Chapter 1 (1/2)

Chapter 1: A dragon in distress

Author Synopsis: My first time writing in the first person perspective

Translator: toomutchayuzu

Editor: Agent Psyx 707

I am the lord of a small fief in the continent of Finanse.

This t.i.tle was among the inheritance my father left behind after he pa.s.sed away, and the rest were: ten thousand subjects barely supported by a tiny piece of land, an army of one thousand low-grade soldiers outfitted by a blacksmith's yard in desperate need of repairs itself, and a territory that had practically zero defensive ability, with our sad excuses for a fort and watch tower.

Whenever other lords came with their troops to loot the harvested grain that we stored and the meager amount of gold we had, I completely lacked the strength to resist them.

My own solace was the fact that my territory was on the northern tip of the continent, where the sea's bountiful resources kept us from starving to death a long time ago.

That day, Lord Morgan from the south had once again plundered my land and returned home with his wagons full. I didn't have the courage to face my subjects, so I rode my horse alone to the seash.o.r.e. I listened to the waves, and gazed out towards the far expanse of the sea, wondering what the continent of Icanomics on the other side of the sea was like.

The Ican continent was ten times larger and more abundant in natural resources than the Finanse continent, and furthermore, it was home not only to humans but to other races as well. There were dwarves, mermaids, elves, fairies, demi-G.o.ds, and all sorts of fantastic creatures. They were a very rare sight in Finanse, so rare that they were practically myths in tiny, far-flung territories such as ours.

A wandering bard was the one who told me stories about them when I was younger, but I did not believe him when he claimed that these non-human creatures were in fact real. It was only when I grew older and accompanied my father to the Conference of Northern Lords, did I meet a beautiful elf for the very first time and realized that the bard had really been telling the truth.

The Ican Continent was also the land of the legendary beasts: dragons.

I had always been enthralled by stories of them. Ansai, the most powerful lord in Finanse, won many wars and conquered many lands because he had a dragon.

If I had one too, all of my problems would be solved. I could protect my people and would never need to be afraid of Morgan and his gang raiding us ever again.

As I entertained these foolish thoughts, I suddenly noticed an enormous, black object lying on the coastline that I was so familiar with.

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Every time I went to the beach, I always had my retinue on standby from a distance away because I liked to quietly enjoy the peaceful moments by myself.

Now, however, I hesitated to go back and call for them.

I might have been weak and powerless to fight against the likes of Morgan and his ilk, but I still believed that the blood of my ancestors that flowed inside me was filled with an adventurer's spirit. This curiosity won over my sense of self-preservation in the end.

I calmed down the horse that was restlessly moving about from under me, and then urged it onwards to get a closer look.

At the very least, this was one thing I could be proud of ― as the lord of the land, my steed Anthony was the finest horse in this small piece of territory.

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With quite some distance still remaining to the large black thing on the ground, Anthony uneasily stopped in his tracks and would not take another step no matter how much I urged him.

Animals are far more sensitive to their natural surroundings than humans are, so I started to question my decision ― my own brother who was born two decades after me was only just a three year old child. If something happened to me, our territory would receive another devastating blow just like my father's abrupt death a year ago, after he succ.u.mbed to the flaring up of his old battle wounds.

And yet, I did not turn back. I had already gone this far, so I resolved myself to continue forward.

I gave Anthony a few calming strokes on his neck, dismounted, and walked all alone towards the large object.

By the time I was close enough to see it clearly, I couldn't help but suck in a breath ―

It was a dragon. An honest-to-G.o.d, real, live dragon!

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It had enormous wings that looked like they could cover my territory's fort when unfolded, scales the color of a deep, endless dark blue, a very thick and powerful tail several meters long, and sharp claws that gleamed under the sunlight with a bone-chilling s.h.i.+ne.

Even if he was only lying there, he still had a mighty and overwhelming aura that could make anyone catch their breath.

No wonder Anthony did not want to come any closer.

However, the dragon was not moving at all. Some of his scales were wounded, and some were even falling off. His large eyelids were closed shut and if it were not for the faint opening and closing of his nose as he breathed, I would have mistaken him for a corpse.

I could not help but inch closer, kneeling on the ground to stroke his neck. Even if he was in such a sorry state, this dragon still looked magnificent and beautiful in my eyes.

He did not respond.

As such, I grew braver and continued to pet his scales.

However, his neck suddenly quivered slightly and scared me out of my wits. I immediately retracted my hand. The truth was that I was naturally timid, and the brave and fearless me was just an act I put on whenever I was in front of others.

I inched closer and spoke directly to its large head: ”Wait for me a bit. I'm going to bring some medicine.”

There was no response from him.

I had no way of knowing whether he heard what I said, or if he even understood.