Kat'erin and Shai'ya were among the elites within the Dragon Empire—depicting their prestige and brilliance since their days in the Academy.
A total of seven elite units existed in the Empire, and the two of them as a group formed one of them.
That was just how impressive they were.
The Dragon Girls were both intelligent and powerful, two traits that were most essential for a Dragon dedicated to the glory of the Empire.
As Generals who fell into the White Species, they were governed by the White Dragon Lord, Frey'ja. And now, with their new assignment at hand, they were once again met with another opportunity to prove their competence.
"We can't communicate with the Master at the moment, so we just have to observe things on our own for now…" Kat'erin mumbled, her finger on her chin as she spoke.
The communication network of Dragons was too advanced for petty humans to intercept, but as long as they had no clear idea of who or what they were dealing with, it would be foolish not to take account of any efforts at hijacking their network.
Plus, it remained a possibility that the Dragons who weren't on the side of the White Dragon Lord could intercept the information they were sending to their Master, so trying to divulge information to Lady Frey'ja or seeking commands on what next to do was not only reckless, but it also wasn't viable at the moment.
"The best we can do is wait for the Master to call us first. Or, perhaps we leave the vicinity of this place and communicate to her—in the case where the matters are urgent."
All of this was information that Kat'erin and Shai'ya already knew, but the reason the former even thought to go over things again was due to the latter asking a foolish question that went along those lines.
Still, with it being rehashed, Kat'erin was finally able to move forward with the conversation.
"For the plan, I was thinking of… h-hey, are you paying any attention?"
"Yep"
"Are you sure?"
"Yep!"
Kat'erin was growing exasperated with Shai'ya due to how absent-minded she looked and how much she spaced out despite the serious conversation they were having.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"You really don't take… huh?" Kat'erin instantly stopped dead in her tracks the moment she rose to her feet.
Her eyes instantly narrowed as she focused them on Shai'ya, and the latter nodded as well.
'What's this feeling? Someone is overhearing us?' The white-haired Dragon had no idea how she could have slipped up so easily and made such a slow observation of her surroundings.
'Not only did it take me so long to notice the eavesdropper, but I also hesitated in what I was previously saying, so the person eavesdropping probably suspects that I am onto them.'
She gritted her teeth and focused her attention on the door—or rather, what was behind it… whatever it was.
'I have to act fast!' Kat'erin dashed towards the door, while Shai'ya took her cue and dashed towards the closest wall to her; the one leading to the hallway.
Just as soon as her body passed through it to the other side, Kat'erin opened the door and readied herself to corner and kidnap whoever was responsible for the obvious breach in information.
They had to know how much the human knew.
~WHUUSH!~
Once the door flung open, the next face that Kat'erin saw caused her to nearly skip a beat as her eyes widened in absolute shock.
"Y-you…?!" She was looking right at Reta, the receptionist that showed them to their room not too long ago.
'I didn't order to do anything more using [Dragon Voice], so why is she here?'
"H-hello…" The squirmy girl adjusted her glasses, allowing more of her cute face to be on full display. She took a step back in shock, since the door was opened so abruptly, but was met with a sudden pushback that sent her body nearly tumbling forward.
The reason for that was due to the figure who now stood still behind her
It was Shai'ya, and at this point, her face was a blank slate—nothing like the bright smile that she wore as a mask.
She looked down on the girl who was now stuck between the two Dragons who looked at her with suspicious intensity.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})"What are you doing here? Calm yourself and tell me the truth." Kat'erin asked with a strict tone, cleaning her throat as she did so.
Since [Dragon Voice] was still active, the human girl had no choice but to tell the absolute trith on the matter at hand.
What would happen next was going to decide everything.
'We can't attack and kill humans, unfortunately. It would be foolish and reckless to disobey the Emperor's order.' That was precisely why the White Dragon Lord chose proxies instead of acting by herself.
'Even the Lords fear the Emperor. We have to give him reverence, even in this place, and obey his words.
As a result, the most they could do was silence her or alter her memories to a justifiable degree.
"I-I came to bring tonight's dinner options to you both in the form of a menu…" As she said this, Kat'erin instinctively looked at the lady's trembling hand, realizing she was right all along.
"A menu, huh…?"
She looked at Shai'ya—who was just waiting for an instruction—and sighed very loudly as she stretched out her hand to recieve it.
"Let me see…"
In no time at all, Shai'ya teleported beside Kat'erin, who was now reading through the list. While most of these meals did not suit their palette, they figured they had to at least take something so as not to appear suspicion,
"Thank you. We'll have this."
"A-ah, I see…" The girl nervously adjusted her glasses once again,.shifting a little in between the two women.
"O-okay. The meal will be ready in an hour's time. Is there anything else you'd like?"
"Nothing."
Kat'erin was still not over the faint sensation she sent behind the door back then. It couldn't have been Reta since she didn't have an ounce of power within her or oozing out. How did it make sense that a mere human would startle a Dragon?
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Not just any kind of Dragon, but a General.
'No… she isn't dangerous at all…' That was Kat'erin's conclusion from her observations on the human.
Yes, she was a bit odd… but not to that extent.
"I-I will leave and inform them, then…"
"Yeah. Do that."
"Umu!"
Reta ran off the moment she was allowed to, gasping as if she had just left a rather suffocating premises. The two ladies watched as she escaped, laughing and teasing silently as everything happened.
"Well… let's go back in." Kat'erin said as she looked at Shai'ya. "There's no one else in the hallway, you know?"
"Okay."
As Shai'ya entered the room, following the lead of the long-
haired Dragon, but failed to notice a black stand of energy behind her.
None of the girls were able to perceive it, and it latched itself into Shau'ya until the darkness began to dwindle; finally vanishing into obscurity without notice.
The door closed, and they returned to their scheming.
************
[Meanwhile…]
'So the Dragons have begun to make their move…'
The one who had this fleeting thought was Ater, and he uttered this form of a place of satisfaction rather than mere confirmation.
'It's a good thing I noticed them the moment they came into the city. Things could have gotten messier otherwise.
Ater was wearing an apron, with glasses on his face, long red hair, and a slender physique that made him look better than most girls.
In fact, he looked like a girl—the receptionist, for that matter.
'It was easy to get them to spill and get them to this point. The results were expected and there were hardly any surprises for me.'
He sat on a chair in what seemed to be a private office, and black mist just rose from his suit and formed something akin to a display screen.
The screen displayed the two girls conversing, with him listening to everything they said—important or not—and further observe them.
'I have a good grasp of their plan now, and I even intentionally put them on the spot just now, but it seems the stars are aligned in my favor.'
Ater knew these Dragons wouldn't be able to kill him or the innocents around, and that they had communication problems at the current moment.
'At this rate, it'll be tedious to launch investigations based on how limited their operation is confined to.'
Still, Ater didn't think they would have much of a problem, considering how unstable other things within the Capital were at the moment.
With the issue of the Nobles, rogue Otherworlders, and several other issues arising at the moment, this seemed like a presented opportunity for him to tie everything up in a neat bow.
"Time to launch the next phase of the plan." His eyes glowed a little as his lips spread to form a wicked grin.
'I'll make you proud, Master!'
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