Chapter 40 - An Old Acquaintance

Inspecting myself, I found, to my somewhat tedious relief, that I was wearing clothing; it would not have done me any good to show up as nude as the day I was born in at a city outskirt, or in this case, at Milgard outpost.

I recognized this familiar, sprawling town-like outpost with its intimidating walls, with its three jutting towers spread strategically for forewarning of any enemies that got close to the northern boundary. The location made an effective stop point and choke-hold, giving an excellent view of the plains and forests.

Even without these distinct landmarks, I would have remembered this place, for its population consisted of mainly soldiers. This was also the place I had met my two year slave, Rhea of the Wanderers, murdered by unknown thieves, who had been connected to a larger, shadowy organization, as I had later found out in my chain of vengeance.

But avenging Rhea was not what I came to Shail Kingdom for. No, I came here to find out who was behind father's and my death, as there was no conceivable way that raiders would have known the exact path our caravans were traveling and the most opportune time to attack them. I had a suspicious feeling that it was an old acquaintance of father who had done it, most likely working in concert with those goblins and dark elves. The idea of goblins and dark elves (or black elves if you prefer that term) working together also gave foundation to this suspicion, since goblins were a belligerent race and very unlikely to work together with others.

Perhaps that old acquaintance or even others felt threatened by father's growing influence and wealth, which were almost comparable to that of a high-ranking noble. Still, it was useless to make speculations all day, when I could take a direct hand into finding out the cause.

At this moment, however, there were some intriguing displays of magic I needed to give thought to. I was wearing a nicely cut long-sleeved shirt with bands of gold encircling the sleeves all the way to my elbows, just stopping a little beyond. It was of a sable color, black as the darkest night, and against my skin, the material felt like many gossamer of sins, supple as vice too. On the chest of the shirt, there was an outline of a red dragon in the process of giving a ferocious roar. At the back, there was a cowl of a lighter shade of black attached to the garment, which would make hiding my entire face an easy feat. Down beneath my waist, I was also wearing, to no surprise of mine, black leggings made from a soft hide.

All of my clothing felt soft as sin, and would stand out like a sore thumb if I was amongst a crowd, especially with my clashing white hair. There was no doubt that I would not be able to mix among humans without garnering some form of attention. Still, ignoring this, I was most interested in how these clothes were made when I had been entirely naked just moments before the teleportation.

Did the eldest, Navra Bloodseeker, had magic that could create clothing out of thin air? I was not entirely doubtful of this, however, having witnessed his feats of overwhelming magic. I was also surprised at the precision with which the eldest teleported me. I was in the exact place I wanted to be, just behind Milgard Outpost inside the encircling forests I had described, which would hide me from suspicious eyes.

And was it just a coincidence that the eldest gave me these garments? I felt slightly nervous, unsure of the thoughts of the eldest. Had he seen through my lies? I could only hope he had not. Or was it a subtle warning that I should not show myself as a dragon to the humans. He had, after all, told me specifically not to change into my dragon form at the later part of my second tribulation.

I put away these thoughts to the back of my mind, sure that the garments were most likely a warning. It would not matter, anyway, because I could just ask the eldest after the year was over, and perhaps he might deign to answer. It was a very likely possibility. I was sure that I would not need to transform into a dragon anyway.

For now, I would focus on the task at hand.

I summoned my dragon wings and replaced my human eyes with dragon eyes, which were not entirely different from human ones; they just become a brighter green and looked more unnatural with a closer inspection. I was pretty sure humans would become uncomfortable with my dragon eyes if they took a closer inspection, so there would be a need to revert back to human eyes when with the company of humans.

Being cautious of my surroundings in case humans were here, I took flight into the air with a strong, initial jump. I flew higher and higher, until I would become just a speck of dirt to any straying eyes that looked above. I went higher and higher until even my dragon eyes could barely make out the details on the ground.

It was time to head toward the place where my father and I had been killed, the forest roads near the city of Asolance where my father's old acquaintance lived in, where he ruled the northern region of the kingdom with an iron fist gloved in velvet, though the velvet gloves were more torn than whole.

It was time to visit Baron Serle, one of the four most powerful nobles in the kingdom, and the overseer of the northern region of Shail kingdom, known as the Wolf of the North. It was a title which had quickly changed from Guardian of the North due to the ferocious and pack-like loyalty of the Serle family.