When I emerged a day later from the tunnels of Zhufbar, Jet was bored and playing with a Troll, biting bits off, then letting the monster regenerate so he could snack again.

The Gromril had been carried away, and first shipment of steel rifles was instead deposited on my raft. 300 rifles. Excellent!

In my hand, the Unbreakable looked pristine and clean, without a single dent. Weighing over 90 kilos, the baseball-bat-shaped club narrowed into a tri-sided haft, then a leather-bound handle that widened again into a pyramidal pommel. The haft was inscribed with Dwarf runes on each side, granting the weapon extra durability and a strange air of eternal aura.

Then again, I didn't expect any puny rat to actually damage my Dragon-beating club. They just splattered into blood vapor from a simple swing, and only their Grey Seer caused some trouble by jumping into shadows and out like a demented rat. My Fang of Taal took care of his magic dodging though, blocking it for 15 seconds. I needed far less time to crush the rat mage, when his spells were blocked.

"Eat the troll and let's go, Jet. I want to visit Castle Wartenhof today." I said in a mild voice.

'Just a minute. Tastes better when deep fried.' Jet answered while roasting the troll with dragonfire and then eating it like hot dog.

The dwarven gate slammed shut behind me, but I didn't turn, simply taking my raft and flying to Eschen to prepare a small incursion for the Army.

And by small, I meant 2000 soldiers and 50 War Wagons, while one of the rifle regiments will get to test the steel rifles I just got.

Also, a Dragon probably worth a whole army by himself. When armored and trained for war. For now, Jet wasn't used to fighting alongside a human army, and things might go bad.

Better take care of the Vampire Lords in the castle, and then assault Wartenhof City. Maybe find more loot?

Our flight path followed the mountains, avoiding the strongholds of Sylvania like Drakenhof and Templehof, where the Vampires were the strongest.

To the West, the army of Stirland was beaten back at Konigstein, although they only had 1000 men and only 200 handgunners using old muskets. And a whole 4 mortars, which got left behind in their rapid retreat. If they had asked for my presence, we would have won anyway, but they tried to be heroes and lost half their army.

We arrived in Eschen just as the evening fell, scaring the army with my Dragon for a while. They were tense, and quite worried, since in my absence a bunch of people had just vanished into the night.

"The Warden is here! And his Dragon!" the news spread rapidly into the city, raising morale from our mere presence.

'I smell bats. Lots of them.' Jet pointed at a wooden hill behind us.

"Go and hunt them. And call if you get in trouble." I offered with a joking tone, then selected a random regiment to bear the new guns, and a few silver bullets as well, just in case.

The Runesmith had only left me a case with 1000 silver bullets, but I will make sure to check. Receiving my royalty was serious business.

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Several of the Wild Guard hunters and little Thor waited for me at the side. "Master, you found another Runefang?" Thor asked me with a childish voice.

"This, no. I had it made for me by a Dwarf Runesmith from Zhufbar. Durability runes only." I explained in a patient voice, and waved my club around.

"Ah, makes sense. You do tend to break every weapon that you use, Master Pef." the kid spoke with an innocent tone.

It was true, but don't say it like that. I was just a bit too strong, okay? Plus the Fang of Taal didn't break yet. Maybe because Gods had durable weapons, or they would break them too.

'Come quick...there is a big bat!' Jet yelled in my mind.

I sighed inward and went to help my Dragon. To be fair, a Terrorgheist is not only a big bat, but a mutant vampire that causes terror in any living creature.

I smacked the thing gently, only breaking its wings.

"Did the big bad bat scare you, little Jet?" I asked in a light voice. While the bat was big, it was still half the size of my Dragon. And not a Dragon.

Jet just burst into action, and incinerated the monster as it crashed to the ground. 'Take that. No so scary now, are you?' the Dragon grumbled as he stomped the burning corpse into small bits.

"It is only a fear aura, Jet Goldenweave. You can't let yourself be influenced by any monster around. There are hundreds with similar powers." I offered in a peaceful voice.

'Right! Only a fear aura...I must get myself some metal defenses.' my Dragon muttered in displeasure, then stared around at the burning forest.

"Try to purge the corruption, Jet. Gissela says Purge!, and any bad things bursts into flames around her." I advised the not-so-fearless Dragon.

Jet only nodded, eyes focused on the dead Terrorgheist. Magic winds gathered around him, until they formed a small cyclone of visible colors.

A piercing pang of pain hit my brain, and the urge to ran away and hide in a cave. I looked at the grinning Dragon. "You made a fear spell?"

"Does it work?" he asked a bit confused.

"Yes, it works. Try a dozen power settings now. From chasing mosquitoes and flies away, to spiders, snakes and so on. And you need a stronger setting than this, for large wars. Think that you're facing a million daemons" I advised him with a mild smile.

"Uh....a dozen settings? You mean weaker and stronger winds?" the Dragon deduced as he began inventing a dozen new spells from a single hint.

Hah, I knew I was a poor Wizard, but this guy here had the potential to become the greatest mage in the world. With someone like me to train him.

I flew back at the army camp to calm down the troops. No, it was not a giant monster coming to eat us all, only my Imperial Dragon training on some poor Vampires.

Just before dawn, everyone woke up in panic and threw everything aside to run away, as Jet discovered his final form.

Animals, beasts and monsters ran out of the forest as well, as if a volcano was erupting.

I flew over and shouted my Ox Stands buff a dozen times, until things calmed down. "Gather your stuff and prepare for march. Our target is Wartenhof. And wipe those tears. You are Imperial Soldiers, are you not?" My words seemed to work, as gunmen and spearmen ran back for their weapons.

As I landed, I found Thor shifted into his White Wolf form, still resisting the fear aura. Great for him!

"Good job, Thor. But you're heading back to Waldenhof now. There is time enough for war. You have lessons now."

"Books? Again?"" the kid wailed and ran off, still in wolf form.

Ah, the joy of raising an apprentice. Martak only had to teach me to be gentle and less powerful. And barely had any books.

My apprentices had thousands of books in my Waldenhof Castle, but only Odin seemed to like to read, despite his only remaining eye.

A scout from the Wild Guard peeked out from a cellar. "Scouting duty?" he asked to make sure.

"Why ask?" I muttered in a sad voice. It wasn't like they had another job.

"Right. Not used to a Dragon, Sir!" he admitted with a sheepish voice, and began helping out a dozen more hunters, all hidden in the same basement. Good instincts though.

Now, let's go visit the Vampire Count as he lay to sleep in his coffin. But instead of a sneaky approach, I'll take Jet and go with shock and awe. His aura was even better than a Stuka siren.