It took a long week of recovery for all five party members to acclimate to the power they’d received during the fight. Marge, Hops, and Sean recovered physically within a day, having only received a minor power boost along with the hoard effects. Adjusting to having more power than before mentally took a bit more time for them, especially seeing what the various attack effects did to their current loadout. They even found that all of Roge’s abilities and skills could be extended to them, though when they tried, it strained the dragon a bit too much to try again until he was recovered. The buffs worked without him having to try anything, but abilities and skills could only be granted as long as Roge funneled power into their bond specifically.
Alton and Roge, however, had to rest at the church’s infirmary for almost the whole week, both of them taking on significant rewards to ‘defeat’ the drake. Roge wasn’t even allowed to harvest any of his plants, especially when, on the second day, a lot of them grew up and worsened his symptoms.? ? Thankfully, he was in the infirmary by that point, and several of the priests advocated that, if he’d gotten everything at once instead of it being staggered, he most likely would have died without their assistance. It put a lot into perspective for the dragon, promising both himself and everyone that he would try not to overdo it anymore. Proton was especially pissed at his dragon, going on about his careful planning blowing up in their faces due to Roge not being able to stop himself from doing the impossible. That last sentence made everyone go quiet, Roge looking confused as everyone but his friends was ushered out of Roge and Alton’s private room.
“That class. [Draconic Prince]?” Hops asked, his face looking odd as he grimaced deeply. “I’ve only been able to get scraps of information, but it does exist. It’s what’s offered by the standing [King] to the next in line.”
“But… I’m not related to the [King]. Right?” Roge asked, a trickle of dread settling in his chest.
“Very distantly. And even then, the [King] would have to personally grant it to you. You’re not supposed to just… get it on your own.” Hops pinned the dragon with a hard look, taking a deep breath before continuing. “There is only one reference to someone obtaining it on their own. And it was when a kingdom was made in new territory, when the strongest dragon gained authority over the land. I assume it later evolved into [Draconic King] or something but…”
“I’m not usurping the [King],” Roge grumbled, feeling very offended by the looks of relief from his friends. “Nor am I making a kingdom, other than the one in my hoard. So we just don’t talk about it, make sure I don’t claim any land in the real world, and we should be good.”
“The [King] might… notice…” Sean mumbled, everyone looking to him in confusion. “It was something Roge said before… everything that happened this month. Something about being careful, as the palace knew he’d gotten his Draconic class when he was a kid.”
“We’ll… get there when we get there,” Roge sighed, the rest of them giving him dirty looks. “Look, whatever the [King] had planned for me, whether he knows I have the class or not, you really think we can go up against him?” Roge flapped his claw at his immobile form, giving everyone a sarcastic grin. “We just have to hope his plans can benefit us when people come looking and hope those plans aren’t to hurt us.”
~~~
A woman sighed as she sat at her makeup desk, running a towel across her scales to get rid of the oil she’s put on earlier to make them shine. Her scales were a deep blue, with black dominating her palms, chest, and neck, but with the oil, they looked like shining sapphires. She was extravagantly dressed in a blood red gown, the trim flowing much more than she’d like as it made it hard for her to sit in the chair. “Boring as usual…” she muttered, glancing in her mirror to look at the two adventurers lounging in her suite. “I swear, every time a ball is thrown, it gets more and more business-like. No fun conversations, just bragging about their hoards like they’re still trying to win his approval.”
“Can’t you just decline?” one of the adventurers asked, their heavy metal armor clanking as they leaned back. They were often mistaken for a dwarf with their short stature, though the woman knew that they were just a particularly short elf. “I don’t mean to be rude Mistress, but I can’t protect you when I’m stationed along the far wall.” Their tone had certainly been rude, echoing out of their full helmet with a hint of scorn.
“Oh shut your trap, Paladin,” the other adventurer groaned, getting up to lean himself against the edge of the woman’s desk. He had unusually pale skin and long, pointed ears, most people thinking he was the elf of the group.
‘Better if people think that,’ the woman mused to herself, sighing as she forced herself off of more dreary topics. “No, they’re right Harvey. I need to get out of the palace and see some more of the world with you two. Missing the balls will be a major bonus of that.”
“But we don’t have any quests Mistress,” Paladin cautioned, adjusting the large shield strapped to their back. “And even if you can find an excuse, there’s only so much time we can spend out there before we’re called back.”
As if summoned by Paladin’s words, a knock came to the door in that moment, causing the woman to pause in the act of getting out of her dress. Her reptilian tail and wings made the matter even harder for her, so she sighed as she zipped it back up. “Come in!”
“You’re never going to believe this!” The woman who came in looked like an eagle, though she had taloned arms and no wings, that fact something the woman knew never to bring up even when she couldn’t see the sneaky [Rogue]. “A [Draconic Prince] just showed up on the [Official Record]! And the location is not in the castle!”
All of them froze at that particular bit of information, the woman feeling both surprise and dread. As a [Dragonkin] with a Draconic class of her own, personally bestowed upon her by the [King], she knew of only one instance where someone could get that class. It always signaled the start of a war, from what she’d read. “Has the [King] mentioned where he lost territory?”
“That’s just it, he hasn’t!” The eagle woman paused as her companions looked at her with annoyance, giggling as she continued. “I went to go check the territory map before anyone could. None of it has changed since the expansion ten years ago! The [Cartographer] even looked at me confused when I asked him about it.”
“That’s… interesting. Is the [King] putting out a quest?” The dragoness hurried over to her writing desk and pulled out a rather ornate book that she started shuffling through. The pages always changed since she last looked at it, even when she would only put it down for barely a minute. The quests that would appear and disappear from it were penned specifically for the noble houses from the Adventuerer’s League, posting problems that only the powerful could solve.
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“You know I don’t check the quests,” the eagle woman huffed, earning her a brief glare from the dragoness as she flipped to the section she wanted. The [King] always posted his personal quests through the League, most of the nobles incensed whenever the ‘peasants’ snatched up the lower leveled quests.
The dragoness finally reached the correct section, scrolling through the various high profile quests at the top before finding what she wanted. “There’s a number of open quests to look for not just the [Prince], but also the [Archer], [Knight], [Wizard], and [Sorcerer]. Seems people haven’t been able to find-“ The dragoness froze as one particular quest jumped out at her, the listing having been placed in the wrong section. She could tell it was submitted by one of the Lords, and she would have to report it showing up in the [King’s] section. It also wasn’t supposed to be a quest she could see, as she’d been banned from ever knowing where one of the people from the description was located. Those were only passing thoughts, however, as she read the last name on the list over and over, feeling a grin coming across her maw. “Finally… Hello Roge…”
~~~
A wolf practically flew through the trees as they tried to get as far away from where they were as physically possible. It couldn’t have been more than a few days since they’d escaped their prison in Greed’s domain, but they felt especially panicked when they’d realized they were heading south for the first part of their journey. Thankfully, a kind couple had let them know of the mistake when they reached one of the roads, though the wolf didn’t especially care for their overly flirtatious looks and offers. ‘Maybe I can find someone there…?’ they wondered to themselves, pushing their quadrupedal form even faster through the cold swamp to combat the cold, empty feeling infiltrating their chest. ‘As long as I can find someplace cold. That’s the least I can accomplish,’ they coached, not liking the sluggishness the feeling was giving them.
They soon reached their first destination within the next few hours, the air colder and a lot more welcoming to them. ‘At least Greed knows to keep his cold-weather pets in the right climate…’ they thought to themselves, their exhaustion getting to them at the day’s long run they’d done. It was necessary to get as far away as he could, as he knew one of Greed’s minions was going to be on the hunt for them before long. He didn’t know what help the surface dwellers would give the minion, but he did know that at least some would offer their help. Especially the ones who worshiped Greed, the wolf cringing away as he noticed the large church building. ‘The one time I actually want this thing,’ he thought to himself, once again pulling up the screen that had been the bane of his existence.
~~~
The red dragon growled as he looked through the various quest listings, the remains of his meal laying beside the book. “Now, of all times…?” he grumbled, slamming the book shut and staring at it with a scowl. He should have been enjoying his time at one of his favorite restaurants in the city, eating and savoring the flavors he’d ordered. Instead old memories flashed through his head, ones he’d been thinking about more and more as the dragon had grown up, despite his best efforts. He’d even had the maids take down all of the mirrors in his home after his scar refused to fade. And after not seeing that dragon’s name for fifteen years, he’d finally glimpsed it. In a quest notice of all places.
“Is there anything I can get for you sir?” a waitress asked, the red dragon ignoring them as he thought things through. In light of the multiple new candidates the [King] had put out quests for, including a new [Prince] of all things, he had been excited for the royal competition coming up in the summer. He knew, once he was given a high enough class, he’d have easy pickings for hoard members right off the bat. But he just knew that Roge was one of the dragons who’d recently got a class after seeing the quest, and that set the burning flames in his chest off in a way nothing else could.
‘Maybe I could go out and make sure he doesn’t attend…?’ he thought to himself, immediately rejecting the idea. He would not stoop so low as to chase after someone, especially when the trip would go north during the winter. That rejection gave him a spark of an idea at least, pulling out his ledger and looking through the hoard prospects he’d been wooing for the past decade. He was meticulous in what information he’d gotten about each of them, especially considering most of them would have to handle matters at his home. He wouldn’t have someone who despised heat or someone who was not interested in his scales, for instance. One prospect, after a while of searching and two more visits by the waitress, caught his eye as soon as he landed on its page. The first page was just a hyper-realistic drawing of the forest green [Lizardkin], its muscles on full display as the piece was of him in practically no clothes. The prospective treasure had been wooed successfully for quite some time by then, and the red dragon knew where its loyalties lay. Plus, that particular treasure had a rare [Giga Seeker] class, one that would help tremendously with finding the annoying *grass* dragon. All the red dragon had to do was put it on the hunt with a simple message.
‘Things are finally looking up,’ he thought to himself, his grin quickly dropping as he yelled at the waitress who appeared for the sixth time. At least he could get some of his emotional fire out with that, his tail and wings twitching with catharsis as he left the restaurant, the apologizing manager, and the crying waitress behind.
~~~
Montez huffed as he looked over the various jobs on the board in front of him, quickly deciding that none of them were worth his time with a twitch of his reptilian tail. Sure, the Golden quests looked promising, but as a Crimson adventurer, he was barred from taking them, even though he’d gotten all of his classes to level five the previous year. ‘Don’t understand what the big deal is…’ He soon found the job that payed the highest per hour of work, reaching for the slip of paper about finding the camping spot for some feral trolls that had been attacking nearby towns, when a screen popped up in his face, making him frown.
The forest green lizard sighed at his screen, half tempted to ignore the message on principle. The name that he’d given the red dragon at the start was sincere at first, but the more Montez interacted with him, the more he didn’t want to. Thankfully, he had mostly fooled the arrogant prick that he was still under his thumb, but he was constantly looking for an out. ‘Not serving someone who slips up and calls me “it” in public…’ He let out a groan as he clicked on the letter, his [Screen Delivery] skill one of his favorites that he’d ever unlocked.
Montez felt his eyes widening more and more as he read the letter, standing up straight as his muzzle morphed into a sinister grin. “Make sure he doesn’t come…?” he muttered, seeing his out in between the lines of the letter. “Oh my sweet dragon, I think I’ll make sure he does~.”
