· · · · · · ·

Milgazia liked nothing better than to wake into his peaceful mountain range. Across the years he'd become attached to its serene silence, to the cold blue mornings that greeted him regardless of season.

So perhaps technically it wasn't his mountain range. Most of its airspace was controlled by devils, even if the earth brimmed with Ragradia's magic. Devils didn't really count at population, though. Strictly speaking, they didn't even count as persons. That made him and Azonge the leaders of the dominant species, and thus the lords. If only in his mind, this allowed him to play with the notion of a peaceful home.

He certainly didn't have it in real life. Nowadays he often woke to a cold blue morning full of roaring. With one long yawn, he stretched his wings and tail and walked out of his grove. A group of five dragons and six elves had gathered in the field. In their midst was a whirl of white strings, a Zenaffa armor commanded by one of the elves. The prisoner, an injured d lesser devil.

"Uncle!" Memphis darted across the field towards him. "Those dragons are saying this one isn't good enough, it'll combust soon and they don't want to waste time transporting it."

"Let me have a look first," Milgazia said.

The lesser devil was the typical horns and batwings variety, and wasn't even coherent enough to speak. However, one never knew with devils. As devils did not desire existence, the only thing holding them together was their sense of ego. Most devils dealt fine with captivity by focusing on revenge, but once they figured out the dragons kept them not for power, but as fuel and experiment, revenge wasn't enough for most. They combusted before they could be brought to the spot where their energy could be harvested.

This one just sat there, glaring with pupilless eyes. Milgazia had a number of questions at hand to determine its likelihood of survival. He was just about to begin asking when a peak fell down, broke through the barrier and onto the devil. Dragons and elves jumped back, some fell.

With a few wingstrokes, Milgazia cleared the dust and carefully moved over. He looked up, down, up again, then down once more.

He was in the middle of the valley. The closest peak was a few kilometers away to the east. The presence of the devil was fading away, and so was something else.

"Well ... that answers our question," one of the elves said. "Let's go home."

"Wait," Milgazia said. He approached the peak, laying a clawed hand on it. What he felt confirmed the holy guidance that had led this peak here despite the odds. "This is a god's sign."

Memphis tilted her head, squinting. "This? Really? It looks kinda ... how do I put it ... rude. It cost us our test subject!"

"Memhy! You shall not question the decision of the gods. There is a definite holy energy about this. We won't be needing that capture."

"Didn't mean to disrespect the gods, uncle. I just wasn't sure it was them talking. So what else is it saying?"

On cue, the peak exploded into an array of symbols and signs.

"We are to reoccupy the old temple and move our efforts there. It shall be fortified from prying eyes and our needs shall be met. So says Earthlord Rangort."

"Earthlord Rangort? Are you really sure?"

"Earthlord Rangort tends to be blunt like this," Milgazia said. "He is the most talkative of the gods."

"This is talkative?" Memphis asked.

"Why, off course. Earthlord Rangort is less likely to give us a short prophecy and will instead direct us in more immediate and frequent ways. Is that not evident?" Milgazia said, gesturing at the pile of rubble.

"Eheheh ... off course," Memphis said.

"Why so doubtful, Memphy?"

"I don't know much about gods, that I'll admit. I'd just imagined them to be a little more ... mystical."

The dragons all chuckled, to the confusion of the elves.

"It varies per god," Milgazia said. "Now let us dwell on more urgent matters. We will rebuild the old temple of Ragradia."

"For whom?"

That was a good question. Since the demise of Aqualord Ragradia, priesthood no longer served a purpose. The barrier had prevented any other gods from being reached, dragons were not all that interested in materialism to begin with and humans didn't come here anymore. Why bother rebuilding it?

But of Earthlord Rangort saw a purpose, so it would be done. Memphis joined him in the flight there.

East of Dragon's Peak lay a mountain with a temple ruin at its peak. It was as neglected as its god's absence implied. The surface area was entirely destroyed during the War of the Devil's Fall. Cracked walls and tiles were all that were left, no statue had been left whole and every piece of gold had been looted.

However, below the surface which had been designed for humans, there was the true core of the temple. As a lord of water, Ragradia's preferred location to manifest had been a massive underground lake. Since the last time Milgazia had been there, the entrance had collapsed.

"Memphy, please gather some capable elves and high ranked dragons who can transform. We will need to dig this out."

"I bet I could dig up this whole place with just my Zenaffa armor. There's really no need to bother the others," she said, demonstratively waving her white wings.

"Please don't," Milgazia said with a strained voice.

"Why not?" Memphis said. "It's not like this is a fight, I won't blow up anything!"

He didn't believe her for one bit.

"We should treat a chosen place with respect. A device that separates one from the astral plane may interfere with any future messages from Earthlord Rangort."

Memphis looked at the ground, dejected. "Alright then. But I wanna help guard it! The devils won't like it when we start getting help from the gods again!"

"Which is why we won't be rebuilding to upper part of the temple. They will surely try working against us once our work comes in the open. Come on, let's return to the valley."

With a twirl, Memphis was in the air. "Would you like to race me, uncle? No spells allowed!"

"Not today, Memphy."

She sighed. "Okay."

As they descended again, Milgazia looked back at the ruins a few times and couldn't help but remember how things had been before the defeat of the Aqualord. He had done his best to uphold the commands of Aqualord Ragradia, but with the sudden pointlessness of spirituality many of his tribe were aimless. They clung to guarding the Claire Bible because that was all they could do.

Memphis skipped ahead, blissfully unaware of the implications of the renewed attention of the gods.

Why Rangort? He governed the deep south, farthest from here. It would make more sense for Fire Dragon King Vrabazard or Sky Dragon King Valwin to claim this domain; especially Vrabazard. If what he had heard from Lina Inverse was not an exaggeration, then the Fire Dragon King had lost his holy order and should be in need of more people. Perhaps the travelling order was enough?

"Hey, Uncle! Look!"

Memphis skipped to a halt so suddenly that Milgazia had to veer away, lest he crash into her.

She pointed at a speck crossing the horizon. Going by flight, speed and response to air current, it should be a dragon but it was too bulky. The distance was too great for them to sense whether it was a devil, so they decided to get closer.

The dot moved lower to the vally, descending in a spiral towards one of the lakes.

It was was indeed a dragon. Female, not fully matured yet, who somehow deemed it perfectly fit to play cargo animal. On her back she not only had four foxes, a reptilian and a human boy, but also an array of luggage, which they were untying right now. Most bizarrely, she had let someone tie a pink bow around her tail.

Wait, he'd heard of a dragon like that before ...

Her cargo group climbed off to have a drink. Rather extravagantly, might he add. When the lizardman jumped in with a splash, two of the foxes did the same, and then the dragoness herself jumped up, curled to a ball and made the biggest splash yet.

He and Memphis landed on the shore just as she raised her head out of the water.

"I am Milgazia, leader of the golden dragons of Dragon's Peak. State your reason for being here."

"Oh, hello, lord elder!" she said in human tongue, rather than the draconian roars and growls he was using. She seemed confused, perhaps embarrassed as she quickly climbed out of the water and shook herself out like a wet dog. Considering the mane she had, that perhaps wasn't too strange, but it certainly struck him as undignified. Milgazia had to remind himself this was a young dragon of a the eastern clan ... and his own companion wasn't that much more dignified either. Memphis was poking at the discarded luggage with a Zenaffa produced arm.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, lord Milgazia. My name is Filia Ul Copt. This is my family : Val Ul Copt, Gravos Maunttop, and Jillas, Elena, Palu and Molly of the Jillos Jilles family."

"You are Filia Ul Copt?" Memphis asked, instantly shifting her attention.

"Yes, I am," she said. "I believe we have friends in common."

"It is you!" Memphis chirped. "We traveled with Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev too for a while, just like you! Did she tell you about us?"

"I heard about lord Milgazia a few years ago and I heard about you in more recent letters. You're quite good with the Zenaffa armor, miss Memphis. Correct?" she said with an uncharacteristic wide smile despite her dragon form. Milgazia had always thought the more humanoid inclination of his eastern kin had been odd, but this one took the meat.

"I absolutely am!" Memphis said proudly.

"Please tell us what your business here is," Milgazia said before she could demonstrate said control.

"We used to live in Ankrabast, but the humans got suspicious of us and we had to move," the foxwoman said. "Can we stay here for a bit, please?"

"Ah. Well, I see no problem with that," Milgazia said. "However, if you wish to keep your servants at hand you will have to stay with the elves, as us dragons have no accommodations for them."

"They are my family!" Filia snapped, which took Milgazia aback for a moment. The change in demeanor was certainly unexpected, he was not used to young dragons, or anyone, treating him in such a manner. And heavens, why was she so emotional?

Before he knew how to respond, she realized on her own she was out of bounds. "Forgive me, but they are my family. We share work and money as it suits best, and we live together. Please don't call them such that implies they below me. I would prefer staying with the elves if that means I stay with my family."

"Very well."

"Everyone, let's not keep our hosts waiting. We can swim later!" she said.

Swimming in the lake for fun. What an eccentric dragon. Hopefully they weren't going to give Memphis any ideas.

The group climbed on her back again and she was about to take to the sky when Memphis begged to get a ride too so she could meet everyone, which Filia Ul Copt complied with. Befuddled, Milgazia led the strange group towards the nearest elven village.

This was certainly an unusual coincidence.

Scratch that, not a coincidence. During their travels, Lina Inverse had told him a little of her past exploits, which included the Dark Star Dugradigdu adventure and the priestess named Filia Ul Copt. The human maiden was not a teller of long detailed stories, so his understanding was scarce.

During the Dark Star incident his clan been told to sit it out, it was all arranged for by the golden dragons who served Vrabazard. The world was safe in the end, but the Flarelord's clan had mysteriously disappeared. Lina Inverse had later told him how they had vanished, after a lot of prodding.

It was hard to believe his own kind could have behaved in such a way and the associated story of the genocide of the ancient dragons was even harder to accept. When the barrier had dropped, he and Azonge had made effort to get in touch with the other sacred dragons and finding the Ancients missing, they had concluded that after the war was over the devils had eradicated them for the usual reasons. Azonge flat out refused to believe what some random little sorcerer human had to say about it and firmly subscribed to the theory that she'd just been fed lies by devils.

Personally, he couldn't rule out that possibility. Xelloss would benefit from being considered the lesser evil and who knew what untruths he could orchestrate? Well, he would likely be able to get a better answer from Filia Ul Copt.

The elf village lay on a slope with reasonable greenery and was partially underground. His friend and Memphis' father was one of the elders heading the place and from the looks of it, Memphis would be happy to get them residence.

They landed at the edge of the village, at which point he said, "I heard you are a high dragon and can transform into a humanoid form."

"Yes, but ..."

Milgazia transformed, and noticed she didn't.

"Those bushes look pretty dense, gunmoll," one of the foxes said.

Ah, rookie transformers. Always an awkward situation. He'd once transformed while his clothes stayed stuck in subspace during a political convention, he knew the need for precautions.

She took the suggestion, and one golden glowing bush later, a blond woman in white cloak appeared again. Milgazia concluded the pink bow hadn't been a whim of some human child that she had indulged, for she wore a frilly pink dress below the clock.

"What's with those?" Memphis asked, pointing at the green spheres covering her ears.

She gave a little smile. "I'm not able to make my ears smaller, so I use these to cover them up. They're subspace compatible, so I can hear just fine and my ears aren't squished by them. Anyway, shall we go?"

Milgazia led the way, but Memphis lagged behind to talk with the group. Occasionally, Milgazia looked over his shoulder to watch them talk.

It was inescapable to notice how good Filia was at imitating elves and humans. Whether it was innate skill or practice he couldn't tell, but expressions shifted over her face with ease, her arms moved to gesture and she even shifted her pose to indicate tiredness.

Among dragons this wasn't necessary to be this physically expressive. They did not rely on human body language to make themselves understood, just to be less intimidating when interacting with smaller beings. Milgazia had never bothered learning.

Perhaps her unusual aptitude was because the servants of Vrabazard were more indulgent in the concept of detailed society? They had lived relatively close to the humans, after all. No ranges of mountains to separate them. He had even heard rumor they got drama classes.

On the other hand, he had met them before the barrier was raised. If they had any skills in humanity they hadn't bothered with them, nor did their home betray any affinity to the culture. He could not imagine this having changed much in the last millennium.

More puzzling though was her indication she had been living in a human city, rather than with dragons.

Lina Inverse had mentioned something about her not being a priestess anymore, but to Milgazia that didn't mean anything. If she'd channeled Siephied's power after resigning, then she still should hold some status to call upon if she sought out the smaller communities on the continent.

So he asked her about it.

"There are others, true. The unofficial second holy order was migratory between the individuals and smaller clans," she admitted. "But look at my family. They wouldn't be accepted living there."

"How about your blood family? Would they not understand?"

Filia held the hand of the human boy a little tighter. "No, they would not."

As expected, Memphis was heavily involved in getting the group a place to stay. Loud nagging happened when Memphis mentioned being fired at by cannons as exercise for her armor. Sometimes Milgazia regretted the day they'd run into Naga the White Serpent, even if the woman cured Memphis's chronic shyness.

Filia Ul Copt was only a little less loud. She mingled with a bystander conversation about her beast people, correcting them on an assumption about hair loss and furniture. It looked like it would escalate for a moment, but soon she turned the conversation to a friendlier atmosphere and they were talking about frivolities and ... pottery? The female fox was pulled in and there was an impromptu soirée.

An empty house was offered to her, and she gladly accepted. It didn't seem to bother her much she wasn't invited to stay in any inhabited home, perhaps she was used to it. He followed her into the home, intent on speaking with her about the real reason of her presence, but was was hard to get a word in. The elves found it a profound curiosity, this dragon and her family, so they were taking up her time in between unpacking.

Milgazia concluded she was good with human expressions because she held an unusual curiosity and spent most of her time in shrink form. A mixture of curiosity and affection might prompt this, based on the little things that appeared from the many bags.

Cookies, bows, frilly dresses, board games, various brushes for fox fur care, cards, ointments suited for every species in her little group, colored pencils, balls of yarn. Before long, she had unwound one of those balls and was teaching elven children a game named cat's cradle.

Milgazia actually felt a little left out. He considered telling one of his jokes, but was distracted by a familiar roar. He took to the sky to go meet Azonge and his flock. His fellow leader was beelining for the village.

"Greeted, my friend. I heard you spotted a newly arrived golden dragon and led her to the elf village?" Azonge asked.

"Indeed I did."

Azonge growled deeply. "You already extended an invitation?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

"I met her in Gyria a few days ago. She hit me in the head with a mace."

"She did?" That didn't strike him as fitting at all.

"She was making needless drama about me pushing away one of her disrespectful beasts."

"I did not see her beast people cause any problems just now," Milgazia said. Not that he wanted to disregard Azonge, but it was known that he wasn't fond of beast people. Milgazia did not favor them either, but there were worse things.

"She's going to be problem," Azonge said. "There's something very fishy about a lone, loaded young dragon making it across these mountains without scratch, right at a time we're doing experiments!"

"Actually, less than two hours ago we got a sign from Rangort. It may be less ominous than you think. I believe this dragon is the one that was involved in the Dark Star incident. She may serve us."

"Honestly? ... well, I still think she'll be a problem. But more important matters first. What did the honorable Earthlord say?"

Memphis probably had forgotten to round up workers, now there was such a novelty around. Milgazia brought Azonge up to date, and they decided it was best to dig up the temple first, then attend to the coptish presence.

Unearthing the temple was a tedious thing to do, and Milgazia had a startlingly blasphemous thought. Why couldn't Earthlord Rangort just do this remotely, if he could throw a mountain peak?

Perhaps he was simply too busy.

· · · · · · ·

Word spread of that strange, eccentric dragon and her following. As the elves that had seen her confrontation with Azonge had witnessed mingled with the village, opinion of her became less charitable, so Memphis told him. Memphis herself didn't see why it was such a big deal if Azonge got knocked over a bit and still wanted to play with cannons.

Milgazia didn't get a chance to visit her until next day, by which time the Ul Copt family had already firmly settled into the village and apparently couldn't be subtly encouraged to go elsewhere. The home they'd been appointed had new curtains (pink with cats) and a thick pillar of smoke from the chimney. At his knock, a fox let him in.

Memphis was already there, sitting at a table and busily trying to convince the elder fox why exactly he should build a cannon and shoot at her. Above the hearth was a pot with arcane brew, being tended to by Filia. He couldn't say it was a pleasing scent.

"Filia?"

She looked startled, quickly stood up and rubbed her hands cross her apron. "Hello, lord Elder."

"How have are you finding your accommodations?"

"Quite alright, thank you for letting us stay here."

The pot released a small puff of green mushroom smoke, which caused Memphis to wince. "Uncle, don't stay to eat, she cooks like she's expecting devils for dinner."

Filia gave a scathing laughter, the rest of her group gave a mixture of knowing chuckles, rins and some eye rolling.

"Devils are not invited for dinner. Even if they invite themselves sometimes. This," she said with a tap on the pot, "is the product of years of labor to find out something everyone in my house likes to eat. Even the cat."

"It smells horrible until you taste it, then it's great," the human boy said.

"You're not convincing me. There's meat in it. Anyway, Jillas, don't worry about the forging. We have forges, I'll just get you into the smith cave."

Milgazia didn't like where that was going, because that fox looked awfully eager to accept the offer. Looking around for a diffusion, he picked one of the absurd amount of vases from the nearest shelf.

"How nice. You collect vases."

Worried, she shot over, gently took the vase from his hand and place it back. "Actually, I make vases and collect antiques, I sell both."

"Must've been a pain to drag all that here," Memphis said.

"I'm not leaving behind my hard earned items when I can carry them just fine," Filia said as she returned to her cooking. "Besides, I won't be depending on my friends to attend to me, we will stand on our own commercial feet as soon as we get to Sailoon."

"Excuse me, Sailoon?" Milgazia asked. She must either be horrible at reading maps if she came from the south, or for some reason she had come from the west. He chose not to comment, because her temper was more worrisome. "I heard of your conduct in regards to my fellow leader. Perhaps Sailoon is not the best place for you to live. Its family is in open pursuit of their concept of justice, which surely will frown on such vigilante behavior."

"Have you ever met the Sailoon royals? No, Sailoon will be wonderful. The only reason we didn't move there was the difficult in getting a cannon company going in a place where people prefer to hire magicians for defense." She seemed to think for a moment, then pulled up her dress and revealed a mace. She tossed it in the air lightly and then caught it again. "Plus, I sell these too. They require one to know the market."

"The priestess of tea finery deals in the art of destruction too, eh?" Memphis said while dipping her finger in the brew. She almost tasted it, but changed her mind. "It's weird. Especially the antique thing. What do people want old stuff? That just means it breaks more quickly."

"Because remembering the past is important," said the human boy. He looked up sharply with yellow eyes and ... wait, were those split eyes? He was too young to have mastered the transformation spell, so he couldn't be a dragon. Perhaps a chimera?

"Young lord Val is right," the orange fox said. "Monuments are educative."

Were they still talking about antiques?

"Miss Memphis, I'll have you know that the vases I deal with either are of the finest, most durable quality, or home made and even more sturdy than the classics. The art behind both vases and maces is the composition of the material and the structure with which it's put together. Preferably with some endurance spells cast on them. My wares do not just break! ... except when gods decide to use them for their symbols. That's why I'm here, there was a lot of breaking stone to harass me in this direction.

And there it was, the reason behind the coincidence of her arrival.

"Are you open for commission?" Milgazia asked.

"Huh?" For some reason this surprised her, she dropped her spoon.

"We too have received holy messages, starting last week. We are to create magic vessels to bind dark and sacred energy for the purpose of fusion magic. Unfortunately, we have been unable to produce vessels that can withstand even something as simple as an accidental squeeze by dragon claws, and the magic simply seeps out. It would appear you are our solution."

"Eh .. eheheh. Oh no." She sat down at the table, head in her hands. He might have though she was depressed, but she still smiled, albeit in a weird way. When she looked up, she was resigned. "We're going to have to stay here for a long time, don't we? Possibly to be part of whatever plot is going on. I'd hoped we'd be out of here soon."

"I would not call a god's intentions a plot, rather a plan. What makes you believe it will take long."

"I don't actually know how to make fusion magic vessels. I know how to do it in natura and I know how to make pottery, but that's all."

"In natura?"

"Never mind. Where are you getting dark energy?"

"We capture devils in Zenaffa armor. Their projections are extensions of their power, and thus can be transported by cutting them off the astral plane."

"Then I hope your security is thorough, because I'll have to get close to make this work. The way fusion magic works, it—"

"Mom, are you really going to help those dragons?" the boy asked. "Just because that god says so?"

"I'm not seeking to make enemies of anyone, neither gods nor devils, Val. However, most devils already are our enemies, and I don't want to add Rangort to the list. Lord Milgazia, I will accept your offer."

"Off course. I will show you the work space right now," Milgazia said. It was just a child complaining, he didn't expect her to truly argue with the boy.

"With all due respect, I have to cook dinner for my family. By the way, on the topic of payment, you can start by getting some better food into these kitchens. Especially better tea."

"But—"

"With all due respect, no buts." At that, the entirety of her family snickered for some reason.

Memphis tugged at his arm. "Uncle, let's go. I'm hungry too and they're cooking meat! Let's get something better, okay?"

Milgazia nodded, glad Memphis had forgotten about—

"Oh, and maybe you can pay that fox to play cannon ball with me. I bet he wants to, but he's told not to do stuff without payment."

Never mind.

"I'll think about it, Memphy."

· · · · · · ·

In this manner, the once solemn operation gained a colorful, vocal new member. A dragon who acted entirely too human.

Azonge did not like this but backed off when a geyser that they'd closed with much effort broke open, and the rain of rock arranged itself in a way that said he should not complain.

The forgers did not like this either, since the first thing Filia Ul Copt did was, when being shown the magic vessels that'd already made was criticizing their supposedly tacky design. Milgazia thought they were just fine, actually. She tapped one and it broke, which was followed by a rant on weight division and internal structure.

The devil keepers liked it even less after she told them to kill the devils inside, since putting living pieces inside the vessels meant the power was not neutralized and fusion magic would never work if the minds behind it were not in concord. She even had the insanity to complain about the way they were kept poorly. As if they had any rights.

It was unanimously agreed not to let her wander around anymore. She was given the first cleared out room in the underground ruins, so she could work in silence, alone. Clay and metal was handed to her, which she cited as inferior at once.

By the end of a tiresome few days, Milgazia dropped down on a ridge alongside Azonge. It was drizzling, but pleasantly warm anyway.

"Still fond of this whole place, Milgazia? Even now it's gone crazy?"

"It is the will of the gods," he said tensely.

Azonge rumbled with amusement. "At least the latest addition hasn't maced anyone else. I suppose she's just territorial over those foxes. Unnatural, I tell you, a dragon keeping servants. Only gods have such rights."

"I beg to disagree, gods don't care for rights," someone spoke entirely too close. The stinging aura of a devil drove through their being.

At once, Azonge and Milgazia had whipped their long necks around and were looking at the small humanoid figure that sat on the rocks behind them.

"What are you doing here?" Milgazia said stiffly, suppressing that old instinct that told him to flee right now. Both he and Azonge knew better than to move. Fleeing dragons and loose emotions only enticed devils to chase, and this was one they could not trap no matter what they tried. Xelloss was a master of astral plane shifts, he'd be gone before they ever forced a Zenaffa armor on him.

"I'm just curious at what your latest project is? You do have a project, we know that much. Would you show me around, or will I do it myself?"

They had no choice.

Azonge took the lead, quietly telling Milgazia to spare his power and get an evacuation going while he stretched the tour.

Xelloss didn't allow any stretching the tour, however, and made it crystal clear he was to be shown to the work hall at once.

The place was large and circular, with a ring of sacred water so wide a hundred golden dragons could bathe in it. At the center was a forge of holy power behind a shield, as well as their latest vessels, which were already showing cracks from mishandling and overcharged power. Azonge tried to verbally dance around the questions Xelloss asked, all the while ushering out the workers.

Xelloss was not easily distracted, he had all his attention on finding out what exactly the dragons wanted to do these these vessels. That was probably the only reason this place hadn't been blown up yet.

Azonge had no idea, nobody did.

Milgazia stood outside the hall and sent the elves and humanized dragons on their way with instructions of where to go, and whom to obey.

Somewhere in the middle of this, Filia Ul Copt casually wandered into the passageway. In scrumpled work clothing, cloth wrapped around her hair, with a case of tea bags under her arm. Unworthy of a dragon, ridiculous given the situation.

He grabbed her by the shoulder and shook softly. She yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, hello, lord Milgazia. You did put a kitchen here, but where was that again? I need to make myself some tea ... even if it's this."

"Filia Ul Copt, you must leave," Milgazia said with what he hoped was an urgent voice.

"Huh? Wadja mean?" she muttered, drooling a bit.

"You must take your group and go to one of the caves to hide, or leave the valley."

"Leave the valley? Azonge told me there's not much chance I get as lucky in avoiding devils out there as I did on my way here. Earthlord Rangort likely help me there."

"The devil that is here right now is far more dangerous. Please, you have to leave as quickly as possible. A battle may errupt at any moment and it is one we cannot win. All we can do is hope that we destroy the vessels before he gets his hands on them."

"The vessels don't work anyway," she said, rubbing her head. "Wait ... there's a devil here? I'm not dreaming that?"

She tapped the teabox against her head twice. As she properly woke, her eyes grew wide. Frantically she barged past Milgazia, threw open the door to the work hall and the Dragon Slayer turned around to open one eye at her. All others looked too.

The teabox dropped. Milgazia thought she'd run, but instead she fazed out of view in a golden glow and manifested right between Xelloss and the vessels.

"What are you doing here, trash?"

Eyebrow twitch.

"How nice to see you again, miss Filia."

"I'm sure. Can't I go anywhere without cockroaches on my tail?"

Another eyebrow twitch.

Milgazia grew wings to quickly cross the distance, taking her by the shoulders and trying to turn her away. "Filia, what are you doing?"

He couldn't move her as easily as he wanted to, she was far heavier than she ought to be in this form. She staggered back only two steps and didn't grow any less aggressive.

"I assure you, my presence here has nothing to do with you. As if you'd be that important," Xelloss said.

"Oh really? My ever increasing bill of property damage tells me otherwise!"

"I'll admit you provide good meals. However, I've come to investigate what these dragons have been doing," he said sharply, pointing past her at the vessels. "Magic vessels might just be of use, so I thought I'd borrow them."

"What do you even need them for?" A smirk appeared on Filia's face. "Wait, I see. You lost the ability to absorb holy magic."

Xelloss narrowed that one open eye. Milgazia was no expert at reading expressions, but he knew that once since dragons did it too. There were fearful gasps all around the room, and Milgazia felt his feet sink and his mind run to possible escape routes ...

"I'll have you know that as an astral being, I'm not prone to mortal things like forgetting skills. The purposes for these vessels is not merely for my own benefit. However ..."

... destroy the vessels first to keep them out of devil hands ...

"Let me guess!" Filia said as she raised a finger to her lips. "The reason I'm about to hear will be a cliche catchphrase."

Xelloss gritted his teeth. "Aren't we clever today?"

... create a diversion so the weaker dragons could get away ...

"No, we are not at all. It's night and I fell asleep at the wrong place and you are here! That in itself impairs my ability to function as I should. Forgive me if I'm not up to your wittiness standards."

... wake up Memphis and convince her not to fight but flee ...

"I can't comment on that, it's rather hard for me to ascertain what you're like in my absence. From what I hear from your family, there's only less yelling because you can make them shut up."

... what?

"You leave them out of this, cockroach! And don't think I can't tell you're changing the topic again! Just do what you came to do and get lost already!"

... nobody was dead yet. Perhaps this was a dream.

"Now now, it's impolite to usher guests out so quickly. Besides, these vessels come in a rather tacky in design. I couldn't possibly present these to my liege the Beast Monarch without insulting her."

Filia found her turn to twitch. "You just had to say something I'd have to agree with, didn't you?"

Hallucinatory spell?

Xelloss suddenly looked content and said, "Well, it's settled then. I'll be sticking around to speed along the work. We've got our work cut out, these dragons have been doing a miserable job."

...

"What, our work?"

...

"Off course our work, miss Filia. I believe you'll have marginally better understanding than the dragons around here. Not that that's a hard earned feat." Xelloss tilted his head at Milgazia, causing Filia to finally acknowledge him too.

Rational thought returned at the poke at Milgazia's pride and he noticed his face had been gaping.

Apparently, Xelloss was putting up with this behavior because he needed Filia for something. That explained a lot ... right?

"Hmmph, it's just that lord Milgazia and the others haven't had any experience with pottery beforehand. They make quite effective Zenaffa armor."

"Off course they have no experience, they're rather dissenting towards mundane culture. Really, miss Filia, you should know better than to stick up for dragon elders whom you don't really know."

For a moment, Filia's expression turned grave.

... and she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Really, Xelloss? That's your best shot at provoking me?" She phased back to where she'd dropped her teabox. "I'm now going to have the nice cup of tea I came for, and am not getting irritated."

"Excellent, I could use a cup. Offerings have been dull today."

"You are not invited!" she snapped, and Xelloss looked terribly satisfied at this.

"My my, and I was just about to compliment you on your tea making skills."

"As if!" she called over her shoulder. "You're always complaining about ... ugh!"

He'd shifted to the astral plane.

From Milgazia's point, he could see Xelloss shift into view and softly nudge the door just as Filia turned her face forward to walk out. She smacked right into it. Her tail shot out below her nightgown, a low growl escaped her as she staggered back and the container clattered on the ground again.

Xelloss just smiled amiably and said, "Oops, I thought I'd hold the door but—"

She shot laserbreath right at his face. He withdrew just in time to avoid it.

Azonge was right, she was completely crazy. Filia Ul Copt walked the deserts of insanity, those souls lost to the world. Any moment she would be reduced to a bloody smear on the floor. What madness had possessed her to act so ferocious in face of the Dragon Slayer?

Xelloss shifted to her other side, one finger raised and a thoughtful expression on his face as he looked at the hole Filia had left.

"Hmm, I do agree redecorations are in place, but don't you think this is a little drastic, miss Filia? After all, you always tell me strangers have no business redecorating other people's houses and I highly doubt you are capable enough to install a refrigerator in that hole anyway."

"No, but I have the skills for making a decent garbage deposit. I don't think the bins of this place are up for the latest demand," Filia said, not even looking at the Dragon Slayer anymore. She was using her hands to bend the newly formed dent on her teabox as if she had absolutely no reason to fear imminent painful death.

The potential dispenser of painful deaths was in fact looking thoroughly unhappy, twitchy even ... maybe that was a good sign. The Dragon Slayer always smiled when he killed.

Which he still wasn't doing right now.

Filia restored her teabox and pulled the door back open with so much force that Milgazia could hear the hinges creak. When she pulled it close behind her, a hinge shot loose. Xelloss stood there for a second, still not smiling, then shifted to the astral plane.

The suffocating silence among him and the other dragons didn't have much room for relief though.

"Does anyone have a rational explanation for this?"

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