Ch. 23: New Plan of Action

Sending one person away... It's risky. Sending an army? Even with an incredibly powerful magical catalyst, and an incredibly powerful mage casting the spell, you'd need to wait until the void field is at its weakest, or you'd just be sending people to their deaths." Mana told them all.

"When is the void field going to be at its weakest?" Adrian asked him.

"Six months or so." Mana replied after a moment. Adrian didn't trust this guy at all, after hearing his backstory, but even if it wasn't true, there was very little that Adrian could do about it at the moment. He needed the Resistance in order to locate the Kingstone in the first place. He still didn't even know who actually stole it, though Rosy clearly did.

"Alright. I'm in. I'll help you out for the next six months, as long as you locate the Kingstone for me and help me get it before it's used to invade my home." Adrian offered.

"We don't have a choice there. We can't allow the Shadowborn king to gain any more power." Chloe assured him.

"Luckily, they can't risk using that catalyst for anything other than the dimension spell. Too much magic runs through it, and it'll shatter and be worthless." Mana thought aloud.

"On top of that, it'll be easy to track. There's only two people in the kingdom who'll be trusted to keep something that valuable, after all." Reese said. This intrigued Adrian, but nobody elaborated on that. Instead, the conversation veered back on course.

"Before we track the Stone, though, we need to gather our own power." Rosy announced, changing the topic.

"And... That's the problem. There's no more power to be gathered. That bastard king has a firm grip on every square inch of land within a thousand miles." Mana said angrily.

"Not... Every inch." Rosy said, clearly already thought this through.

"Every inch that matters. The only ones willing to resist at all are the Demi-human clans, and the ones that we can contact are too smart to fight against something that powerful." Reese reminded the others.

"That was before." Rosy argued, "things have changed. I'm here now."

"You're overvaluing yourself, right?" Adrian asked, realizing that she was basing the entire plan around her reputation.

"Actually, not really." Chloe answered him.

"My father's finally managed to conquer all of the territories to the north. Now, he really does own just about every square inch of the known world. Where do you think he'll turn his sights to next?" Rosy asked. The answer was pretty obvious.

"Anywhere that his influence doesn't go." Adrian voiced it. It was textbook behavior for greedy men. They'd just keep wanting more, objects and money never satisfied greed. 

"You're right. My family won't be able to ignore this for much longer." Reese realized.

"And, he'll find the entrance to the Drakelands eventually, too." Doma agreed with Reese. Drakelands? Adrian wondered. That sounded interesting. So, the Gryphons and Drakes each had their own territories that were apparently rather difficult to enter, huh? There seemed to be other demi-human clans, too.

"If we can get full backing from the Gryphons, Drakes, and Centaurs, then we might be able to stand up to the King's army in a frontal battle, if only for a few days or so." Chloe realized. None of them were actually stupid enough to decide to fight in a frontal battle, but a force strong enough to stand up to Noctus's monsterously huge army was going to be enough for a sneak attack for sure.

"If only the Rose vampire clan was organized enough to gather on a single side of the war..." Mana muttered, annoyance clear in his voice.

"Rose clan?" Adrian asked.

"There are only two Vampire clans in existence right now. I'm the Royal vampire from the Rose clan. There's also a Royal vampire from the other clan, the Crescent clan, under my father's thumb." Rosy explained. So, Royal vampires were genuine royalty. There were only a handful that existed at one time, and they each represented a different race of vampires... Then Adrian only had one question...

"What's the difference between the two types of vampire?" He asked. Mana had already explained the different types of Vampires, the Common, slightly stronger than a normal person, low bloodlust, the Brute, far stronger than a normal person, with little to no magic ability, and incredible bloodlust, and then the Royal, like Rosy, who were a perfect combination of the two in terms of strength and bloodlust, but with enhanced magic ability... but Adrian honestly could barely tell the difference between Rosy and a normal human unless she showed off her incredible battle prowess, or had a sudden craving for blood. Telling the difference between vampire clans as well as vampire types sounded rather difficult.

Strangely, it was actually a pretty simple matter. "There's a smell, at the back of their necks. Sweat... perfume... nothing'll wash it away. Rose vampires smell like flowers. Roses, specifically, while Crescent vampires smell like a fresh breeze." Mana told him casually.

"Plus, there's the fact that the Crescent Royal family is a pile of trash." Rosy said.

"Like you're one to talk." Mana muttered.

"Guys, let's get back on topic. We need to make a plan of action for future events." Chloe reminded everyone, stopping the argument that was about to brew concerning Rosy's personality. Everyone here accepted that Rosy was a complicated person, but if even she was calling somebody a 'pile of trash,' then they must be really useless people. Adrian most definitely didn't want to meet them.

"We need to decide what we're going to do from here on out." Reese reminded them

"Isn't it pretty obvious? We're gonna take Rosy to the Gryphons. Then, we're gonna take her to the Drakelands." Chloe said.

"Ha! As if. There's no chance that the Gryphons are going to allow her anywhere near the Griffin Mountain. Not even if I were to escort her personally." Reese told them. Honestly, it made sense. Only an idiot would let someone as powerful as Rosy anywhere near their home without first verifying her loyalty, which would be nearly impossible.

"The Drakes'll be the same way. We'll need to sneak her into the Drakelands, or nobody'll listen to a word we say." Doma agreed with Reese.

Their talks continued late into evening, as they decided where to bring Rosy first in their 'unification tour.' Eventually, they decided to attempt to have Rosy and Adrian scale Griffin mountain, along with a large portion of the Gryphons that were currently working for the Resistance.