章 29: We Fight

(Present)

"Teacher! Teacher! You've got to hear this!" a girl wearing glasses ran towards a messy room. There were so many items, charts, and maps scattered all over the place.

"Slow down, Arya. You're going to destroy my works." From the center of the messy room, a middle-aged man in green robes said.

However, the girl didn't mind what the man said. She instead came closer and put a piece of paper in front of him, blocking what he was doing.

"Arya!!" the man shouted at her in annoyance before grabbing the paper. Meanwhile, the girl was grinning with excitement.

"Teacher, read it! Read it!" she urged the man to read the paper as he was still concentrating on his work. He didn't pay much attention to her for a moment, but seeing Arya's look, he finally chose to read the paper.

"Alright, jeez... What is it?" the man searched through the stuff on his table for something as Arya rolled her eyes and took the glasses out of his robe pocket.

"Ah, teacher. Here are your glasses. It was in your pocket," she giggled.

The man took the glasses from her hands and put them on with a gentle smile. He then looked at the paper to read. Soon after, his gentle smile was instantly replaced with an irritating look as he tore the paper and threw it away.

Seeing her teacher tearing the paper apart, Arya almost coughed up blood in shock, "T-Teacher? What the hell are you doing? Didn't you know what that is? It's a golden opportunity! A golden stuffing opportunity!"

"I want nothing to do with that Cold Moon Mansion or that sly old woman," the man growled before turning his to focus back on his work again. He was building something. There were nuts and bolts, as well as some weird liquids on his table.

Arya sighed as she looked at his teacher and the messy room they were in, "Teacher, I know you hate that place, but we need the money to conduct our experiments. You're the best tracer in the Empire, but look around you... We're so poor."

The man in front of her was indeed the best tracer in the Empire. He had spent almost all his entire life researching magic energy and the various other energies rather than playing detective for powerful places like the Cold Moon Mansion. Because of this, nobody except Arya realized his potential.

"Arya, I don't do this for money. I want to achieve something greater... One day, I'll let them know that my ideas and research are not crazy. I'll make them pay for kicking me out and treating me like a mad man. Especially that Cold Moon Mansion!"

He could still remember the day when he was thrown out of the front door of the Cold Moon Mansion. Like a crazed man when he presented his theories to them, they called him the mad magi Benedict and made fun of him.

The only person who believed him and his theories was Arya. She was far more of a genius than the rest of the world who had labeled him as a madman.

"Look Arya, I know my achievement isn't that far away. This is it," he said as he took out a small, umbrella-like object. "This energy detector picked up an energy signature far stronger than the magic energy days ago! You were there right!" Benedict's eyes were brimming with excitement.

"But teacher, it might have also been some kind of mistake or fault in the detector."

Arya was, in fact, there when the detector picked up the energy signature. The readings were off the charts, yet she found it hard to believe that such powerful energy existed. It was even more powerful than the magic energy.

"No. I'm absolutely positive that it came from the south..." he rambled. But at the moment he said 'south' he had a sudden realization. "Arya, this job... Where did it come from?"

He was looking at Arya like a Dog waiting for its meal. Seeing the weird expression on her teacher's face, Arya squinted her eyes and said, "It came from the Slave city. Why?"

When he heard the answer, Benedict's lips curved into a smile. His face brightened in delight.

"Yes... This must be it... the energy that the detector picked up came from the south. Now that sly woman is sending out a job to trace energy that came also from the south? It's not a coincidence... It can't be..."

"Hmm... The rewards did seem a bit over the top. And thinking about it, it seems like something weird is going on in the south," Arya agreed with Benedict after pondering the issue for a moment.

"Arya, you still have that friend of yours working at the Ministry, right?"

"Yeah? Sherine," she responded. "Why?"

Benedict moved to answer her question. But before he could even open his lips, she had already found out the answer on her own.

"Wait... You want me to ask her more about the job, don't you?"

Hearing Arya, Benedict started laughing as he rummaged through his stuff. "Yes! Do whatever it takes. Get her to tell us what's so important about this job that the old woman herself is giving it out.

"You mean-"

"Pack your stuff. We are going to the south."

*********************************

Don was flying nonstop towards the camp, and even then, it took almost half a day to reach his destination.

The moment he reached the camp, the first thing he did was to check and scan the ground for any threats. Thankfully, the camp seemed to be as peaceful as he left it.

"Don, you're back." As he landed, Knight came to greet him with a cheerful face. Then Amaryll and Arwen came to receive him.

"Don, what happened? Did you find the castle?" Amaryll couldn't stop her curiosity as soon as she saw Don.

"Yes," Don calmly replied like it was nothing.

The moment Arwen and Amaryll heard him, they yelped. Even the usually quiet Arwen had reacted. Knight, however, didn't react like them because he believed in Don to accomplish this task.

"You all need to pack your things. We're going now."

Before Amaryll and Arwen could even come back from the shock of him finding the castle, he had already given them another shock.

"What?!!" Amaryll shouted in surprise.

Knight rolled his eyes, "Why are you acting surprised? Didn't we plan to move there as soon as we found the place?"

When Amaryll heard Knight, she closed her open mouth and gave him a death stare.

Don ignored the two of them as he looked at Arwen, "Arwen, destroy the huts and everything you've made."

Arwen didn't need any explanations for the order he was given. He already knew that even a single clue could reveal to their enemies that they have stayed here. As such, he simply nodded and went back to do his work. Meanwhile, Don turned to look at Amaryll and Knight.

"Knight, help Arwen and make sure we don't leave anything behind. Amaryll, bring everyone back here after Knight and Arwen are done with their work."

Amaryll wanted to ask him more about his adventures. But seeing his cold expressionless face, she decided that she should finish her job instead. She probably wouldn't get anything from him anyway, so she went back to gather the elves.

It took nearly an hour to destroy any clue and to gather the elves around in one place. The elves, other than Amaryll, Arwen, and Elrond had no idea what was going on. They were very confused, but they still trusted Arwen and Amaryll so they went along with them.

When Don saw the elves' faces, he decided to give them some idea about what he was about to do.

"I know that most of you have no idea what's going on, but you'll know everything soon enough," he said as he made the connection to Catalie in the castle through the Khal.

"Hello, Brother! Is everything alright?" Catalie's childish voice echoed in his ears.

"Yes, Cat. I'm all set. Activate the teleportation Array."

Amaryll, Arwen, and even Knight looked at Don confusedly. They wondered about who this Cat that he was talking to was, not to mention how they were even talking in the first place.

"Okay, Brother. I've locked on to your coordinates. There are 132 people beside you, including you and a magical beast."

"Activate it" he ordered Catalie after confirming that there were indeed 132 people around him.

"Teleportation process begins in one... two... three..."

At the count of three, a powerful strange beam appeared from the skies. Amaryll closed her eyes as soon as she saw the bright light. The beam enveloped them all, and in a second it disappeared along with them. There was nothing left behind. Not even a single person could be found from where they've stood merely a second ago.

Amaryll was tightly clutching Arwen's hands as she slowly opened her eyes. She was standing in a spacious room, and before her was a projection of a little girl in a white dress.

This was the first time in a long while that they were seeing or had even been inside of a room. And for some of the elves, this was their first time, period. Including Arwen and Amaryll.

"Welcome to the Castle of the Dragon King, everyone!" the girl in white dress happily greeted as she floated towards Don.

The moment they heard the words 'Dragon King' the elves began to chatter among themselves. They looked just afraid as they were shocked.

Don didn't mind the elves. "Follow me," he simply said as he made his way to the throne room followed by Knight. It was there where Arrora and Uncle Dior were waiting for them.

The Elves stood there for a moment, but as soon as they saw Arwen and Amaryll following Don, they chose to follow alongside them.

Eventually, the elves, including Arwen, Amaryll, and Elrond, reached the throne room. They saw Arrora and Uncle Dior beside Don, who was standing in front of a majestic throne like a king looking down on them.

"Cat, show them what the Dragon King said."

Don was already thinking up ways how to convince the elves to willingly join his army from the moment he found the castle. And finally, he found a way as soon as Catalie said she had recorded the battle and the whole sequence of events that happened afterward just in case.

'What's even better was them actually showing what the Dragon King himself said,' he thought.

Catalie nodded her small head before raising her hand. A small beam came out of her palm, projecting what had happened from the moment Don met the Dragon king.

The elves were terrified when they saw the Dragon King. They shivered in fear at the sight. And as the projection of battle played out, everyone was startled and shocked. They began looking at Don with a mix of respect and admiration, even as he was beaten to death by the Dragon King.

"Son of a..."

However, when Knight saw Don being utterly beaten by the Dragon King, he was furious at the Dragon King. After a moment, however, when he saw that the Dragon King helped him by opening the space ring to provide him with the healing potion, he calmed down a little.

After a few minutes, the projection ended. The elves stood there trembling in fear, their skins turning pale at the mere memory of the projection. There was only one thing going on in their heads; it was the great war that the Dragon king mentioned.

"Now you all know what's going to happen," Don broke the silence in the hall and continued. "The bandit attack you've faced was actually orchestrated by Minister Brian in Slave city, in conjunction with a powerful mysterious mage."

Every word he said was like pouring ice-cold water over their heads.

"The peaceful life you had till then is over. Now, you have two options before you. First, you can choose not to fight and either die, be enslaved in the war, or end up in the hands of this mysterious mage."

Don made sure to emphasize the word 'Enslaved' as he spoke. He knew about the proud nature of the elves. They would die rather than be a slave.

"The other option is you choose to fight. Fight for your lives, fight for your freedom... Fight for your future and children's future."

Don tried to rekindle the fire within them with his words. Thankfully, his tactics seemed to have worked as a spark of determination appeared in their eyes.

"I don't know when the mysterious mage is going to make his move or when the great war is coming, but what I know is that if we don't fight, we'll either die or be sold like toys to be played with."

He said his speech in a way that even the female elves looked determined to fight. They knew about the reality of slavery and had already imagined themselves as slaves for a moment. Of course, he could see some cowardly elves in the group, but he won't force them to join just yet.

"So, are you going to follow me to fight? Or will you die like cowards?-"

Even before he could finish, the chorus of the elves' cheers reverberated throughout the hall.

"We fight!!"

Most of the elves didn't stop. They shouted with all of their strength, including little Elrond.

Seeing the elves like this made him a little happy. He knew now that he could really turn them into a deadly force.

"Brother, what now?" Seeing the chorus of elves, Catalie asked Don quietly.

"Catalie, we have a training room, right?"