Prologue: A king's concern

Marcus was sitting in his study, or rather, in the study of the nobleman who ruled the city where he was at the moment and which had been lent to him as he had requested it, and since he was the sovereign no one could say no to him. He was reading the reports coming from the various regions of the former Baudonia City Alliance, now known as the Province of Baudonia, and he was smiling contentedly as he did so. Things were going extraordinarily well.

The play of the epidemic had worked perfectly. There had been no riots, there had been no suspicion that it was false, and its popularity had grown exponentially thanks to the 'contribution' it had given and how close it had been to the citizens. All, of course, while he made sure to cleanse his army and command hierarchy of the harmful elements that had backed Carrion's mad plan. His assassins had been very good at taking care of them without leaving a trace. Instead, now in charge were the officials he knew for certain were loyal to him, and who were rapidly undoing the damage done by these pathetic extremists; soon they would be nothing but a distant memory and the beastmen's trust in their new ruler would be fully restored, obviously thanks to Marcus' actions during those days. Now, a few weeks after that play had begun, the king had decreed that the red death, the terrible disease that was rumored to circulate in those lands, had been completely eradicated and that therefore there was no longer any need to keep the cities closed, which had therefore been reopened and trade routes restored.

Marcus would soon publicly announce the complete destruction of the lizardmen, tigermen, and lionmen peoples; it would have been tragic, terrible news, and he himself would have worn mourning for an entire day as a sign of respect for those peoples. No one would blame him for anything: after all, the red death was not something you could control with authority. And so, the disappearance of those peoples would have been justified and no one would have asked questions. The image of the Jurao Kingdom would come out immaculate, and all of Carrion's crimes would be covered up.

The only damage that the Jurao Kingdom could have suffered would have been of an economic nature, given the closure of trade routes and work activities for weeks... but Marcus had already prepared numerous investigations that incriminated many nobles and merchants who had taken part in the Carrion's plan for corruption. When he returned to the capital he would make them public and have those responsible arrested… and he would also proclaim a new law on corruption which authorized the crown to seize all the assets of the condemned man, thus replenishing the state coffers. Obviously the heirs could have claimed them, but to do so they would first have to ask for his permission. Marcus would grant it to them… in exchange for certain favors. In practice, he would have gained numerous allies among the noble faction.

In the end, he would emerge victorious on all counts. He chuckled at the thought that, technically, he had Haku to thank for that. He was a little sorry that the dragon was gone, but given the situation he couldn't complain. And then there was a high probability that in the future they would meet again.

He heard a knock on the door, light but firm. He clearly recognized those blows, so he immediately gave his consent to enter without even asking who he was. As he had expected, the person who stood before him was Thornag. "Your Majesty, I have received the report from Gerard"

Normally Thornag shouldn't have moved too far from the king, but given the situation and the fact that the staff were not the best Marcus had decided to make a small departure from his normal duties, allowing him to leave him for brief moments. "Very well. Is there any news?"

Thornag placed a letter on the desk. "Gerard says that he is still looking for Sisna Drachia, but that he finally has a lead. It would seem that she has been spotted near the house of Baron Somadì"

After Haku had revealed that name to him, Marcus had immediately sent Gerard to look for Sisna Drachia, using all of his spies if necessary. The man had identified her almost immediately: besides the fact that there weren't many people in the kingdom with that surname, the name of the owner of one of the richest shops in the capital wasn't exactly unknown. However, before he could arrest her the woman was gone, and with her all her sisters: they had hired assistants to run the shop and then they had left. According to those who knew them, they did so because they wanted to expand their business elsewhere. This was understandable, and in fact already in the past months many of the aforementioned sisters had periodically left for unknown destinations, as if they actually wanted to open trade routes and new shops in other cities. However, this couldn't be the case for Sisna Drachia, as Gerard had ensured that she could not leave the city undetected, consequently she still had to be in the capital. Gerard had then launched a silent manhunt to find her.

"Baron Somadì, mh?" Marcus murmured as he read the letter. "Well, it was obvious that he had the backing of some noble. She couldn't have disappeared so quickly otherwise"

Actually there was a way: Marcus hadn't yet abandoned the possibility that Sisna Drachia was another of Haku's sisters and that therefore it would have been enough for her to turn off her avatar to disappear. She hadn't, however, which made him reconsider a bit, but not too much: there was a big chance that this was part of a plan to deceive him. Furthermore, at least her sisters were almost certainly dragons: the woman had arrived in the capital with nine sisters, but Gerard had stated that he had only seen her and one other woman at the house of Baron Somadì, a sign that the others must have simply destroyed the dragons. their false bodies. Perhaps it was through them that Haku had warned Sisna Drachia that the king was looking for her... after all, silence had never been contemplated in their deal.

Marcus quickly wrote a letter back, ordering him to continue investigating unnoticed. After all, even if Sisna Drachia hadn't been a dragon, she would still have remained a very dangerous person: being able to control the largest criminal organization in the kingdom wasn't something anyone could do. And considering she was almost certainly expecting a seizure, it was likely she had prepared accordingly. They had to be very careful; if things went badly, it was possible that even Black Vulture's intervention would be needed.

After he had finished writing the letter he handed it to Thornag to be sent, then he asked him: "What can you tell me about the other two? Is there any news?"

Thronag knew the king was referring to Maldor and Kotaru. "Currently they have done nothing that suggests a possible betrayal. They continue to behave well and do not leave the Academy of Magic. The other teachers and students still do not suspect anything and it seems that everyone bought their story. Hara continues keep an eye on them, but if you ask me, Your Majesty, it's unlikely they'll slip up so soon. If I were them, I'd at least wait for things to calm down before acting."

Marcus nodded. Yes, indeed that was plausible. It would have been foolish of them to try anything when they knew they had the eyes of all the king's most loyal servants on them. It was more convenient to wait for the right moment.

After Haku had handed them Maldor and Kotaru, they had been questioned for a long time by Hara, Thornag and even Marcus himself. Obviously it hadn't been a violent interrogation or information extracted by force: on the contrary, they had been too amiable and kind, trying to make the two women feel at ease. Marcus had pretended not to have the slightest suspicion about them and had offered Maldor the possibility of going back to being a teacher with a clean criminal record, provided that he confessed to him how he had met Haku and everything he knew about him. Both Maldor and Kotaru had given the same version of events, which then also became the version that was disclosed to the public. Marcus was sure it was all a cover, as the story seemed a bit too researched to be real, but he hadn't found a reason to voice his doubts, so he had simply pretended to have let himself be convinced by the two women.

The story that Maldor and Kotaru had told was quite tragic and sad. The two women had admitted that they had actually lied about their former identities and that neither of them had ever been to any school of magic in any country; in fact, they had never even been to any school. They had said that Maldor was actually the daughter of a small southern merchant who, now bankrupt, had decided to come north through what had long been known as a dangerous valley from which no one had ever returned when she was only five years old. years; Kotaru, on the other hand, was seven at the time and was the daughter of an adventurer that Maldor's father had hired for the journey as protection and who had lost her mother at a young age and therefore her father had been forced to take her with him in that adventure. Unfortunately, the journey had ended in disaster: crossing the valley, in fact, they had come across the monstrous mother of Haku and Rhaegal, the terrible dragon Neytiri, who had killed and devoured all their families and companions. Only the two of them had survived managing to avoid the blows of the beast by pure chance, and the dragon after having feasted on the remains of their parents had captured them too, but instead of killing them it had decided that their reactions (mainly crying and screams of terror) they were fun and so he had kept them as if they were two pets. The two had therefore grown up alone in the valley, to such an extent that they considered themselves sisters. Kotaru had had to learn from an early age to get food for her and Maldor, since Neytiri didn't provide them with her own, and often did so under the evil gaze of the dragon who seemed to enjoy a lot when she often saw her fail in her attempts and therefore go in bed with a growling stomach; due to this strenuous 'training', Kotaru had become the more athletic of the two and she possessed considerable strength, so much so that she could rival many of the strongest soldiers in the kingdom. Maldor, on the other hand, had no talent in hunting, but she was extraordinarily good at magic, to the point that she was able to discover it from scratch simply by observing how Neytiri used hers every day, learning and creating new spells to help Kotaru in the search for food, thus becoming an exceptionally good mage.

Both were convinced that they would live like this for their entire miserable life, but everything changed when Neytiri had laid her eggs, from which Haku and Rhaegal were also born. They were not like their mother: they were kind and treated them as if they were part of the family. Furthermore, to Marcus' surprise, Kotaru and Maldor hadn't denied that Haku currently had many siblings: indeed, they had even listed their names nostalgically. They then described how Haku had devised a plan to kill their mother by making her fight their own father, eliminating the two dragons and finally freeing Maldor and Kotaru from their prison. Not knowing what else to do, the two women had decided to continue their journey with them. Unfortunately, however, Haku's siblings, frightened by his actions, had decided to abandon him together with the two of them and Rhaegal, the only ones left faithful to him. The four had tried to reach their family, but unfortunately it was too late: in fact, the terrible hydra had already killed them all. In his fury, Haku chased after the monster and killed it, only to be captured by Hara and Carrion. Rhaegal, Maldor and Kotaru therefore had worked hard to save him, also finding numerous new allies thanks to whom they had saved him from the arena together with all the other gladiators.

The story was rather cloying, but plausible: even if the dragons did not appreciate the presence of other races, it was not impossible that they decided to keep some of them as pets. Many stories and tales spoke precisely of that eventuality. Marcus had therefore decided, at least for the moment, to pretend that he had believed their words and had absolved them of all their crimes as a reward for having discovered the mythical formula, and had given them the opportunity to return to teaching, which Maldor he had readily accepted with joy. At least in the Academy of Magic he could keep an eye on them easily. To the obvious requests for explanations that had come from the teachers, since they knew Maldor's involvement in the attack on the capital, they had told the same story, however changing the ending and saying that the reintegration of the two women into society wasn't due to a ransom but to the goodwill of the two women who wanted to use the opportunity of having discovered that formula to remedy their crimes and finally live as human beings, obviously after saying goodbye to Haku and Rhaegal in tears. It was a very beautiful and moving story, the kind of story that people liked, and in fact no one complained when it was made public and the fact that Maldor and Kotaru had still committed various crimes was instantly forgotten. Furthermore, by now the mages had other things to think about given the colossal discovery of a formula capable of calculating magic, and for days everyone in the Academy of Magic had been testing it on thousands of spells, always obtaining a positive result, and Marcus had already started receive letters from some neighboring nations to compliment him and ask for an interview to discuss the possible applications of this formula. The king intended to use the excuse of the epidemic to temporarily refuse any meeting, so as to give more nations the possibility of knowing and offering better conditions, as if it were an auction.

In short, despite the difficult situation, everything was going well for Marcus and even the 'problematic elements' that Haku had entrusted to him were behaving correctly. There was only one last thing that worried him. "Have you found Carrion?"

Thornag shook his head. "He seems to have vanished into thin air. We are continuing to scour the territory but..."

"Forget it, I understand" Marcus grumbled. He was annoyed: he had achieved a perfect means to control Carrion, but he couldn't find it and it worried him. He knew that if the man tried to do something stupid towards Haku, the dragon would probably kill him. He had to intercept it before something like this happened, or worse. "Keep searching. We have to find him before something else does!"