' = Internal dialogue

ยจ= Normal speech

* = Sounds / Etc

-Chapter 28 Start-

After getting the hydra hatchlings of Valeera, Jaina offered her help watching the hydras while I went to a blacksmith in hopes of getting some cage or the like to have the hydra hatchlings in some sort of enclosure.

That did not end well. After getting cages that were fit for a grizzly bear, the small hydras were still unsatisfied as they all whined constantly for hours.

I decided to test something out, so I carried all of them up to the floor I had the pool, and made the enclosure there, effectively limiting Valeera's pool access for now, now they wouldn't be able to walk out of the room, but would be able to swim and play as much as they wanted for the time being until I figured out what to do with them.

Only the hydra who hatched first, who I named Nessie, was somewhat affectionate towards me. Initially, I had considered the name Ghidorah, but it didn't fit the personality.

After some consideration, I decided to find a solution to domesticate the four others. I wanted them as my coast guards, something that scared away other beings like themselves.

Except for Nessie, I felt a special kind of connection to her. The rest? Not so much. Their intelligence was... a drop in the bucket compared to her.

The day went on as Jaina and Valeera tagged along as we went around the town, which was becoming a city at a rapid pace. There was no current split between the races. Gnomes, humans, night elves, high elves, and dwarves worked together, though now I saw new arrivals in the form of a few tauren and several furlbog who looked at everything with fascination.

The Taurens waved at everyone and gave curious children that approached them some toys made of wood, effectively warming up to the children and giving them a wholly new perspective on the gentle and enormous cow people.

I looked back into the shadows behind the tauren in a small gap between buildings and saw a small child with a black hood watching their every move and writing something down on a note. Then the wannabe rogue made its way out of the shadow and headed towards Belmont's Inn with a smile on his face.

Jaina was curious about the interaction and noticed my eyes looking at the child coming from the darkness and asking what was happening. "Probably something Belmont is doing to train his recruits. I'm glad the kids enjoy themselves after all they have been through." I told her while reflecting on what I saw in Lordaeron before we left.

The people here looked way more satisfied than in the streets in the capital.

Jaina nodded and looked thoughtful, seemingly considering something.

We made our way further down the street while observing the food stalls that the people had built, many different cuisines and fruits were being served, and people looked generally pleased with their businesses. We had not seen or heard of anyone lacking food or homes by this point, which was impressive considering we had not been here for long.

I mentally praised Belmont and Calia, though there was one who looked shabby in his poorly prepared food stall. I recognized this one in particular after watching the guy attempt to serve grass to passersby while yelling that meat was murder... It was the one who had given us a surplus of carts. I nodded toward the guy in thanks which confused the night elf so much he just stood there and stared blankly back at me.

No doubt having no idea why a small giant was looking his way and nodding.

When Jaina, Valeera, and I were done walking around the town, Valeera decided she had enough and retreated back to our home to watch over the hydra hatchlings in the pool.

Soon after, Jaina and I arrived in front of Belmont's Bar/Inn and went inside to witness Belmont handing a child a few gold coins. The small gnome looked very pleased with himself as he received the coins and walked past us on his way out with a smile on his face.

Then Belmont turned to us and said, "I had heard you finally were taking a stroll around the city? Only took you several months being holed up in your tower and a total makeover to realize people need to see their so-called *Savior* after what happened in Lordaeron?"

I froze, 'Wait, what?'

"Have you not noticed what the dwarves were doing in your tower? You have become a symbol of strength for the people here, not that they have observed you do anything worthy of such, but you brought them to an entirely new continent to start a new life." He sighed. "Please don't tell me you are that fuckin' dense?"

I gaped momentarily before Belmont continued, "Oh man, for all your smarts, you obviously are quite underdeveloped in any sense of people skills, I've been hard at work trying to make the people here open to the idea of you becoming a figure of power for a while now, and the satyr attack which happened recently which brought fear to the citizens made it much easier."

He said while looking at me like an idiot before he grinned with his trademark grin and said, "Gotcha."

Then it became clear to me that Belmont had been talking with every important figure among the citizens here, trying to make me into a figure of leadership for a while now. This was something I was not even considering. I hated politics with a deep passion, skipping the thought entirely.

I massaged my forehead as I was pondering, 'When did he start planning this?'

Still deep in thought, I was suddenly interrupted by Belmont's laugh.

"Sorry, sorry, It's just that we managed to trick you so well these last months that got to me. Don't worry, it's not as bad as you think. You will just be the icon for the people and get the benefits. The politics will be dealt with by others with the skills to do so. Imagine YOU of all people as a spokesperson for peace or prosperity?"

Then he continued his laugh until tears almost started to form and said, "Yea, that's what got to me. Understand why I'm laughing myself to tears? Because that's fucking hilarious!" I stared at him with a deadpan look for a moment and was going to reply.

But we were suddenly interrupted as the door opened, and a familiar night elf came through the opening. Pained had woken up and had found us.

However, it seemed she had returned to her stoic self now. Still, there was one crucial difference from before, the darkness I felt was now gone, and the elf was stoic only on the outside, as her eyes now gave off a look of gratitude, and a slight smile tugged on her face briefly until it returned back to the stoic one.

She approached us, and she looked at me thoughtfully for a moment until she said, "Thank you for what you did, the scars I had gained in my... past are now gone, and I feel much lighter thanks to your actions, I owe you a life-debt." I shook my head, pointed toward Jaina, and said, "If not for your assignment to her, I would never have been able to cleanse that curse. If you owe anything to someone, it would be her."

Jaina was surprised when Pained suddenly bowed her head deeply to her and said, "My services are yours. I will be what you need me to be without fail, regardless of previous orders I have received. I am now yours to command."

Belmont looked at the new arrival momentarily with a slight glint in his eye and waited until Pained and Jaina were done talking. Then he approached, "Miss Pained, are you by any chance experienced with infiltration? I couldn't help but notice your gaze darting around my humble Inn as if searching for something. Am I wrong?" He asked in an almost teasing voice that turned serious towards the end.

Pained tensed briefly as she looked at Belmont with a cold gaze while grasping her sword on her back until Belmont interjected, "Sorry if that came out wrong, I did not intend to put you in any tight spot. I only intended to ask if you could do something to help with peacekeeping and perhaps information trade. Are you willing to consider this before you fully grasp your weapon? I would hate to hurt a fine lady such as yourself."

I sighed. 'Belmont's direct attitude backfired on him for once... or did it?'

Jaina was ready to step in as she had seen Pained's reaction previously, but I signaled her to wait.

Pained looked at Belmont for a moment, then relaxed, her hand moving away from her sword, and said, "I apologize for my reaction, your offer seems sincere, and I agree. That aside, I doubt you are able to hurt me, little man."

{Put it into perspective, Pained is around 2.2 meters tall, quite tall for a female night elf, while Belmont is approximately 1.8 meters

{(For people who use feet.. a bit too much. Belmont's height is 5,9, and Pained is 7.2}}

Belmont perked up at this response and said, "That is very pleasing to hear. I bet we have plenty of things to discuss." He then leans forward with a smirk, saying, "And Is that a challenge I hear?"

Pained's response to this was a rare smirk of her own as she nodded.

I sighed again while Jaina was getting worried at her newly assigned guard hurting one of the higher-ups of the town, and by how friendly Belmont acted towards me, she was sure that if Belmont got injured, it would result in consequences to both sides.

"Belmont, do you have a place where you can duel?" I asked ruefully.

He nodded and motioned for us to follow him as he led us to the kitchen and grabbed a hidden lever as we were not watching, resulting in a small hallway with stairs leading down a shady-looking corridor underneath the Inn.

As we kept walking down the dark stairway, Jaina whispered to me as we were the ones furthest in the back, while Belmont and Pained were in the front, "Are you sure this is alright? They won't hurt each other, right?" I thought for a moment and said, "Doubt it. Belmont isn't the kind to be ruthless... except when it has to do something with kids. Though I doubt there is any real enmity between those two, my real worry is more of the nature they seem to be battle-maniacs, both of them, and might not know when to stop..."

This didn't alleviate Jaina's worries in the least, however. Still, she nodded slowly, even if she didn't think I'd see it in this dark stairway downwards. However, after my recent transformation, I could feel every movement and see without seeing, but this was limited to a short distance around me.

After walking down the stairs, we heard the sound of fighting in the distance as clangs and groans of frustration were heard. When we finally descended the stairs, we saw the place Belmont led us to fully.

A large field, around a hundred meters long and a hundred meters wide, with weapon racks on one side and training equipment like weights on the other, while in the middle, there were several large fields designed for dueling.

Many children fought with wooden weapons until one teenager spotted us and whispered to his friend while pointing toward us. Soon after, the field was completely free. All the kids stood on the sideline as soldiers, excitedly waiting for Belmont to walk into the middle.

Pained decided to hand over her sword to Jaina, who gracefully took it in her hands as Pained went over to one of the weapon racks herself, took an iron two-handed greatsword, and swung it around like it weighed nothing, which impressed the kids.

"Oy Belmont!" I shouted to get his attention, "I suppose you can set some ground rules so it won't end with a decapitation or any loss of limbs?" I asked. Belmont nodded and coughed into his hand to get Pained's attention, "So, how do you want to do this? Shallow cuts equal one point, and deeper ones equal two points? Up to ten points? Try to avoid critical areas like the head and heart?" Pained nodded at what Belmont said as she walked into the field.

"Hey, Medan, can you count the points and watch over the fight? It miiiight get a bit out of hand, and from what I'd hear, you are quite capable now compared to when we got our asses kicked by Gavinrad."

Belmont asked with a wry smile, then this face turned into a mischievous smirk as he turned toward Pained and asked, "Ready, Lady Pained?"

He hadn't needed to ask as she rushed forward towards him with an overhead swing with her sizable two-handed sword. His smirk only grew as he closed right in on her, attempting to get close so she wouldn't be able to swing her sword at him, daggers appearing in a reverse grip shortly after coming out of his long-sleeved bartender outfit as he ducked and went in for stab at her rib.

His dagger never hit her rib as he was violently tossed to the side after he got kicked pretty hard from his right. He tumbled for a moment until he shot toward her just as he got back on his feet.

This time Belmont looked more solemn as he had underestimated the elf; blood was coming from his lip, that kick certainly had much force, and he did not come out uninjured. I counted this as one point for Pained.

Pained smirked at Belmont, who had a serious expression as she prepared herself for his next attack.

This time, however, Belmont threw a dagger at her left arm. She would have seen this coming if it wasn't thrown the way it was as he suddenly jerked his leg forward as to kick a ball, a dagger appearing from the sole of his foot, and sailed right through the air toward her arm and got deeply impaled through the palm of her hand, the only thing that stopped the dagger from running her hand fully through was the fact it had hit the sword handle.

This resulted in a grunt from the elf as she tried her best to ignore it and swung her sword right at Belmont when he had come close enough. The swing lacked her previous speed as Belmont managed to get close enough before she could slash her sword at him.

Belmont slashed towards her other arm this time. Still, he failed to strike her again, as she punched with her hand that had his dagger impaled through it, right at his face. It turned out Belmont did not expect her to do that and assumed it was a useless hand. With a sound thwack, Belmont's head whipped backward as he stumbled momentarily.

Pained used the opportunity to rip a piece of cloth from underneath her plated chest piece and tied it around her wounded hand, effectively attaching the sword to her arm as she couldn't hold it as she typically would after the injury.

Jaina, at my side, looks visibly distressed. I put my hand on her shoulder, shake my head, and say, "If it goes out of hand, I will deal with it, don't worry."

Her shoulders become less tense as she nods while looking at Pained's hand and Belmont's crushed nose.

'That's.. two for Belmont and two for Pained so far, though I doubt the ten points will be reached by any of them at this pace.' I thought to myself.

When Belmont got out of his daze, he looked at Pained while considering something until he came to a decision and rushed towards the elf. Pained had prepared herself with a combat stance to receive Belmont's next attack when he suddenly disappeared from her view leaving only a thin smokescreen.

Pained screamed as she fell forward on one knee. However, she did not go down alone because she had reacted by elbowing Belmont in the chest by pure instinct as a response to him slashing at the back of her leg.

Belmont was on his knees and heaved at the floor. At the same time, Pained tried to stand up on her legs. A brief moment later, they looked at each other with a manic smiles as they wobbled towards one another and prepared to get in one final hit. Just as Pained swung her sword and Belmont prepared to toss a dagger, they both froze, literally.

And they both turned toward me, albeit barely with an angry look on their faces, as I stood there with both arms extended towards them, encased in a thick layer of ice while frosty vapor surrounded me.

"Too early Medan! We were just getting to the best part!" Belmont said, and Pained nodded all she could, considering their bodies were encased in thick ice from their feet up to the neck.

I shook my head, "The best part? Where both of you land a killing blow? Pained's sword was in the path towards your damn throat, and your dagger was poisoned."

I sighed and continued, "Shut up and take it as a draw, you're both shit at dueling. I mean, why are both of you so bent on going for the kill from start to finish?" I said with a deadpan look.

This got a reaction from Pained as she looked away while Belmont stared at me for a moment until he sighed and said, "Ah, sorry, the heat of the moment and all, so when are you going to let us out of this... Ice? It's strangely comfortable, not cold at all, actually."

I ignored Belmont, then looked at Jaina and said, "What do you say we leave them here for some time to cool down? I think the ice can hold them for a few hours."

Jaina thought about this for a moment and nodded with a smile as she looked towards the frozen forms of Belmont and Pained. This caused them both to look at her with a pleading look. I just snorted and took the two-handed sword Pained had handed to Jaina, walked towards the two statues of ice, and put it down in front of them.

The kids on the side were giggling at the outraged look from Belmont as Jaina, and I made our way towards the dark hallway out of the Inn.

After exiting the Inn, we went toward my home, which was still slightly taller than a four-floored building, and was becoming closer to my fantasy tower every day.

When we finally arrived, we were met at the door by Lanira the dryad. It was noticeable lately that she enjoyed being inside the tower and around me. The rest of her sisters didn't enjoy being inside at all and had made themselves a little groove at the edge of the town inside the walls.

The dryads first wanted to make one in the woods outside, but after the idea being shut down by me because it would leave them vulnerable to forces hostile to us, they made one inside instead, since then I rarely see the dryads except for Lanira.

So when we went into my home, we were served tea and refreshments made by a bubbly dryad.

The rest of that evening was pleasant for all of us. Jaina and I talked about magic and portals, how she summons water elementals to fight for her, and I told her about how I controlled my ice earlier and how I managed to use intent to utilize my magic.

This information flabbergasted Jaina, it went against what she had learned since she had started studying magic, and she swiftly followed up with a long rapid session of questions that lasted for several hours.

Once it became late, we sat there in a relaxing atmosphere. Both of us were studying the coral, discussing what would make it so potent and if it had any use other than saturating the air with magic.

After that casual talk, we both turned towards Lanira, who had dozed off on her pillow. She yawned, looking very tired. Which took our attention as I looked outside the window.

It had turned dark, and the town was silent. The only sound was footsteps by the ones packing up their stalls and a few drunk dwarves roaming the streets.

Jaina then yawned cutely in response to Lanira's contagious yawning, and I told her that the guestroom is currently not used by anyone and that she could use it if she wanted to. She nodded with a thankful smile, looked at me, and said, "It's been a great day. It has been years since I felt this relaxed. Thank you." Then made her way toward the door of the room. And told both me and a half-dozed-off Lanira good night.

And I turned back to the window. After telling Jaina goodnight and putting a blanket over Lanira, I decided to get a better view of the town.

So I walked out the door and imbued my entire body with air, flew up to the roof, then sat down with my legs on the edge and kept watching over the town with a soft smile and sighed in contentment.

-Chapter 28 End-