A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss

that you might not really like being a dragon and all that, but, you know… it ain’t all that bad.”

I took a moment to recollect my thoughts.
I knew that she really didn’t like the overwhelming power she was born with.
She had never once been happy to tell me that she would always be there to protect me.
Because she felt that her strength was all she could offer.
That it was the entirety of her worth.

“You being the supreme dragon is the only reason everything is the way it is now.
If you weren’t born the way you were, and if they didn’t annoy you enough to leave Drakenstead, then you wouldn’t have ever ended up in the Wicked Forest.” I turned to look her in the eyes.
“If even one variable was off, we would’ve never met.
That’s why I’m glad, from the bottom of my heart, that you’re exactly the way you are.
And that includes the whole you being a dragon thing.”

It was a clumsy bit of speech, one that didn’t quite come out exactly as I’d intended it to.
But it was enough to convey the message, and enough to lead her to reconsider her stance.
She stared at me a bit, rattled, before slowly allowing her surprise to melt into joy.

“I suppose you have a point.” She chuckled.
“Then I will not complain any longer.
I am also grateful we met, and I cannot deny that I owe it to the draconic blood flowing through my veins.” She looked at herself, smiled gently, and then continued, in a much brighter tone than before.
“Let us focus on flight.
The road ahead is long yet.
We have only flown a tenth of the way.”
“Man, it’s hella far…” I said.
“But honestly, I don’t really mind.
The wait’s only going to get me more hyped.”

***

“I’ve spotted two individuals with wings.
One’s even got horns and a tail.
They must be demons!” A faraway soldier noted a few observations to his squadmates before raising his voice.
“Halt! Advance any further and you’ll be entering our airspace! We will open fire and shoot you down if you don’t stop right where you are!”
“Oh wow, are those dragon knights?”

I raised a brow as I watched the troopers flap their way over atop large lacertian mounts.
They were, essentially, a type of cavalry, and seemed to more or less serve as this world’s dragoons, minus the whole gun aspect.
Though I called their mounts dragons, they weren’t true dragons by any stretch of the imagination.
They consisted entirely of demi-dragons, dragon-like lizards who, unlike real dragons, were incapable of speech. Honestly though, who cares if they’re riding real dragons.
Either way, being a DK makes you a total badass.

They didn’t seem to be Allysian.
The armour they wore was of a completely different design, and I didn’t quite recognize the coat of arms it featured.
It didn’t even look vaguely familiar. I’m guessing they probably came from the fort I see off in the distance.
Looks like it’s what… 3 kilometers away?

While the less-than-perceptive riders were undaunted, the wyverns that served as their mounts were terrified of Lefi.
Though they’d followed their orders and approached her, they were practically shivering in their metaphorical boots.
Each of the creatures was trying its best to look as small and insignificant as possible.
They were basically scrunching themselves up into small, airborne balls.
Evidently, the riders weren’t totally incompetent, as they began comforting their partners once they realized they weren’t doing so hot. Hmmm… doesn’t look like they’re planning on letting us through.
What to do… What to do…

“Hey Lefi, which way is Drakenstead?”
“It lies directly ahead.”

Greeaaaat.
That means that we’ll either have to take a detour or just go straight through.
I’m not all that keen on roughing up the soldiers since they’re just doing their jobs.
They seem like pretty decent people, based on how they’re not just straight up attacking us even though they think we’re demons.
They even gave fair warnings and whatnot.
Yeah, Iunno.
I don’t really want to fuck them up for no reason.

While I was stuck trying to think up an idea, Lefi had already moved on to implementing them.
She narrowed her eyes into a glare and spoke in a low, impatient growl.

“You are in my way.”
“Stop acting tough, little la—woah! Dawn? Dawn!? What’re you doing!?”

The statement wasn’t directed towards the riders.

But rather, their mounts.

As prey before a predator, the wyverns froze.
They stopped obeying their riders and halted their advance.
Each lizard submissively turned its eyes up on the sole dragon present, and those that were directly in her way even went as far as to part like the red sea.
They probably weren’t intelligent to understand what she’d said, but they were well aware that they’d pissed off a divine entity not to be trifled with.
I almost felt bad for them.
Some of the wyverns were so scared that they looked like they were going to tear up. It’s alright guys.
This is just a passing nightmare.
It never happened.
You’ll be alright.

“Let us be off,” she huffed.
“Err… yeah… sure,” I said.
“Man, having you around makes everything so simple…”

I flapped my wings and casually floated off.
But while I was enjoying my lack of a struggle, the soldiers were busy with the exact opposite.

“Dawn!? Dawn!! Come on girl, relax, it’s okay! You don’t need to freak out!” The man that’d been issuing the warning looked back up at us as he desperately attempted to regain control of his mount.
“Wait! Where are you going!? Get back here! Hey!”

Despite his protests, we flew right off without a care in the world. Aside from feeling kinda bad for the wyverns, that is.

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