Mid Afternoon - Mid Winter : Emporio, Bahamut

-----

*Fwoooosh* The warm afternoon air quickly blew across my scales as I glided through the sky on the northern outskirts of Emporio.

At that point, it had been several hours since I left Akri, but nothing too eventful happened.

For starters, after reading the letter addressed to Commander Méllon about Myles entering his dragon sleep and being fatally wounded in a fight I didn't know about, I quickly told him to send a group of researchers to the shelter by the wreckage and left for the Elder Hall.

-Who could have done that much damage to Myles? Especially with Amphitrite there...- I had a bad feeling about it.

But unfortunately, even after getting there, I couldn't get that close to Myles without causing some issues; however, from the air, it was apparent how terrible his condition was. -He definitely would have died if he didn't enter his dragon sleep...-

But while I really wanted to know what happened, Amphitrite, the only one who actually saw the event, had left several hours before I arrived and didn't tell anyone anything.

Then, with Leander also still unconscious, the only person I could ask about what happened was the female ancient that worked under Leander, who was in charge of the situation, but she wasn't sure what happened either. -All she said was that Amphitrite flew straight for Emporio almost immediately after Myles's dragon sleep started... She must have been going for the space rune...-

It was pretty unfortunate. The space rune opened up every other fathomable possibility for where she could have gone, so even though I felt like I needed to hear what happened, I had no choice but to give it up for now.

-Currently, I need to focus on Atlas...- Knowing a professor that was on the Holy Kingdom's side was close enough to Krystallo to take the steel beads I gave her left a terrible taste in my mouth...

But regardless of that, instead of returning to Akri, since it was a little closer to the Elder Hall than Emporio, I decided to follow Amphitrite's flight path just in case I could catch her, but as expected, I had no luck. -It's a shame.. but I planned to bounce through Emporio anyway...-

Having been away from home for so long, I wanted to get Krystallo something, but I needed to figure out what. -I'm sure she would prefer something made by me, but I'm not sure what to make...-

My plan was to spend a few minutes looking through the streets of Emporio for some ideas on what to make while I moved to Atlas through the space rune. -I should have enough mana to make something nice as long as I don't get into some big fight... But.. what to make...-

My ideas were mostly weapons, but I wasn't so sure how Mother and Father would react to me bringing her something like that. "Hmm.. what else..." -She likes science.. what if I got her something like...- Then it hit me. The perfect gift.

It was something simple to make for someone like me but something I was confident she would love. It honestly made me excited to see how she would react. -I know what I can make for her birthday now too!- That was something just around the corner as well.

Although I didn't do it intentionally, I was going to return home just two weeks before our birthdays, giving me some time to spend time with everyone, regain some mana, and even begin my investigation in the Academy.

All that was left was to go to Atlas. -Home, sweet home, here I come!-

Quickly returning to the space rune, I waited for a few other groups to take the rune before eventually going on myself. *vwooom*

This time I carefully watched how the rune and artifact worked, and it turned out to be exactly as I hypothesized.

Both the platform being space mana strengthened and the double gate's layered functionality lined up perfectly with my theories. -For the main space rune to have simple space mana runes to strengthen the platform as well.. it's quite smart...-

Although it would have issues if activated too quickly after initially being built, if the rune was given a few months to strengthen the platform, it would work quite reliably. -It doesn't make a whole lot of sense how the artifact manages to make the double-layered gate so flawlessly, but learning that it for another time...-

For now, I needed to put my focus into something else. -I wonder how she will react when she uses it for the first time...-

My time in the void quickly passed after that. I promptly got to work on Krystallo's gift and used my spare time to think about exactly how I would go about investigating the Academy, even though I would need to see what it was like before planning anything.

But before I knew it, I made it to the Atlas space runes, a famed array of two dozen space runes built on a single colossal platform made of Mythril that was so high grade that even the biggest of ancients couldn't do anything beyond cosmetic damage with just physical force.

But while the glowing platform was eye-catching, as the gate dissipated, I was presented with a much more astonishing view.

"W..woah..." Surrounding the massive platform were countless absolutely colossal structures, some pushing over half a kilometer tall, with an incredible number of dragons with varying, brightly-colored scales in the sky and on the ground.

It made Emporio look like some back-water town.

"Sir, please come this way for the identity screening." A young ancient in glistening armor called me over immediately.

As I made my way over, I noticed his look of distaste but assumed it was nothing.

"Sir, do you have an Atlas Nobility Medallion?"

I immediately tilted my head. "A nobility medallion? Not that I know of."

"Haah..." His look of annoyance immediately worsened. "To have one made is one gold; for single time entry, it is 50 silver. If you are a high-noble, the medallion is free of charge, and if you do not have the funds to enter, please go to the back of the line for the space runes..."

-The Whyte's are high-nobility, right?- I quickly pulled out my mythril ID and handed it to him.

"Hm?" But instead of what I expected, he gave it a skeptical look before looking me up and down. "Sir, I am going to need you to follow me..."

-Huh? What's this about?- At first, I thought it was just a discrepancy in my ID not matching my appearance after it changed so much or the fact my scales were black, but my name was Whyte.

But eventually, I was led into a massive building that looked like an empty shop but was immediately led to a lower level.

As we walked down, things started making more sense. -These rats are everywhere...- Although I hadn't confirmed it, I came to the assumption that he just like the ancients in Akri, a dragon with the Holy Kingdom here to catch targets of interest, and he was leading me underground to 'deal with me'.

However, as we continued downward, there was a rhythmic vibration that steadily increased in strength as we descended until, eventually, the entire spiraling hallway shook. *thump* *thump* *thump* -What is that?-

Finally making it to the end of the path, we came up to a massive door with a scorching heat emitting from it, along with the noise of metal being hammered. -Where am I being brought?-

Finally stopping in front of it, the young ancient eventually knocked on the door with a bit of hesitancy. "Sir Atsáli, the man you told me to keep my eye out for is here."

The rhythmic vibrations finally stopped for a moment before an incredibly oppressive aura shot through the door and surrounded me. -Ah, shit...- Now wasn't the time.

Immediately bracing myself for a fight, I bent down and readied a bit of mana. -How am I going to do this without destroying a sector of the city above...-

But then the door finally swung open, revealing a colossal, 105-meter-tall ancient with dark maroon scales partially covered in soot, with a wide smile on his face. "The young master has finally arrived! You're even scarier than I was told!"

His voice was that of a jolly old man, but his aura was as lively as a childs. "W..who are you?"

He quickly motioned the knight back up the stairs before using a bit of water magic to clean off his scales. *tsssss* "My name is Vathýs Atsáli, the best smith in Bahamut, but also someone very close with your grandmother and indebted to your great-grandmother."

He quickly motioned me in to have a seat at a massive wooden table that looked to be carved from a single tree, but I was still hesitant.

"A couple years ago, your grandmother paid me a visit and said that you would eventually come here, and since you are a Ragnarok, I would have to be the one to make your medallion, so I had the knights keep an eye out for you and your furry friend." He glanced over at Ilios, who was sticking his head in the furnace, smelling around while he closed the door.

I couldn't deny that I was still a little on edge, but it had moreso turned to confusion at that point. "So the reason I was brought through that sketchy store and spiraling hallway was just so I could have my medallion made? I was expecting to have to fight some people..."

"Haha, you look disappointed." He finally made his way over to the table as well, before setting a barrel in front of me. *thunk* "Can this make up for it?"

It had an instantly recognizable aroma. -Piótita?!-

"Haha, glad to see you are familiar with it! If you had never had it, I would have needed to have a discussion with your grandmother."

I finally started easing up as I put the barrel in my mouth.

His smile widened after seeing my face of satisfaction. "Well, now that I have eased the tension a bit, let's get to the matters at hand; there are a few things I would like to discuss."

-----

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read up to 5 chapters ahead of schedule on My Patreon!

(In case Embedded Link doesn't work: https://www.patreon.com/TDOD )

-----

Also if you are looking for a new story, check out my new novel! The System's Harvester