Chapter 21 - The Earless Women

Without even the slightest fear in her heart and with a strong boldness on her tone, she proceeded to reply with. "I step on Dandelions." To Mogranius' flirting. Expressing clearly that she didn't like it.

The six foot tall earless women, seems to have heard every word Mogranius said, despite her clearly different features. And with a rough tone she proceeded to ask the two Ignites, well more like order. "You two have to leave this place. It isn't for you to use as you please." But too who was she talking too? It is not like either of them were paying attention, Eric was close to losing consciousness due to how drained out he felt, and Mogranius...

In nothing more but a blink, the women and the rest of the Calidum Lutum weren't able to see Mogranius(including Eric). No one knows where he is going with this odd enough, self introduction! But I think we are about to find out. One of the Calidum Lutum growled and pointed his finger towards Mogranius who seems to be standing on his feet with his back against the cave wall and apparently with one foot against the cave wall as well, tipping his hat downwards(you would think that he wouldn't be able to find his hat after such explosive battles).

Not sure of what to expect from this old goof, the woman turned to the one of the two who wasn't nearly acting like Mogranius. A bit concerned, she proceeded to ask. "What is he doing? Is he sane?"

Eric However, is even more surprised than the rest of the people. Even though he knew Mogranius way longer than anyone else in this cave. There was just too much to explain, too little of what he knew and barely any energy on his body to hold a simple conversation. After a short thought, the best thing he could say was. "I don't know, don't move."

Mogranius however, started shedding a little light to his nonsense if not more. "I'm Mogranius. Level Four Fire Wizard, fairly a time traveler and the eye candy in the group." Giving a glance at his own nails, talking about such acts as if they were no big deal. He proceeded to brag about an even bigger topic. "Used to mentor the previous Electus and now i'm mentoring the new one." Upon finishing his sentence, now he was just standing above Eric's head and was pointing his fingers towards Eric from both hands. Making it clear who the Electus was. It can't be put into word how he reached Eric even though he was 15 feet away just a moment ago.

The woman changes her facial expression once hearing the word Electus, but not for the better. She got even more grumpy, if you can believe that! With a rougher tone she proceeded to say. "One Electus long before you, separated this good continent to many countries. Every Electus lost our support ever since. Or would I say they lost the support from the Calidum Lutum. I have been here for about two hundred years." Rather odd that she was revealing her personal information to people she wanted to kill a while ago. But it made it rather clear which race the men behind her belong too.

Hearing the words "200 Years", Mogranius suddenly turns less flirty and uses his common logic to process this situation. Rather interested, he asks.  "Two Hundred years you say? That's exactly when i got teleported here by the Electus herself. Fair to say it was a spell gone wrong."

Not expecting such words from this Ignite but yet not surprised by it, she replied with ego as her motive. "Any Basic Electus wouldn't be nearly smart enough to handle teleportation powers. Teleportation isn't about brute crushing strength. It's all about studying, concentration and a bright mind who can hold on to all of the information." Glaring at Eric(who was still lying on the ground) with a strong deadly stare, she finished off by saying. "Every Electus prefers war, suffering and power."

Quite offended by what this woman is saying, he managed to focus enough and form a reasonable sentence. At this war, they are the victims after all. "What nonsense are you talking about? A huge war started right after the previous Electus passed away. If there wasn't a war before she died, it was because she held everything together, at peace."

A bit unaware of Ignis' recent history due to the obvious insulation, ego was still by her side. "Ha. That's all the races in these countries know. War. Endless war. This is why the Calidum Lutum disappeared thousands of years ago. Because they wanted no part of your nonsense. Whatever the case might be, you are not welcome here." Giving a glance at Mogranius and even irritated by the thought of him, she swiftly said. "Neither are you, aged weirdo."

Fueling up with rage because of what he was hearing from a person who clearly isn't aware of recent events, and even holds her lack of knowledge proudly, he started raising his voice sky high(even though a bit earlier he didn't have enough energy to talk normally). Apart from that, her claims about peace aren't so stable. "I will not accept to be taught peace and honour from someone who attacked a group of people with lava while they were sleeping." Taking big effort to seat himself instead of laying, he continued. "You are a coward! That's why you and the rest of you hid underground for thousands of years. You hid instead of fighting for what rightfully belongs to you. You all are a disgrace. all of you."

With such rage and words to match it, he touched the short tempered women's every nerve. It is a surprise that she didn't attack him yet. Because anyone else would. Having the urge to correct such nonsense(at least for her), she said. "You call this bravery? You can't even stand on your feet but you dare to try and oppose me. Knowing that either of us can eliminate you right now, you oppose me? You oppose us?"

Refusing to reply with anything to her sentences, Eric remained seated with fury burning through his eyes. The chances of him stalling them enough until he replenished his stamina, are large. Seeing such fury, she felt intimidated, surprised and thought that she said a few things that weren't for her to say. In aims to loosen the tension in this situation, she added. "I suppose you can teach us a thing or two about bravery. But definitely not honour. All you know is war." Well she has her limits of kindness after all. Every person does, but hers is tremendously short.

Putting up a strong struggle to try standing on his own two feet, using the cave wall to help himself up and with a bit of Mogranius' help as well(who forgot that his stamina depleted and was at a loss for words towards this conversation. He was too focused on her!). After putting up such strong effort, he brought his attention back towards the woman and proceeded to say. "I can't stand on my feet because I burned my stamina undoing what you threw against us. You keep yapping about peace but you could of killed hundreds with a forest fire. It isn't peace if only your kind is peaceful, watching others suffer. It especially isn't peace if you cause the suffering. It's racial dominance."

Although confused how such words came from a young ignite, she still had many other reasons to stand for what she believed in. Which made it easy for her give another reply. "So you say, making sure my soldiers aren't killed in battle started from people who couldn't care less about my soldiers or theirs, is a crime?"

"No one was touching you or any of your soldiers. You attacked us!" Replied Eric, pointing out a detail this woman kept forgetting(or ignoring).

Ridiculously, she still stuck to her self feeding ego and ignored everything else. Eric couldn't see the peace of which this woman kept praising and Mogranius loved her attitude for some reason. "How could you possibly oppose all the lava that teens of soldiers just released. You are nothing but a small child."

Although they attacked the group, he still agreed about one fact with her. The rulers, don't care about the soldiers who died in battle as long as they get what they "fought for". So he ignored her terrible character and tried to show sympathy to this race, even gave a final attempt to reason with her. "I am not quite sure what the Electuses before me started and ended but i'm fighting this war so innocent people don't get killed in battle anymore, so people escape slavery, so every person gets to taste peace."

Getting a strong vibe that Eric isn't a stereotypical warhead, she finally put ego aside and tried to befriend people she just killed. At this rate, Eric sounds more peaceful than the Calidum Lutum without a doubt. "You have to forgive me. I misjudged you. You clearly are a honourable... man? You are still a child. But anyway, me and my Guards would gladly assist you on your quest on freeing this land. but under one condition."

Seeing that Eric is more powerful than she ever imagined, powerful enough to not even brag about his abilities. She had to try and get something out of this. But it wasn't gold no. "After you win the war, you will do everything in your power to make ignis one. No countries, no borders. Everyone living together, peacefully. As it should be."