Dragon Genesis: I Can Create Dragons Chapter 376: Father! I wish to stay with y—

"You all did well."

Kael began. And honestly, to the soldiers, those words felt... like a lie.

After all, they knew the truth.

The only thing they did throughout the battle was watch as Lady Lavinia and Dragon Rider Kael dealt with the enemies. Even the Flying Unit, which was technically fighting under Dragon Rider Kael’s command, was the sa.

They weren’t fighting with their lives on the line. Kael’s command made sure none of the Flying Unit mbers did sothing outside of their capabilities. The weaker ones only acted as distractions, targeting the Stonefangs’ weak aerial balance, and the stronger ones dealt the damage—all under Kael’s command.

It was almost as if Dragon Rider Kael knew exactly how strong every single mber of the Sky Unit and the Stonefang they were attacking was, giving almost perfect instructions.

Together with this, he was also taking the full brunt of Stonefang attacks, making sure to deal with every Stonefang that passed the Flying Unit’s formation.

And later, when the enemy Flying Unit redirected towards Lady Lavinia, who was taking on the entire Ground Unit on her own, Lord Kael took full charge, and everything beca much more efficient than when he was fighting together with them.

More than helping, it felt like they were holding him back.

Nothing the Velmourn soldiers did was ’well’ today, and the soldiers knew that. This was also the reason they did not know how to react to Dragon Rider Kael’s words.

The words simply felt... too forced to be genuine.

But then—

"Now, so of you might think these are just empty words—sothing every leader or commander has to say to keep the morale up,

But that is not the case with .

I am no leader or a commander,

I am just a soldier,

A soldier who has no reason to lie."

Kael spoke. His words instantly attracted the soldiers’ attention.

"Today was a big day—it could even be called a tribulation—the biggest tribulation you people have faced in a long, long while.

Two hundred and fifty Stonefangs attacked when there were only ninety-six of you here—an army that would normally require all of Velmourn Army to deal with was marching forward when only a flight of Velmourn n were on defense.

It wasn’t a battle that could have been won. It wasn’t a battle where your sacrifice would have ant anything, and yet—

You stood firm.

You jumped from the Wall—you took your weapons and stared at the hundred Stonefangs who had all the power they needed to march through your bodies to accomplish what they ca here for—and you did it bravely.

You stood so that the people behind you lived to see another day.

You were brave. You were selfless. You were everything that is needed to be a soldier."

Kael glanced at every single one of the soldiers who was with him during this ti. Then, he glanced at Lavinia, grabbed her hand, and pulled her forward before turning towards the soldiers again,

"The two of us co from the Main Lands,

We have seen armies with—

Stronger Bonds following them,

More durable armor protecting them,

Better weapons and artifacts that raise their attack power.

And we have seen armies with numbers much larger than yours,

But today, what we saw made us realize that all the armies we have previously seen—

None of them co close to the army standing before us."

The Velmourn soldiers’ bodies flinched at those words. It wasn’t just the ninety-six soldiers Kael was addressing—even the rest of the soldiers in the Main Army felt sothing stir in their hearts.

Inwardly, they were sowhat regretting leaving with the Main Army.

’I should have stayed here and fought with Dragon Rider Kael instead.’

Almost half of the soldiers from the Main Army had a thought similar to this.

As for the soldiers who were part of Kael’s army, they stared at Kael. Their eyes now held even stronger fervor than before.

And sensing that, Kael ended his speech,

"So raise your heads and walk with pride—for you are the strongest army in the world."

"YES!!"

All ninety-six soldiers shouted in unison. Once again, they stomped their right foot on the ground and bumped their fists into their chests, saluting to Kael with their heads held high, just like they were ordered to.

The energy they released was so overwhelming that a few Velmourn soldiers from the Main Army acted on their own and saluted with them.

As for Morvain, Korvath, Kayden, and other elders of the Iron Council... they just stared at Kael and then at their flared-up soldiers in disbelief.

"T-That bastard... he’s good at this..."

Kayden couldn’t help but curse out loud, staring at Kael in awe. Even he couldn’t help but feel overwheld by his words. Heck, he barely held the urge to walk towards that bastard and swear his loyalty.

Just...

Just what was with this charisma!?

He looked around and saw tears rolling down one of the younger soldiers’ faces, and it wasn’t just the young ones who were affected—even the older ones were no exception. A scarred soldier whose hair had all turned white was wiping his eyes as well, too emotionally overwheld to be able to hide it.

And Kayden wasn’t the only one who noticed it. Morvain nodded at her son’s words. She stared at Kael, who was now looking at her, offering her the ’stage’ so she could say the final words.

Morvain nodded and stepped forward, attracting attention.

"That was moving."

She began with a light smile.

"You are correct—our soldiers, be it the ones standing against the Drakthar Army or the ones standing in front of the Stonefangs warriors—are the bravest of all."

She acknowledged. Her pride in her people could not be hidden.

"However, the fact that you single-handedly ended this battle with the Stonefangs cannot be ignored."

"I did not do it alone."

Kael spoke, once again pulling Lavinia close to him.

Morvain chuckled at that sight.

"I apologize. I did not see the entire battle play out, so I was unaware."

Lavinia nodded, not minding too much. Her attention would have been entirely on Kael as well if he did what he did.

"There will be a celebratory ceremony to acknowledge what the two of you and all the soldiers did tonight."

Morvain declared. Those words instantly spread a wave of joy amongst the soldiers.

A celebratory ceremony!

It had been a while since they held one of those!

"But before that—"

Suddenly, Morvain’s smile faded away.

"There are things I believe that must be discussed."

She spoke with a solemn look on her face, and both Kael and Lavinia understood what she ant.

It wasn’t just them. The soldiers knew how important this was as well. Too many things had happened for them to ignore this.

"Let us move to the Elders Hall and have a thorough discussion."

The Matriarch ordered. Kael and Lavinia nodded. The elders prepared to leave as well.

"I wish to join the discussion as well."

Suddenly, Kayden spoke up, his eyes staring at Kael, burning with a sense of competition.

And Kael...

He just tightened his hold onto Lavinia’s hand and pulled her even closer as he stared at Kayden with a fierce look.

Lavinia couldn’t help but burst out laughing when she saw him acting so childishly. Soon, however, a beautiful smile blood on her face as she tightened her hold on his hand as well.

Kayden just stared at the two with a deadpan look on his face.

"Alright."

Morvain, intelligently ignoring the childish little exchange she just saw, nodded at her son as she flew away on her Bond.

The Iron Council followed her. Kayden stared one last ti before he flew away as well.

Kael, on the other hand, stared at Vitaria and the others,

"Go get so rest."

He spoke, gently patting his children.

"Father."

Suddenly, Imperia called out as well.

In an instant, Lavinia created a barrier—after all, Imperia’s existence was supposed to be a secret.

"Hmm?"

Kael turned towards his youngest daughter.

"I wish to rest in the Sanctuary too."

The Ant spoke, staring at her older sister.

Vita’s body flinched at that glare. She wanted to say sothing but—

"Alright, you should go rest as well."

Kael nodded as he opened the portal.

"Fath—"

Vitaria tried calling out, but—

"You must be tired, Vita. Let’s move in."

Igni spoke up, picking up Vita with his mouth, and the Fox flinched even more.

"Father! I wish to stay with y—"

"You should leave, Father.

We will make sure Vita feels safe."

Cirri spoke up with a ’gentle’ smile on her face as she cut off Vita’s voice from the air.

"Yes, Father, we will make sure our sister feels really, really safe."

Imperia nodded as well, instantly jumping on Vita’s head.

Kael raised a brow. He could tell sothing was definitely going on between the siblings, but seeing Vita so actively resisting everyone, he felt like a little ti with her siblings was exactly what she needed right now.

"Don’t go too far..."

He spoke lightly. He also glanced at Igni, telling the oldest to watch over them all. The Dragon nodded reassuringly as he finally took the resisting Vitaria inside the Sanctuary, and the rest followed.