Chapter 29
The move went better than expected. We were able to erase our old camp's presence without a trace and, after setting out, Lyca’s scouts confirmed that the king's soldiers were unable to find any signs of us. On top of that, we rarely encountered monsters as we trekked to the spot Merry and I had picked out to be our new camp.
Originally the two of us were going to use the medium sized mountain as a place to build our nest and raise our future young but, since the place was relatively monster free, we decided that the place would be best used to raise our current young.
Merry was rather bashful when I brought this up to her.
Like last time we raised up houses for our students with magic but, unlike last time, we chose to make three large dorms for the children and a personal house for Merry and I. Part of the reason for doing so was because the size of our group had increased so much and I did not fancy having to build thirty smaller houses again. The other reason was that over the year I spent training them, my students had separated themselves into three groups.
The Workhorses, The Newcomers, and The Scouts. The former of the three was a group composed of almost all of my gifted students. The ten man strong group distinguished themselves among their peers and had naturally grown closer to one another through competition, forming a tight knit group of rivals.
The second group, and by far the largest, was the Newcomers. They made up roughly three fifths of my entire student body and, while they didn’t share the prestige of the Workhorse group, they were perhaps even more tenacious about getting stronger. Incidentally, not every one of them was actually a newcomer but the old guard who couldn’t join the Workhorse group got along better with the weaker newcomers and the name stuck.
And then there was the final group, the Scouts. Unlike the other two, this group had a definitive leader in Lyca and she was ruthless in how she handled her underlings. The members of this group were all…different. They were cold, quiet and they tended to have a very familiar look in their eyes. It was a sad look, the sort that someone who lost far too, much far too early wore.
The sort of look I used to wear. These children had all escaped from vile owners and every one of them had been defiled in one way or another. Though she and her other siblings joined the Newcomers or the Workhorse group, Sylvia’s 11 year old brother had joined the scouts. When I asked why he showed me his back, which was completely covered in scars. Apparently, the Lord who owned them had taken great pleasure in ‘punishing’ the children. Every evening he would send for one of them and every morning that child would return to his family, covered in lashes and bruises. The only reason they escaped was because the great fool had scarred them up so badly that every one of their slave crests had been damaged.
Needless to say, I healed all of them when I found out, and then I took the names of every owner the Scouts gave me. I would have my own fun with them one day.
Originally I had been against the idea of separating out my students, but now that we were farther along in their training I saw no reason to stop it. In fact,I encouraged it, as it meant I could tailor their lessons according to their groups.
The Workhorses received a more specialized education, focusing on the areas where they excelled and drawing out their full talent in those areas. In addition to that, they learned primarily how to fight as individuals, or in small groups, and had to learn tactical leadership from Merry and I. In other words, how to command an army.
The Newcomers on the other hand focused on fighting as a unit, executing formations and following the orders of whoever was commanding them at the time. They and the Workhorse units would often assist each other with this training, with two Workhorses acting as a generals and commanding the Newcomers against one another in mock battles.
The Scouts trained in the art of invisibility, separate from the other groups. They were taught to function either solo or as a large group. Solo training was all about information gathering and how to blend in to any crowd and hide in any shadow. Group training was all about executing ambushes, striking silently, swiftly and with as little presence as possible. This group also took anatomy lessons that assisted them in finding the best place to strike depending on the situation.
Surprisingly, there was remarkably little friction between the three groups as well. The Scouts rarely interacted with the other two, as they were loners by nature and the Workhorses got along with the Newcomers quite well.
Now that we were in a denser section of the forest my students were also finally able to start the second phase of their training- Monster fighting. Simply put, it was training to teach my students how to kill enemies that were stronger than them. If Scratch was anything to go by, they had become arrogant and were starting to recklessly believe that they were strong.
“Confidence is one thing, but arrogance?”
They say arrogance is a slow and insidious killer, but I was of the opinion that it was a rather fast and direct killer. As direct as a sword to the gut, and the Workhorses learned this when I captured a young chimera and pitted their entire group plus Lyca against it, 11 vs 1. They managed to scrape a victory, but not before half of them were wiped out and the remaining half sustained heavy injuries.
It wasn’t all bad- Lyca came out of the fight almost completely unscathed and she even learned the
“Best to let them think they still have a long way to go.” I thought.
I also pitted the other groups against monsters, though the Newcomers had a much easier time of things given the fact that they were fighting weaker enemies with greater numbers. I wanted to sick an army of goblins on them to give the Newcomers a taste of real army vs army combat, but Merry stopped me saying it was “A bit much”.
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Like this, Six more months passed and ,as I had hoped, I got to witness my students' growth explode.
All of the practical training up until now had given them a powerful foundation to lean on, and after tempering that foundation through the real life experience of fighting for one's life, my students had become monsters themselves.
And I couldn’t have been more proud of them. They had all placed their trust in me, and believed me when I said I could show them how to free themselves. Witnessing the fruits of their training filled me with an indescribable joy.
“Was this how Master felt watching us?” I thought, smiling at the memory of my teacher. I hoped she was doing well.
But, while my students had shown me their utmost respect, trust and love, I had still not done the same for them. I cared for my students, even going as far as considering them to be my family, but trust is a two way street. Yet still, it was difficult. I had learned long ago that trusting others was like giving them an invitation to hurt you.
Which is why I consulted Merry about an idea I had.
I fully expected her to take me seriously, but…
“Teehee, oh Illumen, are you truly worrying about something like that?”
“Merry, I am being completely serious. Please do not laugh at me.”
“Oh I’m sorry Illumi it’s just…you’re so adorable. In truth, I have been thinking of the same things you have.”
“Hmph. And what is your conclusion?” I asked gruffly
She smiled that sweet smile and said “Illumi, my dearest one, look into your heart for the answer to that question. When I look out over our sweet children all I can see are the warm smiling faces of the only family I have ever had. Do I trust them? Of course I do.”
With that she left me to contemplate for a little while longer.
“Warm smiling faces…haha, hey Rickurd- what would you say if you could see me now? ”C’mon ‘Lumen, what’re you so afraid of?“ or maybe ”It’ll be fine, so stop worrying so much!“. -sigh-, very well my old friend. One more time, just to see if you really were right.”
That night, I brought the students that I trusted most out with me to a clearing a little ways away from our mountain. There were monsters in the area but they wouldn’t dare attack the group that I had assembled- at least, not if they wanted to live to see morning.
Leading the group were Merry and I, followed by Eri, Tia, Scratch, Balor, Star, Sylvia, and Lyca.
“Uh, Master, not that I’m against a little night time training but why are you taking us out here?” Scratch said, looking around cautiously.
“Obviously it’s because he wants to teach u how to fight against nocturnal foes. I’d bet he thinks we’ve been slacking since none of us has really brought down any serious enemies lately.” Balor said, eagerly.
“It’s not our fault! All of the big game has left the area so we can’t get any decent hunting in!” Star whined, though her smile never left her face.
“No excuses, we can always do better.” Eri said, confidently striding forward.
“Atta girl! No way a little midnight training frazzles our Eri, ke heh!” Tia said, hugging her friend from behind.
“Tch, get a room you two. Master, if we’re doing more training do you think you could teach me a new Skill?” Sylvia asked, hefting her huge greatsword over her shoulder.
Lyca, who had recently gone through a growth spurt, looked over her classmates from the back in silence, though I could sense some anticipation from her for whatever was to come next.
“No training this time. Just follow the two of us. Tonight Merry and I are going to show the seven of you something special, as a reward for all of your hard work.”
They all started chatting excitedly when I said that, which I found endearing. When we made it to the clearing Merry and I stopped and, slightly nervous, turned to our students.
“So Master, where is this amazing thing you wanted to show us?” Star asked, eyes darting around the clearing as if the surprise was going to jump out at them.
Instead of answering I said “The past year and a half has been quite remarkable, hasn’t it? And yet in all that time I don’t think I have ever once heard any of you ask who we are or where we come from.”
Eri and Tia suddenly got a nervous look about them and Lyca’s eyes widened.
“Ah…well…you’re always kind of hush hush about your past so we all figured it would be rude to ask.” Balor said, scratching the stubble on his chin.
“I used to think that you guys were like a knight and an escaped princess- chased away from your home and forced to take refuge in a strange foreign land!” Star said, bemused.
“Pffft” Scratch laughed “You read too many fairy tales.”
“Well, actually…” Merry said, blushing a bit
“Star is…mostly right.” I said, slightly awed by her insight.
“W-Wait, really!?” Star and Scratch stammered at the same time.
I expected the others to be surprised as well, but most of them nodded their heads and Balor said “I can believe it.”
“Hmph, as always my students impress me, however that is only one part of our rather long, sad histories. To know the rest…to know the rest…” I paused, getting cold feet for a moment, before Merry squeezed my hand and I was able to continue “My students…no, my family, whatever happens next we want you all to know something.”
“What?” They said in unison, attention fully on the two of us.
Merry and I looked into each other's eyes, smiled, and said “That we love you.” before releasing Mimic
Right before our students eyes we changed, morphing back into our original forms. Our dragon bodies had grown a bit in the past year and a half, especially our wings which were almost at the size we could fly with. White scales replaced skin and horns replaced hair as we finally revealed our true selves to the students we trusted most.
The seven students, save for Tia, Eri and Lyca, gazed at the two of us with wide eyes. None of them were able to speak as they sized up our massive bodies, but they also didn’t reach for their weapons either, which I thought was a good sign.
“S-Surprise…” I said weakly, trying to gauge their reaction
For a moment everyone was silent, and then-
“Master.” Balor said “I think you have some explaining to do.”
“…Yes, I know. But believe me that we mean you no harm. You are our precious students.”
“Bu-wha, you’re dragons?!” Star yelled, finally broken from her stupor
“Indeed we are, but please do not hold that against us.” Merry said, far less serious than I.
“So that’s it…that’s why no matter what we did we could never catch up! It’s because you’re monsters!” Scratch shouted, sounding for all the world like he had just solved some amazing riddle.
“Hey!” Eri said, smacking him on the head “Don’t insult the Master like that! After everything he has done for us do you really think you can just call him a monster?”
“You two don’t seem all that surprised.” Balor said, eyeing Eri and Tia “And neither do you.” He said, seeing Lyca’s bored expression.
“Well…we sort of…knew already. When Illumen killed Merlmire he did it in this form.” Tia said guiltily.
“Do not blame those three, I requested that they stay silent on the matter. You were hardly going to let us train you if you knew what we really were back then.” I said
“But still…!” Scratch insisted, trying to wrap his head around this new development “I’ve never heard of any magic or Skill that turns dragons into humans! Not even in fairy tales!”
“Ah, that would be because it is a spell I created on my own. It’s called Mimic.” Merry said.
“You Create-” Scratch began, but he was cut off by Sylvia
“Hmph. I don’t care what you look like!” She said “You gave me the power to protect my family, and avenge my sister. As far as I’m concerned, you’re my Masters, whether you’re humans, dragons, or demons!”
“I am glad to hear that.” I said, lifting a massive foot into the air and patting her head with it.“I know you all have questions, and we will answer them in due time, but first allow me to share a story with you.”
They all quieted down, still respectful of their master. Still willing to listen. Still willing to care about the creatures in front of them.
“This is the story of Princess Merilyn of the Dragon Stronghold, And Illumen, the Demon Prince of Wrath.”