"What was that!?" The old fox sat straight up in his chair when he heard the guard captain's report.
"You said they left already!?" He asked again, not believing what he had just heard. That was not possible. After all, Ekinshire Kingdom's Prince Christian was held captive in the tower of meetings. No hero would simply up and leave him behind!
The strategist frowned, and rubbed his brow in thought. "Did their entire party leave? they didn't leave anyone behind to keep in contact with the prince?"
"I have news from the inn that the whole party checked out this morning." The captain informed him.
The strategist paused. Perhaps the prince had sacrificed himself to send them on their way? The strategist stood up, and made his way to the palace entrance.
"My lord, where are you heading?" The head servant asked.
"The Tower of Meetings." He said. He wanted to try and pry some information from the naive prince-ling. But, instead, he was met with the sight of an empty room. He stared at the room, completely bare of any sort of cover to hide behind.
There was a teleportation barrier, so it was impossible for him to leave. It was as if the prince had up and disappeared in a puff of smoke. In a daze, the Strategist walked into the room, looking around for any sign of the vanished prince.
Then he froze and realized he was inside the room. That meant... Turning his head, he was just in time to see the door shut by itself. He yelled and banged on the door.
And that was the beginning of the Strategist's worst bumbles since his childhood. In the history books, he was reportedly stuck inside for two days before he was found.
------
"So, where are we going to next?" Robin asked, looking to Christian, who had the map.
"Right!" Christian un-rolled the map. "This here is around where we are now. Where we're headed is this way, towards the great dwarven city of Ragnock, where demon protectorate Throm is."
"Wait, it's a dwarven city, but there's a demon protectorate?" Robin asked, mildly confused.
Quinn cleared his throat, and explained. "Yes. Dwarves aren't usually considered demons, but protectorate Throm is of half dwarven, half dragon descent, and he was strong enough to defeat at least half of the protectorates. So he earned his right to be be included amongst us as part of the dwarven-demon trade agreement. The actual dwarven territory is close to the demon territory."
Robin looked at him. "He probably made some kick-ass armor for you, didn't he?" She said, seeing right through him.
"The most kick-ass armor! It's too bad that dragon war ended up scrapping it." Quinn agreed, before pausing, as he noticed the others looking at him strangely.
"Ahem! Perhaps I should request another set of armor. Oh, that reminds me. His father, Dragon Ra'oru, is also one of the demon protectorates." Quinn said, recalling something.
"Wait, I knew the names of the protectorate members, but Ra'oru is Throm's father!?" Christian asked, feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"You didn't know? I thought it was obvious given they bear scales of the same hue." Quinn replied bemused.
"Er...no we did not know that." Christian replied, feeling slightly miffed at Quinn for looking more knowledgeable in front of Robin.
Keith smiled. Although Christian knew how to conceal his emotions, Keith could tell Christian was slightly annoyed.
"Perhaps we could get back to the topic, please?" Keith suggested.
"If you're talking about dwarves, they are quite reclusive craftsman. But as Throm is also part dragon, he has an ever-burning thirst for golden things of beauty. If you could offer him something like that, it would probably be much easier to have a conversation with him, without him blasting a flame breath at you, of course." Quinn suggested.
"Do we have a golden thing of beauty?" Robin asked the crew, as she started going through her storage bracer.
"Not on me." Gerard shrugged.
"Nope!" Elise shook her head.
"I'm just a healer, so, not really." Chelsea replied.
"Um, I think we have gold and jewels in case we needed to bribe someone, but golden things of beauty are more a jeweler's area of expertise." Jasmine said, thinking about the things placed within the bracer.
Robin sighed. "We have the raw materials, but not the skill..."
"It will be interesting indeed to meet someone half my kind." Sir Drago noted. "If you don't mind leaving it up to me, I think I might be able to make something of interest."
Robin paused a moment as she gave a look at Jasmine.
"They should be inside your bracer." Jasmine pointed out.
Robin nodded, then looked inside. She pulled out a few gold bars, and handed them to Sir Drago, along with a pouchful of precious gems.
"Here. Might as well give it a try." She replied. "Shall we stop and take a break?" Robin asked. "It's almost noon. time to take a lunch break."
"Might as well. I'll let the driver know to look for somewhere to pull over." Keith nodded, before heading to the other carriage room, where a communication window was.
"Thank you." Sir Drago nodded his head towards Robin.
"We would have stopped soon anyways."Robin replied. "But, now that I've gotten my mana source fixed, what do you say to teaching me some more spells after lunch, Jasmine?" She asked Jasmine.
"That's right! In all the hubbub of that Paradise incident, I had completely forgotten! How did your mana source get healed so quickly?" Jasmine asked.
"I met a friendly king slime." Robin replied.
"Oh. I was wondering why you had a tag-along with you." Quinn nodded. "You became friends, huh. Good for you!"
"Wait. What tagalong?" Robin asked.
"Since it wasn't trying to eat you, I assumed you already knew. You can come out now." Quinn poked Robin's belt, where a thin film detached itself, and gathered into a palm-sized familiar blob, that hopped onto her hand.
"A web slime?" Robin asked, confused.
"No, it's a king slime!" Chelsea exclaimed. Skye's fur bristled up as it backed away from the tiny blob warily.
"Quinn, can you translate for me? I don't speak slime." Robin asked.
"I am proficient, yes. But what precisely did you want to ask it?" Quinn queried.
"Let's start with why it decided to travel along with us. I heard king slimes do not move often. Why attach yourself to someone that's moving all the time?" Robin pointed out.
Quinn's hand turned clear as it moved to touch the top of the slime. After several long moments, he withdrew the hand.
"He heard that king slimes are rare in your area. That means, that, in their absence, a lot of what they consider to be food may have built up in the area. And king slimes need a lot of food if they are going to divide themselves." Quinn answered.
"Is that so?" Robin mused, glancing over at Chelsea.
"Looks like I have been volunteer-obligated to repopulate the local king slime popuation." Chelsea's face was not fully visible, but Robin could tell she was highly excited.
Robin stood up, walking over to Quinn, who sat by the door. "Let it know it's welcome to join, but as we can't communicate with it, if it needs to communicate with us, to contact you." She clapped Quinn on the shoulder. "Congratulations. you are now our king slime translator."
"Am I getting paid for this?" Quinn asked.
"You will be paid in the food of planet earth." Robin replied, half-joking.
"You have yourself a slime translator!" Quinn saluted immediately.
"Good. Glad to see you're on board~!" Robin chuckled, as she walked out into the hallway.
"Is the food of this...planet earth that good?" Gerard asked.
"It should be. You've been eating it this whole time. it's not necessarily foodstuffs, so much as recipes and cuisines, though. So he's trading some nostalgia for his cooperation." Chelsea noted.
"I am right here, people. You can just ask me, all right?" Quinn pointed out. "No need to act like I'm not really here, just because I am a slime translator~" He half-jokingly scolded.
"Okay...But, why did Robin need to go out into the hallway?"
It took everyone in the room a few moments to realize that the carriage had already stopped. Robin was ten steps ahead of them, and already outside, enjoying the nice weather.
Now that they were in an outside area, Jasmine thought it was a good idea to teach Robin some of the more dangerous basic spells. So, during the time before lunch, Robin diligently studied. She learned Fireball, Thorn spike, Poison Ball, and Thunder Ball.
She also learned the manipulation of light to change colors, like hair, eye, or skin color. Robin teasingly made Skye rainbow colored until he noticed something was off. She and Jasmine laughed heartily while they were being chased by Skye in circles.
Gerard was also using his new mastery of wind in order to scout the area for hidden creatures or dangers, under the direction of Fairy Elise. The winds connected to him would relay back information about the places they breezed through. He could also use it to hear things which were farther away than normal earshot.
While all this was going on, Sir Drago was off to one side, carefully molding the softened gold like clay in his hands. The others didn't see what he was making, but they knew enough not to bother him. When he was finished, he rejoined everyone for lunch.
Lunch was grilled cheese sandwiches and soup. Even though Ponzu made enough for fifty men, it was soon decimated by Robin's company.
"I've decided." Chelsea suddenly spoke up.
"...Decided upon what, exactly?" Robin asked.
"I've decided what Sir Drago's first name should be!" Chelsea replied, with a winning smile. Sir Drago looked up from his food.
"Let's hear it." He said calmly.
"Liam." Chelsea sat back, a proud look on her face. "Your name will be Sir Liam Drago. Liam for short."
"Liam..." Sir Drago pondered it for a while. "What does it mean?" He asked.
"It means 'Strong-willed warrior, or protector.'" Keith explained. "One of the heroes of legend was named Liam, so it is considered a highly respected name."
"Hmm..." Sir Drago didn't say anything, but the sharpness in his eyes softened a bit, and the corner of his mouth curled up in the ghost of a smile.
"So I will be calling you Liam from now on!" Chelsea said, before ladle-ing herself a third bowl of soup.
"Isn't that great, Liam? You finally have a first name!" Sir Daniel laughed, patting him on the back. "I can see it now in future storybooks. Liam, the Great Protector Dragon: children's eyes will glow when they hear your name."
Gerard's eyes lit up as he heard that. What a great idea. It was from this moment that Gerard harbored thoughts of writing stories about their travels.
After lunch, Robin asked Sir Drago-now just 'Liam', "Any luck on shaping out a golden thing of beauty?"
Liam paused, then brought out the now cooled metal. "See for yourself." He responded.
Anyone could tell what Liam made. The curles and tongues of gold above were like a flickering golden flame suspended above brightly colored coals-jewels unaffected by heat. The circlet in Liam's hand did not entirely join in the back, but dwindled down into two golden teardrops. Liam had made a crown, the likes of which had not been formerly seen anywhere.
Everyone was stunned. He truly had made a thing of beauty. The metal obviously didn't move. But under the sunlight, turning it this way and that, the tongues of flame seemed to flicker. Robin recognized it as an optical illusion.
"I left the back open to make it more adjustable." He explained. "After all, it wouldn't do to give him an uncomfortable crown." He looked at the people who were flabbergasted by this sudden unexpected delight.
"This'll do." Robin nodded. "Good job, Liam." She patted his shoulder. "A really good job! If you should ever feel the need to settle down, becoming a metal sculptor might be a truly lucrative occupation for you."
After Robin spoke, the others were snapped out of their stupor, and began complementing Liam.
"Aye, You've got quite the talent here." Keith nodded.
"Is it hot to touch?" Elise asked.
"Really impressive! Entirely unexpected!" Chelsea exclaimed delightedly.
"It looks like real flames! Cool!" Gerard was impressed.
The usually quiet dragon had suddenly become the center of the group as everyone admired the circlet in his hands.
Future historians would write of the golden flames that flickered from gleaming jewel coals encircling Throm's brow. And thus, the future famous war crown of Dwarf Guardian Throm was created.
-----
One Week Later....
-----
As they approached the next city, the surroundings became very different. The air became warmer, almost to an uncomfortable degree. The trees had changed to those of a more tropical nature. The wildlife became predominantly amphibian. Even the road was starting to get a little rough, due to the overhanging vines snagging on the carriage.
With the gradual increase of overhanging vines, It became evident that they would need to proceed forward on foot. Surprisingly, the road itself was still perfectly smooth, which surprised Robin.
"It's Dwarven-made." Quinn explained. "They always build things that are meant to last an awfully long time. I hear tell of underground cities that have remained indestructible despite being half-submerged in water, or over-run with magma."
"It's too bad the surrounding area isn't also dwarven-made." Christian grumbled. "Why couldn't they make a roof or something?"
"Because killer wasps love nothing more than shaded dry roof areas to build their nest." Quinn pointed out. "You could say that this is for your own good. Besides, we're not that far away from town. I estimate half a day's travel will get us there before dinner."
"And speaking of bugs..." Jasmine quickly created a barrier around them to ward off the potentially lethal swarms.The carriage horses were unhitched, and tied to each other in a small caravan. The knight's horses were also dismounted, with the knights leading them down the road.
Robin glanced back at the carriage. "It's too bad we can't bring this along.." She sighed.
"Who says we can't?" Jasmine asked. "This is a magic artifact, after all."
"But, wouldn't the space function on the carriage mess with the spacial function of the bracer?" Robin asked.
"Heheheh. Didn't I tell you? The carriage and bracer are a set, created by the same magic artisan for just these types of situation." Jasmine chuckled as she instructed.
"Wave your bracer in front of the the carriage."
Robin did so. Then she was surprised to see it shrink down into a coin. It jumped and attach itself to the bracer via a coin-shaped depression.
"Sure, it can't go inside the bracer." Jasmine nodded. "But there's nothing preventing it from attaching itself to the bracer. To take it out, just remove the coin and toss it in a sufficiently large enough space. This is a royal treasury secret, so don't take the carriage out where others can see it, please."
"It seems I still have much to learn when it comes to magic." Robin said as she realized.
"Thank goodness for that!" Jasmine chuckled. "If over a millennium of learning could be overcome in the matter of a year, what have we magicians dedicated our entire lives to?"
"Says the youngest magi in the kingdom." Christian added with a nod.
"Even so, I was learning from the time I learned how to read. Even then, it took me about ten years to get to where I am!" Jasmine retorted, and added.
"What I mean is, you can't get overconfident just because you know a few spells. Not even I am aware of how many spells there are in existence. And because you have a high affinity with all the elements, you have just that much more to learn."
"So it would seem." Robin agreed, then had an idea. "So, theoretically, couldn't I use my nature affinity to move all these vines out of the way?"
"Oh? Why not give it a try then?" Jasmine requested.
Robin quickly obliged.The vines began to move, reeling themselves up into the trees. For about one hundred feet, the path was clear, mostly. Mostly, because there was a few vines that still hung down, despite Robin's attempt.
"So? Do you know why, now?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah. It's far too tiring." Robin agreed. "Just once was enough to make me tired, not to mention how many hundreds of feet we have left to go."
"Hey, Robin! Looks like you missed a few vines~!" Christian chuckled, as he tugged on one of them.
"That's because those aren't vines." Robin replied, evenly.
"They're not? Heheh, don't be a sore loser." Christian joked.
"I wasn't joking." Robin replied. "And you might want to take a few steps back."
Christian, with a cheeky grin, leisurely backed up towards the party right before the vine shook. A huge tangled bundle fell down upon the spot where Christian once stood.
Christian looked at the bundle curiously, then jumped backwards before his legs were restrained. The bundle was actually a 30 foot vine python.
"See? Didn't I tell you? Those aren't vines." Robin repeated.
Sorry for the wait. I was out sick for a few days. Enjoy your read!
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