The elves in that tribe could not stop talking about the mysterious youth in their tribe and the accusations toward their current chief. It was not something that had happened in a long time, and for the first time in many years, the position of the tribe's chief could change before the chief's retirement.
Arthur was happy with the development — not having to fight against multiple enemies — but he was still careful toward the older man who had the power of a peak rank-three mage.
Why? No one could know the man was trustworthy; perhaps he could be part of the dark magic. Then, after the first encounter, everyone else returned to their businesses, and only Arthur, the chief, and the older man remained.
The trio walked together throughout the tribe and went toward the biggest tree around, the location of the tribe's chief house. Once inside, Arthur was the first to speak, "do you know where my friend is? Agatha's boyfriend or husband, I don't know."
"You mean Jake?" the chief said, sitting on his throne made of fine materials, "he left with Agatha two days ago."
The way the chief spoke made it look like that was the truth, and Jake had left the tribe with his new lover, Agatha. But Arthur was not easily fooled, and he had the help of his mark, which said Jake was near the tribe, somewhere, hidden, and the chief was once again lying.
Arthur smiled and said, "is that so? Do you know to where?"
"U-uh, they did not tell me or anyone around here. It was their honeymoon, so we cannot disturb it."
That was the worse lie Arthur had ever heard, but he still acted like a foolish youth, believing in the nonsense the man in front of him was saying. He could not share the information about his mark — it was his trump card to find Jake — so he sealed his lips and did not ask further questions.
The older man sat in a chair, sipping some tea made of a leaf that only grew in the nearby forests, an exquisite leaf the elves sold to other places.
"Shall we talk about this dark magic stuff? Young man, what can you tell me about it?"
"Well, where can I start? First, the chief of this village tossed me in the dark forest without a motive, and don't tell me because I am an outsider; all you need to do was ask for me to leave this tribe and not act like an idiot,"
"Then, when I was inside the dark forest, I met some elves from other tribes, and they also said it was happening in their tribes, with chiefs tossing people into the Dark Forest with no apparent reason and plotting in the shadows,"
"I had no idea it was about black magic until I found a temple inside the Dark Forest and fought against some elves there. They told me about the dark magic, thinking I would lose the fight. Haha, here I am!"
The older elf was listening to everything while sipping his tea and analyzing Arthur's body language, trying to see if what he was saying was the truth. Ardreth, the tribe's leader, was nervous after hearing what Arthur said.
Could it be possible for the youth in front of him to kill everyone in the temple? If that was the case, Arthur was not as simple as Ardreth had imagined.
Also, before Ardreth could say anything, the older elf spoke, "I will send some of my people to investigate this. Don't worry; they don't have any attachment to this tribe, so Ardreth cannot interrupt this. In the meantime, you can stay inside the tribe, and I will keep you informed of anything new I find."
After that, Arthur and the older man left, and someone showed Arthur a small cabin above a tree where he could stay while the investigation was happening. He explained to the older elf exactly how to find the temple and warned him to be careful with the chief.
This older elf gave Arthur a vibe of being someone he could trust, but he still acted carefully around the man before finding more information about him.
And speaking about finding more information, that was precisely what Arthur would do once night arrived, and in the meantime, he sat cross-legged inside his small cabin at the top of a tree, meditating while waiting for the time to come.
~~~~
The peaceful dragon valley shocked the entire demon continent. It was a day like any other, and the dragons, who often stayed indoors just sleeping and eating, were focused on their training and were working together with the dwarves, who left their mountains to live with the dragons!
It turned out the dragon mountains had plenty of ores to extract, more than any other place in the demon continent — no one was crazy enough to mine the ores before with dragons flying around.
That day, inside the valley, something extraordinary happened. Arthur was meditating near the waterfall after having sex with his wives, as he did every day, and with the help of his new dragon priests, who were granting him power, he finally did it!
The moment his existence passed from rank three to rank four, the whole mountain trembled with it! Arthur, who was in his human form, changed to his dragon form without activating it, and the clouds above the area turned black, pouring down a heavy rain with thunders and a mighty wind along with it!
It was like the end of the world, and the dragon known as the eater of worlds was finally restoring some of its former power! The dragon mountains and valley weren't the only places affected by the current change. All the powerhouses inside the demon continent felt the powerful aura spreading throughout the continent!
There was no denial. No matter if they were at the same level as Arthur, now rank four, a dragon was still a dragon, an existence they could not compare to!
All the other dragons flew up together with Arthur, and when they looked at the mighty black-scaled dragon, they bowed their heads down, and although they saw Arthur as their king, now, it was official!
The first dragon in ages to achieve the rank four after all the terrible things that happened to his race! It was a mark on the history of the dragons.
Arthur roared and looked toward his fellow dragons, and his booming voice echoed inside the valley, "I am the first one to reclaim some of my past glory, but I will not be the only one! You, all of you, will fly along with me, and together, we will take back what is ours!"
"For the glory of the dragons, we will show them how mighty we are!"
The other dragons roared in response, and the adrenaline took them over! It was just the first step, but it was still important for them to take!
After the rain clouds disappeared and all the dragons were calmer, Arthur sat inside his cabin, thinking about his next moves.
"I will visit the Von Stein family now; let me see if they can stop me!"