Chapter 30 : The Dragon Seeks a Weakness 

Richard took a deep breath, then another, steadying himself.

A spark of mischief flickered in his mind, and he asked, “If twenty gold coins plus twenty gold coins equals what?”

Aurina, with all the confidence of a self-proclaimed monarch, jabbed a finger at him and declared, “Twenty, of course!”

Her conviction was so fierce that Richard paused, mentally calculating to ensure he hadn’t misstepped.

The sum checked out, and a wave of indignation washed over him—his intelligence felt thoroughly insulted.

“It’s forty!” he snapped.

“How could it possibly be forty?”

Aurina leapt onto a wooden barrel that served as a makeshift table in the wagon, towering over Richard with a haughty glare.

“You, the mightiest of puny bugs, think you can taint this king’s mind with your pathetic insect invention called mathematics?”

“Hah! You’re scheming to muddle my sense of my treasury’s worth, all so you can sneak away with my gold!”

She cackled, her golden eyes gleaming with disdain for his intellect.

“Gah! Only the weakest, most foolish dragons lose track of their hoard. But I? I am the born King of All Dragons, the King of Kings! Your little bug tricks have failed, Richard! Gah-hah-hah!”

Richard’s breath trembled with exasperation, his steel-clad fist clenching.

Enough was enough.

He half-rose, raising his fist with purpose.

“Gah!”

Aurina yelped, clutching her head.

“What are you doing? I’m just a child!”

Had he actually knocked the sense out of her?

Guilt gnawed at Richard.

He’d never raised a child himself, only observed others.

The trick, it seemed, was to discipline—firmly.

“Maybe all those head knocks made you daft,” he mused.

“Should I switch to spanking instead?”

“What are you plotting?”

Aurina squeaked, hopping off the barrel and shielding her small backside with both hands.

“Are you trying to humiliate this king?”

“Pick one: head or rear.”

Her mind raced, torn between the two.

Memories flooded back—times when she, the mightiest red dragon, had delivered playful swats to the rumps of females.

Images cascaded: a ripple across a curvaceous brown thigh, a quiver of a fluffy white tail followed by a stroke through soft, dense fur.

And always, those moments led to the primal act of sowing dragon seed.

No, she, the most majestic of red dragons, couldn’t let Richard touch her rear!

“Gah!” she blurted.

“Head! Hit my head!”

“That might make you dumber,” Richard warned.

“Dumb? Me?”

Aurina scoffed.

“As if a mere bug could tarnish the wisdom of a true dragon!”

“There’s a kind of brain that cares more about pride than sense,” Richard muttered, rolling his eyes.

“You can haggle over a thousand trophies’ worth in a heartbeat—”

“Six hundred twelve, you dolt!”

Aurina interrupted.

Richard silently chanted, Violence isn’t the answer, violence isn’t the answer.

He pressed on.

“But you can’t add past twenty. It’s illogical.”

Just yesterday, Aurina had keenly noticed a shortfall of three gold coins, two silver, and one copper in the wagon’s haul.

She’d nearly slaughtered the thief on the spot, only relenting to a public whipping after the caravan leader’s pleas.

Richard pointed to a massive magical sword resting nearby.

“How much is that worth?”

“Sixty-three gold, three silver,” Aurina answered without hesitation.

He gestured to the enchanted longsword at his waist.

“And this?”

“Twenty-five gold.”

“So, together?”

Aurina shot him a look reserved for the hopelessly dim.

“Eighty-eight gold, three silver, obviously.”

“I get it,” Richard said, a wry smile tugging at his lips.

“You’re not dumb—just uniquely brilliant.”

“Do you even need to say it?”

Aurina preened.

“Your pitiful bug brain is only now grasping this king’s genius. Gah, I suppose that’s forgivable.”

“Fifty lines for the racial slur,” Richard said flatly.

“Richard, I’m just a child!”

“Whining won’t help.”

“It’s not whining—it’s chanting a spell!”

A cry pierced the air from outside: “Bandits! Bandits!”

“Stay here,” Richard ordered, grabbing the magical greatsword and leaping from the wagon.

“I’ll check it out. When I’m back, I expect those lines done.”

“Go, go!”

Aurina waved him off.

As Richard’s figure vanished, the wagon lurched to a halt.

The caravan had detoured through Count Anjou’s lands to avoid offending Count Sernan after his knight was publicly executed.

Anjou’s territory was peaceful enough—no trouble from the local lords.

After all, what did Sernan’s disgraced knight have to do with Anjou?

Still, the roads were crawling with outlaws.

“I am Richard, the Dragon Slayer!” his voice boomed outside.

“Surrender now and face the law’s justice!”

Aurina tilted her head.

By human law, highway robbery meant the gallows, didn’t it?

Yet Richard always announced himself so grandly.

“Doesn’t that just make the bugs fight harder?” she muttered.

Grumbling, she fished out three quills and a sheet of costly paper.

With a flick, she tossed the quills into the air, catching one in her left hand, one in her right, and curling her tail around the third.

Balancing on one leg like a golden crane, she set to work, the quills scratching furiously across the page:

I was wrong.

I shouldn’t have used discriminatory words, calling humans little bugs.

The paper filled in moments, her task done amid the distant screams of bandits.

With a toss of the quills, Aurina pounced on Richard’s knapsack, rifling through it with gleeful abandon.

She hadn’t forgotten her mission: to uncover Richard’s weakness.

She’d noticed him muttering over his holy hammer amulet, the faint scent of blood clinging to him at times, and the way he scribbled in his diary, guarding it fiercely.

He refused to let her see it—what did that mean?

Even in her current, frail female form, her indomitable draconic aura clearly unnerved him.

That diary had to hold his secrets.

A stack of letters—unsent, no doubt to his fiancée.

Useless.

She tossed them aside.

Then, her claws closed around a familiar book.

“Found it!” she crowed, raising it triumphantly.

With a wicked grin, she cracked it open.

“Let’s see what treasures you hide.”

She crouched, flipping through yellowed pages.

“I am sinful… born sinful…”

“Why do I have this affliction? Why? If this is the Lord’s test, can I overcome it?”

Affliction?

Aurina’s grin stretched ear to ear, revealing sharp, porcelain-white teeth.

A fatal weakness!

Revenge was closer than ever.

She devoured the pages, racing toward the most recent entries.

“Aurina!”

A roar shook the wagon.

She didn’t flinch, eyes glued to the diary.

A steel hand snatched it from her grasp.

Richard loomed, eyes blazing with fury.

Aurina forced a laugh.

“Gah? Back so soon?”

She scooped up the scattered letters from the floor.

“These spilled out,” she said, waving them.

“I was just picking them up for you. You should be thanking me!”