Chapter 105: War In 14 Days!
Then Oberon turned towards Aiden and asked, "I’m sure your father has this under wraps, so why did you tell me this?"
"As I said before, I stand against Dragonhold and not with it. I understand that no one has been able to breach the walls of Dragonhold because of the Great Black, but with that out of the way I can only assume it would be a much fairer fight," Aiden replied.
"Fair?" Oberon said, then laughed out loud before speaking out to everyone. "Thamoryn, make sure we are fully certain that the Dragon is not anywhere within Dragonhold."
She nodded and said, "I’ll see to it personally."
He continued towards the captains, "We were going to wait till after The War for Holy Grail tournament, but that was because we needed it against the Dragon. Once there’s full certainty that Thyrak is not in Dragonhold, every one of you should best begin with preparing your mages, because we are laying siege to that city in 14 days."
Then a devious grin appeared on Oberon’s face.
"14 days?" Captain Randolf of the Storm Sentinels had voiced out his concern with how close and too sudden it was.
Captain Finn of the Black Lions then also added, "My Lord, I also think 14 days may be too sudden."
Then Oberon turned with disgust on his face, "Are you captains hard of sight that you do not see the common sense in it? We have always been prepared for a war to come against Dragonhold, and the one time we have the dragon away, you suddenly need more time?"
The captains went mute after this. In truth, they all knew a day like this would come. However, they had all been waiting till after the Holy Grail war.
Katherine’s own situation was even way worse. Most of her guild members were anything but war-ready.
"My Lord, we will have our mages ready in 14 days," Cassian said while bowing respectfully. He had the most confidence compared to the other captains.
Oberon sighed, then looked towards Aiden and said, "Bastard of Jarius, I can only say that you’re off the hook for now. Best remember that nothing happens in my Kingdom without my knowledge."
"My Lord..." Aiden said, slightly bowing with a grin on his face. It was a win for him today. He had escaped the possibility of a much worse situation.
"You are all dismissed, but not you, Thamoryn," Oberon said, whilst finally sitting on his throne seat.
The Captains and Aiden bowed and then slowly left one by one.
On their way back to the Ravens Grave guild wing, Aiden, who walked behind the silent captain, then spoke to her.
"I’m sorry, Captain, about your uncle."
Aiden had a sad face when he tendered his condolences, most especially due to the fact that his father was responsible for his death.
"Heh," Katherine smiled and said, "It’s alright, darling."
However, when Aiden looked closely, a tear had dropped from her eyes to the ground.
She may have had her differences with Cithron, but he was the father she knew.
-----
Three days later...
The general atmosphere in the Academy had changed, and mages barely had anything to laugh about.
Because right now, they all had one thing in mind: "War is coming."
In the last three days, Aiden had gained about 620,000 experience points and about 25 in available stats points. Gathered mostly from his daily quests and few side quests from completing lower ranked dungeons.
Aiden’s true identity had also become an open secret amongst certain mages in the Academy and within his guild.
Katherine, on the other hand, had been the most serious she had ever been as a captain.
First off, she had informed the guild about the fact that she intended to complete the last requirement for the rank of Arch Magister.
This happened as soon as she had returned from the meeting with the Lord and other captains three days ago.
Then she converted the empty room at the top floor into a training room. It was the second room meant for girls, but Ravens Grave only had three at the moment, and they were fine with sharing one room.
The lacking mages of the guild had started making use of it to put themselves back into shape, and in preparation for the S rank mission request that could come any day.
And that day was today.
Piers had just stepped into the guild’s main room from outside with the tied scroll in his hand.
That scroll contained the details of the S-rank mission that Katherine had specially applied for, in fulfillment of the Arch Magister rank requirement.
And Piers had gone to retrieve the mission details from the Grand Magus herself on the Captain’s behalf.
"This is it, Captain," Piers said, raising up the hand holding the scroll as he walked towards Katherine, who sat amongst other guild members in the main guild room.
Then Piers turned towards Aiden and said, "The Grand Magus requests to see you."
Aiden sighed, and then said, "Right now?" He was more interested in the mission details that just came in than going to see Thamoryn.
Piers nodded, "Yes, right now."
"Go. See to why you’re being called and then return quickly. We’ll start planning how this mission goes once you return," Katherine said.
With that Aiden nodded at the Captain and made his way towards the Grand Magus’s chambers.
----
Aiden had eventually arrived within Thamoryn’s chamber.
Without wasting anytime, she immediately went to the point of why she called him here.
"I understand the effects of what happened three days ago..."
The effect she was referring to was how she had been kicked out by a Great Existence. The effect was practically a warning.
"...but what I don’t understand is why that happened when I tried to peer into your own mind. Why the Black Dragon was standing behind you..."
Then there was a brief pause after which she continued, "For the last few days I thought about it from different angles, and the only answer that made sense was if you yourself was a great existence, but even now I still cannot feel such absolute power coming from you."
She looked up from her contemplations and towards Aiden, then said "So Aiden, Bastard of Jarius, explain to me what exactly that was. What in seven heavens did the Great Black himself give me a warning when it was your mind I tried to get into?"
Aiden had actually guessed that this was why the Grand Magus called him, and frankly he had been expecting it too.
So he simply replied, "I’m under the protection of the Black Dragon."
"You’re under the protection of the black dragon? How do you mean?" Thamoryn had a very much puzzled expression on her face.
Answering questions relating to the system was pretty difficult, and Aiden knew it only led to more questions, most of which he wasn’t cut out for.
So he answered, "I can’t answer to anymore than that. I’m simply under the black dragon’s protection. Now if you don’t mind, Grand Magus, I need to return to my guild."
Thamoryn said nothing at first, prompting Aiden to turn slowly and start making his way out before she finally asked.
"And are the rest of the Crowleys under the protection of the Black Dragon too?"
Given the fact that they were going to be at war soon, she had to at least know this.
Aiden stopped in his tracks, and without turning back, he said in a somber tone, "No, they are not."
Then he walked out of the door and used transport magic to teleport back to the guild’s door instantly.
However, that last question put one thing in perspective for Aiden. That was the welfare of Lysandra and Grandal.
A war was coming, and Aiden definitely had no intention of seeing both of them come to harm.
Thamoryn, within her chambers, still had a puzzled expression on her face, and one could see that she was in deep thoughts.
Her biggest worry was Aiden someday getting to a level where he couldn’t be brought under control by she or the forces of Xathia.