Chapter 11: The Ambition of King Anlius

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Looking at the soft and adorable expression of the fox-eared girl, Wotru's dragon heart trembled, and he couldn't help but scrape the ground with his dragon claws.

"Damn it, she's so cute! Doesn't she know she's tempting fate?"

Letting out a snort of warm air from his nostrils, Wotru shook his head.

He had eaten milk candies before; there was no need to fight this soft and adorable fox-eared girl for one. Without hesitation, he used his dragon snout to nudge Anna's hands back, signaling that he wouldn't eat it.

Of course, while nudging, he couldn't resist rubbing against her hands a little.

"Hehe, these little hands are so soft..."

After a long night, he was already somewhat exhausted.

As a young dragon in his critical growth phase, he should be eating and sleeping more. Yet now, he had to take care of an elven girl, and it was wearing him out.

Seeing that Anna's condition was basically stable, he no longer hesitated and followed his instincts, curling up next to Anna and falling into a deep sleep.

"Mr. Dragon?"

Anna stared blankly at Wotru, who fell asleep as soon as he lay down. After a moment, her expression softened.

Looking at the white, chubby candy in her hand, she couldn't resist taking another small bite. The remaining three-quarters of the candy were then stuffed entirely into Wotru's mouth.

It was so sweet...

She squinted her eyes in happiness once again.

Although Wotru was doing his best to heal her, she knew her condition well. What she suffered from wasn't an illness but a curse from the Abyss. Who could save her from the hands of demons?

She was destined to die.

But to be able to taste such delicious candy before dying, Anna felt she was a lucky person.

Outside the cave, the cold wind howled again. Hugging her icy feet, she nestled tightly against the black dragon.

A faint warmth emanated from the enormous creature beside her, making her feel inexplicably at ease.

Anna draped two-thirds of the bear pelt over Wotru's belly—though it only covered a small part—and used the remaining third to wrap her frostbitten feet. Finally, she sighed contentedly.

Softly, she murmured:

"Goodnight, Mr. Dragon..."

（"Spending extended time with Wotru often triggered dragonification in Anna, causing localized dragon-like features to appear on her body."

Anlius Empire, Royal Palace.）

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"Still haven't found that black dragon?"

"Useless! Why do I even keep you around?!"

King Anlius, his beard streaked with white, furiously pointed at the knight before him.

His finger was almost poking the knight's face, and the spit flying from his mouth could have given the knight a shower.

The news of the black dragon's escape left him restless. How could he not be anxious when the cooked duck had flown away?

King Anlius paced back and forth in the palace hall, growing angrier as he watched the torrential rain outside.

His Anlius Empire was just a tiny nation.

Within the entire country, third-tier (Level 21-30) professionals were few and far between. In this Era of Dwindling Magic, noble and rare mages were entirely absent.

To kill this accursed black dragon, he had spent 3,000 Gold Lions to hire a third-tier fire mage from the neighboring Ailian Empire's border.

It was said that this mage was on the verge of breaking through to the fourth tier to become an even more powerful Archmage. With the cooperation of the army and siege weapons, ambushing this dragon and letting the mage finish it off had a high chance of success.

And that wasn't all. To lure the foolish black dragon, he had reluctantly purchased a sickly half-elf for 1,000 Gold Lions.

Today's half-elves were not the same as those from 1,500 years ago.

Now, they were of noble status and extremely rare.

Any one of them could sell for tens of thousands of Gold Lions.

If not for some half-elves choosing to return to the Elven Court back then, the entire continent might no longer have any half-elves.

Most half-elves had long since followed the Conqueror King Sivir into the Divine Realm.

As for why he was so determined to kill the black dragon?

King Anlius had his reasons.

His son, Prince Anlius, had issues with producing heirs. After consulting many alchemists, the conclusion was that his condition was congenital and could only be completely cured by consuming dragon heart and dragon... well, other parts.

But dragons were exceedingly rare.

The kind and orderly metallic dragons mostly stayed on Dragon Island, accompanied by dragon mothers as they grew up.

As for the evil Five Chromatic Dragons, they were driven out of their nests by their dragon mothers early on, making them relatively easier to encounter.

However, these Five Chromatic Dragons were each more cautious than the last and rarely showed themselves before reaching adulthood.

This made dragon materials extraordinarily expensive.

Some were even priceless.

A single dragon... part could fetch tens of thousands of Gold Lions at auction, let alone the even rarer dragon heart.

Selling the entire Anlius Empire wouldn't amount to that much money.

Now, by sheer luck, a black dragon had foolishly delivered itself to his territory, demanding a princess.

King Anlius almost laughed himself to death. He quickly pretended to be terrified and agreed, promising to present a beautiful princess in three days. The foolish black dragon had no doubts.

Anlius had no princess, only a prince.

So, King Anlius had reluctantly purchased the dying half-elf and laid his trap. But even so, the black dragon had escaped.

"What does Master Mesent say?"

Suppressing his anger, King Anlius turned to the knight, who was now drenched in his spit.

"Master Mesent, he... he says the black dragon has crossed the Morrigan Plains and entered the Silvermoon Forest. A young dragon at its stage of development is unlikely to venture deeper into the Silvermoon Mountains."

"But using tracking arrays is very taxing on energy and magical materials, so..."

"So what?"

"So... Master Mesent means we need to pay more..."

The knight cautiously glanced at King Anlius, noticing his increasingly dark expression, and discreetly stepped back two paces.

"Greedy bloodsucker! Damn it! Doesn't he see what a small country I have? It's not even as big as a marquisate in Ailian! I've already given him 3,000 Gold Lions, 3,000!"

King Anlius's face turned red with anger, spitting furiously.

But then he thought of his son, who drowned his sorrows in alcohol daily and was growing weaker by the day. With a sigh, he relented:

"Give him another 500 Gold Lions. That's all there is. If he refuses, then forget it."

"Uh... Your Majesty?"

"What now?!"

"If Master Mesent requests military cooperation?"

"Then grant it."

Moments later, the knight left King Anlius's palace with a gloomy expression.

He didn't know what the king had eaten that evening, but his face was now covered in a foul stench, making the knight feel utterly disgusted.

"Utterly revolting! By the Conqueror King Sivir above, may this damn king never father another son!"

The knight muttered a curse under his breath.

He strongly suspected that the prince's inability to sire children might be due to the king's own genetic flaws. In fact, he even doubted whether the prince was truly the king's son.

After all, he had more than once secretly witnessed the queen meeting privately with the king's knights.

And he was one of them.