Galswell POV

Rose was back fast, I know she had tricks up her sleeve, but teleportation magic was still unexpected.

“My king, what is it that you need?”

“As you know, Rose has returned.”

“Yes sir.”

“She subjugated a fire dragon that made it’s nest in the dungeon.”

“She did?”

This was shocking. Even Saliad would struggle to beat a dragon head on, and she beat it in less than 4 days.

“Why did you call me?”

“Well, she couldn’t harvest anything from the dragon, so I want you to go and see what you can gather from the dragon.”

“Alright, when shall I go?”

“As soon as you can. I want to be able to give her some of the materials when she meets with me.”

“Understood.”

I teleported to the dungeon entrance and flashed my pass.

“I’m on official business from the king to dismantle the boss.”

“Yes, Sir Galswell.”

I walked into the cave and noticed the sheer number of monsters. I had to fight them all.

I noticed skeletons of some orcs and goblins, next to them were ogre skeletons.

“Licked clean. Did she eat them? What kind of powerhouse is she?”

I walked further down, and when I got to the door, I felt a massive presence behind it.

“Could the mythic have already been replaced by another?”

I opened the door to find an elven woman. She was eating a goblin’s leg sitting on her throne.

I recognized her presence immediately. A dragon.

“A dragon came to replace their sibling?”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Galswell, I came to dismantle the previous boss who was killed yesterday.”

“Mine is Thalia, I recognize you and I know you are aware of what I am.”

Negotiations wouldn’t work. So, I had to trick it. I realized something was wrong. There were no dragon corpses. Rose had lied, she never killed the boss. That could only mean one thing.

“You can leave now as long as you never mention me.”

“Is Rose a dragon too?”

She froze, dropping the goblin leg before judging me with a new look of fear.

“Y-you can still leave as long as you don’t reveal anything you learned here. Just say the boss was little more than dust when you showed up, please.”

The beast was concerned for her sister. Cute. I wasn’t leaving, especially since there were eggs in the back of the hall.

“I’m w-warning you...”

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Her confidence diminished as my aura glowed.

“Hey, get away. Stay away!”

_

“A shame indeed.”

“To think that that is why she was so strong.”

“A dragon killed the dragon slayer, it’s almost poetic.”

“I will set up a trap, the beast will die.”

“This one will be used to draw out its nature.”

“Please... don’t hurt my sister, she only wan- GHH!”

With a stern kick the beast falls unconscious with tears in her eyes, if I didn’t know it was a dragon, I’d feel sorry for it.

_

I went to the castle; the guards directed me to the throne room. Where there were nobles the last time I was here, there were multiple guards that I could tell were strong. Something was happening.

“Hello, Rose.”

“Greetings, your majesty.”

“I heard you subjugated the dungeon in 4 days.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“You know, I was curious on how you were so strong.”

“Training from a young age.”

“And you being a dragon of course.”

I raised my head, but it was too late. An arrow shot me through the eye. I snarled.

“When I heard that you went to the dungeon and returned that quickly, having killed a dragon, I was shocked. I decided to send Galswell to gather what could be scavenged from the dragon. As he had teleport, he could do it quickly.”

I was in significant pain. It was a cursed arrow laced with dragonsbane.

“So, imagine the surprise he was in, when the dragon was alive and well.”

Galswell walked in, with Thalia in elven form sputtering blood and sobbing. She was thrown next to me.

I stood up. There was no point in pretending anymore.

“Why hurt me and Thalia?”

“Because, dragons are dangerous, and don’t worry. Galswell made sure to destroy her nest and the eggs inside. We won’t be having any new dragons now.”

…

That little *****. I’m going to kill him and that smug king next to him.

“You are angry? I thought dragons were impassive beasts. I guess even monsters can feel pain.”

That arrow injury wasn’t healing. It had a powerful curse on it. They were going all out.

“Kill the fire dragon, Galswell. We have no more need for her.”

“With pleasure, Sire.”

They thought I would stand by? Idiots.

By the time Galswell charged up his kill blow, his head had gone on a vacation.

“Galswell! … You.”

“You expect me to stand by as you kill my sister?”

“That curse should’ve stunned you, and besides, you’ve killed dragons yourself. That arcane aspect tells us that much.”

I laughed bitterly,

“Dragons can use their own aspects, fool.”

The king realized that I was far stronger than he gave me credit for.

“Guards, kill both of them, now!”

I needed to defend my sister and get out of this town before we died. I stood over her, snarling at anyone who came close. They were all cautious. I slowly backed towards a window.

“Hah, I have guards at the windows ready to shoot you on sight.”

“Were Jalad and Dallel involved in this?”

“No, they care about you too much to go against you. I don’t know what spell you used on them, but they actually care about you.”

I realized that they weren’t attacking out of malice, but because they thought we were evil. The world saw dragons as mythic monsters. The only reason Royce and his men realized that view was wrong was because I risked my life to save them.

These people had no knowledge of the event, so they thought I was gathering up influence to gain power. They had no idea that I could actually care for people.

All of the sudden my anger left. I was angry only at Galswell, who saw my fight with Saliad and understood it deeper than anyone else, but still saw me as a heartless monster, when even Saliad noted that I was good.

I decided to take the risk and grabbed Thalia before diving out the window and shifting into my dragon form.

“Dragon!”

I heard a scream from the plaza and saw Jalad and his men, readying bows. I was sad until I heard,

“Rose and the king are in there. We need to save them!”

He had no clue who I was. It was like with Granny, she shot because she thought I was either dead or in danger and there was a dragon.

Their arrows hurt greatly, but I needed to keep flying.

“The dragon has an elf kidnapped!”

Thalia hadn’t shifted back yet, so it definitely looked like I was kidnapping her.

The king stepped out of the castle and yelled,

“Kill it, don’t let it escape!”

Mammon leapt up to my elevation and smashed his hammer on my wing. I roared but crashed outside the city limits.

My back was against the mountain pass and the group of 12 that had assembled closed in on me. The rest must have been too scared to attack.

I was in agony. The curse of that arrow weakened my scales and stopped me from regenerating. I was down to only 1000000 health.

_

We cornered the beast. Me and Jalad stepped forward. It cringed back.

I saw a cursed arrow in its eye. That’s how we were able to hurt it. Better kill it before the curse lets up.

“Dallel, you kill. I’ll make sure it can’t escape.”

“Understood.”

The beast stopped growling and its eyes seemed to soften. That caught me and Jalad off guard, but it didn’t take advantage of the weakness to kill us. In fact, it laid down and exposed its neck.

“Jalad, don’t dragons normally fight back?”

“They do, but this one is accepting death?”

Somehow, I felt sorry for the beast. I decided to do a clean blow and chop off its head. I slashed down when I heard a clash of metal, and there was Sir Royce.

“Royce? What are you doing here?”

“Stopping you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”