The dragon was fully dismantled, with the organs left for anyone wanted them. Avery had thrown a fit, unwilling to even put such things in her item box. Desmond and the others didn’t try to reason with her, as while the internal organs of a dragon did possess medicinal properties, it wasn’t strong in young dragons like the one Avery killed. Sending the imperial knights back to the camp, the sun loomed high overhead by the time they got back to the makeshift camp. They had washed the blood off, yet they had a faint scent of iron from dismantling for so long.

The clearing had turned into a makeshift landing area for the incoming wyvern riders. Their buffalo-sized komodo dragon-like bodies landed with trained motions in the clearest area before waddling off into smaller cleared areas to rest. Other wyverns began to clear away debris for more spots. Taking the long way to stay out of their way, they skimmed the tree line. Avery looked on with curiosity as most of the wyverns had saddles and packs attached. Desmond had told her that wyverns were just lesser dragons, the furthest ones in the dragon tree.

They only reached the camp after thirty minutes. “So why are these knights gold and not silver like the ones with us?” Avery finally asked the question that Desmond had dreaded. He chewed at his lip while contemplating his answer. “The silver knights are regular Imperial Knights. The gold imperial knights are the best of the Imperial Knights. Protecting the Emperor and his favorite lover. The Heavenly Knights.” Avery eyes jerked to look at him in confusion” Then why aren’t th-” She stopped, and a look of understanding slowly surfaced on her face.

Desmond hoped she wouldn’t continue to ask. The stars aligned and his luck favored him that morning as she only nodded, no longer questioning his circumstances. The newly arrived Heavenly Knights wore polished gold colored armor that did not make noises when they walked, unlike the Imperial Knights in their steel armor. They walked with high heads, red capes at their backs. They never acknowledged the Imperial Knights, but the Imperial Knights seemed to not care as they went about their day. Avery could see unrestrained disdain on their faces when the Heavenly Knights had to speak with their silver counterparts.

They cut through the middle of the camp and headed towards the toppled boat. Desmond’s earlier thanks ended up turning to curse as a pompous woman dressed scantily in a loose golden robe and pinned up hair. Her features were gentle and youthful. Avery guessed she probably was around her early twenties. Her eyes lips had a seductive smile, but her eyes radiated disdain as they both entered her sight.

“I see. The little rabbit got itself a girl rabbit. Hmph.” Her words dripped with ridicule. Desmond, the object of her disdain, only lowered his eyes in embarrassment. The afternoon air wasn’t as frigid like the early morning, but even the surrounding people could feel the temperature drop. It was an open secret that the Imperial Consort viewed the Empress and the latter’s child with open disdain. Only in front of guests did all of them act like a loving family, as the protocol dictated. To them, it was like any other day.

Avery’s golden eyes narrowed at the gaudy woman. First impressions were most important. Her first impression was this girl needed a beating, but she kept it to herself. Desmond leaned sideways slightly “That is Imperial Consort Loralei, the girl my father, the emperor, favors currently. She’s willful and arrogant, but she has the backing of my father, so please, try not to do anything.” She could hear the worry in his voice, but she wasn’t scared of a spoiled woman. She had killed Dragons, Giants, Demons and Demi-gods before. Granted, she had tens of other players helping her, but Imperial Consort Loralei appeared to be just a human.

“Oh? Is she just a servant ?” Consort Loralei kept on talking, smug as she watched Desmond submit to her abuse. Avery only shook her head with annoyance. “Shaking your head like a dog little servant?” Consort Loralei turned her repulsive words toward Avery.

“Your insults are worst than your fashion sense. Why don’t you go sleep with one of your knights instead? It’d be more productive.” Avery’s expression flatlined, her tone monotonous and a faint bloodlust radiated from her. Consort Loralei’s smug expression turned to a shock. Her mouth fell open, the silver knights stifled their laughter.

Consort Loralei was silent, unable to fathom someone would talk back or even insult her. Avery let out a huff through her nose before walking around her. Desmond, also shocked, chased after Avery like a startled rabbit that had its cover pulled away. One Heavenly Knight stepped in front of Avery from her right. ” Halt, you wench! You just insulted the Imperial Consort of the Two-Dragon Empire!” The knight brandished his sword. ” The penalty is death!” he shouted. Before he could even ready his sword to swing, Avery’s fist had already made contact with his breastplate.

Thumm~!

Before the knight could swing at her, he flew backward into the crowd of golden armor behind him. His comrades were barely able to catch him and not topple over themselves. When they looked at him, his chest plate was caved in. At the center, the metal was even pierced. Blood slowly welled up before it began to slowly run out of the cavity. His body was limp and his jaw was slack as his fellow knights held him stunned. All the onlookers were also silent.

Suddenly, one after one, Silver and Gold brandished their metal swords. Each glared at each other, ready to clash. Desmond was stunned by the sheer force Avery had in that punch. Heavenly Knight armor was B-Rank armor! And her fist punched it like paper!

Consort Loralei wasn’t a warrior, nor a scholar. Neither did she bother with details pertaining to her Knights. Seeing a girl, no taller than a fifteen-year-old, send a Heavenly Knight flying backward, in her mind, it must have meant that knight was weak. Her mind quickly altered the view to conform it to her desires. This shitty brat must die!

Unlike when Avery smelt the dragon’s blood, she didn’t recoil from it. Instead, she felt a feeling of joy in her heart. Her blood pumped faster, her body itching to hit him again. “He’s dead!” One of the knights had confirmed what they already saw. Desmond was taken aback, but Avery only felt more joy. She didn’t understand where this emotion came from, but she wanted to fight. She wanted to kill more of those pesky Heavenly Knights. Wipe those smug condescending smiles into the mud with her boots.

Her feline eyes narrowed dangerously as a deep, furious bloodlust began to radiant from her body. Everyone became even more stunned. They had watched this walking goddess, who looked frailer than the Third Prince, kill a Heavenly knight. Now she was slowly looking more wild than a feral cat. She took an offensive stance and brought her hands up to eye level. The bloodlust she radiated made them take a step back.

Desmond’s hand was half-extended towards Avery’s back before a booming voice rang out. “Halt! Who dares fight in the presence of the Empress?!” A man in crimson armor shouldered his way through the crowd before he found the epicenter. He quickly scanned the surroundings before his eyes laid on Avery and the knight she faced. He also didn’t miss the injured or dead knight behind the other knight.

“Disperse quickly!”

None of Desmond’s Imperial Knights inched, and neither did the Heavenly Knights. Their snarling faces contracted Avery’s now open joyful expression. It only served to agitate the Golden Knights even more. Bloodlust began to radiate from the Crimson Knight before the Knights came back to their senses. Looking towards him, there also stood an older woman, missing an arm. “Long live the Empress!” All the Knights shouted, more sincerely on the silver side. The entire golden side seemly ignored it.

“Whatever grudges the two sides may have, may seemly be fought out in the Moon Palace!” A noble woman’s voice softly fell on their ears. Coming in from behind the Crimson Knight, Empress Maria strode out. Her face looked haggard. It seemed the troubles this time had aged her more, well past her age of forty. “Consort Loralei, the crimes you believe they’ve done… Can they not wait until we’ve at least returned…?” A pleading laced her words. Her tired eyes showing resignation. Of all the places she wished such things didn’t happen, this was the one.

“No! I-” Consort Loralei was about to argue before Empress Maria cut her off. “In the middle of nowhere, with so much to take back, should we use your mount, or should we lose more knights?” Consort Loralei quieted, her words getting through her stubbornness. She was a “fine noble”, of course, she didn’t want to be in the sticks. Consort Loralei turned her attention to Avery and Desmond. “I’ll deal with this bitch later!” Puffing air through her nose, she turned and stomped off. Her knights following in tow, but not before hurling barrels of insults.

Desmond let out a sigh, while Avery stomped her foot in frustration. Everyone only looked confused at her. When she turned around and saw their stares did she finally come back to her senses. Recounting that bliss of killing someone, she felt a ting of shame but nothing else. She mostly felt judged by the Imperial Knights and Desmond. She then moved her feet to head to the crash site, the crowd parting. Desmond was about to follow before his mother stopped him.”We have to speak privately…” He cast a worried glance in Avery’s direction but followed his mother as she turned towards the silver knight’s camp.

Fenrir felt like killing himself. Avery had found him as he waited outside their temporary lodging. Something he regretted with every fiber of his being. She began to rant and rave about some poor soul that had angered her. He wasn’t well versed in these human relations, only between other players. Avery had made a point that that experience wouldn’t help with these people. He also noticed that if two players had such an argument, they would have fought it out already. Here, his master had held back because “Senseless murder is bad” and “I don’t want to be a hypocrite”. From his understanding, all sentient beings were contradictory.

It was such a fruitless endeavor to calm her. He only ended up being shaken around and was an inch away from turning into a pin cushion when he brought up the other night. Sadly, stuck between a rock and a hard place… He brought her train of thought back to the woman again.

Prince Desmond stepped into his mother’s tent, his face displaying his worries. “It’s okay my love, I’m only wanting to know what happened…” Desmond recounted the earlier happenings. In the end, the Empress also felt worried, but something even more. Resigned. “I’ve been fighting that woman for over three years now. I’m too old. Too Tired. Too beaten. ” She looked at her remaining hand, her tired eyes unfocused. ” I don’t care about this country anymore, Desmond.” Her eyes turned up, but he felt she really wasn’t looking at him.

“I… I…” Desmond hesitation brought a smile to her face.” It’s good if you still care…” She turned and found a chair in the corner of the tent to sit on. Her body was thrown onto it, and she leaned her head back.” I’ve been Empress for twenty years, but your father has never really cared. He only wanted my home country’s support.” A sigh escaped. ” Now that the Kingdom of Stag is losing its war against the Holy Kingdom, he stopped putting his facade up…”

She wasn’t a citizen of the Empire, but a pawn of political marriage. She could always tell her husband never cared for her. He sought to satisfy his vanity. Money, power, beautiful women, and powerful soldiers. Her body was wanted, not herself. Their wedding night, she laid alone in bed while he tended to younger concubines in a drunken sex-filled night. Another blow to her was that he already had children with concubines. The first prince was the oldest.

She wasn’t a citizen of the Empire, but a woman of a political marriage. She always knew the Emperor never cared for her. He was a vain man. He cared for power, money and looks. He wanted her body, but once it was used and her maiden body was worn from giving birth, he moved onto younger women, some as young as ten. He was a bastard, yes, but she could never leave him. No matter how much she wished she could. That didn’t even account for all the bastard children the man had. All the bodies he left in his wake.

He also didn’t like his only legitimate child, Desmond. He frowned down on him, saying he was should have been born a woman. He wasn’t brave, he wasn’t strong, and he wasn’t an ambitious child. But Desmond loved his father all the same. He learned Magic, became a Scholar, and explored ruins with large groups of Knights to bring his father many treasures since he was ten. In her eyes, Desmond was Brave, maybe not the way the father wanted him to be, but he still approached a Primordial. He still helped that same girl skin a dragon!

He just wasn’t going around womanizing women. He actually was quite shy around the opposite sex, but since that last incident, he liked to avoid women from the capital. A black stain on that poor child’s heart.

Pulling her thoughts back to the present, she realized her thoughts trailed off. She sighed. I am truly too old for this… She raised her head to face Desmond’s worried eyes. ” We’ll think of a way child. Just… Don’t try to use that girl. She’s a good child, we shouldn’t make it a habit to use good people like those people do.” By those, she meant her husband and Loralei, who would use anyone when they can, how they can. It was a vicious cycle and only proved to make the palace more vicious.

Servants that kill and steal. Concubines that poison others. Guards that wouldn’t hesitate to steal. She had managed to keep it together with the Imperial Knights, but they were slowly dwindling. Her people were already little, with each new year it got even smaller.

“I understand. Though, I hadn’t planned to do such. She’s a scary person you know.” A troubled chuckle passed his lips. “You’re right, she is.” A chuckle also left Maria’s lips.