Chapter 628 - The Past Shapes Us All (1/2)

Chapter 628: The Past Shapes Us All

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Become the Dragon King?

Link had never thought of that.

In truth, he had thought about bringing the young Red Dragons into the fold, but only as part of Ferde, and only some of them.

He had never actually thought about ruling the entire dragon race.

Also, if he became Dragon King, where would that put the Red Dragon Queen? As a dragon, she was still young. With royal dragon blood flowing through her veins, she could still live for 2000 years. There had never been any record of a king or queen as young as her retiring at such a young age.

Link was stunned for a moment but quickly composed himself. Even though the Dragon King’s Bracelet was drifting in the air towards him, he did not take it. Instead, he stepped forward and bent over Gretel, trying to pull her up.

“Your Highness, what are you doing? Please get up.” He was worried that Gretel might have been coerced by someone into doing this, which seemed possible, considering she still had not regained her full strength.

More than a month had passed. Link noticed that Gretel still had the Red Dragon Crystal on her, which meant that she still required external assistance to replenish her power.

To his surprise, Gretel did not budge from her half-kneel when Link tried to pull her up. In order to resist his efforts to get her up, she grounded both her knees to the ground. She then looked up at Link, her eyes slightly red. “Duke, I’m more than aware of my current physical condition. I fear… I won’t be able to return to my full strength. Right now, I’m both physically and mentally unfit to lead the dragon race. I’m also aware of what the young Red Dragons are thinking now. I do not wish to see the dragon race fall apart because of me…”

Link frowned. He channeled his power into Gretel’s body through his arm in order to gauge how much she had recovered from her injuries.

Link was a bit surprised by what he discovered. It had been close to two months, and Gretel’s wounds had indeed healed for the most part. Though her external scarring had vanished completely, the deeper parts of her body showed no signs of recovery, especially her Heart of the Dragon, which remained just as lacerated as it had been two months ago.

The damaged Heart of the Dragon was still pumping out Dragon Power. However, this new Dragon Power flowing in her seemed weak and turbulent. It was definitely a far cry from the near flawless Dragon Power she had before.

Her current state was a lot worse than Link had anticipated.

With his limited understanding of the “Dragon” magic book, Link was unable to help Gretel with her predicament. Even the Red Dragon Queen herself and the Red Dragon Elders, who had a much more profound understanding of Dragon Power, could not think of any way to restore Gretel back to her former glory, so it seemed unlikely that Link would fare any better than any one of them.

“See?” Gretel let out a slow breath. “I’m no longer the queen the dragon race deserves.”

With her Heart of the Dragon in tatters, she was now a mere shadow of her former self. If word of this got out, ambitious Red Dragons would begin circling around her like sharks, scheming to usurp her. In the worst case scenario, Gretel might even be assassinated to make room for a more competent ruler.

Gretel was intelligent enough to see the danger she would be putting her life in if she remained on the throne. On account of his many contributions to the dragon race, Link was the only candidate for the position of Dragon King that she recognized at the moment.

Finally understanding why she was doing this, Link looked at Red Dragon Elder Pettalong who was standing behind her. The aged Red Dragon wordlessly gave him a nod.

He had already accepted the cold hard reality of his queen’s condition.

Link then looked at Wardaas, another Red Dragon Elder. He was much younger than Pettalong. He also had Level-9 Pinnacle power and was probably close to hitting Legendary. He seemed displeased about this, but when Link’s gaze fell on him, he immediately suppressed his dissatisfaction and said with a low voice, “Duke, you are the only person fit to rule us right now.”

From the looks of things, even though there were differing voices on the subject among the dragons, they seemed to have reached a temporary consensus. If Link was willing, he would be able to transition smoothly to the role of Dragon King.

With his current power level and intelligence, he might even be able to rapidly rise up the dragon’s ranks and become an actual Dragon King!

Should he accept their offer then?

Link began weighing the pros and cons of becoming Dragon King.

The benefits were clear as day. He would have the loyalty of the entire dragon race. Dragons possessed near unlimited potential. Legendary masters would emerge among them under his guidance, and these masters would in turn provide a huge boost to Ferde’s military strength.

In the long run, however, this could spell disaster for him!

The dragon race had always been fixated on maintaining the balance of the world. Due to their currently weakened state, they had temporarily set aside tradition in order to focus on more important matters. However, maintaining the balance of the world had always been an integral tradition of the dragon race. Since time immemorial, it had been ingrained so deeply within the consciousness of every dragon.

Once the dragon race regained their former glory under Link’s leadership, their obsession with tradition might flare up once more.

If any of Link’s actions ever ran contrary to the dragons’ tradition, their desire to maintain the balance world might drive them to resist Link’s rule. It would be the end for him if he failed to appease them.