Standing on the deck of the Grimoire Heart airship Rades found himself staring down at what was supposed to be his landing destination. His brown eyes aglow with a crimson aura, casted with enchantment, enabled him to see even further beneath the clouds, that obscured the view of the naked eye.
"This will be enough." He spoke, cancelling the spell in his eyes, their color returning to normal. He spared a glance behind him to meet the gaze of the dark guild master and his protege, Ultear. "Here to see me off?"
"No. Just here to give you a reminder of our deal." Hades answered before tossing an object towards the teen. The latter caught it before inspecting it. It was a communication lacrima. "One favor, whatever I ask you for."
After regaining consciousness, Rades was given a briefing about the current state of affairs in the world since he seemed to have lost quite the lot of time being frozen in there and was in dire need of catching up to the present. Despite his best attempts to hide it, both Hades and Ultear could sense that he was lost on purpose, uncertain about the path he should be taking from here on.
Personally, Hades wanted him to join his guild, having gauged his powers and potential, and was well aware of the fact that he would be a force to be reckoned with, proving to be a great asset to his guild.
Unfortunately for him, Rades declined his offer, expressing his desire to go to his hometown where he was born and brought up. In the end, the teen agreed to grant Hades one favor in exchange for saving his life by unfreezing him. From what the guild master observed, the teen wasn't a big fan of being in someone's debt.
"I told you, I don't break promises." Rades answered, putting the lacrima in the pocket of his reddish-brown jacket that he wore above a faint green t-shirt with string tassels in the collar. Brown trousers along with a pair of trekking shoes of dusty-brown color complimented his attire. "You can turn around your ship from here."
"We just arrived at the borders. At least wait for us to get at to a better landing spot." Ultear spoke up, curious as to why he wanted them to turn their ship around.
"Who said about landing this ship? I am going to jump." Rades answered, making it sound as if jumping down from a moving airship was the most normal thing to do.
"...Are you sure that you didn't lose your intelligence when your brain was frozen?" The purple-haired girl skeptically eyed him as though he had sprouted a second head.
"I noticed armies mobilized in several parts of the kingdom, all armed and ready for any kind of fight which may break out if a ship belonging to a dark guild makes a landing out of nowhere." The brunette pointed out before adding to his statement with a casual shrug. "I don't mind making a good landing if you all prefer to have some needless fights."
The option of turning their airship back seemed more favorable for Grimoire Heart. After all, they had no real reason to engage in a needless conflict with a kingdom with which they had no involvement with, nor having any plans to get involved with it further down the line.
"Fine, we will turn the airship around from here." Hades spoke up, having made his mind. "This is farewell then, Rades Bernhart."
"Don't you accidently die while jumping back to your home." Ultear added, crossing her arms.
She wouldn't admit it out loud but she did harbor a bitter feeling on him leaving. Despite the short time they had spent after he was brought to the airship, with her literally tutoring him regarding everything in the present he was unknown about, she had come to accept him as her friend, something she had never done before. She always had believed that friends were unnecessary, especially to a member of a dark guild.
This was the first time in her life where she went beyond her own beliefs. Yet, she had no reason to stop him or make him stay in the guild or join them. She couldn't bring herself to deny someone the right to go back to their home when they have one. Unlike her, Rades had a place to go back to. Unlike her, he wasn't abandoned by the ones that birthed him. That's what she inferred from what little he shared about his background to them.
"This won't be the last you will be seeing of me, little witch." Rades replied with a wink. Even though she tried her best to act all stoic and indifferent to his departure, he could feel the sadness behind even if a little. "I survived being frozen. I don't think a high jump is going to hurt now."
She was the first human around his age that he interacted with after being unfrozen. It felt oddly nice to him to have a decent conversation with someone else, after a long, long time. Having lost his family to a dragon, a truth that he chose to hide from his rescuers for the time being, revenge had become his motto for life and he lived his life for the sake of his goal.
Having come to a realization that centuries had passed after he was frozen in his battle with the Ice Dragon, he knew he had start his life anew. Dragons were most likely extinct in the modern era and thus it would be meaningful for him to start living with a new purpose.
And what better place would it be for him to get a restart in his life than his own home.
"Well, be seeing you later." Having said that, he jumped off the airship before it proceeded to change its course, leaving Hades and Ultear to their devices.
____________________________________________
The kingdom of Dragonof was one of the strongest and influential kingdom in the era when Dragons used to rule over the lands. It held a strategic and central position during the human-dragon war. The war was fought between the dragons who refused to coexist with humans and sought dominion over humanity, against the dragons who aspired to coexist with humans and fought alongside them in the war.
Dragonof served as an example for the faction of dragons that coexisted with humans, being the only kingdom where humans and dragons lived peacefully with one another. Dragons even proceeded to teach their magic to humans, making them able to kill their own kind, thus paving way for wizards skilled with the art of dragon slaying, giving rise to the Dragon Slayers.
Nearing the end of the war, the kingdom fell into ruin with the mysterious demise of the royal family, leaving no one behind. The sudden disappearance of a ruling force turned the tide of the battle in the favor of dragons who wished to rule over humankind with the infamous black dragon, Acnologia leading those forces.
The conclusion of the war witnessed Acnologia's rise to power. Consumed with madness and a desire for death and destruction, he turned against his own kind, indiscriminately slaughtering dragons regardless of their allegiance. Faced with the black dragon's unstoppable rampage, many dragons banded together and chose to flee the continent, seeking refuge in other continents beyond Acnologia's radar. With no one being able to best him, he gained the title of the Dragon King.
As for Dragonof, the influential noble families within the kingdom banded together to take hold of the administration of the kingless kingdom. The after effects of the war were severe for the kingdom and with the loss of their factions, the dragons residing in Dragonof turned against the humans, taking the side of their own kind to escape death.
With great difficulty and under the leadership of the nobles, the people of Dragonof were able to deal with this newfound problem, putting an end to the conflict between humans and dragons, with the victory of humans but at a great cost. Lives were lost and the kingdom's resources depleted significantly. Out of the nobles, only four influential nobilities remained to take the reigns of the kingdom, given the fact all other nobilities had perished in the war.
Pooling their efforts, these four noble houses took on the monumental task of rebuilding Dragonof from the ground up. Their collective goal was to restore the kingdom to its former glory, reclaiming its status as one of the strongest kingdoms in Ishgar. Decades passed in the process of normalizing the situation which itself proved to be a herculean task. But that wasn't the end of misfortunes for the residents.
A new conflict arose when it came to deciding on which of the four nobilities will be taking the lead over running the kingdom, with all four of them demanding full autonomy and control over all aspects of governance. Territories were divided and borders were made as the conflicts continued over the generations with still no solution to it. Till this date, the kingdom is divided into four parts, in continuous conflict with one another. Amidst this turmoil, all sorts of illegal and corrupt activities ran rampant in there making the lives of the residents a living nightmare.
"That's quite the rollercoaster of events." Rades commented, licking his lips to savor the taste of the liquor before putting the glass down on the counter table and glanced up at the barkeep "Still there is one thing that hasn't changed. Bars and brothels being the best sources of information."
"That's because no matter what, people are bound to visit those two places and all sorts of stories float around." The middle-aged barkeep replied, refilling the teen's glass. "Such as you being an outsider going around and trying to get to know about what's going on in this godforsaken place."
"I am impressed. So what all has been dug about me by now? I spent more than a month here, there must be some juicy stories going around." The brunette answered with a sly smirk before gulping down the drink.
"There's nothing on you at the moment. No one got any idea on where you came from and what your goal is." The barkeep shrugged in response. "You are most probably an outsider."
"Hmm, still lacking I see." Rades replied, getting up from the stool after putting down a few gold coins on the table which the barkeep accepted. "I will tell you my story next time."
Walking out of the bar, Rades found himself back on the busy streets. Taking a quick look around, the teen shoved his hands in his pockets before starting to wander around without giving much thought about where he would be going next. The hum of the busy streets seemed distant to him as he appeared to be preoccupied with his own thoughts, not really paying any attention to where he was headed to.
'The problems of this kingdom runs way deeper to be solved overnight.' After learning about what all transpired in his homeland after the apparent death of his family and their loss in the war, he too wished for Dragonof to return to its former glory. And a part of him wanted to reclaim the throne that was rightfully his.
Yet having learned of the existing problems, he realized that he cannot solve it overnight and using force to take over wouldn't be the best course of action. First of all, he won't be able to unite the nobles who have been fighting for centuries and secondly, the residents no matter how much of a nightmarish life they are leading, wouldn't simply accept a stranger from nowhere as their ruler. Even if he takes over by force, it would be the same for the people, a rule of tyranny and he wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
'I need to take it slow. Maybe make a name for myself and then..' He also had to find significant proof of his origins and something to solidify his identity as the member of the royal family from four hundred years ago. "I don't think anyone from that era would be alive. Not all were frozen like me."
He mumbled to himself, shaking away the possibility of anyone from the past era being alive today. It was a far-fetched and impossible thought. There was this daunting task of convincing literally everyone in this kingdom of his origins and why he has the rights over the throne.
All of a sudden, he froze in his tracks before jumping back in a split second, having sensed hostility directed at him. The moment he jumped, he noticed someone with a sword leaping down from above before stabbing the sword on the ground. The moment the person stabbed their sword, a series of explosions tore through the air, prompting Rades to bring his arms up to save himself.
"You have got good reflexes." Rades heard a male's haughty voice from behind the smokescreen. "Not everyone escapes my explosions unscathed like you."
Rades, for the most part was unharmed, except the slight burn marks on his hands with the sleeves of his jacket completely obliterated. Unbothered, he narrowed his eyes at the silhouette of the person standing behind the smokescreen and tried to discern the features of his assailant.
"Any reason for attacking me out of the blue?" He inquired, his voice laced with a mix of curiosity and wariness as the smoke dissipated.
His attacker seemed to be a male around his age, with disbelieved amber hair, a pair of reddish brown eyes. From his clothing, Rades could make out that he hailed from a noble family and also trained with the sword, given the stance he had taken. He was on guard, being well aware of the fact that he knows nothing about his opponent. Also, the male had tattoos on his arms and below the neck.
"You have been asking around too much." The amber-haired teen answered. "I need to know why. Why so much interest in kingdom that has nothing to do with you? Or maybe it has, I need answers."
'I knew my actions would be noticed sooner or later!' Rades gritted his teeth, ducking down the moment the noble teen closed the distance between them and attempted to slash him in quick succession.
Ducking and avoiding the sword slash at the last second, the brunette countered with a swift punch on his opponent's abdomen, sending him flying back.
"You are good." The male coughed before getting up from the ground. He pointed his sword at the brunette, igniting and coating the blade in flames with his magic. "I suppose in order to get some answers from you, a few of your limbs need to be severed."
Before the amber-haired male could proceed with his next attack, a crimson ray struck him, transforming him into a rat in the blink of an eye. His sword fell to his sword, returning back to its normal state. Fully confused, he tried to make heads or tails of what happened with him, when Rades picked him by his tail.
"I will tell you something about myself since you made an effort to find me." He began. "I am a very nasty but also a considerate person. Which is why this spell will only remain for a week. But I advice you to not rat to anyone about me. If you do, I will find you, transform you into a rat again and this time feed you to some animal who might enjoy your taste."
The tone of his voice indicated that he wasn't joking about his threat and would make it a reality if the opportunity arises. Knowing that his message has been delivered and understood in a crystal clear manner, Rades tossed the human-turned rat in the nearest trash can before going down his own way.
'Though I will be gone by the time he runs his mouth to anybody, a little insurance doesn't sound bad.'