Valerian, The Legendary

A whole night passed, but there was no enemy movement. Valerian had recovered and was sitting on a boulder watching the surroundings. The humans they defeated were all tied by vines. As long as they dared to struggle, Valerian would cast the paralysis spell on them. This was excruciating but they had no other options.

The huge dragon was enough to tame their defiant souls. The rebels were dealt with by Valerian. The young man gave them some free time to arrange for the funeral of their dead, and that was the only time they moved around.

As time passed, Valerian and Fortuna began to suspect things. The two of them stood around the vent hole they came out from and Valerian asked, “Do you sense something amiss in this situation?”

Fortuna nodded and said, “You are talking about something? I am sensing this entire setup is wrong.”

Valerian nodded, and said, “Do you want to go down and check if this is something operated from there? Maybe there is no second guy but the dragons who erected this barrier?”

Fortuna thought for a bit and nodded, she said, “What you say is possible, we can simply go back the way we came from. Why face an unknown enemy? That old man was enough trouble and this barrier is placed by someone else, which means this guy is even stronger.”

Valerian thought for a bit and nodded. He said, “Then you transform and stick with us.”

Fortuna nodded and turned back to her cat form, but this time, she was more like an adult white cat than a kitten. Valerian sighed and mumbled, “You looked very adorable earlier.”

.....

The cat looked at his face and said, “I decided that one of us needed to grow up. Now, call over your people, and we leave.”

Valerian was rendered speechless by this thing and could only nod. He called Priscilla over, and Mathiyus was sent back to the beast bag. Linea was ready to take the people when Valerian looked around at the Valkyrians and said, “Do you know what lies there?”

The people were hesitating when the old Shaman, who had woken up a few hours ago, said, “Yes, below lies a place that should not be visited by us humans. We do not dare go down there. The last time someone tried, a dragon flew out, and within one night, thousands of Valkyrians died. A whole town had turned to ashes. We do not wish to go there, foreigner.”

Valerian nodded and said, “Good choice, I hope you do not reveal about the silver dragon you saw just now. Or you will suffer a massacre again.”

Fortuna rolled her eyes at him, she wanted to say that the guardians cannot leave their posts, so you can go down if you wish to, but the nether bugs will kill them all and leave no bones.

...

Valerian and the rest of the people came out of the opening on the cliffside. Earlier when they reached the bottom of the vent, Linea was placed in the beast bag, while Mathiyus was allowed to roam around as a wisp of smoke.

They came out of the crack in the cliffside and suddenly, decided to scout this place to get an idea of what the Valkyria was like, was it a place filled with savages who indulged in all sorts of rowdy actions?

...

In the Lumen imperial palace, Fragrantia was reading reports with a cold face. Her gaze was simply radiating killing intent. The shadow guard kneeling in front of her was praying for her life very dearly. She did not expect the empress to react like this when she received the report. She could not back off from her duty as well.

Fragrantia raised her head and was about to say something when the door of her study was knocked, and the guard outside said, “Your Excellency, her highness is here to see you.”

The lady said, “Let her in.”

She then cast a gaze at the shadow guard and said, “You are grounded from any missions for a month, go spend this time in the ice cave and reflect on this matter.”

The guard shivered, but then she nodded and left the place. The door was opened and Azula walked inside, she asked, “What made you send a shadow guard to the ice cave.”

Fragrantia wanted to vent her anger and Azula just gave her a chance to rant, so she replied, “She could not keep up with Valerian.”

Azula gazed at her mother in confusion and asked, “Did you not send two shadow guards behind him?”

Fragrantia sighed and said, “I sent Priscilla to tend to him in open and this one to guard him against the shadows.”

Azula chuckled and said, “Is it really that big of a deal? He still has Priscilla beside him, and not many people in the Lumen Empire are a match for him. He might be young but do not forget that he is very wise as well. Do not get so worked up over such a thing.”

Fragrantia sighed heavily and said, “You think I would have been worried if he was inside the empire boundaries?”

Azula was surprised and asked, “Then where is he?”

“He invaded Stellan Empire, and tamed a thunder falcon, then he went in deeper. That was when the shadow guard lost his tracks, her flying beast could not keep up with him. Priscilla tried to argue with him, but this child. He managed to convince her otherwise. What do I do? What if something bad happened to him? What face will I have to meet his mother in the afterlife if anything happened?”

Azula was surprised, after all, she did not expect this guy to be so daring that he crossed borders. She asked, “Do you not have the communication artifact? Try to contact him with it.”

The empress placed her head on her arms as she lay on the table and said dejectedly, “It does not work. That is why I am even more worried. Azu, tell me what to do?”

Azula did not know what to say at this point. This was all so sudden for her to even wrap her head around. Fragrantia did not receive a reply and her gloom multiplied by ten times. She asked, “Forget it, I will think of something later. You came to find me in the study, is there something important?”

Azula suddenly recalled her intention of coming over and said, “I have confirmed intel. The Valkyrians are going to attack the Sapientia in the morning tomorrow.”

This news shocked Fragrantia, she did not expect it to be something like this and asked, “Can Sapientia defend?”

Azula nodded and said, “They can, but if the Centauri empire decided to take advantage of this chaos, then they will not hold for more than a week.”

Fragrantia nodded, then she turned her gaze at the map of the continent on her left and said, “This will be really troublesome, if the allies ask for help, send support, and prioritize saving lives and not taking lives. Also, have Ignis prepare, he will lead the support army with General Un.”

Azula nodded and said, “Father has given similar instructions. General Un is preparing the army as we speak, but I came here to see you for not military matters, but household ones. Your daughter-in-law is going crazy from all the stress on her mind at the moment. You should console her.”

Fragrantia nodded and said, “I must go to her right away, but too bad you deny getting married, you would have been a good homemaker.”

Azula rolled her eyes and said, “Mother, your sense of humor is too restricted at the moment.”

The empress did not defend herself, she was indeed a bit too worried at this moment, as if Valerian been missing was not enough stress, the news of war came. She said, “I wonder if I will go bald in this period of time. Why are people around me so worrying? Azula, you remind me that I have to spank that brat nicely upon his return.”

Azula shook her head and said, “I doubt that you will even pull his ears, let alone spank his butt. Come we have things to deal with.”

They have just reached the door of the study when the communication ball in Fragrantia’s magic pouch shook. She took it out and concentrated to connect with the other person. She said, “You brat, how dare you go to the Stellan empire without telling me about it?”

She paused for a bit and then screamed, “What did you say? Did you go to Valkyria? Valerian Verus, get your ass back here right now and see if I dare to put you inside a cage. Have you gone mad? I command you to come back.”

Valerian on the other side told her that he was in Valkyria and Fragrantia went mad with concern.