It looks like I've relaxed too much during my time as a dragon. Everything was too easy, so much so that I involuntarily stopped treating everything with caution. I think this is a natural human trait, to get used to good things too quickly.

- Augustine? t*e R**** C******* Dragon?

…

The army came a month later. My disciples have already prepared camps for them. Now I can rest for now. The war will be long. For several years, that's for sure. I'm not interested in all this. As long as the supply of resources goes smoothly, and the orders of the crown are not too stressful, I am satisfied. However, participation in wars is always dangerous. I almost died a couple of times and lost 4 students. I feel sorry for them, but what can I do.

Now I need to break through to a high level. The students have almost caught up with me. Talent decides what to say.

They now have the same restrictions that I had with my family. No one wants them. Duke Sikursh wants me to be on his side. However, there are no threats now, as well as reasons to join him.

Now I'm sitting in the office with a representative of the crown. They are personally appointed by the King and serve him until the end of their days.

- Lord Augustine, the Crown thanks you for your cooperation. We have decided to satisfy your request.

- Thank you...

- Wait. The Crown wants you to complete one of his tasks.

- What is it?

- We would like you to go exploring. The city is called Shuxin. You need to get into the city under the guise of traveling merchants and gather information.

- Don't you have your own intelligence?

- Well... we have suspicions that we are being fed false information. So we ordered them to gather information about a completely different city. The King certainly would not like to reform the intelligence network. We have already sent people to solve it. But we need information right now.

- And why did you honor me with such an honor? You gave me a lot of extra information. Don't you think I'm one of the spies too?

- That's possible. But the king trusts you. And a spy wouldn't speak so boldly. And you also come from the Dagstein family. And…

- Got it. Got it. Be so kind and don't threaten my family. I'm not an idiot, but it just makes me angry.

***

- Ugh! If I had my way, I would have killed you and your whole family

- I'm sorry. I don't have a family. But you could have killed me. Interested? I am interested, but only already in your murder. I have no grudge against you, and it's a pity to waste time on you.

***

- Augustine? Everything is fine?

- I was just thinking.

- I heard this happens to you often

- Well, a person likes to think. Let me know at least with whom I have the honor to go. Students are unlikely to help the legend of a traveling merchant. Who will you assign to me? I can't believe you're sending one.

- One distinguished commoner will go with you, who is already a low-level warrior in his 30s. In the course of 60 years, he will be able to break through to a warrior of medium or even possibly high level. Gifted enough and this task is a chance to get the title of guardian of the crown.

- When do we start the mission?

- Meet me at the port in a few hours. Everything is already prepared in advance. - He took a letter out of his pocket - Take this letter. Everything is explained in detail there. After you read the content, destroy it.

- Got it. And the reward?

- How about 10 Mana purification potions and the same amount of accelerated collection potions?

- You're greedy. Is the outcome of the war so unimportant to you?

- Alright, we will also give you one book from the royal library.

- And now we are talk…

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* CRACK!* *CRACK!*

I looked around in a daze, everything started to crack and break, I wanted to shout out What the hell, but memories began to fill my head. At first, I was confused, and then I was filled with anger.

…

"Bastard. So it was you who sent me into false memories? Don't pretend you're an object" I said this while looking at the ball, which was glowing with a purple-pink glow. At the same time, my claws began to scratch the surface.

"Ouch! Stop. Stop!"

"Why would I? I'm very angry right now. You sent me into a world of altered memories. But that's not why I'm angry. You turned my memories upside down! I have a mess in my head right now, I can't separate reality from illusion. And what pisses me off the most is that I noticed it too late."

"How did you get out? " Under the scratching massage, a ball asked me about the question that seemed to concern him the most.

"Maybe I gathered enough power to break your spell? Of course, it took a long time. More than 50 years have passed in the world of illusion. If it turns out that at least a year has passed in reality..." I clung to the ball and began to squeeze it.

"Stop! It's only been a month in the world! Trust me!"

"Yes, yes. Sure. I believe you. I believe. Introduce yourself while I'm not angry."

"I'm Satkin! The Great Dragon of Deception. The one whose illusions are indestructible, capable of immersing in illusions for millennia, every dragon knows..."

"Hmm. Understood. It's better to get rid of you." Without thinking twice, I squeezed the ball as hard as possible. It began to crack, and the ball began to scream heart-rendingly

"Stop it! Please! I swear eternal fidelity! I swear eternal loyalty to the New King! Pleeaase, Your Majesty! Stop it! Aaaaaaa!"

- * Crack!* *Crack!* * Boom!*

With the explosion, the ball shattered into pieces. However, it's too early to relax

"Where are you!? Show yourself!" Having increased the thickness of my scales, I began to walk forward cautiously. Although it seemed that everything should have been over with his death, the fact that the system had not yet turned on means Satkin was not alone.

When I went up to the next floor, I saw a fragment on a pedestal. A voice was coming from him. I wanted to attack him immediately, but suddenly I was overwhelmed by a terrifying aura.

At the same moment, the dragon's head appeared. Even though it was just a head, its appearance was simply magnificent

His color was something between blue and purple, his eyes shone like an emerald and had no pupils. It seemed that he had purple minerals instead of scales. There were golden spots all over the body. The plates in the front of the neck seemed very strong.

The splendor of this dragon made even me look at it with admiration.

"I think this is our first meeting. My son." As soon as he spoke, all the pressure evaporated, as if it had never existed.

"How many times have I heard this? Are you my second father? If you include that pseudo world, then the third. "I grimaced

"God... I knew he would do something to you, that's why I helped Satkin a little. In the end, what difference does it make to me who takes the son's shell? Of course, I also helped you a bit. Oh, I see you don't understand anything. How can I explain it to you? Imagine that the soul is metal. The Creator melted my son's soul and then poured your soul into it. Therefore, you have become one. Even though your consciousness has become the main thing, you will never be able to become a human again."

"That's another problem for me. I would like to survive here, and then think about what I will do."

"Interesting."

"Can you at least introduce yourself?"

"Aspanghanate. You don't have to remember that name. After all, I've been dead for a long time. »

"The rest of the soul? Aren't you living too long then?"

"Dragons have cores, as long as they're intact, they won't die. But even if it is broken into fragments, not everything is lost, we can try to recover from the fragment. Don't worry, it takes a lot of time, and if you don't break yourself specifically like me, then memory lapses are guaranteed."

"If I ask a couple of questions, will you answer them?"

"Of course, but I expect you to answer mine as well."

"I don't mind. I don't see any point in dragging it out, so. What is the point of this game?"

"I have no idea. For the Creator, we are just creations. Like clay figurines. Small, and fragile. He ordered me to build a dungeon with some useful artifacts and special orders. Then, gather every dragon, every powerful creature under my control, and destroy them all. It was because of him that the dragon race fell into decline. As I understand it, the other three great races were also forced to do this. Now it's my turn. How is the dragon bloodline doing."

"If I say that live on the crap, will you be surprised?" Aspanghanat thought about it, and then asked

"Are the carriers of our blood so weakened?"

I briefly told about the great war. And then he asked his question

"What order did you give them? And what was in the inheritance?"

"The order stated that all races must assemble a great fleet and go to war on other continents, the only way to regain the power that we once had. And the inheritance had nothing particularly valuable in it. So, a couple of weapons, armor maybe, oh, there was also a race agreement. I remember leaving it so that the dragon blood races could strengthen the bond between themselves. Although it doesn't matter anymore, everything must have been looted a long time ago."

"What kind of race agreement?"

" If the races are close to each other for some reason, they could sign a contract, and their royal families could become special, turn from a representative of one race to another there. For example, from a dragonoid to a lizardman or a tsaescis. This just couldn't go unnoticed, can you tell who took possession of it?"

After briefly telling him about the Green Union, I asked a couple more questions, and he also asked me a couple. In the end, I asked

"Is there something for me?"

"Nothing, except maybe Satkin. "The dragon smiled

"Among the valuable."

"You can take this shard and devour it. Since you and I are of the same blood, the fusion should be successful. I think it will accelerate your growth a little." The head disappeared at the same time. It was just an illusion from the very beginning

"What about you?"

"I'll just disappear. The way the Creator wanted it. There's nothing I can do, no matter how much I'd like to "Aspanganat replied with what seemed to be a bitter smile.

"Okay, thank you for everything. "Without hesitation, I took a stone and swallowed it, a voice rang out inside me.

"I could have just brought it closer to the core, I'd fuse with you directly..."