Chapter 222: An Accumulating Mountain of Questions

Late Evening - Early Winter : Northern Bahamut (In the Void)

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"Haah..." I let out a sigh as I looked around the surprisingly colorful void and found a small black diamond floating in the middle of a net of tubes. -That should be the marker at Grandmother's estate...-

Although I wanted to go straight to Mother and Father, I didn't have a marker at their new estate yet and wanted to give priority to having a certain talk with Grandmother. -Even excluding everything about whatever is going on around the prison, she has some questions to answer...-

With my expression slowly turning serious, I moved just above the marker and promptly jumped into a gate. *Vwoom*

*Fwooosh* The chilly air in the jetstream blasted across my body the moment I popped out of the gate, but it honestly felt quite nice. *inhale* "Haaah..." 

The night sky was as stunning as always, but for once, I resisted my urge to stargaze. *fwoosh-fwoosh* With a few flaps of my wings, I reoriented myself and slowly glided down through the thin clouds. -Alright, let's go say hello, shall we?-

But when I finally got under the thin clouds, the colossal estate came into view, and I noticed that several of the armored dragons around the estate weren't the ones normally on patrol, with the dragon by the main gate being the most unexpected. -Is that.. Rhodes? Did something happen to Grandmother?-

Hastily gliding down, I made myself obviously visible and slowly approached.

At first, Rhodes looked quite hostile, but his expression quickly eased. "V..Vasilias?"

Thankfully he recognized me pretty quickly. "It's only been 3 years. Am I that hard to recognize?" *fwoosh* *fwoosh-thump*

"You grew over a meter every year! Even if you're only 15, you're already over 33 meters tall! Isn't that kind of growth a bit too crazy?" He seemed quite happy to see me.

It only took a moment for some of his joy to spread to me. "Haha, fair enough, fair enough. In any case, I came back to check on everyone but I didn't see any of the normal guards around while I was up in the air. Did something happen to Orion and his crew?"

Rhodes's playful expression quickly dulled. "N..no, the other guards are currently laid off for the time being, and Orion... Well, he's just been with your grandmother at the Elder Hall recently."

-Recently?- "How long has she been there?"

"Just a few days, but it's odd, isn't it?" A smile crept onto his face as he spoke, seemingly relating to my confusion. "Although I'm not sure what exactly happened, a few days ago, Leander visited and had a meeting with her. Not long after that, I was ordered to lock down the estate and not let anyone in or out. I thought it sounded a little too sudden, but I still don't know enough to question anything."

-To lock down the estate... It must be something serious...- "But, Leander? As in the Foreign Intelligence leader Leander?" -If it's him...-

"Yes, him. He's been pretty quiet and secretive in recent years, but oddly enough, he started moving recently. Sorry I don't know more details..."

"No, just that is plenty..." -If Leander came to Grandmother for something, then it's probably a foreign problem.. but why would she lock up the estate for something foreign?- Things weren't really adding up, but I had no choice but to trek forward. -I wonder if it's connected to the insane security around the prison... I guess I can only go find out myself...- "Do you know if they're at the actual hall, or are they somewhere else?"

"I'm not sure, but you could ask one of the assistants at the Hall itself. If she isn't there, they can tell you where she went. At the very least, I'm sure she's in that general area."

"Hmm, alright. In that case, I should get going. Sorry I couldn't stick around and catch up some more."

"Haha, don't worry about it. I'm glad I could be of help. If you ever need anything, just swing by!"

Glancing to the side and seeing another elder-stage dragon in armor walking up to the gate, I decided to take my leave. "Alright, thanks for the help. I'll hopefully be back later!"

"Alright, be safe!"

After a quick exchange of nods, I leapt off the ground and turned for the horizon, but I couldn't help but feel uneasy as I left. "Haah..." -Why.. do I have a bad feeling about this...-

The next hour passed in a flash as I flew to the Elder Hall like a normal dragon would, trying to stay low since I was flying back toward where the people searching for me were. 

By the time I got there, the sun was beginning to rise again, but it made the view of the Elder Hall all that more beautiful. -Draconic architecture is truly something incredible.. isn't it...-

Finally descending and landing on what looked like a landing pad, I glanced around and noticed everyone staring at me with mixed expressions.

The area was packed with dozens, if not hundreds of dragons from all walks of life, each clearly stressed and busy. -This place seems really busy...- Finally noticing a late-adult-stage blue dragon carrying a few leather chests on his back not far from me, I moved over and stopped him.

"Sir, may I ask you something?"

The man paused immediately before awkwardly glancing around. "Y..yes, what is it?"

"I'm looking for Asimi Ragnarok, as I have an important message for her. Do you happen to know where she is?" I tried to act like a messenger to avoid making things more complicated than they needed to be, and thankfully it seemed to work.

"She left just before sunset. I believe she should be in the Housing District, currently."

"Hmm, alright. Could you point me in the direction of it?"

The man gave me an odd look for a moment before pointing to the northeastern horizon. "It's just over there. You can't miss it."

-Why northeast of all directions...- But, continuing to suppress my uneasiness, I kept up my act. "Great, thank you, kind sir." Not letting another second go to waste, I hastily moved back to where I landed and leapt into the air. *Fwooosh*

Thankfully, the district wasn't too hard to find, or recognize. -This must be it...-

Stretching for several kilometers in each direction was nearly a hundred large complexes of 6 buildings, only around 100 by 100 meters each, built around a circular courtyard that was basically a landing area.

From what I could tell, each building only had one room, but it definitely seemed like it would do the job. -But where would Grandmother be...- 

I continued flying and looking around for several minutes after that before noticing a much larger estate towards the back of all the complexes.

It looked similar to many of the noble estates I had seen thus far, but it seemed less gaudy and more aestetic than most. -Maybe she's there...-

The moment I landed in the estate's courtyard though, a small sky-blue dragon came running up to me. -Is he coming to me?- He couldn't have been older than 14

But even though I was towering over him, his hostility was unmatched. "Hey, you!"

-Oh boy...- His arrogance was oozing out of him. "What is it, kid?"

"You think I wouldn't recognize you?!"

"Hm?" My calm and collected expression quickly turned confused. "Have we met?"

"Yeah! You're that bast*rd that dropped that mountain of ice on me and my friends!"

Quickly sifting through my memories, I eventually stumbled across what the kid seemed to be referencing. (Chapter 130) -Oh, that?- "Kid, you shot your magic at me while I was idly flying overhead. You can't be mad about receiving punishment for that." I was slowly getting annoyed since I didn't want to deal with him.

"I d-d-don't know what you are talking about! I, a noble Aetos, would never do such an unlawful thing!" He held his head high as if winning the fight he was picking wasn't an issue. "How dare you accuse me of doing such a thing."

"Haah..." -Aetos, huh... That must be some noble family...- "Kid, listen. I don't have time for you, so get to the point."

His expression darkened further, still drowned in naive confidence. "You must submit to me, or else my grandfather will make you!"

-This kid can't be serious.- "I don't know what kind of people the Aetos Family are, but you're barking up the wrong tree, kid. Since you don't seem to understand that though, I'll turn a blind eye. Have a good day." Quickly turning away, I started walking back toward the estate only to see two beautiful copper-colored dragons walking out of its main entrance with nervous expressions. 

The dragons looked like they were mother and daughter, with the bigger one being considerably bigger than me and the other just a bit smaller than Mother. 

But regardless, I recognized one of them almost immediately. -So this is where Amara went.- Her sudden departure from Siratha already started to make sense. -But what was she summoned for?- Thinking it couldn't hurt to go and ask, I started walking over to her.

But the kid I was ignoring wouldn't let me leave so peacefully. "You cocky bast*rd!" His voice echoed through the courtyard, grabbing the attention of everyone around before he charged at me.

-This kid can't be serious...- 

But serious, he was.

*CrUnCh* The noise of teeth breaking apart echoed through the silence that filled the courtyard, making everyone freeze in place and stare at the stupid child biting the tail of a dragon nearly 3 times its size.

-I guess I was the naive one for thinking he would leave me alone, huh...-