Chapter 12: The Queen's Many Connections

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"Master Mesent, His Majesty is willing to offer an additional 500 Gold Lions for your services."

A knight, having just washed his face, arrived at the residence of Archmage Mesent to deliver the king's decree.

"500 Gold Lions?"

A glint of greed flashed in Mesent's eyes, but he still grumbled with dissatisfaction:

"500 Gold Lions? What can that even accomplish? It's barely enough to cover the materials for the tracking array. What about my labor fees? And I have to personally slay the black dragon too?"

"Does your King not realize that it was only out of respect for your Queen that Lord Cassian, the Border General of Erylan, agreed to send me here?"

The knight froze for a moment, staring at the greedy archmage before him. He thought to himself, "What does this have to do with Queen Anlius?"

Wait... Could it actually have something to do with her?

He immediately recalled that last month, the Queen had attended a court tea party hosted by the Queen of Erylan. Could it be...

Hiss...

The knight took a sharp breath, feeling overwhelmed by the implications of the archmage's words. He decided he needed to share this massive load of information with a few of his fellow knights to fully process it.

And if given the chance, he wouldn't mind having a closer "exchange" with Queen Anlius himself to learn how she managed to sway the Border General of Erylan.

Although his sympathy for the King had reached its peak, negotiations still had to continue. The knight said to Mesent:

"This is His Majesty's last reserve. If you demand more, we'll have to abandon the plan."

Mesent's eyes darted around, his bulbous red nose making him look somewhat comical. After a moment of internal deliberation, he replied in a reluctant tone:

"Very well, for the sake of Queen Anlius, 500 Gold Lions it is. But I will need your army's assistance. I can't claim to take on that black dragon alone, even if it's just a whelp."

"Understood. I will report back."

The knight performed a knightly salute, handed over the 500 Gold Lions to Archmage Mesent, and left.

Now, he needed to organize the King's thousand Royal Guards. At dawn tomorrow, once the archmage had prepared the tracking array, the Royal Guard would set out with him.

Yet as he walked, the knight kept pondering Mesent's words.

What connection could Queen Anlius possibly have with the archmage?

Hiss...

The knight shook his head thoughtfully. He decided it was best to avoid discussing life and ideals with the Queen in the future. He was still young and didn't want to contract the plague of lust demons too early.

At dawn, faint white light seeped through the pale blue sky. A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, sending one floating into the dragon's lair before it lazily landed on Wotru's nose.

The tickling sensation from his nose, combined with the gnawing hunger in his stomach, forced Wotru to wake up, even though he wanted to sleep a little longer.

Just as he was about to roll over, he suddenly felt something heavy on his belly. Looking down, he realized that his previously curled-up sleeping posture had turned into lying on his back, and perched on his belly was none other than the soft and adorable elven girl.

Who else could it be but Anna Hathaway?

Seeing the fox-eared girl curled up on his belly, her ears and tail drooping softly and her body covered by his dragon wings, Wotru felt a bit helpless.

He figured it was probably because his belly was warm. After all, the cave did get extremely cold in the latter half of the night.

But now, what was he supposed to do? He was starving!

"Mm... Big dragon... eat candy..."

A soft, milky murmur came from his belly.

Goodness, she was even talking in her sleep.

Wotru grinned, suddenly tasting a faint sweetness in his mouth. Using his claws, he pulled out the source—a piece of the Big White Rabbit Milk Candy he had given Anna yesterday.

She had eaten less than a quarter of it and returned the rest to him.

Are all girls in this world so considerate?

This reminded Wotru of his nephew, who had once broken his collectible figurine. Not only did the boy show no remorse, but he also had the audacity to ask for two more.

No wonder she was the SSR he got at the start. She truly was a treasure.

Wotru sighed inwardly.

He decided to find something tasty for his little treasure. While the system store could exchange for some sweets, a diet of only desserts wouldn't do. She was so petite—this was her prime growth period. She needed more meat.

With this in mind, he carefully used his dragon wings to support Anna's small body and gently lifted her off his belly.

However, this caused the shackles on her limbs to tighten, cutting into her skin. Wotru had no choice but to use his four claws and tail to support the heavy chains simultaneously. Otherwise, he wouldn't have known how to manage all of them at once.

After much effort, he placed Anna on the bear pelt and wrapped her up snugly. Just as he was about to head out to hunt, he noticed that one of her tiny hands had somehow grabbed onto the tip of his tail.

Her delicate face looked pitiful, her brows furrowed even in her sleep, as she murmured helplessly:

"Mr. Dragon, don't... don't go... Anna... Anna is scared..."

Was she really asleep?

Wotru checked Anna's status panel: [Asleep]. No doubt about it.

On one side was the clingy, adorable fox-eared girl, and on the other was his primal hunger.

In the end, Wotru chose to replace his tail with a strangely shaped rubber stick.

Don't ask where it came from. If you must know, it was exchanged from the system's daily necessities store. Pink, 10 system points each. It probably hurt a lot if used for hitting people.

Half a minute later, Wotru crept out of the cave. Outside, the morning light was faint, the dew rising, and the early bird caught the worm—or in this case, the early black dragon went hunting for meat.

Where to find meat? Naturally, at yesterday's dumping ground.

Wotru concealed his dragon aura and stealthily made his way to the spot where he had discarded the human corpses the night before.

Proper dragons rarely did such things. After all, all dragons, despite their differing personalities, shared one common trait—pride.

This pride was unshakable, even if their jaws were broken.

But Wotru was different. In his previous life, he was always the "sixth man" in games.

He would never act boldly unless he was overwhelmingly stronger than his opponents. Even then, he would ensure his teammates and followers were prepared to guarantee success.

Just like before his death, when he had escaped from Thor's relentless pursuit, it might have seemed pathetic, but there had been a Lee Sin lying in wait in the river grass…

Wotru shook his head, leaping from tree to tree like an oversized monkey. Soon, he spotted a pack of ordinary mountain wolves feasting on the corpses he had discarded.

[Mountain Wolf - Level 5 (Tier 1) - As insignificant as insects]

Though labeled "ordinary," these wolves were much larger than those on Earth. Each was the size of a small elephant, their muscular hind legs brimming with meat that made Wotru drool.

As he perched on a tree near the wolf pack, Wotru suddenly unleashed his dragon aura and let out a deafening roar.

"ROAR!"

The combined effects of his dragon aura and roar immediately terrified the Tier 1 magical beasts. The mountain wolves cowered, tails tucked between their legs, forgetting even how to flee.