Black

As Reginald flew towards the royal capital, he realized he could stop at a smaller town on the way that might have what he needs. It would be better than stepping into the royal capital. The though of him setting foot in the city again made him sick.

Reginald's family were never fighters, and the same went for his son. He knew he wasn't the only one suffering, but he was the only one who could change things.

'This war. Sending the weak on the front lines while the strong command from the back. All this killing over imaginary borders. The royals are full of mages who can make a difference on the war. Yet both sides send out the weak to die first. Culling the weak from the population.'

Reginald wanted to change that. 'The strong should protect the weak, not be a buffer for a large army. The mages everyone worships as the heros of this kingdom. They need to be on the front lines instead. What good is all that power if they refuse to use it?'

Even though the dragon knights worked for the royal family, Reginald couldn't blame them. Most of them were royals themselves, but they had no say in the political environment. They're just pawns for the King and his family.

There are many royal families around the kingdom and inside the capital. Even though Reginald always called them the royal family, he was talking about a specific one. This had become a habit of his ever since he became a teacher at the academy. Most could overlook his bad mouthing of royals in general, the one he couldn't publicly criticize is the king's family. The Ladarians.

Lucius Ladarian is the current king of the Kingdom of Ladaria. The kingdom was founded thousands of years ago when the first Ladarian conquered what was then a mostly tribal land. Since no one could match their power within the kingdom, their rule was met with little resistance over the years.

Reginald calmed his thoughts as he landed near the city gates of Nerna. This city was relatively small compared to the capital even though it has a population of twenty-thousand. It is a merchant town, thriving mostly of trade since most of the natural resources were located closer to the capital.

Reginald walked up to the stone walls that surrounded the city and handed a card to one of the two guards stationed at the gate. The guard glanced at the card for only a moment before allowing Reginald to enter the city. Since Reginald was a teacher and technically worked for the government, he didn't have to pay a tax to get inside. This privilege was only for merchants, government employees, and citizens of the city.

Once Reginald stepped inside, he was greeted with a city that was full of life. Merchant stands were everywhere, and large crowds of people walked the streets. Reginald knew it would take time to find the right merchant stall that had what he was looking for, but he didn't bother rushing. His fears about something happening to Fenrir had calmed down after seeing how fast he was growing in power. The pills he would regularly take helped calm his mind as well. He made them for himself so he could focus on things he knew he didn't need to worry about.

Eventually he found a stall that sold inscribed items. After looking through all the goods, he still couldn't find it.

"If you can't find what your looking for, you can make an order request." The man at the stall said.

Reginald nodded and handed the man a note that specified what the inscribed item needed to do. Reginald would often makes inscribed items himself, but that was mostly for things he specialized in. For this type of inscription, he was not familiar enough with to make. Most inscription masters specialized in only a couple fields. Enhancing inscriptions being one he was only an intermediate at. However, for this one in particular, he was even less skilled at.

The man stared at the note while stroking his long brown beard. "It should be possible, but it'll take a few days to make. I need to do some testing as well to make sure it works."

****

Inside the royal capital, SilverFalls. Lucian Ladarian is sitting in his throne room that is made out of gold and silver trimmed marble. Flags of the family crest that resembled a silver eagle hung from each pillar.

In his hand, he was playing with an inscribed item that Rex had brought back from his mission. It was the same ring Fenrir had used to change his appearance. Lucian was wondering why the ring would be found in such a remote location, and near the house of one of the academy teachers.

'It be something, or it could be nothing.' He thought as he was trying to decide if it was important to investigate further. 'I'll keep an eye on him when the academy year starts. And that new student of his, it's strange.'

Lucian stared up the the high ceiling of his thrones room using his hand to rest his head on. He looked back down at the ring with his blue eyes, feeling and seeing the energy of the person it had been on.

For some reason, Lucian had always been able to see the magic aura of people. Some of his children could as well. While most people's auras' glowed blue, this one was black.

Thinking back on it, Lucian recalled an ancient magical weapon they had in their possession. It had been passed down generation after generation. The legend told that It was wielded by a demon when it was summoned to this world over a thousand years ago. When looking at the weapon, it's aura was red.

'If a demon's aura is red, what does black mean? Something even more dangerous? Or nothing is it worry about?'

Even with this information, Lucian couldn't decide. All he could do was to investigate further. The main reason why he wasn't too worried about it yet was because how weak the magic aura was. It hardly posed a threat.

'This students name. His name is Fenrir, right? Maybe I'll keep an eye on him too.'