Of Arms and Arcane

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For normal humans who cannot use aura or magic, staking logs into the ground to repair the wall was a job that would take hours. For a dragon who was taller than those logs, it was a matter of minutes.

When Thryz had repaired the wall to my satisfaction, he gave me a respectful bow and asked. [Elder Luke, the mortal's walls have been repaired. Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave?]

I smiled at the Frost Dragon and said, [In fact, there is. Fly me to your mother, Vruulkthaz Skraeghrimm. I would have words with her.]

At my request, there was panic in his eyes. [Honored elder, as much as I would like to accommodate your request, my mother is already hosting another elder, and it would be rude to barge in without prior notice.]

Knowing full well that the elder he was talking about was Professor Sageira, I gave a fake inquisitive look and asked anyway. [Oh? Who is this elder?]

Thryz smiled internally, thinking that a famous and powerful elder such as Sgaer'khathz Vruul'draggashk would scare off this "Elder Luke" who did not even reveal his real name. To Thryz, there was a good chance that Luke was some no-name elder and could not afford to impose himself on his mother while hosting Sgaer'khathz Vruul'draggashk.

Thryz was already thinking about how he was going to explain the scorch marks and cracked scales on his body, and the last thing he needed was bringing home the very person who inflicted these wounds on him.

[My mother is currently hosting my great-grand aunt, Elder Sgaer'khathz Vruul'draggashk.] Thryz said proudly, expecting Luke to back down.

[Ah! Fantastic, I have business with her too.] I said as I walked closer to Thryz and jumped on his back as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and took a seat while holding on to one of his spine spikes. [Come on, off we go.] I said as I tapped my heel on his scale.

Thryz was so stunned by what was happening that he froze. During Thryz's mental freeze, a voice called out to me from the side. "My Lord, are you leaving so soon?" the village chief said. And when I looked at him, he was shivering in fear and looked like he was ready to bolt at the slightest sign of danger.

Oh? I have now been promoted once again from 'Sir' to 'My Lord' in his eyes. Funny what beating a dragon does for one's perceived social position.

"Yes, this is goodbye. I have other business to attend to." I said as I was about to kick Thryz into action.

"But, My Lord, we have already sent the distress signal. The army should be arriving in a few hours." the village chief said in a pleading tone, as if I was supposed to know the significance of the army showing up when everything was solved. In fact, I would prefer it if I did not have to deal with the army of a foreign nation.

"So? What of it?" I asked. "I have no business with them."

"Then how are we to explain the dragon attack?" the village chief asked as he gave Thryz a worried look.

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I just shrugged and said, "Just tell them what you witnessed. I do not have time to deal with them." I then kicked Thryz and told him, [Well? What are you waiting for? Fly me to your lair.]

***

The village chief stared in bewilderment as he saw mercenary Liam beat the dragon over its head while sitting on its back, the butt of his spear, while berating it in a language he could only assume was the dragon's, and soon, the mercenary who saved his village flew off into the distance on the back of a dragon.

When the village chief looked back, he saw the rest of his villagers were as dumbfounded as he was, and it took a few minutes before everyone went about their business, putting the village back in order from the near-death scare.

Around an hour and a half later, the village chief was called to the gate once again, but this time, the arriving guests were expected to come.

When the village chief joined the lookout on the top of the wall, he saw that something or someone was kicking up a whole bunch of snow while making the best speed to their village.

A few minutes later, what showed up at the front gate was a squad of heavily armed and armored knights of the Valorhelm Dominion army, all of them with their flaired and ready for action.

The leader of the knights recognized the village chief and shouted, "Where is the enemy?" he then saw that the gates were closed and said in a softer voice, "Why is the gate closed? Are you under duress?"

The village chief, tired of all the excitement of the day, just shook his head, "No, Sir, it was just a precaution. As for the enemy, they have already left. And for the rest… it will be better if you stay down for this… even now, we are not so sure what is going on."

After the village chief invited the knights into his home and served them refreshments, he then informed them of the dragon attack and the mercenary who saved them. At the end of the village chief's report, they too were somewhat speechless. For these knights, whenever there was a dragon or wyrm attack on a border village such as this, they were just there to see what remained of the destroyed village and write a report. A village surviving a dragon attack with slight property damage was a first for them. But besides that, the rest of what they heard sounded impossible.

The knights spent the rest of the day interviewing the rest of the villagers, and besides a few who had a pension for exaggerating things, all the testimonies seemed to match. Seeing that this was way above his pay grade, he did what people in the army did: he kicked the problem up the chain of command.

That chain of command eventually made it to the king of the Valorhelm Dominion. Not knowing what to make of the report, the king turned to his court mage, "What do you make of this?"

The court mage stroked his beard as he read through the report. "This, your majesty, looks like a fight over territory between wyrms."

"Wyrms? But there is only one dragon in this fight." the king asked.

"It only seems that way on the surface, your majesty, but if you read here," the court mage pointed out a section of the report, "This mercenary Liam, 'spoke with the Frost Dragon in a growling and guttural language', I can only assume they were speaking in dragon tongue, and only wyrms can speak dragon tongue. And seeing that this Liam is in human form, it suggests powerful polymorph magic that allows him to transform his body. This implies we are most likely dealing with an Elder Wyrm." the court mage explained.

The king rubbed his chin as he processed what his court mage told him. 'This may be a boon.' the king thought as he lifted his head and told everyone but the court mage to clear the room.

When the king and court mage were alone, he asked, "If this is an Elder Wyrm, do you think it would be amenable to some sort of pact like the Argus Kingdom has with that white dragon?"

Few people besides the leadership of the Valorhelm Dominion knew that the Argus Kingdom had some kind of deal with the dragon living on their lands, but they did not know the contents of that deal. So if they could come to some kind of accord with an Elder Wyrm on their lands, they may be able to get something out of it.

After much discussion, the court mage volunteered to stay at the nameless village to see if the Elder Wyrm returns, and if he does, the court mage was given allowances to negotiate on behalf of the Valorhelm Dominion to get any benefit of worth.