Chapter 22: Chapter 21: Leaders

[White Fang Clan]

Hearing Darganth's words while looking directly at them, the three pirate leaders dropped their invisibility spells. They had hoped to remain undetected while observing in the hopes of finding out who they had sensed fighting against their former subordinate. When they arrived and found a dragon lying there, they had already given up nearly all hope to remain undetected despite now hoping to do so even more.

While they entertained the thought to try and flee for a moment, they quickly ignored it. The fact that one of their men attacked him already made it possible for them to share his fate, but to also flee would only serve to anger a dragon even more.

“We apologize should Vane's actions have caused any harm. We only received words word of him defecting recently and weren't able to capture him fast enough.” Parton said while stepping forward.

“Do I look like I care whether he was once part of your group or not? Had that been the case I wouldn't have talked to you, instead you would have been on the receiving end of my breath. The only way it would matter would be if you are going to try and stop me from killing him, something I doubt.” Hearing this the three of them breathed a sigh of relieve.

“Do you still have a need for him?” Allaire asked.

“No, I only froze him to see whether the three would try anything stupid. He is all yours.” Hearing his words, Vane tried to say something but was cut short by an arrow piercing through his head.

Confirming that he had died, Allaire turned to the three pirates. Inspecting them she realized that they all were mages at the early stage of the third rank.

“Are you really pirate? Because when yes, you seem to be quite bad at it.” She said once she noticed the lack of jewelery and magic items, something she didn't expect form pirates. Especially ones that should be able to act with nearly no opposition in the region they are active in.

“Yes we are pirates, but we don't steal what you would expect.” Ruby said with a laugh once her confusion over the meaning of Allaire's words passes.

“The reason why we have few riches is that we raid only slave ships to free them. Most of the valuables we gain are used to ensure that they have a chance for a good life.” Hearing this explanation Allaire nodded in understanding while the two men realized her initial question.

“But the Popsicle over there became greedy so he changed to being a regular pirate. A tale as old as life itself.” Darganth's addition made the three looked around slightly ashamed.

This made him sure that they had only started their endeavor rather recently as they seemed to have no prior experience with deserters and blamed themselves. As it wasn't his problem he instead focused on something he had been wondering about since reading Vane's memory.

“But what I do wonder about is why you regularly fought against sea beasts that came close to the coast?”

“How do you know?” Dell asked Darganth.

“While I only read his surface thoughts, your former subordinate had a rather strong hate for it and it filled a large part of them.”

Thinking about how to answer the question, Dell looked towards his two companions. Silently communicating between them for a few moments, he turned back with a wary look. After formulating his sentence for a moment, he started telling Darganth about the situation on the mainland.

“As you may be aware of, the region closest to here is ruled nearly completely by the Bral Kingdom. It controls nearly all land that is cut of from the main part of the continent by the steel mountains in the south, apart from a handful city states at the coast. The problem is that the king is either incompetent or simply doesn't care for the coastal region. The army in the region is just large enough to keep the city states at bay and the navy is nearly non-existent.

This coupled with the city states having barely enough ships to guard themselves means that the surrounding towns and city's that fall under the kingdoms rule have no defense against magic beasts that attack from the sea. The army intervenes only when the attacking beast is no sea beast or it already reached far inland. That's why we have made it your secondary mission to guard the coast from beasts.” Hearing this Darganth nodded in understanding, while Allaire grew slightly suspicious.

“Then why did you look so nervous about telling us this? No part of your story warranted it.” She asked.

This made them look nervously towards Darganth who simply smiled. After a moment he transformed into his humanoid form. Before they could react he waved his hand, causing Vane as well as the remaining ones of his men to disappear. Sensing their energy a few meters below the waters surface, the three grew even more nervous.

“While I had chosen to simply ignore it, it seems that Allaire wants to hear the full story, so if you would?” He said with a smile.

“We hid the reason where the resources flow instead of the coast. You should know that the reason why the steel mountains are seen as a near perfect barrier is that they are inhabited by hundreds of fire dragons. In addition there are a few solar dragons that recently made it their home. The king currently mounts hunt after hunt to try and capture a solar dragon.” Once she spoke the last part she clenched her teeth and steeled herself for the inevitable outburst of power from Darganth.

His reaction didn't disappoint her fears. Instantly after she finished talking, the surroundings grew heavy as his dragons fear spread. While the three were largely fine once the initial shock passed, the tribe feared far worse. Some had already lost consciousness while the rest were clearly only a few seconds away from doing so. Luckily the pressure vanished as fast as it came once Darganth noticed Allaire being clearly uncomfortable.

Exhaling in relieve the three gave her a thankful look. They had clearly noticed the pressure to vanish once she had reacted negatively to it. While they wondered how a second rank individual, even if at the third order, could resist it better than they had, they ignored it.

“Sorry for my outburst. Can you tell me for what reason the king tries to capture a dragon?”

“No, the only ones that may know outside of the kingdom may be some of the city states rulers. We can give your group the direction as we would generally advice beastmen to avoid the kingdom as most would end as slaves.”

This made him nod after a moment of thought. If the picture he currently has of the kingdom is even slightly true, it would be for the best if the tribe avoids its territory. While he could ensure their safety to travel even beyond the steel mountains, his attachment towards them is only due to Allaire. And while she didn't hate her tribe, with her being the last surviving member of her family there is little that still holds her.

He had already discussed with her and their current plan is to ensure that the tribe can build a decent future before separating from them. Reaching a city state would be the best way to archive this so they made their way towards the coordinates that he had received. The three pirates were meanwhile preoccupied with manning Vane's ship with the men from their ships.

Like this the last three days of their long journey came to a close without further complications. When the city came into their view the tribe grew ecstatic as it meant that they finally reached a place they could live without constant fear.

 

[Red Lion Tribe]

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Ever since Gervas death their tribe had been on the move, much to the dismay of most of its members. While Serania never gave a reason for their constant travel, over time the rumors for the reason shifted together with the tribes acceptance of it. Initially most believed it to be related to the basilisk as knowledge of its existence was no longer kept secret after Gervas death.

This made the initial sentiment one of gratitude towards Serania as they thought that Gervas stayed because he was sure of his own survival even in the case of an attack. Of course the true reason why he didn't order another migration away from it was that he believed an area of this little mana to be of no interest to such a beast, why else would he remain content with it himself. While not massively so, the mana in the mountain Darganth stayed at was already far better and there were even better places in the area.

When they continued moving even after weeks it became clear to all that this wasn't the reason why they started this journey or at least was no longer the reason. In the months since then the tribe had thrown around dozens of ideas as to why they kept moving. Some thought that Darganth had told her where his tribe is and that she is trying to find it while others believed that she was trying to find a perfect place to build a more permanent camp for them.

The only thing all those theories and their proponents had in common was that none dared to ask Selania for her reasons or voice their opposition. The reasons as to why her position in the tribe was unshakable was that while the men were dissatisfied, the women of the tribe had naturally grown fond over the current situation. While some wanted revenge and treat the men like they had done so before, these voices were shut when Serania spoke out against this idea.

Another reason why there were no voices of opposition was that she clearly was more powerful than Gervas and continued to grow stronger. While there were some who wanted to usurp her, their plan was quickly scraped once they noticed her reaching the second order, making her the first to do so in their tribes entire history.

Additionally most of the warriors had noticed the massive increase in mana density, something that was hard to do without measuring it. To passively feel the difference was only possible if there was an abrupt change, something that was rare in nature, or a massive enough difference in a short time frame. This made most of them support her as they hoped that they could finally advance to the second rank.

Sadly for them their hopes were crushed quickly when they noticed that while they increased their mana quality in a speed previously unheard of for them, it didn't become any easier to advance. While some were satisfied with this, most still wanted the massive increase in power that came with a new rank or order.

While the signature ability was enough to make someone capable of fighting those with mana of better quality and quantity, the increase in ones physique was just as alluring. Just as reaching a new order would increase a mages affinities, aura users would receive a boost in their physique, allowing them to chanel more aura at once.

Annoyed by their own failure, they turned to Serania to vent their frustrations. While they didn't dare to oppose her openly, they only waited for a good moment to overthrow her. Others believed that it only showed her incompetence, most of them simply blaming it on her being a women. They hoped that she would soon cave in, each of them hoping to 'tame' her and use her to rule the tribe. They believed that they could simply improve the treatment of women slightly to pacify her and make her obedient.

Serania herself didn't care for the tribes sentiment. She had said from the beginning that those who wished to could leave otherwise they had to follow her rules. Even with the warriors itching to overthrow her she remained calm, after all she had reached the third rank just a bit over a month ago. This was also the reason as to why she didn't stay even after finding an area with mana quality that was good enough to bring her up to the mythical rank as Darganth's message gave her a better idea.

While it would have been dangerous for her when she was still at the second rank, the third ranks ability spell fusion made her confident. It allowed the fusion of two or more spells of the same element, multiplying their power while only adding the mana cost. While each additional spell added to the fusion requires even more skill, she was confident in fusing over twenty spells into one.

Currently she was sitting at a campfire of their night camp, watching the symbol on her backhand. It depicted a sphere with the same coloration that the void had, but incapable of portraying the massiveness of it. Wrapping around this sphere were two massive dragon wings that were larger than the entire sphere but had enough space between their ends to leave nearly its entirety visible. The dragon the wings belonged to was nearly entirely hidden by the representation of the void, apart of its wings only its head being visible above the sphere.

This is Darganth's symbol of authority, something that all gods had. Additionally this was also his lineage symbol, something that every dragon race had. Currently she only knew of its second nature as the first was something he wanted to tell her in person together with his past. He had given it to her for the case that she needed the help of a dragon.

Due to both species of dragons in the void lineage, the Tempust and the Locis, sharing his lineage symbol unlike all other dragon races who have a unique one it allowed her to use his authority without him being exposed. He neither wanted words of his rebirth spreading so soon, nor did he want her to learn about his past from any source besides him telling her. He felt that he owed her at least this much.

The symbols identity as the 'calling card' of the void lineage and this knowledge of its significance was what brought Serania to the place they were currently at. While she initially planned to reach him through her own effort, when she learned of his true nature she abandoned this idea in favor of even standing besides him and not falling behind. For this reasons she currently tries to find one of the tribes or clans that live under a dragons protection.

While her thoughts wandered about, she noticed multiple men of the tribe approaching her. Taking a deep breath as she anticipated what they wanted to talk about. While there was still no one that opposed her, a few days ago some of the warriors had started trying to convince her to make a more permanent camp. While she understood their reasoning, she was annoyed by them trying again and again even after she told them that she knew of an even better place.

“Milady, how are you today?” The groups leader asked her.

His address was one of the many veiled insults as it was normally reserved for the chiefs wive. This coupled with him as well as multiple other men trying to flirt with her made it clear to her that they only saw her as the women to conquer to become chief.

“Worse than just a few second ago.”

“Maybe my company can change that.” He answered with a smile before trying to sit down next to her. Sometimes she wondered whether he repeatedly misunderstood her on purpose or if he was simply stupid.

Ignoring these thoughts, she used a spell to let small wooden spikes emerge from the fallen tree she was currently sitting on to prevent him from sitting down. While it stopped him from sitting down, he clearly wasn't interested in leaving her alone.

“Please stop bothering me, I won't change my plans for you nor do I have any interest in you so you can spare me your bad excuses of flirting.” She said in annoyance. Her dismissive tone towards them clearly annoyed the group.

“Why even bother? She is a mage and we are already close to her so just grab her.” Said one of the men while reaching for her throat.

Before he even managed to come close, he suddenly stooped feeling his arm and looked down. Seeing it lying on the ground with a metal blade coming out of the ground, he took a step back and fell screaming. While the entire camp turned towards them from the sudden scream, the other men all reached for their weapons.

Seeing this Serania tapped lightly on the wood, causing a small sound. Amplifying it with magic, she smiled as the men who had reached for their weapons held their head in pain. During the last few months she had grown fond of sound magic, an advanced application of wind magic. Despite not using purely the wind element like most advanced applications, it was still a branch of the wind element.

The reason why she first tapped on the wood was that while creating a sound and changing a sound to be used as an attack were both easy when done separately, but changing a sound created via spell to be used as an attack had a much higher mana cost. Combined with the sounds nature not mattering for its damaging potential made creating a small sound the preferred method of sound mages.

Looking at the identity's of the men lying in front of her, Serania found no one that had any importance or was irreplaceable. Without further though she conjured vines from the woods around them and dragged them away. In her eyes they were not worth killing directly and this should be clear enough of a message to stay away.

“Decisive, logical and indifferent to those you consider beneath yourself, I shouldn't have expected otherwise.” A deep voice said from the darkness of the forest. This made Serania jump up in surprise and erect and barrier around her. She hadn't expected there to be a being that could evade her senses as that was something even some fourth rank beings found difficult.

“Quite skilled. But in your position I would have chosen another element, you already have such a great affinity for both space and time so use it.” The voice said before adding after a short pause, “Well seeing as you chose your third worst element I believe that you aren't aware of you affinities, am I right?” To this question she nodded before managing to gather her thoughts.

“Who are you?” She shouted, irritated that the being gave her such a sense of security that she had answered its question.

“Who am I you ask? That is an information privy only to those I consider worthy of it. What I am is easy to tell.” At those words the being stepped closer to her, allowing her to first see its glowing eyes before its full body came into view, covered in redish-orange scales with that looked like the suns surface, constantly changing and shifting. Once the dragon fully stepped out of the forest it continued, “Now the question remain, you who bears the voids mark, who are you and who gave it to you?”

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