Tales of The Mighty Dragonair

"One can handle ten, are you sure about that?" Arthur didn't want arrogance to stand between Doaf and the right assessment here.

He wasn't considering only his own safety or the academy's, but the other task he had in mind.

"I'm not exaggerating," Doaf proudly declared, "my men are the elites our grandmaster has. We can't be compared to some rogue assassins. Don't worry young master, your safety is in good hands."

"Good," Arthur nodded before adding, "then fifty stationed here will be enough."

"F- Fifty?!" Mr. E hurried to interrupt, "but this is far from enough."

"They are able to handle five hundred enemies," Arthur helplessly said, "do you think more will come at the academy?"

"I think we should station a hundred," Mr. E asked again about the same number in mind.

"If the young master allows me to speak," Doaf cleared his throat while glancing over Arthur who just nodded, "we can leave a hundred of our fresh recruitment here. They are strong but they aren't like the veterans of our legion."

Before Mr. E could object again, Arthur hurried to say: "Agreed. Leave a hundred of them here then, and let's prepare to leave."

"Now?" Mr. E was surprised, "it's already dark."

"We have to hit the road early and not waste a minute," Arthur said.

"Don't worry, night or day we can protect our your master," Doaf promised.

"What about the other team?" Mr. E asked, "we have five more teams ready to join you there."

"Send them to the gate of the academy now," Arthur just shrugged, without caring about these teams anymore, "they will be secured by Doaf and his men as well."

Doaf nodded to confirm the words of Arthur. "Alright, I'll fetch someone to them and make them move out now."

Mr. E took out five bird's wings before sending them off.

"Let's go."

Arthur was now standing in front of the academy gates. The five teams Mr. E spoke about were already there, and each had twenty members at least.

Doaf and his team surrounded everyone, while Doaf walked with Arthur at the rear of the march.

As for Arthur's team, they were already marching in the center.

Mr. E stood on top of the tattered walls of the academy with many of his masters. Some proposed to accompany them, but Doaf refused.

"The safety of our young master is our responsibility," he said.

The caravan marched with great speed towards the front. Doaf let part of his team move around as a scout while he let another group lead the team towards the front.

Before leaving, he made sure to have all the maps about this world memorized by his team members. Now they knew what lied ahead and how much distance it was between them and the Locek academy.

Dorgazire academy lied on one side of the world, while Locek academy was in its center. The distance on the maps didn't seem big, but according to Mr. E words it was vast.

At least ten days are required to travel on foot, but Doaf wasn't in a hurry as the competition would be held in two weeks at least from now.

"Tell me, how much can we spare?" Arthur suddenly asked in a soft tone after one day of march without any rest.

"Do you want to dispatch part of the legion?" Doaf asked with some curiosity.

"I have another mission to handle," Arthur asked, "we have four hundred now, and we might spare to lose one hundred, right?"

"In theory yes," Doaf was feeling odd, "but for what? That will leave us vulnerable and might lead our enemies to attack."

"Didn't you say one against ten?" Arthur said.

"I'm not talking about that," Doaf shook his head, "what I meant was the total number of enemies here."

"Aren't they a thousand?"

"I believe they are more," Doaf sighed, "our grandmaster used his connections before sending us here. As far as we know there are at least two thousand mercenaries who accepted the call."

"Two thousand… not bad," Arthur nodded, "I just don't like this prey feeling. I want to be the predator."

Doaf gave him a long glance before muttering, "want to lure them out?"

"Indeed," Arthur nodded before adding, "I want to let them attack us then retreat."

"Retreat?!!" This time Doaf was taken aback by what Arthur intended to do.

"Here is what I want you to do…" Arthur then explained things to him. After he finished, Doaf took a deep breath before expressing his thoughts.

"To be honest, this plan is sinister in its core," he paused, "I heard the young master belongs initially to the dark dragonair clan. Is this true?"

"Indeed," Arthur didn't try to coat things up, "I'm a dark dragonair who decided to stand against them."

"Personal feud?" Doaf asked.

"Not that," Arthur shook his head, "in fact I hated being the bad guy here. I'm a nice dragonair, why should I be on the side of those evildoers?"

Doaf didn't buy this reason, but for Arthur this was enough as one. He wouldn't speak about his origin, or how he came to this world.

'I might have a personal feud with them,' he thought to himself when he recalled the past events that started with that weird doctor and ended by trying to absorb his soul, 'but I'm a good guy from the beginning,' he said what he really felt.

"Alright," Doaf nodded, "we'll use this plan of yours and hope it will work."

"It will," Arthur smiled in confidence, "they are the restless one right now, not me."

"Because of us?"

"Locek academy has its own backing," Arthur simply said, "they won't be able to handle us properly there without causing many problems to themselves."

"Do you know which clan they have their backing?"

"No clue," Arthur shook his head before adding, "I just know they have someone's support, and that support seems to be strong enough to scare those assassins."