RISE OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR - Chapter 55 Danger

Ronan decided to leisurely spend the last day before winter break at the academy. He only did light training for 2 hours as he wanted to spend the rest of the time with his housemates.

This was a huge change in his personality. Coming into the academy 6 months ago, he would have never thought about giving up on training time for socializing, yet somehow, he felt melancholic about leaving the academy for the winter break. Hence, he wanted to spend some time with his friends before he went home.

His attitude was still aloof; he would hardly speak a sentence or two, but he intently heard everyone’s conversations and insights about the journey to becoming stronger.

Ronan tried not to judge anyone, and accepted everyone’s goals no matter how trivial they seemed to him.

However, he found out, on average, there were more men who desperately wanted to become stronger in life than women. He found this disparity to be odd since crisis did not distinguish between men and women.

When facing a strong enemy, only one’s strength mattered and not one’s gender, hence Ronan noted this in his mind as he decided to ask the wise grandmother Luna about why that was the case.

At his age, Ronan was not interested in girls, but he could discern that he found girls with ambition and a drive to become stronger more favourable than those that focused on beauty and other stuff.

However, he did not voice his opinions as he spent the night in joy before departing the next morning.

****_.

Percy was waiting for him at the school gate as he talked about security with the head of the guard convoy that had came to escort the two princes back home.

Being isolated in the academy, the two had little to no idea about the terrorist attacks going on in Avalon. They had a lot to catch up to speed with.

Whenever Ronan looked at Percy, he was reminded about his defeat on that day. His heart still stung at the pain.

“Not yet… You are not strong enough yet.” was what Percy told him moments before his defeat, and Ronan knew it was true.

He was not strong enough yet, but it was not his fault because he was trying his best to improve and desperately wanted his big brother to appreciate him.

When Percy looked at Ronan, he found him staring at him with a gullible expression on his face.

Percy instantly knew what the little one was feeling as he called him over. “Oye Roro, come meet the captain.”

Ronan sulked as he walked to greet the captain with a sullen face. Percy introduced his little brother, saying, “Captain, I know you must be proud to learn that Ronan has become level 33 and also mastered an A-ranked spell. My brother is quite the prodigy, isn’t he?”

All of Ronan’s sadness was instantly gone as he gave Percy a bright smile. This praise was exactly what he wanted to hear after his defeat as he bear hugged his big brother in joy.

Such was the relationship between the two brothers. Although there was a competitive spirit between them, the love was much deeper and stronger. Especially for Percy, for whom Ronan was everything.

He did not show it, nor did he reveal it while talking to Ronan. However, he was extremely proud of his younger brother. He had no question in his mind that Ronan was monumentally more talented than himself, hence he tried his best to keep him on his toes and motivated.

Ronan was undoubtedly the biggest reason for him training so hard. Although he knew that Ronan was more talented and would some day surpass him for sure, his pride as the elder brother made him unable to accept being the weaker of the two.

It was because of this vain pride that Percy trained as hard as he did; he wanted to stay ahead of Ronan for as long as he could. However, with every passing day, that gap shortened.

The leader of the escort unit was called Captain Mahesh Rajput. He was a level 80 veteran who could remain calm and composed in the face of a crisis.

Captain Mahesh laughed at the display of affection between the two brothers, finding it adorable. At the same time, he was shocked to learn in his heart that a seven-year-old was able to master an A-ranked spell.

When he inspected the two kids, he found that Ronan was level 33 while Percy was level 46! This shocked him even more as he could not even begin to comprehend the monstrous geniuses that these two were. He began to doubt that within 2-4 years, they might be on par with him.

This thought sent chills down his spine. Being fifty years old, it was nearly 43 years since he had started his levelling journey, and it was not a slow one at all. Yet, compared to the two princes, it was not even worth mentioning.

There were a total of 13 identical carriages and seventy level 60 or higher soldiers in captain Mahesh’s group as the two princes were placed in carriage number 5 along with captain Mahesh as the convoy started its journey back to the capital.

The journey was 16 hours long and was scheduled to be completed in one steady march without any breaks.

The security this time was much greater than the last time Percy was escorted home. It made Percy ask Captain Mahesh about the reason behind the tight security.

Captain Mahesh sighed deeply, “Over the past few months, there have been terrorist attacks all over the country, led by the dastardly tribes of the Northern Wastelands who are collaborating with the seven seas organization and the remnants of the Phoenix clan, for revenge.

“The first few months were extremely bad, with us having no means to fight back against the terrorists, until Prime Minister Leif beat them at their own games and flushed the rats out.

“With their identities revealed and us strategically targeting their source of income and using political power to suppress the seven seas organization, the attacks significantly reduced in number. However, their intensity has increased, in terms of concentration of their planned attacks.

“There are more and more scuffles, drawn out and bloody. Their side takes heavy losses on a daily basis. However, a few of our own die too.”

Both Ronan and Percy were shocked to hear about these developments. They became silent after hearing this, as they started calculating in their mind.

Percy started thinking comprehensively about how he could help father during these hard times while Ronan only had scenes of battle playing in his mind.

He thought about how he could drive back an entire unit of terrorists alone and blast them with his lightning, standing tall over their defeated bodies and eating sweets for his hard work.

The idea of eating sweets made Ronan drool as he placed his head on Percy’s shoulders, covering it in his saliva.

“DIRTY PIG!” Percy shoved Ronan’s head off his shoulder when he felt something moist on himself as he made a vomiting expression at the disregard of hygiene showed by his brother.

However, right at this moment, a loud sound of explosion could be heard alongside the screams of soldiers as the sound of a flare being released into the air was heard just a second after.

“Stay inside, we’re under attack!” said captain Mahesh with a solemn expression on his face as he exited the carriage, entering the fight.

However, right as he set a foot outside the carriage, four daggers impaled his neck at the same time as captain Mahesh dropped dead right in front of Percy and Ronan, his neck sizzling from the poison laced on the daggers.

“Assassins.” Exclaimed Percy with his eyes wide open as the fear of mortality hit the Draco brothers.

They were undoubtedly in huge trouble.

——-

(Meanwhile, a few hours ago, in Avalon)

“I have this feeling, Luna. I need to get the boys myself. I don’t feel so good about the terrorists,” Augustus said with worry all over his face.

“Stop being so paranoid. Nothing will happen to our children inside Avalon, and Mahesh is level 80, for god’s sake. Even ascended can’t kill him in a short time.” Grandma Luna opposed his idea.

However, Grandpa Augustus was of a unilateral mind and did not listen to anyone once he had made his decision to leave.

“Tell Alexander I’m off to get the boys.” He said as he stormed out of the room and went towards the stables.

Generally, the mounts used by the people of Everlon were land mounts, but select individuals having a blood pact with some flying beasts could tame them. The ‘Bald-headed Eagle’ was one of the only two flying mounts in Avalon.

Only Alexander Draco and Augustus Draco had flying mounts in the entire country. Augustus got on the back of his eagle, whose name was ‘Honda’, and flew off towards the royal academy of Avalon.

His goal: To see the faces of his grandchildren as soon as possible!