“A rebellion has broken out in the Kingdom of Tara. The founder of Tara once did a great service for our race. In return, our dragon race signed a contract with the royal family of Tara—to aid them three times in times of crisis when the nation faces destruction from outside enemies. Two of those times have already passed in the past thousand years. The third… may very well be now.”
“Though this incident appears to be an internal rebellion, there is involvement from demonic forces and other powers. If any foreign force is found to be participating, then our race will have the right to intervene, thereby fulfilling the final part of our contract.”
“I’m sending you to Tara to observe. Take this teleportation magic stone. If you encounter anything unusual, inject mana into it, and someone will arrive by your side within thirty seconds.”
As Auduin finished speaking, a small, egg-sized orb floated up in front of him. Smooth and rounded on the outside, its milky-white surface was densely etched with tiny purple markings.
Lu Qiuchen carefully put the orb away and accepted the mission. Since Auduin said nothing more, she took her leave.
She didn’t ask why she had been chosen for the task—because she already understood. Auduin didn’t fully trust her yet. This was his way of giving her a chance to prove her loyalty to the dragon race.
If she were in Auduin’s position, responsible for the rise and fall of the entire dragon race, she certainly wouldn’t trust a foreigner who had only recently been transformed into a dragon so easily either.
Only through the test of time could she, the so-called “chosen savior,” truly be accepted by the dragons.
*****
Grand Duke Sesis stood atop a temporary command platform outside the city of Druide. As his military orders were issued one by one, his two Magus Corps and five infantry legions had fully assembled, awaiting only his command to begin the assault.
The gates of Druide were tightly shut, and the walls were lined with soldiers. Using farsight magic, Grand Duke Sesis peered into the distance. Among the tense expressions of the soldiers on the gates, he spotted his old colleague—General Andre—furiously gesturing in his direction, lips moving rapidly.
Having known Andre’s temperament well, Grand Duke Sesis could guess exactly what he was shouting from the wall—likely a stream of curses. But Sesis didn’t care.
Andre was a general of remarkable military talent, but his blind loyalty would eventually lead to his downfall. Sesis had tried to advise him before. Now, the two of them stood on opposite sides of the battlefield. All he could offer in the face of Andre’s impending tragedy was a trace of regret.
He turned to the commander of the First Infantry Legion. Before Sesis could speak, the man had already begun reporting the latest intelligence:
“Reports from inside the city—nobles in the upper districts have already fled. But the civilians in the lower districts…”
“There’s no need to wait!” Sesis interrupted coldly. “Relay my orders! Fifth Infantry Legion, prepare to attack! First Magus Corps, commence suppression!”
“Long live the nation! Down with the foolish king! Overthrow the puppet royal family!”
Yossef from the Fifth Legion shouted slogans alongside his teammates as they charged forward. The thrill and excitement in his heart far outweighed the fear of being on the battlefield.
Just half a month ago, he and his two brothers had responded to Grand Duke Sesis’s call and joined the glorious rebel army.
Together with the Grand Duke, they were going to overthrow the incompetent king and build a new nation.
Their home lay right next to the Grand Duke’s domain—just a step away from falling under his rule and becoming a proper citizen of the Principality of Cesis.
If that had happened, they could’ve been like the neighboring village folk, handing over only half their harvested grain each year and still having enough left over to trade for coarse linen. But as things stood, his wife only had one set of clothes, and even that was patched all over.
It was a well-known fact that the people of the Principality of Cesis lived far better lives than anyone in the surrounding regions—no, better than anyone else in the entire kingdom.
So when the Grand Duke issued his call, nearly everyone in their village joined the resistance on the spot. They would rise up against the arrogant and incompetent nobles, against the lords who had long bled them dry, and most of all, against the foolish king who had reduced their country to a mere vassal of the dragonkind!
The envoy dispatched by the Grand Duke had taken them in and assigned them to the Fifth Infantry Legion. The envoy didn’t scorn their origins, nor did he care that they weren’t trained professionals. He even granted them the Grand Duke’s blessing.
The envoy had said: Let the rebellion begin with the marquis here.
Thinking about how the marquis—who had once made his life hell—died miserably by his spear, Yose was filled with pride.
Tch. Some important figure, some mighty marquis of the kingdom… in the end, he was no different. We stabbed him to death right in his fancy house.
Those lordly guards of his? They were nothing in front of my spear.
If only the marquis had had the sense to make him a personal guard earlier—then his strength wouldn’t have been the very thing that killed him.
Just thinking about those piles of shiny gold coins in the marquis’s house made him loosen his grip on his spear. He patted the solid weight on his waist, comforted by its presence, then tightened his grip again.
Yose used to be just a regular farmer. All he had was brute strength and the knowledge to work the land. But in just these two weeks, amidst battlefield after battlefield, he’d found something new: a taste for blood and the thrill of combat. Every time his spear pierced an enemy’s chest, every time he saw those high-and-mighty soldiers’ eyes fill with disbelief and fear—it gave him an immense satisfaction.
He turned to glance at his fellow soldiers charging beside him. Their eyes too were filled with red. They must be feeling it just like I am—the thrill, the trembling excitement! We’ll tear down this rotten kingdom!
They were already close to the walls of Druid City. He could hear the whistling overhead and see the sparks bursting across the earth, but so what? All he and his comrades had to do was charge! Charge harder—and crush this rotten kingdom!
“Lord André! There’s something wrong with those rebel soldiers!”
Hearing the report from the adjutant beside him, the graying André furrowed his brow.
He could see that the first wave of rebels had already been wiped out—none had fled. Even as magic exploded beside them, they charged without a hint of fear.
And that first wave alone had already put immense pressure on their mages. Two towers on the left side of the wall had been blasted down by enemy magi, and the right side wasn’t faring much better.
As the adjutant continued relaying details about those soldiers, André suddenly realized what was going on.
“It’s berserk magic! That traitor Romond has gone completely mad! Everyone, hold your positions and rest! Notify the mage corps immediately—tell them to prepare for the next wave of attacks!”
André spoke the Grand Duke of Cesis’s true name without honorifics. Anyone who used berserk magic on civilians didn’t deserve respect.
Far from the battlefield, the Grand Duke of Cesis watched the scene through farsight magic. As he observed the ruined walls and the casualties his side had inflicted, he nodded in satisfaction. He didn’t care in the slightest about the obliteration of the Fifth Infantry Legion.
To him, they were nothing more than firewood fueling his ascent to the throne.
“Fourth Legion, prepare to attack! First Magus Corps, prepare to suppress the enemy’s mage corps!”
*****
Two days ago.
Lu Qiuchen had just returned to Dragon Island when she rushed back to the Kingdom of Tara. Tara was an inland nation in the northeastern part of the Southern Continent. To avoid drawing attention, she didn’t take the teleportation array directly to the royal palace. Instead, she landed on the eastern coast of the Southern Continent and traveled west, passing through several small countries before arriving in Tara.
As a result, Lu Qiuchen was delayed quite a bit on the road. By the time she reached the royal capital, the city gates had just been sealed, and the area outside the capital was filled with nobles and merchants who had caught wind of the trouble and fled in advance.
After circling outside the city for a while without finding a good way to enter, Lu Qiuchen learned that the news of Duke Sesis leading a massive army to press down on the border had already reached the capital. The city had just gone into full lockdown, with soldiers manning the walls. She suspected there were spies hidden in the shadows within the city as well, waiting for would-be intruders to walk into their net.
She headed to the dragon nest on the western side of the city, hoping to use the teleportation array there to get inside. But she found that it had already been destroyed, and the royal guards previously stationed there had all disappeared.
With no other choice, she waited until nightfall, then quietly transformed into a dragon and flew into the city under the cover of darkness.
The entire city was under martial law, and soldiers patrolled the streets. Lu Qiuchen slipped into a noble’s manor in the upper district, only to discover it had been overrun by vagrants and unruly mobs. They were indulging in wild revelry, feasting on foods they had never even seen before, wearing all kinds of brightly colored clothes—men’s or women’s, it didn’t matter—putting on whatever they could find. They adorned themselves with precious jewelry, destroyed valuable paintings, and smashed everything the nobles hadn’t managed to take with them.
The maids and servants who hadn’t escaped had been viciously assaulted. Their bodies were dumped in the courtyard pond, where ornamental fish were nibbling at the bits of flesh still clinging to them.
There weren’t enough troops in the city to deal with these people. The soldiers were concentrated at the walls and in the lower districts to prevent larger-scale uprisings. As long as these mobs didn’t charge the palace or city gates tonight, they were being left to their lawlessness.
From the second floor of the manor, cries and screams of women could still be heard. Lu Qiuchen couldn’t bear the scene anymore. She entered the manor and sent the thugs to their deaths. After rescuing the poor maids, she didn’t have the heart to look at their devastated state. She simply found a room that was still relatively clean, set up a detection array, and fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, the royal city guards finally managed to spare a few units to drive out the vagrants. As for what would become of them, it probably wouldn’t end well—but Lu Qiuchen didn’t care. Evading the guards’ patrols, she headed toward the Adventurers’ Guild to gather some information.
The Adventurers’ Guild and the Church were two organizations with great influence across the Southern Continent. In most wars, no factions would dare provoke them. So whenever a war broke out, a large number of refugees would seek shelter with either of them.
However, taking refuge with the Church required being a devout believer. And for most people, piety was directly tied to the thickness of their wallets. So usually, only nobles and merchants would flee to the Church.
By contrast, the Adventurers’ Guild had looser conditions, accepting all mid-rank or higher adventurers. But being accepted didn’t mean safety.
This was a world where strength ruled, and nowhere was that more true than among adventurers. In a confined space with limited resources, throwing a few lambs into a den of bloodthirsty wolves could only end one way.
As for the Guild staff, they were generally safe thanks to their official positions. But expecting them to protect a total stranger was asking too much.
The Adventurers’ Guild was still operating, but the mission system had already collapsed. The guest rooms were packed with stranded adventurers, and even the corners of the hall were filled with the wounded—probably the losers of battles over room space.
Flashing her epic-ranked adventurer ID under the name “Cecilia,” Lu Qiuchen passed through the lobby under the awed gaze of the receptionist and entered the tavern connected to the hall. She walked up to the counter and asked the worker polishing glasses for a white beer, mentioning she wanted to gather some intel.
The worker looked up from his glass and smiled. “Miss Cecilia, long time no see.”