SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 815: The Message [III]

Caelum's voice came through the Shadowlink Echo again.

"Understood, Young Master. I'll arrange something for two days from now. The Gates are available again, so you'll be able to travel through Velkaris without any trouble. There's a Gate there, but reaching the main Thal'zar territory afterward will require another form of transport."

Trafalgar listened quietly while Rhosyn remained beside him.

"You won't need to arrange that yourself. Lord Darian will have transportation waiting for you once you arrive. As with your previous meetings, this one will be private, so there shouldn't be many people aware of your presence."

Caelum paused for a moment before addressing the question Trafalgar had actually been interested in.

"And regarding Lord Darian himself, I haven't seen anything that makes me believe he intends to act against you. I can assure you he has little interest in starting an unnecessary war. If anything happened to you while visiting his territory, Lord Valttair would learn about it almost immediately, and Darian knows exactly what that could lead to."

His tone remained calm.

"I'll send the exact arrangements once everything is confirmed."

The message ended.

Trafalgar breathed out and immediately fed mana back into the Shadowlink Echo. There wasn't much else he needed to ask for now, and Caelum had answered the most important part.

"Understood, Caelum. I'll be ready by then. Send me the details when you have them."

He released the connection and dismissed the Echo. The small object broke apart into dark motes above his palm before disappearing completely.

Rhosyn folded her arms loosely. "Then it looks like we have a date."

"Seems so. Two days isn't much, but I wasn't planning on doing anything particularly exciting with them anyway."

"You're supposed to be resting."

"I know. Everyone keeps reminding me."

"Probably because you're terrible at it."

Trafalgar gave her a sideways look. "I'm standing in a garden talking to you. That's about as close to resting as I've been in a long time."

Rhosyn seemed willing to accept that answer.

They eventually left the rose garden and made their way back through Caelvyrn's castle. Trafalgar had almost reached the chamber near the dimensional Gate when he found Dravok and Caelvyrn already talking there.

Judging by Caelvyrn's expression, the conversation wasn't going particularly well for him.

"I'm simply pointing out," Caelvyrn was saying, "that there are several perfectly respectable ways to leave a mountain without immediately deciding the dragon should carry everyone."

Dravok stood across from him with his arms folded. "You're faster."

"That isn't the point."

"It usually is when you're travelling."

Caelvyrn stared at him for a moment before noticing Trafalgar and Rhosyn approaching. "Good. Another person can explain to him why treating an ancient dragon like public transportation is insulting."

Trafalgar stopped beside them. "You're asking the wrong person. I was actually going to ask whether you could take us back."

Caelvyrn looked betrayed.

Rhosyn covered the beginning of a smile with one hand.

"You too?" Caelvyrn asked. "I've opened my home to you, allowed you to hit me repeatedly with Maledicta, and this is where we've ended up?"

Trafalgar considered it. "When you list everything like that, asking for a ride does sound slightly ungrateful."

"Finally, some sense."

"But we still need the ride."

Caelvyrn's eyes narrowed.

Dravok gave Trafalgar a small nod of approval that only made the dragon more irritated.

"Careful," Caelvyrn said. "You still owe me a favour."

Trafalgar remembered that very well. "I know. You still haven't told me what you want."

"Because I haven't decided yet." Caelvyrn straightened slightly, some of the humour leaving his voice. "When I actually need something worth collecting that debt for, I'll tell you. Until then, don't assume I've forgotten."

"I wasn't planning to."

"Good."

Caelvyrn seemed satisfied with that and walked away, still muttering something about having his dignity reduced by people who apparently thought wings existed for their convenience.

Trafalgar watched him go. "He's going to take us anyway, isn't he?"

"Of course he is," Dravok said. "He just needs to complain first."

From farther down the corridor came Caelvyrn's voice.

"I can still hear you."

Dravok didn't even turn around.

Trafalgar almost laughed before something else came to mind. They were finished with training for the moment, and he doubted Dravok intended to spend the entire break sitting inside Caelvyrn's castle.

"What are you going to do while I'm recovering?"

Dravok looked toward him. "A few things I've been putting off. I'll visit Vivienne first and see how she's doing. It's been long enough that I want to check her progress myself."

"And after that?"

"I have preparations of my own to make."

Trafalgar waited.

Dravok clearly had no intention of continuing.

"Very descriptive."

"It wasn't meant to be."

Trafalgar studied him for a moment. Dravok had been talking about the surviving Primordials more often lately, especially now that Trafalgar's training had properly begun. They had known for years that eventually they would need to find them, speak to them, and discover what remained of their people.

That meeting was getting closer.

'He's preparing for that.'

Trafalgar didn't need Dravok to confirm it. If they were truly going to approach whatever remained of Primordial society, especially after everything that had happened in the past, walking in without preparation would be idiotic.

"I won't ask, then."

Dravok gave him a brief look. "You'll know when you need to."

"That's usually what people say when they're definitely hiding something."

"I'm not hiding it. I'm telling you it isn't your concern yet."

Rhosyn let out a quiet laugh beside them.

Dravok ignored both of them and started toward the exit. "Use these days properly. See your family, sleep, and stay away from the dimension. If your head feels better tomorrow, that doesn't mean you're recovered."

"I heard you the first several times."

"Then I shouldn't need to say it again."

By the time they emerged from the mountain, Caelvyrn was already waiting outside.

His enormous dragon form stood across the stone plateau, wings folded against his back and dark scales catching the daylight. He lowered himself enough for them to climb on, though the look in his enormous eyes made his opinion on the arrangement perfectly clear.

Trafalgar approached with Rhosyn and Dravok.

Caelvyrn released a long, irritated breath through his nostrils.

"Get on before I remember I have pride."