Early Morning - Mid Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

*tap* *tap* *tap*

Hearing Father’s footsteps, I turned around to see him walking away from the stone wall. -That was fast…- “You were qui-”

“Can you raise up the wall some?” He interrupted me with a clearly unhappy voice.

“Y..yeah, hold on for a second…” Immediately understanding what he wanted to do, I moved over to the wall and took my time increasing its height to about 30 meters.

Not long after I finished, while I was fiddling with magic not too far away, the entire plaza shook so violently that the wall nearly collapsed. Thankfully, I noticed and fixed it before having to worry about Father's dragon form being revealed.

After another hour or so, Father eventually came out and I started breaking down the wall which quickly revealed Maria laying there with a defeated look.

The ring around her neck was buckled and the top of the ring was smashed in, clearly showing where Father tried to drive the massive steel ring further into the ground.

-Dragons really are some insane creatures…- Turning back to Father, I noticed his oddly indifferent expression. "So.. I'm guessing you want her to stay there?"

"Well, I damn sure won't let her go. She still has some useful information. I just figured we would leave her here since there is no chance she can break out of that ring..." As he spoke, he glanced at the bent ring with a suppressed look of awe.

"Well, if we want, I can just remove and rebuild that ring wherever."

Father looked at me with wide eyes for a moment. "No, she should be fine here. She knows what will happen if she attacks someone… Anyways, where's Oliver and the others?"

"Lewis and Sarah went to the bar a few minutes ago, and everyone else should still be inside."

"Hm, Okay. Do you have any plans for the next few days?"

-Why the odd question?- "No, I was just planning to practice some magic or explore the city a bit."

"Oh alright, in that case, do you mind staying here on your own for a few days? I need to go back to Bahamut to report my.. unusual discoveries with the elders."

"So you came to the same conclusion as me, huh?"

"Probably.. I think that the tower and the rebellion are connected somehow..."

-Somehow?- "I thought that the tower was the one funding the rebellion."

As if a light bulb went off, his eyes went wide and a smile came to his face. "Oh, wow... That would actually make perfect sense!" He ended up standing there, deep in thought for a moment before looking like he needed to leave.

But I had no plans in stopping him. "You should pay Mother a visit while you're out."

Father’s smile immediately turned warm. "Haha, alright. I'll stop by there on my way back from Bahamut. In any case, this information is pretty time sensitive so tell Oliver where I went, I'm going to head out."

I couldn't help but smile seeing Father’s oddly proud look. "Alright, have a safe trip! Tell Mother I miss her!"

After pausing for a moment, he smiled and gave his farewell. "I will, but please be careful while I'm gone! If something happens to you, your Mother will kill me."

His slightly nervous look made me want to laugh, but I held it in. "You don't need to worry, Father."

Hearing the confidence in my voice, he quickly disappeared down the road and left for Bahamut.

After he left, I contemplated what to do before walking back out to Maria who was laying there frozen from horror.

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Casually putting up a vacuum barrier, I leaned against her nose. "So how was your ‘talk’ with my father?"

Her frozen eyes slowly shifted over to me as she struggled to utter a single word. "Horrifying..."

Something about her horrified gaze made me smile, but I wasn't sure what. "Well, it seems like you aren't in the mood to talk so I'll let you rest for a while. Just before I go, let me leave you with a warning. If you try anything," As I looked into her eyes, I pressured her as much as I could with my aura. "I’ll show you what horror really is."

Seeing her immediately shrivel up and lose any remaining desire for escape, I disabled the barrier and made my way back into the monument where the Royal Family was.

But once I got inside, I only saw Helen and Lucy sitting at the table. "Where did Oliver go?"

Helen wore an indifferent expression as she spoke. "I'm not sure. He said something major happened to Lawton, the captain of the Royal guards. I'm not sure if you've met him yet."

"Yeah, I saw him for a bit right after the incident." -What happened to him? He was not weak by any means…-

Helen was quick to change the subject though. "Where did Osto go? I thought he'd be with you."

Casually throwing up a crude barrier to keep the sound from escaping, I continued. "Father and I decided that the tower is likely connected to the halfie rebellion. We aren't entirely sure how since we have no evidence, but I at least, think they are one of the groups funding it."

Lucy and Helen both looked at me, wide-eyed, finally understanding that the situation was far beyond what Kaelallan could handle on their own.

"Don't worry, if anything it should take Kaelallan out of the picture. If the tower is truly connected to the rebellion, it'll be crushed and nothing will be left so don't worry.."

"..." Neither Helen nor Lucy made a single noise.

"Well let's change the subject. Is anything interesting planned for the next week or so? I'm going to be alone so I'm looking for things to do around the city."

A gleam instantly appeared in Lucy's eyes. "I have school starting in a few days, would you like to enroll wi-"

"Absolutely not."

She looked disappointed at my harsh response, but I was a little bored so I decided to compromise.

"Here, how about this? I think it might be cool to explore the campus or sit in on a few classes, but I, under no circumstances, will enroll." -Why would I ever want to spend so much precious time with humans…-

Thankfully, Lucy didn't notice my slight look of disgust and responded happily. "That's okay! You can work that out, right, Mother?"

"Sure, sweetie." Helen's smile was warm and pure, causing me to think of Mother.

“Haah…” -I hope she is doing well…-

- Oliver Kaelallan ~

Making my way into the medical ward, I quickly noticed Lawton laying on a bed covered in bloody bandages.

But as much blood as there was, I let out a deep sigh of relief. "Phew..." -It's nothing too serious...- Although it was a gruesome gash, it was nothing that wouldn't heal when given time, especially for a Nation Rank.

"Sorry I'm late, I came as soon as someone told me you were injured, it just took them a while to get through the security in the Plaza."

Lawton lethargically looked up at me. "Please don't apologize, my lord, I'm simply happy that you've come to see me."

"Well of course I would. I'm just glad to see that you're doing alright."

After I spoke, a young nurse walked in to rebandage his wounds. "Greetings your highness.” She gave a short but elegant bow before starting to take off Lawton’s bandages. “He got quite lucky since none of the major veins in his arm were severed even with such a deep wound. He should be out of the ward in a few days, but he won't be able to fight for at least two weeks."

-Two weeks to fully heal... Nation ranks really are incredible...- "Right, who was it you fought to end up like this? I thought you were in Kaelallan, but I heard some people say they saw you run down the main road dripping blood."

"R..right… Let me just start from the beginning.."

We spent the next several minutes talking about everything that happened before I was finally up to speed.

"So did you manage to get any information out of them? I'd assume they were part of the tower."

"Yes, they were. They were the top group within the assassin division of the tower. Their boss, whom I killed last night, was the current leader and executive of that division."

-If just a branch manager was that strong, how strong are the tower leaders?- I tried my best to ignore the ominous feeling in my gut when I thought about it. -I'm sure we will be fine.. hopefully...- "Haah, go ahead and get some rest. Once you feel healed enough to leave AND the doctors agree, come report to me. Lucy starts class in a few days so I'd like you to look over the academy at that time. It should give you a good bit of time to work with the kids and recuperate."

His eyes seemed nervous though. "What about defending the city?"

"It will be fine, you just need to rest up. I have a plan to handle the tower and protect the capital, so don't worry."

Finally managing to ease some of his worries, he finally started to relax. We sat there in silence for a moment before he continued in a soft voice. "I know I say this all of the time, but thank you, my lord… If it weren't for you, I would've died in that dungeon all those years ago..."

As the memory flashed in my mind, I felt my chest tighten up slightly. "You shouldn't thank me for that. Just.. get some rest..."