No Music Today. Couldn't find anything fitting.
Chapter 493: An Advisor
Early Morning - Late Summer : Year 39 : Poseidon, Draconic Continent
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"Reon.. Koilos..?" Looking over a young ancient more sleek and slender than any I had ever seen, I muttered his name like I was speaking a foreign language.
"That is correct, sir." He was extremely calm and collected, holding his head as high as his streamlined stature would let him.
But at first it was truly difficult to look past his appearance.
"Does.. your whole family glow like that..?" Looking down his body, he was glowing exactly as Mother or I did, however...
His glow wasn't from mana like ours. "Ah, no. Its actually because of my diet."
He was actually, properly bioluminescent.
"To make my rations last as long as possible, I scavenge whatever I can find underground, and well, over time the glow from their bodies found its way into my scales." Lifting his leg, he gave his almost glittery, partially webbed paw a look before resting it down again.
"Interesting..." -So he's eaten so much bioluminescent life that his body has adapted to it.- Almost like his food, after consuming such a huge amount of it over years and years, acted like a low potency elixir. "You must have been doing this a really long time."
He was quick to give a passionate nod. "Everything on the surface is just a single layer of parchment laid over countless. Restricting yourself to it is like choosing to study an entire art gallery through the first painting you see."
My tail stilled as my eyes widened with sudden realization—finally understanding what Hera meant by the uniqueness of his nature. -What a fascinating way to think about it...-
He was young compared to us, but clearly beyond his years. -Plus, despite knowing who Hera is, he's not afraid to keep his head high.- Not with arrogance, but confidence in his work. "Hah, I was wondering who could possibly bring such high hopes out of Hera." Moving my paw out, we gently tapped wrists as a sort of hand shake. "My name's Vasilias, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Ah, I see! I apologize if I came off a bit rude." Giving a hasty, but professional bow, he flared his wings and lit up the space like a giant nightlight. "My name is Reon Koilos, a subterranean researcher who was doing it purely for fun before being introduced to professional work by Lady Monachikós."
Stepping back, I sat down, using some dim light magic to make the damp, gloomy cave we were in a little more comfortable. "You've never done any professional work despite doing it for so long?"
He was quick to respond with a nod before sitting down more comfortably. "My family was largely involved in the fish trade, merchant escorting, and security commissioning throughout global commerce, but my calling was elsewhere." Motioning into the darkness behind him, his smile grew content. "Before the collapse, I made just enough money to live on by mapping dungeons and caves all around the world, and selling them to local kingdoms. Though, after the attacks.. I had to come back."
My wings gently shifted as my tail curled in understanding. "Family matters?"
He was quick to agree. "Because our business was based in Emporio, we escaped unharmed physically, but the family business urgently needed help to stay afloat. It was actually only thanks to the madam's commission requesting we help relocate the Merfolk and terraform the channel that we stayed afloat long enough to reconfigure." He politely motioned to Hera as he spoke.
-Ah, so that's how they met...- "And your focus in that effort, was..?"
"The terraforming. It wasn't something I was used to, but the madam assigned it to me after hearing about my background."
Hera, holding her head with pride, looked at me like she was presenting a trophy. "He did a phenomenal job too."
He just shied away though. "You're too kind, miss. I have so much to learn still."
"But the merfolk settlement hasn't gotten washed away by the currents, or sunken into the canal yet."
He seemed to almost start sweating as she gave him the worthy praise. "'Yet' is an important word. I still need to go check on it again sometime soon to make sure the sediment is settling evenly and safely."
-Interesting...- He was oddly humble for how clearly skilled he was. "That is still quite an impressive accomplishment for something you say you aren't experienced with. It makes me wonder what your skills are like with matters you're more confident with. By the looks of things, what Hera has you doing here should be an example of it."
His expression brightened as his tail youthfully tapped the ground. "Of course! You have no idea how long I've been wanting to explore Poseidon, let alone research it as closely as I have been."
-Hoh..?- "Are the military ruins here that interesting?"
"Ah," With Hera simply motioning him to go on, he quickly realized I was misunderstanding before continuing. "No, sir. Deeper in the mountain there are some ruins from long before this island was a military installation." He motioned his tail toward the darkness as he elaborated, "I am mapping the Golden Age ruins as well, but the source of my studies is much deeper in."
-What?- "The way you phrased that makes it sound like the deeper ruins predate the Golden Age."
Nodding, he continued with a more passionate, but professional cadence. "That's because they do! One of my greatest passions has been studying the ancient architecture that predates Bahamut—before dragons moved to living more on the surface—and this island houses one of the most well developed, and preserved examples of it I've ever found."
-Really..?- Looking at Hera, I used my aura to whisper, "Did you know about it?"
But unlike the shrug I expected, she gave me an immediate nod. "My grandparents were raised there. It was a small city by modern standards, but a quite developed one for the time."
"Interesting..." Looking into the darkness behind Reon, I pushed my aura through the caves and fractured ruins to try and find the cavern while Hera continued.
"It's what I'm hoping to use as a reference for the reconstruction of other cities."
And at the forefront of that effort was the young man before me. A dragon that was still being tested, but was already passing with flying colors.
"The ruins were originally accessed through an entryway carved through the caldera," Not realizing Hera and I were talking, he continued in detail, "but now, it's only accessible through old fractured tunnels, and the natural cave systems carved by local water runoff and aquifers. It's a full day's journey, but is a little cramped for you two, regardless."
Seeing the extremely thin and many even submerged passages he was likely referencing, I nodded. "But I would like to see what the ruins were like at some point. Were they built in the magma chamber of the volcano?"
Realizing I wasn't completely ignorant to the subject, he quickly got more comfortable. "Correct! I'm still not entirely sure how they got rid of the magma, but the original entrance was through the column that connected the upper magma chamber to the caldera. It just collapsed in on itself at one point and would require an impossible excavation effort to reopen at this point."
-How fascinating...- It was practically the origin of draconic culture—the purest representation of draconic living before Bahamut humanized it.
And that made me truly wish to challenge Reon's 'impossible' claim. "What would make clearing out the rubble so difficult? I assume its something beyond just how much rock there is, right?"
"That's correct." Not shying away or stuttering in the slightest, he explained, "Because of how the rubble collapsed on the ruins, small shifts in the weight of the rock above, or below it, could cause further collapse." He almost looked to grimace at the thought of it. "The ruins are still extremely sturdy, especially by modern construction standards, but the amount of weight that could shift in that rubble is magnitudes beyond what it could handle.. and.. after so many years, I'm not certain the cavern walls could support themselves if the ruins were broken."
Visualizing structures that bridged the ceiling to the floor almost like complex, structured pillars, I nodded. "I see." -If that is the case, then its definitely not a simple matter, but...- Looking at Hera, I wasn't completely averse to the idea. "By the shortest route to the cavern, how long would it take to reach it?"
Reon's professional reservation returned in that breath though. "There is none I'd be able to bring you two through, I'm afraid." Lifting his wing to look back into his bag, the noise of rustling paper filled the cave's silence before he pulled out a piece of highly treated parchment. "These are the maps I've made so far, stacked by layer." Stepping forward with it, he flipped a few pages before presenting me with one that had a faint, glowing dot on the bottom of a page. "We are right on that dot, and if you look at the grid, each square is right around two kilometers."
And even on that scale, some of the widest chokepoints in the cavern were just a microscopic, jagged line.
"Even if I took the most open path I know of, it would require you two to squeeze through a barely five meter wide opening under hundreds of meters of water." Water too deep for most humanoid forms, which was what we'd likely need. "If you'd really like me to take you to the inner chambers, I can, but I think it'd be best to take some time to widen the tighter spots..."
"I see." -Then, in that case.- "Would it be convenient for you if I carved a wider path from here straight to the inner chamber?"
The suggestion only seemed to temper his comfort though. "It's.. not that simple, sir... There are massive aquifers all throughout the mountain, with huge sections of loose sediment being even more common. Carving a straight path to the chamber would just be asking to have the tunnel collapse on you."
"I am aware. It wouldn't be difficult to reinforce it as we go."
Keeping his head high, his tone began shifting. "Sir," He wasn't trying to just advise me against it. "I'm talking about literal oceans locked in rock. Cubic kilometers of water with sediment so thick it'd bury us in kilometers of hardening cement." He was telling me no.
But while I was still confident, I didn't care to force it. "Then, how about we take whatever path you wish, and I widen the chokepoints to make it a little easier of a trip."
Looking at Hera, he was impressively unconvinced, questioning if I was actually being serious.
But instead of supporting him like he expected, Hera confirmed. "If it wouldn't be too much of a burden for you to show us the way, it would be appreciated."
And.. while still unconvinced, after her nudge, he finally agreed. "Alright, then." Sounding like he was already preparing the 'I told you so.'
It was understandable though. -If we were normal dragons, I'd really sound stupid.-
But I had no intention of hiding anything from him. If he was to be working under Hera and I for as long as I was anticipating, he'd need to know exactly what kind of beings he was working alongside...
And there was no amount of logic or experience that could have prepared him for that awakening.
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