After we finished eating our travel provisions, we took turns keeping watch.

I volunteered for the first turn and specifically asked Sanhewa to join me. Fortunately, she agreed. I wanted to talk to her for a bit and the first watch was usually the least likely to be interrupted by intruders. As we sat in front of the campfire, I asked her, "What do you think of this mission?"

The blonde haired red mage looked up from the fire and stared at me. The light from the flames danced in her eyes. "You're concerned about what I'll be reporting to the council?" she asked with a smile.

Sanhewa wondered when I would ask to speak to her privately, given her role as a representative of the Leadership Council for this mission. So far, she saw nothing suspicious about this mission and I had gone to explore the ruins previously unknown to the Magic Guild as I had announced in an open meeting with the council. Sanhewa expected to receive another mission from the council to lead a group, solely composed of members of the guild, to return to the ruins at a future date.

I shook my head in denial of her suggestion. "No, I wanted your impression because I noticed you were very uncomfortable at various points during our exploration of the ruins," I explained. While it was true that I harbored some concern about the report the red mage will submit to the council, I was also cognizant of the fact that she wasn't the type of person to change her report due to any pressure from me. To make such an attempt would backfire on me and perhaps, even diminish my personal reputation. In my view, this was NOT worth the risk.

Sanhewa tilted her head slightly and thought for a moment. "Honestly, I can't recall the last time someone asked me this question. I've gone through my fair share of adventures on the road, and I don't mind walking long distances. This is partially why I was asked to accompany you in the first place." She pointed at her boots and smiled again. "However, I never expected to be teleported to someplace high up in the sky, though." She pointed a finger up for emphasis. "Having my body float around as if I'm in the clouds was not a good experience and it made me nauseous," she admitted openly. "That being said, I find your proclaimed self-importance in the eyes of our Gods, as a so-called 'Player Character,' to be outlandish. But then again, due to your status as a wielder of a holy Truth Stone, even the most imaginary tales must be believed if they came from your mouth."

I chuckled at her long-winded answer. "So in other words, you see me as a liar but not a liar."

She frowned at the mischaracterization. "Something like that," she said politely.

I pulled out my Truth Stone of Order and Chaos from under my tunic. Illuminated by the campfire, the red mist swirled inside the stone. "Honestly, this is a heavy burden and one that I never asked for in the first place. I received this relic from the Church as a reward for avenging the death of the previous wielder of this stone. I don't want to be involved in kingdom politics. I would rather return home and go on with my simple, normal life. However, the Gods demanded something else from me and so, here I am." I shrugged.

"I can only imagine how big a burden that is," she said sympathetically. The mage had witnessed enough council meetings at the Magic Guild to see the political maneuvering and backstabbing that thoroughly disgusted her. What I had experienced was probably one hundred times worse. Sanhewa didn't know how I could sleep at night with so many worries to deal with.

"Let me change the topic and ask for your professional advice. My profession is a Swordmage and I am fortunate to have affinities in all six elements. So my question to you, as a mage, is whether it makes sense for me to specialize or become a generalist instead?" I asked.

Sanhewa shook her head in disbelief. "Brother Mulligan, you like living in contradictions, don't you? It is unheard of for a mage to have all six affinities. I personally have no access to Air magic and therefore, I have had no luck in learning magic from the Air sphere. To be a dual-class is a major hindrance to your advancement as you seek to learn the highest tier spells. I don't think you should worry about being a generalist versus a specialist because being a dual-class will make it difficult for you to advance your level and gain access to cast these spells."

In response, I gave her a wry smile. As a person brought to this world against my will, I didn't have the luxury to start my profession as a mage. Originally, I took the fighter profession with a specialty in swordsmanship because I met Kalistra in an inn on my first day inside this gaming world. Eventually, I took up her offer to learn swordsmanship from her dojo and became a swordsman as my official profession.

However, I decided not to bore Sanhewa with those details of my early days of survival inside this gaming world. She had more than enough information to write up her report to the Magic Guild already. Furthermore, I didn't want her to report on my background and invite further scrutiny from the guild itself.

We spent the rest of our hour on watch duty in silence and then went to bed.

***

Suddenly, I awoke. I was standing in a fog. I couldn't see anything. I fought my rising panic and calmed my nerves. I didn't want to have another panic attack. Was I dreaming? Or had I been kidnapped again?

The answer became apparent when the fog was abruptly lifted by a strong wind--I was not alone! Standing beside me were my bodyguards, Kalistra and Bila. They were equally confused and upset by their situations. Standing before us was an Asian man. He stared at me with ever-swirling eyes and the promise of might and power within them. It took me a moment to recognize the man--Morpheus, the Demigod of Dreams! I immediately bowed from the waist before the divine entity.

My bodyguards noticed my action and did the same.

"Please lift your head," a gentle, feminine voice said.

While my head was still facing the ground, I recognized the voice as belonging to Lady Luck! I did as I was told and saw the regale looking Asian woman wearing a form-fitting red dress with a dragon pattern embroidered in gold. "It has been a long time since we last talked, Lady Luck. How may I serve you?" I asked politely.

The goddess gave me a faint smile and turned her head.

Suddenly, a veil lifted and a third god appeared before us. This time, however, I could not recognize him. He was tall, at least seven feet in height. His body was covered in yellow fur and he had a bushy, brown mane similar to that of a lion. His head, on the other hand, was that of a goat with two black horns protruding from his forehead. He had two sets of wings on his back similar to those of a hawk. His chest was bare and broad, showing off his tight, six-pack abdomen.

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The two cat girls were surprised by his presence and they immediately dropped to one knee.

"Please rise, my children," the newcomer said in a gentle voice. The chimera-like god turned his attention to me. "I am Leonus, the patron god of the animal people. I thank you for your kindness toward my children," the god said and nodded his head.

I bowed deeply in return.

"I have asked Lord Morpheus to bring you here to discuss an urgent matter. An old threat has arisen and the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship in Tregome is the target," Leonus revealed. "I will allow him to explain why." The god turned his head and a fourth god appeared before us--Lord Bane!

The demon lord was not his usual, jovial self. He was fidgety and he avoided looking at my face. "Um, hello! Long time no see," he said hesitantly.

"Pardon my impudence, Lord Bane, but what did you do this time?" I asked with exasperation.

The Demigod of Chaos flapped his demonic wings in anger. "Hey, that's no way to address a god," he growled.

I folded my arms and waited expectedly.

"Oh fine!" he huffed. Bane realized that any threat he made toward me would be recognized as a bluff and thus, he dropped the act. "250 years ago, there was a young red dragon residing in the Plane of Fire. He was causing trouble for my minions and becoming too confident. Thus, I goaded him to visit a certain swordsman in a certain town."

"You sent Hleandros to fight my ancestor!" Kalistra interrupted.

Bane looked at her sheepishly. "Yes," he admitted. "I thought it would be entertaining to see the best swordsman on Britannia to square off against a young red dragon. But I never expected Kallimon to actually beat the youngster and expel the kid from Tregome for 250 years."

"This period of self-exile by Hleandros is now over and the dragon will return to the dojo," the Heir to the school verbalized her realization.

"Correct," the demigod nodded solemnly.

"You want us to clean up your mess and fight the dragon," I added.

He nodded again.

I glanced at my companions and then looked at Bane again. "Why did you summon only the three of us here? You can't realistically expect us to beat the dragon."

Lady Luck intervened. "Within your party camping at Chilworth, you three are our Servants and subject to our influence. The rest of your party follow other gods and we have no right to ask them to do anything on our behalf," she explained.

"Exactly," Leonus nodded in agreement. The chimera stepped forward. He placed a paw above the right side of Kalistra's neck without touching her. A golden light flashed for a moment and then disappeared. When his paw was removed, a faint mark appeared on her neck. "I'm offering each of you my divine mark," the god explained. "This will provide protection against the dragon aura." The god placed his mark on the same spot on Bila's neck.

When Leonus finally turned toward me, I rolled up my right sleeve and held out my forearm. I felt a warmth on my skin as the golden light placed a divine mark on me. When his paw was removed, I looked at the mark and saw the symbol of a paw. I chuckled slightly at the sight. "ACQUIRED: Divine brand of Leonus. +1,000 Reputation, +2,000 XP. Alignment shift to 'Lawful.'"'

I was extremely surprised by the shift in my personal alignment from Lawful Neutral to Lawful. But then again, it made sense because Leonus was a Lawful god. Out of six divine marks on my forearms, I now had three from Gods of Order, two from Gods of Chaos, and one from a Neutral God.

"Thank you for granting me, a human, your divine mark," I said and bowed deeply to Leonus. I understood how rare and unusual it was for the patron god of the animal people to grant his mark on a human.

The god placed his paw on my right shoulder. "Thank you for your willingness to protect the dojo and my people," he responded. "Not many people are willing to stand up to a red dragon. Hleandros, in particular, is Evil and he takes great pleasure in the pain and suffering of others."

"Why don't the other gods intervene if this Hleandros is acting out of control?" Bila asked.

"The Gods have our own rules that we must follow to keep the Balance intact," Lady Luck replied.

Bane decided to shift the conversation away from this uncomfortable topic. "Dragons follow a particular life cycle of sleep and activity similar to that of a bear. The older they are, the longer the period of rest required. As I said before, Hleandros is a relatively young dragon and thus, he is much more active than others," Bane explained. "His last active period was 50 years ago and he will soon awaken again. My hope is that Hleandros will pay a simple visit to the dojo and Kallimon's descendants, do a little dueling with you, and then return to the Plane of Fire."

"Since Kallimon had defeated the dragon before, it is possible to show us his fight with Hleandros?" I requested.

Morpheus nodded and snapped his fingers.

Mists appeared in front of us; they solidified into a screen, which started showing the encounter. We watched the enormous dragon land in the small village of Tregome. Kallimon stood firm as other residents ran in fear from the dragon aura. Finally, the brave cat man drew his sword and attacked the dragon. We were astonished when Kallimon discovered a weakness in the dragon's horn and used it to compel Hleandros to leave peacefully.

When the screen turned dark, I spoke up. "Hleandros' weakness is his right horn?" I asked.

Bane shook his head. "It was more of a vanity issue for him. At the time, his body had not fully matured and the horn was still fragile. Now that 250 years have passed, the horn is fully developed and as hard as the dragon scale covering his body. Frankly, the only weaknesses of a dragon are the eyes, nostrils, and mouth because they are not covered with the dragon scale. Kallimon originally went for the eye, too, but Hleandros simply turned his head to avoid the attack on his eye."

"What about magic?" I asked.

"As a red dragon, Hleandros is completely immune to fire damage. He also has moderate resistance, I would say in the 50% range, to other magic. Water spells, if you could overcome his resistance, will do additional damage to him," Bane answered.

"I guess that means I'll be spamming Acid Arrows on him," I remarked.

The demon lord snorted. "With your low skill level in the Water element, you'll only be tickling him. Besides, I believe that he has around 1,500 Health currently. You could drink up the entire stock of mana potions in Tregome to spam Acid Arrows and still not be able to whittle his health down to zero."

"What else can we do to stop him?" I asked in growing frustration. I started brainstorming the available resources in Tregome. There was no Magic Guild in this frontier town. While the Church did have representation in Tregome, I doubted that Bishop Canterbury had strong enough holy magic to take down the red dragon either. After all, a dragon was not a demon and holy magic focused on destroying demons (and undead). Frankly, we needed an army of paladins like Van, and Tregome was simply not important enough to receive that kind of support from the Church.

Kalistra placed her paw on my shoulder. "This is a matter between the dojo and Hleandros and it should be settled by the school itself," she announced.

"The red dragon will destroy the school and then rampage throughout the rest of Tregome," I retorted.

The cat girl shook her head. "We've been training for this day. Kallimon had made it clear to his descendants that Hleandros will return to destroy the dojo. This is our destiny."

I shook my head in disagreement.

Kalistra petted my head. "I will stand with my father and the other members of the school to protect the dojo. We will find a way to drive Hleandros out again." She turned toward Leonus. "May I ask for a boon? Can you magically transport us back to Tregome? We are currently too far away from my hometown and I want to be there when Hleandros arrives."

The god nodded. "Very well. I give you my blessing and my hope for your victory."

A flash of light emanated from Leonus and overwhelmed our senses. When the golden light was gone, we found ourselves standing in a courtyard.

I saw the building, the indoor pond, and the well. I recognized where we were--the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship, in Tregome!