It didn't take long for the soldiers to be properly set up. The villagers kept to the village as per the request of their Village Head, and the soldiers stayed on the outskirts. It only took about half a day. Emre and Ragan were lounging in the tavern most of the time.
They sat in the same corner they had the night before. The tavern was still pretty lively with people coming and going for meals and whatnot. The three adventuring parties were lingering around as well, but Emre had been paying little attention to them.
"Do you think he'll listen to what we have to say?" Emre asked, leaning back in one of the chairs with one leg crossed over the other.
"Yeah, he will." Ragan nodded as he took a drink from one of the two mugs on the table. "While he may be petty, he does care about this Kingdom and his position. Plus, even though he dislikes me, he won't brush off my words."
"Why is that?"
"Because I already have experience in what is about to happen. He'll take my words into consideration even if it doesn't seem like it."
"Hm… Well, I sure hope so."
Ragan let out a chuckle as he gulped down more of his drink. Emre glanced around the tavern, his eyes lingering a bit on each of the parties that each seemed to be talking among themselves.
The closest group to them was the same group that he had looked at before. There were six of them. The one with the strongest aura was a woman wearing dark leather armor with a rather extravagantly carved bow upon her back. It seemed to be made of dark wood.
She had short-cut dirty blonde hair that looked to be a pixie cut that was starting to grow out. Her ear tips were pointed but weren't as long as Silvis's. Emre could only guess half-elven. Due to the way she was holding herself and doing the most talking, he could only assume that she was the leader of the party.
But he had stared too long because her brown eyes flickered up toward him. Again like he had done the night before, he simply smiled and glanced away. It seemed he had a bad habit of looking for too long. Luckily, it seemed she did not have an interest in inquiring because she went back to conversing with her party.
"I saw that." Ragan commented.
"Saw what?" Emre looked at him with a scoff.
Ragan was about to respond when the sound of clattering metal caught both of their attention. Walking through the door was a person wearing full plate armor. They glanced around before approaching Ragan and Emre. Ragan stood up first and Emre after.
"Lieutenant Hayes is requesting your presence." The feminine voice was muffled by the helmet.
"Lead the way." Ragan said with a small wave of his hand.
The soldier turned around and began to lead them out of the tavern. Many eyes were on them as they walked through the town toward the camp and Emre couldn't help but get the heebie-jeebies. So much for not attracting attention.
It didn't take long for them to walk through the camp. There were soldiers moving supplies or resting outside various tents. Many glanced at them but didn't pay too much attention. They only attracted more attention as they realized the two commoner-looking people were being led to the Lead Tent.
This tent was the largest from what Emre could see in the current surroundings. It was a mostly white tent with blue trimming and designs along the edges. Two guards stood stiffly at the large entranceway as they approached. They seemed to be expecting them.
Except Emre had suddenly jerked to a stop right before he tried to walk past. Their spears crossed over the entrance, barely missing him. Had he not noticed the movement beforehand he was sure he would have crashed into them.
"He's with me." Ragan's harsh voice came from the other side of the spears.
"It's fine." Another voice followed after from farther inside the tent.
With that, the spears moved out of the way and Emre couldn't help but scoff as he walked past them to join Ragan. He was sure they were just following orders but he couldn't help but feel a bit bitter.
Maybe it was just the egotistical side of being a dragon, but he could see their auras and couldn't help but think that he could pummel them into the ground if he wanted.
The inside of the tent was darker, but it was lit enough for them to be able to look around the room without straining their eyes. At the head of the tent was a large desk, the armored Carlowe was sitting behind it.
Behind him stood a similarly armored woman with a nasty-looking scar crossing over the right side of her face. Her dark hair was tied up into a high ponytail and a massive spear adorned her back. The blade was covered, but it still looked quite menacing.
Looking at both of their auras, Emre could only think that they were a bit stronger than Ragan who hadn't been actively training for a few years. Of course, Ragan's aura right now was lower than normal because he was hiding it.
Then Emre noticed there was one, no two, after activating his Dragon Detection. A butler with barely any aura or mana who was actually in the process of making some sort of beverage off to the side of the tent, and another person that he could not see.
Behind Carlowe was a large white tapestry with a large blue symbol upon it. In the center was a large greatsword with three wings coming from each side. So six wings in total. This was also the symbol on most of the soldiers' shoulder plates. He could only guess that this was the Gaia Kingdom symbol.
Behind the tapestry, Emre could barely feel a presence lingering in hiding. Carlowe's dense mana and aura almost covered it up. It was probably a hidden warrior that was there to keep Carlowe safe just in case. The woman to his side also had pretty dense mana, but the element was different. He could tell the element they could use by focusing more with his Dragon Detection. Carlowe could use the water element due to the blue color, and the woman could use fire due to the red color.
The only reason he had almost missed the butler off to the side was because he was just about too weak to notice. Barely any mana or aura.
"Ragan, you said you had a message to deliver." Carlowe got straight to the point.
"Yes, it's about the dark creatures." Ragan crossed his arms, also skipping the formalities and showing no respect to the Lieutenant. "Your forces might barely be able to take them on."
"What do you mean?" Carlowe's slanted eyes narrowed even more than usual.
"You remember the dark creature invasion on Flummon Village." Ragan spoke this as a fact, and Emre connected the dots that Flummon Village was the village Ragan had saved. "We lost a lot of people with a force as large as this."
"My forces are strong." Carlowe spoke with a bit of defense in his tone.
"I sure hope they are because these dark creatures are far stronger than the ones I took on back then."
"What do you mean?"
"Were you informed about the increased number of them in this area?"
"I was."
"I live in the forest as you know. I have been attacked and have attacked these creatures within the past few days." Ragan paused. "They are stronger and larger. I also have reason to believe that they are more intelligent than they used to be."
"Intelligent? Ragan you must have a screw loose. Dark creatures are simply killing machines that do not even care about their own pain. You should know that."
Ragan's face turned into a scowl. "That was back then. It's different now. They are stronger, larger, and smarter."
"Let's say this is the case." Carlowe tapped his finger on the desk. "You believe that my force isn't strong enough?"
"No, I think you should ask the King for more troops."
"We are about 300 strong. The reports said there was a lot that attacked Monmer Village, but they weren't able to tell an exact number as they had to escape." Carlowe started nonchalantly. "If we're going off the amount that attacked Flummon Village, this is enough."
"It is not enough." Emre finally spoke up.
Everyone glanced at Emre with either a scowl or shock.
'Go with everything I'm about to say.' Emre spoke Telepathically to Ragan. "I'm a survivor from Monmer Village."
"So you saw it yourself?" Carlowe asked, folding his hands together on his desk as he stared at Emre.
"Yes." Emre answered without hesitation.
Although it was in a vision. He had seen the numbers and the chaos that had ensued. Of course, Ragan didn't know this so he would probably just think Emre was bluffing. At least, until he went into detail.
"Their forces were just as much as the number of people here." Emre continued. "They were mostly small dark creatures, but I saw around three larger ones among them. There are probably more than that. I also saw one that was bigger than all the rest. It was about 7-feet tall with a squished in looking face and large tusks." If he went into detail Carlowe would have to take his words into consideration.
He could feel Ragan tense beside him but was doing well in keeping his expression as serious as possible. It was the first time he was hearing this as well.
"Given how strong they were, I hope your forces are very strong if you truly believe you do not need more people." Emre added on.
"I will consider your words. What is your name?"
"Emre."
"Just Emre? No surname?"
"Yes," Emre paused for a moment and then added on. "sir."
"Alright. Thank you for giving us this information. You can leave." Carlowe unfolded his fingers as he reached for a teacup that the butler had set on his desk.
Ragan turned around and Emre gave one last look at all of them before following after him. They exited back out into the bright light and Emre had to squint before his eyes adjusted. A soldier began to lead them back toward the village in silence.
The soldier left them on the outskirts as Emre and Ragan continued up the hill a bit. Ragan then turned and kept walking along in silence. Emre didn't say anything until they stopped on a low hill just above where they could see soldiers sparring.
"I—"
"I'm not going to ask how you knew about what was there, but I wish you would have at least told me first." Ragan started. "I knew you seemed to know a bit about the dark creatures. You called them by a different name and you knew that something was wrong when we were about to be attacked while bringing Anne and Audr back."
"I do know a bit about them, but I don't know much more than you think. I can tell you what I know, but I won't tell you how I got the information."
Ragan let out a sigh. "Alright. For now, just watch these soldiers. See how they are moving and how they are using their swords. I have something to do."
With that Ragan turned around and began to head into the village. Emre watched him leave before plopping onto the grass.
'For an old man that seems like he doesn't care much, he certainly cares when I don't tell him stuff.' He thought.
Of course, it was reasonable for Ragan to be irritated, but Emre felt like he was overreacting a bit. He was a dragon that Ragan had just suddenly happened across in passing. There were things that he inevitably wouldn't know about Emre. Perhaps the incoming threat was just making him more uptight.
Emre shrugged to himself before focusing on the soldiers that were training down the hill. It wasn't a steep hill, but he was at the very top and they were set up at the bottom. He could see them relatively well from here.
He decided to focus on the one that seemed like they were faltering the least against their sparring partner. The steps and the swings, Emre focused strongly on those things. How they moved and what was all going on. Of course, his eyes flicked around a bit to the other soldiers, but he watched this one the most.
Only a few minutes passed and Emre was already getting bored.
'Hey.'
Emre jolted in surprise. An unfamiliar masculine voice had just entered his mind. Telepathy?! He twisted around to look at his surroundings to see a man standing a few feet behind him.
He was clad in all black, including the leather armor and the sheath that his blade sat in. His hair was deeper black than Emre's and his eyes were a chocolate brown. He was looking down with an aloof-looking face at Emre who was sitting in the grass.
Emre immediately used his Dragon Detection on this person who had managed to sneak up behind him without him being able to tell through his passive perception. His currently bright blue eyes widened as he looked at the mana surrounding the man. It was denser than any mana he had ever seen. But even despite that, he was more shocked at the colors he saw.
He could tell what element a person could use due to the colors of the mana that circled around them. This man had blue, white, green, red, and even faint traces of black.
'Are you a dragon too?' The voice asked.