A young girl sat on the only chair â a throne â in a small yet luxurious room. Her voice was adorable and innocent, perfectly matching her age.
âOkie! Iâll let you handle it!â
âYes! Leave it to me, your Majesty!â
The man who was kneeling to the girl resembled a knight. He rose, then strode stylishly from the room.
The door closed, and after several seconds, the girl turned to the minister standing beside her.
âIs it okay now?â
âYes. He was the last one, so it should be fine.â
After hearing the manâs cool voice, the innocent expression the girl was making collapsed.
It was like she was throwing a tantrum.
Perhaps it was fatigue, but her eyes were half-lidded with cloudiness, her lips were formed into a 㸠shape, and her shoulders were rounded.
âSo tiredâŚâ
Her attitude did not resemble a child so much as a beleaguered woman in her 40s. However, the pitch of her voice still sounded very young; it was as though she had retained the same external appearance, but she had completely changed inside.
âThank you for your hard work.â
âIâm seriously tired here. Iâve had enough of meeting people while looking like this.â She lifted the hem of her skirt. âWho the hell thought up these clothes which bare the entire leg, anyway?â
âOnce more, I must repeat that you cannot, your Majesty.â
This girl was the Queen of the Draconic Kingdom, the Black Scale Dragon Lord, Draudiron Oriuclus.
She had the title of Dragon Lord, but her combat power was only that of a regular person. While the Theocracy classified her as a true Dragon Lord, that was simply due to her inborn talents, and so some people used the very rare title of True False Dragon Lord to describe her.
That was because the quality which determined her truth or falsehood was whether or not she could use Wild Magic.
âIt is precisely because your Majesty evokes the urge to protect yourself in others that they work so hard for you.â
âIs everyone in this world a lolicon? I think being bigger would be better in various ways.â
Draudiron raised her hands to her flat chest, and wiggled them around like she was carrying something in them.
âIndeed, that form isââ
ââIt is not a form; thatâs my original shape.â
âForgive me, your Majesty.â
âOi, you donât sound sorry at all.â
âCertainly not.â
Draudiron stared at the ministerâs cold smile. She could not see the emotions lurking beneath it and turned away unhappily.
âNow that your Majesty understands, let us return to our original topic. That form might be able to win the hearts of men, but women will not favor it. In contrast, your present form is well-received by men and women, young and old. You ought to understand that. Now, if you insist on taking that form, then you must solve the problems which face this country. Have you any suggestions?â
ââŚDonât call it a form.â
âThat said, if the present situation continues, you may take any form you wish, because nobody will be there to witness it.â
A heavy silence descended upon the room as she contemplated the state which the Draconic Kingdom was in.
âThe Beastman invasion this time is different, isnât it?â
âIndeed. Given the size of their forces, their aims cannot possibly be as petty as before. I am certain that they aim to conquer our nation. They must have finally made up their minds to build a livestock pen.â
There was a Beastman Nation near the Draconic Kingdom.
Beastmen were bipedal demihumans who resembled carnivorous animals like lions or tigers. The fact that they ate meat and thought nothing of eating humans was immediately evident by looking at their heads.
Man-eating species were not rare. Of the six great nations struggling in the center of the continent, three of them viewed humans as good. For instance, the Troll Kingdoms that were close to the center of the continent considered six month-old infants, served in the belly of their mothers, to be a delicacy which they served to guests.
To these people, this nation was a hunting preserve.
In the past, they seemed to consider this place a self-replenishing feeding ground, and they had never launched an all-out invasion. However, for some reason, they had done so this time round, and three cities had already fallen to them.
The feasts held there made even someone like her want to throw up.
Faced with an external invader who could not be negotiated with, the entire country had rallied to give desperate resistance, but Beastmen were far stronger than human beings.
The Beastman Nation was one of the powerful nations on the continent, which spoke of how much greater their physical attributes were than those of human beings.
For instance, the performance parameters of an adult Beastman were ten times those of a similarly adult human.
Adventurers used values called difficulty ratings to quantify the strength of monsters. If an adult human was a 3, then a Beastman would be 30. The sole saving grace was that there were few exceptional individuals among them, probably because their base statistics were already so high to begin with.
âCurrently, adventurers led by adamantite-ranked adventurers have barely managed to push back the enemy, but they are simply too numerous. They cannot stop the invaders if they split up into several tribe-sized elements. âŚPerhaps we must gather all the people to the capital and starve the enemy out of food, but we will probably run out first.â
âWhat a headache. The futureâs nothing but darkness.â
âAlternatively, we could dispatch a hand-picked force to launch a decapitation strike at the enemy. However, if it is handled poorly, we might simply agitate them for nothing, but if we cannot stop the invasion, we might be forced to resort to it.â
âAnd heâs going to be the leader?â
âIndeed, him.â
The âheâ in question could only be one man. He was âBrilliant Flashâ Cerebrate of âCrystal Tearâ, the sole adamantite-ranked adventurer team in this country. His nickname derived from his proficiency with the sword technique known as the Shining Blade, and he possessed the vocation of Holy Lord.
âHeâs definitely a lolicon. Whenever he talks to me, his eyes roam all over my body. Does looking at a washboard like this make him happy? Why doesnât he just go stare at a wall?â
âIt is his fetish. Ah, yes, your Majesty is correct. He is a lolicon.â
Draudironâs face twitched.
âI honestly donât want to hear you agreeing so readily. The adamantite-ranked people in my country⌠If only they were a more decent lot.â
âWhat are you saying? All you need do is pretend to be cute and play the role of a pure, innocent girl, and people will fight to the death for you. Is that not very useful to us?â
âIâm going to have to satisfy his desires one day⌠oi! Donât look at me like Iâm a pig whoâs going to be served up as tomorrowâs breakfast!â
âHahhâŚâ the man sighed with deliberate exaggeration. That caused her veins to pop out.
âBut that is all that will happen. Your Majesty, please bear with it. It is a better fate than your people who have already been physically eaten.â
She had no reply to give.
ââŚIf we had the money, we could hire Optics. Speaking of which, whatâs the Theocracy doing?â
âThat, nobody knows.â
âDonât we donate large sums to them every year? Usually, they ought to have come to help us by now, right? Itâs not like I want them to send out the Black Scripture, but they havenât even sent out the Sunlight Scripture.â
The Theocracy had always sent their troops to aid the Draconic Kingdom in secret. The reason why it was a secret was probably because she was its leader.
âSo this is our retribution for entrusting our national defense to another country. What a tragedy.â
âItâs not like I like relying on others, it couldnât be helped! Donât say you donât know that our military budgetâs always been very tight. If we spent more, the country would have gone bankrupt. Besides, itâs not like the troops will immediately get stronger if we spend the money on the military.â
The Draconic Kingdom had poured a lot of funds into dealing with the Beastmen over the years, but the outcome was every bit as tragic. She wanted to think that they had kept casualties this low because of the money they had spent.
âIf the Theocracyâs abandoned us⌠ah yes, why not ask the Empire for help? If our country is wiped out, the Empire will be next, right?â
âThere is still the Katze Plains between them, so it will not be the Empireâs turn right away. They might also detour around the lake to attack the Theocracy.â
ââŚTrue, I doubt theyâre brave enough to charge into a place where the undead appear en masse.â
Incidentally, both of them had skipped over the Wyvern-controlling tribes along the way.
âItâs not that theyâre not brave, but that the undead are inedible, so thereâs no point conquering that place. Only fellow undead would be happy to take a place like that. Besides, the Empire ought to be busy too, right? Their yearly war is about to take place.â
âSeems a little late this year.â
âYes, by about half a year. Some ridiculous magic caster made a declaration. Do you wish to read it?â
âAhh, who cares about other countries! Enough of that, saving our countryâs the important thing!â
âWell, you did bring it up, your Majesty⌠how about your Majestyâs magic?â
The minister waved his finger. To him, that was probably all he thought of magic. Draudiron smiled bitterly.
âWild Magic, hm? That kind of power isnât the sort of thing a human can control; not even with an eighth of Draconic ancestry. If things go badly, it might hasten our countryâs demise, so itâs a last resort.â
âA last resort, hm? I hope that day never comes. Then, I shall attempt to request aid from the Theocracy.â
âOhh! Please do~â
The minister turned a cold stare at Draudiron as she gave her childish reply.
âThatâs the spirit, your Majesty. Since you have the strength for it, then I trust you can write thirty letters of encouragement to our troops on the frontline â letters of trust from a young child. Naturally, I hope you will write like a child as well.â
âGuehhh⌠I canât do that sober. Bring me wine!â
âUnderstood. While you may intoxicate yourself as much as you please, I hope you will complete this task by today.â
The minister bowed and left the room.
Draudiron watched his back as he departed, and then looked at her own hands.
âThe magic of the soul, huhâŚâ
Wild Magic was different from normal magic. It was magic that used souls. Therefore, if she sacrificed many of her people and then destroyed the souls which were produced, she could cast a powerful spell. Her great-grandfather the Dragon Lord had told her about the great explosion which was the Platinum Dragon Lordâs ultimate attack. In all likelihood, she could imitate it easily.
However, since she was much weaker than a Dragon Lord, she would have to sacrifice over a million people to cast a spell like that.
Draudiron covered her face with her hands.
She trembled, because she had the feeling that no matter what she did, Hell was her destinyâ