“T-That’s his Highness!”
The crowd roared with reverence the moment they saw the colossal silver dragon land on the stage.
Today’s events seemed to have blown out of proportion. First, a Bronze badge holder had defeated a Silver badge holder, and now the King of the city himself was making an appearance on the stadium.
Meanwhile, Calron remained motionless on the wrecked stage with the battered corpse of the dead goblin next to him.
Georan, carry him back to the palace.
Weir sent a mental command to his subordinate while gazing at the unconscious figure of the golden bird. Noticing the mutated humanoid arm in place of his right wing, a frown etched onto Weir’s face.
Immediately, several sizeable shadows flew across from the audience and landed in a circle around Calron. Giving a small bow to the King, Georan then proceeded to order the other reptilian beasts to each grasp one of Calron’s limbs.
“Gahaha, what are you brutes doing with my pupil?”
All of a sudden, an elderly voice cackled from the side, as a tiny grey racc.o.o.n calmly walked towards the stage while clicking her tongue.
When they saw it was just a trifling old racc.o.o.n, Georan’s subordinates ignored her and resumed the process of transporting the golden bird. However, a powerful bellow resounded within their minds.
“STOP!”
Hearing the order of their King, the beasts instantly stopped what they were doing and dumbly stared at the ma.s.sive silver dragon.
Rapidly shrinking down his body, Weir returned back to his humanoid form as he respectfully greeted the old batty racc.o.o.n with a slight bow.
“Elder, it’s been a while since I last saw you. I thought you had left this city long ago.”
It was an extremely strange scene watching the mighty ruler of the city bowing his head down to the pet.i.te racc.o.o.n.
“You stinking brat! Am I supposed to tell you everywhere I go? Now let go of that little birdy. He is a disciple of mine.”
The old racc.o.o.n irritatedly shouted, while smacking Weir on his kneecap.
What is going on here? It has only been a day since Calron entered the city, so it should not have been possible for the Elder to have taken him under her tutelage. Did she know him from before?
Weir’s thoughts raced around, trying to figure out how the situation had changed so drastically. This affair was no longer a simple matter if one of the Elders decided to meddle in it.
“Elder, this beast just recently entered the city, and I have been following him ever since then. Maybe you confused him with someone else?”
Weir stated politely, as his draconic head took a quick glance at the unmoving Calron.
“Bahaha! To think you had the guts to call me ‘old’ in front of everyone, you must have forgotten about my ‘teachings’, eh?”
The old racc.o.o.n let out a chilling laugh, while sparks of lightning flickered across her eyes and her claws rhythmically started clicking against each other.
A suffocating pressure encircled all the beasts on the stage, eliciting a groan of pain from Georan and his subordinates as they all dropped to their knees and rasped for air. Only Weir calmly remained standing as his eyes gazed into that of the old racc.o.o.n’s.
When the h.e.l.l did I call her old? This batty woman has been crazy since the day I met her! Dammit, Laris! Where are you? Only you can deal with your wacky mentor.
Weir cursed within his mind and let out a defeated sigh.
Although she might look like a crazy tiny racc.o.o.n, the one standing before the Dragon King was actually one of the three Elders of the city. Their purpose was to guide the future Beast Kings and to teach them the way to rule. Most often, the Elders were the previous Beast Kings of another city who trained in isolation until they broke through into the Heavenly stage.
Each one of the Elders was an expert at the peak of the Vajra stage and only a step away from entering the realm of the Heavenly Beast Emperors.
The racc.o.o.n Elder was last seen within the city over twenty years ago, back when she had taken an interest in Laris and brought her under her wing. As for Weir, he never liked the nutty creature as she constantly slapped him or accused him of trying to romance the ‘pure, and innocent’ Laris.
Deep in his heart, he knew that the crafty racc.o.o.n was lying and that Calron was not really her disciple, but there was simply nothing he could do. This old racc.o.o.n was as unpredictable as the wind, and her strength even more profound.
“Elder, I have no ill intentions towards this boy. I only wish to merely ask him some questions. After that, I will immediately send him your way.”
Weir still tried to reason with the Elder in hopes of stalling for some time until Laris arrived here.
“Oh, is that so? Then it’s fine with me…”
Weir let out a relieved sigh, but it was soon crushed as the tiny racc.o.o.n’s continued to speak.
“… after I have taken him back to my place and once he has recovered.”
Cackling with glee at the current expression on the dragon’s face, the old racc.o.o.n cheerfully skipped over to where Calron’s body was and effortlessly picked him up by the scruff of his scaly neck.
Meanwhile, the rest of the audience frantically gossiped amongst themselves as they tried to figure out what was happening on stage. They had thought that their King would capture the golden bird, but suddenly seeing a midget grey racc.o.o.n hopping on stage and causing even the mighty Dragon King to respectfully bow his head, the audience all dropped their jaws at the same time.
Seeing the old racc.o.o.n suddenly grab Calron’s neck, Avi immediately sprung from the crowd before the fox could stop her and rushed towards the stage while furiously barking. A low silent whine escaped from her mouth when she saw that her guardian was completely motionless.
Previously, the fox had prevented the little pup from dashing to the stage when Calron had lost his consciousness. However, the fox had been completely flabbergasted at when the Dragon King himself arrived on stage, allowing Avi to escape from its clutches.
“When will you bring him to the palace?”
Weir softly asked with a sigh.
He knew that no matter what he did, the Elder would completely refuse him, so he could only wait until she brought Calron back to him.
“Ke? I don’t know, probably when I feel like it? Gahaha!”
“woof, woof!”
The sound of a little pup barking broke the tension, as the small beast jumped onto the stage and tightly embraced Calron, refusing to budge.
“I wondered where you were, little one.”
The racc.o.o.n smiled as she gently looked down at the dark wolf pup, who was threateningly growling at her while her tiny paws glued themselves toCalron’s scales.
“grrr….”
“Weir, this boy is special and I think you know that as well. Leave him with me, and once he is ready, I will let him make his own decision on the matter you want to ask of him.”
The old racc.o.o.n’s att.i.tude abruptly shifted as she solemnly stated while facing the Dragon King.
In a bright flash of lightning, the old racc.o.o.n, Calron, and the little pup all vanished from the stage, leaving behind a dejected dragon and his subordinates.
At the same moment the crackle of lightning was heard, the distant sound of a squadron of troops marching could be heard as Laris regally walked at the front.
Adorned in a suit of dark-navy armor, Laris marched ahead, and a frown soon spread across her face. She knew that something was amiss when she noticed the downhearted Weir and the empty stage.
“F*ck!”
Letting out a very unladylike curse, Laris sped towards the stadium.
Suddenly, three distinct figures appeared on top of a wide isolated cliff.
“Phew, that was close! You better thank me when you wake up, kid.”
The grey racc.o.o.n chuckled, as she gazed down at the naked human boy with a wolf pup wrapped around his neck.