《Lord and Dragon》


 Chapter 1

    <b>Chapter 1: A dragon in distress</b>


    Author Synopsis: My first time writing in the first person perspective


    <strong>Trantor</strong>: toomutchayuzu


    <strong>Editor</strong>: Agent Psyx 707


    I am the lord of a small fief in the continent of Finanse.


    This title was among the inheritance my father left behind after he passed away, and the rest were: ten thousand subjects barely supported by a tiny piece ofnd, an army of one thousand low-grade soldiers outfitted by a cksmith¡¯s yard in desperate need of repairs itself, and a territory that had practically zero defensive ability, with our sad excuses for a fort and watch tower.


    Whenever other lords came with their troops to loot the harvested grain that we stored and the meager amount of gold we had, Ipletelycked the strength to resist them.


    My own sce was the fact that my territory was on the northern tip of the continent, where the sea¡¯s bountiful resources kept us from starving to death a long time ago.


    That day, Lord Morgan from the south had once again plundered mynd and returned home with his wagons full. I didn¡¯t have the courage to face my subjects, so I rode my horse alone to the seashore. I listened to the waves, and gazed out towards the far expanse of the sea, wondering what the continent of Icanomics on the other side of the sea was like.


    The Ican continent was ten timesrger and more abundant in natural resources than the Finanse continent, and furthermore, it was home not only to humans but to other races as well. There were dwarves, mermaids, elves, fairies, demi-gods, and all sorts of fantastic creatures. They were a very rare sight in Finanse, so rare that they were practically myths in tiny, far-flung territories such as ours.


    A wandering bard was the one who told me stories about them when I was younger, but I did not believe him when he imed that these non-human creatures were in fact real. It was only when I grew older and apanied my father to the Conference of Northern Lords, did I meet a beautiful elf for the very first time and realized that the bard had really been telling the truth.


    The Ican Continent was also thend of the legendary beasts: dragons.


    I had always been enthralled by stories of them. Ansai, the most powerful lord in Finanse, won many wars and conquered manynds because he had a dragon.


    If I had one too, all of my problems would be solved. I could protect my people and would never need to be afraid of Morgan and his gang raiding us ever again.


    As I entertained these foolish thoughts, I suddenly noticed an enormous, ck object lying on the coastline that I was so familiar with.


    + + +


    Every time I went to the beach, I always had my retinue on standby from a distance away because I liked to quietly enjoy the peaceful moments by myself.


    Now, however, I hesitated to go back and call for them.


    I might have been weak and powerless to fight against the likes of Morgan and his ilk, but I still believed that the blood of my ancestors that flowed inside me was filled with an adventurer¡¯s spirit. This curiosity won over my sense of self-preservation in the end.


    I calmed down the horse that was restlessly moving about from under me, and then urged it onwards to get a closer look.


    At the very least, this was one thing I could be proud of ¨D as the lord of thend, my steed Anthony was the finest horse in this small piece of territory.


    + + +


    With quite some distance still remaining to therge ck thing on the ground, Anthony uneasily stopped in his tracks and would not take another step no matter how much I urged him.


    Animals are far more sensitive to their natural surroundings than humans are, so I started to question my decision ¨D my own brother who was born two decades after me was only just a three year old child. If something happened to me, our territory would receive another devastating blow just like my father¡¯s abrupt death a year ago, after he sumbed to the ring up of his old battle wounds.


    And yet, I did not turn back. I had already gone this far, so I resolved myself to continue forward.


    I gave Anthony a few calming strokes on his neck, dismounted, and walked all alone towards therge object.


    By the time I was close enough to see it clearly, I couldn¡¯t help but suck in a breath ¨D


    It was a dragon. An honest-to-god, real, live dragon!


    + + +


    It had enormous wings that looked like they could cover my territory¡¯s fort when unfolded, scales the color of a deep, endless dark blue, a very thick and powerful tail several meters long, and sharp ws that gleamed under the sunlight with a bone-chilling shine.


    Even if he was only lying there, he still had a mighty and overwhelming aura that could make anyone catch their breath.


    No wonder Anthony did not want toe any closer.


    However, the dragon was not moving at all. Some of his scales were wounded, and some were even falling off. Hisrge eyelids were closed shut and if it were not for the faint opening and closing of his nose as he breathed, I would have mistaken him for a corpse.


    I could not help but inch closer, kneeling on the ground to stroke his neck. Even if he was in such a sorry state, this dragon still looked magnificent and beautiful in my eyes.


    He did not respond.


    As such, I grew braver and continued to pet his scales.


    However, his neck suddenly quivered slightly and scared me out of my wits. I immediately retracted my hand. The truth was that I was naturally timid, and the brave and fearless me was just an act I put on whenever I was in front of others.


    I inched closer and spoke directly to itsrge head: "Wait for me a bit. I¡¯m going to bring some medicine."


    There was no response from him.


    I had no way of knowing whether he heard what I said, or if he even understood.


    + + +


    I went to my maid Anna¡¯s ce to ask for arge batch of medicine.


    rmed by such a sudden request, she hurriedly tried to peel off my clothes to check for injuries but I adamantly refused ¨D even though she was older than me by thirty years and had watched me grow up like a mother, I still couldn¡¯t just let myself be stripped naked like that.


    I still had my pride.


    Besides, I wasn¡¯t injured.


    I had my retinue secure the general area where the dragon was and prevent anyone unauthorized from entering ¨D a dragon¡¯s entire body was basically a treasure trove, and I didn¡¯t want toe back only to find a pile of bones. I felt that even my friends, who were once high-spirited but were now down and out of luck, would not be able to resist the temptation.


    And most importantly, if news of aatose dragon in our territory leaked out, we would draw the attention of many lords and it would end up in a huge disaster.


    Andy, one of my personal guards who grew up together with me, curiously asked what the fuss was all about.


    I thought for a moment and then told him: "...I found an unconscious and injured beauty over there, and I fell in love at first sight. I want to personally treat the injuries and hopefully get myself a wife so I don¡¯t want you to get in the way. Please do note any closer."


    Andy seemed somewhat dubious, but I knew that he would obey my orders nheless. His unwavering loyalty was one of the reasons why I never reced him for someone else all these years ¨D though I refused to admit that the other one was because I had too few subjects to choose from in the first ce. He was already one of the best in a sea of mediocrity.


    Andy contemted for a while before replying: "...Then why don¡¯t you bring her back to the fort to treat her injuries?"


    Good question.


    I told him: "Too heavy. That¡¯s why."


    His eyes suddenly brightened up. "Is it a mermaid? I heard that their tails are all very heavy."


    If I had a heavy tail myself, I would have pped him with it right there and then. Too bad I didn¡¯t have one.


    + + +


    I had my bodyguards fetch some fresh water and then personally carried it to the dragon¡¯s side. After washing the blood and filth off his body, I started applying medicine to his wounds.


    Truthfully, I had no idea whether human medicine would work for a dragon, but I felt that some would be better than none.


    His scales were coarse, thick, and hard, and I had to be careful not to identally scrape my hands against them.


    He would shake slightly from time to time, but overall he steadily allowed me to continue.


    While I was doing this work, it made me once again appreciate how big he really was ¨D treating just the wounds on half of his body left mepletely tired and out of breath.


    My guess was that he was from the Ican Continent, and he ended up copsing on our coastline after he used up too much strength to fly over the Sea of Death.


    On the third day, he opened his eyes, but he continued to weakly lie there.


    His eyes startled me when I saw them. ck pupils as dark and haunting as the abyss within twin spheres of sparkling blue ice, his eyes were the most exquisite things I had ever seen in my entire life.


    Their only downside was that they were ratherrge by human standards, although their size was quite proportional to his enormous skull. Combined with their shape ¡ª vertically slitted like a cat¡¯s, his gaze fascinated and yet also paralyzed me with fear at the same time.


    When I visited him once again, those beautiful and unique eyes briefly nced at me before they promptly closed.


    As usual, I crouched by his side to wash his wounds and apply medicine.


    Considering how he never reacted, it seemed that he was not opposed to my actions.


    So I tried striking up a conversation with him. I introduced myself and talked about my fief. I told him about Anna, Anthony, and Andy, about the powerful lord Ansai who had a dragon, and even about the tyrant Morgan who frequently oppressed our territory. Then I asked him where he came from, and what his hometown was like. I also asked him about whether his family was still around and many other simr questions.


    I spoke until my mouth was dry, but he didn¡¯t open his eyes even once.


    It was slightly discouraging, but to be honest I wasn¡¯t even sure if he could understand what I was saying. Or perhaps he was too tired, and didn¡¯t have the energy to respond.


    I recalled that Ansai¡¯s dragon listened to hismands, so in theory weren¡¯t men and dragons able tomunicate? Or was it just that Ansai had a different method?


    Closing my mouth, I bitterly gave the bucket a kick and prepared to leave. That was when I suddenly felt a gaze on my back and I automatically turned around. The dragon was staring back at me.


    He said: "You can call me Fruys."


    Ah, so he can speak the humannguage, I thought to myself.


    He had a beautiful voice. I had never met any other dragons before, so I didn¡¯t know whether it was a trait shared by everyone of his kind or if he was just special. His voice was rather deep, low, and cold, but somewhere in there was a trace of warmth. It was a lot like the iceberry wine that Anna brewed at the start of spring every year.


    If he sang, it would definitely sound very nice.


    But were dragons able to sing? The wandering bard never mentioned something like that.


    I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about this question for the rest of the day, even after I drifted off to sleep.

 Chapter 2

    <strong>Chapter 2: The tide of war turns</strong>


    <i>Author Synopsis: A dragon that can use magic</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 7 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    On the seventh day, Fruys was able to stand up.


    These days, I told him many things. For instance, I told him how in the past, I used to be a pampered young master even though there wasn¡¯t much money to be spoiled with. But that carefree life hade to an abrupt end when my dad died, and I became the next lord overnight. I had to take care of my mom, my little brother, Anna, Andy, Anthony, and everyone living in our territory. All of a sudden, the weight of ten thousand lives fell upon my shoulders.


    I always pretended that everything was under control, but the truth couldn¡¯t have been any further than that. Truthfully, I was scared. Every time Morgan and his gang invaded and plundered our territory, I would always have this heavy feeling in my chest that made it difficult to breathe, and my head would turn into a mess of anxious, panicky thoughts. But I always had to look calm, collected, and prepared on the outside. I had to be more steadfast than anyone when I dered to my people that one day we would be strong.


    When I told all these things to Fruys, including my personal thoughts that I had never shared with anybody else before, I wasn¡¯t afraid of him leaking out my thoughts to others. Aside from the fact that I was the only person who kept himpany, this dragon didn¡¯t even look like he could be bothered to talk. For seven whole days, he did not speak a single word except to affirm that he flew from the Ican Continent and over the Sea of Death.


    I felt unfair that the return was not proportional to the investment.


    And I felt hurt because of it.


    But thinking about it from his perspective, I could somewhat understand where he wasing from. After all, I was a human and he was a dragon. It wasmon to see someone like me, but rare to see someone like him.


    I should be honored to have such a noble and rare being listen to my venting.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 8 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    By the tenth day, I had nothing left to say.


    I also stopped giving Fruys medicine because it waspletely useless.


    However, after finishing all my work every day, I continued to visit him. I felt that this was human nature. If a mighty dragon showed up in your backyard, and didn¡¯t have malicious intentions or hurt you, you¡¯d probably also be unable to resist going to see him every day either.


    Besides, I always had a deep fascination with this race of powerful and rare beasts ever since I heard about them from the wandering bard¡¯s stories as a child.


    I still had public affairs to attend to every day as the lord, even if I only ruled over a small number of subjects. For instance, I would have to waive taxes for the households that were looted during the raids, or allocate funds to repair the watch tower that barely had the ammunition to fire a couple volley of arrows. I also mediated legal disputes like, "John¡¯s ox was bitten by Jack¡¯s dog, what should we do?"


    Ever since I was little, I always knew that I was going to inherit my father¡¯s position and be the lord of our territory someday. The young me had always fantasized that when that day came, I would lead my armored cavalry, trample over and conquer the entirety of Finanse, and then point my sword at the Ican Continent. But that day has already long passed, and I finally realized just how childish and naive I was before.


    Never mind cavalry; we could not even afford to equip one person in my army of foot soldiers with a single piece of metal armor.


    Fruys would silently walk back and forth on the beach like a philosopher while I sat on the side and watched, wincing every time he took a step and caused the ground to tremor slightly.


    From time to time, he would fly a short distance out toward the ocean, and then spiral in circles.


    He looked so free and unconstrained by anything that my heart would always fill up with envy whenever I watched him. I secretly mused how nice it would be if he would take me with him to fly one day, but I never dared to say it out loud.


    Even without Fruys, it was not as if I didn¡¯t have any other options. I had heard before that the best masters of alchemy were able to construct flying battleships, which they would then sell at high prices to the most powerful and affluent lords.


    I promised myself that when our territory bes stronger and wealthier, I would buy a battleship that would not lose out even to a dragon, and then I would finally be able to fly in the sky.


    Actually, most of the time, Fruys spent his time lying on the ground, not moving a muscle.


    He was aszy as a cat.


    I would lie on the ground on his other side, and silently watch the sunset with him. After the sky wentpletely dark, I would say goodbye and ride Anthony back to the fort.


    Fruys would respond to my farewells with a light nod of his chin.


    This made me quite happy. I figured that with such an enormous head, even simply nodding it would take quite a bit of energy.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 9 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Fifteen days passed in this methodical fashion.


    Half a month since thest time they raided, Morgan once again brought his men and horses over.


    He must have tasted something sweet and addicting in bullying weaker territories. After all, he would have been thoroughly thrashed if he challenged any of the other lords.


    Every time we were invaded, I would order Andy to lead my personal guards in protecting the ordinary civilians and guiding them towards shelter in the buildings next to the fort.


    The season¡¯s crops were just harvested two days ago, and as such, the local granaries of the fief and the barns in every household were stuffed full with grain. Bastards like Morgan always stole everything down to thest kernel, so after this raid, I was afraid my people would soon be starving to death in three months time.


    I saw some of my people with reddened, puffy eyes.


    They told me, "My lord, allow me to go out. I would rather fight them and defend ournd."


    I did not reply, and only turned to ask Anna to deliver my sword and armor.


    Anna stood there, hesitating, until our eyes met. She then saw how serious and determined I was.


    My father was once a famous hero. In his younger years, the neighboring lords once banded together to attack us, and he led his own officers in a tooth-and-nail battle to defend our territory. He single-handedly slew close to a hundred men, which shocked our enemies so much they never dared to step into ournds so lightly again.


    However, my father gradually grew old and his strength dwindled. The wounds that he had sustained frequently red up, causing misery. Never again could he frighten away our foes into retreating.


    As for me, I was a weak and hopeless person. The brutality of training in martial arts and swordsmanship easily frightened me, and my father never forced me to endure it against my will. Therefore as matters stood, I became good at astronomy, geography, history, music, arithmetic, engineering, and machinery, but I dreaded picking up a sword and fighting at close quarters. The best I could do was order my architects to build even stronger fortifications, and when enemies attacked, order everyone to hide.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 10 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    I put on my armor.


    Andy looked at me and asked, "Are you sure you want to go?"


    I nodded.


    He didn¡¯t object, and only said, "Okay then. Just stay behind me."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 11 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    We only had an army of a thousand men, or more urately, nine hundred sixty seven.


    Morgan brought four thousand soldiers, of which five hundred was calvary. Furthermore, their equipment and weaponry were superior to ours.


    However, we also had a small militia formed of five hundred volunteer civilians behind us. Some of them even brought their farming tools to fight with the enemy, but Andy and I urged them to put them back. In the end, the five hundred men that came forth were the nimblest and sturdiest of the bunch.


    Going to a real battlefield in person was far more horrible than I ever imagined. My hand that clutched my sword shook incessantly.


    Andy understood this rather well, and arranged for me to stay at the very back of the ranks. He said: "You don¡¯t have to push yourself. Your presence here is more than enough."


    Right in front of my eyes, I saw one of my guards who I was familiar with get shed in the right shoulder. I gripped my sword tightly and rushed forward, taking advantage of the fact that the opponent wasn¡¯t paying attention, to parry one of his strikes.


    My bodyguard turned towards me with a relieved smile and said weakly, "My lord-"


    I waved my hand. "Go rest for now. I¡¯ll take care of things here."


    Even though he seemed like he still wanted to fight, he couldn¡¯t even pick up his weapon due to his injury. As such he nodded, and retreated from the battlefield.


    Our familiarity with the terrain was our only advantage. We could utilize the buildings in our territory as cover and road blocks, and scatter the invading enemies. But still the difference in the size of our armies was too much, and though we inflicted heavy losses on Morgan, very quickly we realized that we could no longer continue holding out.


    In the end, the enemy used their overwhelming numbers topletely surround us. We had no choice but to huddle together in a circle, backs to each other as we desperately grappled with our opponents on the outside. As we watched our dear brothers and friends fall one by one, many of our faces were filled with grief and despair.


    They protected me in the very middle. Blood and tears made my vision blurry. It was then that all of a sudden, an uproar arose in the rear ranks of Morgan¡¯s army. For some reason my instincts nudged me to look up towards the sky, and I saw a fast-moving massive ck shadow sweeping over from the direction of the sea. It soared gracefully and powerfully, yet nimbly.


    I knew that his scales weren¡¯t actually ck.


    "Fruys... " I whispered.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 12 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Taking advantage of the distraction, Andy and the rest cleared an escape path back to the fort with their swords.


    At the same time, Fruys quickly closed in on the rear ranks of Morgan¡¯s army and opened his mouth in mid-air, sting them with a ball of freezing air. The enemy soldiers were instantly frozen solid from where they stood.


    It was apletely unexpected turn of events.


    I raised my hand, and directed our remaining troops tounch a counteroffensive. Now, it was as simple as reaping a field of crops.


    Fruys shot out another breath, pped his wings a few times, and nonchntly circled above the two armies.


    Andy was dumbstruck as he looked at Fruys. Then he suddenly got a hold of himself and turned around to ask me: "Is that the one you¡¯ve been visiting by the sea every day?"


    I nodded.


    "Your taste is pretty hardcore," he said.


    I momentarily froze. It was only when I recovered my senses that I thought, "He did realize that I was lying when I mentioned a ¡¯beauty¡¯ to himst time, right? Right?"


    Author¡¯s Note:


    This work is a short piece that I came up with on a whim, so don¡¯t worry... I¡¯ll make sure to finish my other story.

 Chapter 3

    <strong>Chapter 3: A magnificent beginning</strong>


    <i>Synopsis: It¡¯s said that dragons love to hoard treasure.</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 13 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Andy ordered his troops to clean up the battlefield and sort out the mess.


    Everyone¡¯s eyes were on the dragon who flew inzy circles above us beforending on the town square za, a few spaces in front of me.


    "Is this the powerful enemy you mentioned that frequently attacks you?" He tilted his head and slightly tilted one wing to point to Morgan¡¯s frozen troops.


    I blinked for a moment before promptly responding, "Yes."


    So it turned out that Fruys was actually listening to everything I had said back then.


    He snorted out two puffs of air and said to me, "This can¡¯t even be called a war."


    I looked at him, not understanding.


    He said, "This is merely a scuffle."


    A scuffle, that is, a skirmish between street gangs. I think that¡¯s what he meant.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 14 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    I expressed my gratitude to Fruys, and then asked if there was anything I could do for him.


    I initially thought that he would want nothing- after all, my tiny territory probably had nothing he would have considered valuable.


    However, I was taken aback when he bluntly told me, "I want treasure. Lots and lots of treasure."


    I almost thought I misheard.


    In the end, I brought him to the lord¡¯s private storeroom- in theory, this ce was owned by my mother. After my parents married, my father would sometimes go off to war. Every time he returned, he would bring back the three most valuable treasures he personally picked from the spoils of war to give to my mother. This was where she ended up putting all of them.


    A pair of ice blue eyes narrowed slightly as they took in the collection of items inside.


    "It¡¯s much better than I expected," he finally decided, and then brazenly ordered me to leave.


    I watched Fruys shrink his figure, then squeeze into the storeroom. Sighing slightly, I remained standing outside to wait for him.


    The wandering bard once told me that dragons liked to kidnap beautiful princesses and hoard mountains of gold and silver ordinary people could only dream about seeing. The dragons would crush anyone who dared challenge them until meeting their predestined hero.


    I wondered silently to myself, "Could it be that dragons needed to sleep nestled in gold for a good night¡¯s rest? Did Fruys intend to turn the storeroom into his personal sleeping nest?"


    However, it was soon revealed that I was overthinking things.


    After three hours with no signs of Fruysing out, I could not resist opening the door to take a look.


    Fruys, who had shrunk in half, was sleeping soundly on the floor, surrounded by scattered bits of ck, yellow, and red metal. Save from him and the scraps, the storeroom waspletely empty.


    Included in the things that disappeared were the scratches and scrapes on Fruy¡¯s body, and were now reced by ayer of faint gloss covering his scales.


    I didn¡¯t know if it was merely my imagination, but the color of his scales seemed slightly lighter in color.


    At this moment, Fruys opened his eyes. I asked with difficulty, "What happened to everything here?"


    "I absorbed all of it," he responded matter-of-factly. I honestly felt like I was struggling to breathe.


    I hoped that my mom would spare me on the merits of our close bond.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 15 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    My mom was furious as expected.


    As she beat me up, she exined that everything in there was being saved for my dowry.


    I sighed in relief. In any case, I didn¡¯t n to get married in the near future.


    As for my little brother¡¯s portion, I could save some up for him again. He was still young after all.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 16 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Actually, the biggest sess that we achieved in the battle was capturing Morgan himself.


    During the conference, my ministers argued incessantly over what was the best thing to exchange Morgan for.


    Later on the same day, I prattled all of this to Fruys as usual, but he only looked at me with a confused tilt of his massive head. "Why aren¡¯t you taking advantage of the opportunity to annex his whole territory? Especially while you have the momentum?"


    His suggestion was a bolt of lightning that froze me on the spot.


    But soon enough, blood began to rush into my head as my heart furiously pumped in a frenzy, resulting in a weird, heady sensation.


    Fruys told me that he would help me in exchange for half of the treasure obtained as loot.


    I waved my hand, and spoke very magnanimously, "You take 70%."


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 17 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    The northern area of Finanse¡¯s political web was presently preserved in a delicate equilibrium.


    To use myself and Morgan as an example, my fief was weaker than his, so it would be easy for him to conquer ournd. However, the first thing he¡¯d have to worry about is indigestion, or whether he would be able to assimte the newly-acquired territory into his original one without wrecking the state of affairs of both. Second, expanding his domain would inevitably attract the suspicion and wrath of otherrge lords who might even attack him from behind.


    If other lords wanted to seize either of our territories, they would have to defeat both of us simultaneously if they did not want to face a simr problem as Morgan¡¯s.


    As a result, powerful lords plundered and bullied weaker ones, but they had reservations about directly annexing territory.


    But not me.


    Those who were barefoot had no reason to fear ones who wore shoes.


    We had nothing to lose. If matters continued on like this, we would either shrivel up and die from being squeezed and exploited repeatedly, or end up being subjugated by another lord. But if we fought-fought like our lives depended on it-there was still a possibility that we would survive.


    I wanted to break away from this pitiful situation. I needed to rally the troops and brave danger, to free ourselves from a hopeless future with our own two hands once and for all.


    Besides, I now have a dragon on my side.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 18 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    The news that Morgan lost the battle had not yet spread.


    I doubted that the people of his territory could even imagine the possibility of their lord losing anyway, much less consider it.


    Our craftsmen mended the war chariots, and our men donned the armor we previously seized. As we rode Morgan¡¯s warhorses and disguised ourselves as his army returning from victory, we easily entered their fortifications, bypassed the catapults and watchtowers, and charged straight in, ughtering our way directly into the barracks.


    Fruys followed from behind, circling the skies and providing moral support to those down below.


    Morgan¡¯s territory was easily captured in a single day.

 Chapter 4

    <strong>Chapter 4: A well-matched audience</strong>


    <i>Synopsis: I hope that Fruys doesn¡¯t change his position in his sleep and squish me to death</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 19 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    The reorganization of the fief to fully assimte Morgan¡¯s territory cost us a month¡¯s worth of time, but the good news was that everything was well under control.


    I stayed true to my word and gave Fruys seventy percent of the treasure we obtained, even though it caused me extreme pain to watch him turn them all into g within a half a day.


    His condition improved significantly, so much that I didn¡¯t need to inspect him closely to see it.


    He also became more talkative, probably because he now felt morefortable and familiar with me. He started to tell me stories about the Ican Continent...


    But to tell you the truth, I¡¯m still half-skeptical about most of the things he said.


    For instance, he imed that the beautiful, noble and magically-proficient elven prince was actually very ugly and had a hobby of crossdressing.


    The most powerful magician on the Ican Continent, on the other hand, was a cheap old man that could be KO¡¯d by single iceball of his¡ªif it weren¡¯t the old adage to respect your elders and cherish the young, he wouldn¡¯t have let off so easily a bastard that dared make an attempt at his treasured dragon pearls.


    And then there was also the mortal king of the powerful Kingdom of Bein who was apparently such a coward that he offered his daughter to the dragon race in exchange for protection and traded off his son to the ck wizard for the secret of immortality...


    Fruys practically refuted every wonderful thing the wandering bard told me and knocked over all of the beliefs and fantasies I had.


    However, I still remembered the wandering bard¡¯s warning that dragons were a very haughty and vain race, so I properly behaved as a proper audience member and encouraged him to speak a few more words.


    I seriously loved the way he looked when he spoke, and I liked his voice. Whenever he boasted about how he so and so defeated h h h, I would appropriately put on sparkling eyes to give him a look of adoration, and gush out loud, "Oh, Fruys, you¡¯re so amazing!"


    My acting skills must have been excellent for Fruys not to notice even after a whole month.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 20 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    After the sessful annexation Morgan¡¯s fief, our intelligence branch finally reported activity.


    Lord Cass was apparently very displeased about our conquest. News that I possessed a dragon disturbed him greatly, as well as the fact that I now possessed the same amount of power as him.


    After discussing this with Andy and the other ministers, we came up with a countermeasure: blitzkrieg strategy.


    After all, the strength of a single dragon was enough to immediately smash the equilibrium. There was a high probability that the lords, fearing our new capability, wouldbine forces to eliminate me while I still had not gained enough strength.


    But the point of uncertainty to everyone, including me, was how long Fruys would remain here to help us¡ªultimately, he wasn¡¯t like Ansai¡¯s dragon. He didn¡¯t sign a contract with me.


    I wondered, "When Fruys regains enough strength to once again fly over the Sea of Death, will he leave us then?"


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 21.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    We breached the fortress of Lord Cass, but we weren¡¯t able to capture the man himself. He took some of his retainers and ran away to the neighboring Lord Kaller¡¯s territory to seek asylum.


    For this military campaign, Fruys always charged ahead at the very front¡ªusing his powerful body to block all the attacks by the enemy troop and shrug off arrows that snapped in half like twigs upon hitting him.


    However, I still felt pained about the scratches those beautiful blue scales received. I insisted on giving him medicine, and of course I didn¡¯t have any ulterior motives to rub those lovely dragon scales.


    Fruys indifferentlyid on the ground, and seventy percent of the treasure that was his share served as a cushion underneath him. He swung his tail from time to time.


    He said, "This is nothingpared to when I was little. Back then, I used to take baths in volcanicva every day, and sometimes I wouldn¡¯t evene out until I started shedding scales. The feeling is about the same as the human equivalent of rxing in a hot tub."


    I thought about this and then felt rmed, so I told him, "Don¡¯t do that from now on, it¡¯s too dangerous! And aren¡¯t you an ice-type dragon?"


    Fruys¡¯s face slumped into a pile of night pearls. "Fine," he glumly responded.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 22 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Even if Lord Cass hadn¡¯t gone to him for refuge, Lord Kaller would havee looking for us sooner orter.


    Lord Kaller¡¯s military strength was equivalent to two and a half of Lord Cass¡¯s, or five of Lord Morgan¡¯s. He was leader at the prime of his life, his territory expanding nonstop under his leadership, but even faced against the current us he probably saw us as a hard bone that might be particrly difficult to chew.


    The two of us had an especially deep animosity for each other¡ªthe cause for my father¡¯s past injuries ring up was Lord Kaller, who took advantage of the fact that my father was old and frail to invade our territory. He and my father were old foes and he knew my father¡¯s weak points. The entire time he kept attacking those fatal points, until finally he injured one of my father¡¯s old wounds. After defeating us, he stole the precious resources that my father had painstakingly saved up. All of this caused my father to be bedridden until hisst breath.


    I had always been the kind of person who was emotional and prone to running away from my faults. But though I might be a weak and useless sinner, Lord Kaller was my mortal enemy.


    I ran back inside Lord Morgan¡¯s previous fortress which I started using after the colonization of Lord Cass¡¯ fief. This fortress was rather respectable, and furthermore, it¡¯s location could be considered to be at the geographic center of my territory so it was easy to manage the state¡¯s affairs here.


    This was also where Fruys lived. After shrinking a bit, he slept in what could be considered Lord Morgan¡¯s luxurious and spacious personal master bedchamber while I upied the room next door.


    Fruys seemed to be quite unsatisfied by this. Even though the castle already appeared extremely good to me, it was apparently "small and crude" to his eyes and could not evenpare to the house his younger cousin used to keep her pets.


    As soon as I was inside, I did not return to my own quarters but rather scampered directly towards Fruys¡¯s room, throwing my arms around his tail before crying out the nickname I came up for him, "Fruuu..."


    Fruyszily lifted his head. "Let go of my tail."


    After knowing him for so long, I discovered that he was actually very soft-hearted and easy to talk to. In the beginning he would fiercely warn me not to randomly rub or hug him, but after a few times when I did it subconsciously without meaning to, I noticed that he never did anything more besidesining.


    He even stopped bothering to do this, after a while.


    I obediently released his tail, but turned and inched closer to wrap my arms around his neck that was conveniently right in front me.


    Glued to his side, I told him about the issue with Lord Kaller.


    Ever since I was small, I had always been an extremely clingy child. I always stuck to my mom when I was younger, but eventually my parents both teamed up to give me a beating so I would stop. Honestly, I was quite embarrassed about this behaviour of mine¡ªafter all, it would be a disastrous blow for my reputation as the young lord of this territory should it evere to light.


    But right now, everything was perfect. I didn¡¯t have to hold back about being clingy with a dragon. Who knew when his wings would heal and he¡¯d fly away, never to return? In any case, no one would ever know.


    Mmm. I was still a young and promising lord.


    While shamelessly embracing him, I said, "Fruu, help me take revenge. This time you can keep all the treasure."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 23 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    I was woken up by the cold the next day.


    The surface beneath me felt hard and ufortable underneath me despite the velvet carpet I was lying on. But after all, I was sleeping on the floor and not the velvet cushion we had seized from Lord Cass.


    Last night, I had been sharing my painful life history with Fruys, and it got sote before I noticed that I fell asleep right beside him.


    Next to me was Fruys in peaceful slumber with hisrge body and huge head. His body was radiating wave after wave of frigid air that made me shiver continuously.


    The sky was still dark and all the candles were unlit. After paying for a dragon¡¯s daily necessities, there was no way I could afford a luxury like a magic orb, so I could only rely on the moonlight and the glimmer of the stars filtering in. Within the dim room, the scales on Fruys¡¯s body sparkled with a faint silver blue light.


    It was absolutely breathtaking.


    I could not resist but ce one of my palms on his back. It was very cold. His scales were no longer the dark¡ªnearly ck¡ªmidnight blue color that they were when I first met him. Now, it was a silver blue that was slightly darker than the shade of the daylight sky, so clean and deep.


    I was still so tired and sluggish, but I could not go back to sleep with the room so cold. And yet, I was reluctant to even move. I didn¡¯t want to trudge back to my own room next door.


    I snuggled closer to Fruys and discovered that despite the fact that his back constantly emitted cold air, his belly was cosy and warm. As such, I nudged him a little.


    Unexpectedly, Fruys very considerately shifted his body to the side, and left a small space beside his abdomen.


    I rolled a bit over and squeezed my way in. Then I hugged the warm and fine scales on his belly.


    Before falling asleep again, I had onest thought. I hope that Fruys doesn¡¯t change his position in his sleep and squish me to death.

 Chapter 5

    <strong>Chapter 5: Magic</strong>


    <i>Author synopsis: New knowledge regarding dragons</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 24 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Ten days after, we fought arge battle against Lord Kaller.


    Not only did Lord Kaller have excellent archer towers, but he also had catapults.


    As I stood on a war chariot at the back of the army, I watched massive ming stones being hurled one after another at my troops and Fruys. The dragon was still capable of dodging every volley the catapultsunched despite his size, but my soldiers were not as lucky¡ªpeople fell with each barrage of miniatureets. Terrible anxiety seized my heart as I watched.


    Fruys suddenly gave a long roar before he rolled over in midair. Weaving through all the archer towers and catapults, he took on the brunt of attacks with his own body and charged onwards until all the enemy fortifications were soon covered in ice.


    I saw Andy wave his arm high in the air, signaling to the troops to take advantage of this opportunity tounch a full-scale attack.


    When he confronted the forces being directly led by Lord Kaller, Fruys shot out a st of freezing air, causing the enemy troops to lose their momentum.


    I could hear the surprise in Lord Kaller¡¯s voice as cried out from the other side of the field: "It¡¯s a dragon that can use high level magic!"


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 25 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Despite Fruys¡¯ assistance, we still spent an entire day before we subdued Lord Kaller.


    Only through sheer willpower did our soldiers keep going despite their exhaustion reaching past their limits long ago.


    At the very end though, our warriors returned victorious with Fruys proudly leading at the front like usual.


    I rushed forward to hug his massive neck and drew close to his ear to tell him with a slight smile, "Fruu, you really are my hero."


    Fruys did not respond, and only turned hisrge head to the side.


    I rubbed my cheeks against his neck.


    But suddenly, he raised hisrge talons to push me away and then unfolded his wings open, before promptly flying away.


    I lifted my head to watch his silhouette grow smaller and smaller in the sky, feeling slightly baffled.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 26 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Andy walked over to point out my mistake, "Adam, dragons are very high-level creatures. You shouldn¡¯t treat him the way you treat pets or your horse Anthony."


    "I don¡¯t," I retorted with a frown. "And I¡¯ve never treated Anthony like a pet. He has always been mypanion and friend, even from the very beginning."


    Andy self-righteously said, "Still, your actions will make Fruys misunderstand."


    "Misunderstand?" I was a little surprised.


    "Mm. He might think that you aren¡¯t respecting him. Adam, you should treat Fruys just like you would treat a hero that helped us."


    I waved my hand and said, "That¡¯s unnecessary. Fruys and I are close and besides, I think he actually likes it."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 27 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Assimting Lord Kaller¡¯s territory and resources naturally required even more time.


    I was curious about Lord Kaller¡¯s reaction, as if it was totally unexpected that Fruys used magic. Wasn¡¯t it very normal for dragons to know how to use magic?


    I mulled over this for a moment, and decided this wasn¡¯t the case. The wandering bard only said that the dragons had long lifespans and strong offense and defense, but he never mentioned anything about all of them knowing how to use magic.


    Luckily, Lord Kaller was a person who liked to hoard things. There were many rare books in his castle which I rooted about for anything that was rted to dragons. It was then that I came to understand that within the dragon race, only about half could use magic.


    Those that could use advanced wide-area ice-type magic like Fruys was even rarer, and furthermore, dragons were naturally more powerful than human wizards practicing the same grade of magic. Not only were their bodies naturally imprable against physical assaults, but also their magical resistance was more than a hundred times stronger than an ordinary warrior¡¯s. And the most important part was that magic was one of their innate abilities¡ªthey did not need the help of any scrolls, incantations, staffs, spells, or other tools like a human.


    It was no wonder that ying dragons was so difficult in the fairy tales.

 Chapter 6

    <b>Chapter 6: A dreame true</b>


    Synopsis: I think Fruys really is a great dragon


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 28 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    We became thergest power in the northeastern region of Finanse after the annexation of Lord Kaller¡¯s territory. The otherrge states eyed us like a tiger watching its prey, and many of the small and medium-sized fiefs came to pledge allegiance to us.


    Singing songs of victory the entire way, we rarely suffered any defeats thanks to Fruys¡¯s help. The troops and officers were all in high spirits, and they couldn¡¯t hide theircency that arose from our stream of triumphs. Andy and I saw all this and couldn¡¯t help but feel worried.


    Once again, we won yet another battle and our territory expanded a little more to the west.


    But this time, Fruys did not fly back to his treasury to sleep after the fight. He even refused his portion of the treasure, and told me, "I¡¯ve pretty much recovered. You don¡¯t need to give me this much anymore. Repair your archer towers and catapults instead. Just look at your defenses; you think it¡¯s any better than trash?"


    He looked cold and disapproving.


    This was despite the fact that dragons didn¡¯t have facial expressions as obvious and rich with details as humans did.


    Fruys was actually concerned about the fief. Touched and unsure how to reply, I could not help but lift my eyes to look at him. "Frau..."


    Fruys was in a fluster. He lifted his front ws but looked like he didn¡¯t know where to put them, and he ended up staring back at me. He spoke in a low voice: "Why are you crying? Who bullied you? I¡¯ll beat them up...Don¡¯t cry. This time¡ªno, next time as well, and the next time after that, why don¡¯t you keep all the treasure that we seize?"


    ¡¯Who¡¯s crying?¡¯ I silently retorted. There¡¯s no way that I, the great Lord Smith, would be such a weak and fragile man.


    I think it must be because I told him stories about how my territory was being bullied from the beginning that Fruys now has the impression of me as a frail, feeble organism.


    After half-heartedly urging him back to his room and returning to my own, I happened to catch my reflection on the dressing mirror¡ªmy eyes were red and brimming with moisture.


    I chastised myself in my head¡ªlooking like this, it was no wonder Fruys thought I was crying. It was a good thing that nobody saw me like this.


    Though... I guess it¡¯s my fault for having such intense emotions that my tear ducts easily water up?


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 29 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Truth be told, I know perfectly well that I¡¯m a very sensitive person. The tears would easily start flowing at the slightest stimtion, and I could cry like there¡¯s no tomorrow even if nothing happened.


    However, I knew that I ought to be more like my father¡ªa strong and tough man.


    That¡¯s why I haven¡¯t watched a tragedy in the theater with arge public crowd in over ten years.


    I only asionally dared to light a candle in the middle of the night with no one around, and quietly read an anthology of Haider, the greatest tragic poet of the modern age.


    It was my secret indulgence to cry until my face was a tear-smeared mess.


    As such, I brushed off how easily my eyes turned red today as due to being too busy with work and being unable to read poems for too long.


    I decided to go vent tonight a little bit.


    In Kaller¡¯s library collection, there was ¡¶The Poet Haider ¨C From Across the World ¨C Anthology Edition¡·.


    I had already considered this book my own.


    Taking it from underneath my pillow, I lighted a candle and started reading.


    My pajamas, pillow, and nkets were all soaked in no time at all. I closed the poetry anthology after I was satisfied and curled up inside the velvet quilts to sob quietly.


    Suddenly, I heard the sound of something hard hitting the window.


    I crawled out from under the nkets, hurriedly wiped my face, and tried to look calm as I peered out the window.


    Fruys was tapping on the windowpane with his wings.


    I opened the window, and the cold night air gently blew in.


    Fruys looked at me with an expression I had trouble understanding.


    "I was about to go to bed when I noticed that the lights were still on here. Also, there were sounds," he exined.


    I remembered that a dragon¡¯s senses were much sharper than an ordinary human¡¯s. He lived right next door to me, and our balconies were connected. He would naturally notice if I had the light on.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. However, there was no way I could say that I was crying from reading Haider¡¯s poetry.


    I could only lower my head, and tell him, "It¡¯s nothing."


    Fruys was silent.


    After some time, he asked me, "Do you want know how it feels like to fly?"


    I looked up at him with astonishment.


    After spending almost a year with him, I knew very well that dragons were extremely proud. I gave up long ago on the notion that I¡¯d be able to ride on his back for a quick flight.


    I think my eyes and the expression on my facepletely gave me away.


    Hurriedly draping on a cloak, I pushed the door to the balcony open and headed outside. Fruys had flown some distance away, and he swooped back in like lightning before biting mypel and twisting his neck to ce me on his back.


    I waspletely caught off guard and had a dizzy spell for a moment. By the time I got a hold of myself, my arms had already wrapped themselves tightly around his neck by instinct.


    Fruys brought us shooting straight into the skies with a loud roar¡ªthe moon, the stars, and rolling clouds all seemed like they were just within my reach. The night air was very cold, but I was too excited and ecstatic to mind.


    I could see a panorama of my fief and the neighboring territories¡ªthe earth and the sky were vast, and I could even see the still Sea of Death. Over there, on the other side of the sea, was Fruys¡¯s home. And there was even arger world over the horizon.


    My heart suddenly felt at peace and warm. It was as if the vast expanse of the unknown no longer made me afraid. All I needed was to follow my heart, and continue moving forward.


    One mustn¡¯t grow arrogant from victory nor lose heart from defeat.


    Fruys slowed down, and we drifted among the moon and the stars in silence.


    Only when I pressed t on his back, shivering, did Fruys once again pick up speed. We returned to the fortress very quickly.


    When I was back on the balcony, he drew his face close and nuzzled my neck.


    "You¡¯re so cold." His voice like ice berry wine had a ting of annoyance. I suddenly found myself being picked up by thepel again and ced on his back before being carried into his room. He used his ws to brush me off and envelope me in the embrace of his belly.


    Curled up against his chest like that, I felt like some kind of small animal that was wrapped in the palm of his hand.


    However, the euphoria of experiencing my long-cherished wish soon upied my thoughts, and I immediately fell asleep in Fruys¡¯s arms while reminiscing the sensation of soaring over the sea of clouds.


    I think Fruys really is a great dragon.


    He was nothing like those dragons in the stories¡ªthose powerful, bad-tempered dragons who reigned over the skies like tyrants, those human-despising creatures who destroyed cities andid waste to thend.


    <strong>Trantor</strong>:


    <strong>Editor</strong>:


    <strong>Trantion Checker</strong>:


    <strong>Proofreader</strong>:

 Chapter 7

    <b>Chapter 7: Wounded</b>


    <i>Synopsis: Ice-blue colored blood</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 30 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    We were caught off guard by a surprise nighttime attack, and many of the troops suffered injuries as a result. The ensuing battle also severely damaged fortifications.


    Andy looked grave, "It¡¯s Cavendish from the south. They have two high-level sorcerers, one of which is a fog-type mage who is an expert in concealment."


    Two high-level sorcerers and two magic towers. In our smallnd, those were definitely a mark of power.


    My heart felt a little heavy. Having already dered war and made the first strike, it surely wouldn¡¯t be long before my opponent would attack again.


    I pondered over this for a while before I gave Andy¡¯s shoulder a pat. "Rally the troops and prepare to advance."


    A strong offense is always the best defense.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 31 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    That same night, I went to Fruys¡¯s side and sat next to him. "Fruu, our opponent has two high-level sorcerers. High-level sorcerers! I¡¯ve never even met one before. Are you afraid at all?"


    I patted his shoulder, but he only brushed me away with a w. He turned around and shot me a look of disdain. "Don¡¯t insult me. Humans are puny and weak¡ªhow could I ever fear them?"


    I was slightly relieved.


    Fruys always easily put me at ease.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 32 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    However, he was still wounded by those "puny and weak" humans.


    Nobody expected that the fog-type mage would be carrying a rare dragon-ying de.


    The dragon-ying de referred to a sharp de that was capable of cutting through a dragon¡¯s scales. It wasn¡¯t actually a specific one-of-a-kind de. But in this world, swords that were capable of slicing dragon scales were few and far between. It was rare for a de to even be able to reach the level of a dragon-ying de.


    The one that the fog-type mage possessed was a dagger.


    When Cavendish was skewed by Andy¡¯s sword and breathed hisst, the two sorcerers who had a life-and-death contract with him knew that they did not have long to live.The fog mage transformed into a ball of fog and stabbed Fruys in an attempt to take him down in mutual destruction.


    Of course, Fruys wouldn¡¯t be easily defeated like that, but he was still cut in the abdomen by the sharp de. Ice-blue colored blood slowly oozed out of the wound.


    Although I had seen Fruys injured before, I had never seen his blood.


    Andy was left in-charge of cleaning up after the battle like usual while Fruys calmly followed me back to his room. Then, he copsed as soon as we entered.


    I kneeled next to his side, feeling extreme pain in my heart.


    The human medicine I had werepletely useless; this I knew now.


    Fruys slowly swayed his tail as he spoke to me, "It¡¯s nothing. I¡¯ll be fine after I rest a bit. It¡¯s only because I was careless that I was injured by such a small knife."


    I could not cover up my expression of guilt and self-me when lifted my head and met his gaze.


    Fruys blinked his huge ice-blue eyes: "Adam...I¡¯m fine. Don¡¯t look at me like that."


    Yet I was stubborn, and continued to look at him.


    He grudgingly sighed, before closing his eyes: "Fine. I¡¯ll let you lick it then."


    I stared at him with wide, confused eyes.


    "I¡¯m saying you can lick my wound." Fruys spoke.


    I couldn¡¯tprehend his words. Could it be that it would stop hurting if I licked it? Or would the wound heal even faster? I listened to what he said nheless and brought my lips close to his stomach and the ice-blue blood¡ªFruys wasn¡¯t close to anyone else. Regardless of what kind of benefits this brought, nobody else but me could do this for him.


    Fruys¡¯s body shivered slightly when my tongue gently touched his wound.


    Afterwards, I heard him say. "Mhm, my blood is very precious. Lick it so it won¡¯t go to waste."


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 33 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    This conceited dragon was so stingy he couldn¡¯t spare a drop of his own blood¡ªit made me want to throw him off the balcony!


    After I considered the difference in our sizes, I concluded that I would probably have trouble even budging his head. Thus I could only let the subject go with great reluctance, and continue licking his blood.


    He seemed veryfortable lying there with his eyes closed.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 34 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    I¡¯ve never told Fruys this before, but I¡¯m so very thankful that he appeared that day.


    I wished I could do more for him.


    Even if in his eyes, I was just a puny human.

 Chapter 8

    <i>Synopsis: Fruys is once again a bright and beautiful dragon</i>


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 35 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Fruys¡¯s recovery speed left me dumbfounded.


    When I woke up the next morning, Fruys¡¯s terrifying wound had already be a scab, and then on the third day, he was back on his wings and could even leisurely take me out to fly.


    I might have just wasted my time worrying about this guy.


    Speaking of things to worry about, our spies received intel that the lords of the fiefs next to Lord Cavendish¡¯s territory were temporarily forming a coalition to annihte me.


    There had always been a delicate bnce of power between the three fiefs, and the fact that we were upying Lord Cavendish¡¯snd must have made these lords feel very uneasy.


    With both of them having two high-level sorcerers each, theirbined forces was something we could not underestimate. Thus, I could not help but be worried sick when I read the reports from our spies.


    I was still brooding over this while I strolled along the seaside with Fruys¡ªhis tail thwacking the ground and sendingrge pieces of sand and stone flying with every step.


    "What are you fretting about this time?" he asked.


    I hesitated for a moment but nheless decided to share the present state of affairs with him.


    Sure enough, Fruys gave me a look of disdain: "If it¡¯s a fight, why would I be afraid of them?"


    I didn¡¯t know his identity, his history, or his past experiences, and I had very little overall knowledge about dragons as a race. All I knew was that Fruys tended to dismiss all my concerns and problems as trivial¡ªand yet, he was still injuredst time.


    As far as I knew, Lord Ansai¡¯s ck dragon was not as rampant as Fruys. Rather, he was experienced, in the prime of his life, and renowned across all of Finanse. Fruys might be considered a youngster that just entered the spotlightpared to him.


    I was very annoyed at his arrogance, but I didn¡¯t know what I should say.


    "Fruys!" I could only call out his name and lift my head to stare at him.


    "What? You don¡¯t believe in my ability?" Fruys gently pressed the bottom of his snout to my forehead, and as he spoke ice-cold air blew apart the hairstyle that Anna had painstakingly arranged for me.


    "Fruu..." My voice softened. I think he understood what I wanted to say.


    In the end, Fruys¡¯s attitude was aszy and careless as ever.


    There was a rare trace of lightheartedness in his voice. "I¡¯ll take care of it, so don¡¯t worry. However, in exchange, you¡¯ll have to give me all the magic crystals that you get."


    To make use of sorcerers, it was necessary to supply them with magic crystals which could be looted inrge quantities from every magic tower. The ones that were taken from Lord Cavendish had all long been casually seized by Fruys¡ªnobody dared to fight over stuff with him.


    It must be because everyone knew that I spoiled him, I think. One couldn¡¯t me Fruys for this.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 36 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    This time, the military campaign could be said to have caused more worry than it was worth. Almost as if to intentionally prove how strong he was to me, Fruys rushed ahead at the very frontlines and consecutively used multiple wide-area ice-type spells.


    Andy, the actingmander, and I were standing next to each other and didn¡¯tmand our troops to charge. Just like me, he was watching Fruys¡¯s figure. He quietly mumbled, "The guy is way stronger than the time we fought Morgan."


    This wasn¡¯t an illusion. I stared helplessly as he froze over half a city with a single ice breath.


    I recalled something Fruys told me about the times he went out to y in his youth. One time, he incidentally bumped into the lord of a city who was secretly selling dragon eggs to serve as house pets, and he froze over their entire town in a fit of fury.


    When I thought about it now, he really shouldn¡¯t have let his emotions affect his actions like that. Good humans still exist after all, and the city¡¯s innocent citizens shouldn¡¯t have paid for their lord¡¯s misdeeds.


    At the time, I didn¡¯t take his words too seriously, since some parts of stories are always a little exaggerated. Fruys might have also just been inting his capability, but now I realized that he hadn¡¯t been spewing hot air at all. Freezing an entire town should be a walk in the park for him.


    ...¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 37 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    After the battle ended, Fruys flew off with all of the magic crystals and was holed up in his small, private treasury for three days.


    I was very worried about him, so whenever I didn¡¯t have anything to do I would loiter a bit in front of the room during that time.


    Towards nightfall on the third day, the door of that small treasury finally opened.


    The twilight of the setting sun illuminated the figure that walked out¡ªa slender yet powerful neck, apathetic and cold eyes, and a body armored with scales the same color as his eyes, that is, a pure and luxurious ice blue with a crisp, silvery radiance that seemed as if it was reflecting the fresh snow of the Gies Mountains. He was someone I almost could not recognize.


    The dragon spread his wings and pped them before taking off. With those massive wings covering the sky, his silhouette looked like the illustrations of dragons in ancient times.


    My head was tilted back as I nkly watched him soar into the skies above. However, he swooped down all of a sudden, snagged me up and threw me onto his back, then once again hurtled into the air.


    "Fruys!" I called out to him while clinging to his neck. "If you keep on doing that, you¡¯ll frighten me to death one day!"


    But a ¡¯hmph¡¯ was all Fruys responded with.


    I felt like this snort of his sounded more domineering and self-confident than ever before.


    Author¡¯s note:


    Short stories are easier to write. Recently my mood hasn¡¯t been good, and this piece of work is rather warming, so I wanted to write about our angelic little lord and his Fruu to put my heart at ease. I haven¡¯t forgotten about Å®Éñ or ¾°ºó (TL: the author¡¯s other works) at all.

 Chapter 9

    <i>Synopsis: A trashy lord that excessively flirts with dragons</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 38 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Everyone had eyes¡ªthey could obviously tell that Fruys had be more powerful.


    He was strong enough now that I think he could fly over the Sea of Death without any problems.


    It was already one year after we first met, and my territory had be the strongest power in the continent¡¯s northeastern region¡ªbut we still could not bear to let him go.


    We were basically green upstartspared to old school warlords like Ansai and the others. We expanded too fast, experienced too little, and gained too many enemies that surrounded us on all sides. It was without doubt that we would sink into extremely difficult circumstances if Fruys were to leave.


    To discuss this problem, Andy, my close aides and I held a secret conference where we tried to plot strategies on how to get Fruys to stay with us longer.


    However, it was really hard toe up with good ideas to entice someone when theye from a race so rarely seen in the continent, that ordinary people barely knew anything about them.


    Andy, who had also been listening to the wandering bard¡¯s stories in our childhood, and I both recalled the two things the bard imed were what all dragons loved: treasures and princesses.


    Frankly speaking, Fruys did not seem all that interested in the valuables in my treasury these days. He would reject my offers and even chide me to use the money to train soldiers and build fortifications instead. As for princesses...


    My father was a lord, but he only spawned two sons and no daughters. I, on the other hand, am a lord as well, but I did not even have a wife¡ªnever mind any daughters.


    As such, Andy came up with a n: we would pick two rather attractive-looking women and pay them lots of money to go wait upon Fruys.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 39 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    I had no idea that Fruys would be so furious, he used his wings to bat away those two beauties.


    I could only have Andye to appease the women while I personally went to console Fruys.


    He flew in circles around the roof of my fortress, eyeing me as I exerted a painstaking amount of strength to climb inch by inch up the rooftop to get close to him. The depths of his ice-blue eyes were tinged scarlet.


    ¡¯Fruu is seriously mad,¡¯ I quietly murmured to myself while shivering, but I also felt quite exasperated too. Why was he so angry? Thedies were not nobility, but weren¡¯t their other qualities sufficient enough?


    Regardless of where the problem lies, I could only coax andfort him. Straining, I went on my tippy toes to hug his neck. Fruys didn¡¯t dodge my embrace, which I thought was strange. But I jumped up anyways, trying to reach his neck.


    Fruys lowered his head slightly which gave me the opportunity to hug him.


    I wanted to smile but didn¡¯t dare to. Instead, I lifted my head and gazed at him with regret and sadness: "Fruu, it¡¯s my fault. I shouldn¡¯t have let Andy do that."


    It didn¡¯t matter if I felt real remorse or only faked it¡ªlooking apologetic was sure to be a safe choice.


    Fruys gave a ¡¯hmph¡¯ and ignored me.


    I pressed my cheek against his neck and lightly rubbed it against his fine and icy scales: "Fruu, I¡¯m sorry. Will you forgive me?"


    Fruys continued to stay silent, but he gracefully alighted on the rooftop.


    I tilted my head and pressed my lips to the scales on his neck. My voice was muffled as I spoke with difficulty: "Fruu..."


    I thought the dragon race was very strange. They only wanted the daughters of kings and lords and nobody else, but I ought to respect their culture. I thus tried to exin to him: "Fruys, my father really did only have sons...but if you¡¯re still angry then I have no one else to give you but myself. Is that okay?"


    When I said this, Fruys finally turned his head around with reluctance and met my gaze, before giving out another "hmph."


    I instantly felt relieved, knowing that his anger subsided. Tightening my arms around him affectionately, I eximed, "Fruu, you¡¯re the best. You really are the strongest and coolest dragon I¡¯ve ever met!"


    I figured that everything I said wasn¡¯t a lie; after all, I had only met one dragon in my entire life.


    Two streams of air once again puffed out of Fruys¡¯s nostrils, but I could clearly see the faint pride in his ice blue and frigid eyes.


    I thought to myself that the wandering poet had been right. Dragons were indeed very proud and vain creatures.


    Figuring that the two of us had made up, I stopped holding back¡ªand got carried away by utter happiness as a result: I nuzzled, licked, and even lightly bit the scales of his neck. It was all purely on instinct and without any reason.


    The neck is the weak point of all living creatures, so when one is willing to give full control of their own neck to another, it represents their trust in each other.


    When I thought back to my actions and how he let me do whatever I wantedter on, I concluded that Fruys trusted me intimately.


    I barely nipped him twice when a pair of ws made me fall over, and I was enveloped by hisrge shadow. Fruys loomed over me as he began to lick my face and neck in retaliation, even grazing my lower jaw and the side of my neck with his incredibly sharp fangs.


    "F-Fruu..." Slightly afraid and panicky, I shut my eyes and tried to push him away, but could not budge him even a millimeter.


    He had easily pushed me over like I was a piece of paper, but when I tried to push him away, it was as difficult as moving a small mountain.


    I quietly called his name pleadingly: "Fruu... stop ying around..."


    It was then that I felt the weight on my body lighten, and I was picked up and thrown onto his back.


    As we weaved through the clouds with me hugging Fruu¡¯s neck tightly, I believed that all was good between us now.


    The wind was fierce at this high altitude, so I lowered my body and pressed myself t against Fruys while Iughed.


    Without thinking, I suddenly blurted out the reason for this entire affair and my own personal wish¡ª


    "Fruu, don¡¯t leave me, okay?"


    The wind was so strong that I couldn¡¯t tell if he heard me.


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 Chapter 10

    <i>Synopsis: A contest of strength in ice and snow</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 40 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    As everyone knew, the strongest lord in all of Finanse was Lord Ansai, the leader of the Southern Alliance.


    Only the Anleis River separated the southern extremities of my domain from this alliance¡¯s territory, so if we did not want to attract their ire and stillbat the pressure other northern powers were applying, our only option was to expand westward¡ªthe first fief we had to conquer being Lord Cyth¡¯s domain.


    Though theirnd neither had arge size nor a particrly menacing force, nobody dared raid their country and make an enemy of Lord Cyth in over twenty years.


    This was because Lord Cyth¡¯s partner was a demigod.


    It was said that these powerful beings possessed the strength of the ancient gods and, once theye of age, had magical power that matched high-level sorcerers. But what made others fear them the most was their terrifying ability to perform curses; once hit by the spell, the cursed, his family, and all his descendants for many generations were doomed to a lifetime of suffering.


    Aftering to understand this, even the bravest and most fearless warriors in my army became silent.


    But we had alreadye this far¡ªif I were to give up now, only certain death awaited us in the hands of our countless enemies.


    I consulted Fruys if he knew of any way to fight demigods, and his answer was to directly attack.


    Using his words: "It¡¯s just a demigod; what is there to be afraid of?"


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 41 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Lord Cyth¡¯s demigod wife was called the "Snow Witch" due to her ability to control ice and snow. Rumors imed that she was able to instantly turn a clear, bright day into a severe blizzard, and freeze over thousands of square miles ofnd in a single night. Having this kind of extraordinary power utterly frightening.


    Our hearts became heavy when we heard this.


    Andy and I intentionally picked a sunny day to march on to Lord Cyth¡¯s territory to reduce the effectiveness of the Snow Witch¡¯s powers, but sure enough, the sky became dark and gloomy when our troops were halfway there.


    In a blink of an eye, dense storm clouds gathered above our heads and hostile, freezing winds came howling. Our soldiers started shivering one after another, and our warhorses were so cold that they dug their hooves into the ground and refused to advance a single step.


    Upon seeing this, Fruys gave me a nce before spreading his wings with a lively p, then shot upwards like a silver lightning bolt. Facing the sky, he released a thunderous roar.


    Instantaneously, the mass of clouds scattered, and the air¡¯s temperature quickly recovered. Sunlight once again shone on the earth.


    The troops started marching once more.


    When we arrived at Lord Cyth¡¯s territory, the faces of the three sorcerers apanying the army all paled in session as they hurriedly reported back to me.


    "Sir, you must pull back the troops immediately! This entire area is marked by an array of ice-type magic crystal runes, which, if we have analyzed correctly, will cast a forbidden blizzard spell on the army! Our magical power can¡¯tpete against the Snow Witch¡¯s; if we don¡¯t withdraw...we will be annihted."


    Beforehand, I had already carefully researched all matters rted to Lord Cyth¡¯s territory, and thus naturally heard of the Snow Witch¡¯s forbidden blizzard magic. It was her most powerful spell and trump card, which is why I did not expect her to be so threatened by us that she¡¯d bring it out at the very start of the battle.


    However, it was toote now. The view before my eyes darkened all of a sudden, apanied by ominous rumbles echoing from the horizon. The magical runes began to shine silver and the screeching of the cold winds were once again heard throughout the battlefield.


    A sorcerer in front of me went white: "...My lord, the forbidden spell has been activated."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 42 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    With the forbidden magic activated, there was no way to turn back.


    I stared helplessly as an enormous gray cloud that was the manifestation of this forbidden blizzard magic formed over our heads. My first thought was to look at Fruys¡ªI always felt like he would definitely have some kind of answer.


    At that moment, I was surprised to see him plunge straight into the ominous cloud. Even the three sorcerers standing beside me gasped with astonishment as their eyes followed his blurred silhouette.


    Fruys stayed the edge of the clouds for a while, and he was too high up for me to see what he was doing even when I craned my neck.


    All I could tell was that the clouds actually started to speedily drift back towards Lord Cyth¡¯s territory, as if they weremanded to do so. But the fast momentum of the clouds was soon countered and they slowed down, like they suddenly met resistance. However, ultimately they continued to move away from my army and into the direction of our opponents despite of it.


    It was then that I noticed a white figure waving her hands and casting spells on top of a tower in Lord Cyth¡¯s territory. Chances were, it was the Snow Witch.


    She was losing this contest of magical strength.


    In order to prevent the blizzard fromnding on her own people, she cut off the forbidden spell before it waspleted and was hit by a powerful bacsh as a result. I watched her vomit out a mouthful of blood due to her heavy injuries.


    The voice of the Snow Witch reverberated through the sky: "Who the hell are you? Even if you are an ice-type dragon, how do you have the power to suppress my ability to control ice and snow?"


    She directed this to Fruys, but he did not answer.


    The following battle waspletely one-sided. No one expected that the Snow Witch wouldn¡¯t be able to cast any of her magic.


    To put it simply, all of the ice and snow elemental power in the area was now fully under Fruys¡¯s control and would not heed themands of the Snow Witch. It was as if she was a meremander of ice and snow who encountered the god that ruled that domain.


    The three sorcerers werepletely stupefied by this scene.


    I had stayed behind at the very back the entire time, and as the battle neared its end, I felt a gaze upon me. The Snow Witch stared straight at me, sending chills through my heart.


    She spoke once more. "I wasn¡¯t able to help my love protect his country, but I won¡¯t let you taste the sweet joy of victory either."


    Fruys seemed to realize something as he had abruptly changed his course. From the very front lines, he flew frantically towards me as fast as he could.


    In that moment, I had a bad feeling about what the Snow Witch was about to do.


    I still remembered the time when I told Fruys how scary a demigod¡¯s curse could be. Fruys had disdainfully sneered. "Demigods aren¡¯t true witches, so they can¡¯t curse people whenever they want. While it¡¯s true that their curses are powerful, they can only use it once in their life. That is, when they die. In either case, dragons are immune to a majority of curses so if she really does casts one, you¡¯ll have me there to block it for you."


    The Snow Witch intended to die.


    I witnessed Fruys wildly hurtling towards me, and as everyone at the scene watched, he nimbly grabbed and clutched me tightly into his chest, and blocked the brunt of the curse.


    At that point, my vision went ck and I lost consciousness.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 43 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    When I awoke, I knew I didn¡¯t die.


    The Snow Witch had cursed me to suffer an unbearably agonizing and painful death but because of Fruys, I was able to stand here right now perfectly fine without the slightest amount of pain.


    However, he was not able topletely block the curse.


    I became blind.


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 Chapter 11

    <i>Synopsis: Our trashy lord is actually a literature-loving youth</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 44 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    We were victorious and Lord Cyth had fled¡ªwas the summary of Andy¡¯s battle progress report that I listened to while reclining on a bed.


    Apparently, Lord Cyth had a beautiful woman at his side when he escaped.


    I closed my eyes and could not help but feel sorry for the Snow Witch who wasted her life for such a man.


    Andy concluded the report with words for me to rest well, then quietly walked out of the room.


    It was already quitete.


    I heard Anna walk inside, probably wanting to help me change into my night clothes to sleep, and I squirmed in difort.


    I did not want her to touch me for the same reason as before. Even though Anna had watched me grow up and I was now blind, I still had my pride as a fully-grown man and was embarrassed at the thought. How could I let her dress me?


    Suddenly, the sound of another person¡¯s footsteps came approaching.


    I froze and listened carefully to figure out who it was. It didn¡¯t seem like it was my mother or my brother. But who else was there who could freely walk into my bedroom?


    Then, a familiar voice¡ªchilly yet warm like Anna¡¯s ice berry wine, said, "You can rest for now. I¡¯ll take care of Adam."


    Anna no longer attempted to pry my clothes off, and obediently lowered her hands and left.


    The owner of that voice walked to my side, before sitting down next to me and unbuttoning my clothes.


    Bewildered yet almost afraid to affirm my guess, I grabbed his hand and whispered, "Fruu?"


    "Mm," Fruys grunted. "It¡¯s me."


    He exined, "I have pretty much recovered at this point, so I¡¯m able to maintain a human form. However, I can¡¯t hold it for too long because I¡¯m notpletely healed yet."


    Completely dazed from shock, I silently allowed him to change my night clothes. This was my first time ever hearing that dragons could transform into a human form.


    The both of us were quiet, and soon Fruys finished changing my clothes. As he stood up and prepared to leave¡ª


    All the emotions that I had buried inside me for the entire day came bursting out.


    Everything was pitch dark. I didn¡¯t know what was going on. I couldn¡¯t tell how big the world was around me, and it felt like I was the only person on earth.


    Panic and anxiety gripped me, and I desperately reached out to grab Fruys. I lifted my head and opened my eyes fearfully, even though I couldn¡¯t see his face.


    "Fruu, don¡¯t leave, stay with me a little," I pleaded.


    For a while, Fruys did not reply, before he sat down on the side of the bed again.


    I threw myself around his neck, fumbled around until I found my nket, and tossed it over to him without saying anything.


    I think Fruys must have understood my intent.


    He hesitated once again, but then reached out a hand to tidy the pillow and sheets on my bed. Then heid down and covered the two of us with the nket.


    "Sleep," he said. "I¡¯m here."


    "Mmh," I mumbled, and continued to cling to his neck, not letting go even when I drifted off into my dreams.


    I thought to myself that there was at least one benefit about Fruys bing human. His neck was thin now and easier to grab.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 45 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    I woke up early the next day and reached out to the space next to me. Fruys was still sleeping in his human form.


    When he awoke, he transformed back into a dragon, picked me up, and took me for a spin in the sky.


    The rays of the sunlight and the wind were warm, and the birds were chirping as they greeted the morning.


    As I roped my arms around Fruys¡¯s neck and pressed myself against his back, I rubbed my cheeks on his slightly cold scales and told him: "Fruu, God is fair. He might have taken away my eyes, but he gave me a pair of wings."


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 Chapter 12

    <i>Synopsis: The case of this trashy lord teaches us to broaden our perspectives, study more literature, and that living an isted life in the Finanse Continent is no good</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 46 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Even though I became blind, my territory¡¯s status and favorable circumstances weren¡¯t shaken easily.


    We grew stronger and stronger, and gradually we became the most influential power in the north. Everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before we faced Lord Ansai and the Southern Alliance.


    Close to three years had passed since I first met Fruys.


    Two years ago, he regained his ability to maintain his human form for as long as he wanted after a full recovery, but he didn¡¯t leave and stayed by my side this entire time


    I was a little afraid, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to take the initiative and bring up this topic.


    I was very happy with my current life. My mom and Ana were healthy and well, my little brother had a bright future ahead of him, and my civil and military ministers were very capable.


    During daytime, Fruys would frequently take me flying everywhere, and at night, he would let me cuddle with him until we fell asleep ¡ª it was a truly perfect life <sup>1</sup>.


    There was just one thing that I was unsure about: starting from one year ago, Fruys started to frequently do mean things to me.


    He was a young, powerful, and fully-grown male dragon with magic abilities, while I was just a puny, weak, and blind human. Even in his human form, he was still a billion times stronger than me. Adding to the fact that I was a cowardly and sensitive person who could not bear to lose face, the strategy I chose to adopt after carefully and rationally analyzing my situation was ¡ª


    To go along with my instinctive reaction and simply lie there.


    During the times he ardently requested some certain things from me, I would passively ept, and when he got especially excited, I would try to remain calm and urgently plead for him not to turn back into his dragon form ¡ª as someone who came from humble beginnings and built himself up from nothing, my sense of frugality had long been carved into my bones.


    If Fruys transformed into a dragon, the bed would surely be destroyed.


    Taming a dragon was indeed very difficult, and I could only wonder how hard Ansai must have it for keeping his ck dragon for so long.


    Anna was bringing up my breakfast when she heard meining. After hesitating a while, she said, "Adam, not everyone tames a dragon in the way you do..."


    I leaned in closer,pletely intrigued. "How do other lords and kings do it, then?"


    But before she could reply, the sound of someone¡¯s footsteps came and interrupted us. It was Fruys ¡ª during these past few years, I learned how distinguish the difference between people¡¯s footsteps and could now easily identify those that belonged to people I knew.


    Like clockwork, he said: "Anna, you can rest for now. I¡¯ll take care of Adam."


    I listened to Anna quietly leave as Fruys pulled up a chair and sat at my side. While feeding me a few spoonfuls of soup with adle, he spoke calmly: "Don¡¯t listen to Anna. All lords sleep together with their dragons."


    I swallowed the soup and thought about what Fruys said. Regardless if he was speaking the truth or not, it was hard for me to confirm it ¡ª after all, in the the entirety of the Finanse Continent, only Ansai and I had dragons, and our present rtions were hostile.


    I hoped that one day, I could perhaps ask Ansai about how he was able to keep up the nice rtionship between him and his dragon for the past twenty years.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 47 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    However, Fruys never gave me this opportunity.


    Our war with Ansai had finally arrived.


    Someone who was blind would only be a burden in battle, so I had to stay at home and depend on the ounts from countless people to get a clear view about what happened in the military campaign.


    Apparently, the showdown between two dragons that they were looking forward to never happened.


    They said that Ansai¡¯s ck dragon was originally circling in the sky and roaring when Fruys came flying from afar in the wake of our troops.


    The ck dragon felt the aura of Fruys¡¯s oppressive might, froze for a moment, then immediately descended and groveled on the ground ¡ª a sign of submission, simr to how a peasant kowtowed to their monarch.


    Strength is all that matters. After losing the crucial support of their ck Dragon, Ansai¡¯s troops were routed, and the soldiers under themand of my subordinates chopped them up to pieces.


    Even though I didn¡¯t have the opportunity to exchange tips on how to tame dragons with Ansai face to face, I could only guess that his experience was probably very different from mine ¡ª for example, I heard that his dragon couldn¡¯t use magic, couldn¡¯t turn into a human, and couldn¡¯t even change his size whenever he wanted like Fruys.


    If his dragon could neither transform into a human nor make himself smaller...


    Considering how I couldn¡¯t bear it that one time Fruys tried to do it that way, just how terribly rough Ansai must have had it for the past twenty years...?


    Coming to this profound realization, I couldn¡¯t help but feel more sympathy for myrade Lord Ansai, who diligently and conscientiously raised a dragon for so many years yet still met a violent death in the end.


    Author¡¯s notes:


    Anna knows a lot, which seems to sh with her identity as "an old maid of a small lord in the Finanse Continent." However, rest assured that this isn¡¯t a BUG.


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    (T/N) literal: warm in the winter, and cold in the summer

 Chapter 13

    <i>Synopsis: The debt from flirting all those years, is bound toe back to bite you one day</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 48 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    After the war with Ansai ended, our position as the hegemon of the Finanse continent was established and firmly secured. Our story became the stuff of legends, and we were recorded as prominent figures in the history books.


    There were no more powers that were capable of threatening me in the entire continent.


    However, the premonition that something was going to happen made me feel slightly uneasy at the bottom of my heart.


    It was an ordinary night, and I was sitting beside my bed as I waited for Fruys toe help me change into my pajamas.


    An embrace and intimate kisster, as was usual, he tucked me under the nkets, leaned his forehead against mine, then softly whispered, "Adam, I have to leave. There¡¯s some business I need to deal with at home, and when it¡¯s all settled I¡¯lle back for you."


    I had always known with perfect rity that Fruys had his own past and history. That he chose this time to depart was because there was nothing that was capable of harming me so easily anymore. He already went above and beyond and had helped me to this point.


    Gripped by terrible anxiety, I reached out and tightly grabbed onto him like a small child that didn¡¯t know anything else in the world.


    "Fruys, please don¡¯t leave. I don¡¯t want you to go," I pleaded as I buried my face in his chest, my voice quivering and almost tearful. I wasn¡¯t a weak crybaby, not at all; it was just that it had been too long since Fruys hadst read Haider¡¯s poems to me.


    "Be good." His voice was still tranquil and calm, and he used his lips to gently kiss andfort me. He murmured, "I¡¯ll be back, just wait for me."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 49 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    I apanied Fruys to the seaside where I first found him.


    It was where everything had started, and where everything was going to end.


    I had stubbornly refused anyone else toe along, save for my steed Anthony ¡ª this old friend of mine could be depended on to carry a blind lord like me back to the fort.


    When we arrived, I let go of Anthony and depended on my sense of touch to stand face to face with Fruys. He didn¡¯t say anything, and only lowered his head to kiss me.


    I was a little embarrassed, since this kind of thing only happened in our room or in the sky before, but my grief over Fruys¡¯s departure very quickly surged forth and buried all of my inhibitions. At the point when I was grieving the hardest ¡ª


    Fruys used his tongue to shove something hard into my mouth then forced me to swallow it.


    "Fruu..." Before I could open my mouth to ask him what it was, Fruys embraced me once again and lowered his head to nip on the nape of my neck with his sharp fangs. At the same time, vague words came out from his throat, "...can we try it in the original form?"


    I really wanted to punch him at that moment. It was clear as day that he was shamelessly taking advantage of the moment ¡ª as if he was one of those people who held no reservations with their requests on their deathbeds.


    But I didn¡¯t hit him. My voice was still choked up with emotion as I quietly asked him, "The original form that isn¡¯t small?"


    "Mm." Fruys hugged me as he murmured.


    I thought about how he was leaving, and ended up agreeing despite feeling wronged and hurt.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 50 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    I think my sorrow must have given me strength, because this time it wasn¡¯t bad at all. I wasn¡¯t physically injured, and my body didn¡¯t really ache either. Most importantly, I was able to stay conscious the entire time, and when it was all over I even felt like I still had some energy left.


    Of course, it may have been because Fruys was holding back.


    After he changed back into his human form, he helped me mount my horse. Then he told me, "I¡¯ll leave after I watch you go."


    I agreed, and urged Anthony to take me back.


    When I figured that we had gotten far enough out of Fruys¡¯s view, I pulled in the reins and had Anthony stop.


    I stopped there, mounted on my horse, and listened until I could hear the familiar sound of wings beating in the sky. When I heard the distant roar of a dragon resonate faintly across the ocean, I finally couldn¡¯t hold back the tears that I had kept inside the entire time.


    In that moment, I was slightly d that my hearing had improved so much after bing blind.


    I thought to myself that I was like this because I hadn¡¯t read Haider¡¯s poems in too long.


    But then I realized that from now on, there was no longer any man or dragon who would read them to a blind person like me.


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 Chapter 14

    <i>Synopsis: The little lord is actually deeply in love</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 51 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    The truth was, there were some benefits to Fruys leaving.


    I could dedicate more time now to worry about the people around me ¡ª my little brother, for instance.


    It was only just recently that I noticed how much he had grown up, and furthermore, it looked like he was a lot like me. He always spoke like he was waxing poetic.


    He once said to me, "Brother, it seems like you are living each day waiting for the next, but the next day alwayses not much differently than the previous did, so you are perpetually left waiting."


    Sounds really philosophical, right?


    I felt that my little brother was a budding talent, and so I had him inherit my precious collection of ¡¶The Poet Haider ¡¤ Collected Across the World ¡¤ Anthology Edition¡·.


    Time passed slowly and leisurely like this for a year while our power stabilized even further.


    One day, I returned to the fortress and found my mother and Anna in the reception hall.


    Next to them was a thin, shriveled olddy dressed in a purple gown who my mother introduced as a witch. Apparently, she had appeared the year I was born, blessed me, and suggested that my parents name me "Adam."


    The Witch spoke: "My lord, I know I do not have long to live, but I can use myst moments to answer any three questions you wish. In return, I only ask that you grant me a small patch of ground to use as my grave."


    I epted.


    My first question was about what Fruys had fed me before he left, and she said that it was a dragon pearl: a dragon¡¯s greatest treasure that they would never willingly give away apart from death. My case, she said, was very rare.


    Next, I asked her what qualities dragon pearls bestowed.


    The witch admitted that she did not know much. All she knew was that I would obtain half of Fruys¡¯s lifespan, and I would gain increased defensive ability on par with the dragon race for as long as he lived. Once a dragon dies, all the abilities granted by the dragon pearl would disappear.


    I hastily asked whether this would have any impact on Fruys.


    She looked at me very calmly, and answered: "A dragon who has lost his dragon pearl will be rejected by his tribe. What you gain, is what he loses ¡ª only half of his lifespan will remain, and his strength will weaken simrly.


    I heard myself mutter softly, barely audible: "...will I be able to wait for him?"


    There was no response.


    The old, wizened witch sitting on a chair had her eyes peacefully shut when I looked towards her.


    She had already answered three questions, and reached the end point of her life¡¯s journey.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 52 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Unease lingered in my heart as I ordered my men to bury the witch.


    In the end, I never asked Fruys what kind of circumstances had caused someone as powerful as him to be so injured that he was even forced to fly over the Sea of Death to Finanse.


    I also never asked him what it was that he absolutely had to return to do¡ªif it was something crucial or possibly dangerous, why did he leave behind his dragon pearl with me when it was so important to the dragon race?!


    I had always assumed that I was a tiny little blip in Fruys¡¯ life ¡ª after all, dragons had lifespans reaching several thousands of years. I did not even dare hope that he would ever return one day, but now, I suddenly discovered that I meant everything to him.


    He had literally given me half of his life, and as long as he was alive, I would never die.


    An expedition was organized under mymand.


    Using blueprints recorded in ancient books, I enlisted skilled craftsmen to construct manned flying battleships and enormous ships that could cross the Sea of Death.


    My intent was obvious, and any chancellor that dared speak up a contrary opinion was promptly suppressed.


    Seven monthster, threerge ships that could purportedly withstand the perilous journey towards the Icanomics Continent were finally fully constructed.


    I prepared a thousand soldiers, and we set sail.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 53 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    We arrived at a small ind twenty dayster.


    The scouting party we sent in advance reported that there was fresh water on the ind, thus making it suitable for a midway supply station. Having arrived here, it indicated that we were halfway towards our destination.


    The ind also had the remains of towers and fortifications built in the past, and after listening to the scout report, I decided that we would establish a fortress here.


    Everything up to this point had happened smoothly and ording to n, save for one thing I did not foresee: Andy¡¯s betrayal.


    He was one of the people I trusted the most; we had, after all, grown up together and shared the same joys and sorrows. I never thought that he would betray me. I had left behind all of my loyal aides in Finanse, and thus, everyone who had joined me on this voyage were his followers. Now that I thought about it, that was probably part of his scheme as well.


    It must have been hard for him to embark on a risky journey after already conquering all of the Finanse Continent.


    He said that I was bewitched by a devil and had lost my mind, to go to the Icanomics Continent like this ¡ª which was akin to taking people to death with me.


    But perhaps because he was considerate of our past friendship, he did not take my life and instead chose to shut me in a tower on the ind with some aides to guard me. Then he tookmand and returned back to Finanse bearing news that "the Lord suddenly fell ill and passed away during the journey."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 54 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    However, one of the guards Andy left behind wanted to kill me.


    I had no way of knowing whether this was incited by Andy or if it was his own idea, but it was probably because he believed that as long as I was alive, I would be a hindrance to Lord Andy. Thus, I must be killed.


    He tried many different methods: from directly stabbing and hacking me with a sword, to poisoning me, to setting me on fire, and then drowning me...


    And yet, I did not die. I could not.


    I was still very calm, but he seemed like he was about to break. He looked at me like I was some kind of monster.


    In the darkness of the night, I weighed my feelings in my heart and felt that perhaps, I was really now a monster like what people saw me to be.


    But if they wanted to kill me, they had to use at least as much effort as if they were ying a dragon ¡ª after all, there was a dragon living inside my heart, and I knew that he would protect me.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 55 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Suddenly, I found myself being released by the guard¡¯s aide.


    When I looked at the man with slight mistrust, he told me that he owed me his life: back in that battle with Lord Morgan, he was the wounded soldier I shielded and sent back to recover. [Note] See Chapter 2 [/Note]


    "My lord, I¡¯m sorry for my ipetence," he apologized, but he managed to find a small boat filled with essential supplies ¡ª to me, this was more than enough.


    He promised that he would take care of the affairs here so I could escape with ease, and so I got on the boat and followed the ocean current towards the Icanomics Continent.


    I did not care whether it was bright or dark around me, or whether the waves were rough or not; even if I could not see with my eyes, my heart was mypass.


    I trusted that deep inside me was the strength to guide me forward.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 56 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    Perhaps there really were miracles in this world. After an indeterminate amount of time passed, a drizzle of dazzling light appeared in my vision.


    On instinct, I covered my eyes with my hands, and then slowly, incredulously, peeled them away ¡ª


    In front of me was a gray colored line in the distance, the view of a whole new, magnificent continent.


    I could see.


    Author¡¯s Note:


    Our Lord actually left behind a lot of his trusted aides for his little brother. He knew he was making a bad decision, and he chose to bring along Andy because he thought that Andy was apanion who was willing to live and die with him.


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 Chapter 15

    <i>Synopsis: But how was I going to find him... his majesty, the Ice Emperor.</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 57 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    As I abandoned the boat and went ashore, I could see my haggard appearance and tattered clothes from my reflection in the water. It was almost as if I suddenly aged ten more years.


    I smiled bitterly for a moment, before starting to walk forwards along the road.


    Fortunately, a married couple driving a cart passed by and kindly offered to bring me to the nearest town in the area, under the assumption that I was a lost traveler.


    They dropped me off at a town that was part of the powerful human kingdom of Bien.


    Flourishing due to especially prosperous trade near coastal waterways, the ce had rows upon rows of shops and humongous crowds of people everywhere. I stared, somewhat at a loss, until I finally realized an extremely critical and miserable problem.


    I didn¡¯t have any money.


    The only valuable thing I had on myself was a ruby pendant that I always wore around my neck; it was a family heirloom that my mother gave me when I came of age.


    She had told me to take good care of it, and yet...


    I clutched the red gemstone and hesitated, but in the end, still decided to walk into what looked like the biggest pawnshop among the rest.


    There was no way I would be able to make a living for myself with having absolutely nothing in my hands. I could only focus on obtaining immediate living expenses for now, and pawn it back when I get an ie one day in the future.


    To speak frankly, I was born as the heir of a lord, so I never did think about what other type of job I could take before. I ate a meal at a small restaurant and struck a conversation with the owner.


    I said: "I came here to look for a person but I don¡¯t have any leads, and I don¡¯t have any means to support myself either. Do you have any suggestions for a job I can get, mister?"


    He told me that the Adventurer¡¯s Guild employed unskilledbor all year round. Even though the pay was poor, it was a good ce to snoop around for all sorts of information.


    I asked for directions and after getting there, easily found myself a job ¡ª in this ce, work was plenty though wages were low. One had to swallow their pride and basically work like servants for arrogant, self-important, andpletely unreasonable warriors and magicians. ¡¯If anyone had any other choice, they definitely wouldn¡¯t choose to work here¡¯, was what I thought.


    My job was to assist adventurer parties that showed up looking for missions that suited them; it was work I rather liked doing because I could casually chat with them and get clues while pretending to diligently browse for missions.


    I thought that it would be very hard to hear anything relevant, so I was prepared to stay here for a year or more. However, I had no idea it would be so simple to get what I wanted.


    I asked them: "Hey folks, have you ever heard of a dragon that doesn¡¯t have a dragon pearl?"


    They gave each other strange looks after listening to me, then broke out intoughter. The leader, a warrior with arge beard, gave me a mocking look: "Kid, you think we¡¯re green, inexperienced newbies like you?"


    And from their mouths, I easily heard the circumstances of the current king of the dragons, Yiweisibel Hande.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 58 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤...


    The dragon race¡¯s political system was simr to a coalition of multiple ns. Each n was made up of families, which were made up of individuals.


    Only the chief of the strongest n would be acknowledged as the king of the entire dragon race ¡ª and for nearly three hundred years, this position was held by the chief of the ice n.


    This reign would have gone longer if not for the rebellion within the dragon race that shocked the entire Ican Continent five years ago.


    The king of dragons was murdered by a member of the ice n¡¯s royal family, while the prince sustained heavy injuries and disappeared.


    Dragons did not live their lives governed by many rules and regtions, for they only followed one principle: might makes right. Everything was solved with strength.


    For example, the leader of the rebellion usurped the position of the chief of the ice n, but the internal strife¡¯s effects was quite severe and their n¡¯s collective strength declined.


    The ice dragons had no choice but to relinquish their position as the ruling n of the dragon race to the gold dragons. Though his power was somewhat inferior, the chief of the gold n ended up being coronated as the king.


    The missing prince of the ice dragons remained as a thorn in their new chief¡¯s side. Ever since he was born, the prince demonstrated extraordinary power - his authority over ice and snow exceeded that of anyone else¡¯s, and nobody could utilize ice magic without his permission. As long as he was present, ice and snow would only listen to hismands.


    If it were not for the gold n helping the rebels and them catching him off guard, the prince would have never been defeated and wounded so severely.


    He was the chosen one of the ice n, the one bestowed with the title "Ice Prince" on the day he was born ¡ª Yiweisibel.


    Around a year ago, the Ice Prince Yiweisibel who had vanished suddenly appeared. He assembled his former subordinates, cleared away the parties responsible for the rebellion back then, and once again shook up the ice n.


    After reestablishing the ice n¡¯s authority as the leading n of the dragon race, he who was formerly known on the continent as the ¡¯Ice Prince¡¯ had now colloquially be the ¡¯Ice Emperor¡¯.


    However, he was not granted the title of king of the dragon race.


    Dragons would never acknowledge one without a dragon pearl as their sovereign no matter how strong he was.


    As a result, the seat of the king of the dragons was currently vacant, though everyone tacitly considered Yiweisibel as the unofficial leader of the dragon race.


    The way they addressed him right now was extremely awkward; his title was "His Majesty the Ice Emperor" at first, butter on they decided to switch back to calling him the prince of the ice dragons.


    I silently lowered my head, while taking advantage of my job to ask more about Yiweisibel. My heart grew increasingly certain; aside from his name, everything else matched up.


    When I returned to the storage room the Adventurer¡¯s Guild offered to let me useter that night, Iid down on my wooden nk bed and stared nkly at a hole in the ceiling.


    I had to go look for Fruu.


    But how was I going to find him...his majesty, the Ice Emperor...?


    Author¡¯s Notes:


    The plot keeps bounding and swerving in melodramatic (TL: "dog blood") directions.


    Let me summarize for you what might as well be the ssic sequence:


    In and far, far away, the owner of a tiny family restaurant rescues a wounded heir of an aristocratic family by chance. The heir, an extremely talented individual, helps the little owner and the restaurant booms magnificently in that remote ce. But then, one day he decides to return to his family to settle the conflict that had caused him to be injured in the first ce.


    The little owner is betrayed by the manager he trusted, and is penniless as he leaves his hometown to search for his old friend. At that point he discovers that the difference in their status was far greater than he imagined, and it¡¯s hard to meet him...


    So if you follow the sequence, the next step should be...


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 Chapter 16

    Synopsis: Should have remembered the stories Fruys told


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 59 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    However, very soon I no longer had the time to wonder whether Yiweisibel really was my Fruys or consider how I could go meet His Majesty the Ice Emperor.


    A rather serious problem of my own turned up.


    While I was working, a troupe of soldiers charged into the Adventurer¡¯s Guild along with the owner of the pawnshop, who pointed at me and said: ¡°Sir, it¡¯s him!¡±


    And thus I was arrested and thrown into prison.


    ¡®Could it be that the ruby pendant my mother treasured for so many years is fake?¡¯ I pondered while squatting inside my cell. If it was...then it really couldn¡¯t be helped that the people at the pawnshop reported it to officials. I could only curse my own luck for ending up this way.


    Someone who looked like he had quite a bit of status, perhaps themanding officer of the area, came to interrogate me not too long afterwards.


    I was asked where I had gotten the ruby pendant, so I answered that it was passed down to me from my mother.


    The man became extremely angry and wanted to use torture to force me to tell the truth; luckily, he was stopped by an elderly officer beside him who quietly whispered a few words into his ear.


    The way the man looked at me grew a little more inquisitive, then he asked me where I came from.


    I thought for a little, and honestly told him: ¡°I came from the other side of the sea, Finanse.¡±


    Themanding officer ordered his men to bring over a silver box which contained a circr green stone.


    If I was not mistaken, this was the Stone of Bien I had heard of before. Reportedly, it was regarded as a symbol of royal power because it was very rare and would only react to the blood of the Bein royal family.


    At all levels and parts within the country, each had a piece of the stone that was bestowed by the king and served as a token that granted his retainers the authority to govern a territory.


    Themanding officer took out a small knife and sliced my left hand with it, before pressing the wound against the Stone of Bein ¡ª instantly, the original green color of the stone gradually faded and revealed a pure white rock.


    Afterwards the ruby pendant was returned to me, and I began to live my days like a prince.


    Apparently, I had the purest blood of the Bein royal family in my veins, and it was at that point that I discovered that the ruby pendant my mother imed was a family heirloom was actually the Bein royal family¡¯s long lost national treasure, the Blood Stone.


    It was said that it was blessed by an ancient devil king to grant power, status, wealth, and good luck to the wearer.


    However, I could clearly remember that my dear mother, who worried that I would foolishly fall in love too early, gave me the pendant only after I came of age. She said that it was only a jewel that brought love.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 60 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Finding Fruys on that beach actually had some special significance to me ¡ª long ago, my father found my mother there after she drifted ashore along with Anna.


    I knew that my mother came from the Ican continent, but she never spoke about her life before she met my father. Thus, I became ever more curious about her homnd and grew fond of listening to wandering poets whenever they told tales of the continent on the other side of the sea.


    A person was dispatched by the official toe escort me to the capital, and from their mouths I found out what should have been the original identity of my mother: Princess Abe, second in line to the throne in the Kingdom of Bein.


    That year my father found her on the shores of our territory, there was a turmoil in the royal family that gave her the chance to run away and end up in Finanse.


    Apparently, my mother had an elder twin brother named Alex who was first in line for the throne. They had a very good rtionship, so after he had calmed the upheaval and discovered that my mother was missing, my uncle grew sick from excessive worry about the safety of his twin sister and eventually passed away.


    I remembered the expression on my mother¡¯s eyes when I was about to embark ¡ª hesitant, as if there was something she wanted to say...but she never said anything in the end.


    When the previous king, my maternal grandfather died, his brother Andel who was third in line inherited the throne. This grand-uncle of mine seemed very enthusiastic to receive me.


    I made use of the opportunity to ask all the people around me for any news about the dragon race, but they only gave me very strange looks, stammered and mumbled, and did not say anything of value. The information I got at the imperial pce was even less than the amount I got at that tiny adventurer¡¯s guild.


    Approximately one monthter, Andel invited me to have afternoon tea with him and asked: ¡°I heard you¡¯re very interested in the dragon race?¡±


    I affirmed it was so.


    He said: ¡°It just happens to be that the kingdom needs to send an envoy to the territory of the gold dragons. Would you like to act as the representative of the royal family?¡±


    Without giving it a second thought, I immediately agreed.


    I had already heard about the situation around the gold dragons before.


    The political climate in the Ican continent was substantially moreplicated than it was in Finanse. Not only was thend home to various races but also to hostile demonic beasts which were mainly found in the northern part of thend, the Dark Abyss, and would often attack other settlements.


    All of humanity¡¯s cities could be razed by these creatures at the most severe times, so under these circumstances humans would enter a joint alliance with elves, dwarfs, giants, dragons, and other races to resist them.


    The rtionship between the human kingdoms and the dragon race was the most delicate.


    In terms of total poption, dragons who had longer lifespans and breeding cycles were nothingpared to humans, but each dragon was enormous, highly intelligent, possessed immense fighting prowess, and had a strong sense ofmunity among themselves. Thus, high-level demonic beasts themselves would avoid provoking dragons.


    Many human monarchs would send all kinds of gifts to nearby dragon ns in hope of receiving protection when demonic beasts or even other countries invaded.


    The Bein kingdom itself was being protected by the dragon n closest to them, the gold dragons, for close to a hundred years.


    Aftering to this strange and unfamiliar environment, thirsting to meet Fruys, and recently havinge to know the story of my mother¡¯s past, I was so exhrated that I neglected to notice all the ominous signs around me. I vaguely remembered that I had once heard the king of Bein¡¯s name before, but I didn¡¯t think deeply about it.


    I only noticed that something was off by the time I was already sitting in the carriage en route to the gold dragon territory. The carriage, I realized, was surrounded with a magic spell barrier on all sides as if to prevent me from running away.


    It was at that moment that I saw the light. I remembered that Fruys once told me ¡°gossip¡± I hadn¡¯t taken seriously at the time: that the king of the powerful human kingdom of Bein was a coward who sent his own daughter as a gift to the dragons to seek protection, and his son to the ck Wizard in exchange for the method of immortal life.


    Rumors are oft unfounded, but I couldn¡¯t help thinking just like how I could not stop the cold sweat from drenching my clothes; my mother possessed the treasured Blood Stone, and my blood could cause the Stone of Bein to react. If my mother truly was the respected Princess Abe, under what circumstances did she flee to the other side of the sea with Anna, and furthermore be unwilling to talk about her past for nearly thirty years?


    I closed my eyes. I knew that at this point, even if I cried out to stop the carriage, nobody would respond.

 Chapter 17

    <i>Synopsis: Though for now, the groom isn¡¯t Fruu</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 61 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    After thinking that I wouldn¡¯t be able to run away once we entered the gold dragon territory, the escort that King Andel arranged for me harshly ordered the magicians in our entourage to undo the carriage¡¯s barrier before entering and then sitting down next to me.


    This escort, who should be a rtive named Lady Afeyr, said: "Do you know what the true purpose of this diplomatic mission is?"


    I gave her a look andughed bitterly: "I¡¯ve roughly guessed that it isn¡¯t a good thing."


    She said: "We¡¯re here to apany the bride...That is, to deliver the human bride the kingdom has offered to the dragon race."


    I was speechless: "Apany the bride?"


    While I was in Finanse, I had flipped through many old books on dragons in order to understand Fruys¡¯s situation better and came to know the origin of the saying, ¡¯Dragons love the daughters of royal blood¡¯ ¡ª on the years when demonic beasts wrought the most havoc, the king of humans would offer his own children to the dragon race in a reverent plea for protection. Dragon n with highest status would take these children of royal blood to assert their own authority.


    As for the fate of these human "brides", which were probably better described as sacrifices, the ancient records only vaguely said that the majority would suffer a miserable death on the day of the wedding or a few dayster. How exactly they died was not mentioned.


    However, as the years passed, the invasions of the demonic beasts became less severe than they were in the past.


    Humanity developed better troops, weapons, magic, and other technical skills to fight the demon race, which made the standing between humans and dragons became increasingly equal in their alliance, and the dragon race also started to forbid its many ns from the traditional practice of epting sacrificial "brides".


    I brought up what continued to confuse me. Why was it that this ceremony that had been banned long ago still happening?


    Afeyr swept a nce at me and looked down with remorse. In a voice full of resentment she spoke: "What¡¯s so strange about it? The gold dragon n has enormous influence, and from the beginning they only nominally followed the rules. In order to unt the special standing of their n, they would at times openly vite the prohibition and even invite the king of dragons to attend the ceremony. The rulers who supposedly made thews cannot do anything ¡ª even if they can, would they aggravate the gold dragons for the sake of mere humans?"


    After thinking about it for a little, I decided that it made sense in the end. I then asked her who this bride I had not yet met was.


    Afeyr said: "The bride is you."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 62 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    What kind of joke was that supposed to be? How could it be me? It made more sense if she was the bride.


    Afeyr told me that that the gold dragon n only cared about the purity of the royal blood in the bride¡¯s veins ¡ª her, or his, gender did not matter to them at all.


    Actually, the bride to be delivered was supposed to be my mother. When she ran away, the king was forced to send a distant male rtive, but the thinness of this lord¡¯s royal blood made the gold dragon race extremely displeased.


    Afeyr looked at me, and then suddenly smiled for a moment. She said: "Adam, thank you...If you hadn¡¯t appeared, it would have been me who would be picked. This was why Andel chose me to escort you ¡ª I¡¯m the person who is least likely to set you free. If you ran away, I will be the person who dies."


    For a split second, her expression became an extremelyplex mix of guilt, desperation, and fear. She told me she was sorry... Although she wasn¡¯t afraid of death, the way the human bride would die was simply too miserable.


    I asked her how those brides died.


    She locked gazes with me: "They die during consummation of the marriage...during sex with the dragon in its original form."


    ¡¯Stop lying to me¡¯, I wanted to tell her, but I didn¡¯t say anything in the end; my head was filled with contradictory and conflicting thoughts at that moment.


    Rationally speaking, I knew what she said was probably true but...it wasn¡¯t as if I had not done those things with Fruys before, and was I not fine right now?


    I felt a bizarre kind of pride which probably came from the fact that I had practical experience ordinary people rarely had.


    Reflecting back on it, I felt like I was probably beyond hope ¡ª all I did was chat with someone yet I couldn¡¯t help but think back to that risque scene when I was together with Fruys.


    Author¡¯s Note:


    Ladies, your imaginations are like ck holes!


    Having said that, I decided to take a different route: due to a freak ident, our little shop owner was recognized by another aristocratic family and got his status upgraded into an heir. However, a power-hungry rtive wanted a subsidiary business under the management of yet another bigger aristocratic family, so he arranged a political marriage using the little shop owner. Reliable sources said that this family that he was to be wedded to was very bad and treated people horribly, and all their previous political marriages fell apart...


    I have to go out for three or four days, so there won¡¯t be any new chapters. Love ya all~ £¨¤Å£þ3£þ£©¤Å¨q?¡«


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 Chapter 18

    <i>Synopsis: Overall, he looked like an unsheathed ice sword</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 63 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    It was like this that I was forcefully brought to the territory of the gold dragons. A seal that prevented movement and speech was ced on me, and I basically became a puppet they could order around as a result.


    However, the seal was notpletely effective despite the gold dragons¡¯ supposed specialty in seals ¡ª I could not speak, but I could still move a little bit. This, I suspected, was perhaps an effect of the dragon pearl Fruys left me. I pretended to be fully under their control while waiting for an opportunity to escape.


    Afeyr and I were separated and each shut in rooms to the south and north respectively. As she was considered the backup bride in case I ran away amidst somemotion, she would only be able to return together with the people from the imperial pce if the entire ceremony finished without any problems.


    The wedding was set for the third day at the beginning of the month. For the past two days, I frequently heard the familiar sounds ofrge dragons pping their wings while enormous shadows passed by outside my window. The people guarding me told me that those were other dragon ns that hade to attend the ceremony.


    On the evening of the third day, I finally saw the "groom". Apparently, he was one of the sons of the gold dragon n chief.


    He appeared in his human form, and he wasn¡¯t attractive at all. I thought deeply to myself for a moment: if Fruu¡¯s human form was hideous as that, would I still have been able to stay together with him?


    But then I firmly made up my mind ¡ª if it was Fruu, even if his human form was ten times uglier, I still wouldn¡¯t leave him. I would just have him stay in his dragon form in the worst case scenario; after all, that form was beautiful and awesome, and I could be happy just looking at him.


    The groom looked at me like I was some kind of lifeless object, and there were absolutely no feelings inside his muddy golden-colored eyes.


    Acting like a proper puppet doll, I followed theirmands and went with them to the scene of the ceremony, but then silently cursed myself ¡ª there were at least two hundred dragons present, in addition to the gold dragon guards surrounding me on each side. I couldn¡¯t even fight against a single dragon; escaping from here was definitely no easier than climbing up towards the heavens.


    The entire time, I walked behind the groom of the gold dragons. I followed him up the elevated ceremonial stage. The view from here was very good, allowing me to clearly see everything around me.


    The dragons below me all transformed into their human forms and began to chatter amongst themselves. There was an extremely long table that was filled with all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and sulent mouth-watering meats as well countless fine wines. The utensils they used to pick up food were a little bigger than the human version, but apart from that, it wasn¡¯t that different from a human banquet.


    The sky grew increasingly dim as the start of the ceremony drew closer, with the entire western horizon being filled with the red-purple color of the setting sun. Meanwhile, the crowd which was previously boisterous gradually quieted down, as if they were waiting for someone to appear. The gold dragon chief periodically checked the gold pocket watch that hung from his breast anxiously.


    Then, the sounds of multiple wings beating coordinately came from the sky afar, growing louder and louder as they got nearer. I shot a nce through my peripheral vision and saw a group of huge ice-blue colored dragons pistoning their wings, followed by two rows of eight dragons which appeared to be the guards.


    Before I had a chance to get a good look at what each dragon looked like, they turned into their human forms one-by-one as they descended from the air.


    With bolt-straight postures, ck boots, and swords hanging from each waist ¡ª every one of them was dressed in silver and deep blue patterned military attire, looking experienced and at ease.


    I wondered for a moment where they hid the clothes, shoes, and swords while they were in their dragon form, but then my eyes fell upon the person who was at the head of the group.


    He was wearing a military uniform that was the same color as the others, apart from a dark blue cape with a silver lining. Draped over the cape was his long, windswept hair, the hue of luxurious silver, and his looks were handsome but cold. He looked like an unsheathed ice sword.


    His eyes were closed the entire time, but his footsteps were firm and steady as he walked towards the chieftain. All the other dragons that were present at the scene stood up in session to salute at him, and I heard some voices reverently call him, "Your Majesty the Ice Emperor".


    I could feel my heart stop for two beats.


    Then, I heard that familiar voice I hadn¡¯t heard in two years, frigid yet rich, much like my memories of spring¡¯s first iceberry wine.


    He said to all those people: "At ease."


    At that moment, I forgot to breathe.


    Perhaps because my gaze was too single-mindedly concentrated and intense, I saw him open his eyes and sweep them across the ceremonial stage ¡ª past my face ¡ª before he lowered his head as if nothing had happened and sat down in the seat of honor with a bored expression.


    I saw those ice-blue eyes, cold yet beautiful, that no longer contained the slightest amount of life.


    My heart felt like it was being stabbed by a million tiny needles ¡ª I had imagined hundreds of different possibilities, but never anticipated it could possibly be like this.


    My Fruu...He can¡¯t see.


    Author¡¯s note:


    So at this point I could have let the angsty, angsty plot go on for a bit... but then I (the author) decided that this world can have a little less of those plots, and a little bit more of the direct stuff ¡ª though it might be that I¡¯m just toozy to write the plot. In the next chapter, we will leave out the ssic angsty star-crossed lovers melodramatic plot and skip straight to the happy end! And after that this project will beplete. ??


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 Chapter 19

    <i>Synopsis: Fairy tales are all lies ¡ª but I want to write a fairy tale</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 64 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Ever since Fruys appeared, I felt restless and muddle-headed. I acquiescently allowed them to manipte me through the motions of the ceremony, but all I could think about was how I could get to him. How could I attract his attention?


    I couldn¡¯t even make a single sound with my voice.


    When the ceremony finished, I helplessly watched Fruys rise from his seat and make his bid of farewell to the chief of the gold dragon n. Everyone present once again stood up to salute his departure, while the gold dragons prepared to escort me away to the so-called "bridal chamber".


    I stood there steadfastly, motionlessly, like my feet had grown roots into the ground, and nkly stared at Fruys¡¯s rippling cape as he turned around to leave. Memories from everything that we experienced together shed before my eyes ¡ª how an impoverished, bullied little lord encountered a dragon who was so haughty he refused to speak a word by the sea one day; how that same dragon abruptly dropped out of the sky in the midst of a desperate sh between armies; how he presumptuously took all the spoils of war and holed up in his own little treasury for three days; how he always charged forward at the very front during every single battle; how he foolishly carried the little lord who was crying from reading poems up into the sky; how he threw himself in front of the snow witch¡¯s curse to protect the little lord...


    That little lord gradually became the most powerful in the entire continent of Finanse, but then that dragon pped his wings and flew back over the Sea of Death.


    After that happened, everything in the world lost its color. Despite possessing an immense size of territory, I still felt as if I was living every day inside of a cage. I drifted in the turbulent and endless Sea of Death in a small boat after Andy¡¯s betrayal and then dedicated all of my energy to learn any news I could when I joined the Adventurer¡¯s Guild. I fell into King Andel¡¯s plot, and was currently trapped by the gold dragon n in a mess... but none of that was important. I had endured all of this until now solely because I wanted to meet a certain dragon again one day. I wanted to hug that dragon¡¯s neck and tell him I missed him.


    You see, being a lord is actually really boring. My brother already grew up, and the people of Finanse already live a happy life now... After saying so much, mhm, actually I wanted to ask...If it¡¯s okay, this time, can I stay by your side?


    In the dead of the night, I had rehearsed these lines countless times. However, I never expected that one day I might be toote to say it. I had gotten so close to him, but I didn¡¯t have the opportunity to open my mouth.


    I felt as if a fireball was burning my insides, while a frigid feeling slowly enveloped my entire heart. The nearby gold dragons eximed in surprise: "This human, howe he doesn¡¯t move to themands?"


    As they reached out to forcefully drag me away, I closed my eyes and gently grasped my chest with my hands, then silently whispered a certain name.


    Fruu.


    After having gone through so much, there was no way I was willing to give up now.


    A frigid feeling that ordinary people would not be able to bear slowly flooded my entire body until my teeth involuntarily began to chatter. The gold dragon nsmen who had grabbed me released their hold abruptly after feeling the sharp icy chill, and I continued to keep my teeth clenched ¡ª finally, the cold became so intense that a perfectly exquisite and stunningly armored ice dragon exploded out from my chest, roaring.


    All the dragons present were stunned as they watched this absurdity. They were even more astonished by the ice dragon that appeared, and they began whispering amongst each other.


    They said, that dragon looks just like the original form of His Majesty the Ice Emperor.


    They said, it¡¯s just a human, how is this possible?


    The nearby dragons started to work together in an attempt to subdue me, but the ice dragon that had been materialized by the strength of Fruys¡¯s dragon pearl stubbornly blocked the way in front of me and defended against one attack after another.


    I saw that Yiweisibel finally stopped in his tracks, and he turned his body in my direction. His lips opened and closed slightly, and a faint light shed through his eyes ¡ª ever since my ability to see returned, my vision had in fact improved a lot from what it used to be. It was far better than what was normal for ordinary people. Before, I hadn¡¯t understood why, but right now I roughly discerned the reason ¡ª the world that I was seeing with these eyes right now, was probably the same kind of world that Fruys used to see.


    Driven far beyond my physical capabilities by Fruys¡¯s dragon pearl, my entire body was practically freezing but I still felt very warm on the inside. A strange yet familiar strength suddenly rose up from within ¡ª I spread out my arms, and fierce mes somehow burst out from my body, putting distance between me and the dragons that surrounded me. This zing inferno that burned like a searing prison of fire, I could feel it. This was my innate power.


    The dragons around me scattered one by one as they took to the skies, trying to escape from the raging mes, but there would be no saving the gold dragon n¡¯s territory which was quickly aze in a vast sea of fire. All of them tried to use ice-type magic to extinguish the fire, but they were unable to summon any ice.


    "How is this possible..." They once again looked with iparable shock at a particr ice dragon who was standing in front of me. "..This ability to suppress ice magic, it could only be His Majesty the Ice Emperor..."


    Everyone¡¯s gazes all turned to Fruys in an instant.


    Almost like he didn¡¯t notice, all he did was cautiously takerge strides as he walked towards me.


    Once the ice dragon touched its original owner, it instantly evaporated to steam and disappeared.


    I watched as Fruys passed through the manyyers of the ming sea of fire and approached me step by step.


    My mes didn¡¯t hurt him.


    It was because I would never want him to be hurt.


    Just like how he used to charge at the very front of the battles in the past, I would always be afraid for him.


    He stood with his eyes closed in front me as he slightly lowered his head to "look" at me. He extended a hand and touched my face, then quietly, almost as if he were afraid to confirm it, he said: "You..."


    I lowered my head, unable to speak a single word. I could only shake my head repeatedly as I couldn¡¯t stop the tears from falling.


    I figured it wasn¡¯t a big deal that I was crying right now. After all, I hadn¡¯t read Haider¡¯s poems in such a long time, so I was definitely just in need of a good venting session. It definitely wasn¡¯t because Icked a heroic quality or anything.


    His voice abruptly turned harsh: "...What? Why can¡¯t you speak? What happened to your voice?!"


    He used his hands to stroke my throat, and soon after he seemed to sigh a breath of relief. Using his finger, he drew a small incantation on my Adam¡¯s apple, and released the seal that the gold dragons had ced on me.


    I felt my throat loosen as a billion words I wanted to say rushed up to the surface, but in the end when I lifted my head to look at Fruys¡¯s face ¡ª extremely attractive, indeed but nheless unfamiliar, everything was blurted out as a single phrase: "Change back right now."


    And sure enough, Fruys immediately transformed into his dragon form.


    Standing on my tiptoes, I tightly hugged his neck with tears dripping down my face. Only after what seemed like half a day of choking on my sobs did I ask with a stuffy voice: "What happened to your eyes?"


    Fruys tenderly stroked my cheeks and the top of my head with his muzzle, while he quietly responded: "It¡¯s not important. Isn¡¯t this fine? From now on, I can be your wings, and you can be my eyes."


    Author¡¯s notes:


    Here¡¯s the bted fairy tale present for International Children¡¯s Day<sup>1</sup>~


    Don¡¯t you all love me~?


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    This chapter was originally published on June 2nd. International Children¡¯s Day is June 1st. The literal raw title is ¡°A bted Children¡¯s Day gift¡± ¡ª but I felt like it would be better understood as a bted fairy tale gift.

 Chapter 20

    <i>Synopsis: All the feelz of the lord</i>


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 65 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    It is said that on that day, Fruu had been too focused having a "heart to heart" with me that he inadvertently suppressed all ice magic within a thousand kilometer radius. This caused the gold n dragons to be unable to generate any water to put out the fire, and so my mes continued to burn and burn and burn uncontrobly. In the end, the entire territory of the gold n dragons was reduced to ashes.


    Yiweisibel stated that he was a dragon who justly enforced thew, and he would not use his powers to avenge private grievances. As a result, he would only punish the gold dragons who had been illegally demanding the human race for brides ording to thews of the dragon race ¡ª and if that didn¡¯t work, he¡¯d revise thews entirely.


    I told Fruu that this wasn¡¯t okay. Did he still want to properly act as the leader of the dragons or not?


    He replied that he actually never nned to take this role seriously. Originally, he only wanted to wait until the circumstances with the ice n settled down more and then he would abdicate his seat and fly back to Finanse to live in seclusion with me. Who would have imagined that I¡¯d actually surpass my abilities and scrounge all over the earth to find him.


    Then he looked at me, still looking like he was anxiously afraid about something.


    Yiweisibel said that he wanted me to meet someone after we left the gold dragon territory.


    Hugging his neck after I was ced on his back, I indulged in the familiar feeling while settling myself in before I noticed that all eight guards were struggling their hardest to keep a straight face as they watched me.


    I had always been a rather modest kind of person, and I wasn¡¯t used to this. I asked Yiweisibel why they were staring at me.


    He very calmly exined a custom in the dragon race: dragons would never carry anybody on their backs, not even their own children, save for one ¡ª their mates. This was the reason why those guards were startled and curious.


    I silently recalled the first time he suggested carrying me up into the sky to take a spin in the air, and I silently thought to myself that our rtionship as a dragon and a human back then was clearly very pure!


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 66 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    Yiwei flew me to a valley that was filled with green grass and fresh flowers. There was also a quaint little blueke and a few small houses scattered randomly across the field.


    He told me that he was bringing me to meet my uncle.


    I was startled. My uncle, His Majesty Alex, once the first prince and heir of the Kingdom of Bein, had passed away a long time ago from an illness that was caused by excessive worry for my mother who had disappeared, or so I heard.


    I remembered that in the story, the prince had been offered to the ck Wizard.


    Yiwei confirmed my guess; the owner of this ce was the ck Wizard who was slightly older than himself.


    Even though he was reluctant to admit it ¡ª as a promising young dragon and all, this year His Majesty Yiweisibel Hande was actually 427 years old. That made him a whole four hundred years older than me.


    As we approached this ce, we unexpectedly heard a youthful voice speak out; at that time, we were still in the sky, and I almost fell off from Yiwei¡¯s back in surprise.


    The owner of the voice was evidently a little displeased, but despite being unhappy, he still sounded pleasant and sweet. He said: "Yiweisibel, why the hell are you here? This isn¡¯t the ce for you and your lover to flirt around."


    Yiwei evenly responded: "We didn¡¯te here looking for you. Rather, we want to meet His Majesty Alex. I brought Princess Abe¡¯s son, and he would like to meet his uncle."


    Afterwards, I easily met the prince, but I never saw that strange master again.


    My uncle truly did look very young. In fact, he looked even younger than me. He had soft ck hair, jade green eyes, and a graceful air about him. There was even a trace of contemtive mncholy on his handsome countenance; overall, His Majesty Alex was quite an attractive fellow.


    Although it probably wasn¡¯t very appropriate to say this just afterplimenting him, I had to concede that I do look a lot like my uncle. It seemed like some things that came from our bloodline just can¡¯t be erased.


    He leisurely invited us to afternoon tea, and he was clearly very happy and excited that I hade to visit him. Especially when I told him that my mother had always been doing well, and how she was deeply in love with my father, and was living a good life all these years, his facial expression became even iparably gentle. He couldn¡¯t stop mumbling: "That¡¯s wonderful, that¡¯s so wonderful." When I told him about when my parents teamed up to chide me when I was young, heughed heartily.


    At the time I asked him about the master of this ce, he casually waved his hand and smiled: "Don¡¯t mind him. That guy is a little shy, and doesn¡¯t like to meet people."


    To be able to describe the most terrifying ck Wizard as "shy", I thought to myself that it seems like my uncle must have been living a good life here.


    From my uncle, I learned about the truth from back then:


    It is said that the Bein royal family and the evil gods had always had some kind of rtionship. They always had the blessing of the evil gods, and the sessor of the purest branch of the royal family would have a gift and propensity for magic that far exceeded ordinary people¡¯s.


    My mother and my uncle who was born one minute earlier than her were the precious and rarely-seen fraternal boy-girl twins, who possessed an extraordinary gift for fire-type magic. However, their father, my grandfather King Ansuo, was a very selfish person. Being an ambitious and paranoid person, he wanted his reign tost for eternity. He feared death and losing power. As his daughter and son grew up and expressed talent in virtually every aspect, he felt pressure rather than happiness.


    King Ansuo doted on his nephew Andel instead, who was mediocre and only good at ttery. Andel concocted an evil scheme that the king could not help but ept: destroy the princess and the prince¡¯s magic power, send his daughter to the dragon race in exchange for the protection of his country, then murder his son and trade his corpse to the ck Wizard for the secret of immortality. Because the body of one of Phoenix Twins was valuable magical research material, the ck Wizard surely would not refuse this deal.


    This way, Ansuo could continue to rule the Kingdom of Bein forever without the threat of his children.


    Completely caught off guard, the princess and prince lost their magic powers from consuming poison and became extremely weak and ill. It was fortunate that one of the princess¡¯s court magicians, Anna, obtained the news beforehand and helped her escape. As for the prince who had beenpletely betrayed by his father, amidst grief and misery he was assassinated in the imperial pce as arranged by the king.


    The ck Wizard received the gift that was the prince¡¯s corpse, but he didn¡¯t give the king the secret of immortality ¡ª this was because it was impossible for ordinary people to be immortal. With the king having failed to get a way out from the ck Wizard, the nephew Andel seized the opportunity, murdered the monarch, and in the end snatched the crown.


    As my uncle told this tale, he was very gentle, almost like he was just a mere spectator. He exined that though ck Wizard helped him "live", the current him was nothing more than a living corpse.


    "Everything else is fine, and there isn¡¯t anything that inconvenient apart from my sense of taste being terrible," heined capriciously. "All these years, I¡¯ve been worried about little Abe, and Tswoyaosl only told me that she was alive but nothing else. He also didn¡¯t allow me to go looking for her ¡ª not that I¡¯m really capable of leaving him in my present state. If I did, I would immediately drop dead."


    My uncle and I hugged when it was time for me and Yiwei to leave. Patting my shoulder, he said: "Seeing you doing so well, it makes me feel so happy. Go child, take back what is rightfully yours, and everything that is rightfully mine and your mother¡¯s."


    I nodded solemnly at him.


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 67 .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    With the help of Yiwei and my uncle¡¯s trusted aides from the olden days, I initiated a coup d¡¯etat. I exposed Andel¡¯s past crimes, and I was formally crowned as ruler of the Kingdom of Bein.


    Honestly, none of that stuff was that interesting. Going solely by blood right, I was a more proper heir than Andel.


    After I ascended the throne, my first action was to send an emissary to Finanse and convey my current status to my mother, brother, and my former subordinates. The rest was handling the Kingdom of Bein¡¯s various government affairs, which was not that different from my previous experience as a lord. The only thing was that since I only recently seeded the throne, there was a lot of things to take care of. I had no choice but work overtime to clean up the mess, and thus I frequently workedte into the night.


    Tonight was the same. I was struggling to make headway through a mountain of documents while Yiwei who was in his human form had fallen asleep on myp. In the dead of the night, I pulled out the little cloth bag that the witch had given me a long time ago. She had told me that I could only open it when I believed that I had obtained my most important thing. Inside was a prophecy she had written about my life, she said. This prophecy would give me strength, and show me the way as I nned my future.


    I nced at Fruu who was beside me, and firmly decided to open the bag ¡ª


    Written on a slip of paper were the words: "Adam Smith and his Yiweisibel Hande will inevitably leave a deep mark in the history of Icanomics."


    ..¡¤:*¡§¡§*.¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤. 68. Epilogue .¡¤:*¡§?¡§*:¡¤.*¡§¡§*:¡¤..


    One day a thought urred to me, and I turned around to ask Yiwei: "Since your actual name is Yiweisibel, why did you tell me your name was Fruys?"


    Yiwei froze for a second, and then soon whispered: "Fruys was the nickname that my mother called me, and I feel nostalgic being called that."


    I immediately regretted asking that question and scolded myself ¡ª while I was with the dragon race, I had long ago heard about Yiweisibel¡¯s life story. His mother had left him when he was five years old, and for dragons who live for a thousand years or longer, this was an incredibly sad event.


    Yiwei stared straight out of the window, and then suddenly added another sentence: "In the dragonnguage, ¡¯Fruys¡¯ means ¡¯my precious sweetheart¡¯."


    In a sh I recalled how every time I called him "Fruys", all the surrounding dragons would give us a strange look. The prompt burst of embarrassment made me want to break up with this stupid dragon immediately! I could only remember that he would never let anyone else in Finanse call him that name, so people called him, "Geir", the general term humans used to refer to dragons in an esteemed manner.


    I thought for a moment that it couldn¡¯t have been that bad. After all, I didn¡¯t call him "Fruys" that often. Rather, I was more used to calling him "Fruu".


    I blurted out: "Then, what does ¡¯Fruu¡¯ mean in the dragonnguage?"


    This time Yiwei turned his head and blinked at me, smiling. He said: "¡¯Fruu¡¯ is a shortened version of ¡¯Fruys¡¯, and means ¡¯sweetie¡¯."


    It seems like this stupid dragon and I hadpletely taken each other out in mutual destruction.


    Oh my god, I think I could die.


    Author¡¯s notes:


    As for mystery of who started the flirting first:


    Lord: ...You¡¯ve had naughty thoughts from so early on, flying with me on your back, and having me call you Fruys!


    His majesty Yiwei, the dragon sweetheart: Now who was it that took advantage of the time I couldn¡¯t move to grope me all over?!


    Lord: That time I was cleaning your wounds! Baka dragon!


    Trantor¡¯s notes:


    The end! Thank you all for staying with us during this entire journey, and I hoped you enjoyed the novel.


    I¡¯d like to take a moment to thank the rest of L&D trantion team, without whom this trantion wouldn¡¯t be possible. This is an extra big high-five to our lovely editor Psyx, our fabulous TLC Blobber, our one-and-only proofreader/manager Bunny, and the mysterious [-redacted-] who keeps the website running!


    If you enjoyed reading this novel and would like to learn how you can support the author with a few minutes of your time, ! Love you all, and I hope to see you around! \o/


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