Greile hurriedly lead the way back to the narrow valley where her people had fallen for Aron's trap. Her and Osar didn't exchange any words during the way and just flew as fast as they could.
Upon arrival, both began to look around and focus their senses in an attempt to detect any signs of life.
Time began to pass and the rainfall alternated from medium to high to storm but Greile continued to look regardless, desperate to save even one of her comrades.
Unfortunately, she soon realized that her desire was just wishful thinking. Everyone was dead.
She stood still for a moment and just looked down at the rubble, wondering where she had gone wrong. Anger, despair, regret, many emotions began to bubble up within her but her face remained still like, as if she were frozen.
Osar just waited impatiently with his arms crossed, showing little care towards Greile's circumstances.
"Are you done?"
After waiting a bit longer, Osar had enough and chose to interrupt her moment. She showed displeasure towards this but she was in no position to scold his actions.
"Yes, what's this proposal you mentioned?"
Greile turned to face Osar without even attempting to hide the hate she clearly held for him. Osar ignored this and just proceeded to answer without a care.
"The tulsa who did this, can't you see he could be of use against the olden ones? It's no coincidence that they share so much resemblance with tulsa. I've tried asking them about this but they feign ignorance."
As Osar spoke, Greile furrowed her scaly brows and began thinking of Aron and what to say regarding him. However, that alone made her chest ache mildly, as if it were the oath letting her know that it was a bad idea.
"Osar, I agree that the olden ones are hiding something and that we must discover what, but I don't agree with further agitating that...tulsa" Since Greile could not reveal that Aron was Koliean, she simply didn't correct Osar.
"Don't mistaken my intentions Greile, I don't plan on making the same mistake as you and outright attacking it. It came to free it's fellow tulsa right? In that case so long as we offer to work together to free its people it'll agree." Osar spoke as if he were the logical one between the two and that his idea was full proof.
In a world where Aron was a caring human who indeed sought to rescue his people that plan would work, however such was not the case. This was something Greile discovered the hard way.
"I suppose that might work. But what happens if it doesn't and we are forced to fight?" In truth, Greile relished the thought of letting the northern dark scaled Drakar experiencing Aron's hope shattering ways. Because of this she pretended the idea was possible but still added in some doubt to not seem overly suspicious.
The proud Osar was none the wiser and just continued to grin. "If it doesn't then we capture it. I watched the tulsa's ways and I am certain it isn't all that strong, at least not to our level, otherwise you'd have failed to fend it off and die too. It depends mostly on tactics and speed just like you, do you think it wouldn't have outright killed you if it was capable?"
"You have a point; I just didn't want to risk getting injured. A fight between me and it would have been close."
"Exactly, but add you, myself and that fiery glutton then it'll have no chance. Regardless, with it by our side we can have the tulsa help in the fight, afterwards we Drakar who outnumber them can take them to be our own livestock at that time."
Greile was surprised to hear Osar's ambitions but even she could see many loopholes in the plan even if Aron wasn't as strong as she knew him to be.
Despite knowing this she still spoke as if the plan was plausible and listened to more of Osar's proud and narcissistic plans. Deep down she had already accepted that they were doomed to fail.
However, she also saw an opportunity in this. If she could warn Aron and provide him advice on how to utilize the idea then perhaps, he could help her become the apex Drakar by eliminating the remaining competition. If that were to occur then her people could prosper again and rise from this tragedy.
The pair of scheming Drakar forged a proper plan to carry out before finally leaving the narrow valley and preparing to part ways.
"I will get my best members and have them join us in finding the tulsa while others will remain and guard the eggs, I will come to your dwelling after that so be ready."
Greile didn't reject Osar's offer and just accepted half-heartedly, still not trusting his intentions. "I will."
…
Meanwhile the so called "tulsa" Osar was planning to reel in had already traveled out of the mountain range.
He had already made it into the eastern woodland area, targeting the point where Rose and the others were camped.
The group had settled just outside the woodland's outer area, taking refuge from the rain in under one of the many large leafy trees.
Jagu had taken the role of watchman, patrolling a little further from the others and keeping an eye out for anything noteworthy.
Jin also took a similar role by settling atop the tree to have a wider view of the area. It was when he was doing this that he stopped a figure flash by in the distance before he could even make out what it was.
"Jagu, something moved along our south." He quickly warned.
Unlike Jagu, Jin's senses weren't so keen that they could clearly see objects moving at fast speeds or in the far distance, and so he could only depend on Jagu to find out what it was.
Rose and Evanora settled right below the tree and didn't look worried upon hearing the exchange happening in the background. Only Mrah and Kalel showed fearful expressions as they hugged one another to keep warm in the cold rainy environment.
Jagu listened to Jin and immediately rushed to mentioned direction with all his senses on high alert. Not even an insect could pass a 500-meter radius of him without his knowledge.
"It's just me."
Just as Jagu was getting reader to travel deeper into the woodland, Aron's voice reached him and caused him to relax.
He turned in the direction of the voice and saw Aron emerge from some foliage. Aside from mud and some stains, Aron's armor had zero indication of any large fights.
To Jagu this either meant Aron succeeded or another variable arose.
"How was it?" Not willing to guess, Jagu just asked plainly as Aron reached him and walked past, heading toward the camp.
"They only have a few individuals who might prove tricky to fight, the problem mainly lies in their numbers. Even I can't fight thousands of opponents in the open…at least not yet. Did you encounter any trouble on your end?"
"Not at all, it seems most of creatures and beings of this land go into shelter when the rains emerge. Though Jin did see many Drakar flood the skies, heading north and north east of here."
Aron gave Jagu a nod and proceeded toward the camp where he was first welcomed, more especially by Mrah and Kalel. They felt like they were much safer with him around.
"Welcome back…"
They gave him a light greeting while trying to hide their trembling hands behind their backs.
Aron cast them a glance in the corner of his eye before no longer suppressing some of his mana. He had initially done so to move without being detected but that was no longer necessary.
Upon doing so, the area immediately experienced a rapid spike in temperature.
The two women immediately assumed he did this for their sake and they gave light bows. "Thank you."
However, Rose burst their bubble by revealing the reality of the situation.
"Aron always emanates heat when his mana is fluctuating, the rest of us aren't fazed by the temperature because of our own fluctuations guarding against it."
The two lowered their heads in embarrassment at her words upon realizing she made a good point. After all they were the only two feeling cold to begin with since neither had their own field of mana.
"Evanora missed Aron, Rose too."
Rose sighed at the aloof girl's remark and just shook her head. "I'm starting to believe you brought that girl along to test my limits, Aron. That aside, how did everything go?"
Aron proceeded to explain everything he was told by Greile. Since all of it was information not worth hiding, he didn't skip a detail. By the end of it all Rose looked rather interested while Mrah and Kalel looked at Aron with greater adoration when they learned he rescued some humans along the way.
"So, the olden ones are essentially a mix between human and Drakar? If that were the case it makes sense that they are keeping humans. The smart thing would be to keep humans and breed with them, producing more hybrids."
Aron nodded at Rose's deduction.
"I thought the same, especially after seeing only weak humans in the dwelling I visited. It's not certain but the most capable humans are likely being kept at the central dwelling where the olden ones reside, after all those are humans capable of giving better offspring."
Mrah and Kalel looked ashen upon hearing this news, feeling even more lucky about their own circumstances in comparison to others. Jin, a human like them naturally had some concerns regarding the situation.
Aron had also mentioned the presence of Kolieans so Jin worried that he was no longer interested in the Drakar and may just leave.
"So, what will you do?" Jin could only ask this, not wanting to seem pushy.
Thankfully, Aron's answer made him relax.
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"Nothing has changed, the Drakar will either fall or submit, there's no in between."
