Claug sat in her lair above the mountain of gold she just made. She smiled at the ceiling as the kobolds ran beneath her legs, organizing her hoard and putting the gold coins with the gold and the gems together.
"She is smart. Isn't she?" She waved her claw and a large crystal floated before her face.
"I know." Arad replied, staring at her through the crystal. "I can't believe you managed to call with how my magic works."
Claug giggled, "Don't underestimate this old drakaina. I've lived far longer than you," she lifted a claw full of her gold. "She indeed didn't take a copper."
"Told you; I've warned them about dragons." Arad giggled, "Even I can't figure out what can you do by lending them that kind of money."
"A lot, she was right to refuse unless Alcott is around. He knows about most of the currently known tricks. I could've used enchanted coins which would allow to spy on them or had already used that money as an offer to a summon and had them take on the consequence." Claug drew a magic circle in the air.
"You do this and try to summon a devil, but by halting the magic, you can lock the coinage paid to the fiend. I can then give that money to soone, and when I release the spell later, the devil would be summoned beside them, as they are the ones holding his offer." Claug giggled.
"And you can order the devil to kill whoever holds his money to claim it...That...I didn't know you can do..." Arad scratched his head.
"Not many people know. Even Alcott himself doesn't know, but do you know what Alcott always does? He checks the money for any trace of magic before accepting it, and even when he does, he makes sure to exchange it." Claug pointed at the small pouch of the coins she was about to give to Aella.
"Alcott would instead take from my hoard; he'll never accept what I've chosen." She laughed, "A hundred platinum is a hundred platinum coins. If refuse to let him be the one to pick, it'll only prove his suspicions and I'll end up on his killing list."
"No dragon wants to face an angry Alcott." Arad giggled.
"He's the bane of dragons; a human who mastered the art of hunting and dealing with dragons." Claug waved her claws, "He who walks upon the corpses of dragons, the hero of the one twenty thousand roar war."
"I never heard of that." Arad looked at her through the magic.
"He never told you? It was at the peak of his pri, which is the reason why dragons fear him. The dragon's civil war had reached its peak and the wyrms started to spill their own blood. Two armies, one of the tallic dragons and the other of the chromatic dragons, each numbering over ten thousand strong of greatwyrms and wyrms." Claug could imagine it like yesterday, to her it was like only a few days ago. "This happened almost twenty years ago."
The dragons had started the war and the battlefield had turned into a hell on earth, the quakes of the draconic race ripping itself apart could be heard from the other side of the world, whole kingdoms had relocated to avoid the destruction, the world seed to be on the brink of its end.
But then, sothing changed, a human fell from the sky between the two armies, halting the war the mont they noticed him. Till this mont, no one knows how Alcott got there. The only thing the dragons knew was that the mont he landed, none of them dared to move. "From this mont, the first who spills blood is in the wrong." Alcott said with a calm tone.
"Think a re human can interfere? We've told your race to scram away." Kinryuu landed in his human form beside Alcott.
"Funny how a bug dares to show up." Ignis, the general of the chromatic dragon landed beside them and growled, his re presence lting the ground.
Alcott only smiled, "Don't underestimate humans." He said, his eyes glowing with a golden light.
The dragons could sense it; the words of this small human were no re boast. After that and without a fight, all the dragons retreated. None of them wanted to know what would happen when Alcott went at them.
"That's one story...I'll ask him about it next ti I see him." Arad replied.
****
The next kingdom bordered the Dark Elf kingdom, which also bordered the Elvish kingdom. A party of chivalry rode across the green hills. "I can't believe you actually ca." A dark elf woman said with a smile on her face. "Unlike that lazy seal over there, I've always heard stories about you."
"Who are you calling a seal? Jasmine! I thought we were on friendly terms, but do you want to start another war over this insult?" Cerilla growled, and Dalla tried to calm her. "You've been annoying her side since we got together, please calm down. She's also a queen."
"What side are you on?" Cerilla growled at her.
"Not having a war side!" Dalla growled at them.
"Can you shut up for a second?" A man's deep voice called them out, "I'll cut your ears off if you don't explain this." Alcott glared at them, "If I found what you said was a lie, Cerilla, don't expect to live to see another day." He looked at her.
"He's joking, please don't listen to him." Ginger pulled him from the ear. "I'll be the one to cut your head off if you dared start trouble, hear , Alcott." She glared at him. "I've co running here..." Alcott sighed, "Are you sure about what you claid?" "Yeah...our goddess tipped off so I did an investigation when I was in Arad's domain. His magic matches you by almost nine-tenths. There is a good chance he's your son." Cerilla smiled.
"Ginger turned us both into vampires, I'm sure that has changed our magic. Are you sure of that?" Alcott still had his doubts; so even referred to vampirism as getting reborn as a stronger being. It won't be strange for their magic to match if the sa vampire lord turns them.
Jasmine, the current dark elf queen stared at them, "What's strange is that he's a void dragon. What kind of monster did you sleep with?" She growled at him.
Cerilla glared at her, "Don't speak so closely with him. He'll soon be my father-in-law, show him so respect, stand-in-queen." Hearing her words, Alcott sighed, "No you aren't..." "It's not my fault. My older sister who was bedridden for decades finally woke up, took the throne for a few years then got assassinated. Our kingdom has its share of troubles." Jasmine doesn't know, but her sister died decades ago. Arad's mother had taken her place and lived her life for a few years, before ultimately facing an assassination and playing along with
it.
"Anyway!" Cerilla looked forward with a serious face. "Those kingdoms are trying to attack Arad and possibly use him as a weapon, we have to stop them. The plan is simple, we reach the border and I'll then use a Luminous's mirror to summon my army to threaten them under the guise of them breaking our treaty, they didn't tell about Arad in the desert after all."
"I'll summon my army as well." Jasmine smiled, "If Arad is that strong and is the son of the dragon slayer Alcott. I'd want to help him a bit to gain favor."
"Listen you two..." Alcott looked at them, "I couldn't refuse a quest for two queens at once, but know this. I wasn't joking earlier." He pulled his sword, "If I find you lied to get here,
I'll cut your ears off."
"It's just a possibility." Cerilla looked at him with a smile.
At that mont...sothing strange started. BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! They started hearing drums beating in the air, it sounded close yet far at the sa ti. The two queens got confused, but Ginger knew imdiately that it was Alcott, his heart was beating.
"What is it?"
"Dragons, a large number of them." He patted his horse, "Sorry pal, but you're too slow
now." He jumped off and his arms got covered in fur as he shifted; He got a long snout, a large
back, and long legs and arms, a werewolf.
Alcott raced across the hills in his bestial form, relying on his sharp sense of sll to
determine where the dragons were.
Soon, Alcott reached a large river that he couldn't just run across. He would've been stuck if he hadn't fully recovered. What he told Arad before in the bath when they first t, everything
was still in him.
The black fur covering his body shifted into orange and black strips as he roared, jumping into the water as a weretiger. They are good swimrs.
As Alcott reached the forest behind the river, he shifted back into his human form and started swinging from one tree to another like an ape, racing through the thick wilderness.
"What happened to him?" Cerilla cried.
"If he ran like that, he probably sensed several hostile dragons gathered in one place. This
isn't going to end well." Ginger spread her wings, "Use the mirror to run back, I'll go assist
him."
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