~ Chapter 112: Moving on to the next stage ~

[Askarius Leden’s point of view]

 There once was a saying that if you dared to look for them, you would find the dregs of society living their pathetic little lives at the end of the world, where the endless waters teaming with monsters kept them from sailing out, an impregnable prison wall.

If any such real-world location could be considered to hold true to these words, then I had to believe that this very Ten Sword Kingdom was it.

The soldiers of this nation were a joke, a mockery to our Akutan’s Human United Front soldiers, who were trained to combat the dangerous dragons across the ocean. The nobles here were all lazy and incapable of even doing the simplest of jobs like taking care of the needs of an esteemed person such as myself. They sent me two so-called noble ladies, but they could not last even a single night before I had to send their stiff bodies away to be tossed away with the rest of the trash. Their intelligence was not something that one could brag about. These nobles either scurried off in fear of someone more powerful than them or they dared to raise their voice against the... suggestions I offered to his Majesty here, the King of the Ten Swords Kingdom.

Well, maybe I was a bit too harsh with these primitives. They were not as civilized as akutanians or the people of Earth. They lacked manners and were extremely rude and boorish. As a Human Hero who hailed from a world of advanced technology and civilization, I only saw it as my rightful duty to teach them the wrong of their ways.

Killing one or two of them was the same as squishing a cockroach under the sole of your foot and the women were already with the mindset of being used as tools by men, unlike the civilized ladies of Earth. The only one who seemed to hold a brain cell or two between their ears was the Queen of Ten Swords, she was the only one capable of actually being a threat to my plan. As long as she continued to hold power within this nation, there was a good chance that everything I worked so far could fall down like a flimsy castle of cards.

The best way to combat her, given the present situation, was not through force but rather persuasion… The humans of this world were easy to fool and if you knew how to playout your role, you could appear with any sort of mask you desired or found useful. For example, rather than moving myself against her Majesty, it was far better if the King did all the dirty work for me…

Hm, maybe it would be too much to call this foolish human a King as he would soon find himself in the rather unexpected predicament of well... relinquishing that crown to me. After all, he abandoned the only kin he had and even ordered that Master Class Assassin after her. No matter what sort of bodyguard Princess Ildeanussi Vermida Kor would find in this wretched place by selling her body or whatnot, it was quite clear that there would not be anyone more powerful than that so-called loyal butler of hers. To make things easier, I even dispatched thirty of this Kingdom’s so-called Elite Force, the Shadowguard of the Crown, to help him out in this mission.

It was not overkill, after all, Human Heroes still remained the uncertain factor in this world, and some of them could even match that person in power and skill, but what if we added a bunch of mobs to the fray? Well, those troops might actually end up being the decisive factor between a failed mission and a completed one.

Right now, in this Kingdom, Princess Ildeanussi had no one to depend on with the exception of her mother, but with each passing day, her Majesty’s influence in the country weakened and soon would be completely useless. Her maids had been replaced by those who were paid by me, and the soldiers who once guarded her with absolute loyalty had all been mysteriously dispatched to various corners of the Kingdom. Even if she wanted to, she could not even send a single message let alone plan a rescue operation for the little princess.

“Hm, but maybe that’s exactly what she did? If she used the unmarried Princess as a bargaining chip, there were plenty of individuals who would look with sparkling eyes at the opportunity to become the next King. Not to mention the fact that right now, there are still numerous nobles who support her from the shadows, but not so many who would dare to declare this out loud. The last fool who tried to do so ended up in the Palace Dungeon for the crime of treason against the crown.” I said as I played with the glass of wine in my hand.

Even this otherwise simple item was the creation of the people from Earth. The Akutan Empire was now prospering thanks to the Human Heroes crafters, and if we managed to turn Ten Swords Kingdom into a vassal state of ours, we could ship our troops under the pretext of immigrants and consolidate a striking force against our enemies. The army that was currently heading to this place did so thanks to the mad King’s permission, thus, neither the Majin Socialist Republic nor the Navimska Reich could do a single thing about it, least they wished to start a war. This military force was technically seen as a ‘humanitarian aid’ with the role of helping stabilize the power in this nation and not an invading force meant to occupy it.

Out of all of them, however, the Democratic Union of Shiva would be the most concerning one. Using the pretext of Democracy and Equality, they managed to rally up both nobles and commoners under their banners. Last time I was in Akutan, their influence was spreading across the Empire at quite an impressive speed. Using the merchants and adventurers to speak praises about the many changes and benefits of the regime, a lot of our citizens ended up migrating there. There was even talk about imposing a ban on such things, but another Human Hero managed to convince them that this would only be counter-effective and lead to that democratic nation to issue a ‘Humanitarian Attack’ on us in the name of Freedom. Handling both the attack of a foreign nation and a civil unrest at the same time would not bode us well, not to mention the fact that the Navimska Reich was no tame kitten either.

On this Human Continent, the countries were like hungry wolves just waiting for one of them to fall weak so they could jump in to rip it to shreds. This was what happened to the Treigun Kingdom, which was conquered and split apart after the Devaks Kingdom was turned into the Navimska Reich and the Northern part of the Majin Kingdom became the Majin Socialist Republic. Then, to the far South, was the Fascist Kingdom of Nocturn with a strong regimented society and terrifying dictatorial power that was vastly accepted by the nobles there and even a lot of the commoners too who did not see their future well if they did not bow down to an iron grip by forces of superior might.

In this game of power, a silent war was being led right now, and whoever managed to take Majin Kingdom and the Ten Swords Kingdom could end up winning the war. Hence why converting this nation into an Akutan Vassal State under the order of the current ruler, without the pressure of the Empire itself was so important. Any other method could trigger all of those hungry nations into jumping in on this piece of land under their own claim of ‘helping the people’. These nations... were all dangerous, but more dangerous were the people who thought about such terrifying systems and even managed to somehow implement them.

In this equation, Majin Kingdom could be said to be a wild card. It was a nation without much political power right now, a lonely piece of land with limited military power, but not necessarily useless. If they became another Akutan Vassal State after the conversion of this one, then we could form a pincer attack on the Majin Socialist Republic by claiming to help ‘recover the land of the people’, thus a type of freedom approved by the Democratic Union of Shiva. We would just need to make sure not to angry the Navimska Reich.

Letting out a sigh, I took a sip from my glass and then turned around to look at the giant map placed on my wall. The old nations were shown there: Akutan Empire, Shiva Kingdom, Majin Kingdom, Ten Swords Kingdom, Nocturn Kingdom, Devask Kingdom, and Treigun Kingdom. It was impressive how in just a couple of years, a bunch of Human Heroes managed to turn this map into a thing of the past, an item with a worth only to historians and maybe cartographers or collectors.

I took another sip of my wine and then placed the glass on the desk.

“It’s time to move things up. The Akutan Army for Humanitarian Aid should be arriving any day now.” I said and then took a few papers from the drawer.

On them were written various ‘reports’ from ‘witnesses’ who saw the current Queen in suspicious situations. Thanks to my silver tongue, the Mad King would soon believe that his precious wife betrayed him as well just as his own daughter did. I had to admit, it was far easier to convince him to send those assassins after her than it was to simply... kill her here.

As for the end that this Queen should have, well, it would need to be something flashy, something brutal, something that would leave a lasting mark on all those who would come to witness it. 

“Then again, I do hope that those three arrive today. They are to become the champions of this tournament and show the might of the Akutan Empire. The journey from the Mondare Port shouldn’t be that long, but if there were any good brothels there, well... sigh...” I shook my head and then picked up another list from my drawer, this time of maids that could be given to those three for moral support.

After all, they were all Awakened Human Heroes.

[Alkelios’ point of view]

 The somber mark left on our group by our previous encounter was one that would follow us on our journey to the Ten Swords Capital and everyone was dealing with it in their own way.

Ildea was certainly in no happy mood, the ally she thought she could depend the most on was proved to be a traitor who died by her command, and while Coshun was here, by her side, trying to cheer her up the best he could, the others weren’t doing any better either. For me, this reaction from them, their attitude towards our current situation was normal, after all, we just learned that the King of Ten Swords ordered the assassination of his own daughter, so we, who helped her, would naturally be branded as traitors to the Kingdom on the first occasion. I was not a native of this land and so wasn’t Coshun, but the others made it their home. The possibility of ending up as either exiles or even criminals was high.

Honestly, I knew Ildea was in pain right now, but I didn’t know how it was to have your own parent wanting to kill you. My own parents back in Romania had always been kind to me even if I was sometimes a prick for not taking out the trash, but if they knew that I was now a married man with a noble rank and lots of riches to boot, they would certainly be shedding tears of happiness for me.

In case of Ildea’s father, it seemed that the more outstanding of a daughter she was, the more he tried to pin her down and take her life. Such a cruel thing was bitter and painful, it wasn’t something that I could relate to, and I probably didn’t need to. Maybe just being by Ildea’s side as her friend was the best thing any of us could do for her right now.

Looking back at how things ended up like this, I couldn’t help but tell myself that all we did was to try to survive. It wasn’t our fault people were out to get us and in the process of fighting back we ended up taking their lives. What was I supposed to do? Take a step aside and watch as Kalderan was tormented by the memories of his past by those vile slave merchants? Kill Risha just because she was part of the group whose leader wanted to kill us? Let Tamara be sold as a slave only to be mercilessly whipped and harmed by others? Ignore the pleading gaze of Ildea who stole food only because she would have died of hunger otherwise? Turn my head when I saw Coshun the adopted son of the Queen and King of Albeyater, who thought they had lost him? Abandoned the sick Drumora and chase away Amadeus just because they were different than the rest, from another nation, or because they were as poor and dirty as beggars?

If I did all of that... right now, there would be no one around me. I would be just one lonely Half-Dragon Human Hero with no friends or people to talk to, no one to share my worries with, no one to listen to, no one to help, no one to make a bad joke with or even a good one. Honestly, I couldn’t see fault in my actions so far. I helped those I wished to help with everything that stood in my power, and right now, Ildea was the one who needed our help the most.

This tournament that was taking place at the capital was nothing but a joke to me. There was no one in this country who could stand before me on equal grounds, however, at that place, at that time, the King would be out of his Palace and with a bit of luck, Ildea would get the chance to talk with him, to ask him why he gave the ordered for her assassination.

Then, if words didn’t reach him, we would be there to lend her our blades...

Letting out a heavy sigh, I looked up at the foliage of the trees, it was past noon now, but the sun was still shining brightly on the clear sky. I let my mind wonder to Seryanna, at the times we were together...

“I miss you...” I said in a whisper.

[Seryanna’s point of view]

 “What are you thinking about?” Kataryna asked when she saw me furrowing my brow.

“That we have wings and that this boat can be cut in half.” I replied as I glanced back at her from the corner of my eye.

“Hm, true~” she agreed with a smile moving up her lips as her tail waved in the air.

Right now, we were on the deck of the enemy ship. The fleet that stopped us from docking at Mondare Port in the Ten Swords Kingdom was a mixed one comprised of various vessels from several nations on the Human Continent. They were all well-equipped and were ready to engage in combat at any given moment, however, Elleyzabelle and Captain Mathew decided that it would be for the better to try and communicate with the humans, since for now, we were not heading towards the Human Continent looking for trouble.

About two days after we made first contact, it was decided that we would meet on the Majin Kingdom’s flagship, the Babayakshi. It was a war galleon in terms of size, but it was padded with monster hides with purpose of acting as a protective armor against magical attacks as well as camouflage in front of wandering giants that lurked in the depths of the oceans. Well, they worked... as long as neither me nor Kataryna here unsheathed the swords Alkelios gave us.

Elleyzabelle asked us to suppress our presence as much as we could before we boarded their ship just so that we did not accidentally scare the humans too much. Just like the Unawakened ones, they had a very childish mentality and would often think of themselves to be at the top of the world. Just like a young wolf pup who was not aware that he stepped in the sheep’s den, so too these youngsters would often cause trouble for those who were far more advanced and powerful than them.

An old dragoness used to say that wisdom comes with age, but in order to reach the age of wisdom, you had to be lucky enough to survive the passing of years and smart enough to know when it was or wasn’t the right time to bare your fangs. Often enough, the moments of hardship you went through and ultimately survived were also those that laid the very foundation of your wisdom.

This being said, the vast majority of the humans on this ship already seemed ready to be proven just how foolish their own choice was if they tried to attack us.

“Ah, welcome-zush!” the one who greeted us wore a big grin on his face and held his arms open as if wanting to embrace us.

There was no such custom that I was notified of, so if this savage cur dared to make such a brazen move, I would let him feel the sharp claws of a dragoness. But, sensing the irritation in my gaze, Elleyzabelle stepped forward, and with a greeting smile replied to him.

“It is an honor to be welcomed abord such an esteemed vessel such as yours. The might of the Majin Kingdom had not waned it seems even after the recently unfortunate event that befall it.”

Her words may have been polite and friendly, but they hid a real venom beneath the surface. There was no one on board this ship who wasn’t aware of how the nations of our world changed as soon as they came into contact with the Human Heroes. In some parts, the royal bloodlines vanished overnight, while in others the population was introduced to their new political views and banded together against their lords.

While some could claim that it was all done in the name of achieving peace and prosperity, the truth was one far simpler than that. They came, they conquered, and now the native population had no choice but to bow down their heads to them. Among them, the Majing Kingdom was one such victims, so mentioning the Big Split was relatively dangerous.

“Hm....” the man narrowed his eyes at Elleyzabelle and remained quiet for a moment.

In terms of looks, he reminded me of wild gorilla monster. There was hair on his arms, on his face, on his legs, on his chest. Even a wolf would have less hair than him, but this human even went so far as to braid his beard and hair. The armor he wore, although simple, primitive, and savage when first looking at it, the truth was that it hid a fearsome strength. His arm guards were made of a thick hide with metal fur covering them, a long mantle was draped over his shoulders, making him look more savage than he appeared, but I could feel the flow of Magic Energy within it. The chest piece and leg guards were painted in a dark brown color, but at the seams, the original amber color could be seen, which meant that the monster that once wore this hide was no ordinary one.

Still, while I could not tell apart the abilities of a piece of armor like Alkelios could, I could still feel if it was beneath or above my own equipment, and at the moment, I could at most weight it as being somewhere around the same level of standard draconian armor worn by a Vice Commander under me. No, maybe below that?

Either way, this human looked savage and wore much better equipment than his peers on this boat, but as far as strength was concerned, he could maybe withstand one, at most two of my attacks?

“Ahem! Well, I guess it would be rude of me to make such esteemed ladies wait on the deck of the ship while surrounded by these ruffians. Please, do join me in the captain’s cabin.” he told us and then turned around to follow him.

Elleyzabelle sent me a glance, and I nodded. If there was so much as a hint of danger, I would pick her up and then fly away while Katarina turned this whole boat into one big ice sculpture that would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

The inside of this ship was quite similar to our own, although, the wall decoration was less inviting, they were the bones of the monsters that had been slain by this crew. Pitiful creatures that couldn’t even withstand the bite of a wolf from our continent.

“We Majin people value the courage and wisdom of our ancestors. We always knew there was much to gain from a strong communion with Mother Nature, but those humans who arrived in our lands did not seem to think so.” he said as he clenched his hand into a fist and then slowly released it.

There was much anger in the heart of this human, a desire for revenge and a thirst to gain what was once theirs.

Upon entering the captain’s quarters, we were greeted with the sight of a rather cozy room. To the right and to the left, we could see wooden carvings of various animals, with their teeth and claws turned into necklaces to decorate them.

“To the North rests the Mother Tortoise.” the human said as he pointed at the totem hanging on the ceiling, above the window. “To the East prowls the Hunter Tiger.” he then pointed to our right, where another totem could be seen. “To the West the Forgiving Serpent shows mercy to the wretched.” he pointed to our left. “And to the South the Wolf Pack guards our doors from enemies who try to sneak in and traitors who dare to flee.” he pointed at the totem hanging above our heads.

“The culture of the Majin is quite interesting, reminds me a bit of the dwarven one.” Elleyzabelle mentioned with a smile as she took a step further in.

There was a desk nailed to the floor in front of the window, and two armchairs placed there for when the captain received guests. The style was a bit more refined rather than savage, intricated carvings on the wood handles and the back made it seem as though they could fetch a good price on any market.

“The Majin are proud of their culture. We are proud of the spirits who guide us, and it is true that our shamans and the dwarf ones think alike. Our focus of prayer is more or less the same, but when it comes to the Human Heroes, we are seen as savages.” the human said as he took a seat behind his desk.

Elleyzabelle took a seat on the armchair, but both me and Katarina remained standing, just in case there was unexpected trouble.

“Respected Prince Voydarum, there are many different ways of thinking among the Human Heroes, and I can assure you that not all of them agree on the same school of thought.” the Princess told him with a smile.

I was told that we might meet royalty among the crew of these ships, but I didn’t think they would have one of their Princes sail upon treacherous waters. I thought as I looked at this human who also gave me the impression of a barbarian at first.

“True. We have some Human Heroes among our Majin Kingdom who also take no pleasure in the communist ways of those in the North. I learned from them that back on their home world such school of thought was considered quite unsavory, evil even.” he said as he looked into her eyes.

“Indeed, this appears to be the case...” Elleyzabelle closed her eyes for a moment and continued when she opened them “There is a matter I wish to discuss with your Respected Highness, if possible. Initially, I wished to postpone this negotiation to a later date, but I feel as though this might be a most opportune moment. Unless, of course, his Respected Highness Voydarum of the Wind does NOT hold the authority to speak in the name of his mother country.”

I had a feeling that what Princess Elleyzabelle wanted to talk about was related to our journey a few years ago, when we set sail for the Relliar Continent and then several months later when we arrived on the El’Doraw Peninsula. By then, we had successfully managed to establish an alliance with both the Relliar and the Dwarf nations.

Thinking back at that time, if not for our gifts from Alkelios, we might not have had much of a chance to secure the required ingredients for our Queen’s cure as well as the unexpected alliance with those nations.

[Two years and one dragon month ago]

[Seryanna’s point of view]

 The Scorpion Dream Galleon had been at sea for almost two dragon months now. The weather changed from cold to hot, and the number of times we got attacked by savage underwater monsters or human ships who thought they stood a chance against us was by no means small.

Some of the dragons here were already getting sick and tired of seeing nothing but water all around us. Thankfully, we lacked neither fresh water nor food on this journey of ours. We actually had plenty of supplies left to continue sailing for another four to five dragon months. The monsters, while they were at times annoying, their flesh was considered to be quite a delicacy, and the few dwarfs who joined us ended up knowing a few recipes on how to prepare them.

When Katarina got bored, she would often use Tanarotte to fish out some underwater monsters, apparently the way she wiggled in her binding looked similar to that of a juicy earthworm. There was also that time when the dragoness lost in cards against Princess Elleyzabelle and froze the waters around us. The one who ended up sculpting our way of that mess was Tanarotte. As for why I did not use my fire breath at that time to do so, well... suffice to say that I did not want to get on Katarina’s bad side.

Then again, it was pleasant to see my friend display such acts of childishness from time to time, and despite how it may have looked for poor Tanarotte, most of us began to assume that she loved getting punished by the silver scaled dragoness.

Because of this rather peculiar relationship between the two of them, Elleyzabelle even suggested to have them act as a comedy duo in front of the Elf Empress so that we could get her Tears of Joy. While she was joking around, I did not find it that implausible. Who knew if the Elf Empress had a weird sense of humor or not?

What bothered me, and which I hoped was for nothing, was the fact that in Alkelios’ recipe, rather than stating Elf Empress’s Tears of Joy, it was written as Elf Queen’s Tears of Joy, but the elves did not have a Kingdom for what was now thousands of years.

“Land Ahoy! Three Points on the Starboard Bow!” shouted the dragon in the crow’s nest.

“Land? Land? Land! Land! LAND!” all the sailors on board started looking in that direction.

I was below the deck when he called out, washing my scales with a damp cloth inside my private cabin. Kataryna was up there, fishing with Tanarotte, and Princess Elleyzabelle was inside her room reading one of the books she received back in Exaver the Capital City of Trindania.

Once I was done cleaning, I put on a pair of clean clothes and walked out of my room. The sailors were all looking so happy that they even shed tears of joy. Meanwhile, Tanarotte was pouring out the water from her ears.

“Is it the Elf Continent?” I asked when I approached Captain Matthew, who was looking at it through his spyglass.

“Very likely. The question now is if we’re closer to Ledmerra or to Anui’Yahna?” he wondered.

The first was the Kingdom of the El’doraw, while the latter was the Empire of the Elves.