Bab 117: The Trickster

After a couple of tiring hours of searching, Greyson finally found Snow before Zephyr transformed to his real size to fly them towards the Wind Altar. With Zephyr's speed, they only took an hour before reaching the destination. Noticing he seemed rather conspicuous otherwise, Greyson activated his dragon bloodline slightly which turned his purple eyes to the familiar reptilian slits losing the originally human look. Observing the tribe for so long allowed for him to pick up on how to accurately disguise himself. His old disguise spell also helped him increase his height and muscle mass. No matter if it were the twins, Aeos, or Cerul, they were definitely bulkier than the average human. His lean and rather scrawny-looking body did not fit the typical build of a dragon or even Beastman. Thankfully, the tribe provided him with clothes during his stay, so his fashion at least matched the standard. Placing on a nondescript hooded cloak, Greyson tried his best to blend in with the surroundings. The priority was to gain information on the war and the tribes involved. Without any knowledge of his enemies, he would be running in blind and probably end up killed. If the tribe leader was great magister level or above then taking direct offensive action meant almost certain death. A plan was necessary. A well-thought out plan in which his personal involvement was minimal. All his efforts would be moot in the face of everyone knowing he was the one who rescued Lucius. At that , both would have no reason to a nor the , Greyson, who was him. He would have troves of humans, magic beasts, and elves coming at him. Every race contained power-hungry and ambitious individuals. All of them would be willing to kill for good fortune and accurate future readings. No matter his background or grandparents, they could not save him if he wished to protect Lucius.

"Ugh, why is he nothing but a headache?" Massaging his temples roughly, Greyson did not see the light at the end of the tunnel at this point. Too many unknown factors and too many ways his potential plans could go wrong unless he was extremely careful. At one point his did think to go to the Wind Altar to ask Rosalie and his friends for help, but Lucius' identity was sensitive. Other than Rosalie, the others could think that keeping Lucius was the best for the tribe. There were a lot of ways to rationalize decisions if you were not killing anyone. Even his family, they could think that Lucius should be locked up at the Dragon Tribe to protect Greyson from potentially dying due to their link. Mention of this was already brought up at his earlier brush with death. However, he knew that Lucius would never want that for his life, and Greyson could not, with good conscience, watch that occur.

"How did they even recognize him?" This was another point that confounded Greyson. This entire time, no one would recognize Lucius. This was not because they were ignorant, but because Destiny Cats looked like many lower level magic beast felines. Two tails, silver fur, and two different colored eyes were surprisingly not as rare as some would think. Especially when one throws variation magic beasts into the mix. The third eye is their only identifiable marker. Pondering this would get him nowhere, so Greyson quickly through it to the back of his mind. All would be revealed when he found his friend again.

"Hah... Nothing is ever easy." Sighing, Greyson plopped down next to a random tree growing within the grass field. Basking in the rare instance of shade, he leaned against the trunk trying to think of his next moves.

"You know, this might be a lot easier than you think." Out of nowhere, a voice spoke to him coming from inside his hood. Untying his cloak immediately, Greyson hurled it to the ground. A tiny thud sounded out along with a squawk of pain.

"Ah! Ouch! Now, was that really necessary?" Crawling out from underneath the cloth, a familiar golden body showed itself. Jade green clear eyes stared back looking resentful.

"I told you not to come!" Greyson retorted exasperated.

"Well, you are not the boss of me!"

"Your mom is, though. She would never let you come."

"I'm not going to listen to her anymore."

"Don't be immature." Rolling his eyes, Greyson could not handle this mouse.

"You're the immature one. Scared of my mother, are you? You know I am a reliable and useful ally, but you refuse to use me because you are afraid of my MOTHER. Clearly, you have the dragon bloodline. Somehow, you were born more of a scared mouse than me. How do you survive with such small guts?"

Shocked speechless at the unexpectedly scathing tongue of Theo, Greyson had no answer. It was true that this mouse had many uses, but it was also true that he did not want to anger the tribe leader. Knowing there was no turning back, he just shook his head but decidedly kept his silence. The more he looked at the smug look on Theo's face, the more he burned with vexation. Huffing indignantly, he stomped off in another direction. It was not long before he stopped himself and looked down at his crossed arms in chagrin. Was he regressing in age suddenly? Why did he storm off like this? Breathing slowly for a couple of seconds, he calmed himself down eventually and made his way back to the tree. Unsurprisingly, Theo was still there waiting. Earlier, Snow followed Greyson thinking they were leaving, but now she looked on with confusion as they returned.

"Daddy, why did we come back here?" Weren't they leaving?

"Uh... I just wanted to take a brief walk. I was not actually leaving." A little sheepish, Greyson gave a little white lie.

"Okay!" Not doubting him for a second, Snow easily accepted the explanation before hopping up into the tree to lie down once again. Turning away from her, Greyson looked back to the small mouse.

"So?" He pushed, still feeling slightly irked.

"What?"

"You said it should be easy."

"Ah, yes. It will be easy. You must know as well, these local tribes are not peaceful at all. Treachery is not as common in magic beast tribes because we easily accept the most powerful to lead. But this does not equate to calmly accept being subordinates. There is a wild and uncontrollable instinct in every tribe. The Hargravens are violent, sadistic, and greedy. Under them, they control three smaller tribes: Charfly, Devil Fox, and Blood Rabbit. Constantly oppressed, these tribes are unhappy due to the aggressive and unjust treatment they have to swallow. This war without explanation probably further incited feelings of unhappiness. Cidian Bears, on the other hand, are too peaceful. The power, talent, wisdom in leadership are all there. However, it's been centuries since they have really had to prove their abilities. More and more, their potential threat is built upon past reputation and deeds. Which, in turn, weakens the respect of their three respective follower tribes: Silver Bat, Mur, Kaelvir. From what I know, the Silver Bats are still extremely loyal and respected close friends of the bears. However, the Murs and Kaelvirs harbour lurking ambition. They are merely waiting for the right chance. If one attacks, they are concerned the other would take advantage of losses on both sides and be the one to benefit the most. Caught in a delicate equilibrium, these local leaders are much more vulnerable than they lead you to believe." Enthusiastically shooting off all the news and gossip he knew, Theo enjoyed a sense of satisfaction.

"You think I should manipulate this hidden unrest?"

"Yeah! We could make this whole alliance blow apart!"

"Would it really be so easy to fool these tribes? I don't know about other tribes, but I know the Devil Foxes and the Cidian Bears are extremely wise. The Silver Bats and Kaelvirs also will not be easy to fool. This does not strike me as a straightforward and casual mission. Though vulnerable, this alliance would not be easy to break down and cause infighting. Otherwise, wouldn't someone have already accomplished this very deed?"

"Just leave it to me! I have a bunch of ideas." Laughing merrily, Theo ran off. A cold shiver running down his spine, Greyson felt that this friend of his was too prepared. Why did his mischievous side seem so natural? What he did not know was he actually enlisted the help of one of the major troublemakers of this area. Innumerable tribes wished to throttle this same mouse, but only hold back due to the Jade Mouse tribe leader. Naive as he may seem, there was a hidden intelligence that saw through a lot of things.

"Was it a coincidence that he approached me so passionately?" Pausing a little, suspicion inevitably rose within him. Evidently, Theo was not senseless enough to genuinely believe that Greyson had saved him. There had to be another reason...