Chapter 41: A Deep Discomfort

Mid Morning - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

*hmmmmmmm*

As we descended, no one spoke and we were left with only the hum of the artifact below us as company.

Although it was quite a nice hum, the lack of conversation made my mind wander. -It really seems like Helen is the one who runs the relationship.. doesn't it..-

Although Oliver was the king, I couldn't help but notice Helen was always the one walking in front and taking the lead with things. -Maybe it's just my imagination..-

Pulling me out of my thoughts, I could finally sense an opening below us. -Man.. this is like 200 meters down… How did they even manage to dig this?-

I found it hard to believe that they could dig out a room with a tall enough ceiling that a dragon could stand in, let alone one that was this far under the ground.

-Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough..- Needless to say, my expectations were quite low.

Finally making it to the bottom, a faint glow flowed into the elevator shaft through a decently sized door.

-It's about time we made it to the.. bo..ttom..- My thoughts slowed down as we finally got to the bottom and looked into the room.

As Helen walked out, she wore an unusually confident smile. "It took our small group of mages nearly 8 years just to dig all of this, I hope you will be able to use this space to relax some."

It was an absolutely colossal room with an 80 meter ceiling and openings to 3 other similarly sized areas.

The area to the right had a small cottage-like house and a large stone shelter of some kind and the one directly ahead of us was something resembling a bedroom with 4 massive cushions, each easily big enough for me to lay on in my dragon form.

But the area that caught my eye the most was the one to the left, it was a hot spring! It was quite deep as well, being deep enough for me to submerge myself with plenty of room to spare.

Outside of the pool, the ceiling of that room had a ring of white lights and ice artifacts that would cause the steam from the spring to condensate and fall back into the pool. -So those artifacts keep the air outside of the spring cool and keeps the moisture in.. how smart..-

As I was thinking to myself, Ilios walked out behind Helen and Oliver and quickly transformed to his normal size.

Everyone's eyes immediately went wide seeing his size change.

"Oh.. why did I even think he would be a normal wolf.." Both Helen and Oliver were taken slightly aback.

Not paying mind to them, I turned to Father. "Well, you first I guess." I figured it would be better to let Lucy have her moment before I changed forms.

And my decision was a good one, Lucy's eyes lit up as soon as I spoke.

Not taking any extra time, Father walked out and quickly changed into his majestic dragon form.

"Wooooowwwww.." Lucy had eyes of admiration and wore an ecstatic smile even though she started breaking out into a cold sweat.

"You got bigger.. didn't you.." Oliver sounded a little dejected,

"Well of course I did!" Father puffed up his chest and posed a bit as Lucy looked on in awe.

"So how old are you now? Would it be 164?"

"A nice and youthful 163 years old!" Father proceeded to give a youthful and out of place smile.

Although it both looked and sounded weird, I couldn't help but understand why he felt that way. -I guess it's fair to say he's still young for a long living dragon..-

As my eyes drifted away from Father, I saw Helen staring at me.

"And now the youngest~" Her smile seemed innocent but something still felt off.

Trying not to think too much about it, I stepped out of the elevator and transformed back to my dragon form.

As I did, I sat down and unknowingly let go of my control on my aura.

Once the light cleared everyone's eyes were locked on me.

They were all caught in a trance with the exception of Helen.

Unlike the blank face of everyone else, Helens eyes were filled with a bottomless confidence and she wore a sly smile with flushed cheeks.

It was a look that both made me confused and extremely uncomfortable, but I was too busy trying to control my aura to worry about it just yet.

Nearly instantly, I created bubbles around everyone and isolated them from my aura again. "Sorry everyone, I lost control of my aura.." Trying to break everyone out of their trances, I lightly shook the ground with magic.

Almost immediately, everyone flinched and zoned out for a moment, with the exception of Helen of course.

Her look didn't change much at all, she just gave me an out of place proud smile. "No no, it's fine to release your aura down here. That's what this place was made for so please feel free to relax and do as you please~"

It felt as if she was an entirely different person from the person at the meeting, from the way she talked to the way she held her head, yet I couldn't help but feel it was a tad familiar.

Before I could think much about it though, the others finally came back to their senses.

"Huh.. why wa- Ahh right… Sorry if my staring made you uncomfortable, Vasilias.." Oliver quickly apologized after finally sorting his thoughts.

"Haha.. it's alright.. I'm starting to get used to it.." I gave an awkward laugh to try and lighten the atmosphere, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Your son is quite the charmer isn't he?" Sarah was quick to try and help lighten the atmosphere as well.

Father took her seriously though. "It's something with his aura, it happens with Ilios too so we've just assumed it had something to do with Ancient Fenrir."

A joking smile crept onto her face as she looked Father in the eye. "That's cool and all, but does he have any women yet?"

As Father got ready to smack Sarah, Helens face paled and shifted to the blank stare everyone else wore earlier.

-What the..-

- Michael Cotorel ~

*Yawn*

I woke up extra early to give myself more time to prepare for the meeting. -But I ended up waking up a bit too early..-

As I looked towards the rising sun, I took a sip of a warmed cup of tea. -Maybe I should go by the market… Maybe I can catch up with 'him' some..-

After thinking a bit more, I finished off my tea and walked back into my room to get ready.

Once I finished, I didn't waste any time making my way to the slums.

-What a nostalgic place..- As I walked into a rundown bar, my nose was assaulted by the smell of alcohol and my mind was filled with old memories.

"I don't see many new faces around here.." The barkeep gave me a threatening look.

But my smile remained unchanged. "Well that's a shame, this is a great bar. Can I get 6 beer and 4 shots on the house?"

The man's face quickly eased up as he waved me to the back. "To think there would be a VIP I didn't know."

"Well, the world is always full of mysteries." As we walked into the back, the barkeep lifted up a trapdoor that revealed a stairwell.

"Please have a good day, sir." He bowed his head as I walked by.

Giving the man a small nod, I started making my way down the path. -Haah.. it's been a while... The last time I came here, I was barely S rank.-

Walking down the dirty staircase, I came into a large and open plaza-like room with stalls around the wooden pillars and beams that supported the dirt ceiling. The market was deep enough underground that the dirt ceiling was compact like sandstone, but it still required immense amounts of support.

-To think it hasn't changed over the years..- As I walked around, I found a stall with a small orange cloth on it. "Do you know where Udalls stall is?"

The large demihuman man behind the stall gave me a forced but friendly smile and pointed down the street. "He is 9 stands down that way."

"Thanks a bunch." Casually flicking the man a gold coin, I turned to head down the street. -If I dont give these greedy rats some money they'll just give me more trouble..-

The man's smile quickly became more genuine. "Thanks for business sir, if you come again I'll give ya a discount."

With a light wave, I continued down the row of stalls.

It only took a minute for me to come up to one of the only buildings in the entire market. -So he upscaled a bit, huh..-

Walking into the building I could hear the clanging of metal and the sizzle of boiling water.

"Who is it now.." A raspy deep voice came from the back of the building.

"It's been a while, Udall!"

An extremely muscular elven man pushed aside the curtains to the back and walked up to me with a refreshing smile. "Michael! It really has been a while!"

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

Because of a mix of my professors packing a mountain of work into the week before finals and the unfortunate loss of a relative, I will not be uploading another chapter this week.

I will be back either Monday or Tuesday hopefully, and nothing will change beyond that. This 'break' isn't major and was just unfortunate timing of things.

In any case, I hope everyone is doing well and hope you have a good week!

Chapter end