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Late Evening - Mid Winter : Eikasía | Eastern Bahamut

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"Mhhh..." Letting out a groan as she angrily tore a chunk of meat off the side of a huge tuna-like fish, Krystallo's eyes never once focused on anything.

Ever since her loss, she had been completely trapped in her own thoughts, only ever snapping out of it to order some food and a drink.

At first, it made Hera and I a bit worried, wondering if she was taking the loss a bit too harshly, and dwelling on it, but after asking and getting a few haphazard responses, she seemed to more-so be reanalyzing her thought process and decision-making during the fight in an attempt to learn from it.

That alone was something that was quite pleasing to see, since she was trying to learn how to teach herself and not lean so much others.

But it wasn't like she was going to handicap herself by never asking us anything.

"What would you two say is my biggest weakness right now?"

""Experience."" Hera and I responded in unison.

But it just made Krystallo hang her head and relax her wings.

Clearly, it wasn't what she wanted to hear. -But unfortunately, there's just no way around it...- "You struggle quite a bit with reading your opponent, and that can only really get better with time and practice."

Instantly lighting back up, her gaze snapped to me. "What do you mean?"

"I mean there are times you're too confident going into an engagement and when your opponent does something you don't expect, rather than reacting to it, you get flustered and it trips you up."

Her expression instantly turned dumbfounded. "Really?" Lowering her gaze and falling into thought again, her eyes went wide. "You're totally right... What the hell..?"

I was quick to nod as I thought back on the two fights she had lost. "Your biggest issue is simply learning to react, and generally stay calm and level-headed so you can adapt to the situation. The problem with that is you can't learn that through anything but experience."

"Hm..." Idly taking another large bite out of the side of the fish, she took a moment to think. "Then do you think I should ask people to spar in the training area?"

But Hera immediately shook her head. "For this tournament, people are likely conserving their energy, so no one would accept a spar.

However," Straightening up she pulled the small festival flier out from under her wing and handed it to Krystallo.

"On the other side of the city, there is a noble family doing free lessons where you can be taught by a knight for a day.

If you'd like, I'm sure they'd be willing to spar and give you some guidance. "

"Huh? Why does it have to be some random knight? Can't you two spar with me?"

"Nope." I instantly shut her down. "You need to learn how to face the unknown, and as much as Hera and I could simulate that, nothing will beat a spar where you have a chance to win.

" -If she spars me, she will subconsciously hold back because she'll know she can't win.

..- But if she sparred with some random knight, she may be more keen on pushing her limits.

And so, after a bit more discussion, Hera and I managed to convince her to give it a try, and flew all the way to the outskirts of the city where an old noble family's plantation and brewery were.

The Elafos family.

Dating all the way back to when Bahamut was in his prime as Monarch, they were an incredibly influential family of dragons, even today.

But rather than it being because they were deeply woven into politics, it was because they brewed and sold alcohol.

More specifically, they sold comparably vast quantities of Piotita, among other favorites within the draconic race.

However, when Hera told me that and saw my eyes gleam, she instantly shut down what I was thinking.

"Unfortunately, the Elafos family isn't the one brewing Piotita, I'm still not sure who is, they are just a distributor.

" Noticing my sudden disappointment, she nodded in understanding.

"I felt the same way about it, but not only do they still have far more than anyone else on the continent, the alcohols they brew themselves are still amazing, so they were a family I went out of my way to befriend when I went in and bought Eikasía from them. "

After all, the key to the hearts of many dragons was money and alcohol, and since she was about to appoint herself as Monarch, they were a powerful ally to have. "I see. In that case I might have to buy some alcohol from them to.. establish good relations."

"Haha, for sure. I'll have them bring a few barrels for you to try while Krystallo spars."

Joyfully nodding, we continued over the endless fields before finally, a series of massive structures peeked over the horizon.

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As Hera came to explain, they were the brewery, the knight's facility, the main estate, and the largest structure of all, 'the silo', with dragons buzzing around the silo, brewery, and knight's facility like bees around a hive.

-For how far out of town their estate is, I didn't expect so many people to be out here.

.. Are most of them workers?- Considering how much production the family has, they were bound to have a lot of workers.

But as we finally began our approach on the knight's facility, it became abundantly clear that not everyone was there to work.

Completely filling the large open fields around the knight facility were younger, more average-looking dragons being taught in huge groups, learning all there was to know about the basics of fighting and sparring from Elafos family knights.

By the looks of things, they were a group that didn't really have any talent in fighting or have money to receive formal training, so they came here to either explore the possibility of becoming a knight or take the opportunity to receive some formal training.

Either way, it was quite commendable. -It might not be a bad place to scout out some underfunded talent...-

Eventually finding a spot to land, we sent Krystallo off to join one of the lessons since they appeared to be gearing up for live spars, and made our way toward where a number of older dragons were gathered.

Supposedly, it was an area where people could learn more about the history of the Elafos family and how they influenced the draconic race throughout several millennia.

-I thought the festival was just a time for the younger folk to socialize, but...- While that was correct, just like the guys we met at the arena, most people used the festival as an excuse to do many things. "Are all these people locals?"

Hera was quick to nod. "The festival is certainly geared toward the younger generation, but normal folk also use it as an opportunity to travel and look for job opportunities as well.

" After all, if you weren't a noble hosting parties and hunting for young talent during the festival, the only thing keeping you home was your job.

-Interesting...- To an extent, the festival was almost meant to recalibrate or rewire the continent, forcing money move while helping spread out talent, and establishing the new connections necessary to lay the foundation for years to come.

"That makes me wonder if I should be making better use of my time during the festival too. .."

But Hera was quick to get me off that train of thought. "Just enjoy it for now, you can worry about taking advantage of opportunities later." Warming her expression, her tone turned caring with a mix of worry woven into it. "You need a chance to unwind from time to time, you know..."

"Haah... I know, I know..." But no matter how many times I acknowledged it, the unease that welled in my stomach never went away. No matter how much I tried to distract myself, it never settled.

Even as Krystallo's spar rolled around, and I smiled pridefully watching her continually get back up and ask for another round, anxiety secretly ate away at me.

Deep down, I simply didn't feel prepared.

Being on the verge of war with the Holy Kingdom, while the leviathan lurked beneath our feet, it felt like I was wasting precious time, even if I was using any extra thought I had to try and come up with a plan.

But that evening, while I wandered away from the crowd, sipping on a barrel of a somewhat bitter alcohol, a dragon that had been observing the spars for several hours made his way over to me.

With mostly brown and red scales with some white highlights on his chest and wings, one would think he was of a lower class, but that was most certainly not the case. "You must be Vasilias. Madam Hera has told me quite a bit about you."

-Is that so?- Glancing back, it only took a moment for my gaze to find its way to the massive set of almost antler-like horns atop his head. "And you are?"

Suddenly stopping in his tracks, he formally lifted his leg and spread one wing to bow. "My name is Keras Elafos, the current-standing patriarch of the Elafos family."

-Hoh?- "My name is Vasilias, it's a pleasure to meet you." By the looks of things, he was in the late ancient stage, with horns so heavy they made him move his head somewhat sluggishly.

"Haha," *Vwoom* Isolating us with sound magic, he firmly made his way up next to me, overlooking the endless field and peering up into the sky. "It's truly an honor to have the Monarch and a god come to my humble estate. I hope my estate's inadequacy isn't the course of your trouble."

-Ah...- Without realizing it, a troubled expression had clouded my face for quite a while. "It's not that, your estate is a truly beautiful place, so I apologize if that made you worry." Recognizing that he already knew my identity, I quickly eased up.

"Hoho, please don't apologize, I just wanted to make sure I made a good first impression."

Hearing him speak, my nerves slowly eased. -How genuine...- Nowhere in his voice was there even a hint of greed or uncertainty. He spoke more like an honest old man, speaking so earnestly it made me smile. "Well, you don't have anything to worry about there."

"Phew," Jokingly giving an exaggerated sigh of relief, he finally walked up next to me and set down another barrel of alcohol. "You don't mind if I have a drink with you, do you?"

I quickly shook my head. "Of course not."

Finally sitting down, he tapped in the lid of the barrel and pulled a ball of it out with magic, sipping on it one bit at a time.

And just like that, we lost ourselves to a few hours of conversation, speaking on the state of Bahamut, his excitement for what was to come, and some idle probing to see what I was interested in, perhaps to help get my mind off what I was dwelling on.

But as it turned out, he just intended on establishing a connection with me. "So Hera told me you're trying to investigate the Acardi, right?"

-Hoh? He knows about the Acardi?- Catching my interest, a curl finally found its way into my tail. "That is correct."

"Hoho~, then I have something that you may find interesting. Care to see it?" Giving me a youthfully excited smile, his heavy tail started to gently sway.

-If it has to do with the Acardi...- "Absolutely!"

And so, after telling Hera what I was up to, and having her keep an eye on Krystallo for me, I followed him back to the incredibly grand main estate, where he planned to show me something only he knew about.

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