Overlord: Blue Citadel Alternate

A young man sat on a cushioned bench in the center of a large room lined with gigantic windows on one side, letting the light shine into an extravagant private reception hall. Dressed in lavish robes of red, gold, white and black that matched his bright yellowish blonde hair. His pale skin bringing out his violet eyes. With a golden crown of leaves around his head, he could only be considered a man of position, a man of Power.

His gaze matched those of an elderly man who sat on a sofa across from him, with long locks of grey hair and an impressively long beard. A sagely look, he looked to the man like a father figure.

Directly behind the young man was a group of three men and one woman dressed in dark black armor with gold decals. They were the Four Imperial Knights, his primary bodyguards.

"Have you heard anything pertaining to the rumors spreading from the unruly noble connections within the Kingdom?" His voice was tempered, he was used to control, it spoke legions of his political intelligence. Those violet eyes of his were rested on another person who was standing before them, a man wearing formal attire. Perhaps a noble?

"My Emperor, Our last contact with the corrupted peon of the Re-Estize Kingdom seems to have stumbled across an ancient crypt owned by a Dragon that has laid claim to a frontier village near our border." The man kept a hand over his c.h.e.s.t after bowing to the man referred to as their Emperor, a man in control of an entire Civilization, the Baharuth Empire.

"Oh?" His eyes narrowed on the man before shifting his eyes to the older man as if the words that came from him were insignificant. "And what do you say, Gramps, have you uncovered anything else that we could add?" The Emperor seemed smug.

"They've built a vast wall around the settlement and into the forest itself, made of high-grade material in a strangely swift number of days." The sagely man seemed to be extremely intrigued by the wall and the way it was built so fast, along with its capabilities. He was also rather interested in the Dragon itself, having witnessed him change to a human form. It reminded him of the Dragon Queen. Perhaps he knew Wild Magic as well? "The last activity that was caught before their shield negated my surveillance was the appearance of Princess Renner and her posse. I am sure they've entered Negotiations of some sort."

"Nothing since then...?"

The noble shifted slightly, garnering the Emperor's attention.

"The Princess was said to have been missing for two weeks before returning by unknown means, rumor has it, the Dragon teleported her into the heart of Re-Estize, their Royal Palace." The Noble didn't sound convinced, but this grabbed the old man's attention and complete interest.

"Teleportation is a fifth tier magic spell," The old man seemed amused at this, "So the Dragon is a specialized magic caster of sorts?"

Clearing his throat, the Emperor didn't seem pleased that he left such information out. "How much do you know about the teleportation?" The Emperor bridged his hands in front of him over his l.a.p as he leaned forward, resting his chin on the backs of his fingers.

"A portal, a swirling mass, was described by the Royal Family to their Six Great Nobles." The Noble didn't seem at all comfortable where he stood and was tempted to take a step back.

"A portal?" The old man's eyes widened in excitement, even he couldn't use a spell such as that. He never heard of a spell before, and it sounded legendary, the greatest and highest way of travel. "It must be greater than a fifth tier spell to send her party back all at once..."

This Sage could only cast up to the sixth tier, anything greater than a teleportation spell was a seventh or above, entering the realm of myth. The idea that a dragon could cast this... It made him squirm in his seat. He wanted to meet this being, he wanted to stare in the abyss of magic, to see if he was truly as powerful as he was beginning to believe from this tale.

The Emperor shook his head lightly seeing the old man's face, there was far too much excitement on his 'gramps' face.

"What do you think they gained from talking to the Dragon... And why was she there for a fortnight..." The Emperor rolled his jaw against his fingers, looking over the noble who seemed to not understand the long period of time either.

"Perhaps in order to negotiate...?"

"The Kingdom probably didn't have what he wanted..." The Emperor c.a.r.e.s.sed his chin slightly, the idea of the Kingdom getting a dragon on their side didn't sit well with him at all. "Was it to put pressure on Ramposa perhaps?" He surmised with a light chuckle, wondering just what the Dragon wanted from the Princess for two weeks and what she had given for him returned her.

"It doesn't sound as if he uses Wild Magic, but I would like the chance to study him up close," the grey-haired fellow leaned forward slightly as he looked at his Emperor.

"For now, I want you to watch the surrounding areas... If the Dragon has indeed sided with the Kingdom," the Emperor was cautious still, "Have you been watching since the wall?"

The man nodded, "I've been watching the surrounding area since I couldn't see through the dome blocks my magic... There has been a small group of Elven slaves recently, following a Heterochromatic elf who entered from the Slaine Theocracy."

"They let the runaway Elves in?"

"Yes, they did, which is interesting, to say the least..."

The Emperor grinned lightly, a scheme coming to mind. Perhaps the Dragon liked Elves? The Empire had a number of them within its realm who are enslaved, along with other indentured servants. He could send a number of them over to the settlement as a gift, he was sure that a Dragon could have use for them.

Then another thought came to mind, If they were taking in refugees, he could promise one of the fallen noble houses reinstatement if they spied on them by 'defecting' or running away from persecution.

Would the Dragon take them? A small chuckle escaped his lips at the thought.

Turning to one of the Knights who were standing behind him, "Bring me a list of Fallen Nobles, I wish to inspect their financial records." His eyes were on one knight, in particular, a woman with her hair covering one side of her face, hiding disgraceful cursed flesh.

"Will do, your Majesty!" The blonde responded and hurriedly left the room, following the very order granted unto her. At the moment, she had no idea what to think about this situation.

Turning to face his gramps once again, the Emperor grinned to the man. "I plan on 'rewarding' a fallen house with the reinstatement of their status should they play their part in infiltrating the Dragon's den." He drummed his fingers against one another, his gaze traveling to the noble still present in the room, "You are dismissed."

The nobleman who had been summoned now bowed and also hurried out of the room, but much quicker than the woman herself did, looking a bit squeamish.

"Perhaps we could use that opportunity to get to see the Dragon for ourselves," leaning back into the sofa, the old man huffed in thought, pondering on how they would maintain contact with their people they were going to send in.

Several minutes later, the girl came rushing back into the room, slowing to a cool walk as she approached the Emperor and bowed, holding the scroll out to him. Once the Emperor took this scroll, she joined the rest of the Knights standing behind him.

There were a number of noble houses that have been able to increase or maintain their wealth, but there were also a high number of houses that incurred large amounts of debt.

His eyes narrowed on the largest debt that he could find, one that he knew fell into disrepair following their revoked status. No matter how much they paid back their debt, it would always rise. They had three children, two of whom were too young to work and the other who had taken up a job as a Mercenary, a Worker in the Foresight group.

Perhaps he could work that into his plan as well. He could have the Worker team escort them, there were a number of thoughts that entered his mind.

"I want the Furt family brought before me as early as tomorrow, and the team known as Foresight that their eldest daughter works with." His index finger tapping upon the noble house's name and place of residence written upon the scroll.

"Furt?" The Old man leaned forward, the last name sounds familiar, before a face appeared in the back of his mind. "That is the house of my former Protege who left the Academy." He scratched the back of his head now finding out her current fate.

"Oh? Then she must be well versed with skills pertaining to Magic if you're referring to her as your protege, such praise." The Emperor snickered at the old man and shook his head lightly, "Then I will have you give them the mission, your familiarity with her will likely help to get their family to agree."

To the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, this was nothing more than getting rid of another Fallen House without further bloodying his hands needlessly.

Though the old man had been thinking of finding the protege for a while now, and the fact he was about to have a chance to get a hold of her, he could only hope the for best now. He was about to send a person who had the same abilities as him into possibly hostile territory.

A frown crowned his lips.

"What is it Fluder?" The Emperor didn't use his 'gramps' nickname this time, a brow raised.

"Your Majesty, Emperor Jircniv," He spoke formally as if he wanted something from the man. "I wish to accompany my former protege," Fluder seemed to want to incorporate himself into the plan and infiltrate the Dragon's newly settled Nation that now consisted of two Cities.

While Jircniv knew of his supposed gramps fascination with magic, he took this as more so an old man worrying about his student considering the praise of being called a protege. "I need you here, but you being there does increase the rate of success... We could use this chance to gain a favorable audience with the Dragon. Though there is a chance he may know who you are, your name is known across the neighboring kingdoms."

Fluder nodded to his Emperor's outspoken thoughts, "You may not be wrong your majesty, but even if he knows who I am, it would only increase my value to have me within his walls."

"Hm. They will be summoned to the Magic Institute then, you will make the offer on my behest." Jircniv gestured towards him with a thoughtful smile across his lips, wanting to gauge the dragon's power. Perhaps he could turn the Dragon to his favor, and against the Kingdoms.

Excitedly the old man nodded to these words, savoring them, as he was getting what he wanted out of the scheme. If this dragon seemed nothing close to a threat or wasn't as powerful as he assumed, he believed he could attempt to dispatch it or simply return to the Emperor's side.

If word of his gramps defecting to another Kingdom became common knowledge, Jircniv believed his enemies would come out of the shadows. In a way, he believed that finding out who his enemies would be, was definitely something he needed. Especially those who were in his own Kingdom.

After this, he knew he needed to prepare and strengthen the surveillance of fallen noble houses. Perhaps he could draw them all out either into open revolt, or force them into refugee status.

This would allow him to destroy the thorns that remained in his side. A small grin formed over his lips as the scheming continued in his mind. The things that could happen, how things might turn out, what the end goal is. Then he began to wonder, how much of this would go as planned?