Chapter 80: Task Force Libera
Marieflorine Corasell
Everything happened so fast. As soon as the chopper door opened, the soldiers started attacking Cleru. They managed to make him lose consciousness because of the blunt trauma to the head. Due to my reflexes and adrenaline, I immediately activated Eva to transform into a Fairy Dragon once again. We're seriously outnumbered, so we didn't have time to rescue Cleru and the Princess, who was immediately grabbed by Dragunov's henchman Nox.
I did afford to save one person, though. I grabbed Jasmine who is hesitant to flee the scene, but I convinced her anyway when we finally managed to escape unharmed. Using my Fairy Dragon's Night Cloak magic, we were never tracked down. We continued to fly until we reached Goldcliffe City and waited for the night for General Holster's knights to fetch us.
Now I know the feeling of powerlessness. I always nag about Sir Amphere about him being weak, but here I am, not really able to do anything. I'm really just a child after all. I'm just here in General Holster's camp near the city, where he's going to gather all his troops and his special team, the Chevalier Unit. When Amphere and Airi arrived, they immediately checked my condition. They're sure worried about me, even though I fled away leaving the princess to harm.
And without the princess, the Dragonoid Rights Bill that my parents worked hard for will never become a law.
"Everything will be okay, totally!" Airelina tried to raise my ego. "I and my love will get Cleru and the princess back, totally!"
"Actually," Amphere scratched his head. "Cleru is completely unharmed. They found him in the Goldrudge Forest, unconscious. It looks like Dragunov has no interest in him anymore. I even saw him this morning, rushing away from the doors of the Royal Palace."
That Cleru Neos… Something is off with him. It may be true that Dragunov has no longer use for him, but he still hides a lot of secrets from everyone. It seems that he's close with that wretched terrorist commander at some point, since he's somewhat able to know Dragunov's justifications and reasons for his plan and actions.
"Amphere." General Holster entered the room. "The knights and the Princess's Knight is here. We're going to do a briefing in ten minutes."
Amphere and Airelina nodded in sync, and then they stood up to leave the room. But before they were able to, I pinched Amphere's white uniform from the back and I muttered some words weakly. "I'll come too."
The two didn't protest, and instead, welcomed me with a smile. All four of us, including Eva went to the wide conference hall of this camp. It was nothing like the royal hall. This is just a ridiculously oversized classroom. It doesn't have any differences with the Dragon Knight Academy's facilities.
There were a lot of knights and dragonoids sitting peacefully. I can remember those faces; mostly they were the knights defeated by Amphere, Rudolf and Reina back in the tournament.
"First of all…" General Holster grabbed everyone's attention. "I would like-"
"Cut to the chase, General. We don't want to hear your corny jokes." Dennis protested. He was the dragon knight with the Black Feather Dragon that Amphere defeated in the quarterfinals.
"O-Okay." General Holster cleared his throat. "The leader for this mission is the Princess's Knight himself, Cleru Neos." Then the general give way for the so-much-secretive royal guard to take the stage.
"Oh, the new Princess's Knight. What a useless plebeian hobo. He had the princess kidnapped in his first three months on his job. I'd rather take orders from the general. You had one job, ROYAL KNIGHT!" Adrian objected. He was the Chain Dragon Knight that Reina Fleuret defeated at some point in the tournament.
Cleru Neos ignored all the insults he took from those dragon knights and instead, he continued to explain and humbly apologize with a bow. "I deeply ask for forgiveness for the empire and knights. I am the truly the one to blame for the princess's kidnapping. I can't say sorry enough. But I am also here to realize and undo my mistake. I will be in charge of the task force to rescue the princess and obliterate Arcadia once and for all. The Emperor has authorized me a blank check and endless troop request form to make sure that we can recover the princess."
"Such a big word for a dirty knight like you." Sherman said. He was the pretty boy who got his ass kicked by Rudolf back in the first round of the tournament. His partner is the White Rose Dragon.
"You guys…" Rudolf didn't shout, but his tone is enough to respect him. "We will be following the highest knight of the empire. We don't have the right to object because I'm sure Cleru is having a hard time on his own." Then he turned to Cleru. "Right?"
Cleru just slightly nodded. Then he proceeded to explain the plan for the dragon knights to comprehend.
The empire soldiers managed to capture some Arcadian terrorist back in the airship crash site. They managed to interrogate and extract information from them about the safe houses and the secret bases that Dragunov always uses. They are now preparing their weapons to worsen the war.
However, that's all information we got. We still don't have a clue about Dragunov's real objective (besides money) and Nox's riddle. It seems that they have kept their real intentions for themselves.
"It seems like we're going to raid all the safe houses and bases all at once. We don't have time to check them one at a time for the reason that Dragunov will be alerted." Reina Fleuret suggested.
"We'll be in six separate places in just one day. Is it impossible?" General Holster asked.
"Not for the Task Force Libera." Reina smiled with her dragonoid Richard.
The meeting went on for a couple of hours. There were so much unimportant military details that I couldn't comprehend so I decided to have some fresh air outside the building for a while. I had a five minute walk around the building when somebody opened the door and got out.
It was Sir Amphere. I thought that he's also here for a fresh air but not. He slowly walked forward to me.
"Duchess." Amphere, with his red cheeks, is now quite nervous. "I need your help about something."
Amphere looked from left, right, up, behind and far forward. Then he reached for his pocket a black cute box. He slowly opened it and revealed the most beautiful crimson diamond ring I have ever seen in my life.
"T-That's beautiful!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Are Airi and you…engaged?"
"N-Not yet." Amphere scratched his head yet again. "I'm planning to propose to her once everything is over. Once the bill has been passed, the princess has been rescued, and the war ends, I'll give this to her. Anyway, you're the one closest to her that I can talk to. I need you to help me about some of her…stuff."
"Just make me your maid of honor in the wedding, and I'll give you all the help you need!" I said cheerfully.
Upon hearing this, Amphere made that usual bland face again. "I think you're more suited for the role of a flower girl."
I'm too old for that!