Part 19: The Dragon Child or, That's 15 More Than The Fucks I Give

Chapter 15: The Dragon Child or, That's 15 More Than The Fucks I Give

Last episode was a stinker. I was not terribly fond of the desert/fog of war combo before it, but I'll take reduced movement over "fuck you if you can't fly" movement any day.


Roy's army leaves the desert by following Igrene's lead. Now, they turn toward Eturia to confront the revolutionary forces. However, they receive a troubling letter from the elder of Arcadia.


If she falls into the hands of the revolutionaries or Bern, there is no telling what might happen to her, or to Roy's army. Determined to find Fae, Roy moves to a small fort on the Eturian border...



I've a few people I want to train up and hopefully promote next chapter, and a few who'll be tagging along just because they're pretty cool people.

Also, Shanna.



The nightmare is behind us. On to bigger and better things, like this perfectly ordinary overworld chapter! Ah, the mountains, the grass, the trees! How wonderful they are.



Girl? The one that was scurrying around outside the castle? I distinctly recall telling you to throw her out!

But sir, she was carrying this.



...I believe so.

Have you seen a dragonstone before?

Yes, in the invasion of Lycia. The manaketes carried them when they were in human form.

...It looks a tad different from the stones that they held. Still, it must be related to those dragonstones. We should inform King Zephiel and await further orders. Keep the girl inside the castle!

What a coincidence, I was just about to conquer it anyway.



But suddenly enemies! Some of whom look considerably less generic than the rest. I wonder if Percy's going to sit around doing nothing and then run off again like he did last time.

Please don't worry about me, General Douglas. You must return to King Mordred.

I'm sure I could have found a lot of things to change Douglas' face into, but he looks as if he has his membership card for the Hector Admiration Society so I'm inclined to leave him alone.

But getting rid of the Lycian Army...? You have more pressing matters to attend to...

Also, less suicidal ones!

Roartz only wants me out of the capital. He's worried I'll stab him in the back when he isn't looking.

That man, worrying about traitors? Hah! Why, he was the first to betray his loyalty to the king! Truly a snake if I ever met one.

No one's loyalty to Eturia can compare to yours, General Douglas.

Rubbish. Just look at yourself.

...When Prince Myrddin still lived, I never hesitated to fulfill his will. I believed I could dedicate my life to him and the good of Eturia. My duty now is to protect the king's life. Surely that should be enough reason for me to fight, and yet...

"...I find myself spewing exposition everywhere, I'm terribly sorry, I know that was a new shirt."

You hesitate in your actions?

Frankly, yes. It feels meaningless.

If that isn't a giant glowing RECRUIT ME sign, I don't know what is.

I cannot say I blame you... Perceval, I want you to listen to me. Don't respond. Let it sink in.

......

Eturia... will fall along with the king before this war ends.

General Douglas?!

No matter what happens, I will stay by the king's side. But you, Perceval, are of a different breed. You must lead the Eturia of tomorrow.
Despite the impending collapse, I firmly believe Eturia will prosper once more. Perceval, you must leave Eturia for now and await your time.




The Lycian Army stands dead ahead! What are your orders, sir?

Go! I will return to Aquleia.



Good luck with that, buddy!



That's what the locals told me.


This is my fault for not considering what Fae might do. We have no time for this rescue. We must hurry to Aquleia.

Are you trying to deny me a playable dragon, Igrene...? That's it, you're on my shit list, effective immediately.

This is nobody's fault. If Bern gets their hands on her, it could be catastrophic.

She should be safe as long as she remains in human form and hides her dragonstone.

Dragonstone?

We just went over this shit, could you maybe do it off screen the second time...?

When dragons are in human form, they seal their power into dragonstones. Dragons use vast amounts of energy to maintain their true shape, so most remain in human form to minimize the stress on their bodies.

Apparently not.

That must be what the unhumans with Bern do as well.

From what you have told me, that seems most likely. Dragons have apparently been taking human form since the end of the Scouring.

For that long...?

Yes...

I wonder if Roy could do anything fun with a dragonstone if he got his hands on one, given he's most likely half dragon...



What did he find out?

Many soldiers are coming out of the castle. They seem to be fortifying their defenses.

They must have discovered that Fae is a dragon...

The troops on the border seem to have noticed us.

Then we must move quickly.

I certainly hope I won't have to transcribe more before we do!



Fortunately, not so. Percy's squad is in the top left corner, the boss is on the castle gate as usual, and there's a bunch of mooks between us and him. Let's kill them all.



To help facilitate that, we have been given yet another promoted archer, because if you hadn't caught on by now, IS really, really hate Wolt. The bastards.


A sniper known as the Guardian of Nabata.

She is obviously inferior to Wolt, but I've kind of made sure of that so the comparison isn't very fair. More disturbingly, if I promoted Dorothy right now, she'd outspeed and outdamage Igrene, and of course she has also had like 15 maps to make me like her. Igrene looks cool, but she's so benched once this mission's over.

Her growths are HP 70, Str 35, Skl 25, Spd 35, Lck 20, Def 10, Res 5, following the Standard "prepromotes can't be good" clause in IntSys' contract, so Dorothy soundly beats her in that aspect too.


A knight of Bern watching over the Eturian border.

The boss is uh very interesting I'm sure and he has a spear, wow, what a guy, next?


The Knight General of Eturia. An imposing man of great potential.

That description is just lies piled on lies, his class isn't knight and his growths are HP 75, Str 30, Skl 25, Spd 35, Lck 20, Def 20, Res 10, which is only marginally better than Igrene. However, unlike his previously-recruited colleague, Percival actually has stats that look like they could belong to a promoted unit! Though, I'm not sure how my grass-fed, hand-raised cavaliers will compare by level 20+5. Lance might be able to double him.



Anyway, let's get this under way. There's a wyvern up with the boss for Schwarth to draw out, and the merc will go for Fir.



It does not go well for him.



Nor does this go well for the wyvern. He is worth 20 exp for Schwarth.



We'll move on ahead.



It's... speed capped, at least.



Percy and his posse are not going to sit around doing nothing and then run off again. This could be a problem.

...But my guess is Schwarth or Cecilia should be able to recruit him.



Roy can't do it.



...Maybe he doesn't recognize Schwarth with the mask on?



It turns out I have no one who can recruit Percy.

...

Well that's just too bad then!



IT WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH.



Been a while since Roy got to kill something big enough to give him a level-up. Pretty decent one, too!



Igrene is not going to see much use, but she has a mostly-empty inventory so she gets to visit the village.


Here, I'll give you this. Please rescue her. Our priest always had this tome with him.
...He was taken to the castle, too, but he never returned.

Igrene gets a Divine tome, which is marginally better than the Lightning one Saul is stuck with right now.



After wiping out Percy's escort, a couple more guys spawn on the upper right.

What do we do, Boss?

The armies are gonna loot the villages. We better get to 'em first.

All right, Boss!

Just don't hurt anybody who isn't askin' for it. Got it?

Yeah, yeah...


If anything happens to the villagers, we can just say the armies did it.

Excuse you, I do not loot, I am given tribute. It's completely different.



Arrows? Schwarth laughs at your arrows.



Speaking of, let's see Igrene's first and last battle.



You are very excited.

And that sprite does not match her portrait.



This guy is one of like two on the entire map who can seriously hurt Schwarth, and of course he hits her.



Schwarth learns from the experience and kills him on the next round. And now that it's our turn again, let's check out the newcomer.


A bandit from the Eturian border.

Yet another berserker, oh dear.



Some of the enemies on the bottom right went for the main group instead of braving the flying blender that is Schwarth.



It leads to a joyous occasion. Skill capped, but who cares, it has strength!



It's a bit of a waste of experience, but Schwarth is the only one who's in range to prevent 'Zerkerman and his cronies from looting that village before I can do it.

I mean

you know what I mean.

...

From one thing to another, something seems really off about that level now that I think about it...



So wyvern lord caps speed at 23. What a waste. What a terrible, terrible waste.



Shanna (naturally) isn't up to dealing with the archers, so she runs errands instead.


I bet they're all savage killers. They probably have no conscience at all.

What else is new?



Speaking of, Schwarth went and parked herself on the village, and some idiot with an axe thought it was a good idea to fuck with her.



He was barely even worth any experience, what the shit game.


It can repair your weapons, spell tomes, and staves. Just about the only thing it can't repair is itself. It'll wear down every time you use it, so wield it wisely.

That done, Schwarth gets to loo- the other thing. She can't wield it, but that's fine, I'm sure we can find someone who can, as well as some kind of thing to use it on.



Meanwhile, cleaning up.



And posing.



And okayish levels, I'll take anything with strength in it.



This? Not so much. I have benched men for less, Lance, get a grip.



There's also a vendor just below the village and I do not like the way it looks.



Wolt heads up to draw out the rest of the enemies. Lance visits the last house, because he doesn't need stats for that.


But so have the hearts of the people. I only hope they don't have to fight against each other...

I wouldn't worry too much about that.



This cavalier has suicidal thoughts.



Wolt helps him with those.



Good, I was about to run out of things to kill and I'm not nearly to level 20 with everyone yet!

Excellent. Deploy them now.

Yes, sir.

They... don't actually deploy them now.



Let's try to get those wyverns while we wait.



Fir hits level 20 with a more of a whimper than a bang, but 14 str isn't too bad, I'm okay with this. That defence, though...

As said before, anyone who promotes normally will do so by 20, I won't be trying to get her to 30/30 for All Green Stats or anything.



Schwarth doesn't have to do this, but it's hilarious, so she does.



Effective weapons.

Five damage.

Can't hit worth shit.



It's time for a montage!



Turn on the music!



Ogier, I don't think you quite understood the point here, the point is you kill shit and get better as you do.



Cavs start pouring out of the forts on top and the castle. Strength for Lance is good!



Better! Somewhat.



No, it's worse again!



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



More strength!



Don't worry if he takes a few hits in the process, he'll be just fine.



The fuck, Ogier.



That was not worth it.



The last generic enemy! Can Dorothy do it?



Now that is how you hit your theoretical level cap! Look forward to a nice juicy Orion's Bolt next map.


I don't know why you would attack us.

Then we move Wolt up next to the boss.



The most interesting thing that happens is that Wolt does not hit his 5% crit rate.


She isn't human... Why... do you seek her...? To use her power...? Gah...!

You don't need to worry about things like that any more, uh... dude whose name I've already forgotten.



That's not very Roy.



But it is the end of the map, so let's seize.



I believe you owe Lord Roy a thank you, young lady.





I just wanted to see the outside world...


Do you know how much trouble you've caused?

But... but... I'm never, ever allowed outside! The elder says I have to remain hidden... I'm always alone... locked up in my room...

......

Lord Roy, what shall we do?

...You could have been killed. Do you understand how much worry and trouble you've caused?

Yes... I'm sorry...

Truly?

Yes... Sniff...

All things considered, I think we have no choice but to take you with us.

Really?!

Are you sure?

The enemy might already know about her now. If that's true, she'll be safer with us than returning unguarded to Arcadia.



Hush! This isn't cause for celebration.

You mustn't run off alone anymore. Do you promise?

Yes! I pinky swear!



okay so we actually didn't get Fae in the party this chapter oops

I guess Sophia's powers of precognition are only as useful as Sophia herself.

Oh well. Next time, we have fun storming the castle! And promoting a whole bunch of units, holy shit, it'll be great.