King Rupert was a man who lived his life in comfort. His country managed to stay out of wars, and what fights they did get in were border skirmishes with minimal casualties.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that he ruled in peace.

His children, though spoiled, were well-mannered and rather good-looking in his own opinion. The eldest was the Crown Prince, Finn, who would undoubtedly be a great leader; the middle child was Aura, a beautiful lady who had already married the prince of a very powerful kingdom; and finally, the youngest, Mara, had a sweetness to her, and when she came of age, she would definitely be flocked by suitors.

All in all, he had no worries.

Currently, he was sitting on his lavish throne while speaking to his advisors. It was a magnificent sight until you realized that it was mostly his advisors guiding the entire conversation. There were high-ranking nobles on the sidelines who also put in their two cents, but the king mostly remained silent.

It was said in whispers, but he was named the Bumbling Fool King or How Has Our Country Survived This Long King.

He was the type of person whose head was mostly filled with air instead of gray matter.

In the middle of one noble’s monologuing, the door burst open. “M-my King! There is someone demanding an audience of you, w-we tried to stop but he--Gah!”

The soldier that had flung open the door and began rambling was kicked squarely in the back and sent flying.

“Clear,” a monotonous voice called out.

The king spluttered upon seeing who had entered his throne room and was now walking towards the king without any hesitation in his steps. Following closely behind him was a young boy with bright eyes, one hand was clenching the man’s black robe and the other was holding a skewer of meat and that he was munching on with a happy expression.

It was them!

The Fifth Dragon Erebus and his disciple Weryn. They were two of the members that had been etched into his mind after that one dreadful night in Legacia that still appeared in Rupert’s nightmares sometimes.

King Rupert made a pitiful noise akin to a whimper.

“Who are you!” one bold noble called out. “Do you not know whose presence you’re in? The guards should be here shortly to arrest you.”

Weryn turned his head and ordered, “Shut up, human.”

The noble smartly shut his mouth.

“King Rupert.” Erebus stood in front of the king. “Move.”

“W-what?”

“Move,” Erebus repeated. The king scrambled out of his throne and in turn, Erebus sat there. Weryn sat on one of the arms of the throne while continuing to eat the meat Erebus had kindly bought for him on their way to the castle. He didn’t need to eat, but the meat had looked so juicy and Weryn couldn’t resist the urge to ask Erebus to buy it for him.

By the way, in Weryn’s mind, Erebus’ had changed from a teacher to something like his other father. Erebus found himself growing very fond of the boy, so he didn’t reprimand Weryn for treating him in such a familiar way.

“Kneel,” Weryn said, he was curious to see if the king would obey him too. Sure enough, the king kneeled at their feet, Weryn grabbed Erebus’ braid and tugged. “Did you see? He listened to me.” The young dragon continued to yank on Erebus’ braid until his hand got slapped away with enough force to break it, but with Weryn being who he was, it was more of a light pat. “So mean,” Weryn whined, pouting as he rubbed his wrist.

“W-what do you need?” King Rupert stammered, he was in such an embarrassing pose, but he couldn’t help it! He didn’t want to die, he was still so young.

The nobles and advisors along with the guards who had rushed in but been completely ignored had also kneeled when King Rupert had, they weren’t exactly sure what was going on, but if their king kneeled, it would be rude for them to remain standing.

“You know that place you keep commissioning others to come investigate?” Erebus leaned forward. “I own it.”

Even though Erebus was being vague, almost everyone knew what he was speaking of.

The king began to sweat profusely, sure enough, he had hired Questers and even mercenaries to go find out exactly who was the castle owner who managed to completely wipe out large forces.

If it was that man, it certainly made sense, it made more than enough sense. If the king had known, he wouldn’t have sacrificed all those scouts who never came back.

“I don’t know what you’re speaking of.”

The carefree expression on Erebus’ face had vanished and his eyes looked dead. “I’ll destroy your kingdom, then. That way no one else will come and bother me, it was fun at first, but the toys have grown old and I’ve found something new to play with.”

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The king banged his forehead against the ground. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It was me, I will not do such things ever again. Even more so, so that the Supreme Erebus isn’t annoyed, I will make a decree not to come to your castle ever again.”

“Also, give me some of your men.”

“M-my men?”

Erebus nodded his head. “Vyne was complaining about No. 39 dying, so I figured I could bring him some strong-bodied men to work with.”

The king had now released enough sweat to flood a river. “Of course, if the Supreme Erebus wishes for that, I will give you how many you need!” King Rupert cried miserably.

He wanted them to leave, he’d sacrifice an entire town if it meant that Erebus would leave.

“I see, that’s good then,” Erebus said. “Weryn, do you wish to look around the city? This should be your first time in this kingdom, correct?”

“Mm, I want to stay longer.” Weryn picked up the king’s crown and placed it on his head. “How do I look, human?” Weryn asked with a toothy grin.

“I-It suits you wonderfully as if the crown was made just for you,” Rupert praised.

Weryn grinded his foot on the king’s face. “Are you lying? You’re lying aren’t you?”

Ah... Erebus stared at the scene with a look of hopelessness. He thought that he should reduce Weryn’s time with Vyne, the demon had probably been teaching him strange things. He didn’t know what exactly, but Weryn’s personality was beginning to enter danger zones. Seriously, Vyne, what type of lessons did you give him?

Even though he thought those things, Erebus didn’t stop Weryn from giving the king a face massage for a while.

An uncomfortable silence settled in the room, Erebus and Weryn weren’t very bothered by it, but the others in the room had no idea what to do.

“King Rupert,” Erebus said, gratefully breaking the tense atmosphere. “I have a favor to ask. Weryn, stop that, he can’t talk with your foot in his face.”

Weryn retracted his foot. “Okay.”

“What can this humble king do for you?” King Rupert asked with a self-demeaning smile. “Within my power, I will try to grant any wish you want.”

Erebus stroked Weryn’s head. “That’s great, you’re good. Maybe I should come visit more often.” He laughed heartily.

“We would love to have you here,” King Rupert lied without any shame. If he had told them no, his head would be rolling on the ground. “May I ask what your favor is?”

“Do you happen to have any mana stones here?”

Mana stones? That was certainly a strange request. “Yes, we do have some mana stones, a shipment just came in, I believe. Do you need them?”

“My supply is running low, and I need some to take on the road back. Also, Weryn is reaching the prime age to start ingesting mana stones. Give us your highest quality ones, about one hundred should do.”

“I will do so immediately. Duke John!”

The outspoken noble from before perked up. “Yes, my liege?”

“Go get the requested stones, make haste.”

Duke John nodded his head and excused himself from the room, grateful for the excuse to leave the suffocating presence of the two.

Weryn looked at Erebus excitedly. “You’re going to let me start eating more stones?”

“They shouldn’t be making you sick anymore, since you have grown stronger. To start increasing your mana capacities, even if by a little, high-quality mana stones would be great,” Erebus explained.

The younger dragon nodded his head happily. Wouldn’t that mean Erebus would start giving him even more in-depth lessons? Weryn couldn’t wait, the material had began to be too easy for him.

He would surely surpass Vyne and the others within a short amount of time and truly be worthy of the title of being a dragon! Weryn could no longer contain his excitement, and threw his arms around Erebus to embrace his mentor in a tight hug then began to rub his cheek against Erebus’.

Erebus, who was used to Tear constantly grabbing him, displayed no change in expression.

The others in the room who were being treated like air had no idea how to react.

Eating mana stones? To treat such precious commodities as food, they wanted to cry. Did he know how much those mana stones had cost? The stones had been bought for the castle’s sorcerers to use, not to be eaten!

King Rupert felt faint, because of the abundant harvest this year, they had some extra gold to spend, but just as quickly it was taken away by a certain dragon.

Too pitiful. This situation was too pitiful.