Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

The silence that followed the assistant words was heavy with multiple implications layering on top of each other.

Julius and Arturo exchanged a look that communicated volumes without needing words. If the opportunistic nobles were initiating negotiations now, at this specific moment…

It meant they weren’t going to wait for Arturo to gather an army to confront them. To both brothers’ disappointment, something that tasted bitter… (because they’d already been mentally preparing themselves to crush these parasites properly) but ultimately positive in the grand scheme of things since an internal war could mark the end of the city’s ability to defend itself against external threats.

It also meant those opportunists had something they believed gave them a strong position to obtain what they wanted. Something they thought they could use as leverage in discussions.

And given that Victor had disappeared in their territory and now they wanted to talk…

The conclusion was obvious and profoundly disturbing.

Very disturbing… but at least there were high probabilities he was still alive if they were using him as a bargaining chip or threat.

Dead hostages had almost no value in negotiations. Living ones who could still be harmed further gave oppressors all the leverage they needed.

“Where are the messengers?” Arturo inquired with a carefully neutral voice that didn’t reveal the turbulent emotions he was probably feeling beneath the surface.

“Waiting in the secondary conference room under guard,” the assistant responded efficiently. “They arrived unarmed, wearing truce uniforms. They say they bring terms that we must hear before the situation escalates beyond the point of no return for the city.”

Julius felt the muscles in his jaw tighten involuntarily at those words. The audacity of these nobles… attacking his brother and then having the sheer gall to send messengers as if they held the moral high ground from which to negotiate.

Part of him wanted to reject the negotiations completely. To send the army immediately and resolve this with direct force. To make them pay.

But the more rational part of his mind recognized that if Victor really was in danger, if the nobles had a way to seriously harm him, if they also had sufficient power to repel them and Selphira… then acting precipitously could worsen the situation dramatically.

They could kill Victor out of spite or desperation if pushed too hard.

They could trigger whatever contingency plans they’d prepared for a full assault.

They could force a confrontation that would devastate the city’s military strength regardless of who won. Leaving it basically open for the mutants…

Negotiations at least would give them information about what exactly the opportunists wanted and what they believed they could accomplish with this gambit.

Information was power. Getting to know their demands would reveal their true objectives, their confidence level, their assessment of their own position.

And more importantly, it might reveal Victor’s actual status.

Whether he was injured, how badly, whether he was actively being held or just prevented from leaving. All crucial details that would inform any rescue attempt.

“Gather the other councilors,” Arturo ordered the assistant with a decisive tone that suggested he’d reached the same conclusions. “And dispatch a message to Selphira immediately. She needs to know this is developing now.”

The assistant nodded and withdrew quickly to carry out the instructions with the urgency they deserved. When the door closed again, Julius and Arturo remained looking at each other for a long moment.

What would the nobles demand?

Territory? Political concessions? A reversal of the reforms Selphira had been implementing?

Or something more personal? Something targeting Luna or even Ren specifically, perhaps, given how much the opportunists resented the changes his influence had brought?

Julius’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“Very well,” Julius said after the moment of consideration, his voice still controlled. “We’ll listen to what they have to say. But if they can’t return Victor to us alive…”

He didn’t complete the threat. Didn’t need to. Arturo understood perfectly what Julius would do if he discovered that his brother had been permanently lost due to these nobles’ schemes.

And the opportunistic nobles would understand it too once negotiations began and they saw the expression on Julius’s face.

Some mistakes had no forgiveness.

♢♢♢♢

RETURN TO THE BATTLES

In the stands where the final exams continued without pause for external politics, Selphira watched with complete attention the battle between Ren and Taro that had reached levels of intensity making spectators lean forward unconsciously.

A swift messenger bird had arrived moments ago, landing on the extended arm that Selphira had offered automatically when she noticed the creature’s approach.

The letter tied to the bird’s leg probably contained information about Victor or about the political situation that had been developing during recent days. Selphira had untied it mechanically and now held it in her hand without opening it, folded paper gripped tightly in her fingers while her eyes remained fixed on the field below.

She wanted to see the result of this battle first.

Needed to see how this confrontation ended between two of the most promising students the academy had produced in years. Politics could wait five more minutes.

This couldn’t… if she blinked she might miss it.

The dust cloud from the massive impact between the beetle and hydra began dissipating gradually, revealing a result that made murmurs of surprise ripple through the stands.

The hydra appeared still standing with its two heads biting the beetle’s flanks firmly, fangs buried in the cracks of the golden carapace. And even more impressive, the hydra was resisting what had seemed like an impossible-to-stop charge.

The beetle continued pushing, its legs excavating into the ground while trying to maintain the momentum of its attack. But the hydra had stopped it completely. Not only had it survived the impact that would have destroyed any lesser beast, but it had converted that collision into an opportunity to establish a grip the beetle now couldn’t break easily.

Selphira smiled slightly while observing, recognizing exactly what was happening.

The hydra’s most important enhancement wasn’t just the diamond scale defense that everyone could see and admire. It was also the enormous strength that Ren himself had leveraged multiple times during training and previous battles. That strength which allowed the hydra to move its considerable mass with surprising speed, that gave it the capacity to crush obstacles blocking its path.

But not only that…

With two other beasts providing strength increases of around three hundred percent total over the hydra’s own through shared bonds, the hydra exceeded its already enormous base strength by more than six hundred percent.

It was six times what a wild hydra of its rank would possess in terms of raw physical power.