POV Commander Beren:
Beren stood in the cold cave, facing a pair of reptilian eyes burning in the thick clouds of smoke that slowly spread, filling the cave. The blue and gold light flashed through the dark cave as short tendrils of lightning flashed around the beast hiding in the smoke. His whole body was trembling under the oppressive aura radiating out of the wyrm, the cold air slowly becoming hotter and hotter with each passing second.
Feeling the rage seeping through the aura, Beren realised that he had made a terrible mistake of enraging the wyrm.
The deep voice that sounded like it came from a depth of hell spoke to him, the smoke whirling as the air vibrated under the loud tones, “Speak mortal! Give me an offer worthy of my forgiveness or die!”
A sudden need to speak spread through his body, pushing back the fear and oppressive feeling of the aura as he spoke, “Y-your Highness, I am offering you a solution to your conflict with the baron of Azerlisia that will also give you a pile of gold!”
The temperature in the cave immediately rose up, sweat running down his whole body as his skin reddened, making him feel as if he slowly boiled, “Stop wasting my time with your flowery words and cut to the point before my patience runs out, mortal!”
“Your Highness, I am offering you a coup to replace the current baron with a new one that would be… very grateful for your help. *Cough*”, Beren spoke before entering a coughing fit after inhaling the thick hot fumes that slowly filled the cave, his skin and eyes burning.
POV Vesuvius:
The dragon’s eyes looked straight at the coughing man that defiled his lair, his rage subsiding a little after hearing that man’s proposition, ‘Damn it! I need to be rational now… this is an opportunity to stop this conflict from further escalation while I still can. Also, I might get lots of gold out of this.’
The image of a shiny pile of golden coins glittering in his cave filled his visions. And the horrifying aura of the dragon retracted back to his body, and the dark smoke retreated backwards from the man, allowing him to straighten up as he stopped coughing.
Vesuvius wasn’t stupid, so he knew that one couldn’t simply murder a noble and take over their territory, “Tell me, mortal? How will you replace the baron without causing a higher noble to intervene?”
“Let’s say that I work for someone… who might have a legitimate claim for the title. So if some horrible accident happens to the baron and his only remaining son, my supporter will have an open path.”
‘So it is likely a family member of the baron, and they want me to just murder everyone higher in the succession line. If that’s the case, that will make this whole thing possible.’
Vesuvius wasn’t naive and knew there was no chance for him to become a noble, ruling over the province without a massive war… but that won’t prevent him from pulling strings from the shadows. If the man before him offered him to become a new baron, he would have killed him as a fraudster or someone wanting to trick him.
“Is the personal strength of your supporter enough to keep the barony without a higher noble or king replacing them?”
The personal strength of nobles was an essential matter in the world of Lorenia, and there were fixed quotes that nobles of specific rank had to meet to keep their title.
‘If they need my help, they must be weaker than the baron’s remaining son. Otherwise, there would be no need for my help. They would just have to wait for the baron to die naturally.’
“My supporter is young… but their strength will grow in the future before the time limit set by laws…”
The dragon opened his mouth in an evil grin, the orange light penetrating through the smoke, and his deep voice echoed through the empty cave, interrupting the man, “In that case, let me help… my blood should be able to make this problem vanish.”
‘This way, I will secure the position of the new baron… and also secure their loyalty.’ Vesuvius already noticed that native beings that drank his blood became much more loyal to him than usually and readily complied with his orders.
He also wasn’t stupid to believe that whoever took over the barony would be happy with the axe in the form of a wyrm floating above their head and that they wouldn’t seek a way to get rid of him. They could also simply blame the death of the old baron and everything else on him and ask higher-ranking nobles to intervene and kill Vesuvius. He wouldn’t just believe them without any precautions.
The man immediately froze, not speaking, just standing there as if he was a statue, “Your draconic Highness, I am not sure that I can make such a deal on behalf of my mistress.”
The promise of eternal life was always a great attraction, but the side effects of loyalty were also known. That made dragon blood even rarer, as a dragon needed to be already dead not to affect a changed person. That prevented wealthy persons like kings or high nobles from bribing dragons with mountains of gold to obtain eternal youth.
‘Ohhh, so it’s a woman.’ The dragon immediately noticed the small slip-up.
“In that case, leave now, and if your MISTRESS decides to accept my GIFT, then come back with her. If not, then do not bother me ever again.” putting the emphasis on the word mistress, the dragon released a little bit of his aura, causing the man to tremble again.
The dragon moved to the side, clearing the cave entrance, and the man immediately ran out, his rushed steps echoing through the cave.
Vesuvius punched with his clawed hand against the cave wall, everything shaking with cracks spreading through the black stone as he vents up his annoyance at the man who entered his lair.