~ Chapter 42: A friend’s advice ~

[Seryanna’s point of view]

 When I closed the door after I stepped out of the Princess’ chamber, I felt as though all strength had left me, turning me into a weak husk, feeble and easy to shatter at the slightest touch. Even standing proved to be a difficult thing to do. My knees were weak, my hands were shaking, and my breath trembled, but as a knight, I wasn’t allowed to show such weakness, so I endured and put on a brave front, waiting there, in front of the door, trying to recover.

The Royal Knight of the Third Princess Elleyzabelle Sojourn Seyendraugher had to show to everyone that she was not someone who could be brought down so easily.

Thus, instead of looking at the potential nightmare that awaited me in the future, I tried to think in a more optimistic way, that maybe somehow somewhere there was still a small glimmer of hope for me. If right now I was fighting in a war campaign and found myself trapped in a fortress surrounded by enemy troops, giving up or succumbing to despair would only lower the morale of my troops. Thus, I had to stay strong and fight until the very end because I could never know when that last ray of hope would shine down upon me.

Taking a deep breath and with a calm look on my face, I made my way through the Royal Palace until I reached the back exit. From here, it was a straight path to the big smithy next to the wall, where the best blacksmiths of the kingdom forged their armors and weapons.

Three big furnaces were lined up one next to each other, puffing smoke through their tall chimneys like angry beasts roaring at the sky. More than a dozen different anvils were lined up in front of them and several dragons were energetically hitting quenched pieces of metal held with pliers. Among them, I saw my friend, Dregarya Gorrashy.

Like most blacksmiths, she wore a leather apron, dirty from singe and showing marks of wear here and there. Thick leather gloves protected her hands as she wielded a big hammer in the right and pliers in her left. Dregarya was tempering the blade of a sword that glowed red from heat and cast sparks each time it was struck. Her black eyes were focused solely on the piece of metal on top of the anvil, ignoring everything and everyone else around her.

The dragoness was in what many called the ‘blacksmith’s trance’, a state of mind that could be achieved only by the best of the best in this craft. Dregarya was not only good at her job, but she was the best Albeyater had ever seen in centuries now.

She’s still at it. I thought as a small smile appeared on my lips.

I passed through the soundproof barrier in front of the smithy, which prevented all the noise of the forge from reaching the sensitive ears of the nobility living inside the Palace, and I made my way to her.

The loud sounds of metal being worked on could be heard coming from everywhere inside the smithy. Almost none of the blacksmiths here paid any heed to me, and those who did merely nodded their heads as a greeting.

Once I reached the dragoness’ location, I took a seat on a nearby chair and waited patiently for her to finish her work. Interrupting her would have been rude, and last time I did so, she scolded me for almost half an hour.

As far as looks went, she was around the average height for a white scale. The color denoted her Light element affinity. Although her back wasn’t adorned by a pair of wings like most dragons with that scale color were, she had a long strong prehensile tail without any spikes on it. Her silver hair was unwashed as usual and kept in a ponytail, while a single strand of regal blue color flowed over her right cheek. As a woman, she was beautiful, and the pair of white diamond shaped scales on her cheeks accentuated that beauty.

I was a bit envious of her looks, but I had still to Awaken, so I always put such matters aside.

About one hour later, Dregarya finally finished her blade and cooled it off in a nearby barrel of water.

“Whew! That took longer than expected!” she wiped the sweat off her forehead then turned around.

Our eyes met for a moment, but her gaze quickly fell on my armor.

“Ack! What did you do to my baby?!” she cried out.

“Greetings, Dregarya. I apologize, but my armor became like this after I had a fight with a Breakthrough Awakened and an army of Draconian Undead on the way back to the capital.” I replied after I got up from the chair.

“Ah! Take it off! Take it off! I need to fix it!” she said and immediately started to undo the straps on my armor.

Her tail was a bit too good at removing this armor, but before she managed to do so, I stopped her with a chop on top of her head.

“Owie! Why did you hit me?” she asked with teary eyes as she rubbed the struck spot.

“You are not going to undress me like this in front of all of these dragons.” I said and pointed at the blushing fellows behind me.

The moment she started to undo my straps, the whole smithy turned quiet like a graveyard.

“Ah! What are you looking at, you slobs?! Get back to work!” she shouted at them.

“Yes, m’am!” they replied, and the noise returned.

“Hard to imagine that you are the actual boss around here.” I shook my head while holding my chest armor with one hand, so it didn’t fall off.

“What can I say, it just happened.” she shrugged like it was nothing.

“I hardly doubt it can be said so, after all, you are also known as Dreggor the Legendary Blacksmith.” I smiled.

“And thanks to that stupid nickname, everyone keeps assuming that I am a dragon.” she shook her head.

“Well, where can a dragoness change in some privacy?” I asked.

“Use the room over there.” she pointed at a door next to the forge.

It was the kitchen used by the blacksmiths here, who were too lazy to go bother the chef to make them a meal every time their stomachs started to growl. They were simply too stubborn to move away from the forge before they finished their work.

I heard that a long time ago, this place was actually used as a spare warehouse for the materials they needed. It was changed to a kitchen after his Majesty was told of how scary the hungry blacksmiths looked like when they were at work. The noble dragonesses often described them as being as pale as ghosts and skinny as skeletons, fainting all over the place and walking like zombies with growling sheep in their stomachs.

“A change of clothes, please?” I asked her.

“Hm...” the dragoness rubbed her chin and then looked to the left at a pile of armors.

Two moments later she returned with a set in my size.

“Use this.” she smiled.

I nodded and took the set with me into the kitchen. Once inside, I began to change. It wasn’t like I didn’t have anything underneath it, but ever since Alkelios saw me naked, I honestly didn’t wish for another man or dragon to see me like this even if it was by accident. It probably was wrong of me to feel this way while still serving as a Royal Knight, but for now, it was alright.

When I was done changing into my new armor, I looked just like any other Royal Guard in the Palace.

I stepped out of the kitchen with the broken armor in my hands and handed it over to Dregarya. She started to cry when she looked the cracks.

“What hit you, Seryanna? A mountain?” she asked.

“It was close, but no, just a very powerful dragoness.” I replied.

“So, who was it?” she asked.

“Kataryna Greorg.” I replied calmly as I took a seat on the same chair I used earlier.

“Never heard of her. Is she strong? Has she any good armor or weapons?” she inquired.

“She is very strong, but I did not see any out of the ordinary weapons or armors. She was mostly wearing casual clothes made out of cotton or leather. No dresses, only pants, and from time to time, I did happen to see her wear normal steel armguards.” I replied.

“Are you serious?! How did she battle with only that?” she asked.

“Kataryna is a very powerful ice mage. She could easily freeze an entire battlefield or cast countless ice spears at the enemy. However, I suspect that her specialty might be in some other form of combat.” I replied.

“So, she’s using magic only against weaklings? ACK! The cracks keep spreading all over the place! No! No! NO! Ah... it broke.” she said with watery eyes as she looked at the pieces of scrap metal in her hands.

“Your armor saved my life, Dregarya, thank you.” I told her to comfort her.

“That’s the role of an armor. If it did that, then it worked!” she declared proudly after wiping her tears with the back of her hand, which only helped the singe on her face spread more.

“By the way, did anyone out of ordinary dropped by here?” I asked.

“Yup! You see, mister sunshine who wants to take over your grandpa’s army paid me a visit the other day.” she spoke in a rather annoyed tone of voice as she tossed the scrap metal in a nearby pile.

“Is that so?” I blinked surprised.

“Yes. He ordered me to make him some sort of armor with the materials he brought me. Do you know what materials those were?” she asked and looked back at me.

“No.” I shook my head.

“Draconitium and Dregaryum.” she said.

I blinked surprised. I heard of both of those metals, and they were considered to be rare and highly valuable. Not everyone could afford an armor or weapon made out of those, the reason being their endurance, unique properties as well as the ease with which they could be enchanted.

Draconitium was a rare metal discovered by dragons a very long time ago. It had the property to quickly absorb Magic Energy. When doing so, it increased its endurance. Most of the armors and weapons of the Royal Knights were made out of this stuff. As for Dregaryum, that was another rare metal which was discovered by Dregarya herself. It had the property to dampen the effects of any physical or magical attacks.

Thanks to the special armor she made for my grandfather, Brekkar Draketerus, she was brought to the palace and granted the title of Legendary Blacksmith. As a result, she made several other armors, one for the King, one for the First Prince and even one for each of their most trusted knights. Afterwards, because other nobles and knights kept pestering her to make them armors, she asked the King to grant her permission to accept to work only for those she wished to. As such, the pestering stopped because nobody wanted to go against his Majesty.

“What did he say?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at her.

“That it’s going to be needed in the upcoming war, so I would do good not to betray the kingdom.” she showed me a smirk.

“I highly doubt something like that could happen, given your ‘special’ circumstances, but what war was he talking about?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hey! Keep that a secret! I still want to get laid next week!” she poked her tongue out at me.

“You should watch your language.” I smirked.

“Bah! Details!” she shrugged and turned around to look at what remained of my armor.

“Still, this news about a war... What could he mean? The humans have not shown any serious movements since their defeat 38 years ago. Besides the usual skirmishes on Ragold Island and the battlefield to the south of here, there shouldn’t have been anything to point towards a possible war in the future.” I said as I rubbed my chin.

“I know. Scar Battlefield is a mess. Those plains were once beautiful and bountiful in harvest before they were turned to charcoal by Sir Brekkar. As for the Ragold Island, that is where Prince Charmeill and Princess Natalia are stationed. With those two there, the humans would need at least two Breakthrough-ers of their own before they can advance.” she pointed out as she skillfully took apart my chest armor.

“Strange indeed... Maybe he knows something we don’t?” I asked.

“I doubt it. That guy would have told me if there was any danger of something bigger.” she replied with a smirk.

“That guy? Sigh...” I shook my head at how she addressed someone of his status.

“Details.” she shrugged.

“Anyway, how long will it take you to fix my armor?” I asked.

“I have no idea... Even the enchants received damage... Honestly though, the more I look at this armor, the more I can’t help but think that you were ridiculously lucky to have escaped unscratched from those battles.” she let out a sigh as another piece broke in her hand.

Hearing the word ‘lucky’ made my heart squeeze, and I furrowed my brow.

“W-What do you mean?” I asked in a wavering tone of voice.

“Just look at this.” she showed me my armguard.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it.” I shook my head.

“Look.” Dregarya said and placed the piece of metal on the anvil.

Lifting the hammer up, she then let it free fall on top of it. Normally, a weak impact like that should have meant nothing, I had received worse, so I showed no sign of worry on my face, but when it hit, the armguard shattered to pieces like it was made out of glass.

I froze.

“My friend, your armor is nothing more than a piece of junk right now... It needs to be reforged and enchanted from scratch.” she grabbed the remains and then tossed them in a pile together with other damaged armors.

“There’s nothing you can do?” I asked.

“Nope. Damaged beyond repair. But as I said, you were seriously lucky... Too lucky... How did you survive again?” she asked tilting her head.

I let out a sigh.

“My boyfriend helped me, I guess.” I said.

“Your what now?” Dregarya looked at me with sparkling eyes.

I think I just made a terrible mistake... I thought, but it was too late.

The prehensile tail of the dragoness was swaying in the air just like that time when she figured out a way to combine Draconitium and Dregaryum to make a powerful armor for my grandfather. The gaze in her eyes was one of a predators who just found a juicy prey.

With a gulp, I tried to look around to find a way out, but before I could act, she placed her hands on my shoulders and showed me a big grin.

“I want to hear EVERYTHING about it! Including how your first time with him went!” she snorted.

“I’m still... a virgin.” I whispered that last part.

“Even better! I’ll teach you how to capture him!” she snorted again.

“Why are you like this?” I asked with a whimper.

“Because it’s positively, absolutely FUN!” she laughed.

I gulped.

Without being able to say even a single word against her, I was dragged back into the kitchen, where we would have a bit more privacy. At the very least, I didn’t have to spill all of my secrets back there where the other blacksmiths could hear me. It was a bit of a sensitive and quite personal piece of information.

Thus, after she calmed down a bit, I told her everything, about how I met with Alkelios, about how I encountered Kataryna, about how he healed my grandfather, about how he first kissed me, about that strange night when I felt all hot on the inside and then I told her about Draejan.

“That’s... unexpected.” she said as she furrowed her brow.

Her tail wasn’t swaying anymore.

“If he brought you the Draconitium and Dregaryum ores, then he’s intent on seeing things till the end.” I said.

“True, but he’s also a known human-hater. I don’t think he will take it lightly when he hears that you have been purring around a human. More so if he finds out that he managed to embrace you like that, even if you two didn’t do anything... Hm, why in the name of all of the gods didn’t he jump on you already? From a human’s point of view, you are one fine booty!” Dregarya let out an exasperated sigh and then looked into my eyes “You don’t swing that way, do you?” she asked me.

“NO!” I retorted.

“Good... although if I wasn’t already in a relationship, I wouldn’t have minded spending the night with you.” she winked.

“Please keep that kind of jokes to yourself, Dregarya.” I pouted.

“I doubt I ever will!” she showed me a bright smile.

I let out a sigh and then looked down at the floor.

“Honestly though, I don’t know what to do... I don’t want to marry Draejan, but if the King himself ordered it, I won’t be able to do a thing. He’s clearly taking his General position seriously and everyone will see it as normal for me to marry him because my grandfather was the one who made that army. Even the Crown Prince and Prime Minister agreed to this...” I let out another sigh.

“Don’t worry about those last two, they just went with the political flow. I’m more worried about what Draejan will do to your human... I don’t see this ending very well.” she shook her head.

“What do you think will happen?” I asked.

“First of all, from the looks of things, he doesn’t sound to be too sure of himself in regard to his relationship with you. Putting him in front of the King as your way to change his mind about the marriage might end up backfiring. Also, you’re not Awakened. Thus, you are still considered to think like a child by most Awakened dragons and dragonesses. Then, we have Draejan, who will try to scheme something to turn your relationship into his favor.” she explained while using some vegetables as puppets, I was the tomato.

“How exactly would he do that?” I asked confused.

“Simple. Make him prove that he is not worthy of you by all draconian standards. Even if right now he’s just dealing with a lot of stress and stuff like that, who do you think will take his side? Embarrassing him in front of you and causing him to lose face in front of Royalty will undoubtedly force Alkelios to step aside.”

“Why not just kill him? Why go through all of this?” I asked.

“To make you submit to him. To prove to you how wrong you were in picking him. To stroke his ego and make him feel like he is on top of everyone.” she explained and shook her head.

“Do you think he will... win?” I asked.

“Alkelios? No... He will be... devastated if he encounters Draejan or falls into his trap.” she said.

“Can I do anything to stop this?” I asked.

“You? No... You said it yourself, the King ordered it. Unless you can make that stubborn dragon change his mind, you will have to marry Draejan and act like a good and loyal wife to him.” she looked down and let out a sigh.

Neither of us liked the outcomes she foresaw, but she was right about one thing... While the Queen was still bedridden, the King held all the power in my current situation. Unless I changed his mind, I was bound to become Draejan’s wife even if I had yet to Awaken.

“What about for Alkelios? Can I do anything for him?” I asked.

“Hm...” she closed her eyes and thought about it for a long moment. When she opened her eyes again, she said “Yes. If you see him fall into Draejan’s trap... Maybe, you should think twice before deciding if the one before you were the real Alkelios or not.”

“The real one?” I asked confused.

“Dragons just like humans tend to hide behind intricate masks of lies, stress, and their own idea of ‘what is the right thing to do’. Well, this is also something I learned recently after my last quarrel with ‘that guy’.” she winked at me.

“You two argued? That’s... not surprising...” I remarked.

“Yup! The one who started it wasn’t me by the way. Well, long story short, he had a lot of things on his mind, and the stress from work had reached the boiling point. The last time I saw him wagging his tail was after I dragged him in bed... by force. So, we had a talk about it. One thing led to another, and I realized that the one I was speaking with was just the mask he was putting on in front of all those noble geezers. Do you know how I caught him?” she showed me a mischievous smirk.

I shook my head.

“I undressed in front of him. No clothes or anything to cover me! I dropped everything and then he said: ‘I believe madam Dregarya Gorrashy should put her clothes back on, or she might catch a cold. During a conversation of this degree, such behavior might be seen as rude!’.” she gesticulated and used the usual tone of voice he used whenever he was out in public.

I simply blinked surprised. Doing something like this was bold, and I highly doubted I could do it with Alkelios. Actually... this implied already knowing the one who hid behind the mask.

“What do you think I did?” she asked.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head.

“I walked up to him. He backed up and kept spouting all that nonsense. I didn’t let him go and pushed him down on the bed. He kept talking like that, so I asked him where did he think he was and in front of whom did he think he was talking. When he realized the mask wasn’t working, he laughed until he cried. The stress was really getting to him, it was starting to warp his personality.” she sighed and shook her head.

“You think it’s the same with everyone?” I asked.

She nodded.

“Both him and I went through something similar... When I was younger, it was you who pulled me out of that trance, remember? I was hammering all day and all night until my hands bled. You stopped me and dragged me out into the fields. You even fought with me until I couldn’t fight back anymore. If you weren’t such a good friend to me, right now I might have already been dead from overworking.” she let out a sigh.

“I did only what I saw as normal... But Alkelios, I don’t know what his real self is like... or if I had fallen in love with this mask of his or the real him?” I said unsure of my own feelings right now as I clenched my hands into fists.

“Hey, relax.” Dregarya said as she placed her hands over mine. I looked up and saw her smiling softly at me “Just don’t think of the one you see right now as the real one. You might be a bit inexperienced when it comes to men, but you have some damn good instincts. Just follow those. They will tell you. As for what will happen from now one, there’s a high chance this is also part of his trial. If he can’t get over this dilemma and stand by your side in the end, then... you might as well give up on him because the dragonesses here will eat him alive with their politics.”

I nodded and looked down. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as a result of the turmoil inside my heart. Feelings of anxiety, guilt, and insecurity were all turning and twisting like a bunch of caged animals. I couldn’t let them out, and I couldn’t calm them down either. They were pushing up, trying to break free.

After all, I couldn’t accept or agree with the idea that I have fallen in love with a lie or that I had to give up on him just like that.

This whole inner turmoil of mine could be seen on my wincing face as tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried hard not to cry.

Dregarya hugged me and then whispered to me in a calm and soothing tone of voice “Let it all out, Seryanna. It’s just me here... I know it’s difficult, but you’ll get through this, I’m sure of it.”

When she did this, I wept and cried like a child struck by pain and sadness. I clung to my friend and trembled. My own mask as a knight was shattered in that moment, letting out the woman behind it who didn’t want for things to end up like this. Who didn’t want to be treated like some sort of political pawn. Who didn’t want to be married with a dragon for whom she felt absolutely nothing...

To be honest, I felt that if I really did marry Draejan... inside, I would die.

After I calmed down, we talked about the details of my new armor as well as a possible new sword. Dregarya had no intention to make Draejan a new armor from those materials unless the King ordered her to do so, but she did tell me that she planned on having a nice long chat with her lover once he returned from his campaign on Ragold Island. The topic would be the contents of a certain letter and how to fix it.

As for me, I was going to have to bear the desire to lash out at Draejan and remain calm until a solution was offered. I was dealing here with political powers far above my influence or that of the Third Princess. However, it was clear that this dragon knew a few things that maybe not even the King himself was aware of.

I left Dregarya when the sky began to darken. At this hour, I was certain to find Alkelios back at the inn, and using this opportunity, I would extend him the invitation from the Third Princess. After this, I planned to return to the Palace and inform the guards of the official summon, as well as have someone let me know the moment he had arrived. If I didn’t let them know, it would end up causing a lot of trouble.

However, just as I left the south wing of the Palace and entered the hallway leading to the exit, a dragon stepped in front of me. He had thin white wings on his back, smaller than Princess Elleyzabelle’s, a long tail with spikes on the spine folded towards the tip, and large, clawed feet similar to those of a dragon in full-beast form. He had slit black eyes and several scales running up the left and right sides of his chin. He wore a typical Royal Knight plate armor with the emblem of the Doesya Ducal House on his front, a tree in the middle of a lake.

As a dragon, he didn’t look half bad, and his short cut black hair was common among those working in the army, however, what caught my attention was the color of his scales. He had two types: white, which was the majority; and golden, which could be seen on the tip of is tail, his wings, and a single pair on his chin.

“Greetings, Sir Seryanna. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Draejan Andrakaryus Doesya.” he made a polite bow in front of me.

I froze on the spot and wasn’t able to return the greeting. This dragon was none other than the one who riled me up into his political game, my supposed future husband.

“Oh my, I guess it’s natural to be surprised when one meets their fiancé in such a way.” he smirked.

I snapped out of it when I heard the word ‘fiancé’.

“I do not know what sort of games you are trying to play, but I have no intention on becoming your wife. I am not even Awakened, so our elemental compatibility is unknown.” I declared in a firm tone of voice.

“Such things are details. For an heir, I could always find a suitable dragoness with the right element. If you desire a child so badly, you could have one yourself, I don’t mind... as long as that individual is a dragon.” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Declaring your infidelity before you even put a ring on my finger. How disappointing.” I retorted, acting as though I had not heard that last remark of his.

“A dragon or dragoness, especially those of noble rank are not forbidden by the King to have one or more lovers. When matters of heirs are at stake, this is quite a wonderful solution.” he smirked.

“I apologize, but I am not of such a belief.” I rebuked.

“It matters not what you believe, but what the truth of this world is. As such, I need not tell you that your future is already sealed, unless you wish to be declared a traitor.” he continued to show me that despicable smirk of his.

My fingers tightened around the hilt of my sword.

“I will never go against his Majesty’s order.” I glared at him.

“Good. Neither would I. As such, it was purely through his Majesty’s will which took into consideration the greater good of our kingdom that he decided to approve of this blessed marriage. With you by my side, the granddaughter of the esteemed Brekkar Draketerus, I will have full control over the Brekkar Army, just as his Majesty wants it to be.” he spoke in his solemn tone of voice as he approached me.

There was no way I could retort to his words. Doing so would only be seen as an act of disobedience towards his Majesty. As a Knight, this was beyond shameful and unthinkable. Thus, just like my friend suggested, I abstained and bared with it.

Seeing me like this, Draejan smirked and walked past me with an arrogant confidence in his eyes. With this, our first meeting would come to an end, but before he left, he did tell me one last thing.

“Oh, and don’t bother going to visit your human pet tonight. Just a moment ago, I sent him and your other friends an official invitation to the Palace. Of course, I will allow you to bring them first before the Third Princess. After all, such a meeting would only serve better in showing to this human the real truth of this world... That humans are not welcomed here, and a relationship of any sort with them can only be seen as... disgraceful. And those who go against this rule will only end up... suffering.”

As Draejan walked away, I was left standing there, clenching the hilt of my sword and glaring at the floor. There was absolutely nothing I could do right now to stop this dragon. His power vastly surpassed mine.

What should I do... How can I protect them? I asked myself as I cursed my own lack of power.

If only I was Awakened. If only I was stronger. If only... I had already married Alkelios.

Such were the thoughts which plagued my mind as I made my way back to my own room.