Chapter 115: | 115 | Magus Tower
Deep within the Colonial Dominion of Terra, within a vast medieval city reminding one of an ancient maze, the famous Magus Tower stood proudly before its land. It was the gathering place of the most respected humans, the Magi.
Inside the Magus Tower was a massive hall where the reception of its interior dwelled. Hundreds of Magus scattered around as they have been called throughout the sea region of Terra for an emergency meeting.
Most Magus discussed one another in specific groups, acting like the nobles of old. But it soon changed when an old man walked into the immense hall of the Magus Tower, wearing a wizard's clothing.
With a white beard, and a pointed hat, along with some wooden cane. Some would have considered him a peaceful old hermit. But appearances were always far from the truth in the world of magicraft.
When the Magus noticed him, all of them turned silent and stopped conversing with one another. Their attention was fully captured to the old-bearded man, awaiting for his words.
The old Magus stopped walking and finally spoke to the gathering. After all, he was the one that called for them to be in the Magus Tower of the Colonial Dominion.
It was rare for such emergency meetings to be enacted, but in his eyes, war was looming in the horizon. They must prepare for what was to come.
"I am pleased for all of you to have answered my call. I am Arch Magus Gunther, the head of the Magus Tower." The old Magus introduced himself to his audience and continued.
"You must have an idea as to why I have called upon you here in the Colonial Dominion of Terra. And you are sadly correct, war is inevitable for us." He expressed with regret.
Murmurs resounded throughout the grand hall of the Magus Tower. Most of them were astounded, but already expected the emergence of such circumstance.
"The culprit for our troubles is the treacherous organization of humans called the United Navy. They are heretics who colluded with animals like the beastfolk to fight against their own kind."
"They don't even have a tinge of mana inside their bodies, signifying how far they have gone from the Magus Tower's light." In his eyes, the United Navy was the bane of humanity.
It needed to be extinguished before it could grow stronger in the sea region of Terra. Otherwise, who knows what could happen. This is a world where something improbably could happen, so Gunther didn't dare to test destiny.
"What makes them troublesome is their advance technology reaching to an unknown level. They appear to be a bit better than the dwarves in terms of technology, and they don't even gift it to humanity." The arch mage clenched his fist, causing the gathering of Magus to stir up.
"How there dare!"
"Such low lives!"
"It seems that they confused mercy for weakness!"
Gunther spread out his hands and calmed the crowd down, making silence returned to the rowdy hall of the Magus Tower.
"As such, we must do something against this heretical organization. It is our duties as the respective members of Humanity, and students of magicraft. The arcane is our light and wisdom. We will show them its undeniable might."
All of them were in agreement with his words. They were already enamored by his charisma and wisdom, making them wish to do whatever he command.
"But we must not underestimate them. In their grasps is the Dragon of the Revolting Tide." The arch magus squinted his eyes and continued. "She is extremely dangerous, considered to be the greatest threat of humanity."
"After her disappearance in the Frontier and the Revolting Tide working properly without her, most of us thought that she had died due to unknown reasons. One would have never thought for her to go deeper into the blessed of humanity."
"The fact that she had joined the heretics means that she stands by their cause. She isn't the Dragon of the Revolting Tide anymore, but the Dragon of the United Navy." The Arch Magus had never fought against the dragoness personally.
But his colleagues in the Frontier have fought against her and understood how much of a challenge she was. She alone had a rivalling threat level of the United Navy.
The only ones that called take care of her without much of a problem were the Sovereigns, but the arch magus understood that the court of the arcane was as chaotic as it was with rivalling powers pitting against one another.
They practically had no time getting their attention in the Ferus Sea.
Even their expansionary fleet, Principatus Humanum, was left to dust, anchored somewhere in the Colonial Dominion of Terra. Their reply from the pleas of assistance that the expansionary fleet had given to Europa was three words.
Do it yourself.
This made the arch magus understand that they were alone in their fight against the United Navy and the infamous Dragon. Even though humanity appeared to be united, it was fractured as it was a thousand of years ago.
"What should we do against these heretics and the Dragon, Sir Gunther?" One of the Magus inquired, his question was the sentiment of every Magus in the vast hall.
Arch Magus Gunther merely gazed at the Magus and calmly replied with a tone laced of wisdom. "We must fight against them with all our might. Our survival depends on their destruction, so we have no choice but to do so."
"However, we cannot simply charge into battle without hesitation. Instead, we have to fight with intellect. I advice the creation of a grand strategy to defeat these enemies of our Magus Tower."
His words of wisdom boomed throughout hall of the Magus Tower. The gathering Magus in the grand hall gave a round of applause to the old man as they echoed his sentiment throughout the hall.
It appears that the United Navy weren't the only ones preparing for the inevitable war.
...
In the archipelago residing in the west, there was a tribe of deerfolk under the oppression of its preceding colony. To not face the punishment of the colony, they must honor them with gifts and slaves. So, for years, they present a sacrifice to the colony.
Inside one of the tribal homes of the deerfolk was a human girl. She was surprisingly helping the deerfolk prepare for the upcoming winter, which was rare for a human to do.
But everyone had stories, and she had hers.
She was part of the wyvern rider legion under the authority of the viceroy. Yes, she was a member of the first wyvern rider squadron that the UNS Light Bringer took out from the heavens.
She miraculously survive the ambush after her wyvern saved her. After falling into the sea, she felt days afloat in the turbulent waters before washing up in the shores of the deerfolk island.
At first, she was pensive against them and didn't want to have anything to do with them. But through their patience and kindness, she learned that they weren't animals that should be enslaved.
This took three weeks for her to understand, though.
The thought of human supremacy was too ingrained to her being and mind. It was a part of her life and worldview, so it was something difficult to change. But there was something that could help change, and it was kindness.
Understanding can only be brought when one was willing to become not ignorant. For one to abandon their worldview requires bravery to subject their life and beliefs. Only kindness can make them do so.
As a human in the Colonial Dominion, she was fairly knowledgeable about many survival techniques and that included food storage for the upcoming winter. This kind of knowledge was far-reaching in the lands of humanity.
After all, even to them, the winter itself was still treacherous as it was a hundred, or thousands of years ago.
"Hermona, would you like to play with me?" A young teenage beastfolk entered the tribal home and expressed to the wyvern rider named Hermona.
"I can't do that yet, Saintess." Hermona replied as she had to prepare the home to be ready for storage as winter was about to come.
"But you promised me you'd play." The teen beastfolk pouted and turned her head away, disappointed by the broken promise of Hermona.
Hermona sighed and walked towards the teen. She then patted her head and said. "Alright, I'll make time to play with you."
The teenage beastfolk grinned and felt elated to have a playmate. After all, almost everyone in the tribe avoided her after she became a Saintess.
Hermona looked at the young one and remembered how she was the one that saw her washed up in the shores. The kid offered her food, which Hermona obviously rejected, thinking it was animal food.
Naturally, her perspective had change since then.
But there was something she was curious about, and it was the young beastfolk's identity as the Saintess of the deerfolk tribe. No matter how much she inquired to surrounding tribe members. They don't seem to give her any information about the Saintess.
Though... Before she could encapsulate her thoughts to the mysteriousness of the Saintess, a deerfolk ran into the tribe yelling with all his might.
"The colonial envoy has arrived! I repeat the colonial envoy is approaching!"
Hearing the words of the panicking beastfolk, Hermona raised an eyebrow and realized what his words meant. This made her furrow her eyebrows as she got out of the tribal home and instructed the surrounding deerfolks.
"Prepare yourselves, and take the gifts out to be sent to the colonial envoy."