The Castle in the middle of nowhere.

I was whistling some merry melody while taking a shower. My initial calculations were wrecked a few hours ago and I couldn't help but smile with glee. The Cridians were much more full of themselves than I assumed possible and their forces were hastening towards Parnma. The night attacks masterfully conducted by my Shadow Wolves and Shadow Fenrirs left only crippling fear behind.

"You seemed to be happy, Theon." Amber entered the bathroom and after a brief shower, she went straight towards the bath.

"The Cridian Army is about to arrive in Parnma in a few hours." I sat in the hot water of our private hot spring. "I really do not want to miss their faces when they realise there is no one waiting for them."

She laughed as well and at the same moment, the doors opened, letting in Luna and Irene. Irene, who used an energy drink this morning because she had to wake up early for today's long and busy day, had discovered she didn't like coffee. Luna and Irene quickly took a shower and joined us as well.

"Today will be interesting for many reasons." I quickly focused because the presence of three extremely beautiful and naked women was very, very distracting. "We have two important meetings. One with the delegation from that mysterious village in the mountains and the second one will be more or less a war council. I can't decide if I should invite Ban, Knys and Sigismund to the first one and I like to hear your opinions, my Darlings."

"Hmmm... We don't know their intentions, right?" Irene lifted herself onto her elbows, rested on the edge of the bath, and sat in a more comfortable position. She glanced at me, and I nodded in confirmation. "In that case, I would at least want to have Ban and Drake around. From what I heard from Galahad, they are quite formidable warriors now."

"I am okay with anything you decide, Darling." Luna shrugged and outstretched herself with a moan of pleasure. "I love morning hot baths... *yawn* Anyway, the throne room will be closely watched by the Slimes and our best agents, so I don't believe they could do anything."

"I think you should invite everyone, Theon." Amber's emerald-green eyes shined as she smiled. "In case they came here as our enemies, we could easily kill them, but we should capture them and interrogate them instead. I believe the presence of so many formidable warriors would help us in such an endeavour. But if they come as a neutral party or they truly seek our help, the presence of the people considered as your advisors would be beneficial."

Irene and Luna nodded after a moment and voiced their agreement with Amber's opinion. With this decision made, we had to start our preparations. After breakfast, my Queens went to the wardrobe to decide what to wear while I reviewed the reports about the city’s war preparations. I sent the notices to everyone assigned to the meetings so they could prepare. After that, with great pleasure while reading the reports, I noticed that my wives had taken care of everything and Avalon was as prepared for a long war as was possible. I changed my clothes and put on the royal mantle made, of course, by Wendy. After a long while, my Queens, wearing their royal mantles, were ready as well.

•••

The throne room of Avalon was a very impressive place that imposed its greatness on anyone entering it. The four majestic thrones stood on a platform to which led to ten steps made of white marble inlaid with gold, sapphire, emerald, ruby and diamond veins. On the same platform was placed a less ornate throne, for the time when one of the Eternals wanted to participate in the audience. In this case, it was empty because Hestia felt weak after she used so much of her powers yesterday. The large and slender columns held the richly ornamented ceiling with intricately detailed paintings showing the important events in Avalon's history. The brightly lit room simply screamed to anyone entering it that they stand in front of great or at least extremely wealthy Royalty. Below us, on the special armchairs that normally could be described as smaller thrones, were sitting my unofficial advisors. Ban and Drake were sitting next to Lanka and Gloria on the left side while on the right side, Knys and Idna, who represented the Guild, were sitting next to Sigismund and Ragnar. The large double doors opened, letting in the delegation.

"The delegation of Foggy Valley!" Sebastian proclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the chamber.

Six people walked in without any hesitation or signs that the lavish interior made any impression on them. The men wore simple but elegant robes while the women wore beautiful red and black, surprisingly well-made dresses, clearly above the skill and technology levels usually available to the outsiders. The women's jewellery was well done as well, yet both their jewellery and attires paled in comparison to ours. I saw the shock painted on their faces when they walked by the rows of my Praetorians, but when they stopped in front of the stairs, they regained neutral expressions.

"Interesting. They can't be normally appraised or identified. I could use my Sage skills, but in that case, they are going to notice that," Luna turned her head towards me and whispered.

"Thank you, Luna. Let's see what they want."

The old man stepped in front of the Beastmen delegation and bowed towards me with respect, and right after, the rest of the delegation followed. He straightened himself and looked straight into my eyes.

"My name is Viccar Sar from the Foggy Valley and I am one of the village elders. We asked to visit your City, but we never expected to be allowed before the King of this Castle, a person so powerful that the entire dungeon does his biddings."

"I am Theon Avalon. Welcome to Avalon, Sir Viccar Sar of Foggy Valley." I bowed my head slightly, accepting his introduction. "We rarely ever have visitors and when I was informed your delegation seeks the help of Avalon, I was more than happy to hear from you myself."

"Thank you, King Theon. Forgive my rudeness and straightforwardness but I must ask you, what do you plan to do with the Dragon Gate?" The sound of my Praetorians lifting their weapons in unison and pointing their halberds with a thump of taken combat stance at the delegation was menacing.

"Oh..." I lifted my hand to stop everyone, and I explained slowly. "The Dragon Gate is safe and secured. Its mana flow, so crucial for the existence of this world, is slowly being restored. It was captured by my legion and the Devilkin army that tried to seal it was routed. Except for a few captured individuals, no one survived. Ever since, the Dragon Gate has been safe." My expression changed, and I coldly looked at the people before me. "Would you like to join the fallen, or the captured?"

The elder laughed and shook his head in denial. He bowed deeply to me.

"If you were able to not only drive the Devilkin away but actually utterly destroy them, you are not our enemy. Even the exploited Devilkins are not our enemies." He raised his head and realised that I was still tasking him with a cold gaze, as if I was looking at some insect, so he quickly tried to defuse the situation. "We are not a threat to you!"

"Indeed, you are not. If you tried to attack the Devilkin army and failed, then you truly never pose any threat." I saw that my statement made them nervous.

"The Incubus, leader of that army, and his sister killed many of our warriors," one of the women spoke defiantly. She looked young and delicate, but I saw small bruises and marks on her body that you would expect on a warrior.

"He was ruthless, but ultimately a foolish man. I killed him personally." My soldiers were still aiming their weapons at the delegation. "The existence of the Dragon Gate, or even its name, isn’t common knowledge among the people. Yet, you not only knew about them, but knew about the Devilkin army that protected it." I was not expecting this. I thought they wanted to ask for food or some high-quality goods. My anger started boiling. "You came to my home and took advantage of my hospitality, but not only did you keep your identity a secret, but you are now insulting me with your arrogance. After mentioning something so secret and important like the Dragon Gate, do you think I will simply let it slide or let you go because you assured me you are not a threat? Just who do you think you are?"

The Elder was reevaluating his decisions as the rest of the males tried to find a way out of the conversation, but the women who had spoken previously stepped forward. She was a young woman, tall and could even be considered beautiful. Her blonde hair reached her shoulders and just now I noticed she was wearing a thin and delicate silver tiara on top of her head. I expected a grand reveal at this point, that she was some kind of princess or something. A situation like that in books or anime often worked as some redeeming factor, but I was a bit more than just angry about their attitude.

"My name is Princess Aoi Sora Skadi Ivrill of the Fogg Valley, the daughter of the Sky. We are not your enemy, The Righteous Dungeon!" She introduced herself as if that explained everything, but she was addressing the air with her hand on her heart. I just sighed and stood up from my throne.

"My name is King Theon Avalon, The Righteous Dungeon, The Champion of Eriar, The Chosen of Archangel, The Bringer of Equilibrium, The Friend of Eternals. Princess Aoi Sora Skadi Ivrill, I am the one to judge who is my enemy." The array of swords manifested behind me in even rows, while a menacing aura filled the air, making the delegation scared for the first time. "For the time being, I can agree with your statement that you are not my enemies. Yet, you still haven't explained who you are."

I sensed their mixed feelings, so I decided to display some of my might. The distress when I ignored the name their princess used was very quickly replaced by the shock at the number of my titles. I approached them slowly, with each step echoing like a rumble of thunder in my throne room, but they all kept quiet. Their bold attitude melted away as they realised they were not only outnumbered, but judging by the panic in their eyes, also out-leveled. I picked one of the swords, a plain-looking longsword, and aimed at the Princess. The Princess paled and stepped back seeing my serious face, yet she stubbornly wasn't explaining anything. I gave her a few moments more, but she just stared at me in silence.

"So be it." On the tip of my blade formed a magic circle, brimming with power, and magical particles sizzled menacingly in the air.

"Stop!" an unexpected and familiar voice called to us.

A strong gust of wind formed a tornado inside my throne room for a brief moment and from inside of it stepped out Zephyr. I looked at him and raised my brow, but the wide smile and excitement on the face of the Princess surprised me a bit. However, she quickly returned to her previous shock when the only people kneeling before the God of Wind were the members of her delegation, along with three people from my council.

"King Theon, please forgive the audacity of my..." Zephyr hesitated for a moment and sighed. "Followers."

"Mhm..." Now it was my turn to sigh heavily.

I put away the sword, dissipating the magic circle, and turned away to sit back on my throne. Only then did I see the tension painted on the faces of my Queens. They were on high alert, and I felt the power of various artefacts and combat gear ready to use. Amber and Irene also focused only on Princess Aoi, ignoring the rest of her party. Zephyr put his hand on the top of the head of the Princess and forced her to bow.

"Aoi is very sorry for the misunderstanding her subordinate caused. What's more, she is deeply sorry for being so rude and disrespectful." Zephyr bowed his head as well, making me curious. Why? He was always a free spirit, but I was not expecting him to vouch for such shady people. "Am I right, Princess Aoi?!"

"Yes..." the young woman confirmed in shock.

"So... Are you going to explain yourself properly or should the effort Lord Zephyr put in to temporarily save your lives be wasted?" I turned towards the Princess and Zephyr, who looked back at me with determination.

"Allow me to explain instead." Zephyr straightened himself but left the princess bowing. I pointed towards the smaller throne, prepared just for occasions like this one, and nodded in agreement. "Where should I start?" Zephyr asked.

"The beginning would be probably the best place to start. But make it as brief as possible. We have a war to wage. Wars left unattended tend to go in favour of one's enemies." I threw out sarcastically, making Luna and my military advisors chuckle. "You can start with why she titled herself a Princess."

"All right." Zephyr nodded, but he stayed near the prostrated princess, putting on a very serious expression on his face. "Her title is not connected with the lands her family possesses or the influence her family once had. She is the inheritor of the first family and the ruler of the entire race. She is the great-great-granddaughter of the Grand Fire Dragon, Grandine Skash'a Lat-una Ignis..." Zephyr looked deep into my eyes and added without hesitation. "...and mine."

I was speechless. Bards... I looked around and it seemed that everyone just accepted that as something normal. Fortunately, Zephyr gave me time to process the bomb he dropped on me. I slowly covered my eyes and shook my head slowly with resignation.

"You seduced the Dragon?" I asked slowly, focusing desperately on Zephyr before my mind started picturing that.

"Well... You can say that one time, the effort was mutual..." Zephyr smiled, recalling his memories while he softly patted the head of the Princess. "She is the last of the line. My only true family, King Theon. The princess of Dragonkins, Aoi Sora Skadi Ignis. Please take good care of her."

Before I realised the full implication of what Zephyr just told me, my Queens started discussing something behind my back.

"Oh, I think we can take very good care of her. Maybe you should even consider changing her status to just show that insolent man so he knows his place..." Amber whispered to me.

But before I could even start to consider what she was suggesting or even understand what was going on, the kneeling elder turned towards Zephyr and I could hear the contempt in his voice.

"Master Zephyr! How can you ask a human..." The elder tried to protest, but a single glance from Zephyr crushed him flat on the surface.

"Silence, Viccar. Don't make me regret saving your worthless life. I asked the elder Loriana to safely bring my descendant to Avalon, where she would be finally safe! But you, in your arrogance, not only disobeyed my orders and used your influence to go yourself, but you almost got my precious granddaughter killed!" Zephyr turned around towards the elder with pure wrath in his voice. The Princess was trembling in fear and I realised she and others were almost killed because of the actions of one man. I felt pity for her, yet this time I trusted Zephyr to handle this. "You are not only stupid, Viccar, but also deaf and senile!"

"But your Godlihood!" The pressure put on the old man already made him lose his colours.

"If not for Goddess Hestia, I would have never made it in time and saved the life of Aoi, Viccar!" Zephyr sighed heavily and lessened the crushing force that almost killed the old Dragonkin. "King Theon Avalon is not a Human, you old fool! Hasn't he introduced himself already, you idiot?"

"I..."

"You haven't listened! You never listen! That's why I asked the elder Loriana to accompany Aoi. King Theon is the one who set me free, Viccar. He is not a mere Human, but even if he would have been, you are not the one to even speak up. You overstepped and overused your authority for the last time. Hereby I strip you of your position as the Elder!" He left the trembling Viccar behind and faced me, still angry, but when he spoke, his voice was full of concern. "Please, King Theon, do not count the acts of one fool as the fault of many. I will take full responsibility for his actions."

"I can forget this whole incident, Lord Zephyr." I looked deep inside the eyes of Zephyr until I was sure he smiled and realised that I slightly changed my opinion about him before turning towards the princess who straightened near Zephyr. "Princess Aoi Sora Skadi Ignis, tell me just how many of your people know about the Dragon Gate? I can't risk the spread of any news about it right now."

"Only the village Elders and I… and now my companions," she responded timidly, utterly confused by the turn of events. "It's one of the most closely kept secrets, King Theon."

"Very well. Please, take a seat, Princess. Could you tell us the real reason you came to Avalon? Was it only the wish of Zephyr?" I asked, knowing fully well that time was running out and I wasted it on nonsense. However, I also knew these people might be very powerful allies if they still had connections to the Dragons.

"No. Our Village is on the brink of disaster. The neighbourhood dungeon has found the Village location and my entire race is on the brink of destruction. I am afraid that I might be too late..." Zephyr's eyes widened and looked at his granddaughter with a terrified face.