matter how small just to prepare for the battle against a necromancer.

Despite having previously annihilated a large number of undead, the undead they encoumtered as they went in deeper.

"Cavaron, art thou still under Dragon Blood's effect?" Shamira asked the fairly high-strung undead killing machine in front of her. Amazed by the number he killed, she had to wonder if expending that much energy was able to calm him down.

"NOPE!" Cavaron excitedly replied, "I DRANK A QUARTER SO THIS SHOULD LAST FOR AN HOUR OR TWO!!" He bolted again towards a group of Ghouls and initiated another shredding session.

"Sigh, then why did not thou use that in the first place?" she asked him figuring their fight would have been easier if he drank the Dragon Blood against the Death Titan.

"TO BE HONEST!? I CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT! WEE~!!" He replied as he minced another Ghoul. "WAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!"

'Note to self, confiscate the bottle.' Shamira thought to herself as she rested her head on her palm. "Heads up, more dead men walking!"

Skeletons and Ghouls poured out one after another. If this were a game, Cavaron would be raking in precious EXP, but as this is (this story's) reality, only broken bones and rotten flesh are left. After some time, a group of Death Knights on skeletal mounts appeared and charged against Cavaron.

"Hrrraaaahhh!" the Death Knights released a ghostly cry as they approached.

Cavaron faced them with a grin, undeterred by their charge, and met them head on. Shamira panicked at his recklessness and flew in with her shield to parry any attacks. Even with the blessing of >, due to the time that has passed, it wouldn't be surprising if the attacks got through. Contrary to her expectations, Cavaron went low and attacked the mounts instead. With the physical boost he received from the Dragon Blood, the skeletal mounts were smashed to bits from the impact. The Death Knights who lost their mounts flew forward from the inertia and met with Shamira's shield bash. The force of the inertia plus the opposing force and holy power of Shamira's attack destroyed the Death Knights.

One by one, another massacre took place along the corridor as dead pulverized undead littered the area.

Another hour later, Dragon Blood's effects were fading as they got deep into the ruins. "Phew... that was fun!" Cavaron, lifted from the drug's effects, said as he sat on a defeated Death Knight.

"Oh, be silent." Shamira shot, "This One was filled with endless worry due to thy reckless behavior!" Cavaron flinched at the angry elemental and apologized, "Sorry, I guess a quarter was still too much."

Shamira just stared at him before sighing, "Well, art thou prepared to face the neceomancer and save Wynn?"

Cavaron stood up and stretched before replying, "Of course. Now, lets go." and went deeper followed by Shamira.

---------------------

Have a look at my sad attempt of trying to show what Tania looks like through an app called Avatar Maker on the Google Play Store:

Just imagine her having red hair. I'll probably swap the first two for Ritna or Dita (when she gets older).