Valerian, The Legendary

161 War.

Valerian received an earful from Fragrantia before he managed to calm her down. He had to tell her that the reason for his travel was to get Fortuna to a secret place of the dragonkin. The empress calmed down a bit and told him about the war breaking out on the borders of Sapientia and Valkyria. She asked him to come back sooner.

She was worried that the child was inexperienced in the situation of war and did not want him to meet any misfortunate event. Valerian did not create a ruckus and agreed to her words. He said that he will be back in seven days. Fragrantia wanted to rebuke him but this was indeed the fastest time possible.

The distance between the two empires was not small. After communicating with Valerian, Fragrantia eased a little, and then she went to deal with the issues of her family. Meanwhile, the entire palace was rumbling with movement.

Orders had been passed out, and the army from the western side was to follow the eldest prince and march toward the Sapientia empire for support. They were asked to felicitate the migration of refugees if needed and Ignis was to lead a small party to the capital of the ally empire.

General Un was famous for his strictness. The soldiers feared incurring his wrath, but despite all this, the general had yet to pass an order that let his soldiers down.

The soldiers respected him and they also feared him, General Un was a Grandmaster Warrior. At this moment the three people stood in front of libra, the emperor. He was reading a few reports and thinking again about his decisions. He was about to say something when the door was knocked at and the guard outside said, “Your Excellency, Her Excellency, the empress is seeking an audience with you.”

The man in the chair replied, “Let her in.”

The door was opened and the Fragrantia walked inside the room. The three people, General Un, Prince Ignis, and the prime minister bowed to her. Libra gazed at her and wanted to ask something when Fragrantia took the initiative and said, “I was thinking if we can invite the empress of the Sapientia empire here?”

Libra found it odd, and Fragrantia continued, “I would have liked to invite the entire royal family here, however, the emperor is the hope for the people, so I can only ask you to do this after talking to our daughter-in-law.”

.....

The emperor sighed and said, “Ignis, try to ask them to come over once you reach them.”

Ignis nodded and the meeting proceeded. The empress did not dare to tell the people that Valerian was still behind the enemy lines for fear that someone might question his motives.

...

Valerian was shaking his head while he sat on the back of the thunder falcon. He was just communicating to the empress on the soul communication bead and was tired. He did not expect her to lose her temper so badly and what was even more surprising for him was the sudden outbreak of war.

The changes in politics were not something he had any experience with, but when he thought about it, he thought it might be that the Valkyrians are punishing the Sapientia empire for tying bonds with the Lumen empire. From what he knew, a few months ago, Valkyrians reached an alliance with all three nations separating them from the Lumen empire.

Indeed, it was really a miracle for Ignis to get married to the eldest princess of Sapientia. Valerian asked Priscilla, “Do you have any knowledge of how the Sapientia managed to break away from the alliance ties with the Valkyrians?”

Priscilla was a shadow guard and she must have some knowledge about this matter. The maid thought and said, “Umm, we were in the academy at that time, Your Highness, however, when I got back to the palace. I found that the Sapietians claimed to have tricked the Valkyrians. How they did it, I have no knowledge, however, this fact was verified by the shadow guard chief.”

Valerian frowned as he did not know what to make up for this situation. He said, “Linea, change course, we are going to the war front.”

Priscilla was surprised and more than that, she was shocked. She did not expect this young man to barge into the battlefield. She was aware that it was not the first time for him to have killed someone, but this was a complicated situation. She decided on something, she will inform the people back at the imperial palace the first moment she gets.

The thunder falcon followed the will of his master without hesitation. Linea was moving around the world, watching new scenery, and experiencing more excitement than he did in his entire life. As a flying beast, his heart was definitely not averted to this sort of long travel and flight, and he did ask himself why not go out to travel earlier in his life. If not for this young man, he would have been trapped inside the feather mountains for all his life.

Fortuna opened her eyes and asked, “Why do you want to go to the war front?”

“I cannot let the forces from the Lumen empire to their deaths. More than that, the innocent civilians on the borders will suffer the most if there is a chance that I can save them. I will take this gamble.”, said Valerian.

Fortuna said, “If you say it like that, then you will make me look like a villain for ignoring so many lives.”

Valerian shrugged his shoulders and lay on the back of the big bird. The sky was whooshing past his eyes, his thoughts began to race at this moment and soon the time flew past and the sky had turned dark. The boy watched the stars fleeting past his eyes, Priscilla said, “Your Highness, shall we take a break to have a small meal?”

The boy heard this and nodded, he was indeed hungry, and said, “Linea, land near a water source.”

The bird located a lake and slowly descended on the banks. She got off, and let Mathiyus out of the beast bag, the big cat had an irritated expression on his face. He did not like being shoved in a bag but too bad he did not have wings to fly on his own. Fortuna also turned into her actual form and went to take a swim in the water.

Valerian did not go hunting or swimming. He sat on a boulder, trying to come up with the reasons behind this war when he heard a crackling noise coming from behind. He turned around with a hand behind his back and found a familiar figure walking out of the shadows. This person or creature was none other than Olivus, the driad.

Valerian sighed and said, “Can you not come to find me unannounced as always? I will kill you one day by mistake.”

Olivus chuckled and said, “I cannot help it. I apologize for startling you.”

Valerian nodded and said, “Cut to the chase, what is it?”

The driad said, “You really do not see me as a friend, will I only come to you when I have anything to do with you?”

Valerian raised his eyebrow and asked, “Will you not? You know the answer better than me.”

His words left the driad speechless. He could not refute it, after all, in the past few meetings, it has always been like this, an alliance of mutual benefit. Olivus said, “Well, fine then, I can tell from your direction that you intend to go to the war front.”

Valerian nodded and the driad continued, “Sapientia intends to capture Ignis and use him as leverage to gain more territory from the Lumen empire as a ransom, and at the same time, they wish to backstab the Valkyrians.”

This statement surprised the child, he did not expect it to be something like this. He thought about it and asked, “Do you have the proof?”

Olivus nodded and took out a few papers from his hand, he said, “What you need to know is recorded in here. I hope you can prevent the Lumen side from harm.”

Valerian took hold of the papers and asked, “What do you want in return?”

The Driad said, “You have a dragon, I hope....”

Valerian closed his eyes and said, “You better give up on obtaining her. She is not a bargaining chip.”

Olivus shook his head and said, “You misunderstand, I only wish to gain a small amount of powder from her dragon claw nails.”

Valerian was about to deny it when he heard an ethereal voice in his mind, “Agree to his request, and tell him to get you a sword made from the Ancient Pine.”

The silver-haired child looked at Fortuna, and then he nodded to Olivus, the two sides have agreed to the exchange. This war was a storm that will change the western continent’s map.