Arrival

The second month since Völsung's hasty departure was coming to an end. I was unsure where Völsung had gone to and how long it would take him. For now, all I could do on that front was wait.

I kept myself busy by training dual-wielding lightning and nature. It was a beautiful day outside, birds were singing, flowers were blooming... On days like these, trees like me... should be the only ones allowed to create explosions.

However, today wasn't meant to be like this. I was just peacefully appreciating the explosions my magic brought out. Then, out of nowhere, the mayor's house inside town exploded and collapsed. It was no fancy explosion with fire and charred remains. It was more of an expulsion of energy that broke one of the main support pillars and collapsed the house.

Nerida had broken through to the early baroness maga realm. This speed may seem astonishing but honestly, it wasn't anything special considering her situation. By awakening her bloodline it would passively aid her in reaching the level it was formerly at. The downside of this was that once it reached its former strength it would slow down her progress instead.

Thus, Nerida would face huge difficulties in reaching the viscountess maga realm.

Later that day Sven approached me with an offer. He had found a beast in the forest but wasn't confident in defeating it. His proposal was for me to lend him three more tempest wolves in return for half the reward. For every casualty, the reward would be halved.

I accepted. I mean I had nothing to lose. Those three wolves were nothing to me! I could just grow more of them, in fact, I was already doing just that.

Getting new blueprints was my priority right now. I commanded three wolves to follow Sven's orders and sent him on his way.

Only days after, Völsung returned. He was riding a majestic lion and following him were two carriages. Well, it would probably be more accurate to say there was one carriage while the other one was a heavy wagon.

The small group was completely made up of powerful individuals. I estimated that even the weakest of them were at the count realm. They disembarked and Völsung came over.

"Nice to see you again. How was your journey?"

"Not too bad. Now, when is the earliest you can start the checkup?"

"You seem overly hurried. We can begin now if you want."

"I understand. I'll bring them over."

Völsung gave me a grateful look and returned to the carriage. Meanwhile, I was completely baffled by what he said. Them? There was more than one? What were the chances for multiple individuals to survive consuming the blood and flesh of a dragon?

Völsung came back with three hooded figures, guarded by two men that I judged to both be duke magi. That must be someone important these two were guarding.

"You weren't hypothetically talking about three!"

"There are just two. Lord Eldar, I am Signy, sister to the king. Pleased to meet you."

One of the hooded figures spoke with a gentle voice.

"Signy, you shouldn't say who you are out loud. There may be assassins around."

"Uncle, you're being overly worried again. I'm an early marquess maga and you are here too, who could hurt me?"

So if Signy was the king's sister... and Völsung was Signy's uncle... then Völsung... is the king's uncle?

It began to look like I was quite well acquainted with the royal family.

"Back to the subject at hand. Eldar, I apologize for not telling you the specifics but could we do this in a more secure location?"

"I'm a tree, I can't move!"

"Oh... we'll just have to set up a perimeter."

Völsung and the two guards formed a triangle around my outermost tree circle. Signy took over the conversation once again. She removed her hood, revealing a gorgeous face framed in a flood of golden hair.

"Lord Eldar, please allow me to clear things up. These here are my nephews, they each have a dragon's bloodline. Come on you two introduce yourselves."

The two hooded figures revealed their faces.