A week later and Karel was still recovering inside the Primordial Sea. The life-sustaining properties were quite something. So much that Hector wished he could jump inside to get healed or cured of any type of trouble.
The Pegasus Riders were back up to snuff and only had trouble with their confidence coming back. The natural Affinity they had for fighting against Magic barely protected them in the previous short fight.
They trained harder than before and kept the cooks working hard to prepare very nutritious meals to help. Hector dug into the recess of his mind to provide every Body Building method to help them grow further. Teaching the riders gymnastics that could work in conjunction with their mounts.
Even his oldest knights felt they were close to breaking a few times. They ached in the worst way and only looked forward to the end of the day and getting a delicious meal. Hector had given them every magical item he could produce from the Primordial Sea. Thanks to the information given by Richard he was able to make the Pure Water effect permanent.
So numerically, they received Speedwings for a permanent Spd increase and Pure Water for a permanent Res increase. He also passed out the Hero Crests, and Knight Crests no longer able to risk waiting.
Those who it worked on were the ones pushed the hardest to fill the gap caused by early promotion. That choice just made Hector more determined to get a hold of the location to go into one of the Subsidiary Dimensions that contained the Second Seals.
"Haaa!" Hector sighed heavily while dropping some weights from doing squats. "Not enough!" He ignored the heavyweights that sunken into the earth a few inches. "Has the Blacksmith made what I requested?"
The young Quartermaster was all but 10 but had a lot of running to do back and forth for his Boss. Especially the last few days since arriving with the reinforcements.
"He couldn't get it done. The moving and the preparation for the march is taking too much of his time. Not to mention the recent commission..."
"Recent commission?"
"Umm.. yes sir!" Collen hid behind his clipboard as he kept himself from stuttering. "Hassar asked for a sword to give to his daughter Lyndis. He passed over some difficult material to do so. It's.."
"Collen, carry on with your other work, I will go and deal with this." Hector settled the boy down while walking towards the campsite. Heading directly towards the Blacksmith, the one he employed, the one he helped! "He better have a damn good excuse for this!"
Seeing a larger-than-life young man walking bare-chested through the area with several weights on his body drew a few gazes.
The Blacksmith was hammering away as he tried to work with the material given to him. Excitement on his face at the sheer prospect of making such a sword. Almost as exciting learning the forging methods Hector talked about with him.
"Ahhh!" Stretching up to take a break, Volton caught movement behind him. "Oh, it's you Boss! Come check this out!" Moving away he showed the mold he was going to use for the request. Not missing that the weights the others used were small in number compared to what Hector was using at once. "Umm... what.. why..."
"Shh!" Hector lost his steam while looking at the mold. As a craftsman himself, he could appreciate the work and it calmed him down immensely. "It looks good, I can see you are going to be busy with it. Don't get behind in your other work for our people."
"I... yes of course!" Volton hadn't realized it yet but he didn't even touch the work he needed to. Hector was already walking away. "I will make sure it gets done, don't worry!"
"Worry is all I have these days!" Hector waved behind him walking outward of the camp in a different direction. He was wanting to get some fresh air. But someone had different plans for him. Several people at that. "What in the fresh Hell is this now?"
Eliwood, Lyndis, Ninian, Florina, and Hassar were coming his way. Directly towards him at that.
"Need information.." Lyndis said abruptly. ".. Florina said you can be paid to acquire it. So.. how much for the information on Ninian's mother?"
"You cannot afford it. The information is not small, and I don't need you getting in my way somehow." Hector shook his head at that but didn't outright refuse them. Something could always tip the scales on doing so. "Shouldn't you be safe and secure with that old codger Athos?"
"Lord Athos is taking care of my brother while I want to look for my mother. The only one with information is you. After what you did to me and my brother, you could at least..."
"At least what?" Hector's body tensed up as muscles pushed against the weighted restrictions. "Do tell me how you were owed something, former Half Ice Dragon! How your blundering to search for your damned parents helped put this Continent in danger!"
A crazed look adorned Hector's face as the thought of trying some experimental magic to draw out how they came through the Dragon Gate from the other side came to mind. Even if he failed the option of a second one, Nils to try the spells that gave him solace.
"Hector," Eliwood stepped in front protectively. "I will not let you bully this young lady!"
"Let me!?" Hector punched out with Fire magic hitting before his fist could. The ball of flame smacked into Eliwood and caused him to bumped into Ninian. "I don't need your permission... whelpling!"
Several Saceans, Pheraens, and Ostian soldiers turned to the situation.
"She is no young lady! She is formerly a half-breed dragon! Older than you by large margins!" His anger didn't decrease as Anima Magic pushed around him wildly. "I have some new spells to try.. thank you for volunteering!"
"Stop!" A powerful female voice called out. Lady Madelyn came over on horseback stopping between the group. Hands outstretched towards those opposing Hector. "Mercenary Lord Hector, please wait, they are children and are acting like such, don't let this become a reason to strike them down. It will be hard for me to pay if my daughter is killed."
The tension died down as Madelyn stood her ground. Hector was the last to lower from the standoff. He sent a small mental thought to his people who were about to attack from the surroundings.
Lyndis and the others tried to plead their case to Madelyn on what they wanted from Hector, Surprisingly, she did not side with them as this was not what they should be focused on. Less than a month march upon Caelin, forces could not be divided up more than it already was.
The next instant was even more shocking. Madelyn and Hassar got into an argument that did not settle down easily. Hassar was used to the more docile wife of his but with the continued threat of the life of her father and seeing firsthand what is going on with the citizens of Caelin under Lundgren's rule, her desire to set them free had grown.
She was raised as a Lady of Caelin and apparently it took much to get her to remember that. Lyndis only knew of the Sacaen Planes, as well as her father Hassar. Their duty was to those people and their own noble ideas. Eliwood in this case.
"You are on the wrong side Madelyn, as his employer you should be trying to convince him to give whatever information he has." Hassar scowled as this was not the wife he was used to. "You are my wife, why are you against me and your own daughter? Against your own tribe?"
"Then head back to what remains and lead the Lorca Tribe, I will continue to Caelin to free "my" tribe!" Madelyn gave him a steely look before her tone turn harsh. "You forget, the Lorca Tribe would have been dead without Hector, and you also lost against him! By all accounts, you are not really the leader but I suppose the Lorca Tribe only values honor when it suits them!"
"Mother, how could you say such a thing?!" Lyndis was shocked but by the looks of the few Saceans that still traveled with them this bore some truth. "Father..."
"For your sake Madelyn, I will let this end here." A very confused Hector said while turning away. He was not expecting this kind of development which may in turn make it harder for him to grasp Caelin himself later. "I am leaving some forces behind to take care of the traitorous forces, I have a more pressing matter to attend to."
He could use this to his favor, but to much was at stake to risk it. Plus the chaos of it all was doing something to Tiamat.
.
Departure-
.
Hector agonized over his need to kill Audamorze the entire trip. The raw magical power the Ancient Mage was able to wield was intimidating. The fact that the dying old man the Arcsage, didn't take care of him also meant a bit. Not to mention Audamorze never came across Nergal.
It took some time to compile the recon of the Pegasus Riders and past knowledge to locate the weapon. The outskirt ruins of Edessa housed the legendary Lance that controlled Snow and Ice. With it, Hector hoped to get a better understanding of his Anima magic for one.
Sigune and Fiora instructed their unit up above carefully. It would be troublesome if they were found out by Ilia's patrolling parties. Since Hector had direct control of the group when arriving in Ilia his temperament had been very taciturn.
The Black Pegasus he rode was exhausted and resting. The rough ride nonstop was not good at all, but it would recover all the same. Several times the others requested him to break but it was ignored. They could catch up with him later while traveling the long path.
Hector was walking on foot in the snow practicing his magic. Using wind to lessen the burden on the small group that traveled with him. Fire burning in waves to keep them all warm.
"Lord Hector," Karel couldn't keep it to himself and had to slate his curiosity. "is it really wise to do this right now? Not only are we low on numbers ourselves, but the Black Fang may start coming after us."
Filling Karel in on what happened after he woke up was a bit of a headache. Never had Hector ever seen someone tear themselves down for failing. He wanted to kill Audamorze so badly that Hector was pleased.
"It will be fine Karel. The upcoming danger plus my need to expand our base of power demands it. I do not want the timetable to slow down even more. You could have stayed back and trained the weak ones."
"Pft! I will pass on that once more!" Karel squinted at the winds further ahead. "Something tells me trouble will come if I am with you. I need to make up for the lost time."
"You just hope to have another duel to get stronger." Hector stopped walking all of a sudden. Hand raised stopping the group.
*Woosh!* With a large push of a Firespell, a large area was revealed. The ruin was not to far ahead but the snow intensified just as fast as it was cleared. The situation was annoying but tolerable, they were forced to set up camp.
The Pegasus Riders came down from above for safety. The wings of the mounts are slightly beaten by the intensity of ice hitting the wings. Hector pushed his magic to the limit by swirling both earth and flames as a buffer for them.
He pulled out a map and notebook checking into one other matter that could be taken care of while here. Aenir, the guess by Hector was that she was somewhere around here. Trapped or maybe her bones themselves or something, but the pull of the Divine Weapon he broke down was clear, some type of Dragon was around.