Chancellor of the Future

"It…was weird, to say the least. The entire time I fought him, it felt like nothing was gained. In hindsight now that I look back at it."

"He might've been stalling for time."

I put my tea-cup down on the plate. Chancellor Sultan and I had sat on a balcony. A fenced garden. Below us, or before us was the sea.

You could hear the waves crashing against rock below.

"It's unfortunate, really is. I'm not surprised, however. This is one of the most recent and important elections in the history of this nation."

I furrowed a brow. "So…you were expecting an attack?"

There was silence. He took a sip of his tea, exhaled slowly, then looked at me.

"In this day of age, you would be a fool not to expect anything. Still, I won't pretend and lie. I'm still a little bit…tense from it."

I nod.

He's not gullible, he was already expecting one. Sultan comes off as someone who knows his position…and at the same time, might've been wondering why no one has made an attempt on his life yet.

Today, he was just proven right.

The rest of the debate was called off, and more security was added to Sultan's camp. More guards. Royalia is under a terroist crisis, and it seemed like the authorities had trouble getting any information from the apprehended cloaked figures.

I took one more view at the ocean. Heard the seagulls and the scent of it sharpened with my Dragnoid nose brought me home.

Or, well, close to it damn near.

I turned back to Sultan. "So, will the elections be postponed now? It seems like Aurea Islands had a terrorist group to worry about,"

"I wonder who's funding them,"

Sultan chuckles. Smiling greatly. "See? That's why I like you. Just…attentive enough. I too, wonder who's funding them. Not much can be done in this world without it."

He rubbed his fingers together, symbolizing currency and money.

"It couldn't have been rogue bandits and mages, not coordinated enough. Neither could it have been from any other political party—either,"

"Why not?" I asked.

He put his cup down, then crossed his arms over his chest.

"Simple. Politicians funding terrorist groups, or private magical armies is nothing new, but in stakes like this? In one of the most important elections to date? Unless the politician knows their way around, and has a way with words, there's no way it could happen."

"What I'm saying is, information of this would've been known from the secret intelligence services. Unless, they knew how to get past that. And even I myself, could spend decades trying and come out failing."

My tail coiled, "Say…if you were the one to, how would you do it?"

His smile twitched, just for a second. I couldn't have imagined that. But he looked on anyways.

"If I were to? I wouldn't need a reason, being quite honest with you Ryuuzen. Whether I win or lose this election makes no difference. I just need to show the people that Aurea Islands are on the cuffs of innovation."

"I reformed our magical index. I innovated our magitech. I innovated our economy and education. Why stop at all that? Why not…take this to the form of government we have now?"

I shake my head.

"Some people don't like that, I'm afraid."

He furrowed his brow towards me. I didn't backtrack.

"You hired me as a protector, not a friend or collegiate. It's quite obvious that too much innovation is prone for people to disagree. Too much of it leaves certain things or people in the past."

"If we all stayed in the past, would we grow as a nation?" He responded fairly quickly. I didn't think he would.

"That's the thing, at the exact rate of the progression and innovation is what scares some people, I think. It's like building a house with a weak foundation. You didn't give it enough time to harden and be resolved entirely."

"So while yes, you did redefine what innovation means for the nation, can you be entirely sure that it won't implode on itself in let's say…10 to 30 years?"

Chancellor Sultan slowly nodded.

"I…see. Ryuuzen, you speak like someone well and far wise."

I scoffed, "I've only seen my fair share of things like this."

And…I've seen a lot of how PvE and PvP guilds were ran. The difference was staggering.

Oh boy, I don't even want to mention the eSports guilds either.

"…the only way to progress, is to chase the ideals of the future." He suddenly muttered out.

I titled my head, "What was that?"

He chuckled slightly. "Just…an old saying. An…idealist of which I used to study from in my youth."

He then slowly got up, and grabbed his staff.

"Speaking of which…the day is almost coming up."

"What day?"

Chancellor Sultan looked genuinely confused, and then laughed it off.

"The day, of course."

"The Super Dragon Festival."

Super…dragon festival?

"It's an honored holiday around the world. After the period of the Dark Age, and the mass disappearance of Dragons around the world, it was created to honor all of them."

"More especially, the Dragon Gods."

What? Dragon Gods?

"Take care, Ryuuzen. Don't expect much stores or anything to be open. We'll continue this chat later." He began walking away, now.

I looked back into my cup. Couldn't see my reflection in the dark brown color the coffee came in.

Which…said coffee also came in hints of vanilla, and slight blood. He didn't spike my drink, he just tailored it to the way he thinks dragons are supposed to.

And yet, I didn't even ask him about it. About how he knew I was a Dragon.

But I think I know how, anyways.

I got up and pushed in my chair. Arms folded underneath my cloak. It didn't take long to get away from his estate, and when I did, someone was already waiting for me outside the gates.

"Ryuuzen," Vaniti began.

I smiled, genuinely. "Hey, hey."

She walked over to my side as she caught up. "What do you think?"

I shake my head, my tail does so too.

"Couldn't have been Sultan behind the terrorist attack. No matter how…cliché, it sounds. Even if he was, he's doing it in a way where I have no idea on how to string the evidence."

"Couldn't have been Governor Lucen, either. He wants the Chancellor seat. He's not that dumb enough to throw away everything to take both of them out of the race and leave it to someone else."

I turn to Vaniti, "The cloaked figures. Did you see…anything not normal about them?"

She nodded her head. "Most of their mana signatures died down after they were defeated. To me, it seemed like their powers were…tampered with. "

"Great. Now it's—"

I caught myself.

"Really?"

Vaniti nodded.

"Yes. Your mana signature is different, ancient and primordial almost. Everyone has a different mana signature, I think my eyes just allow me to see hyper specific details no one else can."

"So, I could immediately know when someone's mana signature is not truly there. A faux mana signature, if you will."

I put a finger to my chin.

I see.

So we might be dealing with terrorists who drug themselves? Give them an upper hand? I sensed Apex level mages.

In reality, they might've been Adept or even Initiate really.

I stop walking, Vaniti does as well. I'm glad her Spirit Eye came in handy this time. Does that mean Jonah's was also drugged? Tampered with?

Not exactly, I think. He intentionally hid his mana signature. It only increased and spiked once we fought.

Which means, I might only be able to find out more by the festival.