Chapter 18:

It seemed it was the evening, the setting sun's light passed through the window.

Eleanor took deep breaths as she once again reveled in the fact that she was alive. Everything felt so much better now. Eleanor looked at the necklace on the drawing table.

"Thank you…" a small voice came out as warm tears stung her eyes once more.

If 'Elin' hadn't come to save her, who knew what would've happened. She had given up; she had stopped caring; she had almost died.

In the silence of the room, a warm breeze came through the window and slowly shaking the lotus that was beside her. Looking at the lotus, she felt an serene; a brief melancholy took over her as she watched the lotus flutter with the wind.

Slowly, with the wind, the lotus took off. It 'broke' into many small parts, and went away.

"Thank you"

For some reason, Eleanor felt as if she should thank the flower, she did not know why; but she did.

 There was a brief silence in the room, when suddenly muffled voices came from outside. Eleanor raised her awareness trying to understand them as they seemed to be walking towards the room.

***

"What do you mean, I didn't do anything. If anything, she was the one who hurt me, I never hit her!" a rough raspy voice sounded out.

"Then smartass, tell me why she's like that?" a more familiar voice retorted to the first.

"Well, there were a lot of fluctuations in her 'will', you know; it could've been that her current state of mind was just…unstable which reacted poorly with my 'will'", the raspy voice tried to protest, trying to justify why the patient had been unconscious, and on the verge of death.

"Well, you should've been more careful, she's the daughter of Julius, and for fuck's sake I've-" the familiar man's voice stopped, he quieted down, their footsteps also went dead silent.

Then-

BAM!

The door burst open, shattered into small pieces.

Eleanor who had been looking at the door was stunned as the shrapnel flew by her through the window.

At the door stood two people, one of them had the dark blue hair, and with the vulgar mouth was obviously Francis, the other one was someone new.

The man was hunched over slightly, with bronze skin and somewhat minimal clothing; he had a skinny build. His right iris was cut like Francis' and his right arm seemed to have been amputated. There were small bits of machinery embedded in his chest. His white hair was long and covered most of his face, as it came right above his nose, and probably covered his entire back.

The energy radiating off of him, it seemed this was the dragon's human form.

Francis looked at Eleanor, who was clearly feeling very weak, and let out a cough, to clear the atmosphere.

"You're awake, are you feeling well?" Francis asked with a warm tone unlike his usual harsh voice.

"Y-yes" Eleanor replied not paying much mind to it, with a very small voice.

"Ugh, this guy…" the dragon mumbled under his breath, "Still I'm happy you're alive spawn of Julius. It has been a while I suppose. I am Mukor of the bronze dragon, Pleasure to meet you again."

"Um…pleasure to meet you too, sir bronze dragon…may I ask what do you mean by that?" Eleanor maintained a respectful tone, her voice still very small.

"Hm? You mean about meeting you again? Well, I suppose you wouldn't remember since it was before your birth, Cassandra, your mother had some complications so, your father came to me for help, during that time your mother was suffering from mana relapse while pregnant, and your health had been compromised. Of course I helped him since he allowed me to stay here."

"Ah, I see. Then, thank you for helping my mother back then, and saving my life." Eleanor tried to bow, but a warm hand pressed her shoulder. It was Francis' as he shook his head.

"Well, that is fine. All is well that ends well, I suppose…but my lady it seems your days of suffering might only continue from now on…", Francis gave a regretful smile, trying not to agitate Eleanor who had just woken up from a coma.

"W-what do you mean?" Eleanor asked not knowing what to feel.

"Well-"

"This guy…well to keep it short, young lady your soul itself is fragmented and it houses another inside; it would've been fine if you had left it alone or, well did not train your will, but because you used that thing", the bronze dragon pointed at the necklace on the table.

"Well, kuhum, my lady", Francis coughed a bit, "Because of the necklace, your fragile stability of a fragmented soul and the foreign soul became unstable with the addition of the third soul inside the necklace"

"And what exactly would that entail for me?"

"Yes, there is a soul inside the necklace- wait, you're not surprised?"

"Well, just now I felt the soul, and it called out to me, so yes I'm not surprised"

"HAHAHAHAHA! Kugh!" the dragon's laugh seemed to shake the air around the room, before being punched in the gut by Francis.

"Be careful, she is still recovering"

"Yea, yea, in any case, our little princess here isn't a piece of glass to be broken so easily anyways", the dragon continued as if nothing had occurred.

Being called a 'princess' did not bode too well with Eleanor, however she felt a bit too weak at the moment to talk back. It seemed her emotions seemed to transfer to the others as they realized Eleanor did not like being looked down upon.

"Ho, ho! Quite interesting. Now, the soul, yes. One of the soul inside you is that of a guardian dragon, it has been protecting you since even before your birth, it seems it has some connection to you, maybe is the reason that you are alive today, or the reason you were able to survive the mana relapse which should've been fatal"

"So, lord dragon you're saying that it wasn't you who saved my mother during the mana relapse?"

"Well, I did save her from the relapse; it's just that you were saved by this soul during the relapse, before your father brought your mother here"

"I see, what about the other soul, the one within the necklace?"

"That…my lady…well that young soul has never 'reached' out to anyone. The necklace itself was made as a soul-bound equipment, but the soul residing in it has never been observed so as to say…which makes it more interesting that it spoke to you…"

"I see…I still don't know what this entails for me though?"

"Well, what it entails for you is that you're going to die."

"HEY-"

"What? You're going to keep the truth away from her too?"

"Ugh, look…I was going to tell her-"

"When? When her condition was going to be critical, while you try to 'fix' the situation like last time?"

"You…"

"P-please stop…", Eleanor sounded out her worries, it seemed her head was going to explode as the two started to argue with one another.

A brief silence took over the room.

"My lady, look…don't give up hope. You still have time. Time to well fix your soul, or well live your life with your brother without much worry for the next 3 maybe 4 decades if you stop training…"

"Oh wow, are you going to clip off the wings of this young talent now?"

"Oh shut up"

"Yea, yea whatever…Eleanor Von Russel, you surely won't go down without a fight right?"

"I-"

Eleanor raised her head.

For a moment, Francis' proposition to live a peaceful life sounded great, it sounded perfect, but no. She knew she had to fight, to protect those who she cared for; to prove to herself that she was still strong despite her losses.

"I-I will fight"

"HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-Bweh", the dragon's laugh shook the entire forest.

"HEY!" Francis shouted at Mukor, this time his hand shoved into the dragon's mouth.

"U-ugh", Eleanor sounded out, her 'will' still not stable after the entire incident.

"Look what you've done…"

"Well…ugh", the dragon said to say something but realized anything he said wouldn't help his current case.

"Ok, I need to speak with my lady now, some privacy please…"

The bronze dragon let out a sigh as he walked out the room. Francis looked at the open door frame as Mukor walked out; he pulled out another high quality alchemy potion, with the word delight etched into the ordained glass bottle.

Francis brought out a chair which was placed at the corner of the room. He placed the potion on Eleanor's hand, which seemed to be shaking from pain.

Eleanor looked at Francis, her eyes tired and shaking from all the events that have occurred in the last two days. A demon, dragon, now a threat to her very soul and life, it was safe for her to say that these have been the worst series of events she has lived in her current life.

"Look my lady, know this…I never wanted you to be in this current situation. When you went to kill the demon, I saw a flame in your eyes, which I wanted to grow, I wanted that flame to thrive, and honestly it did…"

Eleanor did not speak up; she looked at the potions in her shaking hands, too tired to bring it near her mouth to drink.

"After the demon, I noticed the fluctuation in your 'will', I wanted to fix the situation through Mukor, but I did not know…I did not know this would happen…"

There was genuine guilt and regret in his voice, he seemed truly apologetic.

"I-…I'm sorry for all this…"

A brief silence consumed the room.

Eleanor finally managed to bring the potion to her mouth and drink it. Immediately, all the tiredness disappeared for a moment, the wounds in her body seemed to heal, she felt fresh for a moment, before all the mental fatigue caught up to her.

"It's fine Francis, it's not all your fault…I would've liked some fore warning next time"

"…I understand…but on-topic…my lady…your soul…why are you still trying to suffer needlessly…"

"Because I need to protect everyone…this is my responsibility as the barony"

"But, my lady…please think…there are more ways to protect the people than…this-"

"Francis, don't try to educate me on my duties…"

"…"

Eleanor looked at Francis, fire burned in her eyes. Francis frowned a bit, before he looked at Eleanor; his eyes seemed to go through many emotions, many memories, many regrets, he spoke no words. Eleanor seemed a bit angry; she spoke no words in hopes that she wouldn't say things she would regret later.

"My lady…I won't stop you from following your duty, but please understand, this…you don't have to do this…you can live your life normally, never feel the pain you have felt today, never feel the day as if you could lose everything the next day…my lady-"

"Francis, I've already said this, this is my responsibility and duty…don't try to come between me and my goal.", Eleanor's words were final.

Francis looked into Eleanor's eyes.

He sighed.

"My lady, please if in the future you want to stop, please remember this uncle. He will help you no matter what…till then…I will help you till the best of my abilities…"

Eleanor looked at Francis.

"Alright…" Eleanor said as she looked at the wall in front of her, "How long has it been since I fell unconscious…"

Francis looked at her, her stubbornness felt familiar to him. He took a deep breath and let out a big sigh. This was a battle he could never win.

"Not even a day, you fell unconscious for about 4 hours while which you fell into critical condition, and suddenly woke up…"

"I understand, I need to be home by the evening"

"I understand, before then…let's talk business…"

"Ok…"

The atmosphere felt much better than before.

***

"Firstly, since we have met a dragon, I presume you can create the antidote for the Aero's disease"

"Ah-yea, I can…Please provide me with all the other ingredients; it will take me about a week or two to make the antidote…"

"Alright, I'll get the ingredients soon, and the Tara festival will happen in a month, I heard you wanted to have yourself and your brother introduced during then?"

"Yes…but I don't know what to do with my brother…"

"Does he not know what you are doing?"

"No…"

"Alright, I'll send someone to your household disguised in silver armor to act as 'Elin', so you can plan your actions around that…"

"Alright…"

"How do you like the dragon?"

"Um…he seems to be a good person I suppose? Why do you ask?"

"Well, remember the blacksmith I talked about?"

"A dragon blacksmith? You seem to be quite a jester, Francis"

"I wouldn't lie to you my lady, please talk to him later and ask him to get you some upgrades on your spear, and get yourself a better sword…the one you have won't hold too long if you keep using that technique…also talk to him about mending your soul, he should have a better understanding than me…"

"Um..alright…"

Eleanor looked at Francis who seemed quite tame today. Something felt off about him, guilt and regret were one thing, but being this tame felt extremely weird especially when it came to him.

"Francis…why are you suddenly so eager to help today?"

Francis seemed hesitant to answer the rather simple question.

"Well…my lady, I am helping because you are the daughter of a good friend of mine, and well I do not want to see you suffer any more, while I remember my previous arrangements, I also can't have you be hurt just for some profits"

Eleanor heard out his entire answer till the end, it seemed like a completely plausible answer; in fact nothing he said could be refuted. But Eleanor felt that something was off, something that he was refusing to speak on, so she decided to pry further.

"That doesn't seem to be the entire truth Francis, tell me everything or the deal is off"

Suddenly, Francis' eyes seemed to frown a bit before returning back to being regretful.

"Ugh, my lady please don't pry further than you should. I have been on the red cause you took 60 gold off of me, and well a lot of things have occurred since; but…let's treat your question as the same reason I don't ask why a seemingly untrained girl was able to fight against a demon, and a dragon, or how she knows about the treatment to a disease which has stumped alchemists, and priest alike, or how she-"

"Stop, Stop, I get it. Ugh-"

"Doesn't feel good, does it? My lady-", Francis let out a short laugh as he stood up from the chair, and placed it back on the corner before trying to leave; he took out another bottle of potion and gave it Eleanor.

"How many of these have you got? Did you buy out the entire store?"

"No, I haven't. And, these were originally for Violet; the potions seemed to work when she was first diagnosed with Aero's disease, but soon lost its effectiveness. I suppose I should've bought mana or aura potions then…"

He took a brief pause before making a forced action, as if remembering something.

"By the way, my lady can you share the method to cure the disease? I can apply for a patent if it works, and well…as partners we can share the royalties you know", he said looking at Eleanor which fit his usual personality but was very out of place at the moment.

He looked down to the ground, chuckling a bit, before continuing in a more cheerful fashion.

"Take a rest my lady, you have worked too much for this week, don't forget rest is also important for growth, and if you want to protect everyone…"

Saying that he left through the door, as Eleanor stared at the place he had just left through.

"That guy…", Eleanor was somewhat perplexed, but she did not question any further, as she drank the potion he had just given her, feeling refreshed once more.

Eleanor took off the wig she realized she had been wearing the entire time.

Eleanor looked at the blonde wig; she seemed to be reminded of Elin, the soul bound to the necklace, the soul which came to her aid at the last moments, just before she had given up. She put the wig back on, as she had nowhere else to put it and she did not want to throw it away.

Eleanor stood up from the bed, and took the necklace; it was time to go meet the dragon blacksmith.

***

The abandoned house seemed fragile, it wouldn't be wrong for anyone else to assume that it would be demolished if someone were to even run near it. However, it survived a dragon's powerful laugh, so maybe this house was a result of the blacksmith's ingenious design…but it was a mystery as to how it was still standing when it seemed most of the interior were destroyed..

The stairs seem to creak as Eleanor walked down them. There were cobwebs on every corner of the room, moss near the windows, or anywhere where the light seemed to meet the rooms. Mushrooms near the dark corners, holes in the woods where termites seem to have left their mark. 

In some places, the flooring wood seemed to be destroyed, some places where the ceilings were caved down, almost about to fall.

The bottom floor seemed to have two big rooms, while the floor above had four, two of which were essentially unlivable due to their floors were either destroyed or caved down. The third room was unreachable, through normal means, as the path to it was on the bottom floor…it was destroyed.

So, Eleanor had stayed in the only room viable, the one near the stairs.

The only thing interesting about the bottom floor was a small opening in the floor in one of the dark corners of a room. This opening was however intentional. It seemed to lead to a basement.

A square opening on the floor, it seemed there was a hidden mechanism somewhere which opened the trapdoor.

Not thinking too much about it Eleanor made her way down in the basement.

***

The smithy occupied the same area as the house. The flooring was made with stone; a large furnace was kept at the farthest corner from the entrance to the smithy, with a chimney which focused all the smoke out of the room.

"A chimney? I don't remember seeing a chimney upstairs…is this an another space entirely, which should be impossible since this entire area is already within a disconnected space…unless the smoke is being sucked somewhere", Eleanor made a small remark while observing the room.

 A few chairs lay about; one in particular was placed at the corner of the room, which seemed to be their natural spot.

A large anvil which had many dents on it was off to the side of the furnace along with a large steel bucket which seemed to hold quite a bit of oil. On top of the anvil were three sets of blades, one looked to be a normal longsword, with a diamond cross section design; however the quality was much above the ones in the estate. The other blade was a double edged short sword.

The other was claymore. It didn't have any fancy designs, or any special engravings. It had a slightly broader body and a double fuller cross section blade, the hilt of the blade was pointed towards the tip of the blade. The handle was long enough to be used with two hands.

Currently the furnace did not contain any flames, but Eleanor could imagine how hot this place could get. Beside the furnace stood a huge pole with many grooves and dent on it, the base of which was a huge block of some metal. On the pole, some mechanism seems to be attached to them; it looked like a metal branch on a tree. In front of the 'hammer', the bronze dragon was sitting on one of the chairs looking at it.

On the wall beside the furnace, there were some normal sized hammers, chisels, tongs, mallets, and much more, mounted on a wooden plate stuck on the wall. There was also a mechanical arm thrown below the various tools mounted on the wall.

"Have you recovered?"

"Yes, lord dragon. Thanking for letting me stay at your abode…"

"Well, it was the consequences of my own actions, no need to thank me."

"Yes"

The air in the room quickly got awkward, the two of them seemed to have nothing much in common, so in the brief silence both of them constantly and silently tried to spark a conversation but failed. Eleanor did not know how to bring up her request, while the dragon did not know how to get Eleanor to give him the sword in an 'elegant' manner.

"Ugh- any ways…give me the spear, I'll upgrade it for you…do you even know what this blade is? Aside from this being your family's heirloom?"

"Um…I know it has a very sharp edge…"

Eleanor said as she handed the spear to the bronze dragon..

"Seriously kids these days…listen up, the tip of this spear, or the blade is a fragment of a once legendary great sword, Sigmund. That blade on your spear is not even the 'blade' of the original sword it came from, yet it's so sharp, you know why-"

"Aura-bound weapon…", Eleanor spoke up accidentally while her mind was occupied.

"Ugh- I couldn't even recognize an Aura-bound weapon…my condition is much worse than I could have imagined…I need to get stronger faster it seems…", she thought to herself.

"Hooooh, it seems the guardian dragon in your soul has imparted quite a lot of knowledge to you. You should be thankful to it."

"Y-yes"

"It seems both lord dragon and Francis think all my knowledge was imparted to me by the soul of the guardian dragon…well; it's quite a convenient misunderstanding I suppose", she thought to herself.

"In any case, like your soul you should try to fix this sword in your future travels, it's a shame having this beauty not realize its true potential, like you", the bronze dragon looked right at Eleanor's eyes.

Those slit-irises seem to peer into Eleanor; they saw something only a master could see.

"I understand, lord dragon; but how am I supposed to mend myself?"

"Well…I wouldn't know…", the dragon replied calmly.

"Huh?", a single 'huh' escaped Eleanor's mouth.

"Wasn't he the one who tried to persuade me into 'fighting', not giving up hope?", Eleanor asked herself and even questioned her own memories.

"Well, rather what you need to do is find out why your soul is fragmented, for that well…only god or yourself could answer it, so do you have an answer? Even if you don't, don't fret it too much, even while training 'will', it should be at least 2 years till you kick the bucket. Try awakening your guardian dragon, it should know why you're like it…"

"I-I see, then what would I do after I find the reason? And, how do I awaken the dragon?"

"Well, once you find the reason, the method to mend your soul will uncover itself to you naturally. And to awaken your dragon, well…why do you think that guy let you meet me?"

"I-well…what do I do now? I can't know how I got this way, my soul should've been fragmented before I was born, so how can I find out? And, if my guardian dragon hasn't woken up till now, what am I supposed to do? Die?"

"Well, you could stop training, like Francis said, yknow"

"Wh-what…"

"Well, are you going to?"

"…no"

"Then, find a way princess. Strength is not given, it's made. Now go, I need to start working on m master piece…"

"Hu-huh?"

"Yea, I asked Julius to lend me this spear so many times in the past, I even tried to trade in my teeth, and scales for it, alas he never caved in. But, sweet gods I never expected it would come to me AND, without any coercion. I must've been very good in my previous life or something."

"I feel like my father might be rolling in his grave, sorry dad; I need all I can get", Eleanor thought to herself, as she prayed for her father's peaceful afterlife once more.

"Ok, get out now, I can't wait to start"

The bronze dragon stood up from his seat, and put the spear on the anvil.

"Take those weapons, they're for you and your brother. You don't need me to tell you which ones right, princess?"

"Yes, yes. Lord dragon, please continue. I'd like to see the process of MY spear being upgraded"

She said as she took the blades off the anvil and mounted them on her hip.

"Hah hah! Sure princess if you don't mind staying here for two weeks. Don't get burned."

The bronze dragon walked over to the pole, then he seemed to use a bit of his will to bring the 'branch' near his amputated right arm, and the mechanical 'branch' seemed to snap onto his mechanical parts on his amputated limb.

In a swift motion, he lifted up the hammer and leveraged it on his shoulder. The next moment, a small spark appeared in the furnace, which immediately burst into a magnificent flame. The spear then floated up in the air, and was dismantled into its components, and only the blade part went into the furnace.

For the first time in ages, the aura of the blade began to shine a beautiful blue color reminiscent of the deep ocean, and the night sky.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOW~~~

The aura reacted to the flames, as it got put on the anvil as soon as it was ready.

The hammer also seemed to glow a metallic bronze color as it struck the spear head, at incredible speed at the right points.

CLANG! CLANK!

The process seemed to have started.

"Two weeks, I suppose I deserve the rest…besides I have other things to occupy myself with…"