Chapter 61

Lilea

Bosco

"Finally, I'm home." Thought Lilea as her ship landed in the docks of Bosco's biggest Port City, Anatolia. Upon landing, the crew began performing the necessary procedures to tie their ship to the docks while also unloading their cargo of slaves for the slave market. None of the slaves they found were particularly of high stock, but the number of them should give them enough monetary value to restock and resupply for their next venture. Something that Lilea hopes to be soon. After all, the Wizard known as Jellal should be able to give some information to her family that can be of some use to them.

Once the crew secured her ship to the docks, Lilea ordered the captain of her ship to begin offloading their cargo of slaves to the slave markets so they can sell them for profit. She had a very important person to deliver to her family. With that, she went to grab Jellal from the cargo holds along with her Wyvern. Within the span of a few minutes, Lilea was on Sullava and the two took off once the Wyvern was able to take off freely. With Jellal in Sullava's claws, the two took off for their family home in Bosco. Far away enough from the ports to not draw unwanted attention to the real rulers of Bosco, but close enough to the ports of Bosco to keep an eye on their main source of income.

As she flew, Lilea thought of her family and couldn't help but growl as she thought of her family and how much she despised certain parts of it. Parts that have both humiliated her and taken credit for things that she worked hard to achieve and capture for Dreadwater family. One of which she blamed entirely on Fairy Tail for. After all, it was because of them that she was humiliated and her siblings got something they didn't deserve in the first place.

Growling as she remembered that day, of she learned of her rival sibling managed to do something she failed at because of Fairy Tail, Lilea looked at Jellal, one of the only good things she got from the venture to the Tower of Heaven.

He best have something useful for the Druchii or he'll learn what happens to those that catch the ire of the Dark Elves and are within their clutches.

Later

It had taken quite some time, but Lilea managed to arrive to her family estate in record time. When it was within her sights, Lilea took a moment to appreciate her family home.

Built into the bed of a mountain, the estate was built in typical Druchii fashion. Towers and buildings built with intimidation in mind, the estate was nothing something you would expect to be built by any ordinary human. Or any normal person for that matter. But for the Druchii. It was perfection and showcased their black and cruel hearts.

Hovering on the estate grounds, Lilea jumped off Sullava before having her drop Jellal on the ground. Dropping the human roughly on the ground, Sullava flew over to a relatively open spot in the estate grounds where she can safely land before doing so. Looking at Jellal, Lilea grabbed the boy roughly before dragging him to the main building of the estate, a large tower at the center of everything. As she dragged the teenager to the tower, various servants, mostly humans with the mark of the Dreadwaters on various sections of their bodies. They seem like ordinary marks, but to those that knew what they were, they were anything but.

Intimidated by the appearance of Lilea, the servants all backed away from the female Elf as she made it inside the tower. Once she was inside, she was immediately beset by a servant. Fortunately, it was one she tolerated as it was another Druchii.

Dressed in fine silk robes, the fellow elf looked upon Lilea with dark eyes, their long black hair silky and almost midnight in color.

"Lady Lilea." Said the Druchii, his voice like silk and fine wine as he looked at Lilea with false sympathy and kindness that was hidden so well that all but the most observant can detect just how false it actually was. "How pleasant it is to see you again. And you brought company as well. May I ask who this person is?" Lilea just scoffed at the false niceties before speaking up.

"You can consider him a gift to my siblings." Said Lilea as she looked at the servant with annoyance. "Summon my siblings and the court to the Hall of Blood. We have much to discuss." The servant just bowed at that and left to summon those that Lilea requested and in the specified location. As he left, Lilea looked at Jellal and couldn't help but hunger for the possible knowledge contained within his precious little mind. Knowledge that will aid the Dreadwaters in their desire to dominate the slave trade and perhaps in their ultimate goal of obtaining the world for themselves.

Later

Hall of Blood

It had taken too long for Lilea's liking, but eventually, a meeting was taking place in the Hall of Blood. The room where the most powerful and influential members of the Dreadwater noble house convene to discuss matters of great importance or decide what they put their attention and resources to in order to advance their house's goals.

The Hall of Blood was a massive open room with a group of chairs arranged around a large table. All these chairs were of the same design baring one. Blackened wood carved into a chair, these chairs were made into a design that spoke volumes of the people the designed them in the first place. Spikes and sharp curves were found on the ends and the armrests of the chairs, allowing a user to hurt themselves if they were careless about how they sat or rested their arms. Something that those that created the chairs would find laughable and amusing if they ever heard or saw such a thing occur. But they would have a very different reaction if anyone did a similar thing to the sole chair of a different design to the others.

Much larger and grander than the other chairs, if one were to sit upon it they would tower over everyone else in the room and oversee everything occurring before them. As it should as this chair was reserved for the leader of the Dreadwater family, which currently was Lilea's oldest brother, Tirnoc Dreadwater.

The chair reserved for her brother embodied everything that the Druchii believed. The strong towering over everyone else, proving their superiority over everyone else. However, they must stand vigilant against those that seek to usurp that position from them. After all, just because they were the strongest in the past does not mean that they'll always be the strongest. There will always be those that strive to prove their superiority over those that are thought to be the strongest and will do so in various ways, whether that be martial skill or cunning. Such is the way of the Druchii, but right now, that was put on hold for something of potential interest has appeared before the Dark Elves that are in command of the Dreadwater Noble House.

Lady Lilea, one of their own, has returned with a new batch of slaves for the markets. While that was a typical thing of her and something not worth organizing a meeting in the Hall of Blood, one that was on short notice anyway, it was her capture of a known figure containing possible valuable knowledge for them that caused the meeting to be arranged.

From a report from both Lilea and the Dark Elf Assassin Xylas, the leaders of the Dreadwater Noble House learned about what occurred in the sole surviving tower of the R-System, how it was completed, and what Lilea intended on doing when she ventured to the tower itself along with what she got from the venture. With all this information along with Lilea invoking her authority in the household, a meeting was hastily arranged by those in high standing in the Dreadwater household. Not everyone was in attendance, of course. They were either too busy with acquiring new resources for the household or other matters that require their personnel touch in them. That being said, a good portion of the leadership was present, including Lilea's blood siblings.

Of the twenty-one seats in the room, only fourteen of them were filled including the largest seat. Amongst those seated was Lilea herself, still dressed in her full-plate armor, though her metal mask wasn't present, allowing all to see her mark, something that Lilea chaffed at as it reminded her constantly of her failure with Fairy Tail all those years ago. Hopefully, that indignity will be erased and her mark will be removed after what they can extract what useful information they can from Jellal. If they can find any that is.

Looking at the various men and women around her, Lilea looked at Tirnoc sitting on the grander chair in the room and couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking.

Sitting on the grand chair, Tirnoc was imposing even without sitting upon the seat which made him tower over everyone else. Tall, even for a Druchii, Tirnoc was dressed in black and golden full-plate armor made with intimidation in mind. Glaring at everyone with a mask not to dissimilar to Malekith's, the Witch King of Naggarond own helmet and mask, Tirnoc spoke, beginning the meeting.

"We are here today because my own sister, Lilea Dreadwater, has brought forth something of potential value to our house." Said Tirnoc, addressing everyone in a voice that oozed power and authority as well as intimidation. "Lilea, I trust that what you brought is of actual value to our family. Unlike your past attempts to raise your standings in the family." Lilea chaffed at the tone used towards her before speaking in as much as a respectful tone as possible.

"Well brother, I have managed to acquire the owner of the sole remaining tower of the R-system." Said Lilea, causing people to raise an eyebrow or have their eyes lit up in greed and hunger for potential glory for them. They remembered the R-system tower and they were quite eager to hear if it was within their possession. Such a powerful object in their possession can be a huge boon to them. Even more so if they learn how to construct even more of the towers. "Through interrogations from those I captured with him, I learned that he had not only finished construction of the tower but also managed to find a way to actually power it. It's my belief that he can help us construct a tower for our use as well as find a way to power it. Not only that, but he actually had a spy within the Magic Council in Fiore. And I mean a spy within the council itself. So he would be privy to many of their secrets and the like. Perhaps he may have even found a way to access their most powerful weapons. Like Etherion." That got a lot of attracted attention from everyone, something Lilea was pleased with. That soon went away when she heard a voice that she detested.

"Very optimistic, sister." Said a masculine voice, causing Lilea and everyone else to turn to a Dark Elf male wearing dark leather armor, his helmet on the table next to him. Silver hair flowed down his back as he gave a small smile to Lilea. A smile that seemed like it was friendly, but hidden beneath the friendly gesture was a snake waiting to strike on its unsuspecting foe when their guard was down. "But is there any reason for us to truly consider these potential gains when we have very little to support that he even knows much of the construction of the tower and that he knows any secrets of the Magic Council that we either don't already know or can take advantage of? Am I not right, sister?" Lilea clenched her left fist under the table at what her blood brother said but otherwise remained calm.

This is what her younger brother, a conniving snake known as Cornelius, always did to her. Trying to make her look incompetent or downplay her achievements in front of the rest of the house and then trying to find a way to advance his own position within the family. He had always done so since she had received her own high position within the family and received her own seat within the Hall of Blood. The Hall of Blood, after all, was meant for only the most prestige and important members of the Dreadwater family. For a time, she tolerated his antics as they did nothing to harm her reputation in the family. After all, she was a successful slaver and had secured thousands of slaves for her family and the economy of Bosco. She even managed to capture several rare Wyverns for use as warmounts for the most influential and powerful of the Dreadwater noble house, her mount Sullava amongst them. After they were experimented on and enhanced, of course. Yes her position within the family was strong and there seemed like nothing can change that. But that was when Fairy Tail came and ruined all that. Especially Makarov.

That first encounter with Makarov had damaged her reputation within the Dreadwaters so much that she not only lost much influence with the family but also lost the position she had in the Hall of Blood table before that failure caused by Makarov, which was the third most important position within the table. One that was now held by Cornelius, who had taken advantage of her failure to advance his own position at the table. Something he, as much as Lilea hated to admit, did well on.

But having that position wasn't enough for Cornelius. No. He wanted to humiliate her or worse to befall on her for having the position in the first place. He believed he deserved it more than her and wanted to make sure she never had a chance to usurp or threaten his power again. Thus. The constant jabs at her and making her look bad. Not to mention the constant attempts to sabotage her slave raids or operations every now and then. She had no proof of it, but once in a while, a village in Bosco is alerted to an impending slave trade, thus making it difficult to acquire to slaves with the village's defenders now alerted or them leaving the village in a haste, or a hidden slave network is discovered via unknown means by local authorities, thus endangering slave operations in whatever region they were stationed in and potentially others. All of these were things that Lilea had a major part of. Thus, she suspected her brother of these treacherous actions. As stated before, she had no proof otherwise his head would be on a pike as a warning for all the sabotaging he's done against his own family, but she knew that it was him. While it was more or less expected of fellow Druchii to sabotage their fellow Dark Elves in order to advance their own ambitions, even if it was their own kin, if they are caught, the price for such sabotage would be severe, no matter their place within the hierarchy of the Druchii. Cornelius is smart, though, and hid his tracks well, but he'll slip up eventually and Lilea will reap the benefits of such a slip-up. Just like how he did with her own failure all those years ago.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on the perspective, her only sister, Cirvil, spoke in defense of her sister.

Twins at birth, Cirvil looked exactly like Lilea but with black hair instead of white. Also unlike Lilea, Cirvil was wearing revealing robes that showed off most of her body and could barely qualify as clothing. Her face was also unmarred by a brand, unlike Lilea, something that vexed Lilea a great deal. Finally, her choice of weapon was not a sword but a staff made of blackened wood and one end contained the symbol of the Dreadwater family on it surrounded by four large blades, allowing the staff to be used as a weapon.

"Even if that were true, brother." Said Cirvil, her voice like silk. "He wouldn't have spent so much time in that tower while it was under construction without learning some things about it along with whatever secrets the cult that originally owned it before their own slaves drove them out." A few chuckles of amusement rang from that declaration. Such will never happen if the Druchii were in charge of the tower. They knew how to properly handle slaves and prevent them from rebelling against their master in the first place. Those that happen anyway were the result of incompetence from the slave masters and nothing more. "Besides, from my own spies within the Magic Council, I can confirm that the tower was indeed completed and that the Magic Council tried to destroy it. They failed. The tower instead absorbed the power of their Etherion weapon and instead became empowered by the blast." That information caused much murmuring from the assembled Druchii. While Cornelius was annoyed with what his other sister said, Lilea was cautious. Cirvil never did anything without it being of any benefit to her. She wouldn't have aided her sister if it didn't benefit her at all. Just what was she up to?

Upon hearing what Cirvil said, Tirnoc spoke up again.

"If that is true, then why has Lilea not brought forth proof that the tower is in our possession? Nor that it was active in the first place?" Asked Tirnoc, curiosity and suspicion in his voice.

"Because, sadly, my spies within her own ship have told me a very…disturbing thing." Said Cirvil, a hint of reluctance in her voice and perhaps even a hint of worry as well. "They tell me that the tower was taken. Not by the Magic Council of Fiore, no. Nor the kingdom of Caelum or in Earthland. No. They claim that the tower was taken by the Forces of Chaos. Specifically the Chaos God Tzeentch." Upon hearing that, there were yells of disbelief and shock upon Cirvil's declaration.

"That's impossible!" Yelled a Druchii female, her face filled with skepticism and disbelief. "The Chaos Gods know not of our presence here. How could they be here at all!?"

"Perhaps it is due to the Asrai presence here." Said another Druchii, a male this time. "Perhaps they have brought this world's doom upon us all and we all will suffer for their foolishness."

"Perhaps they are truly responsible, but the fact remains the Chaos Gods or at least the Changer of Ways knows about this world." Said Cirvil, knowing about the Asrai from Lilea sometime ago. They all knew about them from her failed attempt to assassinate most of Fiore's Guild Masters sometime ago. While that was of some interest to them as they thought they were the only elven group present in Earthland, it didn't warrant much attention from them. It was only two Asrai and nothing more so they weren't worth much attention. For now, anyway. "Though it is not She Who Thirsts, Tzeentch is still quite a danger to us. This world is filled with magic. Magic that the Changer of Ways will no doubt eagerly wish to obtain for himself. He has proven that with his capture of the R-System Tower. We must prepare."

"Agreed." Said Tirnoc, displeased at what he was hearing. The Chaos Gods were always a thorn to the side of the Druchii and it appears they will be again. "But getting back to the topic at hand. Lilea are you certain that this human you captured will provide us with something of use?"

"Of course." Said Lilea as she looked at her brother. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have called this meeting in the first place."

"Good." Said Tirnoc. "Because if he doesn't, you know what will befall on you." Lilea stopped herself from flinching at the subtle threat, knowing what her brother was speaking of. "But until that is actually determined, he is of potential use to us. Have him sent to Cirvil's care. She will determine if he is of use to us and to what extent." Lilea just bowed her head at that, knowing her place in the table. "Now with that out of the way, let us discuss this most recent of troubling news. The Chaos God Tzeentch. Lilea and Cirvil. Explain in great detail of what you know of the Changer of Ways and how he has a part in taking the R-system tower from us." The two female Druchii looked at each other before Cirvil nodded at Lilea, telling her to start first. With that, Lilea began a recounting of her venture to the R-system tower. From the very beginning.

Meanwhile

Lokhir Fellheart

Blessed Dread

"Are we close to the destination, Vestea?" Asked Lokhir Fellheart as he looked forward from the helm of the Blessed Dread, the Druchii commander eager to find the hated rival house of his family and exterminate them completely once and for all.

After some time of extensive torture and interrogation methods, Lokhir and his sister managed to gain some information on the whereabouts of the Dreadwaters. Or rather how to find them.

The prisoners were not very forthcoming about giving up the location of the Dreadwaters or how they managed to escape the genocide of their family house in the first place. Carasta was a bit surprised at how long they held up to her own personnel interrogation of them, but eventually, they broke and revealed to Lokhir and Carasta what they wanted. A pity, honestly, their sorceress sister would have liked to have a hand in interrogating the prisoners when she learned about them working for the Dreadwaters. Oh well, she could help in the extermination of the Dreadwaters when they find them. That will help brighten her mood in being left out in such a rare opportunity to find the location of a rival family long thought dead.

According to the prisoners, the Dreadwaters found a magic relic within a large cave system connected to the ocean. This cave system was the same one they apparently used to survive the Fellheart's purge of their house. After making sure that they were telling the truth and that there wasn't anything the prisoners were leaving out, Lokhir departed with the Blessed Dread and an escort fleet to the location of the cave, somewhere in the Far Sea, which was between Lustria and Naggaroth.

The Far Sea was a dangerous place for all manners of people, filled with danger of all shapes and sizes. Whether that be the powerful Cathayan fleets stationed there to protect Cathay's borders from Dark Elf raiders and slavers, natural disasters, sea monsters, and even fellow Dark Elves looking to earn more glory and rewards for themselves while also sabotaging their rivals, the Far Sea was a dangerous place to travel through.

It was a perfect place for Lokhir Fellheart and his crew. The constant danger was a thrill to them and kept them sharp. Something that any good Dark Elf Corsair would want if they wish to live long in the life of a Dark Elf Corsair. To Lokhir, the Far Sea was a good place to weed out the weak from the strong, something that Lokhir and any Dark Elf would do so as to not cause their own downfall by having too many weaklings under their command. There were many more but the Far Sea was one of Lokhir's favorite places to do such activities. Cathay after all was one of their primary sources of slaves and plunder and the Far Sea was filled with Cathayan ships. Military ships that can help his crew in understanding the fighting style of the Cathayans, thus helping them be prepared to face them when the time comes to raid Cathay again. But enough of all that, Lokhir had something that must be done and he will see it through.

Vestea, knowing what he was referring to, simply spoke up.

"Yes, milord." Said Vestea. "We're approaching the coordinates that you've provided us. We should be at the destination within the week."

"Excellent." Said Lokhir, satisfied with the progress that they are making. "Maintain our speed and heading. I want to be at this cave within the week." Vestea just nodded at that before leaving her lord alone, allowing him to ponder on the Dreadwaters and this Bosco he heard about.

Though he yearned and was eagerly anticipating the day he'll spill Dreadwater blood, Lokhir can't help but think that things weren't as simple as his mind and sister were telling him. Though Carasta believes Bosco is simply a hidden city within the Far Sea, created by the Dreadwaters, Lokhir couldn't help but have a feeling that it was something more and that he best be prepared for the worst. Or rather for the unexpected, something his gut was telling him to do so lest it cost him dearly.

Starring off into the sea, Lokhir thought about the future and what it held for him and if it was something that will benefit him and his family.