“According to a missive they’ve sent, the Latium Republic was hit especially hard by what has come to be called ‘The Revenge of the Abyss,’ which refers to the outpouring of monsters and the increased density of mana throughout the continent. The details aren’t clear, but the letter seemed to imply a shift in their attitude – they expressed a need for solidarity against the monsters threatening the continent.” Duke Sept said.
“They offered to host a grand tournament in Romellus for below S rank fighters, with invitations to all of the other four nations included. Given that their territory and population are larger than those of the other countries put together, as well as that their provinces each hold a unique cultural identity, each of the provinces will each be competing individually, with only the capital province representing the Republic itself.”
Mom’s eyes glinted with understanding.
“And so, you propose to have the isles request to join into the event and send a team of their own to compete.” She continued for him.
“Precisely. This is an opportunity to fell several birds with one stone.” Duke Sept said with a smile.
Mom put a hand to her chin.
“There’s a problem with that plan. Right now, only two dragons qualify to compete: Kiara and Durreg. The rest are either newborn infants or rank S dragons. Furthermore, I am not comfortable asking either of them to go to a nation that was hostile to us for hundreds of years until just recently, and I am not taking Madeil there under any circumstances.”
“If my memory serves me correctly, the tournaments held in the Latium coliseums come in both team and individual brackets. Lady Kiara and Lord Durreg could compete in the latter alone, and they can also compete as members of the Tameryian team. This would be a chance to improve relations between Tamery and the Draconic Isles while also showing a united front to the Latium Republic and keeping the two young dragons safe beneath our diplomatic banner. Does that alleviate your concerns?”
“Hmm…”
While mom thought over the duke’s proposal, I took the chance to ask a question.
“By the way, what happened in the aftermath of the monster horde? And why did they name it that?”
“Plenty has happened since then. Where to begin…?” the duke stroked his beard before he answered.
“Let’s start with Tamery, since I know the details there best. After the monster horde, monsters and dungeons began appearing everywhere. In the desert, in rural fields, and even in the middle of the city. There was some initial chaos, but Tamery’s cities had layers of walls each, so the damage was contained relatively easily. Since the vast majority of the country’s people live close to the river, it was also easy to reinforce any towns and hamlets that needed it. While people had to learn to fight for the occasional monster attack, Tamery has largely been unscathed, though trade was seriously damaged for a few months.”
“Kengir faired almost as well as Tamery did since most of their population holed up in Kengir City or the port city of Erdu. They initially suffered food shortages, but the people in the Academy successfully found a scalable method of treating monster meat to make it edible. The goods moving between Kengir City and Erdu were no longer international goods, but domestically hunted food. That said, tensions have begun simmering between the two, with the people of Erdu holding a grudge for being abandoned to the horde while the Kengir City authorities were angry with Erdu’s insubordination. Rumor has it that they even complained to the God-King, but he shrugged them off by saying that the ever-growing city of classers have earned his approval and can do as they please.”
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“It’s not easy to describe how Iona fared, mostly because of the chaotic political scene it has been going through. Their city-states are always in-fighting even in the best of times, and the monster horde threw the fragile balance of power into mayhem. Rumors include stories of cities being subjugated by others only to revolt and gain independence in a week, armies making use of the monsters in their own battles, and a whole litany of conflicting stories. Still, I imagine it’s not too bad. Each of their cities has a long experience of dealing with sieges and conflict and the rugged terrain only helps them defend their territory better. The fact that they’re still fighting each other as opposed to banding together against the monsters is proof enough that they do not consider it a true threat.”
“The Latium Republic, as you may know, doesn’t have many interactions with us or the other nations, so it is difficult to get an account of how they fared. Still, by the looks of things, it seems that the Revenge of the Abyss was a significant enough event to change their centuries old policies and priorities. Beyond that, we’ll have to see for ourselves in the near future when the tournament is held, and invitations are issued.”
“Tyr is the nation that can be said to have both lost and gained the most during the past months. The initial shock was crushing to the city-states; each city was now isolated and unable to trade or import food, and they were being attacked by monsters while they were at it. In a nation where the poor already struggle, famine and monster incursions quickly began to cause issues, with riots and violence becoming commonplace. Still, it wasn’t as bad as the time before and during the Celestial War was, and new countermeasures were created in time by the Divine Elephant in Cartagos. They sent out teams of monster tamers to subjugate some of the underwater monsters, using them as a foundation to create an entirely new branch of their navy. With these new monsters functioning as escorts, trading ships could set sail again, reconnecting their cities and bringing much needed food and relief supplies from Hebnopet and the monster meat treatment method from Kengir. That said, the damage to their currency’s dominance was already done. It will likely take plenty of time for merchants to trust it as much as they used to.”
Huh. It seemed like the continent fared better than expected.
“In any case, have you come to a conclusion, Lady Azoth?” the duke asked.
“I’ll need more information, but I don’t see a reason to decline if your assumptions hold true. When will this tournament be held?” she answered.
“I cannot say for sure since this information was delivered to me through secondary sources. We will learn more soon, and I’ll be happy to communicate my findings with you as soon as I get them. More importantly, we should begin laying the groundwork for official diplomatic relations between Tamery and the Isles now, so that we can be prepared to act when the time comes.”
Mom nodded then turned to me.
“Kiara, why don’t you go and help your friend get accustomed to her new evolution? You can find my domain field on my dresser.”
I looked to Nico and nodded, leaving mom, Duke and Duchess Sept, and Ozeir to talk about the boring adult stuff.
As Nico followed me out of the dining room and up the stairs, I struck up a conversation.
“So, this might be a little late to ask, but is the status condition you have gone?”
Nico chuckled.
“Gone? Forget dying in four years, I’m never going to die of old age, Kiara.”
I let out a long whistle.
“Wow. Congratulations, now you get to see more of me than you’ve ever wanted to!”
Nico smacked my shoulder and I laughed before we made it to mom’s bedroom.
“Give me a second, I’ll be right back.” I said, going inside.
I picked up the dark orb and headed out, leading Nico to our front lawn.
“Watch this – it’s going to blow what you know about arenas out of the water!” I said, sinking mana into the field by the tens of thousands.
Moments later, Nico and I were transported into the domain field, and we arrived at the now familiar yet fierce blizzard blowing at us.
It was at this moment that I realized something – I didn’t know how to manipulate the field to get rid of the blizzard.
“Kia… an y… ear m…?”
Despite being mere meters away from me, Nico was hard to hear over the strong winds, and even harder to see with all the snow getting in my eyes.
“NO, I CAN’T! JUST GIVE ME A MOMENT!” I yelled, trying to somehow command the field into obeying me.
Nearly ten seconds later, the snow was halfway to my knees, and I had made no progress on slowing down the blizzard.
“What should I do now?” I sighed in frustration to myself, but Nico might’ve taken it as a plea for help.
At least, I thought so judging by the roaring inferno that vaporized the snow around her and passed harmlessly by me. The grass beneath our feet was incinerated as Nico finally came into view, her form taking on nothing but pure flames.