Chapter 33: Chapter 32: Southern duke

[Territory of the southern duke]

Looking down at the message he had received from the capital once more, Duke Wallace clenched his fist. Ever since his encounter with Darganth a few weeks ago he felt as if he was cursed. As the duke of the south he and his family had dealt with dragons for long enough that he knew them well, he would even go as far as to say that he was the human on this peninsula that knew them the best. Of course this was no secret, so it enraged him even more when he learned that the king not only ignored his advice but even chose the option he specifically warned against.

Standing in his command tent, he stared at the army's banner swaying over the camp in thought. He knew that their mission was a suicide one and it tore him apart. Since his childhood, his family had taught him to respect his soldier, to not see them as mere numbers on a paper. But just as they taught this to him, his parents ingrained a sense of honor and loyalty into him. Now being forced to choose between loyalty to the kingdom and the lives of his men was not something he was prepared to do.

When he received word two weeks ago that the king had captured a dragon he had already felt unease. He knew that it would result in retribution just like he knew that his territory would bear the brunt of it. Nearly a hundred year have now passed since the last time the dragons lay wast to his families lands, but its effects are still visible.

Back then a group of aspiring dragon slayer decided to wander into the steel mountains and make a name for themselves. There were dozens of such fools every week so his grandfather had long since stopped acting against them. Why spend time and effort to stop them when they would all fall under the claws and teeth of their supposed prey.

But that year this attitude came around to hit them. This one group got lucky, finding a pair of young dragons with a newborn child. Of course young was relative, dragons were incapable of bearing children under fifty years old and culturally most wouldn't do so before turning a hundred. But these two were the exception, having a child with both not even being seventy. While already a dangerous foe and the death of the group, these overconfident mercenary's managed to kill their child through sheer luck, whether one would call it good or bad is debatable.

Initially nobody knew why, but not even a day later the skies of all three major cities were darkened by the wings of dozens of dragons flying overhead. Before anyone could even make sense of this situation or call for help, fire rained down onto those cities. With even millennia old dragons taking part in the attack, their fate was sealed.

In a mere day they tore down not just these three, but a dozen cities and many more towns. Before returning to their caves, the mother of the dead child spoke to what remained of the capital and told them of their crime. With it they gave his family also an ultimatum, that each future attack on them would result in the same treatment for one city, even if the attack was unsuccessful.

With his grandfather dead due to the attack, his families castle in ruins and all powerful warriors dead, this ultimatum became one that was branded into him. Today only one known human still remembers that day, the peak fourth rank guard in his employment. As he was still only a child back then and with the life extending attribute of aura he lived to this day.

Even with these nearly hundred years in the service of his family Wallace had yet to tell the man of the reason for their expedition. Because what brought him this many headaches was an order form the king himself to take his army and march to the steel mountains and attack the dragons.

Before he could continue his thoughts, his daughter Helenia walked into his tent. Ever since their encounter with Darganth in the north, she had shown an interest in becoming a warrior. While initially was happy that she had started to become independent, her fascination with dragon slaying quickly stifled his happiness.

Previously he had always praised her for having inherited his wives stubbornness, but this was the first time this changed. No matter how much he persuaded her she remained stubborn, even when he told her of the danger it posed for her and the people she just said 'If failing to kill a dragon is that dangerous I just have to win' with a shrug. And much to his reluctance, she insisted on accompanying him.

“Why do you still allow my brother to act like this.” She said without any greeting.

Hearing her words Wallace sighed as he was well aware what his daughter was talking about. While the encounter with Darganth and the absolute helplessness also changed his son, it was far from what he had hoped. While he started showing discipline and respect for the first time since he was a child, his constant indulgence didn't change.

“I know that such behavior has no place in an army, but I have failed to change it many times. While I will never give up on him, currently there are other things that I have to focus on.”

“I don't mean his usual behavior. He constantly say things like 'we will all die soon, nothing matters'. If you let him continue the soldier will loose their will to fight.” She said.

'At least one of my children realized the futility of fighting dragons.' Wallace thought to himself.

Seeing her father not intending to answer, Helenia just wanted to continue talking when someone else walked into the tent.

“Commander.” The duke said with a small nod.

“Duke Wallace, with all due respect but is there more to this mission than I know?” The commander asked.

Hearing the question the duke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had dodged this topic in conversations with him up until now, knowing what his reaction will be. Having calmed himself for what is to come, he looked at his old friend.

“Yes. I know I should have told you sooner Nico, but I hope that you will understand. It came from the king himself, ordering me to march my army against the dragons of the steel mountains.”

“What!” Nico shouted, the fear in his voice clear, “Is the king insane? Not to mention the south, they will probably lay waste to the entire kingdom as retribution.”

Hearing the tone of his voice, Helenia looked at the man in irritation. All her life she knew the commander as a stoic man that feared nothing. Now the same man grew fearful just from the idea of going through with their current orders.

“I know, I know-” The duke started but was quickly interrupted.

“You know! Yes you know and still acted on that order. I am well aware that your parents told you to do so, but sometimes orders have to be ignored. If not for your life, do it for your children and your wive. We both know that once we march into these mountains, not just this army but also the capital will be completely annihilated. I have seen the sea of flames once, I don't intend to do so a second time.” He said, starting out shouting but his voice turning shakily over the course of the sentence.

Seeing his most trusted aid advise him to ignore the kings order, Wallace determination started to waver. Slowly the thought of turning the army around and marching back to safety grew on him.

“But we have dragon killers, why would we have to fear dragons?” Helenia asked, trying to sound courageous but her increasing anxiety clear.

Hearing this Nico just wanted to shout at such, in his opinion, stupid question when he noticed that the young lady was the person who asked. In his previous shock he had already completely forgotten her presence.

“Because dragon killers are mere toys to most of them. You were there when that dragon attacked the camp in the north and your father told me what happened. As much as I hate to say it, I agree with that dragon, these so called dragon killers aren't worth shit. Even if they can pierce a dragons scales, as long as we don't kill them with one hit the dragon will simply transform himself. As much as they act on their greed and pride, dragons are extremely intelligent. And hitting a human with such clumsy weapons is near impossible.”

Hearing what had become her idol during the last few weeks tell her this made Helenia go through many emotions in a short order. From disbelieve to helplessness to fear and more, she didn't know what to say.

Before either of the three could continue the conversation, a commotion started outside. Hearing this Nico made his way towards it, with Wallace following him. After a but Helenia also followed the two.

Following the source of the noise, they soon found themselves blocked by a mass of soldiers. Even with their blocked sight, they could recognize them to form a half circle around the entrance to the camp. Looking towards the wooden wall that the mages created around the camp and finding the walkways abandoned, the two men grew both curious and nervous.

“Out of the way.” Nico shouted. This caused the soldiers near them to turn around and then hastily make way. Once the two passed the crowed returned to their initial position, blocking Helenia's path.

Arriving in front of the crowed soon after, duke Wallace and Nico found themselves standing opposite of a group of nine humans. Or at least they looked human, being so close to the home of dragons made both of them stop trusting the appearance of something. Especially the calm and confident way the group carried themselves made them nervous.

Letting his gaze wander over them, Wallace inspected the four men and five women for any draconic features. He knew that most would keep at least some when transformed, at least when they didn't try to hide their true identity. After a few seconds he found what he searched for, seeing one of the women having reptilian eyes.

Before he could say anything Nico stepped forward. Keeping his hand on his sword and eying the group warily, he spoke.

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“What do you want?”

Seeing his actions the group stopped speaking among each other. Looking at him they inspected him for a mere moment before completely ignoring him. Instead they gaze fell on him, clearly knowing his identity.

“Duke of the south, I hope you are ready to face the consequences for your presence here.” On of them said. Seeing him hesitate some of them laughed.

“That wasn't a question, turn around or face the consequences. And believe me that they will be far greater that you can imagine. While that lazy idiot made us promise to keep to that little ultimatum that was given to you, it only says that for each group that decides to attack a dragon one city will burn. And as far as I can tell, this army is split in quite a few groups.” One of the women said with a predatory smile.

Seeing the look in her eyes he saw that she would follow through on her threats. While his army was small for this worlds standards, reaching not even two hundred thousand men, this would still mean over a hundred cities. While he was interested in the reason why they had to follow the ultimatum, he decided that other things took priority. Giving a small nod to Nico, much to the latter’s relieve, he was just about to order a retreat when a new voice joined the conversation.

“Oh, its good to see old faces. Though I can't say that I missed you group of misfits.” Said a voice to their side.

This caused every head to turn to the origin of the voice.

Finding a women leaning onto the railing of the walkway at the wall, they all held looks of confusion. Just as Wallace wanted to clarify that the women doesn't belong to them, one of the dragons spoke.

“What did you say huma-” He said, stopping suddenly and beginning to smile.

“If it isn't the hydra that tried to convince Orynth to let her cross the mountains when we arrived. Its been a while, hows your child?” The first one who spoke said.

Hearing those words made Wallace connect the dots immediately. Looking at the women standing on the elevated walkway in horror, he unconsciously took a step back.

“Quite well. Though the same doesn't seem true for your group, last time we met you were two more. Don't tell me they went back to the dragon peaks, Vagha was the only one among you with a bit of sense in him.” Enilla said.

“No, he is further north. That bastard of a king managed to capture Siurin and he-” Before the dragon could finish his sentence, Wallace felt a pressure slam into him. Even the dragon stopped talking, though they seem to be less affected.

While he saw from the corner of his eyes how multiple of his men simply fainted and even Nico became terrified, the dragons seemed only reacting with a twitch of annoyance. Instead their gaze held curiosity, looking at Enilla with an amused smile.

“So its like that.” She said, reigning in her dragons fear.

“It seems that you spend your time well since we last met, never expected one of them to be here. High tier even, quite lucky.” One of the women said with a smile.

“We can't all laze around all day.”

“I don't laze around all day. Its a fifty fifty split with having sex.” The women said with a smile, prompting Enilla to roll her eyes.

“But back to the topic, I think you can let them be. That noble should still be terrified enough from his last encounter with me, so I doubt he will march on. Besides it isn't as if the kingdom will exist much longer, not when the king truly did what you said.” This piqued the interest of the group of dragons.

While this conversation was happening the humans had started slowly backing away. None of them wanted to be the target of the attention of any one of them, so they cleared the area. The only ones remaining were Wallace, Nico and Helenia.

“How come?” One of them asked after a moment.

“The king already had the ire of someone with when all that capturing a dragon business was only a plan, but now? But about his fate I would worry less than about yours. Had I not complete confidence in him I would fly to the capital right now and I never talked with Siurin. But you, his friends, just stayed holed up in your caves.” Enilla said with disappointment in her voice.

“Did you forget who we are? We aren't some intermediate tier fire dragon you could order around, so how does that whoever think he could enact any form of punishment on us. Our kind rule this world.” One of them shouted angrily.

“Rule this world? We both know that that isn't true. As for who he thinks he is? Maybe this clarifies it.” With those words Enilla let an illusionary manifestation of her true form appear behind her. Looking at this form first in surprise, the group took a moment to realize its meaning.

In the span of a second one after another each of them did, taking a step back in shock. Their expressions towards Enilla changed, some looking at her in awe, some in envy and some in fear.

“H-He is here?” One of them asked. Smiling in affirmation to this question, Enilla retracted the manifestation behind her. Looking down at the group of dragons, she gave them a smile of pity.

“You probably should start finding good excuses.” She said before turning to walk away, “Oh and human, better stay away from playing with fire next time. While he spared you during our last meeting, you better shouldn'T assume dragons to be this friendly normally.”

With those words Enilla vanished, having teleported further towards the steel mountains.

After her disappearance, the group of dragons looked at each other for a few moments, communicating between them, before also turning to leave.

“Lets hope we will see each other never again, human.” One of them said, before they collectively jumped up. Once they reached the zenith of their jump, they turned back to their true forms and flew towards the north.

Looking after them for a few minutes, Wallace only then managed to shake off his stupor. Walking forwards to stand next to Nico, he carefully watched the expression of the commander.

“You were right.” Wallace said after a few moments of silence, “And I am sorry that my actions have force you into a similar situation against a dragons as on that day.”

“I know that I was right. But I also know that the terror of a dragon can only be fully understood once one witnessed it in person. As for this situation, I am actually quite happy that it happened. Back then I was barely an early first rank, I couldn't see how high I had to reach. But now? While it is still far away, today I could at least see it. It showed me that I didn't waste my time all these years, even though my goal will not be reached by me.”

“You still have a few years. Who knows, maybe you will even take the next step, then you may reach there.” Wallace said.

“Yes, who knows. But I believe that I am not the person who requires your support the most right now.” Nico said, turning around.

Doing so too and seeing his daughter standing there with fear still in his eyes, Wallace quickly ran towards her.

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