Chapter 16

February 16th, 2043Falmart, Italica

"WHAT!? They killed a flame dragon?" The patrons of a tavern located within the city of Italica cried out in disbelief as a barmaid, a former occupant from the village of Coda shared her tale of the encounter with the so called

"That's right. I witnessed it with my own eyes. The beast's head fell from it's neck and fell towards the ground."

"You're full of it!" A man amongst the rest discredited the barmaid's claims. "No one, not even with magic had any chance of slaying that creature!"

"Say what you want, I know exactly what I saw! If you want, you can go to where I mentioned the fight took place and find it's decapitated corpse."

"Men in green?" From amongst the patrons, the Imperial princess looked up from her drink and was driven by curiosity about these so called, men in green. "Norma? What do you think of this?"

The male knight looked down from his drink and turned his head to face the princess, focusing on her. "Well let me tell you what I think. The food is atrocious, and the drinks are no better. For a rich city that is a key factor of the Empire's economy I would've expected higher quality ale."

"That's not what the princess was asking of you." The older Knight Grey scorned his younger counter part. "I overheard some of the folk here talking about these Men in Green as much as the princess has."

"True. Apparently there's a lot of talk on the street about these Men in Green being mercenaries who helped evacuate the people of Coda Village." Hamilton explained what she overheard in the streets of Italica. "But there's more. There's claims that they slain a flame dragon."

"That's just impossible." Norma responded. "Wyverns, drakes, anything else could be easily mistaken for a flame dragon. Besides, even if the most powerful of mages or largest of armies couldn't take down one of those beasts, what chance do a bunch of mercenaries have?"

"I know what I saw." The barmaid came over to refill their drinks, over hearing their banter. "They were more than just mercenaries. They were true soldiers with weapons and abilities unlike any fielded by any army."

"You're full of it!" Norma cried out. "You've been drinking what you've been selling."

"Say what you want, but I did witness them kill a flame dragon. The beast's head completely fell from it's neck."

"Then tell me, what can you tell us about the Men in Green you encountered?" Piña asked the barmaid personally as she held out a small piece of gold. Seeing the coin, the maid snatched it out with glee as she began to tell her tale of the Men in Green.

"They came too us from outside the village, in wagons made entirely of steel and that drove without the need of horses. Carrying with them weapons of unforeseen power that unleashed thunder and light. With them was a massive golem like creature, strong enough to lift an entire wagon and toss it as if it was but a mere pebble. Then came their steel elephants which they summoned upon the flame dragon attacking us, unleashing thunder and fire from their trunks, killing the beast after severing it's arms and wings. For the dragon may have been a predator, but these creatures saw it as prey."

With that explanation done, the knights exited the tavern and made their way back out onto the streets, ready to head out and proceed to Alnus Hill. However before they could even reach the gate on their horses, a loud war horn sounded from outside, followed by a ringing of alarm bells, meaning only one thing.

The city was under attack._________________________________Meanwhile...Alnus Refugee Camp

"Well, this is pleasant." Mason declared as he leaned back on a foldable bench, tossing a small ball out before it came back, being returned by a small fluffy white mass.

It turns out little Snow happened to exhibit behavioral traits one would expect to find from a puppy. Technically she was actually a puppy based off her canine features. Turns out she enjoyed several activities, fetch included as Mason found a small ball somewhere and has since started playing fetch with his new as everyone started calling her. Some even started referring to her as his daughter sometimes, and he couldn't blame them. He was getting quite attached to the little pup.

Snow was also very sneaky whenever she wanted to be, having snuck off from the refugee camp and followed the marine back to base on several occasions. It would only be went others found her snooping around that he would become aware of her presence within the facilities. One time she was almost perceived as an intruder by a drone that was running it's routine patrol.

"Playtime again sir?" Sergeant Warner appeared around the corner and approached her squad leader as Snow returned to him, holding the ball in her paws.

"She's quite the belt fed thing this one." The lieutenant explained the young volralden. "Won't leave my side, and always happens to find something that catches her attention."

"I see." Warren answered as Mason tossed the ball back out, watching as little Snow ran in pursuit just to bring it back once again. "I finished detailing the biographies of our guests and ran a recent check up on my Their back has drastically healed lately, but the burns will leave scaring for some time."

"Great. Anything interesting you managed to find about our guests in general?" Mason asked as Snow returned with the ball in her hands, lifting it up to him before he threw it out again.

"Well, in regards to our human occupants everything checks out as normal, but...it's the elves and this Rory Mercury characters that are rather intriguing. The teenagers claim to be within the ages of 100 or above, with Eletha claiming she's 300. As for the , she claims to be 961 years exact which is...difficult to comprehend."

"I don't take well to being called a child little missy, I hope you remember that well." A sassy voice called from behind Mason which caused him and Warren to jump, seeing the apostle sitting above him with her legs hanging down.

"You're 960 years old?" Mason called out. "I call that bullshit! You look better being 13 or 14 years old at least!"

Snow returned with the ball in her paws again, but paused seeing the apostle making contact with both the human warriors. She instead hid, peeking around to watch the interaction take place.

"Hmm, you know that happened to be my approximate age before my transcendence into an apostle for Emroy, the god of darkness, war, death, violence, and insanity." That would make sense, given her general character. "I was but an ordinary girl back a millennium ago. Since then I have stopped aging, remaining in this form until I ascend once again."

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Mason responded blatantly. "Just keep yourself from jumping on my lap again, or I'll throw your ass twice as far as I did last time."

"You would dare handle a god's apostle in such a manner?" Rory challenged, before she dropped to a more subtle attitude. "Though I will admit, I have never let any man throw me like that before. You, Sir Mason are very luck and blessed with quite strong arms. I care to wonder what else those arms could do." The apostle finished with a seductive lick of her lips.

Mason shook his head in response. "In your dreams sweetheart. In your dreams. Just remember if you ever shove my little Snow again, I will go all out ballistic on you until you're a bleeding pulp." At the mention of her name, Snow appeared once again and ran up to Mason's leg, still with the ball in her paws. The apostle looked down on the little creature. How could a man, no less a soldier, find more interest in such a small thing compared to her? Was she not attractive to him?

The hours ticked by as lunch was being served for the refugees. After their meals, they all parted their separate ways, before Eletha suddenly came up on Mason who turned to find her tapping on his shoulder.

"Umm, Sir Mason is it?"

The marine nodded. "Just Mason is fine. What can I help you with ma'am?"

"I was wondering about the wyvern corpses that are scattered across the surrounding fields of Alnus. What are your plans for them?"

The marine shrugged. "Not much really. Though I did hear that our men and sometimes vehicles will use them as target practice. Why, what's up?"

"Are you aware with how valuable dragon scales are?" The elf asked him. "Because when I noticed and went to investigate, I saw that every corpse seemed relatively untouched, apart from several chipped scales here and there. I was wondering if it would be alright, with your permission, that we could extract and collect the scales for our personal benefit, should we have the chance to make some profit off of them."

The marine thought about it for a moment, before coming with a decision. "Sure why not, it's not like those scales are worth anything to us back home, or we can make any use of them. Whatever you decided to do with them is all up to you."