Chapter 52.5- And so the Dragons Danced

The man shook, almost quivering under Toji’s sharp gaze.

“You spent it, of course. Not on yourself, though. No, you’re too stupid to be that simple. You probably thought you were helping her, didn’t you? The baker’s apprentice that you’ve been gifting fold to take care of her sick father” Toji dropped a bombshell that sent the man reeling.

“Ho-how? How did you know?”

“About dear Nobara? Boy, I see your heart like I see your face. When I ask you a question, you better not lie because I will know. And you better answer, well, I know where she lives.” He said, leaving the threat unsaid. He’d found that threats spoken lost some of their power for that luxury, and that was not a trade he was willing to make.

“What do you want to know?” Good, Toji thou thought to himself. Finally he’d broken.

“Who hired your man? Baki, was it?”

“We didn’t get a name. Just a face. He paid the gold through a drop off at the pier.”

“One million gold pieces dropped off at the pier? That feels unlikely”

“It’s the truth, Sir. The whole truth” He turned his eyes to Toph and she nodded, almost imperceptibly. The truth then.

“Then you will be following us. We’ll see if we can find your client in the palace, shall we?”

XXXXXX- NATSU

“Is it time, my lord?” The man by my side asked.

“Yes, Ishida. Move in” I gave the order. I watched hum shoot an arrow straight into the ice wall that the Northerners used as their principal mode of defence. He grabbed a hold of the line connected to the arrow and then attached the end of it to the blimp. My initial plan had been full blitzkrieg and sort the ashes out afterwards, but we had a single complication— tui and la. The moon and ocean spirits. It was for the best if they didn’t die, and while I would take that risk to secure my rule, it was best to avoid it entirely.

And so when Ishida, with his unique set of skills had come to me to report being approached for my assassination, I hadn’t just seen a source of information, but a tool to be used to solve another problem. Even better, it was an expendable tool. His only requested payment was that I officially release him from the oaths he’d taken to join the Yuyan archers in the first place. I wasn’t losing anything in the process and I had a lot to gain if it went well.

He slid down the line, and even in the glint of the post-dawn sun he was almost impossible to make out if one wasn’t explicitly looking out for him. There were only a few minutes until the comet flew overhead and once that happened, the attack would begin in earnest.

“Are you ready?” I asked, turning to the only other occupant of this ledge.

“Was born ready. Finally we’re at the last one” She said with a sigh. I smiled at Maki. While not a pacifist like Zhufu, I had begun to notice that she didn’t revel in war the way Toji and I did.