Cale opened the door which held a plaque that had ‘306’ inlaid on it, the room was far more well-maintained than it was on Monday, in fact, the entirety of the building was thoroughly cleaned.

It was only natural, since club activities would soon begin. The available clubs in Great Leyline Academy weren’t decided by the school, but by the students. There were many interests among the students, and making it so that 5 students with a common interest could form a club was more convenient for the academy then making a club for students every time there was a new trend.

Of course, the process of making a club still involved the academy staff, so one couldn’t make a club that was centered around a person or a controversial issue. It had to be something that contributed to the body of knowledge, so clubs that were centered around a single craft or spell was totally fine, such as a fireball club or a spear appreciation club. Things like a ‘That one guy who’s really hot fan club’ or ‘We demand more crabs’ club, were not allowed.

In short there were a few requirements to making a club.

1. The club must have at least 5 members.
2. The club must be somewhat productive.(To be decided by the assigned overseer.)
3. The club must have at least one activity per week.

The objective of the current meeting was to create a club that can fulfill these conditions, while making a valid reason for the 5 of them to be publicly working together.

All five seats of the table were occupied; there would be no more members as the list of members of all the clubs would not be revealed until they have formed to avoid students picking a club just because there was a popular figure in it.

“So, any ideas?” Cale asked the other four members.

“You didn’t even know what club to form when you invited me?” Louis asked, a look of shock and disappointment in his face.

Cale sighed and shook his head.

“Well the club thing was more of a cover story in case we couldn’t invite you, there was really no reason to think of a topic so early on, especially when we weren’t even sure we had a fifth member. He glanced at Frank.

“I’d assume most of the main categories would be unavailable to us, since the club with less members would merge with the one with more. The topics can’t be too similar either… so we have to pick an unpopular niche.” Elizabeth stated.

“Let’s just pick a historical monument and base our club around that, it’s as simple as that, isn’t it?” Frank spoke.

Llamiryl shook her head.

“Remember, we need to have at least one activity each week, and I would not like to go to a random formation of rocks and right 100 page reports on it every single week.”

Frank flinched, remembering what occurred to him earlier that day.

“Yeah, that’s a good point, let’s not do that.”

“Core Abyss? I mean we already have been doing a lot of research on it already.” Cale suggested.

“It’s in elven territory; it would be too dangerous for the academy to accept.” Llamiryl stated.

Frank glanced at the mana crystal that he was fiddling around with.

“History stuff is a no-go then… how about spells? Let’s just pick a random one and work with that.”

“Too risky, high chance we might merge with another club and we can’t change midway, Personal spells would be a lot safer, but those have copyright issues.” Elizabeth stated.

Louis closed his eyes and crossed his arms, thinking deeply.

However, it was Cale who had an epiphany first.

“Ah, since we’re investigating things about this world anyways, how about a mystery investigation club?”

Louis opened his eyes and asked:

“Mystery investigation club? Wouldn’t an investigation be left to more capable individuals rather than a group of students?”

“Shit seems a tad too professional to me. ‘Sides crimes are a pain to solve, speaking from experience here.” Frank added.

“The only murders that are going to happen in the academy anyways are ones committed by me.” Llamiryl joked.

“No, no, you three misunderstood me, that type of things is not what I meant.” Cale corrected.

Elizabeth nodded in understanding.

“What he means is that people are sometimes superstitious. There are a couple ghost stories circulating around the school, and I think the staff wouldn’t mind us entertaining those rumors a bit.”

“Ah, so you mean we will be investigating urban legends and the like, sounds like something only delusional people would do, but people will probably assume it’s a cover-up for something we’re planning.” Llamiryl realized.

“Honestly, aside from the principal no one will care, and the guy’s already suspicious of us anyways, so it’s decided then!” Cale clapped his hands.

“That’s an excellent idea; the club activity wouldn’t be too troublesome since we can just make things up or ask a random person. Who knows, maybe we’ll even find a secret legacy hidden beneath the school.” Louis laughed.

“Ah, this isn’t THAT kind of story, I don’t think.” Cale rubbed his chin.

“I guess its good enough.” Llamiryl shrugged.

“Just get this over with.” Frank said, disinterested.

“Everyone agrees then, all that’s left is to write it down in paper.” Cale smiled and took out a document with fields for the information about the club, at the top was the name of the club, he took out a quill and dipped it in some ink, and was about to put it on the paper.

Llamiryl gently took the quill and paper from Cale’s hand.

“I’ll do this, your handwriting sucks, like I even thought there was a secret cipher that I didn’t know of when I first saw it.”

She wrote down the necessary information of the club, including flowery things such as the reason why they wish to form it and how it would help the academy. Not that half of the clubs actually contribute anything meaningful to society anyways.

But then she stopped at the club leader, leaving it blank.

Frank and Elizabeth shook their hands, clearly not wanting to be in-charge of the club.

“What does the leader do again?” Llamiryl asked.

“Well ugh, the leader gets to do all the paperwork and handles any collaborative projects, it’s very exciting. Why don’t you take it, Anzhel?” Cale said, avoiding the paper as if it held the plague.

“Nope!” Llamiryl smiled and was about to seal Cale’s fate.

Cale flailed his hands in the air.

“WAIT! Dai, the Xianxia world is big so the paperwork must be too right? I think the job is perfect for you.”

Louis gave a gentle smile.

“Indeed, it is, but I believe the pen and paper deserves to be in the capable hands of the younger generation. You make a fine representative, Quincy, I am sure you will do the job well.”

Before Louis had even finished his statement, Llamiryl had already written Cale’s name on the piece of paper.

Cale gritted his teeth and slammed his head repeatedly into the table in an exaggerated fashion.

He slowly raised his head, and relaxed, accepting his fate.

“Alright, put your full names and seal on the second page.”

Usually, there were a lot more pages to the documents, but since they were only five they didn’t put too much work on the administration.

The four all put their full names and seals granted to them by their family on the paper. In Frank’s case his was granted to him by the adventurer’s guild, since it fit his background.

Cale cracked his knuckles, stretching his neck, he continued.

“Alright, now on to the matter of the elder dragon.”

“Are you sure you want to bring that up now?” Louis asked.

Cale glanced at the wall, and shrugged.

“That’s not what I meant.” Louis stated.

Frank had a confused and slightly terrified look on his face; he had heard many tales of bards speaking of the might that elder dragons possessed, some settlements even worshiped an elder dragon as their patron deity.

“The beast rose from very depths of the earth, effortlessly piercing a hole through the ground and splitting the earth into ten parts. He stood taller and wider than even the most gargantuan mountains, with a flap of his wings, he razed the very landscape. All of nature bowed down and trembled at his every step and with his breath… he shattered the heavens.”

“That line came from a children’s story book right? Ancient Dragon Zargeing?” Louis recognized what Frank said.

“Well, the elder dragon we met wasn’t THAT strong, he called himself Worcestershire, and the only similarity he has with Zargeing is the razing the landscape part.” Llamiryl spoke.

Frank let out a deep breath, burying his face on the table.

“Only she says… exaggerated as the tale was, if a young dragon could burn a city down, I imagine an elder dragon would be able to do much more. So, what about Worcestershire?”

“Well you see…”

Cale told Frank about the otome game and their expedition to the core of the earth, leaving out the part where Llamiryl was researching the condition of the World Energy. The explanation went smoothly as the concept wasn’t foreign to Frank, and Elizabeth was there to clarify the information.

Louis learned more about the “Louis” in the game that Cale talked to him about, and found out that his personality was actually an amalgamation of the three sons of Arthur.

‘Carlos’ soul didn’t light up anyways, so that leaves Paul. I have no clue what to do with this information though, I doubt it will be of help. For now, at least.” Louis thought.

“That was one hell of an infodump, so you mean to say you guys went to the core and angered an elder dragon… and now he’s willing to raze the country to the ground if it means getting his revenge. Sweet, what’s the plan?” Frank spoke, breathing haggardly.

“Well, the young dragons would have to go through the de Leon territory since the Core Abyss is in elven territory… the older and more intelligent ones will just teleport directly into the capital. We plan to have someone deal with the young dragons in the de Leon territory.”

“I’ll do that.” Louis interrupted.

“Right. Then, we can just wait for the king to grow strong enough to weaken the dragon so we can take him down. Preferably while keeping any VIPs alive.” Cale explained.

The fact that King Charles grew stronger the more the country came under threat was public information. In the events of ‘Unconquered Hearts’, the de Leon territory had to be razed to the ground and the death of 4 archmages was required to bring up his strength to slay the dragon, even with the capital under fire.

“I believe the boost from the capital being threatened will be enough for the king to distract the dragon so I can kill it with my soul weapon.” Cale stated.

Frank scowled.

“So you plan to put the lives of the capital’s citizens in danger so you can slay the dragon easily? With this information, we should rush to the core abyss and kill that thing!”

“Well, that works too, I guess. However, I would rather not waste any more magicules in fighting a dragon, I plan to be here for tens of thousands of years, and it has only been 14 so far.” Llamiryl frowned.

“I share the same sentiment.” Louis agreed.

Cale put his hand on his chest and spoke in a solemn tone.

“Nana and I are just regular humans, we could easily die to the elder dragon… I would not like a direct confrontation in his territory.”

Frank clenched his fist, and grit his teeth.

“Yet you guys survived the previous confrontation, right? If you managed to injure it last time, then if all five of us work together we can kill it directly. We can teleport and-“

“Elder dragons can detect changes in space and time. They’ll see us coming.” Llamiryl stated.

“We can use our soul weapons to-“

Once again, he was interrupted, this time by Louis.

“Like I told you, powerful beings have at least a basic comprehension of concepts such as the soul, if we attack it’s soul directly, expect a lot of resistance. I am not confident in pulling it into my inner palace and destroying it completely.”

“Argh! So many reasons and excuses, are you all cowards?! When you’re slaying a monster, it’s only natural for there to be risks.” Frank complained.

Llamiryl smiled.

“Cowards? Oh please, choosing the most efficient path is not cowardice. It’s not too uncommon for a strategist to disregard the lives of others for the most effective plans.”

Frank stood up, and then attempted to slam his hand on the table, Elizabeth stopped him.

“We will get punished for misconduct if we break the table, so please don’t”

Frank sighed.

“Look, I valued the lives of my friends during my time as an adventurer. Life was shitty, but they were there to carry me through it, I know there are hundreds of people like me out there who only carry on because they have a good drinking buddy to talk to. Knowing that, I can’t just stand here and do nothing when the tavern is under threat, right?’

He let out a weak laugh.

“Look, Frank, this is usually the part where we agree with you and we all go on an epic quest to slay the dragon, but this is not that type of story. You don’t know those people Frank, you don’t value them, and you only want to save them for an empty sense of heroism or whatever. It’s better to work for things that actually matter to us…’ Cale spoke with a painful expression.

“I know, I don’t intend to convince anyone, I’ll go alone. Besides-“

He looked at Llamiryl.

“I was never meant to have a second life, so may as well.”

Llamiryl stood up from her seat, and blocked his path.

“Absolutely not, I worked hard to put your soul into that body. And I’m not losing something of value just because he was being stupid.”

“I’ll try even if you forbid me. Even if you alter my mind, at least I’ll know deep inside that what I’m doing isn’t of my own choice.” Frank walked forward.

The space of the room was separated from reality once more.

Frank lunged at Llamiryl with his newfound strength, and yet, just like the last time his attack could never reach her. He punched again and again, trying different angles, different approaches.

Yet, she just stood there, and it was like his attacks were never meant to reach her in the first place.

Cale, Eliizabeth and Louis just watched silently.

“It’s a shame you don’t have the innate powers of the fleshwielder, as you are now you’re nothing more than a warrior who relies on brute strength.” Llamiryl stated, her eyes glowed a bright purple, the pentagram staring straight into Frank’s eyes, making him feel uncomfortable.

“I won’t deny that, but at least I have this.” He took out his soul weapon, a purple sword that was of endless help to his adventures.

He remembered his journey, the struggles, and the words he shared with his friends. The soul weapon anchored him to his life as an adventurer.

Tears streamed out of his eyes.

For a moment, he saw a weakness, a weakness within himself.

‘No, that’s not what I want to see.’

He glanced at a corner in the room, he should strike there.

With immense speed, he leaped towards the corner of the room and stabbed with his sword, as soon as he stabbed it, he was frozen in place.

“So it can see ANY weakness huh… how useful.” Llamiryl walked towards Frank, who could not even utter a word.

Against his will, he turned around and stood straight, Llamiryl approached him, and put her hand on his face, wiping away his tears.

“Now, now, don’t cry.” She spoke with a gentle voice. Yet the voice contained power, a power which replicated peak-level mind magic.

Her eyes returned to the dull grey they once were.

Llamiryl walked back to her seat, her footsteps echoing in the isolated room. Frank had a blank expression on his face, and it was blank for another few seconds. In those few seconds, the room was brought back to where it normally was.

All of the sudden, he shook his head and his expression turned into confusion.

“Huh? Why am I standing?” He walked back to his seat.

“You were demonstrating your soul weapon, right? It helps you pinpoint the weak points of your enemy.” Llamiryl stated.

“Ah, ok.” He nodded.

“Hey Frank, since your weapon can pinpoint weaknesses, can it see mental ones as well?” Louis asked.

“I’m no politician, so I haven’t tried. Monsters don’t usually have an emotional weakness you can exploit in the heat of battle anyways, unless you can speak goblin or troll.” Frank explained.

“I see, we may as well put that to the test. You should take down the Windmill household, you have contact with their heir.” Louis ordered.

“I refuse; I won’t do your dirty work.” Frank stated with a firm resolve.

“Well, you owe us your life.” Louis reasoned

“Llamiryl took my life, I owe you guys nothing.”

“Very well, you do not have to accept then. I will just say this – they have committed enough crimes to be worthy of being stripped of their title by the kingdom's law.” Louis gave him a sharp glance.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, can I go now? I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable for some reason.” Frank said, holding his head in pain.

Cale nodded.

Frank briskly walked out of the room, heading to the dorms.

Cale turned to Llamiryl.

“What did you do?”

“I merely sealed his memories of earlier’s conversation until our confrontation with the elder dragon. When the time comes, I will let him make his decision, it’s no use keeping him around if he doesn’t want to cooperate. Besides, I’ve already opened my eyes and saw all there was to see. It was… disappointing.” Llamiryl frowned, glancing downwards.

Louis smirked.

‘Perhaps…’

Anon_Y_Mousse

Yeah I have no idea how to name western dragons. Was planning on just having the elder dragon be named Bob but I wanted Dave's name to be special among dragons, so here we are, a dragon named after that one sauce I can't pronounce. Make sure to leave a favorite if you liked the chapter, and your thoughts in the comments!