When they were alone, Catalie wondered and asked Don why is he training her this much but Don didn't give her an answer however he had his own reasons.
"Cat how are all these elves doing? Any progress on their magic levels?" Don asked Catalie standing on the stage while watching the elves' training.
"There are some elves who broke through to Apprentice level and oh Arwen is on the threshold to reach peak Apprentice level thanks to the magic stones you gave" Catalie said enthusiastically.
In this world, magic stones were used to speed up the cultivation of magic. When the magic energy would condense in some random places called repositories, then it would be mined using various methods to get the magic stones, the repositories were very scarce in the empire because of that they were extremely valuable, usually the kingdom which had a repository could become a superpower in every aspect compared to those who hadn't.
Thankfully the Dragon King left him a huge amount of stones which he called 'some' helped some elves he trusted to level up quickly.
"Arrora" Don called the half-elf training a few meters away from him, she was sweating as her white dress almost drenched in sweat, Don could see she was exhausted doing all the physical exercises he taught her yet Arrora never showed her tiredness or exhaustion before him while she was walking towards him.
"Take a day off"
"No I'm fine I can train more" Arrora's voice had a tinge of anxiousness to it because she thought Don was disappointed in her battle with Ronan but Don stopped her from talking further.
"You'll start your next phase of training from tomorrow you need your strength, take a rest" Catalie was shocked to hear instead of Arrora, the little girl had seen the torturous beating the half-elf got from Don in the name of training every day for past few months, but now he said he's going to take the training to next level and she wondered how brutal it's gonna be.
Arrora knew she couldn't say anymore when she saw the resolve in his eyes so she just nodded and wiped away the sweat with her hands.
"And unless you want to question your enemy, you should always go for the kill asap" Don gave her a piece of advice before leaving the training hall which made her realize that she should have killed Ronan quickly, she guessed from Don's tone he already knew that she had prolonged the fight to test her skills which given him the chance to use the red pill that nearly killed her.
Seeing his figure fading away Arrora breathed a sigh and prepared herself to face another h.e.l.lish training from to tomorrow and made her way towards her room to get one last good night's sleep.
The morning time in Dragon King's castle was as beautiful as G.o.d's land as the chirping of the birds as well as the colorful wildflowers on the emerald green gra.s.sland; it was simply a breathtaking view.
"Cat did you know anything about Dragon King's people?" Don was taking a morning stroll on his lands along with Knight and Catalie while the elves were training and cultivating.
"No, but I remember him mentioning a guardian or something" Catalie answered after pondering her mind for an answer.
"Alright Catalie gather everyone at the throne room in a moment and ask Uncle Dior to meet me here now"
"As you wish brother" as she said her projection disappeared in a flash leaving Knight and Don alone.
"You are planning to return to the outer lands, aren't you?" Knight asked.
"There's nothing to do here except watching the elves training"
"You're wrong my friend, we need to expand our small army, build some weapons like in Divine Continent, and h.e.l.l we need some people to do farming or whatever the c.r.a.p they do to produce some food, we can live without food but others can't " Knight explained while looking at the vast empty fertile land before him.
"You think I'm planning to flirt with some girl in the outer lands?" Don seriously said but Knight felt the little bit of ridicule in his voice.
"Nah you just can't, not with that stone face of yours" Knight chuckled happily thinking about his reply.
"Only fools would chase beauties Knight, real men chase power with power you can buy the beauties"
"Glad we're on the same side" Knight laughed proudly when he heard Don and patted his back with his wings.
After a few moments of discussion between Don and Knight, Uncle Dior came with Catalie to meet Don. Uncle Dior saw Don and Knight's back as they were looking at the green land before them.
"Don Knight" Uncle Dior slightly lowered his head to show respect to the ruler of this land as well as his trusty sidekick.
Don and Knight stopped talking and turned to look at Uncle Dior when they heard him.
Knight could see Uncle Dior gained some weight and looked happy compared to the time he first met him and he was happy to see the att.i.tude of this half-elf had changed towards them.
"Uncle Dior, what do you know about Dragon King's people?"
Uncle Dior was surprised to hear such a question
"You mean the dwarves?" as he said Don saw a slight enmity appeared in his eyes when he mentioned 'Dwarves'
"Yes"
At that moment Arrora walked towards them looking for Don but when she saw he was talking to Uncle Dior she just stood away from them before Don nodded towards her to come to join with them.
"Those grumpy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, why are you asking about them?" Uncle Dior seemed to be very irritated and upset.
"You know why" Don didn't seem to care about anything as he simply said.
Uncle Dior was not ignorant, of course he knew why. He heard that Dragon King asked Don to help his people, the dwarves and it seems Don decided to do just that. Seeing Don Uncle Dior realized he has to tell him about those grumpy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, there was no way to back off from this.
Uncle Dior heavily sighed and began to talk
"During my travels, I heard those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were hiding in the Barren Hills"
But before Don could say anything Uncle Dior asked the question that bothers him even though he guessed the answer.
"But you're not planning to bring them here right?"
The answer he received from Don made him very uncomfortable.
"Yes"
"Why? you can't trust those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds they are dumb as h.e.l.l, hotheaded, smelly and I could think of a hundred reasons like this"
While Uncle Dior cursing and disagreeing with him, Don noticed that Arrora seems like she wanted to tell something but she hadn't the courage to interfere.
"Arrora if you have something to say, say it '' Don ordered Arrora, she was startled a bit but she chose to share her opinions with the group as he said.
"I don't know why Uncle Dior hate the dwarves but" before Arrora could finish Uncle Dior intercepted her
"But what?" however he gulped his words when he saw Don raised his hands to stop him from saying anything else.
"They are also very skilled in building things and crafting not to mention their battle prowess"
Hearing Arrora's claims Uncle Dior couldn't disagree with her because the things she said were all true about those grumpy b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.
"It's settled then you'll show us the way to his Barren Hills" Knight said and ended the discussion.
Uncle Dior sighed and started to walk away before he asked one last question
"What if they don't want to come?" Arrora looked at Don to see his answer for this question as Don calmly said.
"I don't think they are in the position to refuse any help"
After that Uncle Dior said nothing as made his way to the castle,
"Arrora take this" Don flicked his wrist and a blue color potion and a scroll appeared in his hands from his s.p.a.ce ring, they floated towards Arrora while she looked at them without touching them.
"Drink two drops in the morning and evening, train as stated by the scroll while I'm away"
"Ok" Arrora said as she grabbed the potion and the scroll.
"Let's go meet with the others"
In the throne room, everyone including Benedict and Arya was waiting for Don and murmuring among them as Don entered the throne room.
The elves training under him slightly bowed in respect and fear when they saw him walking towards his throne while other elves stopped their murmuring and stared at him and Knight.
Even though the throne room had decorated seats for the king's minister's Arwen, Amaryll or anyone didn't sit on it as they just stood before Don looking up at him on the throne in the huge hall.
"I will be gone for a time to bring the dwarves in the Barren Hills here" as he said the crowd started to murmur again in shock and shook their heads a bit to show their disagreement.
However, the elves he was training particularly seemed a little happy and relaxed when he said that he will be gone.
"Well, the elves look like they really started to think this as their home" Knight sent a telepathic message to Don when he saw the elves.
Arwen could see that Don had already made his decision so he knew there's nothing to say as he just stood there in silence without showing any disagreement with the plan.
Don didn't care about the chattering elves because he already made plans for the dwarves.
"Arwen pick a team and scout the area around the castle, Amaryll record everything Arwen finds while I'm away" when Arwen and Amaryll heard his orders they came forward and bowed slightly to acknowledge his orders.
Don nodded and continued
"Catalie will help you if you face any dangers"
And Don turned his gaze towards Arya and Benedict who were waiting for their orders
"Here it will occupy you for a time" Don's s.p.a.ce ring shined as a dark purple stone emerged from the ring and floated towards Arya and Benedict.
"What is this?" Benedict asked in confusion when he saw the purple fist-sized stone before him.
"This contains pure battle energy" at the moment he said that Benedict grabbed the stone and held it against his chest with stars coming out of his eyes in excitement.
"Teacher" Arya elbowed Benedict and hissed at him to bring him back from the excitement.
"Ah thank you" Benedict said looking at Don but his eyes were still shining with antic.i.p.ation.
Don again nodded and looked at Gael
"Gael, I leave the training in your hands, I want the training to continue as always while I'm away" Don ordered Gael as the faces of the trainees showed a heavy disappointment when they heard him.
Gael stepped forward and bowed his head
"You can trust me, my lord"
"That's all" Don dismissed everyone and called Catalie through his Khal.
After a few seconds, Catalie's projection formed before him
"Cat look after everything while I'm away and be ready to activate the teleportation array at any time" Don said to the smiling little girl as she enthusiastically nodded her head.
"Don't worry brother leave everything to Catalie" she referred herself in the third person and made a cute punching action.
"Let's go Don it's time I had some action"
