Dawn- An age of Darkness

"Then we'll crush the royalty and take over!" Ve made a fist and struck another pose. 

Well, this guy sure was in a mood. Normally she just stayed quiet and didn't make a fuss. But whenever she got excited she turned into a different person. 

"We could also just lock them up and take all the kingdoms too." Dick winked.

I sighed. I was surrounded by idiots. "Let's go have a talk and I'm kind of hungry." All this talk about taking over kingdoms and crushing the royalty was tiring me out. Maybe last night's fatigue finally caught up to me. 

Dick chuckled loudly. "I'll go get our things and wait for you in Dracona for a week. If you don't come by then, I'll take the things for myself and leave." Dick stood right next to the window. 

I guess that was his way of saying, he didn't want to be a part of this. I'd kind of drawn him into all this without thinking all that much. I guess I should have been more considerate. 

But wait, wasn't this guy seriously just trying to take over everything just moments ago? I guess he knew I didn't like that idea. 

I more or less dragged Alisa and Ve into this too. 

"Do you two want to leave too?" I looked at Ve and Alisa and both just glared. I guess that was a no. I turned to Dick. "Fine. How do I find you?"

"Don't worry, you'll find me." He winked and jumped off. 

What sort of answer was that?

"He didn't even say goodbye," Alisa murmured. 

I looked out the window and Dick wasn't here anymore. I didn't see any crows either. It was almost as though, the guy knew teleportation. 

Wait, did he?

I didn't know if he had it or not, but my jealousy increased tenfold anyway. 

Wait, I actually, finally, realized something. "Where's Biteria?"

Alisa looked away. 

I stared at Ve and she shrugged.  "She disappeared and we don't know where she went. She never came back."

I hadn't seen her after she jumped out of the window last night. 

"What if she came back to the inn after we left?"

"How about we go there later this morning and see for ourselves?" Alisa suggested but she was still looking away. 

There was something these two weren't telling me.

But with the sun still rising, we didn't have that much free time. Since I already started this, I had to see it through. 

I yawned. I didn't know why but my fatigue was finally catching up to me. "Fair enough I guess. But first, let's find out what is going on. We can decide everything later." And hopefully, I'd be able to find something to alleviate this grogginess too. 

Both of them nodded and that concluded our small meeting. 

I was hungry, but hunger could wait. I had to get this sorted and go get my bunny ASAP!

***

"All hail the Archduke of Alfeime, Lord Daarc Green!" the herald announced. 

I never liked these name callings, but oh well. 

I entered a room that kind of looked like a throne room of sorts. Everyone stood up and bowed, even the guy on the throne, the earl. 

Ve and Alisa had followed me.

"Spare me of all this. And let's get down to business." I really wasn't I the mood. My lovely bunny was lost and so was my focus. I had to find her and I had to find her fast!

"But the breakfast-" The guy attempted. 

"Oh don't worry. We'll be eating soon but I had something urgent come up. And I'll have to go there straight away after this. Only then can I find enough peace to actually have breakfast."

"Very well my lord." he smiled and looked around. There were a lot of people here, probably just nobles. Some soldiers were here too. That decorated one was standing right next to the earl. 

Almost everyone nodded. Something was up with these morons. 

Honestly, if they were stupid enough to set a trap for me here, then really, they were worse than just plain stupid. 

"I was traveling a lot, so I don't know the situation. Do you mind filling me up?"

The earl didn't take his seat and just stood straight. Actually, everyone in the room was standing. "Yes, my lord. We, the dwarves have declared war on the humans." 

Though he called himself a dwarf all the men and women in here were kind of my size and they didn't look like the rest of the dwarfs in the streets. I guess these guys had differentiation for the nobles and street folk between them. 

They all had one thing in common though and that was tanned caramel skin. I guess their color was a natural defense against the harsh climate of this place. 

It was just morning and I was already sweating, but these guys weren't even fazed a little. 

"I'm aware of that much. But why?"

"There are various reasons." He tried to not sound awkward, but there was no escaping that. "The excuse is my little brother. Father claims that a princess of Destoa seduced him and took the opportunity to kill him. Both are missing right now. And humans meanwhile blamed our prince and claimed that we killed their princess and in the end, they killed our messengers, we killed theirs and the war finally started."

Just listening to this made my head hurt. A full-blown war because of two morons? "So, what happened?" I emphasized on it and I got that the guy understood me.

"Personally-" He came close. "I believe either someone from Destoa or Dwaram are hiding them both and trying to lay the blame on the other. Think about it, this war doesn't have any merits for the people, but-" he came even closer. "It does have plenty of merit for some people and let's say, they can easily climb to the throne or something like that," He whispered. He promptly backtracked and raised his voice again. "Or, this could very well be a ploy from a third country." He grinned. "This is where you come in though."

"Meaning?"

"I was under the impression that you were searching for those weapons." He grinned. So this guy already knew it. The sheer intelligence of this guy was frightening. And I got the impression, he was just using me, baiting me. "So, let's have a deal."

But I wasn't stupid either.  "I'm listening." So far all I'd done was listen. 

But that didn't mean I was going to believe or accept whatever he proposed. 

"I can provide you with two pieces. If you stop the war and my town survives, you get one." Again he came close to whispering distance. I kind of didn't like this. "But if you, make me king: You get two." He winked, went back, and finally took his seat. "So, what do you say?"

"As expected," Alisa whispered. She grinned. "And we can take your word for it? How do we know you're not lying?" She raised her voice a little.

Murmurs floated around.

"How dare you!" The decorated soldier was offended. A lot of other nobles were offended too but they were staying quiet. 

But the man on the throne, the earl smiled. "Of course, I can give you this for safekeeping if you think I won't keep my promise." He took out a bracelet and threw it to Alisa. There was a small white gem on the bracelet. "Tell you what, consider that advance payment."

"This gem, its Trerortra's." Alisa murmured. 

Ve sighed. "All that is good and all. But how do you propose we end this?"

"Simple, you three- where's the fourth?" He looked around. 

Now, he noticed Dick was missing?

Sigh. "He's elsewhere. Just get to your point."

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, you three are really powerful. If you could display your strength on the battlefield and then threaten men with your prowess, not only will we have the advantage while negotiating, we'll also be able to prevent any more wars like this in the future."

A shrewd politician indeed. Even now, he thought of his country first. 

"That's assuming, they have taken the prince, correct? What if some other country is behind the scenes?"

All the smiles seized. "I'll be blunt with you. My countrymen aren't shallow enough to kidnap and then declare war."

"I'll also be blunt with you, there are all kinds of people in this world." And I wasn't stupid enough to believe dwarves were any different.

People were always going to be people. They'd always try to have things go their way, even if it meant harming others and being way too selfish. So no matter what, there was no way, I was going to believe in cheap things like what the Earl just said. 

He didn't seem to like that view. "Anyway, I don't care how. As long as you save this town, I'll keep my promise. If you could fulfill the other one, I'll keep that one too. If some other country is behind this, stopping this war would probably damage them, so they'll act on that. We'll know."

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