Multiple Problems

The Lord of Pompeii hummed and stroked his chin.

"Indeed. I'm well aware of your heroic deeds, Sir Kaiser."

The Arc Knight had more than one dragon's death attributed to his name already. Three of the winged beasts had fallen by his hand—a number most people had never so much as seen, let alone fought.

It was a notable achievement. To the extent that there were even rumors that all the bandit groups routed by Sir Kaiser (the other good deed he was famous for) were nothing but an indirect consequence of his dragon hunts.

As if he merely stumbled onto their camps while combing the hills for more fire-breathing lizards to hunt.

With all that in mind, the lord pressed, anxiously, "How many dragons are we talking about, exactly?"

"Between fifty and a hundred."

The Arc Knight's tone was deadly serious.

"While I was exploring the ancient caldera, I found a large underground cavern where they were all gathered. For now, as it's winter, they're asleep, but I would recommend collapsing the cave on top of them before anything wakes them."

Before the ciry lord could ponder how much manpower and resources such an operation would require (of the dangers of failure), a calm but grim voice interrupted his thoughts.

"No, you must not do that."

The lord and the knight simultaneously turned to look at the man who had spoken.

If Octavian remembered correctly, Aurelius Glorianus had been introduced as an independent sorcerer from some unknown place called Jahreszeiten. The branching wooden horns on his head, his glowing green eyes, and his otherworldly beauty were apparently traits of a yet unheard of magical species called Druids.

Normally, Lord Octavian would be displeased to have a guest speak out of turn, but he found his heart softening when he looked at the idyllic creature. And besides, he too had important information concerning the city's safety. His objection could be related to that. Perhaps his species heralded from somewhere near that dragon cave and he had more detailed knowledge to share?

Sir Kaiser was not quite as forgiving. The man folded his burly arms like a stone wall and raised an ebony brow in challenge.

"And why not?"

"The fire spirit's seal is already weakening. You would risk waking more than just dragons if anything went wrong."

The Druid closed his eyes, which were thinly creased by tension.

"In fact, Jahreszeiten warns me that so many of Vulkan's children gathering at his core is a sign of his coming awakening."

The city lord furrowed his brow. "Mr. Glorianus, I'm afraid you've completely lost me."

"Vulkan?" Sir Kaiser echoed with narrowed eyes. He folded his arms. "Come to think of it, we haven't been properly introduced yet. I am Augustus Kaiser, an ownerless knight based here in Pompeii."

The magical creature replied with a faint smile on his lips, "My name is Aurelius Glorianus. I'm an independent sorcerer and a Druid in service to the forest spirit Jahreszeiten."

Lord Octavian blinked. 'So Jahreszeiten isn't his homeland but his master?' But the Arc Knight raised his concerns before Octavian could.

The city lord presented to look deeply contemplative so that nobody would notice he was no longer in control of the flow of conversation.

"Spirits and Druids are considered fantasy by most. Now you tell us that our spirit is waking, yours already has, and you are its servant? Do you have proof of your claims?"

"Proof?" The gorgeous maj frowned. "Yes… I have proof."

He pointed one delicate finger toward his viridescent irises. "My spirit dwells within my body as we speak. He sees and hears what I do and speaks to me. If you would permit it, he could inhabit any of you instead and you would be able to speak with him directly."

The city lord blinked. 'What madness is this? What witchcraft? Who would ever assent to such a thing?"

The Arc Knight spoke without hesitation, "Do it then."

'… What a fearless man,' Octavian thought flatly.

***

Meanwhile, Jahreszeiten was observing everything through Rory's perspective, and he mentally applauded his Druid's clever nature.

Despite everything the spirit had said about Druids being ambassadors, it was, in fact, possible for him to speak directly with any human who permitted his possession. The difficulty was that they had to be willing, which required be aware of and assent to his request. They could not do this when they couldn't hear his voice in the first place.

But if a being which could hear him managed to communicate his request for him, then it was entirely possible to possess any human.

Putting these disparate pieces together on his own wasn't what impressed Jahreszeiten, however. No, it was that Aurelius accomplished that in the process of solving multiple problems at once.

He could prove that he was a genuine Druid; prove that Jahreszeiten, a spirit, had awakened; convince the city lord to take his warning seriously by convincing his trusted Arc Knight of the danger; and he could begin familiarizing the human he was attracted to to the idea of possession.

'How ingenious,' the spirit complimented. 'But do you know it gets better?'

'What do you mean?' Rory asked skeptically.

'I cannot reach him to possess him. We are away from the forest and you are my only tree. In order to bridge that gap, you will have to make physical contact.'

His Druid was silent. Possibly putting all of his mental focus toward containing any lustful thoughts.

The spirit egged him on.

'Go on. Tell him you must embrace him, kiss him, hold his hand, whatever you prefer. He knows no better.'

'Is ignorance an excuse to manipulate someone that way?!' Rory demanded, aghast at the idea.

The spirit was unflappable. 'Who needs an excuse to do what they want? An understanding of consequence is more than enough. Anyway, I've listed the options, the decision is yours.'

Fortunately, the nonverbal communication was quicker than normal speech, but soon the Druid's hesitation would be noticed.

Aurelius nodded and held out his hand toward the Arc Knight, palm up.

"Give me your hand, and don't resist the spirit."

Augustus examined Aurelius's palm for a second before placing his armored hand down on it.

'You'd better not say anything strange to him, Jahre.'

The emerald light and color faded to blue in the Druid's eyes, while Augustus's copper irises shined green.