Chapter 465 - Tamers War - The Cost of Victory
"I need to appear whole so they don’t come... Lets hope they don’t feel like testing their luck until I really recover... It seems I wasn’t the only one trying to get stronger."
Arturo immediately understood the implications and decided to take him to the castle where Victor was being attended by the best available healers.
"I don’t need healing," Dragarion protested while they flew. "I’m not sick or injured, just fatigue from the ’long journey’. Nothing that some rest, drink, and good food can’t fix."
The protest was casual but telling, someone accustomed to solving problems through overwhelming force now reduced to hoping rest and nutrition would be sufficient to face the challenges ahead.
But when they arrived in a few minutes and were ready to enter, Victor waited at the castle’s main entrance, clearly having sensed the moment of their arrival in the mana they emanated.
There the eldest son did reproach him for everything Arturo had decided to keep to himself.
Victor was more extroverted by nature, and besides, his ego was quite wounded by things that had happened to him during battle. Having been defeated so soundly by Venmont had been humiliating for someone accustomed to dominating the skies.
"What you don’t understand with that hard head, damn old fool," Victor continued without holding back anything, "is that your absence almost cost us the entire kingdom. Why the hell didn’t you return when I asked you directly a year ago? You’ve been playing explorer for years while we..."
Dragarion laughed, interrupting the diatribe with genuine amusement.
"You’re right," he admitted without defensiveness. "My departure took much longer than expected because those dragons are incredibly stubborn. I thought it would be a matter of months, not years."
The casual admission was both refreshing and infuriating... acknowledgment of fault delivered with the same energy most people used to discuss what to eat rather than matters of life and death.
He addressed Victor with an expression that became more serious.