Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Kingdom of Byria (7,000km SW of Kaelallan)

- ~~~ - (Omnipotent)

In the Noble district within the Kingdom of Byria, two people were speaking in a well-lit office lined with bookshelves.

"Come again?" The well-dressed nobleman at the desk clearly voiced his annoyance at the black-robed messenger kneeling in front of him.

"The entire hideout was destroyed without a single survivor left, but the confidential letters sent to him were confirmed to have been disposed of and were not leaked." The messenger was clearly afraid of the noble, but he did all he could to hide it.

"Who was it?"

"It was likely Lawton Keen, my lord."

"Hm, that would make sense, but how do you know it was him?"

"We found a trail of blood leading from the hideout to the city, and on the same night, he was seen running through the streets while dripping blood."

"Have you sent anyone to finish him off?"

The man hesitated before speaking. "No, sir."

"Why not?" The nobleman squinted his eyes with suspicion immediately.

"T..there is not anyone left to order, sir…"

"So every person I gave to Audre (Pinero) to kickstart his branch is dead?"

"That is correct, sir."

The noble's face twitched as if he wanted to kill someone, but he held himself back. "Have you found Shir's body yet, or is he still missing?"

"We believe he died within the prison after being tortured."

"Tsk…" *shatter* The glass cup in his hand shattered, spilling the alcohol all over the floor.

The messenger immediately paled slightly before opening his mouth again. "My lord, what if I went to personally kill Lawt-" *CrAcK* His voice was cut off by the noble shattering his collarbone with a kick. "AAAGH!"

As he fell to the floor, the noble gave him a look of contempt. "Not only is Lawton not the only problem in Kaelallan, but Audre was the only human I had control over that was capable of killing either Lawton or 'her'. You seem to be grossly underestimating those damn Nation Ranks..."

Worried that saying another word would get him killed, the messenger stayed silent. "..."

As the noble walked back to his desk, he quickly settled on the plan going forward. "Tell the messengers and scouts to pull out of Kaelallan. Only leave the best spies we have stationed there. We have already wasted too much time and resources on Kaelallan trying to lay low."

"A..as you wish." The messenger winced and grabbed his shoulder before disappearing with light magic.

After making sure the messenger was gone, the noble sat back down at his desk and poured himself another glass. *sip* "I think it's time we moved to a more aggressive plan…"

- Oliver Kaelallan ~

"Uwwaaahh…" I let out a long yawn as I laid my face down on my desk, wanting to do nothing more than nap under the warmth of the sun, but that was not an option currently. -Why am I procrastinating so much…-

I had a massive stack of papers I needed to sort through today, and I hadn't even started looking at them yet. -But maybe.. a 30-minute nap would be alright…- But before I could fully close my eyes...

*Knock* *Knock* A maid knocked on the door. "Your highness, Lucy is here to see you."

"Hmm?" -Oh right..- "Let her in.." Quickly shaking off my drowsiness, I sat up at my desk and tried to put on a warm smile.

*Click* With a polite bow, the maid opened the door to let Lucy through before closing it on her way out.

"You called, Father?"

My mood was brightened by seeing her pure smile. "Yes, it's about your new classes."

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Lucy quickly sat down and poured a cup of tea, looking very elegant as she did.

-It seems her etiquette lessons are going well…- "You will start tomorrow. Do you have all of your things together?"

"Yes, of course! I'm excited to finally meet people my age." Her smile exuded a contagious joy.

"Does Vasilias not-.. never mind actually." I ended up cutting myself off since it was a stupid question, but somehow Lucy still knew what I was going to say.

"..yeah. It's just that.. when I talk to him, I feel like I'm talking to an adult..." Her head lowered as she started thinking to herself. "Are all dragons like that?"

"Haha. Osto told me that Vasilias was an oddball even by dragon standards, so I would assume so."

"That's not what I.. never mind." She quickly looked away and sipped her tea again, simply wanting to change subjects.

-Hm?- I thought her reaction was odd but decided not to dig into it. "Well, in any case, I got your schedule from the academy."

Lucy's eyes immediately lit back up as she hastily set the tea on the table and dashed over to his desk.

I couldn't help but smile after seeing her enthusiasm. "Here you go."

But to my surprise, the enthusiasm started draining from her face. "I'm going to be at the academy for 5 hours a day?"

Her reaction reminded me of my own when I was young. "Haha, that includes breaks, sweetie. I promise it won't be a bad experience."

"Y..yes Father.."

"Well, I called you here to give you that, so is there anything else you wish to talk about?"

"Ah, yes... What about Vasilias?" She gave me a pleading look.

-Oh.. about that…- I immediately became hesitant. "He will do whatever he feels like doing…"

A disheartened look immediately came to her face. "So he won't be coming with me to the Academy?"

"I have no idea, sweetie. I can't control a dragon, let alone one that's my two-time savior."

She paused to think for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "If that is all, then I will be in my room."

Although it wasn't clear by her voice, she was a little saddened. "Alright, dinner is coming up, so go light on the sweets."

"Haha, yes Father." Finally warming back up to a smile, she stood up and gave a polite bow before leaving.

*Click* As the door closed behind her, I felt every bit of motivation to do the paperwork leave my body, but I currently didn't have a choice.

"Haah…" -Maybe I'll find some motivation once I get going…- Finally moving over the quill, I reached for a paper, but was immediately interrupted.

*Click* "Honey, we need to talk." Helen's voice carried clear agitation.

-Uh oh..- "What about?"

"Vasilias."

"What? What about him?" I couldn't help but raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"I think it's time you adjusted your contract with him."

Her statement made me freeze. Although I didn't want to pay more than I needed to, it was also true that the situation had escalated beyond the terms in the initial contract. -But that's not such a simple task...- "What makes you say that?"

"The public saw the fight in the plaza. If you don't put out a public statement saying you rewarded him, no one will want to serve you in the future."

"..." I couldn't refute her words.

"Adding another trip to the vault on the contract couldn't hurt. Most of the stuff in there is useless to us, and nothing in there is worth more than your life. He saved you twice now... Come on, I know he's a dragon, but he is also a kid.. your best friend's kid... Can you not try and use him without considering the risks he must take?"

The was a short moment of silence as I fell into thought. "Haah.. how about this then... I'll take him into the vault once I finish these papers as personal thanks." I looked at her as I set my hand on the tall stack of paperwork.

"That's fine, just don't miss dinner."

"Haah… Alright, I'll see you then."

Seeing me finally give in, she trotted over to my desk and gave me a quick kiss before leaving.

"Hooh.. alright. No more procrastinating!" Giving myself a bit of pep talk, I sat up straight and finally got to work.

- Vasilias ~

In the shelter, I had just finished roughhousing with Ilios and was busy repairing the floor and walls while he napped. -Maybe we got a little too rough today.-

Although we were solely using physical strength in our play fight, it was still more than enough to shatter the simple stone walls and floors.

-Hmm.. maybe I should think of a way to spruce up the place while I'm at it...-

With a quick look around, it was immediately apparent that the rooms were all made of regular stone and lacked any kind of carvings which, although made it easy to repair, made the entire place just feel like a big, lifeless cave.

As I finally finished the repairs and sat down though, I glanced towards the spring and figured I could at least make it a little easier to look at. -I'll at least give it a little makeover...-

At first, it started as just a few minor changes, like smoothing out the edges, but after getting caught up in the process, a couple hours passed and I had unknowingly redone the whole area. The outside edge was now lined with a white stone and gold trim, and the inside was cut into two separate areas.

There was now an extra shallow area for humans, where I added ledges to sit down on and stairs to get in and out, and a deep area for Father or I to enjoy that was about 50 meters deep.

There were not a whole lot of changes, but I truly felt satisfied with it after finishing. -Now I can actually try swimming!-

Although I was an incredible swimmer during my life on earth, swimming in my dragon form was completely new to me, so I had no idea what to expect.

And it went about as well as I thought it would. -My lord, how does this even work?-

But, although I was slow at first, it didn't take too long for me to figure out the basics and come to really enjoy it. -The water resistance is a good workout!-

It was at that moment that I subconsciously set my sights on the next hill I would climb.

'Learning to fight underwater!'