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This is the second chapter!
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Chapter 60
A couple days later…
Saito sighed in relief after chugging down a glass of water after training. He was still training daily for quite a large portion of the day and he was wondering if it would be good to take a break for a couple of days.
"ROOOOARRRR!" roared some monster from up above. Saito leapt to his feet, readying Derf, as he looked around for the possible attacker. He relaxed when he recognized the dragon to be Julio's.
"Why hello there, Saito! How goes the training?" said Julio as he guided his dragon to land. As he did so, Louise and Asuna ran out the front door, wondering what was going on.
"Good, though I wish you'd stop coming to my house unannounced. We're at war for Pete's sake," complained Saito, causing Julio to grin.
"Well, it is quite difficult to announce a visit I hadn't planned for," said Julio just after his dragon landed. He leapt off and landed on the ground before walking over to him. "There's a mission that we allied nations require your assistance in, Saito. We need to go to Henrietta's castle, immediately."
"What?" began Saito. He saw the serious look in Julio's eyes and turned to Louise. "We're going Louise. Tell Siesta we'll be back when we can."
"Bring along Miss Asuna and Miss Tenshi as well. Miss Gwen and Tiffa are already there as they came with King Harold and Bidashal, respectively," explained Julio Saito nodded and Louise quickly explained they were leaving to Siesta while Saito grabbed his parka and Derf. He tossed his parka over his back and slipped Derf in his sheath onto one of his shoulders.
"Let's go," said Saito, his eyes hardened as he readied himself for whatever was to come.
The group had come out of the World Door in the courtyard of the castle and Julio left his dragon to the guards before they walked in. They quickly made their way to the strategy room, mostly because it was large enough to contain everyone, and they entered.
"Asuna-nee!" said Gwen, happily, as she ran to her sister. The two shared what had been going on while they were apart and Tiffa made her way over to Saito and Louise.
"Hello Saito-san, Louise. How have you two been?" asked Tiffa, smiling brightly at the two.
"Great, Tiffa! How are you and Madarf?" asked Louise, happily. Tiffa blushed a bit at the mention of her boyfriend and she muttered out a 'Good' before one of the leaders called attention.
"Welcome all," said Henrietta, smiling brightly at the group. "We finally have everyone here. Alright, now, Axel, would you like to begin?"
"Yes of course," began Axel before clearing his throat. "Now, you all know that we have basically declared war on the Dwarven nation of the north, whose name is Lukamagiska for those who have forgotten. Despite our declaration of war, the Dwarves have seemed to disappear off the face of the world. Trade and communication has been completely cut off, none of our scouts ever return once sent out, and they haven't attempted any attacks or even tried to survey us. It's extremely unsettling."
"So what exactly are we going to do? We aren't quite ready to attack yet and it would be better to wait and defend then to attack in unfamiliar territory," said Harold, wondering what exactly they were going to do.
"That's exactly it, we're not going to attack them on a large scale," interjected Julio, bringing attention to himself. "We are going to send in a small team to try and disrupt the Dwarves and try and collect some information on their forces, even bring back some technology."
"If they are able to do that, we can have Mr. Colbert, who is doing a very good job in reverse engineering the weapons from Saito and Asuna's world, dissect the Dwarven weapons and find their weak points," said Henrietta. Saito smiled a bit, happy that everything was going well with his old professor. He hadn't really had time to go and check on him since he moved back to Tristain's capital to keep working.
"And this team is basically going to be the Void mage and familiars?" interjected Asuna, receiving serious nods from the leaders. "If we're going in, we need to know exactly what it is we're going to do as well as supplies and a couple days for preparation. Saito, Louise, Tenshi, and I have been training non-stop for days and we need some time to get our stamina back up to par."
"Of course! We don't plan to send you immediately as it will take time to arrange everything. Please feel free to rest in that time and prepare yourselves," said Axel, reassuringly. Asuna nodded and Julio brought attention to himself.
"On the lines of what you need to do and how we are going to get you there, we plan to sneak you in with some Dwarf traders on the alliance's side. It shouldn't be difficult if they come from a deeper part of the mountains since any guards or military you come upon will think you were just in a different part of their country," explained Julio, receiving understanding nods from the different Void mage and familiars. "For the other topic, we want you to attempt to smuggle whatever weapons or vehicles you can from the country. Knowing you all, you might be flashy enough to steal one of those tremendous air ships of theirs when you escape. Anyways, we also need you to collect some information on their leaders. Generals, the king, the rest of the royal family, etc. Anything that can benefit us. You can even go as far as assassinating or capturing some of them if you like so we can interrogate them or use them as hostages."
"What is our escape plan if we can't afford to be 'flashy'?" said Saito, seriously.
"The same way you got in. The Dwarves who will take you in will form a plan with you all on where to meet up to escape and will loiter around the area until you are finished. If you escape in a flashy way, they will just come back by themselves and report in," said Julio. Saito put his hand to his chin as he thought about everything and nodded.
"Now that all the serious conversation is done for the moment, I thought I'd bring up something I found a bit comical," interjected Harold, hoping to lighten the mood a bit. "Do you all remember those old legends about the Void mage and their familiars?"
"Yes, why?" said Henrietta, curiously.
"Well, all of them always said '4 and 4 will save the world' but it seems ours are so talented we'll never need four," said Harold, bursting into laughter.
"That's quite true. With the ancient dragon it was only two and one," said Henrietta, giggling a bit to herself.
"And then with Ivarod it was three and two," said Julio. "It seems ours are a bit 'over-powered' as some of the children say."
"The best part is that, despite the fact that we received another Void mage, Brimir seems to have said 'Let me just make the strongest one that much stronger' and slapped on Myoznitnirn's powers onto him," said Harold, chuckling so hard he had trouble catching his breath.
"Seems Brimir has a sense of humor," said Bidashal who had remained silent throughout the meeting. He wasn't laughing but did have a bright smile on his face due to the light atmosphere in the room.
"Despite the fact that we are at war, we are laughing so carefree. Seems our hearts wanted to calm us," said Julio, only making those in the room laugh more.
Even with a war at hand, there's no dragging people down.
At the same time in Lukamagiska…
"Otr! Why do you continue to laze about?!" shouted Hreidmar, angrily, as he watched his youngest son lounge about on the couch in his office.
"But, father, you know I don't care much about this war paska," said Otr as he relaxed. Hreidmar looked over his son with disdain.
Otr was a man with a much leaner build than his brother Fafnir's extremely bulky build but was still more muscular than his brother Reginn. He had amber-colored curly hair in a shape almost like a small afro. He had rust colored sideburns that faded into his cheeks and was wearing an open vest like Fafnir's but his was a dull brown. He had similarly colored pants that stretched down to just above his ankles and he had simple boots on.
"You will care! You're one of the princes and your country is going to war. If you do not help then who will? Fafnir is too violent and cannot handle sitting and thinking, planning. As for Reginn, I fear he has some kind of sinister plans. You, aside from your excessively relaxed disposition, cover all the bases I require for a king. Intelligent, powerful, strong-willed, and especially, patient. If you don't show your traits to the people, how can I name you king when I pass?" asked Hreidmar, annoyed.
"King? Father, I am the third born. I have the least worry because I could never become king. Reginn will surely convince you to pass the crown to him and if not then Fafnir will press you to do so. I have no chance nor any desire to become king so there's no problem," said Otr, nonchalantly, as he waved at his father.
"Otr! Do you not care about your people at all? Not even Eir?" said Hreidmar. Otr perked up at the name of his lover and he became a bit serious.
"I will carry the greatest mountains to protect my Eir," said Otr, seriously. Hreidmar grinned at his son.
"That's the look that makes a man a king," said Hreidmar. Otr sighed at his father's words as his father sat back down at his desk.
Little did the two know, Reginn was just outside, a smile on his face despite his clenched teeth.
So? What did you guys think?
Finally getting back into the storyline!
Review to let me know what you guys thought and until next time...byee :D