Chương 147: Reborn as the Dragon — Chapter 147 - The Hero Darabengba

Once the Goatee Envoy had been dismissed, the palace hall fell quiet. Only the King and Queen of Anlius remained. The fawning expression drained from the King's face. His eyes filled again with anxiety and grief.

"My Queen, what am I to do? Mesent is dead, I... I don't know how to..." The Queen laughed coldly inside. Useless man. But her face stayed warm, her smile patient and full of care. She crossed to him, took his head gently in her hands, and pressed it against her chest.

"Your Majesty, I know. I know everything."

"I know how hard you've been struggling, how exhausted you are. And I know that Mesent's death is a blow — to you, and to this country." Her soft voice and the warm scent of her skin brought tears to the King's eyes. This. This was his Queen. What a woman she was. He, the King of Anlius, sovereign of a nation, kept only one woman at his side, and wasn't it precisely because she was enough? He thought of his subordinates' dismissive attitudes. His own son's contempt.

The kingdom teetering on the edge, his life along with it. A lump rose in his throat. He buried his face deeper and wept softly. Watching him, the Queen felt her disgust sharpen by a few more degrees. But the King of Anlius was still the master of this country. Those knights shared her bed every night, yet they would never openly defy him. No one truly knew whether this third-tier knight was holding anything back. And knights didn't pledge loyalty to a woman. She still needed him. So she kept her expression gentle.

She stroked his thinning hair slowly, methodically, while her mind turned through the possibilities. First: paying the compensation was not an option. That was her money. And besides, she knew Kashun, the Erylan border general, well enough. A man that cold wasn't here for a modest payout. His real ambition was to slip control of the entire Anlius Kingdom past the King of Erylan and install himself as its shadow ruler.

What he planned to do after that, how far he intended to push things, would depend on how strong he became. That outcome was just as unacceptable to her. She had worked too hard, spent too much, pulled strings in too many places, all to protect this useless man and keep Anlius exactly where she wanted it. The current arrangement suited her perfectly.

"Your Majesty, our best move is to kill the dragon and take its heart. That alone would open up far more options for us."

"It would more than cover Kashun's losses, should we need to offer compensation." The King lifted his balding head from her chest, his expression still creased with worry.

"I understand all that, but we don't have much of an army left. If we keep throwing soldiers at this problem, we'll shatter what military strength we have entirely." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"And when that happens... even if the great powers look down on Anlius and choose to ignore us, the monsters certainly won't." The Queen had already expected this. A quiet smile touched the corner of her mouth.

"Your Majesty, you're right that we can't raise many more troops. Our country's capacity has limits."

"But don't forget — we have subjects."

"Anlius may be small, but there are still hundreds of thousands of people living within it. Somewhere among them, there are warriors brave enough to stand before a dragon."

"What are you suggesting?" The King sat up a little straighter.

"Where the reward is great enough, brave men will come forward."

"I believe when you purchased that half-elf girl, the slave trader included her contract. It has her likeness on it. A truly stunning girl." The Queen's gaze was sharp. She kept careful track of everything that passed through the King's hands.

"What if we declared her a princess of Anlius? And announced that whoever slays the dragon will receive not only the princess's hand, but the title of Prince of Anlius as well." She paused.

"Do you think anyone would come forward to kill it?" The King lowered his head and thought about it. He imagined himself as a capable young adventurer. He pictured the portrait, a stunning girl. He pictured the rewards that would follow dragon-slaying. Would he be tempted? Of course he would. A rush of excitement flooded through him. Then, almost immediately, a problem snagged.

"My Queen, this is, this is a brilliant idea! But the girl is a half-elf. She has fox ears and a fox tail, and I..."

"My dear King." The Queen cut him off cleanly.

"We have someone redraw the portrait. Leave the ears and tail out."

"But, what if the adventurer kills the dragon and then discovers that nothing matches what he was promised?"

"Nothing." The Queen was perfectly calm.

"He returns to the royal capital."

"Whether or not he's managed to collect that half-dead half-elf girl."

"The moment he walks through the palace doors —""We have a hundred ways to kill him."

"Your Majesty, this palace is our ground. Even the dragon, for all its power, fled in chaos the first time it walked into your trap. You've earned the right to some confidence." She let that sit, then continued.

"And in the end, what any of these men want is gain. Anlius has no shortage of beautiful women. Find a few willing ones, handle the details, call them the princess. One, ten, it makes no difference." The King stared at her. He had always considered himself shrewd, even a little ruthless. Compared to her, those qualities felt suddenly small and dull. If she ever decided to turn that mind against him... He shook the thought away. They had been together since childhood. Shared baths, shared beds, shared years.

Their bond was something real. She would never harm him. This ruthlessness was for enemies. For him, she had only love. Of course she did.

"Your Majesty, I'll handle the envoy from Erylan and keep him occupied. In the meantime, please post notices across the kingdom at once, a call for anyone brave enough to raise a sword against a dragon." The Queen's words settled into the air. And the quiet kingdom of Anlius stirred to life. Knights rode out to post notices in town squares across the country. The promise spread quickly, slay the evil dragon, claim a princess, earn a prince's title.

Rumors traveled faster than riders, reaching farther with every retelling. In the taverns, the bards looked up from their drinks and smiled. They could feel it. New material was coming.

The following day. A small mountain village on the outskirts of Anlius. A youth tore through the wilderness at a speed that barely left a trace, just a blur through the trees, the leaves torn up in his wake still drifting down by the time his afterimage had long since vanished. He was hunting a wolf. The wolf was already dead. It just didn't know it yet. Light flashed in the youth's eyes. He launched himself forward, closing the distance in an instant, drawing level with the fleeing animal.

His battered longsword swept in a clean horizontal arc. A tearing hiss, and the rusted blade opened the wolf from stem to stern without resistance. The youth landed in a backward flip, touched down smooth, and held the blade loosely at his side as a few drops of blood fell from the tip.

"Darabengba!" A girl's clear voice rang out from somewhere behind him. The youth turned. A brilliant smile broke across his sharp, handsome face. ➤ Next: Three Heroes — What Was Lost