29 『ThereBeDragons』 (1/2)

A day later, Gazef and his warrior troop entered the Capital City of Re-Estize, of the Re-Estize Kingdom. His eyes dead forward, resting on the Valencia Palace. People lined the street to see the Head Warrior as he had come home from his mysterious assignment off on the fringe of the Kingdom's territory.

His eyes shifted towards the crowd that eyed him. A small smile across his lips as he turned to his Adjunct who was giving light waves to a handful of people who were watching them.

”Gazef-dono, How are we going to explain to the King about a man who can turn into a dragon?” His second in command asked as he hardly moved his mouth before returning the gaze the Head Warrior gave him.

Gazef huffed slightly at this question. ”I will tell him as it is. A Dragon's descendant protected the Village of Carne against members of the Slane Theocracy, disguised as Imperial Knights, and has the power to transform into a man.”

The Vice-Captain let out a light chuckle, a nervous one at that. The King might accept this, even believe it was a young descendant of a Dragon Lord who favored the villagers in their time of need. The question was, just whose descendant was it?

Could it be the Catastrophe Dragon Lord's child? The possibilities were endless.

That and how he had said he was underground for the past six hundred years since the Greed King's reign. It was possible that he was one of the few surviving dragons of that time as well.

On top of that he seemed to have people under his command, so he wasn't just some random Dragon Lord's child.

At the same time, the threat that the Dragon would pose to the power of the Six Nobles, was a problem. It was living in their Kingdom's territory, between the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire, and could side with either one. If that Dragon decided to side with the Empire, they'd surely lose E-Rantel if not the entire Kingdom itself.

Another thought that could cross their minds, was that it was an agent from the Dragon Kingdom even though their armed forces were considerably low. Their was little to no motive to this as well, considering the fact that the Dragon Kingdom was focused primarily on holding its own against the Hordes of Beasts trying to take their human population as food.

Gazef's mind went back to the description Jack had given him of the girl he was looking for. It sounded like it was a girl from the that Country in the South, but the race he had used, the Sylph. Why would a wind elemental look like a human being?

His eyes washed over the people he crossed as he made his way to the front palace gates. The men manning it stood aside as the entrance greeted up with open doors.

The Warrior Troop continued on into the Palace, returning to their Garrison as Gazef himself prepared to face the King and his counsel with his news.

About thirty minutes after his return to the Palace, he found himself summoned to the king's meeting chamber. A long room furnished in brilliant stained wood, an elongated table situated in the center and a large throne-fashioned seat at the end closest to the door.

The King sat in it, looking to his friend companion and protector with a sheepish gaze.

Gazef bowed to his King respectively, accepting the gaze he was given. He then stood beside his master, his eyes traveling to the others, the Six Great Nobles.

”What do you have to report? Is the threat dealt with?”

Gazef's eyes narrowed on the nobles before him, wondering if one of them were behind the orchestrated act itself. ”Yes... It appears to have been the Slane Theocracy attacking our villages on the fringe of our territories. A Dragon protected the village.”

”Huh!? This is absurd... A Dragon has taken to the Village?”

Gazef glanced towards one of the nobles who spoke under their breath before returning his gaze forward objectively. ”We entered the fray whilst knowing they had us outnumbered, we knew we were on the brink of defeat before the battle even began... Yet when we reached Carne Village, we were met by an extraordinary sight...”

The King, grey and with only one good leg, leaned on his cane as his gaze narrowed on his protector who seemed amazed by his own words that were to come.

”A Dragon in human form, propped up against a sleekly forged magic staff of black metal, sleeping, dead Theocracy soldiers sewing the ground at his feet...”

The Head Warrior, the King's friend, continued his story without leaving out a single detail that he remembered. Painting a vivid and colorful, yet believable story for them to believe and think hard upon, but he knew he was no poet or storyteller, they may not get the moral of his story.

The King was indeed surprised by the bounty of information that had been fed to him. ”A Dragon in the underground for six hundred years...” He began to wonder if he could bring the Dragon onto his side, to his Kingdom. Not only would it greatly improve public relations to have such a powerful being on his side, but it'd grant their kingdom an indispensable asset.