Chapter 71: Words of Wisdom

Mid Afternoon - Late Spring : Northeastern Bahamut

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- Osto Ragnarok ~

*Knock* *Knock*

"Who is it~?" A warm, mature woman's voice rang out as I heard several heavy footsteps on the other side of the door.

*Clink* As the heavy lock was released, the door swung open to reveal a 43-meter-tall white-silver dragon looking down at me.

"Hey Asimi, it's been a while." I gave her an awkward smile as I tried to anticipate how she'd act.

"Oh, welcome back! Come on inside, I was just getting ready to eat." She motioned me in as she happily spoke. "So how's my cute son-in-law doing?"

"Haah…" -There it is…- "I'm doing well. I've been on that 'business' trip with Vasilias in Kaelallan recently."

Asimi's eyes lit up upon hearing the name. "Oh! How are my grandbabies doing? Zachari hasn't even written home once since they were born." She stared at me with a deep eagerness.

"Uhm.. Krystallo is doing quite well, she's in her Adolescent Sleep right now. As for Vasilias, well.. he's an oddball."

"Wow, so Krystallo is already such a fine gem. That's good to hear, but what do you mean by Vasilias being an oddball?"

"Well.. I think it'd be better for you to see him in person.." I really wanted to avoid explaining the situation to avoid a misunderstanding. -She won't understand unless she sees it anyways…-

"Hmm…" She took a moment to look me up and down. "In that case, I'll just have to take your word for it. It's just a shame that I can't just visit myself because of the Elder Hall's pestering…"

"Is it because of the rebellion?"

"Haah, no, it has to do with Siratha. You remember them saying their God had returned? Well, we just got word from Amphitrite saying she talked to a 'wandering god' that confirmed it."

-There is still a wandering god left?- "It's fine that you can't visit though. Zachari said she was going to bring the kids down here once Krystallo wakes up."

"Oh, really?!" Her spirit immediately brightened. "So how's Fengari doing? I still believe he will be one of the strongest dragons in Bahamut one day! That's only to be expected from the child I named!"

"Ah.. about that..."

Seeing my off-putting stance, she froze in place. "Don't tell me something happened to him..."

The mood continued to darken as I carefully thought about how to say it. "According to Zachari, he.. never hatched..."

Asimi's face immediately lost its color and her pupils dilated.

Feeling my heart tense up slightly, I tried to think of how to possibly cheer her up and settled on Ilios. "Although he never hatched, Vasilias found us a new family member that, somehow, doesn't fall behind him by much."

"Right.. I shouldn't be crying. Fate just works in mysterious ways... Plus I still have two perfectly healthy grandkids that, according to you, are diamonds, so I can't cry!" She gave herself some pep talk as she looked up at the ceiling to hold back tears. But that was when she finally thought about what I said. "Wait, WHAT?! HE FOUND A WIFE AT 10 years old?! Is that what you meant by him being an oddball?!"

"No no no, nothing like that. I can't give too much information on him right now since I'm not too sure about it myself, but he's a Fenrir named Ilios."

"Oh.. so a dog?" Somehow she seemed disappointed it wasn't a wife.

"N..not quite… It's actually a little more complicated than that."

Seeing that I really didn't want to go into detail, she gave me a curious look before deciding to move on. "Well, I won't prod anymore as long as I see him when they come down. I assume he'll come here with everyone else, right?"

"Of course! He's constantly glued to Vasilias, so." -Even if I tried to separate them, I don't think I'd be able to…-

"Alright, in that case, let's get to business. I assume you didn't just come to visit your poor old mother-in-law, did you?" She showed an exaggerated frown like she was trying to poke fun at me.

"You dare call yourself old? You're only 243. You still have well over a millennia to go."

"Hey!" *Bonk* "I'm only 242. Also, how do you know I'll make it through my ancient sleep?"

As I rubbed my head where she bonked me, I gave her an unbelieving look. "You and I both know that you'll make it through that sleep just fine." -Not a single one of your ancestors failed to live through it…-

"The future is always changing, so you never know. Putting that aside though, what did you come all the way back to Bahamut for?" Her face turned serious.

"I would like to both give some information about the rebellion and request for 'assistance'."

"I'd normally just send you to Myles, but he's.. out of town... Have you not talked to any of the elders?"

"No, no one was in the Hall when I passed by there."

"Ugh, of course, there weren't…" She rolled her eyes. "So what information did you want to give?"

"I'm going to need you to hear me out first."

Asimi immediately raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"While in Kaelallan, a bunch of things happened. There were several assassination attempts on the king, all made by the Magic Tower."

"And that has to do with the rebellion, how?"

"Well.. a halfie was a part of one of the squads that attacked."

"Okay? How does that relate to us? You even fought alongside the Holy Empire for a while; that shouldn't be odd."

"The issue was that the halfie used her dragon form, and not only did the people with her not react too oddly, when we questioned her, she said it was common knowledge among her peers that she was a dragon."

Asimi's face started to darken once again. "Continue."

"Well, after taking the several events and piling together the information we gathered, Vasilias and I have a reason to believe that the tower is the one funding the rebellion."

"But we can't intervene unless you find actual evidence of the funding. Just because humans knew she was a dragon doesn't mean we can eviscerate a random organization, you know that. I know where you're coming from though, it does sound plausible."

"So is that a no for requesting military assistance?"

"Haah.. I can't send anyone without the other elders' or Myles's approval, and the elders would never agree to such a grand assumption." As she glanced at a maid in the corner of the room, she seemed to have an idea. "Do you know where the headquarters is?"

"Deacia."

"Haah.. I've got an idea, but I'm not sure how you'll be able to pull it off." She looked a bit troubled as she thought through other possibilities.

"I'm all ears."

"Although we aren't supposed to intervene too much in the human world, that doesn't mean we can't. You either need to manage to lie low and get some physical evidence so we can intervene directly, or.." The atmosphere in the room darkened significantly. "Leave no witnesses."

I couldn't help but break out into a cold sweat and hang my head towards the floor as her aura filled the room. -She got this much stronger?!-

Forcing myself to look up at her, I noticed her devious smile. "It's not a crime if you aren't caught."

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- Vasilias ~

*Thump*

Closing the book I was looking at, I set it back on the shelf on the third floor. -How the hell has this world even gotten to the medieval era...-

The book I just finished discussed the mathematics of this world, something I had wanted to see ever since I came to this world.

The issue was, after extensively looking through the books, the most advanced math I found was moderately advanced algebra called, 'The Language of Merchants'.

I had originally expected that there would be some precalculus since the structures were so well built, but it seems I was wrong.

Somehow, this world managed to build huge medieval palaces and academies without the help of advanced mathematics.

-It must be because of magic.. right?- There was simply no other possibility that I could think of.

Continuing to look around, I couldn't find anything really science-based besides some biological logs talking about different species and how they acted.

-Maybe magic is the science of this world… It wouldn't be a grand assumption to think that they sum chemistry up to 'it's just magic'.- It was also entirely possible that what I classified as science was just integrated into magic, but at the very least, I couldn't find anything beyond the extreme basics.

"Haah.." Closing yet another book and setting it on the shelf, I looked up at the other floors above me. -I still have 3 more floors to go… The upper floors have magic theory, so maybe the more advanced stuff is in there…-

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World Map Image (Work In Progress):

Chapter end