Reincarnated as the Strongest Dragon

Chapter 17: Old Memories I

We made our way up to the third floor and entered my room. I went into the bathroom and started filling up the bath.

“Say, was the staff really that good?”

“Compared to what she had before? Yes.”

“Hmm, maybe I should have looked into what gear people have in this era.”

Liz just looked at me for a moment and sighed. “I guess I should have taken you to a store that sells gear when we were out shopping.”

“I didn’t think about it either so I guess we are both to blame,” I said with a smile.

Liz opened her magic bag and pulled out her staff. “This is my staff. I got it when I was still D rank so I have been saving up to get an upgrade but Mira had one of similar quality.”

Item name: Azshari Staff

Durability 413/480
+12 Stamina
+57 Intellect
+45 Mind

Increases ice damage by magical spells and effects by 11%.
Increases magic damage by magical spells and effects by 5%.
7% Chance for ice spells to apply a debuff reducing agility of the target by 11% for 8 seconds

[Increased Durability Lv.2]

This is the quality D or C rankers use? Uh oh.

“Uhm, would you say this is average for someone of your rank?”

“It was very good for what an average D rank would usually use and it still somewhat holds up when doing quests now.”

Maybe I shouldn’t have made it look so flashy? I don’t think there will be any complications but maybe I should take it back? I can’t really take back a gift, can I? She was so overjoyed. I may be a dragon but I’m not a monster.

“I see… But I put [Identify Blocker Lv.10] on it and it’s bound to her so it should be fine… Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Even if they managed to use [Identify] on it they wouldn’t see anything. Would anyone really go out of their way to steal an unknown item?”

“I don’t know. It looks rather valuable.”

“Hmm, better tell Mira to keep it in her magic bag while she is in town if it’s possible. As long as no one can touch her staff and use [Identify] it should be fine.”

“I suppose.”

“Well, enough about that,” I said and peeked into the bathroom. “The bath is almost filled, would you like to join me?”

“What would you do if I said no?” She said and smirked.

“Sulk?”

I took her hand and started pulling her towards the bathroom, undressing her on the way. I got a small pout from the fact that I robbed her from the sensation of undressing me since I got naked with a snap. I lit another candle and turned off the light.

“You don’t have to turn off the light for my sake.”

“Don’t you think this is cozier?”

"Yes it is," She said with a coy smile

After washing my hair I sat down in the bath and beckoned Liz to sit between my legs and lean against me instead of sitting opposite me.

“Luna,” Liz hesitated, “I don’t really have any experience when it comes to things like this.”

“Neither do I,” I said and embraced her from behind.

“You don’t?” Liz said in a surprised tone.

“Is that so surprising?”

“I just assumed since you have lived for a long time.”

“I usually didn’t interact much with other people.” I hesitated for a moment before holding up my arm and shifted it into its dragon form. “Because we are different.”

Liz looked at my hand. “I guess we are a little bit different.”

“A little bit?” I laughed before shifting my hand back and embraced her even tighter. “I’m surprised how nonchalant you are about the fact that I’m a dragon. You even met me in my true form. I wouldn’t have blamed you for passing out.”

“I’m surprised as well. I guess the adrenaline from getting stabbed and almost dying helped. I still froze from fear when you spoke though.” 

“And I was being so polite and everything,” I said and put my chin on her shoulder.

“It truly was an experience I will never forget as long as I live.”

We sat in silence for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment until Liz broke the silence.

“Hey, Luna?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell me about yourself.”

“About myself? What do you want to know?”

“Hmm, are you really a queen?”

“Do you doubt me?”

“It’s just hard to believe that I’m sitting here with not only a dragon, but the actual dragon queen.”

“Don’t forget that you also slept with said queen,” I said with a grin. “But yes, I really am. I got the title and everything.”

“What does it mean to be the dragon queen?”

“Nothing nowadays. There aren’t many, if any, dragons left to lead. It’s nothing more than an empty title from the past.”

“Did there used to be a lot of dragons?”

“Probably around fifty thousand or so.”

“That many?” Liz said in a slightly shocked tone. “Did they all live here?”

“No, the Dragon Empire was vast. The heart of the empire was across the sea to the northeast.

“What happened to them?”

I hesitated for a moment before answering. “It’s not a pleasant story.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

It’s something that I have kept hidden for thousands of years but I don’t know if it’s because she knows that I’m a dragon that I feel like I could tell her... But what are the odds that she would stick around if I told her about my past? Any sane person would get scared and leave… If that happens I guess I will go to the capital alone. Am I trying to sabotage myself?

“It’s not that but… You might not look at me the same after hearing it. Once you know you can never go back,” I said in a serious tone. “Do you still want to know?”

Liz turned around and looked into my eyes. “I do.”

I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed. “Okay then, let’s start from the beginning. There were many different kinds of dragon flights in the past, all of them ruled by the imperial dragons. They, or I guess I should say we, were the strongest of our kind and our racial ability [Red Haze] cemented us as the rulers of the dragons since the dawn of time.”

“What did that ability do?”

“It temporarily increased our stats tenfold.”

“So you were already the strongest and had the ability to get ten times stronger?”

“That’s right. Dragon society was ruled by strength, might makes right, as they say. That didn’t mean we were tyrants though.”

“I see. So no one could stand against you even if they wanted to.”

“That was the common belief at the time.”

“Do you mean someone tried?”

“I’m getting to that,” I said and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. “As you might remember from my introduction, I’m an imperial dragon as well, though not a common one. All imperial dragons were black with red features while I, being a unique variant, am white with red features. My birth was not without problems though, since there had never been a white imperial dragon before. I was also the firstborn daughter so the title of queen would go to me by default.”

“Didn’t you have any older brothers?”

“I didn’t, but it wouldn’t have mattered. In dragon society the queen holds the power. The title is hereditary so when the queen dies the title will get transferred to her firstborn daughter.”

“What if she doesn’t have a daughter?”

“That I do not know, it has never happened.”

“But why was it a problem that you were white?”

“Aren’t you full of questions?” I said and poked her cheek. “There were many different flights, all with their unique colors, gold, green, blue, red and purple just to name a few. There were, however, no white dragons… Until I was born. I didn’t understand at the time, I was a hatchling after all, but there were several dragons that saw me as a bad omen and advocated for my… disposal. My mother never let me out of her sight for the first few years of my life in fear of them. I must have been close to ten years old before someone tried to kill me.”

Liz looked at me with concern in her eyes.

“You don’t have to look at me like that, I’m obviously fine.”

“But still, you were just a child!”

“I might have been a hatchling not old enough to speak but a dragon starts with stats and skills depending on their flight. I’m a unique dragon from the strongest flight, my starting stats and the rate I gained levels from absorbing mana from my surroundings were quite frankly absurd. I also started with fire magic, wind magic, water magic, lightning magic, lightning mastery and primordial lightning magic at level ten. Two out of the three imperial dragons that tried to end my life died while the last one, my uncle, was left on death’s door.”

“Your own uncle tried to kill you?”

“He thought a strange white dragon would undermine the power of the imperial dragons,” I said with a sigh. “After the attempt on my life however, it became clear just how strong I was and any objections to my claim to the throne disappeared. Honestly I never wanted to be queen but since the title would be transferred to me when my mother died I had no choice in the matter. After the assassination attempt I spent the following thousand or so years researching magic and making new spells. It was the only thing that interested me at the time. I did, however, have a thorn in my side.”

“Thorn in your side?”

“The eldest son of the purple flight,” I said bitterly. “The purple dragons were weak in both strength and magic compared to many other flights but somehow they still held a strong position in our society. At the time I didn’t understand why but I later found out it was because of their racial ability. You see, all flights had a unique ability, not just the imperials. The difference was that most flights kept theirs a secret while we used ours to ensure our rule. I never fully figured out what the purple flight’s ability did but I do know that it either mind controlled or made someone highly responsive to suggestions. That is what they used to gain favor with the other flights, albeit only the ones with weaker mental resistance.”

“Did he use it on you?”

“He sure tried,” I laughed. “Not that he had any chance against my mental resistance. When he realised his attempts weren’t working he instead tried to gain my favor by courting me. A bold move since I knew that he had been trying something on me, just not what. Taking a mate from some other flight was also not forbidden but basically never happened. As I grew more and more annoyed by his constant presence I ended up going a bit overboard while trying to get him to leave me alone.”

“What did you do?”

“I may or may not have cut off his tail and ripped off one of his wings.”

Liz looked at me with a pained expression but didn’t say anything.

“Don’t look at me like that. My biggest regret is not killing him.”

“Why?”

“Because of what he did next. Swearing revenge, he went to his father, who was the leader of the purple flight, and told him the imperials biggest secret. [Red Haze] was not an ability we could use but rather a passive ability that did not have a clear activation trigger. Not to mention if the dragon did not have a strong enough mental resistance and high enough level they would lose themselves to the [Red Haze], attacking friend and foe alike. The massive increase in stats could also make their magic unstable.”

“How did he know something that was such a big secret?”

“That I do not know.” I sighed. “Maybe they managed to break through the mental resistance of one of the weaker ones within my flight. Either way, it’s a fact that he knew about it. They used their ability and influence to gather their allies and rebelled, bringing with them most of the other flights. The gold and green flights stayed loyal to the imperials and a civil war began. The imperial, gold and green flights were generally stronger than the other flights but due to being smaller in number they were outnumbered at least fifteen to one. Even if an imperial dragon had the strength of ten they were vastly outnumbered. Even with our strength it didn’t take long before the battle seemed lost.”

“What about you?”

“I was ordered not to join the war by my parents because the royal bloodline must live on, but when I suddenly received the title of queen I decided to take action despite their orders. When I flew up into the sky I saw in front of me dragons of all flights, both in the sky and on the ground, many of them lifeless corpses. And among the fallen I saw my parents, proud imperial dragons, covered in wounds with a huge amount of dragon corpses surrounding them. Everywhere I looked there was only death and carnage. At that moment I felt an uncontrollable rage well up inside me. If I had joined the war from the start things might not have ended up like this. What good would the survival of the royal bloodline be if all the other imperial dragons perished?”

I cleared my throat before continuing. “In my fury I started to attack the rebelling dragons, my mind growing ever more cloudy until I realised my vision had gone red. And while I was conscious I was no longer in control. I unleashed the full power of both [Red Haze] and my unique heavenly sky ability [Heaven’s Wrath] in all directions. The world was not ready for the destruction that occurred that day. I rended the skies and shattered the lands with lightning strikes wide as mountains, each killing hundreds of dragons in a flash and destroying the continent. After my mind cleared, almost all dragons, monsters and animals were gone without a trace and parts of the continent had been crushed into pieces...”

Liz looked up at my face and wiped away my tears. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, it’s just that I have never told anyone that story before so I dug up some annoying memories,” I said and cleared my throat. “But that is the story of why almost all the dragons died out… Because I killed them all, friend and foe alike.”

“But it wasn’t like you did it because you wanted to!” Liz tried to comfort me.

“Even if that is true I still carry the sin of what I did. The titles I gained will always be there.”

“What titles?”

“The Calamity… and Kinslayer.”

Liz looked like she tried to come up with something to say but remained silent.

“But this story is also related to why I kept to myself… and why it scares me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m older now and ‘should’ be able to deal with it even if [Red Haze] would activate,” I said and looked at her. “But my stats have also gone up by over seven times since the last time so if I would fail to control it… the world would undoubtedly end.”

“It sounds like a scary ability,” Liz said in a calm manner.

“How can you be so calm? Most people would be at least a little bit scared if they knew I could end the world.”

I’m starting to wonder if Liz is just plain weird? No normal human would react like this… I think? Maybe I can’t compare it to how I would have reacted in my old life. She is used to monsters and magic after all.

“Do you plan to do that?”

“Not at the moment.”

“Then there is no reason to be scared.”

“But It’s not like I can train to manage it, if it happens I just have to hope I'm prepared,” I said and cleared my throat again. “But it was also unheard of that anyone younger than 4000 years old would have stayed conscious during the [Red Haze] so I think me being a unique dragon helped.”

“Why 4000 years?”

“That's when a dragon is considered an adult.”

“So you have been an adult for over 4000 years now?”

“Normally that would be the case but I’m not so sure. My lifespan is most likely longer. Comparing myself to the other imperial dragons I would say I’m no more than a young adult.  In human terms I would be somewhere between eighteen and twenty I guess.”

“So you’re younger than me?” Liz said and smirked.

I let out a small laugh. “If that is how you want to see it then sure, you can be the older one.”

“I sure don’t feel like it but I will try my best,” she said and stuck out her tongue. “Is there more to the story? Otherwise I would like to get out of the bath.”

“No, that is all. Let’s get out.”