As Karl finished his explanation, a whole new group of reporters came in with some of the other newly advanced Commanders from the Academy, and Karl was chased out along with Inquisitor Israel.
“As you might have noticed, the Prince title can get you many things, but getting in the way of people with things to do usually doesn’t work, unless they’re also Elites under your leadership and have to listen to you.” The Inquisitor laughed.
Karl chuckled. “Why don’t we go get some coffee and relax? We have time to kill until they’re done with all the other interviews, and I don’t think that they will appreciate it if we completely vanish.”
“Can I meet your other team members? Have they all advanced to Royal Rank with you?” Israel asked.
Karl shook his head. “No. Rae advanced already, and Hawk is very close, but Remi and Thor are still solidly Commanders for at least a few more days. I can’t say for certain when they will advance, but they’re being pulled upward now that I have.”
“Then let’s go to the edge of the camp, but not too far, and you can show me the others. I briefly saw Rae before she ran away with High Priestess Lotus, and Hawk is a fine specimen of the Dragonhawk species, but I am curious about the others.” Israel suggested.
“Oh, there’s no need to leave. Thor is gentle, and everyone loves him, while Remi is small enough to not cause a traffic jam.”
Remi came out and draped herself over Karl’s shoulder, then stuck her upper body forward to get a better look at the Inquisitor.
He reached out and stroked the top of her head, making the Spirit Snake sway happily.
“She is venomous, isn’t she?” He asked.
“Yeah. When she flares her hood, it is quite obvious that she’s a Naga Spirit Snake, but when she’s relaxed, she looks much less threatening. Just a big boop noodle.”
“Tell me you don’t let her boop people.” Remi laughed, and the Inquisitor gave her a suspicious look. “She tried it, didn’t she? Are they alright?”
Karl nodded. “They might have embarrassed themselves a little, but Remi only booped them on the nose with hers, there was no physical damage.”
Karl called Thor out, and the Lightning Cerro immediately attracted attention from students who were living in the area near them on the right flank.
They all came over to pat his head or rub his scales, ignoring the fact that there might be a reason his was out in the middle of camp.
“It looks like the Lightning Cerro isn’t far from Royal Rank either, but he’s a bit odd, isn’t he? I sense a lot of Holy magic from him.” Israel asked.
“He’s been training his Holy Magic in hopes of becoming a better support asset for the team. He has already learned Circle of Protection, and that’s quite the feat for a Lightning Cerro. If he keeps it up, I think that he might actually manage to evolve on his own into some sort of Holy Cerro.” Karl agreed.
“I heard that Hawk evolved, but that was due to resource consumption. Is it possible that your class could cause such a mutation on its own?”
Remi laughed, a sporadic hissing noise that sounded more like a hiccup, but left her mouth open.
“Did I say something funny?” Inquisitor Israel asked.
“Thor actually does have a resource, and a rather potent one. There is a pool of blessed water, imbued with the essence of Holy Stones in his resting space, and he regularly soaks there during his downtime.” Karl explained.
Remi nodded in agreement, while the Inquisitor stared at Thor. “You have done very well for your beasts. The rare resources that I have learned that you found for them, and have apparently planted in their spaces, piqued my curiosity. That’s why I volunteered to come out, when it could have been any of the Royal Rank High Priests.” He informed Karl with a sly wink.
“You would be startled how much they have advanced since we met. Even Rae, who still looks very much like a Bloodbath Spider, has skills that I’ve never heard of a wild beast having.
She learned the Golems by watching mages use them, and now they’re her most powerful attack ability, nearly tripling her combat power, or doubling it while she gains the ability to attack with Earth Magic from a distance and protect our casters.” Karl agreed.
“So, would you say that Rae is nearly on par with a Golem Mage at the Royal Rank?” Israel asked.
“I would say that it’s not even close if she’s within range to summon her Golems.
Her other skills lean more toward assassination, so it’s hard to compare them, but her Golems might be comparable to a whole mage on their own. The fact that they are imbued with her [Offensive Adaptation] and can use [Lacerate] might actually make them significantly more dangerous than the average Golem Mage.”
“That is a good point. Most golems are good for absorbing damage and crowd control, but it takes a secondary skill to make them truly dangerous. Something like Durable Constructs, as your teammate Dana has, or a shared attack skill.
I suppose the most important thing that you can be doing tonight is actually focusing on trying to get the other beasts on your team to advance. Two Royal Rank threats is good, but five of them together is enough that there wouldn’t be many who would dare threaten you along this border.” Karl noticed that he amended it with ‘along this border’ as the Mountain Giants were even stronger, and willing to take on even the Overlords that the humans had sent to stop their advance. It was probably better not to mention that the Golems Rae summoned also benefitted from Durable Constructs. It hadn’t taken her long to learn that skill.
Rae was much better than the average beast or Elite, but if he went further out, to the lands west of the Mountain Giants or into the Divine Beast Nation to their north and northwest, he would find an incredibly diverse range of threats that made magical skills a basic survival necessity.
In a way, being surrounded by enemies actually protected the Golden Dragon Nation, as it created a buffer between them and the other threats that populated this continent, but that was very little consolation to the humans of the one surviving largely nonmagical society.
Their neighbours weren’t friendly, but at least they were mostly predictable. The mixed threats of the other nations were worse from a security standpoint.
As they talked, a reporter came up with a clipboard and an impatient look. “If Your Highnesses could spare us a few moments, the officials from the government would like to do a group photo shoot with all of the students who have advanced recently, as well as the other dignitaries present.” She announced.
That meant that they both definitely needed to be there, as two of the highest-ranking Elites on the border couldn’t simply be absent from the photo shoots that were meant to show unity and strength, as well as interdepartmental cooperation.
“Lead the way. We’re ready for the rest of the interviews.” Inquisitor Israel agreed.
“Oh, it’s not interviews now, just a series of photo shoots. You know, posing, smile for the camera and all that.” She explained.
The Inquisitor sighed and gave Karl a frown that made his face look much older than the mid-twenties that he likely was. “Let’s get this over with, then. Fortunately for me, nobody expects the Inquisition to smile pretty for the camera. We’ve got a reputation to uphold and all.”