“Game?” Wondered the Dwarf King. “Well, we are not sure if all of this was real, but it seems that it might had been real. Somehow, Fafnir and the one thousand dragons that died alongside him had been revived… In a similar fashion than the Demon Kings and their loyal servants.”

“If this is all true then…” I said. “It could be possible that the Dragon Nest opening triggered Fafnir to wake up from his slumber. With the Demon King of Death already slowly beginning his resurrection, it was obvious he would come back, just like the other servants he had.”

“But I am now intrigued about Thanatos origins…” I said in surprise. “If he truly was… a human, then this is completely different from the Demon King of Miasma’s backstory.”

“Yeah, we only have those tales anyways.” Sighed the princess. “I’m sorry that we can’t be of more help…”

“Hmm, no, it is fine.” Mark smiled. “This has proven to be great help to aid us in our understanding of our foe… For now, our priority should still be to slay Fafnir.”

“If he’s really that ancient dragon, then you would need a powerful enough sword to pierce through his scales first.” Said the King. “Another thing that could further prove that this tale was real is… because within our treasury, we possess a fragment of Gram, only a piece of its cracked blade, and the hilt though.”

“Wait, the Radiant Sword exists?!” Brisingra was shocked. “Father, why did you never told me about this?”

“I’m sorry, my daughter, but this was something I couldn’t easily reveal to you.” The King sighed. “Without the complete blade though, it might be impossible to slay him. Because if the tales are really, truly the truth, Fafnir was granted an incredible, impenetrable defense on his scales, he was able to bounce all matter of magic attacks, and physical attacks dealt absolutely no damage either. Even the most radiant of lights could not hurt him, he was one of the strongest servants of the King of Sorrow, Thanatos.”

“I doubt he would be THAT invincible.” Said Rita. “There’s no way he’s stronger than the Demon King of Miasma. But yeah, he probably is pretty tough.”

“Certainly, the tales might be greatly exaggerated.” Said the princess. “Yet… perhaps this fragment which father has never told me about might be useful to you.”

“It is said in the tales that when Sigurd killed Fafnir by piercing his heart, the other half of the blade stayed in his heart…” The King said. “Kestrellius, did you see anything in that dragon’s chest?”

“Hmmm…” Kestrellius tried to remember. “I… do remember some sort of thing on his chest. It looked like a big purple jewel, was that his heart? There was a small crack on it, and some sort of pointy thing coming out of it… But I can’t really confirm for sure.”

“Maybe… it is really Fafnir then; he holds the other half of Gram within his heart…” The princess said. “But if his heart is already still pierced, then how does he lives?”

“Necromancy.” I said. “Most likely Fafnir and the other dragons, who possess Nether inside their bodies, are something similar to Undead. It is probably the reason why they’re much stronger than before as well…”

“That’ll pose a problem for sure…” Richard sighed. “Well, now, I would like to inspect this Gram fragment, if possible. I think we could find a way to use it and reform the sword somehow…”

“Right!” The King said. “If we could somehow reform a slightly lesser and weaker version of Gram by replacing the blade with other, strong materials, perhaps… we could slay Fafnir!”

“Well, I guess we can begin investigating that then.” Mark nodded. “However, there’s something else we wanted to discuss beforehand, right, Planta, Nieve?”

“Right…” I nodded, sighing while drinking some tea. “Well, the sword we saw outside of your throne room, the one being showed to everyone as a prize. King Dainn, that sword belonged to Titania, the Queen of Fairies.”

“I-Is that so? That sword… Some time ago, a rascal brought it to me and offered it to me in exchange for a treasure within my kingdom’s stash.” The King sighed. “So he stole it from Queen Titania?! And she’s still alive?”

“Of course my Queen’s still alive…” Nieve sighed. “Please, you must give back her sword! She has gained great distrust against Players because of that one man that stole it from her.”

“That’s… well, that’s not possible for now.” Said the King. “I’m sorry, but that sword is extremely valuable, and we exchanged it for something equally as valuable! If we give it away now, the economy might plummet.”

“Really?” Rita asked. “For just a dumb sword?”

“You see, beautiful dark elf lady…” The King said. “Across the Continent of Verdant, all great Kingdoms hold a special power, or a special, divine treasure that represents us and at the same time, protect us and keeps our economy from plummeting to the ground. Because of such Powers, People, or Treasures, we are not invaded by neighboring Kingdoms, and we still hold great trust with other nations.”

“I see, so it is kind of like a balance. That Divine Sword, made from the Fairy Queen’s Tears, which was capable of slaying the Demon King of Miasma in ancient times… Is most likely what’s holding your Kingdom from falling apart now since the Dragon Nest discover, right?” Mark nodded.

“Indeed…” The Dwarf King sighed. “If it wasn’t because of this reason, I would gladly give it back! I trust Lady Planta and her companions, so I take that your words are the truth. I believe I’ve also been wronged as much as your Queen, beautiful young fairy. Before the sword, we held the Divine Hammer forged by the God of Flames, which was gifted to our oldest Ancestor, the Ancient Blacksmith of Creation, Logi. However, due to never finding someone that could properly wield it, we exchanged it for something much more useful and powerful, the Divine Sword Freyja.”