Karl didn’t notice that Misty had changed into the form of a dog – sized white dragon until the next morning, when he felt a small body trying to insert itself into his bed.
The others had come to wake him up, but Lotus was hoping to steal his spot without waking the dragon.
Of course, it didn’t work, but Misty had no intentions of getting out of bed, and Lotus wore pleasant smelling body lotion.
Karl reached up and settled his fingertips into the stonework of the block wall to lift himself straight up out of bed, then pushed off the wall to land on the floor.
“As impressive as that feat of physical strength is, you should put pants on before you come to breakfast. Lotus will miss the meal without complaints, but you should eat.” Tessa whispered.
Karl put his armour on to blend with the rest of the team and made his way to breakfast.
Halfway down, the Acolytes were holding everyone’s hands, acting as their guides.
“Are you going to be training us again today, Monster Man?” A half dragon girl asked.
“Most likely. I hear that Grand Priest Orthos has something to tell me first, but there should be time to watch your training after that.” Karl agreed.
The Acolyte tilted their chin toward a corner of the room where a bunch of Elders were gathered. “They’ve been gathering here all night from the other temples in the area. I think that they want to tell you something important.”
By Karl’s guess, it must be a very important topic, given that he could sense at least three Overlord Rank beasts, and two of them were dragons. Adding in Misty, who was sleeping in this morning, that made three powerful dragons in one spot, plus the other Elders who had come to visit.
Unlike the Golden Dragon Nation, there was a lot of meat at breakfast, served with oatmeal and honey. The Elders were kind enough to let them finish eating before they came over to address their concerns. But they appeared much more concerned than Karl had expected after his previous days here.
“Prince Karl, Commanders. Welcome to Bruse Temple. If you would please accompany us to a meeting room, we have much to discuss.” The Elder announced.
He appeared to be human, but his temperature was off, and he smelled like seawater, so Karl assumed that it was a transformation ability or a disguise spell.
The other Elders fell in beside them as they made their way to the meeting room, along with Orthos and Misty, who was walking hand in hand with Lotus.
The Moor Cat on guard at the door closed it behind them, and everyone took seats around a huge circular table. The unfamiliar Dragon, a Monarch Rank beast whose human form had void black eyes, started the meeting.
“Let us get right to business. It is no secret that the Golden Dragon Nation has opened a Commander Rank Dungeon with a stable entrance on their territory. With that, they will be able to awaken new System Users up to the Commander Rank.
Even though they will flat line there without further opportunities, the dungeon has become a source of great envy for the other nations, both human and demihuman. But more importantly, it has become a source of concern for the Monster Nations.
The Giants and Newbon Empire in particular.
Now, that is primarily a concern for your leaders, but it is also a concern for us and the Beastkin Nation, who is our ally but does not share our border.
In this case, we find ourselves in a similar situation to the Golden Dragon Nation in that we are beset on all sides by enemies. The Giants won’t allow the Newbon Empire passage through their mountains, so they will have to move armies through the lands of the beastkin.
The humans to our north will have to come through our territory to get to yours.
Until there is another stabilized Dungeon, the threat of invasion on the intelligent beasts’ territories will not abate.”
Karl listened intently. Their problem made sense, but he didn’t see what it was that he could do about it.
Karl remained silent, but nodded along, so the dragon knew that he understood the issue.
“What we would like for you to do is take an enchanted stone we have created, and deposit it in an unstable anomaly that will open soon in the Newbon Empire.
The humans would rather attack the monsters using their naval fleets than cross the entirety of two nations or more on the ground to send an army.
If there is a stable anomaly in the Newbon Empire, the Golden Dragon Nation will become a lower priority target for everyone but the Giants. Safer for you, safer for us. Mutual benefit.” The dragon finished.
“And why don’t you send one of your own teams? You’ve got plenty of powerful residents just in this room that could do the job.” Tessa asked.
The Red Dragon didn’t like trickery, except for ambushes, and the War Dragon certainly didn’t approve of sending soldiers on suicide missions.
“For one, we cannot open a portal near the anomaly. But more importantly, we lack the ability to be subtle. We have beasts with great stealth skills. But stealth won’t be possible on this mission, as many groups will be gathered for the mission. Intelligent beasts do not live in Newbon Empire.
However, they do have some monster blooded demihumans, and small pockets of humans. There are more than a dozen human nations on this continent, and only one with Divine Beasts.
If they suspect you, there is plausible deniability. They cannot pin the blame directly on the Golden Dragon Nation.”
Karl nodded. “So, we will have to walk in, through territory controlled by monsters, on the vague promise of potential safety for the Golden Dragon Nation, who is not currently at war with Newbon Empire?”
The Dragon smiled. “And then walk back out again. I will give you a writ of protection, so if you make it to our border or the Beastkin Nation, they will escort you safely home, upholding our agreement with your Bureau people.”
Karl’s unimpressed look made the dragon smirk, and a few of the Elders chuckle.
However, Misty had the answer. “I have a mission order for the closest team to investigate the anomaly. You’re the closest by over two thousand kilometres, and it’s all signed by the Chief of Staff of the Military and the Archbishop himself.”
Karl turned on the Temporal Dragon, who was back in her fully human form.
“And just how did you get that?” He asked.
“Easy, I went there after it was done and requested it, then brought it back. The goddess said it would be fine.”
Dana and Ophelia stared, overwhelmed by the unfathomable level of cheating that her abilities represented, while Karl sighed and Tessa rubbed her temples.
Lotus frowned. “So, you went and got an order for us to stabilize the dungeon, after we had done it, and then brought it back here so that you could send us to stabilize the dungeon?”
Misty patted her head. “Of course not. You didn’t go the first time, now, did you? Because we weren’t here to warn you of the danger, and there was no motivation for you to travel that far on your own when there were Acolytes to train with right here.”
Lotus glared at the dragon. “I am quite sure that has to be against a rule somewhere. You’re a Temporal Dragon. Don’t you safeguard time?”
Misty shrugged. “Of course I do. But this timeline is stable as well. There is no harm in sending you down it.”
