Chapter 39: Emergency Summons

Charlotte slowly opened her eyes, her entire body feeling refreshed after such a long nap. In fact, every fiber of her being felt filled to the brim with vitality and vigor. She felt like she could kill a bear with her bare hands!

Yawning, she stood up from her chair. The room was the same as always, messy papers, unopened letters, and the ever-fading lantern to her side. 

The door was still locked, which was a good sign. None of her subordinates intruded on her while she was evolving, which was definitely nice. Unlocking the door, she stepped outside and found the moon high in the night sky. The midnight air smell was everywhere she went, constantly reminding her of her old days at the castle.

Sighing, she began walking to her own room. Unlike the rest of her subordinates, who had to sleep in barracks with the other soldiers, captains had the privilege of their own rooms, except...

She barely used it at all during her stay here, with her either being in her office or outside fighting and tending to her subordinates. Walking out of the building and past some soldiers sitting around a campfire, she began heading for her own room, within civilian districts. 

"Hello! Are you here to rent a room?" A half-asleep receptionist quickly straightened his posture the moment Charlotte opened the doors. 

"I'm here for my room, under the name Charlotte Rayne?" She said. 

"Ah, let me check." He flipped through some books, eventually stopping at a page. "Ah yes, Captain Rayne, we have your name." He fished out a pair of keys. "Hm... you are in room 65." Charlotte took the keys from him. "Thanks."

"No problem captain." The two parted ways, and she began searching for room 65. 

"58... 59...60..." She turned a corner. "61." Her room was just up ahead. Inserting her key inside the keyhole, she stepped into her room.

It was surprisingly clean, with the sheets made. A lit candle chandelier hung above the room, providing whitish-yellow light. There was a chest by the corner to store her stuff, with several dressers, closets, a bathroom, a bath, alongside an armor stand and a mirror. 

The mirror intrigued her. It was the only thing uncleaned, forgotten in a dark corner.  Besides, she wanted to see herself after the evolution. She already knew what she looked like, but Charlotte was curious about whether or not there were any physical changes.

Wiping a layer of dust on the mirror, she observed herself. Immediately her eyes caught an abnormality on the sides of her temple, nearly concealed by her long hair. 2 small stubby things grew outwards like horns. Running her fingers across them and verifying the hard texture, she confirmed it.

Why the hells did she have horns?!

She was pretty sure she took the Grand Human path, not dragonkin! Heck, there wasn't even an option for that!

Through the light yellow light, she also made out other features she had originally missed, like how her eyes were now pitch black with small beads of rainbow flecks within. 

"Where the old humans part dragon...?" She decided to put that question away to ask Vetris the Ice goddess someday. For now, she'll have to hide her horns to avoid suspicion from people around her.  

Removing her clothes and armor, she collapsed with a moan into the comfortably cold sheets pulling the covers over her. She'll take a bath tomorrow, right now she just wanted to sleep again. Sleep is truly the best remedy for everything.

"Captain?" Charlotte immediately shot out of bed, with only her sheets covering herself as she pointed Masamune towards the source of the sound. 

Charlotte sighed. "Oh. Kali. Please knock next time." 

Kali, the kingslayer she kinda forgot about, was smack dab in the middle of her room, with a nervous smile on her face. "So um... Louis sent me here-"

"Louis? Bastard." Charlotte grit her teeth. Looks like someone needed a beating.

"He said that High Command said to hold off the battle of the Sand-pit." Kali shifted in place, her cloak seemingly melding into the shadows.

"Elaborate."

"A skeletal dragonling has appeared near the YrinCapital of Ascania, so all available personnel above captain rank is to report to YrinCapital of Ascania immediately. "

"When is 'immediately?'" Charlotte asked. She wanted to see if she could still squeeze out a night in bed first. 

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"Louis said the message arrived moments prior, so he sent me. A time limit of 3 hours has been allocated..." 

"How the hell will I get to the capital in 3 hours?!" She got back into bed. "Fuck it, 3 hours is not enough, I'll just call out sick or something."

"Teleportation mages are sent to every major and minor city," Kali said.

Charlotte groaned, and flung off the covers. She began dressing up, putting her clothing and armor on. "Where is this teleportation mage?"

"Towns square."

"Got it, go tell the team to take some mercenary guild quests or something." Kali nodded in response, and her entire form melted into the shadows. 

"I can't ever get a single day's rest..." She mumbled, and burst into the hallways, stomping towards the town square.

The barracks near the wall were ablaze with commotion, as several other heavily armored people began heading toward the town square. Looks like they were all summoned as well. The city folk that was still awake looked on with interest, a commotion like this rare in their lives.

Charlotte was the first to reach the square, where a single man sat, his staff on his lap. "Hey." She held up a hand. "I'm ready." 

He nodded, and in a gruff, old voice that sounded like he hasn't drunk water since last year, said, "To my right." A bright blue portal materialized from thin air. As the rest of the summoned personnel approached the square, she walked past the dreaded teleportation portal, thanking both the gods and the stars that she had not eaten a shred of food since yesterday.

As expected, the wrenching feeling filled her stomach as the air she breathed changed immediately. The smell of rotting corpses and burning flesh filled the air. In front of her stood a man clad in golden armor, the high commanders of Ascania. 

"Greetings Captain Rayne." The familiar voice froze Charlotte in place. "T-teacher?"

Even through his covered faceplate, she felt him grin. "Indeed. The letter had already told you what you must do." A massive roar shook the skies, and even from this distance objects fell to the ground with a clatter. 

"Skeletal Dragonling emerged somewhere underground. It's getting uncomfortably close to the capital, so we all are called here." He gestured for her to follow him. Speedwalking down the stairs, they made haste for the gates leading out. "It was already half dead when we got here, and the guardian is dealing massive damage to it already."

"All we need to do," He waved down a pair of horses from a stableboy. "Is to provide support and damage to get that XP." He smiled. "Not every day a dragonling shows up out of nowhere half dead, eh?" He chuckled and whipped the horse's reins, which caused Charlotte to nearly fall off. 

Another roar came from the sky, forcing her to grip the horse's saddle to not be thrown off. In the sky, and through the dim moonlight of the full moon, she saw a glistening white dragon with no flesh and glowing green flames making up its insides to battle it out against something in the sky. Squinting a little bit, she made out the figure of another dragonling, pitch black in color.

Countless spells shot into the air like fireworks, exploding against the sides of the skeletal dragonling. The black dragonling was forcing the skeletal dragonling downwards towards the ground, where more forces awaited. 

"The guardian can't fight on land without doubling casualties, so he's doing as much damage as possible for us to finish it off." Walter pulled on the reins, stopping the horse. "Here, let's celebrate your promotion to captain." He handed her a massive crossbow and grinned. "Dragon Hunting."

Charlotte, still at a loss at what was going on, simply nodded and took it. She mechanically loaded a bolt and aimed at the flying terror, and unleashed it. Her mind was elsewhere, but her body was dutifully following orders of 'Load, Aim, and Shoot.'

After several minutes and a spectacular light show of bright red and green cones of fire, the black dragonling dived in and chomped the skeletal dragonling by the neck, using his momentum to dive toward the ground. The skeletal dragonling spit flames in his face, but he took it and slammed into the rocky surface. 

The shockwave woke Charlotte back up, as she unsheathed Masamune and ran towards the frontlines. 

The Guardian doused the skeleton in a torrent of liquid flames, and flapped his wings, flying back into the capital. The sound of clattering bone rattled across the battlefield, as the skeleton dragonling struggled to get back up, its wing bones melted into a massive slag, rendering it unable to fly.

A horn blew, followed by Walter's voice. "ATTACK!"

The roar of countless individuals each looking for a bite of that XP from killing a Dragonling surged forward, with Charlotte at its forefront. She was determined to get to the level 500 cap, and this nearly dead dragonling was but a mere stepping stone for her.

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