Chapter 111: Interlude: The Princess Documentary (1/2)
“Far away, in the depths of Castle Gardemagne,” the dragon said, as a beautiful keep with shining white halls appeared on the reflective surface, “lives a deadly predator; the remnant of a bygone age where manling kings numbered in the thousand, fighting both themselves and the wild.
His trusty [Scrying Crystal Ball] zoomed in on the castle, onto a bedroom located at a tower’s top.
“An insidious, cunning beast, whose beauty is only matched by its cruelty. The most dangerous game of all.”
A fair, human maiden with long green hair peeked out the window, looking down with envy at the castle’s gardens. Her beautiful skin turned red with envy, as she noticed a blonde, busty woman talk with a dashing prince near a patch of flowers; her eyes were set on the competitor's pendant and jewels.
“The Manling Princess.”
The maiden left with a hiss, to protect her territory against the intruder. As the apex predator of decadent manling courts, this savage conflict could only end in two ways.
She would kill, or be killed.
“Princesses are smart,” the dragon said, leaving his den and crystal ball behind, his princess bag in hand. “They need to, to become queens. They kill for many reasons: to mate, for status, for pleasure. But out of all the beasts populating the animal kingdom, only the Manling Princess will kill for money; for humans are born greedy. That makes her the most dangerous princess of all; the dragonliest princess.”
The dragon flew over the ruins of the city, and the pens outside its confines. His apprentice’s minions had built large, district-wide walled areas, one for each feral princess. The wyrm had taken exquisite care in their development, recreating the natural environment of each princess within; an arid sandcastle for the Elf Princess, a small plain for Centaur Princess, a fungi garden for Mushroom Princess...
“I am Grandrake, and I have been a Princess Hunter all my life; long before the dragon-made system recognized it officially.” The wyrm looked down on Mushroom Princess’ pen, watching her have tea with Allison the Dryad. She was the closest to being released back to the wild. “Princesses and dragons are not meant to coexist for long. But most of the princesses here, at my new Wildlife Reserve in El Goldorado, had to be removed from the wild. They turned feral, dangerous to each other… and to themselves.”
All because of this forgetful curse’s fault!
Grandrake had felt great guilt at having left these poor princesses to fend for themselves; he would not rest until they could regain their true nobility. Thanks to a dwarf-made portal, the dragon empire of V&V had allocated resources and staff to the project, making the wildlife reserve fully functional. Kobolds watched from above the walls, careful that the princesses didn’t escape, nor that outsiders disturbed the experiment.
Grandrake approached Elf Princess’ pen, finding her lording over a group of succubi from the ruins of her sandcastle. When the dragon landed near her den, the posse instantly turned tense. He opened the bag and grabbed a cake.
“Elf Princesses are very territorial; when interacting with them, you must play by their rules.” Grandrake left the royal strawberry cake at the periphery of the princess’ vision, showing deference. “When you feed them, you must do it subtly, presenting it as a gift; or else they may refuse your food out of pride. Some are even ready to starve themselves to death; for no cost is too high, to psychologically dominate the dragon.”
“Is he talking to himself?” a succubus said, rich enough for Grandrake to hear her. She must have been upper middle-class, maybe an office worker.
“Always,” Elf Princess said with an unhappy face.
“Having fed on princess flesh for decades, she must get used to her natural diet,” Grandrake said. “Chocolate, truffles, brioche, oysters… do not ever give these beautiful creatures bread though. If a Princess is fed commoner food, then in time, she becomes half a peasant herself. Let them eat cake.”
The dragon discreetly left the pen, watching from above until the princess accepted the gift. Happy, Grandrake left to continue his feeding tour, checking out how all of the captives handled their newfound courts. No fair maiden shared their pen with another.
“Princesses are pack animals, but they cannot stand each others’ company for long except in extreme circumstances,” Grandrake explained. “For when they do, jealousy sets in, and they fight to become queens. Instead, their natural pack is a girl posse; a Princess dominates lesser female nobles as the alpha and then bullies commoners. During the mating season, males flock to them, fighting for the princess’ favor; sometimes, even dueling to the death.”
But it was too early to introduce fair maidens to male partners yet. After years of princess cannibalism, these maidens had lost their kind’s normal social behavior. They had forgotten the habits needed to thrive in the wider world.
Due to a lack of elves, the empire had instead sent what could pass for noble ladies: female vampires and succubi. The dragon had introduced groups of them to the captive princesses, so they could form posses.
“It is not an optimal solution, but the only one we have for now. It will take years before we can return most of these princesses to the wild.” Grandrake shook his head sorrowfully, as he watched Centaur Princess run around her pen in frustration. “Princesses aren’t meant to be herded. To flourish, princessness needs to be atop a social hierarchy; if a dragon looms over it, it cannot express itself. These flowers need light to bloom.”
However, with the number of princesses decreasing, many dragons had tried to preserve the species however they could. Some even tried to raise them in captivity, but desperate measures can never result in anything beautiful.
“Once, princesses were common across the land, but my kind overhunted them for their princessness. So princesses adapted, rearing a male subspecies called knights to defend themselves; the rarity and danger only made them more desirable.”
The rediscovery of the dragon-made system, though, could change everything. Grandrake had heard that Blightswamp had managed to turn her daughters into princesses; if true, then it could be the greatest breakthrough in Princessology since the invention of the [Virgin Princess Radar].
After touring the pen, Grandrake flew to the dense jungle.
“My assistants informed me that a knight was sighted nearby,” he said, looking at the trees for any sign of movement. “Knights are dangerous, both to princesses and to Princess Hunters themselves. I like to think that my lessons about how to treat their metal sword bites saved many young, inexperienced dragons from death. Yes, I am an explorer and collector first, but education will always be important to me.”
For the elder dragon wasn’t stupid. He knew that he lived a dangerous lifestyle and that one day, a fomor knight might get lucky and end his life; his near-death experience from the Curse of Greed had taught him well. His mind might get duller, his body slower from wounds garnered in dangerous hunts. He could not let his knowledge die with him.
“If a knight captures a princess, it will attempt to breed with her by guile or force. If the knight is a prince or a noble, then the result of coupling will be a trueborn princess.” Grandrake shook his head. “But this one is another kind entirely; an invasive species.”
A commoner.
“If allowed to mate, the commoner will pass on inferior bastard genes onto the progeny,” Grandrake explained the danger. “Which disrupts the entire princess social hierarchy. It often takes generations for a princess lineage to recover from bastardry, and with their current, dwindling population, this cannot be allowed.”
Grandrake looked at the horizon with sorrowful eyes, at the distant bright sun.
“Dwarf princesses have become extinct because we…” He stopped. “Because I wasn’t vigilant enough.”
He couldn't allow elf and manling princesses to vanish too.