Forced into Marriage
"Your Her Majesty the Queen, I am now communicating with you using mind magic. You only need to silently say what you want to say in your mind, and we can communicate!"
"Your Excellency, is it because you're using this method to communicate with me that you don't want outsiders to hear some things?"
"Your Majesty is truly wise! Indeed, I do have some things I want to say to Your Majesty, but I am afraid of being overheard by others, so I used this method."
"Now, Your Excellency the Ambassador, may you speak?"
"Actually, what I wanted to tell Your Majesty was that my condition for negotiation was that Your Majesty would teach me the Augmented Magic, rather than a marriage alliance with Your Majesty."
Upon hearing Sordil's words, Irene, who had been lounging in her chair, abruptly opened her eyes and scrutinized him. The rosy complexion vanished instantly, replaced by a deathly pallor, and her hands gripped the armrests of her chair tightly. Everyone at the negotiating table was stunned by Irene's Diphiya Irene Anna, sitting beside Sordil, glanced at Sordil thoughtfully.
"Does Your Excellency feel that I am not beautiful enough and unworthy of you?"
Sordil's heart was already bleeding from refusing to marry Irene, and now, being questioned by Irene like this, Sordil felt his heart ache even more. In truth, Sordil desperately wanted to marry Irene, but faced with the reproductive barriers between dragons and humans, Sordil could only painfully abandon this option.
"It's not that Your Majesty isn't beautiful enough, but that I'm not worthy of Your Majesty."
Whether we are a good match or not is not up to you or me to decide; only the situation between the two countries will determine it! Therefore, a marriage alliance is inevitable, and neither of us has a choice.
Faced with the overwhelmingly powerful Irene and the increasingly dangerous situation, Sodir's resolve wavered. Just then, a small, delicate hand reached out from Sordil's right and gently poked his waist. Sordil glanced at Anna sitting to his right, puzzled, only to see her constantly winking at him. Following Anna's gaze, Sordil discovered that Diphiya's background had turned completely black, and her two resentful eyes were fixed on him. The passion in Sordil's heart vanished instantly, and he regained his composure, continuing to suppress his heartache and refuse Irene's request.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. As long as Your Majesty imparts the Augmented Magic to me, I will certainly persuade Your Majesty to sign an alliance and fight against the Evil Dragon of the Western Continent together with your country."
Hearing that Sordil was adamant about not agreeing to the marriage alliance, Irene felt a surge of anger. "Just Augmented Magic, but not me? What does that mean? Am I that bad? And I just said 'marriage alliance' in front of everyone! Are you trying to make me swallow those words again?" Provoked and her primal energy surged uncontrollably, Irene decided to Sordil to the bitter end, refusing to back down an inch.
"Your Excellency Ambassador, I must remind you that I am the king of a nation, and I will never take back what I have said. Therefore, you cannot refuse this marriage alliance!"
After forcefully declaring sovereignty, Irene stood up from her chair and loudly addressed everyone at the negotiating table. "Three months from today, on July 7th, I and General Oddek will officially hold our wedding in the capital to celebrate the alliance between our two nations!"
After speaking, Irene led the members of the Kingdom of Donagunov away from the venue, leaving only the forced-to-marry Sordil and the members of the Peace Negotiation Delegation behind.
Western Continent, Mirdian Magic Academy
"Ha ha ha ha..."
"Sordil, you're really something! I'm Zeref that you thought of using this method to convey a message to me!"
On the empty ground, Zeref looked at the information arranged in magical microparticles and laughed triumphantly. At the same time, a warm light named Sordil appeared in his lonely, cold heart. With a wave of his hand, Zeref erased Sordil's masterpiece and used the same method to inscribe his own words in the original place.
After standing up and gazing towards the distant east for a while, Zeref started walking towards the dormitory. He wanted to prepare a big gift for his old friend when they met again, and at the same time, he wanted to work hard to fulfill the promise he had made to his younger brother.
Ishgar, Fostadu
"Whoosh"
A fiery red afterimage streaked across the sky, flying straight towards the center of the Cuyis Tree Sea.
"Tsk tsk... Sordil really knows how to pick a spot. This place looks perfect for sleeping in. I'll have to ask him for a good spot to rest later, or I'll be missing out."
After a moment of reflection, Igneel quickened his pace.
As Igneel headed towards Forstadu, all the dragons in Fostadu put down their work and took to the sky to greet this uninvited guest. After carefully sensing the newcomer's magical energy, Diphiya quickly stopped the group from making their move.
"Father, Aunt Wattster, this person is a friend that my Sordil and I met when we went out. He's not an enemy. Please let everyone go back!"
Hearing Diphiya's explanation, Hadessta and Wattster breathed a sigh of relief, and then quickly alerted their companions. After everyone returned to Fostadu, Diphiya flapped her wings and flew towards Igneel. A few minutes later, Diphiya collided with Igneel not far from Fostadu.
"Haha... Sister Diphiya, look how polite you are, coming out to greet me all the way."
Diphiya, her head full of black lines, looked at the oblivious Igneel in front of her and said speechlessly, "Brother Igneel, where did you guys go the other day? I searched the entire Dil'dixiu Mountain Range and couldn't find you."
"You contacted us before? Was there something you needed?"
"Yes! Not long ago, my Sordil and I received news that the dragons of the Western Continent were going to invade Ishgar in six months. After learning about this, my Sordil personally went to the Kingdom of Donagunov to discuss a solution with Queen Irene. At the same time, he also asked me to tell you this news so that you could prepare in advance. As a result, when I arrived at the Dil'dixiu Mountain Range, you were all gone, which made me almost frantic with worry."
Seeing Diphiya's puffed-up face, Igneel smiled and said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, Diphiya! Before you came, we received messages from our respective secret realms saying they had urgent matters to discuss, so we all left the Dil'dixiu Mountain Range. I didn't expect it to cause you this trouble. Well then, on behalf of those dim-witted guys like Metalicana, I apologize to you!"
Diphiya, who was initially angry, looked around after hearing Igneel's apology, then whispered to him, "Brother Igneel, if you say that, aren't you including Grandiere in the insult too?"
Igneel froze on the spot, but when he saw Diphiya's provocative expression, he immediately said without batting an eye, "I'm talking about Grandiere, she's such a fool."
"The Roar of the Sky Dragon"
"Boom"
A white breath blasted down from above Igneel's head, sending him straight into the deep underground. At that moment, Diphiya's loud laughter, like the sound of Golden Bell, echoed from the sky.