In the morning, combat training. I insisted on Auberone to create bonds. These fighters who are our buddies now will become hunters and we will certainly one day be on their list and we must register their weaknesses, know their life, their past and their family. If you know the brother or the mother of such, if he catches you and you are defeated you can say that your sister knows where her mother lives and her name... that can always be useful...

Then, we have to train for ourselves first. Resist sword fighting, know martial arts, new weapons. Let them test them on us to counter the effects later.

We agreed on that.

Today, our friends, tomorrow maybe our Nemesis...

We've been at the academy for a year now and they've left us alone. But we've grown up.

We're 5 meters tall at the withers and 10 meters long.

We're covered with leather and fur to absorb the shocks. And they have iron swords with no sharp edges. We still feel the blows and we've got eye protection.

Mr Rogue's class is very interesting.

He made us his assistants and his students have to kill us and we have to kill them too.

Kill in the sense that everyone has a cloth ribbon and I have a leather one with a red circle in the heart.

Whoever has his ribbon cut or torn off is eliminated.

The den attack is the most comical.

I also learned how to change a breath of fire into ice. At the very least, it's snow and small frostbite. I love blowing the icy fluid. It's actually like LPG, my breath of fire but not lit. This liquid evaporates like methane and generates at least 53°C.

I love to aim at the buttocks, it's worse than icy fluid. HAHAHA

So we position ourselves in the main courtyard of the academy, outside.

There are broken arches and rocks and it's my "semi-open training den.

I'm with Auberone or I'm guarding a balloon that's supposed to be my egg.

We don't know where or when they're going to attack us.

The worst thing is the illusions. But I've got my tricks like a drop of water falling down and doing plic ploc and when it stops, you have to attack.

Our tails turn into whips and almost become clubbed swords. We win every time and no hunter has managed to take our scarves.

The reality is that if they get better, so do we.

As I used to do Kungfu before, mantis style, I became a formidable opponent and just in martial arts, my size and without using the claws and the breath or the sting, I could be considered as a class S monster.

So one of the squires came at me with a dragon spear and I jumped over him, did a front salto and pushed him into the ground crushed by my tail.

Then attacking in groups and with my tail, I made them twirl left and right. PAf a blow to the belly and he was propelled against a wall.

Then they go 10 to 1 and half of them end up as snowmen and the others on the ground, freezing fluid at the bottom.

Then came Rogue:

"You're tough on them. But I'm glad no one got hurt. You were able to hold your punches. My hat's off to you. But your father..."

"He's not my father, I cut him... He's crazy and depressed. If he really wanted to live, he'd have torn you to pieces even three times over and don't forget you had an archimage with you. Even now, with my spells I have no chance against him. While they're training harder. They'll only get one try."

Rogue turned to the students and said, "Did you hear what I said? I think she's right, sir. "Besides, they live in groups and some will sacrifice themselves for their eggs. "

Training will resume tomorrow. On our side, we had a little money to buy a few things for my experiments. I also learned force wall and magic missile. I always used spells at a minimum to avoid suspicion of our huge mana supply.

Then the invisibility and healing spells. Very useful. Also regeneration and removing poison.

But alchemy and enchantment spells interested me like runic glyphs, alarms, transport of objects (eggs for example)...

Monster summoning.

Iron pruning and transmutations.

We also received globes that we had to load with mana and do dimensional storage to store equipment.

Needless to say, to keep prey fresh, there's nothing better.

Then we passed our exams with success but we continued to study as long as Zanzar allowed and then one day he left and didn't come back.

My intuition told me to run away.

We went to Zanzar's office and looked at his last notes and he had been called to the royal castle. A serious accident.

I then dropped off a letter to Professor Snape and another to Professor Mandrake or Zanzar. :

"Dearly beloved Professor,

Thank you for enjoying a happy childhood with you. We are indebted to you and we can never thank you enough for what you have brought us: A Future.

We have been happy thanks to you and your wonderful academy and I hope it will continue. You are way ahead of the mentalities.

We have not sabotaged or trashed anything, out of respect and so as not to cause resentment on the part of your successor.

Nevertheless we "borrowed" from you some minor works more useful to us than to you concerning the contraception of monsters and charms for monsters. We are going back to the wilderness and we will have to face violent creatures and you will easily understand why. We also took a communication stone to keep in touch with the academy and our friends. We are just as saddened as you are by the death of the king and the disappearance of our mentor but we love life and freedom, especially since we are still children and we don't want to set an example for a vengeful madness, we will wait a little until things settle down to get back in touch and return the borrowed books to you. We also borrowed a book on military cooking in the countryside for nobles and some festive spells. Leisure time in the countryside being limited."

Professor Rogue,

We had a great time at school together. Be harder on your students.

We regret having to part like this and I hope that if we meet again it won't be as enemies. All the years we have spent together have created bonds of respect, tolerance and friendship. I hope that was true for you. We understand your point of view of protecting and defending human beings from monsters. But we must leave each other now. We will continue to defend your values and try to sort out the good dragons from the monsters and monsters to be. As you can imagine, we are going back to living our lives as dragons. A return to the wilderness is not exactly the term but consider us as trappers and hunters. If we see humans in distress or threatened by those of our species, we will come to their aid. I know you must strictly obey the King's orders but we all know that what is official is appearances and what is unofficial is more pragmatic. We will isolate ourselves in the least civilized part of the empire and work towards a better world for dragons and humans. As we also consider you as our mentor, we still trust you. We will wear a ribbon with the sign of the academy and we ask you to tell the archers not to shoot at us or at least to aim sideways. You also know how to contact us. We are always ready to work for you.

Goodbye

Vermithraxa, Auberone.

PS, we took a book on the last year that we couldn't finish together.

Also if you see eggs with a V painted on them, they will be "good" dragons to educate.

Rogue: TSS, these girls. Too bad they were born dragons. I might have asked for Vermithraxa's hand in marriage...

A page rushed into the room and handed Professor Rogue a letter.

It was a scroll of parchment with a gold border and a royal blue wax seal.

He opened the parchment and it was a letter from the council explaining what had happened and the orders he had to carry out.

The chairman of the council told him that the STAR KING had been assassinated and that Ignar had escaped.

A powerful black mage freed him, increased his strength tenfold and burned the entire castle with all its occupants. He stuck his head through a window and an explosive blast penetrated inside and the flames spread from the top of the tower to the catacombs as he came out and exploded all the windows and doors of the fortress.

Everything was reduced to ashes. There is nothing left. Only Prince Star, son of King Star Duncan, survived. He is the only member of the royal family still alive. He was on a troop inspection when it happened. Our kingdom is in peril and drastic measures are required. Enemies may take advantage of the situation to kill the royal prince and attempt a coup. Zanzar too has fallen to the Dark Wizard. According to witnesses outside, he is a black Thalmor elf named Morthales, an elder of the Thalos cult.

You must mount a dragon-hunting expedition to find the trail of Ignar and Morthales

Since extreme measures are extreme, we cannot take any additional risks. All wyverns and dragons must be eliminated, including your protégés. We're sorry it has to come to this, but the new King Duncan II STAR is mad with grief like the whole nation and only dragon blood will ease our nation's pain.

Arrange for a public execution.

The High Council,

Awaiting the coronation of the new king!

Rogue had the page write an answer but the dragons fled before they got the missive as soon as they heard the king was dead. They must have had good intuition. They will take refuge in the desert uninhabited areas of the kingdom.