While Karl and the beasts were in the temple playing with children, a certain Nature Cleric was having horrific visions.
“I swear I did something to make the Goddess mad. How is this fair?” Lotus cried.
“What did you see?” Lotus asked.
“He’s playing with a baby Gryphon. It’s not even part of his team, someone just gave him a baby Gryphon to play with.” Lotus complained, with tears of frustration in the corners of her eyes.
“When did he get to a temple? Do you know what sort of temple it is?” Tessa asked, trying to keep the little cleric focused. Visions were usually intended to give them some sort of valuable information, not just to taunt a single bored priestess.
They had been stuck here for an entire week now, waiting for some news or new orders. The issues had been dealt with the first day, and there were no known threats in the region anymore.
Doug was at the mine’s cafeteria, helping them with lunch for the workers, a company provided meal for every shift, but the others were simply lounging around in the courtyard outside the only hotel in town.
The sound of a helicopter let them know that something was coming, but there was no announcement over the radio to let them know to be prepared for a pickup. Normally, any pickup flight would give them an advanced warning so that they weren’t wasting time.
That was the first helicopter they had heard since they had been dropped off, and after a few seconds, they saw that it was a Bureau of Elite Development helicopter, so it had to be here for them, even if there was no message.
The pilot put it down outside the city limits in a field, and a ten agent mission team disembarked. That was not what any of them were expecting. Colonel Valerie led the team to the town wall as the helicopter’s rotors spun down, suggesting that they were expecting to be here for at least a few hours.
“Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s good to see you all rested. Where is High Priest Doug?”
“Cafeteria.” Tessa replied with a gesture over her shoulder.
“Would you mind going to get him? We need to have a discussion about some new intelligence that we have received.”
Tessa nodded. “I think that we have some for you as well. High Priestess Lotus has been having visions all day.”
Bob ran off to get Doug, while the Colonel led them to the Mayor’s offices, the only soundproofed area in town where secure meetings could be held.
In minutes, everyone was gathered, along with the Mayor of the Lithium Mines village.
“I believe it goes without saying, but nothing said here leaves this room.” Valerie began.
The others nodded, and she continued. “We have confirmation that Prince Karl is alive. He was recently spotted at a Beast God Temple in the Divine Beast Nation. It is not currently safe to attempt to recover him by force, but we have been in contact with two of the Dragons at the Temple, and we believe that we can arrange to have him safely returned to the border.”
Lotus let out an annoyed grumble, and the Colonel turned her attention to the cleric.
“I have been having visions all day of him playing with baby monsters. I think that he made a deal with the clerics to let him babysit, or maybe train the youngest Acolytes. It’s not fair.”
Colonel Valerie looked confused, so Tessa explained.
“It’s a Lotus thing. She can see the visions as if she’s there, only she can’t touch anything. First it was visions of Karl with young Elves in an Elven village, then today it is a vision of him with young monsters. It also appears that he has a new partner, a honey badger, and that Remi has evolved into a Naga Shaman, or possibly a Naga Queen.”
The Colonel looked shocked. “That could complicate things. If he has that much amassed power, the Divine Beasts are not going to want to let him go so easily. He is a high-level threat that might be turned against them in the future, and his class allows him to bond beasts.
If the dragons agree to work with us and bring him back, there might be a price to pay for his return. But that is the Government’s problem.
Our team is here to collect you all in preparation to meet with him, so that the contract with the Red Dragon isn’t broken.”
Doug tapped the table as he thought. “Do you think it is possible that he might make a break for it through the wilderness?
If there is anyone who wouldn’t fear the wild areas of the Divine Beast Nation, it is him. In fact, they might not even realize that he’s not one of them. If he put his hood up, he could pass as one of the beastkin.”
Colonel Valerie sighed. “That’s what we’re afraid of. He’s at a temple right now, but they might not prevent him from leaving, and that would put him out of reach of both our spies and any sort of safety he might be enjoying. There are two dragons there, a Bronze Dragon Overlord, and a Commander Rank Green Dragon who is practising her healing skills at their temple.”
Lotus froze for a moment, then frowned.
Her linked dragon was a Commander Rank juvenile Green Dragon. If it was not a vision, but an info dump from her patron who was usually so eager to see new things, it would make all sorts of sense. She never got to see things on her own, so now that she had seen them, she was just sharing everything with Lotus.
But when she thought about it, her patron seemed naive and intrigued by the concept of getting to go apprentice at a temple. So, it wasn’t her Green Dragon, just another young one.
That was a relief, somehow. Colonel Valerie continued her explanation. “Tonight, we are going to head to the border and make contact with the representatives of the Divine Beast Nation. We are not officially at war with them, but we are not on particularly good terms with them either, so I need everyone to be on their best behaviour.
I don’t know who they will send to meet with us, but be extra respectful, and remember that they are the representatives of another nation. A neutral nation that we need to stay neutral in our conflict with the Giants.
They are known to send a lower ranking beast as their representative, just to see if we will take it as an insult. That means no trying to treat the representative like a child or a wild animal. No talking down to them, in short, don’t do anything out of line if you want us to get Karl back without months of headaches.”
Dana laughed. “You know, now that Thor is surrounded by Divine Beast Nation clerics, he might not want to leave. They’re extra friendly to beasts, right? So even if they don’t want Karl there, the rest of the team should be pretty popular.”
Ophelia laughed. “There is no way that Thor is not popular. Everyone loves Thor.”
The visiting Bureau team members chuckled. They could only imagine the chaos that would happen if the Divine Beasts refused to assist in returning an Elite that had been brought there by an anomaly because his beasts were too likeable.
The team smirked at the thought. They could definitely see it happening. But the good news was that they now had reliable intelligence on Karl’s safety and not just vague visions of him interacting with small animals.