Magnir attempts a low-power spell that he has been practicing in hopes of being more useful to the Fievegal. There are many powerful mages in the inner-circle of the Fievegal’s leadership, including the Dragon Empresses, but extending to even the humans in the form of Wenlianna, and the goblins in Ahok. As such, ‘magic development’ inspired by the otherworlder Emperor is a top priority of the Fievegal, and the spell Magnir is employing is one such result of that field of research, even if the process itself is chaotic. 

That spell, of course, is one that serves as a taunt for enemies. It technically qualifies as a void-magic ‘hypnosis’ spell, but the strength of the spell belies its simplicity.

The goal is simple; force enemies to attack Magnir.

The advent of the otherworlder Emperor of Dragons, or more accurately, Emperor of the Fievegal, has brought about concept-changing ideas for how to employ magic, ranging from how to narrow certain spells from offensive-style attacks to medical uses, and general categories of magic to specific purpose-driven spells like the ‘Taunt’ spell Magnir is trying out.

And, true to his goal, the spell draws the wolf-like summons mindlessly towards him. They are helpless against his spell due to being summoned beasts to begin with, which are almost literally created to be slaves to stronger beings, and the brutally simple focus of the spell; to make the user himself a target of instinctive animosity.

Daniel’s world studied everything, from how the mind works, to how the physical matter of the universe interacts with other matter, and even going as far as to speculate on the possibilities of ‘fictional’ ideas such as magic in ways Daniel claims to have only dreamed of at one time.

Now, he suggests things almost recklessly in hopes that his companions can figure it out.

And, when the summoned beasts of another rather-skilled mage suddenly abandon all pretense of attacking the convoy or its guards in order to charge straight for the blue dragon with wanton abandon, Magnir comes to respect his Liege Lord even more than he already did.

Daniel defeated the dragons with a combination of another world’s technology and strategies combined with the basic element of surprise. Since the higher dragons were slain helplessly, lesser dragons like Magnir were lucky to even come out of the aftermath with their lives. Some were revived by the Emperor’s strange mercy for the dragons, supposedly at Vaergraes’ request, but Magnir has come to know that the otherworlder Emperor has a great deal of uncontrollable empathy that battles with his own survival instincts at times.

From that all-but-obvious weakness, Magnir was made one of the most powerful and prestigious knights in the world, even being among the weakest a dragon can possibly be while being considered a ‘dragon’. Ryuogriar even unilaterally changed the definition of ‘Dragon’ such that it is a title to be earned, rather than a basic species definition that includes the magically-weak lesser dragons like Magnir and Roeta.

The point of that being the fact that Magnir is thankful and proud to be a Jomsviking and Einherjar of the Fievegal, titles bestowed by a strange otherworlder Emperor who stops at nothing to make his warriors stronger.

Once the beasts close in on Magnir, mindlessly charging towards him with no ability to resist his magical spell due to their simple minds and individually weak magic, the blue dragon takes a deep breath. He’s in his human form for the purposes of the mission, and he lacks the mana to change between his true form and human form more than once per day.

That said, he is still a dragon, even if his form is small and his apparent size restricted.

Magnir breathes a powerful jet of fire as he spins, creating a ring of immolation around him that engulfs the summoned beasts in vast numbers, wiping out dozens of them in seconds. The Stalvaltan Guards defending the convoy, and more specifically the Grand Duchess, cheer at the sudden and massive clearing of enemies by the second Jomsviking of the Fievegal.

Magnir grins, ecstatic to bring the Fievegal and himself such honor.

But, the battle isn’t over yet.

One of the officers of the Stalvaltan Guard calls out, “West side across the river! We need the Dragonslayers!” Neith knows him to be a middle-ranking officer, but that is far from being a factor to discredit his exclamation. He’s telling everyone around that the summoner of these monsters has been identified, and the ‘Dragonslayers’ can only mean the ones armed with the most powerful of rifles capable of snuffing out life from over a mile away, as well as bringing down a dragon with relative ease.

Magnir knows the truth of that assumption, and that the Red Knight and Morthybargaron himself didn’t even attempt to defend against the attack because neither of them had any idea what Daniel was capable of.

Since then, of course, Daniel has learned how to slay enemies capable of defending against his original strategy, but only if he is prepared to defend against his attacks.

In the midst of annihilating summoned beasts, Magnir notices Gold and Hekate wandering through the battlefield, with Gold carrying the First and Second Princesses of the Fievegal. He is baffled by her decision to do such a thing, but Neith soon confronts her, and they part on peaceful terms to resume their respective intentions for the battle.

Gold is fearless, and Magnir has no illusions about her strength. She is among the most powerful dragons, having trained far more than even Ryuogriar, who is the oldest living female dragon. Gold could possibly go head-to-head with Neith, the eldest dragon in the Fievegal on top of being male, and the gilded dragon would stand some chance of winning that hypothetical fight.

As such, Magnir doesn’t fear for her safety or that of Hekate and the Princesses. Being Daniel’s daughters with the Goblins Shek and Skloe, there’s very little chance of the Princesses being any sort of remarkable with magic in order to make up for their weak bloodline. Regardless, in Gold’s hands, they are almost certainly safe, and Gold is aware of the ‘almost’ aspect, since she was incapacitated by Daniel without even experiencing his improved rifle the way Magnir and Geirahoel did.

With the main battle under control, Magnir quickly assesses the situation from what he can hear, see, and even smell.

Daniel isn’t on the battlefield the wolf-beasts were attacking. He is close, but far enough away that his scent is blended with many other odors, including the water of the river, certain chemicals, and people armed with first-model firearms using much simpler ‘alchemy powder’ as natives of the world of Zenkon recognize the explosive powders used in basic firearms.

Daniel doesn’t use the basic black powder formula anymore, opting for something easy enough to make, but landing, in his words, between traditional black powder and modern smokeless powder.

Thus, the smell is alien, but not from Daniel specifically, easily marking it as something from the enemies.

Magnir isn’t paid enough to care who the enemies are, specifically, nor what faction they belong to. They are enemies of the Fievegal, and he is a knight of the Fievegal. His first and most precious priority is to protect the territory he is charged with defending and the home of his Mukori and their children.

Magnir has an egg that is his. Not Morthybargaron’s, not Mulmonbargonaed’s; no one else but Magnir’s.

His own child is going to be born soon under the banner of the Fievegal, which is a triumph the Red Lord only dreamed of.

Magnir, like many of the dragons under the Fievegal’s wing, whether they want to admit it or not, is ready to incinerate all enemies of the Fievegal in order to protect that luxury. This includes anyone who even remotely inconveniences Daniel, Hekate, Ryuogriar, or any of the other Empresses, be they dragons, gatonines, humans, or anyone else. Morthybargaron went hundreds of years without ever providing a single dragon offspring of his own, let alone affording the lesser dragons the right to even mate with the females.

As such, Magnir, notices where Hekate and Gold head to, but he notices that Gold stops Hekate from advancing. Technically speaking, Magnir knows Gold’s true ‘friendly’ name, but he dare not even think it himself, since avoiding one’s given name is one way to avoid being enslaved. Daniel simply offered a treasure worth more than basic freedom to the dragons, and he gave them freedom anyways.

Daniel is in that direction, but there are wielders of firearms not made by the Fievegal there.

He’s not sure why Hekate and Gold held back, unless it was to defend the current Crown Princess and the Second Princess, Jieka and Tekten respectively. But, Magnir is confident Gold can handle it, being amongst the strongest living beings in the world.

So, he uses his wings, which he had at rest behind him, to dart into the air, soaring quickly towards the valley where Daniel’s scent is coming from.

Between himself, Hekate, Gold, and Neith, Magnir should be the last one to come to Daniel’s rescue, but something has altered the balance. Regardless of whatever that factor is, Magnir will, at worst, be scolded for ‘intervening when unnecessary’, which is far more forgivable than ‘you let the Emperor die’. 

So, he races over the valley to scan for Daniel. The blasts of the firearm he’s using are distinct and loud, and he has already fired twice, aiming a third time at the remaining assassin who is not yet incapacitated.

The next shot deflects off of a magic barrier around the assassin, and Magnir starts his dive. Daniel may be relatively calm, but he is still the Harbinger of Calamity.

He is a weak human with no magic successfully wielding weapons capable of conquering the world to create the illusion of unsurpassable power.

Those who know are aware of how weak he actually is.

Those amongst his allies of all ranks know exactly how much they can benefit from siding with him, from goblin grunt to dragon Empress.

Magnir is well aware that he could kill Daniel with ease.

Instead, he is happy to defend the human.

As the assassin charges forward, the blue Jomsviking dives towards the ground, rolling in a sort of free-falling front flip that lands him on his feet with his helmet facing towards the low-running assassin.

The arrival of the blue dragon is so sudden, the assassin doesn’t likely truly see or acknowledge it until he is within single-digit millimeters of the blue knight’s presence.

And, with focused precision, the blue dragon takes a forceful lunge forward, driving his own helmeted head down powerfully. The low posture of the assassin in his sprint makes the attack easy.

Due to the killer-for-hire running forward with his tongue out, he lost focus when he began gagging on an insect that found its way into his mouth with ease due to his goofy expression and habit. This left him completely unable to react to the winged armored knight that has placed himself directly into the hitman’s path. 

And, with the added force of Magnir catching him in a devestating headbutt, the assassin is forcefully brought to a stop one painful organ at a time, starting with his skull.

His neck is bent by his body continuing forward all the same, and human teeth are driven together against his own collar with such a bone-crunching impact, one would be forgiven for thinking the dragon was trying to squash the man’s skull like a grape.

Now liberated from its body by the man's own unwilling dental guillotine, his tongue and several runagate teeth make their hasty escape through the air, pursued only by a relatively small spray of blood.

With his body’s momentum still moving forward and now a little upward from the inhuman impact, the assassin’s hips and legs arc upwards into the perfect position for the dragon to grab hold and flip the man entirely to a ‘seat’ on the Einherjar’s shoulders. Without time for the dazed killer to regain his senses, if he has senses to regain, Magnir slams the assassin down onto his back with their combined body-weight and the strength of the dragon’s back, leaving the choking and bleeding man dazed for a moment with broken bones and a wholly disoriented mind. He might already be concussed or plummeting into shock, but his body still gasps and wheezes in attempts to sustain life.

The blue Einherjar then grips the assassin by the collar, grumbling, “Whoops… I briefly forgot you were just a human.” He sparks an igniter flame in his mouth, creating a crackling pilot. The dragon then takes a deep breath, carefully pursing his lips and breathing fire onto his left thumb, which he soon jams into the man’s mouth to cauterize his tongue. This awakens whatever semblance of his soul remains, and the assassin screams in agony, flailing weakly and pathetically as the dragon does the bare minimum to keep him alive.

The wayward mechanic of Earth recites as he receives fresh shells from Aoloan, “Ye, though I walk through the valley of Death, I shall fear no evil, for I have a Shotgun. And Dragons.”

“Apologies, my Liege. I shall accept punishment if this man dies.”

“At least you actually came to my rescue,” jokes the human as he approaches, closing the shotgun with the new rounds. He quickly hipfires the shotgun at the knife-licker assassin, who somehow recovered enough to stand up at the ready. The scatterblast of the powerful shotgun tatters the man’s right leg to near ribbons, while the other one catches several pellets as well, toppling the hitman before he could retrieve his own pistol to try to take a hail Mary shot at Daniel. The stocky man lands on his back as he screams in pain, which becomes gargled and fluttery from the blood rapidly filling his mouth.

From where he nearly cut his own tongue off by being an idiot.

Magnir has seen Daniel practice sword fighting with golems, as well as Treia and Gwenesphia, who are the most practiced at sword combat. The human Emperor doesn’t have any blades drawn, and he favors his firearms over melee combat where he can help it.

Daniel stands over the tongue-hanger, the tallest of the three assassins with a tattoo on his face.

“Told you you look like a moron. One slices his tongue with his own dagger like a clown,  another was so eager to slob my knob, he ran right into the front of my shotgun, and the last one bites his own tongue nearly off because he can’t keep it in his mouth. All because you pathetic idiots wanted to look like a middle-schooler’s idea of ‘threatening’.” The mechanic laughs and shakes his head, feeling a little disgusted with himself that he’s not more horrified that he’s taking human lives at this point. “Suddenly Shounen villains. Idiots.” The mechanic hands the shotgun over to Magnir, who accepts it and stands by, observing loyally.

Though Daniel has no mana while under the effects of the curse, Magnir would swear the air cools rapidly around the human, who had a strange, icy tone of ‘joy’ just a moment ago.

When he next speaks, his voice is almost lifeless. He draws his revolver and reloads it, dumping one spent shell that was the only round in the cylinder, as if he played Russian Roulette and won. 

Once it’s loaded, he places it under the assassin’s fractured chin as he kneels on the killer’s chest. The deadened tone of the otherworlder Emperor is worse than hearing him angry. It genuinely frightens the blue dragon.

“I’d love to keep you alive and torture you in every way you were threatening to do to my companions. My family. But, you see, I’m not a moron. Keeping you alive is just time for you to be rescued or escape.”

The man’s eyes widen in horror, and he tries to speak, but Daniel puts the muzzle into his mouth. “What makes you think I’m stupid enough to believe you have any information of value? Your employers would have to be as idiotic as you three to entrust cartoonishly psychotic losers with usable information. Whatever you think you know in your edgy unhinged child brain is what they allowed you to know.” Daniel pulls the trigger, forever silencing the first one. Magnir twitches, but stands fast. He can tell the human twitched as well when the blood sprays on his helmet and chest, as well as the barrel and cylinder of the revolver.

Without another word, he stands up, approaching the last surviving attacker, who is too busy flailing and screaming to even notice the Emperor’s approach, followed closely by Magnir.

The would-be assassin finally notices Daniel and begins shaking his head. “P-Pweez! L-Lissen! I-I hab i-i-informagion!”

“You know, they say it happens so fast, you can’t even feel it as your brains are turned to scrambled eggs. I’d be curious to ask you, but that will be difficult.” Daniel places the muzzle to the man’s forehead, and blood trails off of the revolver and down the fearful assassin’s temples. He begins to tremble, though Magnir sees what else is to be seen.

His Emperor is clenching his left fist and trying to hide his own shaking. Certainly, anger is mixed in, but for everything he has had to do to survive on Zenkon, Daniel is not a practiced killer. His old world was unfathomably peaceful compared to this one.

“Where’s your arrogance from before?” asks the mechanic with a growl that could be masking his own hesitation. “You were going to slice up my family. Could it be that it was all just ego, rather than confidence? Ego is the trait of children and fools, after all.”

“I-I-I’m s-z-zorry! Zpare me!” The slice in his tongue is obviously making it painful for him to talk, and his mouth is draining blood down his chin.

“Another trait of worthless Suddenly Shounen clowns. For all your bluster, it is unfathomable to you that you’ll lose. And, when you do, you turn into the children you always were.”

Daniel crouches to his level, keeping the revolver pinned to the man’s forehead. “Tell you what. Cry out for your mommy, and I’ll let you-...”

“M-M-Mommy!” cries the man instantly. “Please, Mommy!”

“Pathetic…” retorts Daniel. He starts to squeeze the trigger, but Magnir calls out, “Please wait, my Liege.”

As if silently pleading to be stopped, Daniel relaxes his finger instantly, and the hammer eases forward instead of striking. He looks at the blue dragon, and Magnir feels the same fear he felt the day Daniel conquered the dragons. The moment the greatest living dragon, Morthybargaron, was slain in seconds will forever live in the much weaker dragon’s mind.

The Jomsviking isn’t looking at his Emperor. He is staring into the abyss of the Harbinger of Calamity.

“Let us keep this one alive and torture him to death, your Grace.” Magnir kneels to make his request. “This man and his compatriots attacked the convoy knowing the Fievegal Imperial Family were aboard, and likely knew of the Princesses as well. Death is too kind for him.”

There is a long silence. Magnir knows that, after what Daniel just said about not being stupid enough to leave the man alive, it would contradict all of that to change his mind now.

But, the dragon is trying to alleviate the damage to his Emperor’s soul and ease his burden in the way that a dragon knows how.

To do it in his place.

“Otherwise, my Liege, allow me to slay this pathetic creature. Having his consciousness ended instantly is a waste.”

Again, Daniel is silent for an unnerving amount of time. But, he finally answers by looking at the assassin. “You have one chance at mercy. Give me the name and how to prove who the Mendicant is. You have ten seconds to convince me.”

The man starts pleading, but he wastes his time. When he realizes this in the last few seconds, he cries out, “Vi-Vi-Viscounf La-Lacshbowa! H-He’s de Mendicant!”

“Proof?” asks Daniel lifelessly.

The assassin’s eyes go wide, realizing he can’t possibly provide proof to such a claim at the moment. Even if he knew how to prove it, he likely would have assassins after him.

“I told you I’m not a moron,” remarks Daniel with the same deathly tone. “Did you think I would eliminate the Mendicant’s enemies without asking any questions?” He leans closer and whispers in a voice that almost sounds monstrous, “Galu verashanda gurai.” Magnir twitches on hearing it. It has multiple contexts, but given how Daniel curses when he’s frustrated, he’s likely not using it as correctly as he thinks.

The mechanic finally stands up. “Sir Magnir, Dame Roeta is among the women this man threatened. I want you to keep that in mind and do what you wish.”

“Certainly, your Grace. Leave his ‘questioning’ to me.” After what the Emperor just said himself, there’s not much worse Magnir could physically do.

What Magnir likes about his human sovereign is that, while he’s capable of being merciless, it is the times that he does extend mercy that are more endearing.

Magnir turns and crouches facing the man, who has lost a ton of blood. He says quietly while Daniel heads toward Vaergraes, Aoloan, and Thymeria, “Making you scream further would only sour my Liege’s mood. I’ll deal with you later.”

The blue dragon stores the man in a void bag, unable to stop a brief scream. He’ll wait until the group is safely away from the dangers of being in uncontrolled territory before he worries about interrogating the man. He’s gravely wounded as it is, so even if he is stolen from Magnir, he’s unlikely to survive in hands other than the powerful healing magic of the Citadel responding quickly to stop him from bleeding out before healing potions or potations can be used upon being removed from the bag.

Magnir then approaches the four, and everyone looks when Hekate calls out, “Heeeey! Daniel! Hurry up! Gold says you’re be mad if I dirty my dress!”

Daniel takes a deep breath, waving to signal that he heard the feldrok girl. Aoloan asks softly, “Are you alright, Daniel?”

“I will be, thanks, Aoloan. How do you feel right now?”

“Like I drank a bottle of rum before being tumbled down a cliff…” She looks at the bus. Minus the rum, that is pretty much what happened. She adds, “Vaergraes filled me in. Is… Am I… a suspect?”

Daniel is silent for a long time, and Thymeria is remaining quiet.

“I have it pretty well figured out, I think,” replies Daniel finally, having managed to soften his tone from what he was using on the assassins. “You’re a threat, but you’re not an enemy,” remarks Daniel.

“I’m… a threat?” asks the surprised succubus, glancing at Vaergraes and Magnir for support. The dragon is the least informed, so he remains silent, simply watching over the Emperor.

“I’ll explain, but we should return to the group,” replies Daniel. “The two of you can either rest or join the delegation. There are spare dresses.”

They look at their muddied, scuffed, and partially torn dresses. That said, they’re also not made of the same materials as the expensive ones, since Daniel knew he was likely going to end up in this situation. Doephluev played parts in his deception, so she likely has everything else figured out, but he’ll find out soon enough.

Daniel turns to Magnir, saying, “Sir Magnir, take Thymeria into custody. I would prefer she be returned to the Citadel as soon as possible, but she must be kept negated until she can be secured in an isolation cell. She has been using the full range of telepathic spells to alter minds and communicate with her allies, or so I suspect. She’s not to be harmed otherwise until we return and can address her interrogation.” He looks at Vaergraes, asking, “Will you accept these conditions?”

“Do I have a choice?” asks the Uhl’tall woman with a hint of bitterness to her tone. She glances briefly at her sister.

“Something must be gnawing at the back of your mind, or you would be putting up more of a fight, wouldn’t you?” asks Daniel. “Memories you can’t place, conversations that you know were had but can’t remember the content of, whispers in your dreams…”

Vaergraes closes her eyes as she tightens her posture, and Daniel stops his prodding. Aoloan, too, seems to be piecing together what Daniel is somewhat bluffing on. Given Thymeria’s closed eyes twitching angrily, he’s fairly sure he’s not that far off.

Roeta lands nearby, saying, “Your Graces, Mu-uhum, Sir Magnir, pardon me. Her Imperial Greatness sent me with this:” The rose pink dragon presents a special locking harness that was worn by Doephluev for the longest time.

“Perfect timing. I’d think she was listening and watching me face death,” retorts Daniel a little coldly, since he’s still in a bad mood.

Roeta nervously points out, “Y-Your Grace,... She can hear you pretty well, even up there.”

“Ah… Right.” He faces the steep slope, where Hekate and Gold are still watching him from, and Hekate gestures at him to hurry up again.

“Alright. We’re coming. Thank you.”

The feldrok empress grins and gives a double thumbs up to him.

“Magnir, you may leave when you’re ready. Dame Roeta, please watch our backs while I clean myself off briefly.”

“Of course, your Grace.” The two dragons in human form briefly slide their tails together as they pass each other intentionally, giving a quiet and unobtrusive gesture of affection before they must part briefly. Roeta then follows Daniel as he crouches into the water, splashing some on to rinse the blood off of his armor. He notices Lucy’s absence, since she’s still with the Princesses, which makes him feel briefly lonely. She doesn’t talk, but she otherwise reminds him of a video-game ‘onboard companion’, such as an AI that is always watching over the player’s character and helping them without being too annoying. Even Kaeralegier is elsewhere currently, since he needed the disguise to work flawlessly for his body-triple in the disguised bus carrying the rest of his family.

“You made all the right calls,” offers Roeta gently. “Everything you did was proper.”

“I know,” replies Daniel. “As awful as this will be for me to say, when I first slayed Little Red, my brain saw him only as a monster. Same with the rest of the demon-kin. On my world, similar species and races exist as sentient and non-sentient enemies of humanity. But, more importantly, on my world, the percentage of people who kill other people for any reason in the modern era is less than one percent of the global population. It’s not necessary for survival for most people’s entire lifetimes. It’s not that I can’t… do what I have to…” He looks at the bodies of the assassins that are dead for a moment, going quiet. Roeta studies them silently as well.

“My instincts were honed to avoid killing other humans; other people, even if some people still had to make that call at times. I never want to be happy about it, but…” He looks up to make eye contact with the dragon. Her eyes are a very pretty shade of light blue, which complements her deep pink hair and metallic maroon horns well. “I will do my best to continue making the best decisions I can.” He stands up, shaking the excess water off.

“If it is not too arrogant of me to say, but as someone who does not want to be your mistress, your Grace, I will strive to do my best to point out when you are drifting beyond ‘Daniel’ making ‘the best decisions’. And, I thought you were a little down.”

Daniel nods in agreement with her. “I’m not happy, but I’m glad it’s over for now.” He takes his helmet off to show his face, and he gives her a soft smile. His voice is finally returning to its normal gentle and easygoing tempo. “I’ll be counting on you, Dame Roeta. If I am ever anyone but Daniel, you have my permission to slap some sense into me.”

“You two are my witnesses!” exclaims the pink dragon, startling the two demon women. “And you, your Greatness! You heard that! I have his permission!”

“Slapping is fine!” shouts Hekate. “Now hurry up! Something’s coming!”

This makes the group of four, now that Magnir has departed with Thymeria, suddenly kick back into their action modes.

“Take them up the cliff first,” orders Daniel. “I’ll clean up what I can down here until you return.”

The pink dragon nods, quickly darting to Vaergraes and Aoloan. “Hang onto me!” Aoloan hugs her from the front, and Vaergraes clings to her back. Even with the extra weight, Roeta is able to lift them all in flight with relative ease. Her only limiting factor is being in human form, which makes her only a little larger than Wenlianna, trying to carry Vaergraes and Aoloan, who are both taller than her. Daniel would be hard-pressed to join them.

That said, he is able to take the brief moment to dig out one of the large void bags he still carries in his ‘filing system’ of void bags, which has been condensed down since conquering the Citadel. With the large bag, he is able to collect the two assassin’s bodies to be searched more thoroughly, as well as the bus and its contents. He doesn’t worry about collecting every scrap from the vehicle, but he does make sure that there aren’t any firearms or other important tools left behind.

Satisfied, Daniel jogs to Roeta when she returns, reporting succinctly, “Mounted cavalry at full tilt. Her Greatness and the Stalvaltan Guards are shoring up defense.”

Daniel nods. “Thanks. Uh…”

“Oh! Please, my Liege. I trust you.” She shows her back to him and waits for him to crouch a little in order to ride on her back. It’s immensely awkward for him, but Roeta seems to be intimately aware of this, as she stops her flight just before cresting the hill, and she helps Daniel appear a little more dignified as she lifts him by one arm the rest of the way. It’s painful on his shoulder, but he’s fine with maintaining at least some apparent dignity to outsiders.

Just as he’s about to head towards the confrontation line, the pink dragon pouts, “I see my trust is earned. But, I feel kinda sad…”

“You know I don’t grope everyone I see, Roeta. What are you even pouting about?”

She snickers, and Daniel is distracted by “Daddy!” “Papa!”

The two princesses nearly leap from Gold’s arms as the dragon doubles back to hand them off to him. He’s glad he washed the blood off, as the princesses don’t hesitate to leap towards him once Gold lets them, and he has to catch them. “Ah! My babies, are you two alright? That must have been scary?”

Both Jieka and Tekten nod vigorously, and Tekten murmurs, “We scawed Daddy get hurt.”

“But, Daddy jus’ like Auntie Gol’ say!” adds Jieka. “Daddy bwave and stong! Daddy no fear!”

Daniel manages to smile, which reassures Roeta, who did her best to cheer him up a little, whether the situation calls for it or not.

He then asks Gold, “What’s going on?”

The blonde dragon glances at where Hekate is already in a bickering match with a noble-looking officer bearing a sigil that Daniel doesn’t recognize. “They came charging up the road like they planned to plow into our ranks. That’s the most I know so far. They did stop, but…” She looks down the road.

“We’re not really in sight of the fortress, are we?”

“Negative, Sire,” replies Roeta. “There’s a moderate fog over the plains that span between the mouth of the valley and the castle itself. Even if the valley walls weren’t obstructing our vision, there’s no way we were seen visually.”

“If they detected anything, it was the magic usage or the sound,” adds Gold. “Or… of course…”

“They knew we’d be under attack,” finishes Daniel grimly.

“Daddy?” asks Jieka, and Daniel puts his smile back on. “Now that the scary things are gone, Daddy just has to take care of some bugs. Will you help me, girls?”

“Yeah!” cheer both goblin princesses, differing only in volume and tone.

Daniel carries them towards the group, though Roeta takes the front in order to defend with her body if need be.

From the looks of it, the soldiers don’t know how to react now that the situation has already been handled.

***