“Aris, Elsa, I’ll be needing you two for a different task. I didn’t tell you about it ahead of time, but I believe it’s necessary.
A few days back, I had a falling out with the hero and the demon king, Elaine and Marshall. I stormed off, but as I walked away, I still eavesdropped on whatever they were saying, and I overheard something.
This isn’t part of my task, but I personally feel like it will have some sort of massive impact. The dragons are planning a war of some sort.
I didn’t manage to get the details as to what this war will be about or when it will start, but I’d like to gather as much useful information as possible.
We already sent someone ahead if you can remember, and if he’s doing well, he’ll be the one to guide and help you two complete the mission.
The reason why I selected you two is because Elsa is a dragon, and she hasn’t seen the life of dragons for centuries. Even if she’ll be disguised when she goes there, it will be a good learning opportunity for her.
Also, you two are in the strongest categories here. Aris, only Drake can probably match you, and Elsa, even though I am yet to see you fight, I’m sure that I’m the only person that can match you here.
So that means the two of you will be able to handle anything that is thrown your way. Your job is not to do anything that will attract attention but to gather information wherever and however, without being discovered.
If a mighty race like the dragons wants to start a war, we can already expect it to be one hell of a war,” Silva said.
Aris looked at Elsa, who was with her, her face asking the whole question, You wanna go?
Elsa nodded in return, and Aris looked at Silva. “We both have no issues with the plan. We will go and do our best,” she said.
“Thank you, and with that, the general plan for the empire infiltration and the dragon empire spying is complete.
I have prepared many fallback plans in case the ones we discussed here fail, but I will not tell any of you what they are, because if you know there’s a fail-safe, you won’t take the first plan seriously,” Silva said.
“But now we know you have fail-safes, we might still take it easy,” Aaron said.
“You can, if you don’t value your life, that is. Most of the fail-safes are for dire situations, which means a few of us have died, and the rest are on the run.
Who knows who might have died? Could be you, could be anyone else, so don’t slip up the plan,” Silva said, casually laying out the threat of death for them. They understood what he meant, and knowing Silva, if he mentioned death, then he was serious.
“Now, if there are no further questions, this meeting has come to an end. We will be moving out tomorrow, at the crack of dawn.
Oh, and one last thing, your false identifications will be handed to you. You are all going to be from different kingdoms, with enough backstory to work.
You’ll have to learn them early tomorrow before we start moving,” Silva said. He got up and walked out of the room, with Lily and Drake following.
“Are we heading to meet Gabriel? I would expect that we should bring him along. He knows the empire very well,” Drake said.
“True, but if we take him, his mind would never be at ease since Rose is here. But if we wake her up, he won’t want to leave her because she’s awake, and he wants to be with her.
But the second option is better, as we can still communicate with him from a distance, and with no more heaviness in his heart, he’ll work well for us,” Silva said.
They headed through the hallways and made it back to the room. Silva raised his hand and knocked twice. He waited for a bit, and then heard Gabriel’s low-toned “Come in.”
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Silva pushed the door slowly and walked into the room. Gabriel was seated beside the bed, holding Rose’s hand, his thumb slowly rubbing her palm.
He looked at her lovingly, his gaze soft and comforting. Silva noticed the tear stains on the bed; Gabriel must have been bawling his eyes out as he thought of what to answer Silva.
Silva felt slightly bad for what he was doing to Gabriel right now, but it had to be done. Silva was hiding something from Gabriel.
Gabriel looked up at Silva and then spoke. “I won’t stand in her way of living again. Let’s carry out the operation,” Gabriel said.
“You made the right decision, Gabriel,” Silva said as he walked to Gabriel and patted his shoulder. “Now let’s give Lily her space to work.”
Gabriel stood up and went to stand away from the bed with Silva and Drake. Lily approached the bed, and with every step, Gabriel’s heart pounded like it would burst.
Lily cracked her knuckles first and then slowly placed both palms on Rose’s chest. She paused for a moment, not doing anything, and then, in the next instant—
Boom! An explosive sound filled the room as Lily’s mana forced its way into Rose. The mana swirled in her like a tornado and then started shooting in all directions, tearing down the defenses faster than Rose’s brain could react.
It went on for three seconds, and then Lily removed her hand and walked away. Immediately, Gabriel ran to Rose. He knelt beside the bed and tilted her head up, calling her name.
“Rose, Rose, Rose,” but she didn’t respond. Gabriel looked at her, dread filling his eyes. He was about to break down, but then he heard her cough.
“Gabriel, is that you?” she asked in a low voice as her eyes slowly opened.