The village Kihet had planned to occupy as an outpost had been abandoned thanks to the incident with the Pale Dragon. Soon after the expedition army returned to the Great Wall, he dove straight back to his desk where more stacks of documents waited for him.

In the first place, why was everything delegated to him? Perhaps he unknowingly took on more jobs after unimpressed with initial impressions the Scalemen provided at administrative work.

What trick did Miyabe or the Queen of Vivrus used to stay sane to tackle this much work on a daily basis? If anyone were to gladly help him, it would be Lily and Aten. Unfortunately, learning the language of Scalemen took longer than Kihet anticipated, and it would be a burden to have them help as Kihet would have to translate things for them regularly.

“Kihet, sorry to bother you.” An armored Rozzalian moved through the curtains with another stack of documents in her hands and dropped it onto the table. “Erm… are you okay?”

“I’m at my limit. Is this all?”

The Rozzalian, Carmyn, shook her helmet. “But, I have good news. The chiefs were able to establish an agreement to unify and guide the Scalemen under their leadership. They should be able to take over soon.”

“Finally! Everything that needs approval had to be notified by them anyways. Draigh should’ve been the one doing this from the start. I don’t get why it was pushed onto me.”

“You seemed like you were on the roll from the beginning.”

“That’s because if we loitered around like that, the Dragonkins would’ve wiped them out.” Kihet flopped onto the ground and reached for his gold lined book, the one he took from the other Oracle.

It was empty, but the Acolyte said its contents would be revealed when he entered the Towers.

“Setting that topic aside, I heard you met with one of the Elder Dragons. The Scalemen who returned with you looked shaken and the Tortoise Folk you brought with you didn’t look too good.”

After painstakingly removing Ainig from the pit hole, the Tortoise tucked away in his own shell for days. Not even when food was distributed did Ainig once joined them.

“Did you isolate him from the others?” Kihet asked.

“Draigh did let everyone know to give him some space. The Chameleon’s the only one with authorized visits. What happened?”

“Long story short, the Pale Dragon made Ainig go on a rampage. I made some sort of deal and convinced it to let Ainig keep its blessing.”

“Is it a bad deal?”

“It wanted to see Ainig’s story. I need to help him get more confidence to himself first, but I have to figure out how I can get him to stop being so timid.”

Kihet thought back to a friend with the same personality back at his village. Both Ainig and Malth were very timid. They were both incredibly strong on their own. Since he was able to befriend Malth, he should be able have Ainig open to him, right?

Thinking back, he had Megith’s help to befriend Malth sooner than he thought. He didn’t see him in Elenora’s realm. Hopefully Megith would have a solid lead on her missing brother’s whereabouts by the time Kihet returns to Vivrus.

“Carmyn, did you read the paper I gave you while I was gone?”

“I thought you went crazy after all being stuck at your desk for too long. But then, I remembered you are the Oracle. Anything can go. I’m glad to hear Kridas and Alam are still putting up a fight. Knowing that, we can’t let them down from this side.”

“Let’s find Salith, then we can prove it to Kridas.” Kihet got up. “Alright. I’m going to check on Ainig. Thanks for dropping by whenever you had time.”

“No worries. Since I’m not needed at the training field for now, it’s the least I can do.”

Stepping out of the room, Kihet saw the completion of the Great Wall. The thirty story structure faced the enemy’s territory with many arbalests and hwachas prepared to pluck the Dragonkins off the air should they decide to retake it.

The hunters made progress in his absence to have tamed many Agamas, large running lizards for pulling carriages. Scalemen Kihet saw on the field were currently being trained riding them to form an effective calvary unit.

He circled around the field, being greeted by every Scalemen he came across. Everyone was wary of him with his unfriendly expression he always had, but as time passed, they grew accustomed to it and didn’t shy to approach him when they had concerns.

Kihet eventually learned to greet them back with a simple gesture as he made his way towards the cavern Ainig was kept.

“Hm? There’s no noise.” He looked around. “Hello?”

That was when he realized it was oddly quiet. He didn’t understand as to why, but he slowly came to a halt and focused on his ears. Perhaps he was paranoid, but he remembered guards posted here were to deter people from frightening Ainig.

When he initially came through here, he remembered hearing their faintest chatter from this distance.

As soon as he grabbed the hilt of his kukri knife, he heard a noise of a blade unsheathed from its scabbard and swung towards it. The rending of metal was accompanied with droplets of slimy liquid dripped over his left shoulder.

If this was an assassination aimed at him, the assassin wouldn’t have bothered blocking. It would’ve claimed a life for a life. Therefore, this meeting was intentional.

Kihet pushed his attacker away and created distance to observe his foe’s equipment. Underneath the cloak was a suit of armor of Xu’s fashion. Lacquered plates protecting the slim arms, shoulders and waist were held together by leather straps. The Ogre also wore a half faceplate resembling a beast’s jaws with its fangs opened.

The weapons were two forked daggers. Their tips dribbled with a revolting color that could be described as poison. As soon as one stopped dripping, the Ogre swapped for a new one coated in a different color.

Kihet glared at his assailant and looked under its hood at the skin covered horns. “An Ogre?”

“I lowered my presence to the point where people shouldn’t notice me even if I stood next to them. How did you know?”

“When everything is out to kill you, it’s normal to be cautious. Who are you?”

His assailant did not reply but lunged forward for a quick thrust. Kihet deflected the first blow before parrying the second attack. His kukri chopped through one of the Ogre’s tassets cleanly.

The Ogre’s description matched what was from Aten’s report. This must be one of the two who Aten faced during the siege on the Great Wall. One of the Oracle’s companions. If so, Kihet should capture him for questioning.

“Kerse, Ulos, Ruo, Nalus, Val!”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Kihet sent his [Chain] holding a magic crystal in front of the Ogre as it jumped back and caught his foe midair in a gravity well. He drew throwing knives from his belt and hurled them.

Their trajectory arced as they flew into his magic’s range and before they hit, the Ogre freed himself by destroying the magic crystal and ducked away.

Upon landing, the Ogre raised his daggers from being rushed by Kihet. He managed to block [Tree Feller] but received a kick in his guts which sent him tumbling onto his side. He let out a pained grunt and the force from the kick likely broke a rib.

“So? Do you feel like talking yet?”

“Elius wants the book back.”

“Elius…?”

The Ogre raised a familiar shaped canister and pulled the steel pin.

Kihet braced himself against the flash of light, but instead, smoke flooded the vicinity. He heard footsteps moving and quickly pursued the Ogre leading him towards the Great Wall. He blew into his whistle loudly to alert the encampment of an infiltrator.

Scalemen guards who were on patrol came running to intercept the injured infiltrator. Two Lizardmen seized up when the Ogre pass them, somersaulted over a Tortoise’s shield and deflected an arrow from a Naga bowman. The Lizardmen were incapacitated by poison inflicted onto them.

“Don’t engage him head on! He uses poison! Someone, notify Lily and Aten!” Kihet shouted as he tossed a spear, snatched off the hands of a guard.

The Ogre nimbly wove away from being skewered in the back, letting the spear anchor into the wall in front of him. One after another, the Ogre used it as a foothold to climb a wall and Kihet followed tightly behind.

If it wasn’t for the injury Kihet inflicted earlier, Kihet knew he’d fall behind. They ran at the same speed, with neither of them gaining or closing the gap.

Suddenly, a wooden plank on the ground ejected in front of Kihet and stopped him. As he jumped across holes from wooden planks mysteriously ripped from the floor, he was falling behind farther and farther.

Just as the Ogre was about to jump the gap, a heavy bolt chipped a chunk off the stone wall and made the infiltrator hesitated. Tracing the trajectory of the projectile to the courtyard, the two saw Carmyn nocking another arrow on her great bow. Thanks to her, she bought Kihet some precious seconds to catch up before the Ogre moved again.

More arrows got in the way of the Ogre. Now that he knew where they came from, he parkoured up the wooden scaffolds that have yet been removed. Despite a broken rib, he curled and stretched his body like an acrobat’s, expertly dodging Carmyn’s arrows.

There was a pulley ahead the Ogre planned to cut the weight connected to it and fly up. Someone from below snatched it before the infiltrator did. A horned, black-haired figure flew into the air and while falling, drew an arrow.

“Lily, I need him alive!”

Lily launched her arrow aimed at the hilt of the Ogre’s weapon to disarm him. Right before her projectile was deflected, an orb swallowed it and struck the infiltrator from a different angle.

It pierced through the Ogre’s forearm and into his biceps, locking his right arm into a wing position. Before he could tear it free, Lily landed in front of him and thrust her sword. Her target raised his dagger to catch the blade with its pronged tips.

He could’ve countered attack right there, but he froze when he met her emerald colored eyes.

“You’re not getting away!” Lily declared.

“You’re- the royal family! Dammit!”

The Ogre saw electricity sparked from Lily’s gauntlet and before he was hit, backstepped. He leaped down the scaffold in search for another route. He was quickly cut off by a thrown kukri missing his shoulder and stabbed into a wall in front of him. He noticed a strange ethereal [Chain] connected to it and looked back to find Kihet suddenly within punching distance.

His quick reflexed allowed to him to jump back, but not the arrow aimed at him from above. It was going to hit his leg and he was a flightless creature. There was nothing for him to kick off to avoid the arrow about to pierce his leg which he needed to keep running.

“You will harm no further!”

A beam of light suddenly came down from the skies.

A large white kite shield with an orangey yellow outline formed in front of the Ogre. A gentler pillar of light shined down to form a knight who picked up the shield and stared down at Kihet.

The Crusader was heavily armored with chainmail and a religious symbol over the cloth that covered her front and back. Her long droopy hears poked out of her platinum long hair which most of it was hidden under her arming cap. Her golden eyes bore the same focus as Kihet’s and possessed a unique authoritative aura of demanding the attention of everyone to be fixated onto her.

Kihet can hear the elemental’s song emanating from the Alf. He noticed she didn’t have a shadow and thought she must be an illusion. However, she blocked Lily’s arrows which made Kihet rethink it as a projection manifested physically by the light elemental. If so, how far was its range and where would the body of the caster be?

“I am Justiva Lawainberth, a Crusader appointed by the Alven House of Paladin Orders. As I am assigned to be this Ogre’s protector, I’m afraid I must intervene this encounter.”

Seconds after her introduction, Kihet unleashed a burst of silver flames. Justiva quickly vanished, leaving the Ogre to take the brunt of harmless silver flames. He then saw the Alf glowing next to him with her lance, coming around for a horizontal slash, and quickly kicked off her shield well before she was prepared for the swing.

She was very sturdy. Her stance didn’t budge. Her movement was incredibly slow, but she somehow moved next to Kihet without him realizing.

“You must be the Fake. I was told your flames can dispel magic and not harm people.” Justiva faced her shield towards him.

“Then it means as long as I cover myself in those flames, you can’t touch me.”

“My purpose is to retrieve this witless comrade of mine before he gets himself killed.” Her voice echoed as she once again faded and reappeared next to the Ogre. “Why have you gotten yourself caught? I will report this to the others, but for now I will assist you with this [Astral Body]. If the Fake’s flames strike me, you’re on your own.”

The infiltrator clicked his tongue and started running.

Lily was quick to loosen an arrow, but Justiva flung a crescent magic wave to interrupt her before she was able to launch more.

Carmyn suddenly smashed out of the building next to Justiva. A loud impact rang when her axe hacked into the Alf’s shield. A flash of bright light blinded Carmyn and Justiva took the opportunity to teleport next to the Ogre to intercept arrows from Scalemen bowmen.

“Haku, on your right!” Justiva shouted.

The Ogre twisted his body midair and narrowly avoided from being skewered by two javelins. He drew a spare weapon, redirecting the two spears thrust at his chest.

He could see his ragged face off the reflection of the large compound eyes staring him down. A moment of fear struck his mind as he recalled in the previous battle, all his attacks were rendered useless against Aten.

“The Vivirian-! Not now!”

Aten wedged his spears in the prongs of Haku’s Sai dagger and tossed the Ogre up. He slipped by Justiva who materialized in his way and was about to impale the Ogre.

“Haku, it got past me!”

“Damn you! S-stay away!” He screamed.

Black particles suddenly floated around the Ogre. A cloud of miasma unexpectedly engulfed Aten and slammed him into a building. From afar, it took on the same silhouette as the Shadow Defender’s gigantic golem hands.

Just like Aten whose curse imitated the immortality of the Shadowed Headsman from Vivirus, Haku possessed a curse to summon the Shadowed Defender’s golem hands.

Kihet immediately hurled silver flames at the Ogre, but the Shadowed hand scrapped a chunk of debris off the ground and into the air. A similar chunk flew from the opposite direction and collided with the fragments before they rained down at the Scalemen in the courtyard.

“Yo Kihet, we got company, right? I’ve got a score to settle. Mind if I join?” Draigh said, cracking his knuckles as he stomped down the road.

“The Goliath. Haku, we’ve gauged their strength enough. You must use it to withdraw immediately and return alive.” From Justiva’s orders, Haku brought out a crystal with a glowing butterfly fluttering inside it.

“He’s got a fairy stone!” Carmyn loosened an arrow.

Of course, Justiva tanked the heavy bolt. The Alf lowered her glowing shield and unleashed a storm of crescent waves to drive everyone back. Once she determined they were in no position to stop Haku as he teleported away, she stabbed the tip of her lance into the platform and looked down at all of them.

“Fake, I don’t know if Haku mentioned it, but the Oracle will be challenging the Azure tower soon. The Crimson’s Wrath has agreed to surrender lands leading to the Tower and wishes to conclude the final battle for Stusis there.”

With her final message delivered, Justiva’s body illuminated brightly and faded.

Knowing a fairy stone teleports the user to a random location, Kihet immediately issued an order to search the perimeter to find traces of Haku’s whereabouts.

As for the location Ainig was kept, only the guards by the entrance were killed. Although Kihet did check on the Tortoise, he was still tucked in his shell, shaken by the Pale Dragon’s encounter.

Later that night, the Great Wall bolstered its security. Kihet entered his room, finding Lily sitting on the bed hugging her knees. Ever since the Ogre and Alf escaped, she was quiet. As soon as he sat on the edge of the bed, he felt the blankets shift and Lily nestled onto his back.

“Lily, is everything alright?”

“That Ogre knew I was a member of the Royal Family. I’m trying to figure out who he is to know.”

“He knew?”

Then it clicked. During Kihet’s investigation he accepted from Rozzosea’s Queen to find evidence of Eizan’s corruption, there was a child Ogre he encountered. He met the child a second time when Alam sacrificed himself to open the gates.

Shibata also mentioned Eizan of having a son who strongly resembled Haku.

“We might’ve found Shiba’s killer.” Kihet said.

“I thought it was Eizan.”

“Eizan is responsible, but Shibata said the one who killed him was Eizan’s son. That Ogre attacked us while we were escaping Rozzosea and used poison like I remembered.”