Early Evening - Mid Summer : Asimi's Estate

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- Zachari Ragnarok ~

*Clunk-Click* The eerie silence that filled the room was finally broken when Mother walked over and closed the door behind a maid.

Her expression was quite troubled, but Osto and I both knew why. "Now, how about we finally address the pressing matter." The air in the room slowly cooled as she turned around and looked right at me. "I talked to Osto about it already, but he sounded quite clueless…"

I felt a layer of ice form on my body as she finally sat down. "Haah…" -What can I even say…- "I’m in the same position as Osto, Mother. Vasilias seems to know something, but he has always been quiet about it."

"Hm? Osto told me this happened on the day he hatched…"

She quickly turned to Osto but I managed to catch her. "It did, but the day after that event, his eyes showed ‘intent’ and when I eventually asked him about it, he said he was fully conscious before he even hatched. He definitely has memories from then."

Mother immediately started staring at me. "That shouldn’t be possible, sweetie."

"Y-yes, I am aware, but it still happened. He most certainly wouldn’t lie."

Mother’s face immediately darkened. "How can you be so sure? It is normal for children to lie."

But I just shook my head. "He isn’t the same as any other child I have ever seen, including Krystallo. Plus, if you really want to nitpick, he said he hatched with white scales and remembered what the artifact looked like; something that couldn’t happen if he wasn’t already forming memories before he touched it."

"Haah, right…" There was a long pause as Mother slowly fell into thought. "About the artifact; it was the one Osto got from the Holy Kingdom, right?" She continued after seeing us nod. "What do you know about what it did? Besides the.. obvious changes…"

"Well, while we weren’t sure at first when he somehow managed to awaken his true form, we became certain that his race was changed."

I felt like I could hear the gears turning in her head. "W..what do you think it changed to?" She was clearly trying to understand, but it just wasn’t clicking.

"On the conservative side, he is half Fenrir."

"That would make his attachment to Ilios make sense, but.. what do you mean by ‘on the conservative side’?"

"Well…" I quickly tried to think of how to phrase it before accepting that there was no way to ease her into it. "We are leaning more toward him being part dragon, part ancient fenrir."

Her whole demeanor immediately shifted to a more nervous one as her eyes went wide. "If that is the case.. then Ilios is-"

"The White Ancient Fenrir."

Silence once again wrapped around the room as Mother fell into thought.

It wasn’t until well over a minute had passed that she finally spoke again. "So.. what stage is he on now?"

"After the trip to Kaelallan, he is technically in the adult stage."

"Hah!" She momentarily gave me an awkward smile before sitting down and glancing out the window. "I.. don’t know what to believe anymore, if I am honest…"

It was quite a funny sight. "Haha, eventually you will learn to just go with the flow. It may take a few days, but soon enough you will realize that the word impossible can’t be used in regards to Vasilias."

-But even Osto thought I was exaggerating when I first said that… I wonder how long she will take to realize it…-

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- Vasilias ~

"Uwahh…" Slowly opening my eyes with a yawn, I took a moment to appreciate the familiar soothing sensation that wrapped around my body before finally stretching. "Mmmmm…" -I wonder what that sensation is from…-

But while I was thinking to myself, I was met with a big fluff ball licking the side of my face.

"Haha, good morning Ilios!" -He looks like he slept well…- Although when I originally laid down, I planned to only nap for a few hours, I ended up sleeping for just over two full days. -But it was worth it…- "Uwah…"

Finally sitting up with another yawn, I tidied myself up and fluffed Ilios’s matted fur before finally walking out into the hall. -I wonder if there is a place I can spar with Ilios around here…-

*Click-creak* Quickly opening the door, I made my way out into the hall and almost immediately ran into Chloe. "Good morning, Chloe."

A smile immediately came to her face as she gave a quick bow. "You are awake, my Lord! Did you sleep well?"

"Considering I overslept by a day and a half, I think yes."

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Ilios quickly trotted over to let her pet him as she chuckled. "Haha, that’s good to hear!" She got odd looks from some of the maids nearby but quickly straightened up. "In any case, is there anything I could do for you?"

-Will she even know?- I questioned whether or not she could even answer my question before just tossing it out. "Do you know if there is somewhere I can spar with Ilios nearby? I want to get back into routine, but I’d rather not cause a commotion by doing it in the field out back.

Her expression quickly turned puzzled. "There is a knight training facility just south of here you could probably use. Would you like me to get permission for you to go there?"

"If you could. In the meantime, could you also have another maid bring me a snack? I could use a bite to eat." -I need to sink my teeth into something…-

"Sure thing! We just received an order with a pretty big Greyfin yesterday while you were resting, would you like that?"

-Greyfin?!- A gleam appeared in my eyes instantly. "Yes! Absolutely!" Greyfin was a type of fish that normally lives around 20 kilometers below the surface in the channel between Emporio and Bahamut and has very flavorful, tough meat.

It was something I had fallen in love with since we came to Bahamut. "Haha, okay. I will have it brought to your room. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that should be all for now. Thank you as always, Chloe."

"Of course, my Lord!" Giving one more quick bow, she gave Ilios one more head pat and disappeared down the hall.

The next half hour slipped away extremely quickly after that.

After about five minutes, a maid in her dragon form came by with a 5-meter-long slab of fish meat, and I spent the rest of the time enjoying the blissful flavor of it. -I wonder what other meats are local here that I can try…-

Once I eventually finished, a few maids came by to take the plate it was served on back, and not long after that, Chloe returned, this time with someone in tow.

"My Lord, this is the Knight Captain for the estate, Orion Cirillo; the one we met at the gate when we arrived. The Great Missus said you are free to use the training area, but you must go with him today so he can explain the rules."

-Ah, so Orion was the Captain?- "Awesome, in that case, I will be in your care, Orion."

He quickly responded with a slightly nervous nod seeing me lower my head momentarily. "Likewise… In any case, are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I just finished eating. Please lead the way."

Giving a quick farewell to Chloe, I followed Orion outside and hastily took to the skies.

As we were flying, he glanced back at me with a slightly nervous look. "Sorry about the other day."

-Hm? Oh.- "You’re fine. I can’t exactly be surprised that you didn’t recognize me."

"No, it was still not right. Even if you weren’t a Ragnarok, I shouldn’t have done that, so I’d like to apologize."

-Wow, he’s quite honest with himself…- "In that case, apology accepted."

He quickly straightened up with a much more relaxed expression after I let him off.

-What an odd guy…-

The rest of the flight was wrapped in silence, but truthfully, I didn’t mind it.

Eventually, though, we neared a large clearing and found a place to land next to a few buildings.

"The training grounds are in the clearing we saw up in the air. Please feel free to use it as you wish, just try not to mess with the other knights while they are training. Other than that, you should be alright to do whatever you want. If you have any questions or need anything, I'll be in this building for the next few days."

"Sweet. Thanks in advance."

"Anytime, Young Lord." Giving a deep bow, he changed to his humanoid form and walked into the fairly small building.

His humanoid form was an incredibly muscular draconic human, with mostly human features except for horns, wings, a tail, and some scales on certain areas of his body.

He looked like the peak bodybuilders from Earth with essentially no body fat and ridiculously defined muscle.

-How does a dragon even build muscle like that though?- Unlike with humans, traditional ways to grow muscle, like working out with weights, either didn't work or were too inefficient. Dragons were simply too strong for most practical workouts to do much of anything. -But.. maybe there will be something in the training area..-

Quickly making my way toward the large clearing, the distant commotion I could hear only got louder.

*crackle-WHAAAM*

"My money is on Otis!"

"Mine is on Rhodes, you think Otis can win?!" *CRUNCH*

"New bet ratio is 4:3 Rhodes!"

Finally turning onto the dirt road leading into the clearing, I looked out to see a large group of dragons taking bets on a spar between two 52-meter-tall dragons, one with scales just like Orion’s and the other with dark blue, ocean-colored scales. -Are they other Captains?-

*Thump-BANG* *THUD* *th-th-th-TH-THUD*

Their clashing shook and shattered the ground, with each strike sending a shockwave I could feel with ease from nearly half a kilometer away.

"Hmph, how much longer do you think you can hold out?!" *BANG* The blue dragon yelled out as he slammed the orange one into the ground.

"Long enough to beat your ass!" Throwing both of them in the air with his wings, the orange dragon grabbed the other dragon’s neck and slammed him into the ground, sending splinters of rock in every direction. *CRACCK*

Before I knew it, I was enveloped in the fight as well. Something about watching two huge dragons have a slugfest was extremely entertaining.

After watching for a little over a minute, I got curious about who they were and walked over to the group, tapping one of the knights with the tip of my wing. "Hey, so who are these two guys fighting?"

"Hm? Ah, you must be new. Rhodes is the orange one, and Otis is the blue. They're the teachers of the knights here. They’re usually pretty cooperative in making our training absolute hell, but every now and then when we do spar-training, they spice things up with a fight." The knight seemed to think I was a new trainee, but I just rolled with it.

"Haha, sounds like they're some awesome teachers."

"They really are. Do you want to make any bets?"

"Hmm.. I'll put a platinum on Rhodes. That should juice the pot, right?"

The knight looked at me with wide eyes before double-checking. "You sure? The biggest bet right now is 12 gold."

"Yeah, it should spice things up." I quickly handed him a platinum coin out of a small pouch I had with me. "Maybe some of the other guys will feel like they need to step it up."

The knight's smile only grew wider. "Haha, I like your style!" He almost immediately ran over to another knight with a white band around his neck, seemingly to place the bet.

The other knight smiled the moment he saw the coin. "Hey, Rhodes! Someone bet a platinum on you!"

Rhodes immediately looked over. "WHICH ONE OF YOU DUMBA-" *CRACK*

The moment he looked away, Otis slapped him across the face with his tail, causing the knights to all go silent.

"For you to suddenly forego that knight's honor of yours now that a little money is on the line!" In an instant, Rhodes closed the distance to Otis and grabbed his face. "I really DO need to give you a lesson!"

*CRACKLE-BAAAANG*