Battle Plans

Everyone entered a large room with a wide long table, a board set up behind it with two maps. Venviel was not lying when she stated that everything was made quite large. Emre and Idris were able to follow along with no issues with their large bodies. As long as their wings stayed folded there was space.

It hadn't taken long to get there and when they did arrive Emre and Idris split to stand on either side of the table. Seats were arranged and with the table being as large as it was, there was enough room for almost everyone other than Emre's party after saving seats for the council that was to arrive soon.

Venviel sat at the head of the table with the map board behind her. The seats in front of her were open and waiting for the council to take their place while the rest were taken by the High Priests and Paladins. Emre's group did not mind standing and had spread out on either side of the table so as to not block the door behind them.

On Emre's side stood Ragan, Gerrar, and Conin, while on Idris's was Killan and Nalia. They all stood properly and folded their hands behind their backs since they were in the face of royalty. This was a new experience for them as well, after all.

Emre sat down, carefully sweeping his tail close to his body so that no one would trip over it. He sat near the head of the table, behind the empty council seats while Idris did the same on the other side.

And as Venviel stated, it did not take long for the council to arrive. They came as a group, numbering at four. The first who entered was a proud-looking woman, her chestnut-colored skin was wrought with scars and she wore a fancy set of armor. The armor was dark grey with brown and blue accents embedded into it.

Her thick black hair was tightly braided to her scalp on the left side, the right side was a mess of curls that fell over her shoulder. Behind her was a lithe olive-skinned man with dark grey leather armor with similar brown and blue accents. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his left hand rested on his sword's hilt.

The next that came was a man with dark brown slicked back hair, pointed ears, and a set of round glasses. He did not wear any armor and instead wore a brown and blue vest over top a white undershirt.

The last man was one that Emre had seen before. He was the one who set off to make sure a room was prepared for himself and Idris. He wore a similar get-up as the one before him but a blue overcoat was placed overtop. His black hair was short and his skin was fairly pale.

They had begun to walk in but the woman in the front halted for a second when her eyes landed on the two dragons sitting on either side of the table. Judging by this reaction Emre could guess that she hadn't been informed of their presence. Either way, she brushed it off and went to sit down.

In fact, her seat seemed to be one of the two in front of Emre. Once everyone was seated and the doors were securely shut, Venviel stood up with her arms folded behind her back.

"Everyone, this is my council." She stated, gesturing to the pale man with black hair first. "This is my Right Hand, Emsrin Holmac."

The man was sitting in front of Emre along with the gruff-looking woman. He dipped his head in greeting. Venviel then gestured to the woman beside him.

"Magnolia Alaric is the Commander of the Army." Then the man with the long ponytail was next. "Edsel Vigo is the Commander of the Navy. Both of them control our military."

Lastly, the man with glasses was gestured to. "And Haerin Aydane, our treasurer, intelligence adviser, and spymaster."

The High Priests and Paladins then introduced themselves, then Emre's party, and last but definitely not least, Emre and Idris.

"Now that introductions are over, let's have a discussion." Venviel smiled and walked to the map board.

Emre leaned his head forward to see better, ignoring the obviously uncomfortable Army Commander and stoic Right Hand below his head. Venviel pointed to a few spots on the left map which seemed to be a map of the Kingdom.

"These are the areas we are currently fighting off the reykurn. While we have units out to intercept them in the less guarded areas, these three spots are where the main forces are." She said, "The reykurn have mustered together three of their own forces to combat our own and they are currently sitting at a stalemate as we speak. Due to our intelligence network, however, we have reason to believe that the reykurn forces here," She pointed to a spot between the Dead Lands and what seemed to be a large plains area. "Are growing in number. As such I think it won't take long for them to strike."

Emre's eyes narrowed as he listened. Compared to the ones in the Gaia Kingdom, these ones seemed like an actual army. As such, they probably had a leader that was controlling everything from the shadows. But who was it?

Gods could not directly interfere with the world like Tirian said so Emre doubted that it was the Goddess of Despair herself. As such, it must be a reykurn of sorts that has high intelligence. And so far, they know that those with more intelligence also seem stronger than the rest.

Magnolia, the Commander, spoke next. "Sir Fridmar has been training his battle profusely. They are ready to be sent out to aid Sir Melvera at any time."

Having spoken to the Queen before Emre and company had arrived, it seemed there were already arrangements made for the Paladins to aid in certain spots. The Queen already had ideas on where to divide them and put them and Emre and Idris were already added to the fray.

They were already being treated like one of the forces which Emre didn't particularly mind. He was not a strategist so he had no room to speak on where he wanted to go. In fact, he and Idris were actually put where they expected.

Lezen and the two dragons with their party were to go along with Sir Fridmar's forces to join the main frontline to combat the growing numbers. The other Paladins were divided to aid the other two fronts that seemed to not be growing in numbers quite yet.

The battle talks went on for quite a bit as they made their decisions. Emre and Idris didn't have much to add and only listened to what they should do. When lunch finally came around the talks ended and Queen Venviel invited them all to have lunch in the royal garden.

Venviel was at loss at first as to how to feed two dragons but they just decided to transform back into their humanoid forms for the time being. Dragons could actually go days without eating as long as they had a large meal beforehand just like snakes. Eating as humans would still easily sustain them despite their large true forms.

The royal garden was set up for a lunch feast and a band was even present to play music for them. They ate happily, the party, in particular, were enjoying their first taste of royal-made food. Emre was also enjoying it, wondering if this is what it would have been like to eat at a rich restaurant.

Expectedly, curious looks were sent his and Idris's way as they ate. Emre didn't know what they were looking for since the two of them just ate like proper humans. Of course, the party didn't seem to pay much attention to them but the Queen, her council, the High Priests, and Paladins were all flicking constant glances at them.

When the meal was finished and it had turned into relaxation time, a few words were thrown their way.

"Ah, I think I finally realized why you look familiar!" The voice was Arto's and it was directed toward Emre.

A bit surprised, Emre tilted his head a bit in confusion. He knew they never met before the meeting so what could he mean?

"I wonder if it's because it was Tirian who gave you radiant magic, but you kinda look like the statues in her Temples!" His voice was innocent and he smiled.

Emre's hand twitched and he barely managed to keep his countenance calm as he let out a small laugh. "I didn't realize. I never stopped to get a good look at one of the statues." He lied through his teeth.

Turns out this appearance was coming back to bite him in the butt. After a moment some of the others nodded, also recognizing the similarities. Although they did not look perfectly alike, there were indeed features that may signify relation. Of course, no one actually dared to go out and say it.

How could a mortal, even if he was a dragon, be a relative to a God? In the end, it was dropped with the excuse that he could change his facial shape to anything he desired so he must have done it without thinking after taking a glance at the statue.

Thankfully it was dropped and Emre and Idris ended up transforming back into their true forms once their stomachs had settled. The group had decided to disperse. The council members had to go back to work, and everyone else had to get settled in or prepare to leave in a few days to go to the frontlines.

The party left with Yivrenel, and given that the High Priests and Paladins had residences in all of the capitals around the world, they returned to their own places. The Queen excused herself and Emre and Idris were left to be guided to their so-called room by Emsrin, her Right Hand.

It had been prepared fairly quickly and it turned out what had been prepared was an entire small section of the palace. The palace was so large that it was easy for them to cut out a whole area for two dragons to reside. It had its own large courtyard where they could lounge peacefully with enough space to even stretch their wings.

Going across the courtyard, they were led into a set of doors that opened into a hall that led further in. Finally, they were shown their room. It was just one massive room that could practically be an entire ballroom. In fact, it might have been before it was temporarily given to them.

"Unfortunately we do not have sufficient bedding to provide for two dragons," Emsrin stated.

"A room and courtyard to ourselves are more than enough," Emre said with a chuckle. "Thank you."

"Of course." Bowing, the man left them be.

Emre had slept on hard dirt and upon the rough bark of trees, sleeping on a bare floor was nothing. In fact, sleeping out in the courtyard would have been enough. He would have been perfectly satisfied with that as their 'room'.

With such a massive area Emre easily stretched out his wings, feeling the muscles strain and then relax as he refolded them.

"It's been too long since I've been able to stay in this form," Idris commented as he stretched his wings out and stretched his arms out to plop on the floor.

Emre also laid on the cool floor, splaying out all his limbs with his chin resting on the ground. He looked like he had just melted on the ground with his wings freely flopped on either side of him.

"I want to fly…" He mumbled.

"I'm sure once we're on the road we'll be able to fly freely. If we fly out now we might terrify the entire city and give the Queen a headache." Idris crossed one arm over the other, looking regal even as he laid down.

Eventually, Emre suddenly sat up. "I'm going to strengthen my core."

They had some free time so it was best to use it to get stronger even if he had just made it to the third layer. Idris blinked as Emre strode past him toward the door and he ended up following after him.

The two situated themselves in the courtyard, the mid sun beaming down upon them. Emre happily drank in the warmth before he closed his eyes and started to focus on absorbing mana. He wouldn't be able to get to the fourth layer too soon, but it never hurt to start as soon as possible.