The Void Wolf

Dark blue beams of mana continued to level areas of the city, spreading mass panic all the while.

“We have to help them!” Randolph shouted.

“Good luck,” Ira replied.

“...You’ll let all of them die?!” Randolph looked shocked at Ira’s indifference to the situation.

“Look and listen, they aren’t really attacking civilians. In fact, they seem to have predetermined targets,” Ira explained.

“There are still innocent lives among them,” Randolph said in an attempt to reason with Ira.

“If children were at risk then I’d be compelled to move, I have a bit of a soft spot for them. From what I can see and hear it’s only nobles and soldiers being caught up in it. I wouldn’t exactly count either one of those groups as innocent.” Ira shrugged.

“So you won’t help?” Randolph grit his teeth.

“Nope. Unless they attack me first or children are in danger, I won't move a muscle. I will let you in on a little secret though, Randolph.” Ira said with a smile before continuing. “The First Prince of this Kingdom is behind this attack. I’m guessing that the targets being attacked by the Airship are his enemies and soldiers who are loyal to the King.”

“...But how would they know exactly where to attack?” Randolph didn’t want to believe but he knew the games nobles played. There were many underhanded attempts to win him over with offers of marriage and promises of riches but Randolph resisted it all. Even when he almost felt himself being swept away by desire a strong apathetic feeling would suddenly overcome him and strengthen his willpower. The sensation was foreign to him and he continued to have more frequent experiences where he felt as if he had no control over his body. The feeling of losing control over his own mind quickly became Randolph’s biggest fear.

“Maybe they have someone setting signal fires or maybe have a detailed map. There is also the chance of someone painting a giant red x on each roof. Who cares how they did it?” Ira began to get bothered by Randolph’s questioning.

“Come on, Clark. We have to save as many as we can.” Randolph looked disappointed in Ira but the latter didn’t care.

The people Ira cared about didn’t live in the Grenitian Kingdom so he was completely ok with Randolph’s negative feelings toward him.

Clark nodded and the two began running to the chaos in the background. Another barrage of mana beams came pouring down and hit their targets with one hundred percent accuracy.

“I’ve seen enough. Are you ready to go home, Aldis?” Ira asked with a yawn.

“Yeah,” Aldis replied while watching the Airships rain terror on the nobles below.

“See you later then.” Ira waved before he teleported Aldis away. “Now, onto Yeramesh.”

…

Inside of a large gated encampment, there were thousands of children gathered up. There were dozens of lines where the children waited to receive their daily rations. The cooks were just random guards assigned to the task of feeding the children, they stirred pots of gruel with bored expressions. As humans, most of them were happy when they got to watch half-dragon children suffer until they found out that they would be caring for the children instead of tormenting them.

“They say the laughing wolf eats children, especially half-dragon children.” A cook said to a pair of children who approached with empty wooden bowls.

“O-Only bad ones! I didn’t do anything bad!” A boy responded pitifully. There was fear written on his face when faced with the prospect of being eaten.

“Yeah, you’re right he only eats the bad ones, but if your parents were bad then you’re also bad.” The cook sneered.

“Hey, don’t bother the kids,” A man on patrol said loudly.

“...Why not? I have to stand here for hours and feed these little shits.”

“The Dragon Slayer requested that Virgil take care of these children until he comes to get them,” The guard on patrol replied.

“Bullshit. They’ve been saying the same shit for over two months and I haven’t seen one trace of the Dragon Slayer. All I’ve heard is the dragons as well as some of the other races calling him The Laughing Wolf. Seems to scare most of them off easily enough.” The cook pointed to a kid before shoveling a spoonful of stew into their bowl.

“Virgil’s here!” Someone shouted.

“What?!” The patrolman looked stunned. “Does that mean the Dragon Slayer is with him?”

“If you’re asking if Virgil was with someone the answer is yes, some young guy with yellow eyes,” The man who announced the news responded.

“The Dragon Slayer is the only with those features you idiot.” The patrolman was about to rush out to catch a trace of Ira but the person in question entered the encampment with Virgil.

“Gather the children up!” Virgil shouted his orders and the guards nodded before organizing the children together. There were screams of terror as most of the frightened children thought they were going to be eaten alive.

A makeshift platform was put together for Ira who climbed onto it and gazed at the huge crowd of children. He could hear the contents of their frightened whispers and he almost ended up laughing at the kids who assumed he was there to eat them.

“I’m not going to eat any of you, you’re all just going to a new home.” Ira's voice traveled throughout the crowd regardless of how loud he spoke. “You can eat pastries and enjoy yourselves rather be stuck in a shabby camp.”

Ira didn’t wait for any of them to react since his purpose wasn’t to persuade them. The priests and scribes were the ones responsible for ‘convincing’ children to accept their new lives.

With a wave of his hands, all of the children vanished and the once-crowded encampment was now empty.

“Well, with that I’ll be out of your hair, Virgil,” Ira said.

Virgil exhaled a sigh of relief but before he could be happy to be rid of Ira, the latter smiled which he saw as foreboding.

“You know where the Naiads are right? Point me in the direction of the Sea Serpent and then I won’t bother you anymore.”

“What purpose do you have in finding the Sea Serpent? Better yet, don’t tell me. I don’t want to be involved any more than I already am.” Virgil decided, in a very Ira-like manner, that he shouldn’t bother to interfere if it didn’t concern him. “I’ll find a map to the general location of the Underwater Kingdom. There’s no exact location since it’s located underwater.”

Ira nodded and waited for Virgil to go retrieve the maps. After a few moments, Virgil returned and handed over the maps to Ira with clear excitement. He was almost free of worrying about Ira killing him without warning for some trivial reason.

“Good stuff, I’ll see you around, Virgil.” Ira waved before vanishing.

If there were Gods, Virgil was thankful for their grace during that day. What Virgil didn’t know was that the deities above were not very caring toward the lives of mortals.

Most of the Gods wanted Ira to violate more laws of the Mortal Realm so they could interfere. It was likely to be the same type of interference that led to the Dragons ruling over humans as well as other races. If Virgil knew he would do everything in his power to stop Ira, even if it cost him his life. Unfortunately, Virgil didn’t possess the ability to know the plans of the Gods.