Chapter 19 : The Dragon’s Lost Treasure

The tattered parchment fell into the fire, curling and yellowing before it burst into flames.

“You fool! What have you done?”

Aurina’s eyes widened in horror.

To her, a treasure worth a hundred and thirty-two gold coins had just vanished into ash.

“My precious gold-coin bed! Gone, just like that!”

For a dragon, sleeping on a measly handful of coins as a mattress was pathetic enough to bring tears to her eyes—especially for one such as her, the reigning champion of the red dragons for ten consecutive tournaments.

Richard said, “That sort of thing, turned into gold, is profit built on others’ suffering. It can’t stay.”

Aurina stared at him as if he were a simpleton.

Richard’s gaze shifted to the bull.

Aurina clutched its tail tightly.

“No, Bull-Bull! Don’t you dare kill my Bull-Bull, you idiot!”

“Ahem.”

An old woman hobbled forward, leaning on her cane.

“Brave warrior, this is our village’s bull—the only one left. We depend on it for plowing. Moo, right?”

The bull lowered in agreement: “Moo.”

The old woman sighed.

“It’s the last of our herd. We’re saving up to buy a cow to pair with it.”

Aurina eyed her curiously.

“And then?”

Richard said, “Fine, it’s yours.”

“Thank you.”

The old woman tugged the rope, and the bull took a step.

Aurina, still gripping its tail, caused it to stretch taut.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Aurina bared her teeth at the old woman.

“You dare steal my walking food and treasure?”

“Aurina, let go,” Richard said.

“It belongs to them.”

“I took it, so it’s mine!”

Aurina’s confusion was palpable.

“If I’d known you, the so-called strongest little bug, were this dense, I’d never have been so gracious as to take you on as my pack beast!”

“What?”

Richard raised an eyebrow.

“Putting aside your racial slurs for a moment, we were hired by these villagers to save them. They need the bull—it’s rightfully theirs.”

Aurina, unyielding, grabbed the bull’s tail with both hands.

“Mine is mine!”

“Aurina, let go.”

She yanked harder, dragging the bull back.

“Come back, Bull-Bull, you’re mine!”

The bull, in pain, lashed out with a kick.

Aurina instinctively released the tail to block, and Richard swiftly pulled her out of harm’s way.

“Careful!”

The bull’s kick missed, and it ambled off with the old woman.

A few villagers hurried forward, eagerly leading their precious beast back to safety.

Aurina’s temper flared.

She imagined stomping Richard with her mighty dragon claws, whipping him with her tail until his iron shell cracked, spilling red juices as he groveled, licking her toes for mercy.

Rearing her head high, she bared her teeth and raised a fearsome claw at him.

Why’s he so tall?

she thought, lowering her hands.

Richard studied her closely.

“Are you hurt from that kick?”

He’s staring so hard—must be terrified, she decided.

Aurina stopped snarling.

“Hmph. As if a mere Bull-Bull could harm me.”

She’d let him off… for now.

After all, basking in the glory of her unmatched draconic wisdom, crushing his feeble mind, was far too delightful.

Heh, imagine his shock when he learns who I really am.

Her mood lightened as she glanced at her temporarily stolen prize—the sixteen-gold-coin bull.

Richard looked her over again, exhaling in relief.

“You’re being good.”

“Good?”

“I thought you’d lunge at them,” Richard said.

“You’re disobedient and don’t value human lives, hoarding trophies in a cave full of hostages. But there’s a spark of kindness in you. Deep down, you’re good.”

“Gah? Who’re you insulting?”

Aurina snapped, lunging to bite his arm, her shark-like teeth scraping against his armor with a grating screech.

Richard raised his arm, Aurina dangling from it.

“Can you let go now?”

She ignored his plea—little bugs’ begging never swayed her.

“You’re about to bite through,” Richard warned, raising his hand.

“Or I’ll bonk your head.”

Aurina released her grip and dropped to the ground.

The nearby cave still burned, thick smoke billowing.

Richard tugged Aurina along as the cheerful villagers followed, laughing and relieved.

The “little bugs” rejoiced at their rescue and the return of their plow bull.

The fields could be tilled, and with a new cow, their herd might grow.

The goblins who could still walk had long vanished, slipping away as swiftly as Aurina’s hundred-and-thirty-two gold coins and her sixteen-gold-coin bull.

The thought of her lost treasures stung.

Those coins could’ve padded her back, sparing her from Richard’s tattered, threadbare cloak she now used as a bedsheet.

Hmph.

If I hadn’t slipped up, I’d never have stooped to using your rag as bedding.

Aurina glared at Richard, scheming how to wring more gold from this dim-witted pack beast.

Gold coins… a treasury… a king… a princess!

Yes, a princess!

“Richard!” she exclaimed.

“Have you forgotten? The princess! We’re here to save the princess and claim heaps of gold coins!”

Richard glanced at her.

“I wasn’t holding out much hope.”

Gah!

The strongest little bug really is hopeless.

Aurina’s tail flicked smugly.

“Kneel before me! If not for my brilliance, you’d have forgotten the princess entirely.”

“The princess…”

“What’s wrong? Did you eat some vile bitter melon?”

“No.”

“Then why’s your face so sour? Like that bitter melon I tasted in a bug village a few days ago. How can anything alive enjoy that stuff?”

Richard sighed.

“Just… old memories.”

“Then spill!”

Aurina urged.

“With my unparalleled wisdom, I might help you squeeze more gold from that old princess. I’ll graciously share… a twentieth of it.”

She glanced at her outstretched hand, then at her toes, wiggling them one by one.

Yes, twenty.

“You really love the number twenty,” Richard noted.

“But I’d rather not talk about it. It’s a painful memory.”

He seemed deflated, like a scorched goblin.

How odd.

Aurina’s golden eyes studied him, blinking thoughtfully.

It must be the blisters on his face causing him such misery—such a frail little bug, unable to withstand even a spark of her true dragon’s flame.

Still, surviving her breath with only blisters was impressive enough to earn the title of strongest little bug.

After all, I’m the ten-time red dragon champion, the king of kings among red dragons.

“Come here,” she commanded, stretching out her hands.

“Richard, squat down and put your head in my palms.”

He gave a faint smile.

“What game are we playing now?”

“A royal boon from your king.”

Richard crouched, and Aurina cupped his head, her soft, moist tongue gently licking the blisters on his face.

The rough texture of her tongue glided over the uneven burns.

A faint scent of dragon’s breath filled the air, and Richard felt the pain of his scorched skin ebb away.

He touched his damp cheek—where blisters from the fire had marred his face, now healed, thanks to his haste in not lowering his visor.

“My saliva can heal trifling burns,” Aurina declared.

“A gift for you, little bug. Now, tell me about this old princess, then follow my orders to fetch heaps of gold. I’ll share a twentieth of it with you.”

Looking at the young dragon princess, arms akimbo and brimming with earnestness, Richard felt his heartache lighten.

He said, “It’s a long story, but in short, I went to slay your father. Before he died, he burned the empire’s princess, who’d been banished to the latrines.”

“Hee hee hee!”

“Why’re you laughing?”

“Just a happy thought,” Aurina said, waving a hand.

“Go on, I’m listening.”

“It’s complicated. A kid like you wouldn’t get it.”

“Tell me.”

Sometimes, Aurina hated the side effects of her little-girl disguise.

“My dragon-slaying sword and bone armor,” Richard began, “were funded by stocks issued under the Yanting Empire’s emperor. To hedge the risk, we made a bet: if I saved the princess, all equipment losses would be covered.”

Stocks?

Listings?

Bets?

Aurina’s head throbbed.

“What are those? My brain hurts—must be bad things.”

“You’re not wrong,” Richard said with a wry smile.

“Long story short, the princess died, I defaulted, the sword was nearly destroyed, and the dragon-bone armor… the Dread Dragon was so terrifying, even that legendary gear was damaged.”

“His body burned down to just a skull. I owe the emperor fifty thousand gold coins. That’s on me.”

Aurina gasped.

Fifty thousand gold coins?

Enough for a blanket, sheets, and a pillow!

“The Yanting Empire?”

“Yes.”

Aurina muttered, “So that’s the name of those little bugs’ stone nests.”

If she recalled correctly, she hadn’t snatched that scrawny princess.

“Ha ha ha!”

“Why’re you so gleeful?”

Richard asked.

“I think I mentioned this before.”

“Nothing,” Aurina said.

“What about the princess now? Surely she comes with piles of gold. Otherwise, how’ll you ever pay off fifty thousand coins?”

Richard called to the villagers ahead, “Any of you a princess?”

They froze, one asking, “Hero, do we look like we’d have a princess in this village?”

Richard recounted the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.

The old woman stepped forward, chuckling.

“My savior, forgive my granddaughter. My old nickname was ‘Princess.’ I used to tell her bedtime stories about knights slaying dragons to save princesses.”

“She must’ve gotten carried away, thinking if she called me a princess, a knight would come.”

“What?”

Aurina pointed at her.

“Where’s the real princess? I don’t believe you—you must have a vault stuffed with gold!”

“What a charming child,” the old woman said with a smile.

“If not for a mix-up in the goblins’ slave contract, making me their master, I’d have been dead long ago. Would a princess get captured by goblins?”

“So, no gold?”

The old woman apologized, “I can only offer you a bowl of my family’s cabbage-and-mince soup.”

“No gold at all?”

Aurina wailed.

My stomach’s treasures are my personal wealth!

Richard said, “I wasn’t expecting much reward anyway. I hoped to claim some goblin loot to fund supplies or meat, but you burned it all. We’ll have to scavenge what’s left on the goblins.”

Those goblins…

Well done, “Throne Hall” goblins, stripped bare and fleeing with everything they could carry.

They should’ve been her pack beasts!

The more she thought, the angrier she got.

Why was this pack beast so foolish, giving away her trophies?

Aurina glared down at a small pebble, dubbing it Little Bug Number Five.

It would meet a crushing end, just like Richard’s future.

With a flourish, she spread her soft, white forepaw, seizing the stone and grinding it to dust between her toes.

Richard glanced over, oblivious to her intent, as she let the fine sand slip through her claws.

His gaze drifted to the stripped red-scaled dragonkin goblins.

“By the way, before I rescued you, I heard you call yourself Obus? Or was it the King of Red Dragon Kings, the Dread Dragon?”

Aurina’s tail thumped to the ground.