Mage And Wolf
Chapter 141

Chapter 141: Chapter 141

Our entrance is perfectly timed. The halls are clear to the ballroom, and there is nobody in line to enter when we arrive. The disciple in charge of announcing guests freezes when we appear, gaping open mouthed until Karl pokes him.

"Announcing Lord Karl of Arcana and The Young Miss" he stammers out and the room goes deathly silent as everyone stares at us. The trance is broken when a wine goblet falls from one of the Dragonkin Sect Master’s hands, clattering to the floor as he stands frozen.

"You two look amazing, like proper Royalty" Sect Master Qin greets us with a smile.

"That’s because they are" The Dragonkin Sect Master corrects him.

"Sect Master Kel’Dahn of the Bronze Claw Sect" he introduces himself "I wasn’t aware that any High Priests remained in this world. We haven’t seen one in well over a thousand years. I would know, I’m the oldest living Dragonkin left."

"We actually came here from another world through a portal Sect Master" I greet him with a polite dip of my head. "The memo said dress fit for court, and formal robes were all we had available" He’ll never know I’m stretching the truth, we could very well have made something else suitable.

"Care to explain?" Sect Master Qin asks the big Dragonkin.

"High Priests and High Priestesses are the non hereditary royalty of the Drakor Empire. Whoever most pleases our Gods are granted the honor." he explains.

"Your Gods. You mean the Ancient Dragon Gods? As in the actual divine beings?" Sect Master Qin asks him but stares at us in shock.

"One and the same. Might I ask, whose favor did you gain?"

I hold up the black Jade necklace, carved into the shape of a Dragon and smile with a finger to my lips. His gaze turns to Karl who shifts his collar to show the edge of his mark.

"How could I have missed that?" Kel’Dahn sighs. "I clearly saw your mark yesterday and today Highness, but I never thought about what it meant."

"It surprises everyone Sect Master. Just kindly don’t make a big deal out of it, we prefer our seclusion."

"As you wish, Highness. Enjoy the festivities."

Sect Master Qin is struggling for words, unsure how to face us now. "You know, I was there. Millenia ago, when the last of the Dragon Gods followers were driven from this world, I was there. I’d blocked the entire war from my mind with a spell, but it’s all coming back now that you’re here, wearing that."

"At the Cathedral battle in these mountains?" I ask delicately and he nods.

"The final battle was intense, those few of us who survived fled and swore never to speak of that cursed place again. We burned it from our minds. Life and Death blended there, their dead rose again and again, not as undead but returned to life in children’s bodies and raised to adulthood in an instant with magic."

Goddess, that’s what they resorted to in order to survive? I should warn Kal’Elouet about those eggs. Oh, Karl is already on it, his eyes are glazed.

"Do you know what the purification of bloodlines was? It’s important we know" I whisper to him.

"They enchanted the Dragonkin then we killed them in battle. Each time they rose, they were more Dragon than before until we faced only pure blooded Dragons."

That’s a bit horrific. Fighting a battle that doesn’t even end with death. I’ll keep it in mind for emergencies.

"In the end, only the City of Drakor which remained neutral during the final battle, in objection to that technique, remained of the Dragonkin. All other trace was eliminated. Then the city of Drakor lost all favor, I am told they’ve only had a few full Priests of the Green every generation and no High Priestess since the war. They don’t even enjoy as long of lives as they used to without cultivation"

"But now, at least one of their Sect Masters knows we’re here. I guess we’ll have to go visit them sooner rather than later. I didn’t know this planets history. What even started such a war?"

Sect Master Qin sighs "Greed, plain and simple. Everyone wanted what the Dragons had, and they were willing to kill them all to get it. The secret to Immortality in the Mortal Realms."

A secret that we now have, it’s in the texts we recovered from the table where we found the eggs.

"Rest assured, the secret died with them. None of this world will know it again, we will make sure." Karl tells him. "Now, let’s enjoy this party.

Every Sect Master is looking for a dance, from elegant flowing traditional dances of this world I try to learn on the fly, with minimal success to more swinging numbers akin to salsa dancing that make me very glad my outfit is enchanted to stay in place.

Even Karl is in on the festivities, teaching a collection of Earth’s dances to the female Inner Sect disciples.

Being as gender imbalanced as this world is, the dance partners can be anyone. The rule seems to be whoever is taller leads. Which pretty much rules out me leading. But on the bright side, magical floating shoes never actually step in anyone’s toes, even if I mess up the dance.

Karl found through trial and error that if you mix Elven Wine with fizzy drinks it gets humans not just drunk, but high to a state of Euphoria. So he’s been mixing Elven Wine Spitzers all night for the assembled Sect Masters, and any inner Sect disciple brave enough to ask, all of which are in a spectacular mood right now.

The Imperial theme party was a great idea. Most of the time bland robes are the order of the day inside a Sect, but today there’s bright colors, rarely worn jewelry and everyone has made their best effort to look the part. I wonder if we could introduce something like this to Arcana. Maybe as a spring holiday party? Or a new tradition for Thanksgiving.

The fancy snacks I prepared before dinner are long gone, as are most of the Sect’s collection of beer nuts. And beer. There’s a very good chance that not many of us will remember tonight by the time everyone leaves tomorrow.

"We should retire for the evening" I whisper to Karl and her nods agreement, making polite excuses as we say our goodbyes and head to our room.

Just in time too, the urgency of the heat is starting to return. One more night should solve it entirely, Karl’s stamina magic and cultivation techniques are no joke.

That’s when it hits me, he has a summoning spell, I could have made the pills! Forget it, this way is more fun anyhow.