[MLV] 52. A Dragon's Code (Patreon)

A/N

The chapter is finally here! And I think we're setting up something fun, hehe.

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Anastasia wasn’t a fan of this place, nor of its leader.

Earlier, during the tour conducted by the vampiric lord of Orevogorsk, Anastasia had been very observant about what exactly was going on in this town.

“Orevogorsk, the city of opportunity,” or so the people called it. The dragon knew Vael was a rather hopeless, dreadful land of miserable people, so it was no surprise that a city like Orevogorsk, which seemed to be well-maintained, well-organized, and with a booming economy, would seem like a unique, towering city of light illuminating this bleak realm to most people.

Begrudgingly, when she first arrived at this city, Anastasia was very impressed too, though of course, she refused to show any signs of that while she was being shown around by Alicia. 

The citizens of Orevogorsk were productive and healthy. A single starving peasant or plebeian, she had not seen at all. It seemed that both the women and men of Orevogorsk were fully employed, either in the farms, ‘factories,’ workshops, street stalls, other shops, and many more.

Even the roads that connected Orevogorsk to other towns and villages nearby were now paved with crushed stone and tar, or were in the process of being paved. Groups of Orevogorsk citizens paired with hired men from other towns and villages expanded and maintained roads that were now experiencing heavy traffic, a feat she had not seen before in other areas.

She’d seen many faces coming in and out of Orevogorsk as a result of these roads. Merchants from afar, minor nobles, peasants, laborers, and other people seeking work. It was astounding how quickly the former village’s reputation was growing. At this rate, it wouldn’t be impossible that Orevogorsk would become a truly major city population-wise.

Inside the city itself, work and activity were constant. New houses, buildings, and roads seemed to be under constant construction. She’d never been to a city with such noises before. The ‘factories,’ as Alicia called them, were filled with machines that constantly moved on their own, drowning out any sense of serenity of the environment. Even the farms outside were noisy, as many of them used various contraptions to plant, harvest, and process crops.

Then, there was the so-called ‘Orevogorsk Steel,’ which boasted multiple massive furnaces and forges that churned out rolled steel, beam steel, and rod steel by the tonnes. As a dragon who spent many of her years slumbering deep within her nest, the idea of ‘industrialization’ was simply a vague notion to her, spoken in hushed tones between the flimsy, cowardly, and weak members of the Vaelrin regency council, mere excuses as to why they couldn’t fight the humans who were beating them down to a bloody pulp.

But when Anastasia saw enough steel to build entire towns or arm more than a thousand soldiers being produced in a single day by Orevogorsk Steel, she was rather disconcerted. If this was merely a fraction of what mankind’s nations produced, Anastasia didn’t like that at all. Even a powerful, ancient dragon like her might struggle a bit against a foe like this.

A part of her was rather swayed by this show of strength. Above all, the one thing Anastasia believed in was that strength was correct, and those who strived to become stronger or were strong were virtuous. Back when she was a young dragon, Vael and the Vaelrin represented that. They were a race of powerful warriors and mages, with a massive empire to boot, even if they were slowly being pushed back by mankind. One of her main goals for trying to take over the council was to recreate that strength. She didn’t want the once proud races that were the Vaelrin to simply disappear in a death so humiliating; someone like her was so moved she felt pity for them when she woke up.

Orevogorsk represented a new kind of strength being created here, something that Anastasia liked, at least, until she gave the city a closer look.

The next day, when she was free to sneak around the city, Anastasia spent the day moving around, observing things on her own, and talking to people here and there. There was something deeply wrong about the people here. Unlike other Vaelrin, who cultivated personal strength, levels, and more, just to strengthen themselves, the citizens of Orevogorsk seemed disinterested in all of that.

She asked a militiaman if he was training hard to gain levels. The soldier simply laughed and said, “Haha, why bother? This stave can kill even a level 150 knight. I’ll improve my aim instead!”

She asked a worker, who now had money and access to good food and materials, if he was finally doing something to make himself more physically powerful, and the worker, pissed off, shouted, “Noble brat, do I look unemployed to you? I’ve got no time for that!”

She’d never seen a weak plebian speak that way to nobles before! It was only through great self-control that she restrained herself from punishing him. It wouldn’t do to cause an incident so soon before she understood the full picture.

She looked around for mages, figuring that maybe this new economic system would require creative minds capable of casting the most elaborate and powerful type of spells. But instead of finding such people, all she found on the workplaces were second-rate mages, only good at using their magic to operate the machines they were working on. Orevogorsk seemed to have an elevated amount of mages, yet it was a city that encouraged the use of magic in the most uncreative, standardized, and dry manner.

Everyone here only talked about work, employment, business, and money. They didn’t talk about personal strength, levels, and the things that Anastasia believed every living creature of this world should strive to reach. It was as if the citizens of Orevogorsk were becoming mindless thralls only interested in expanding this nebulous idea that was ‘economic output.’

Apparently, this mentality was being drilled to them by a man named Maxim, who gave a speech to every newly employed person about the goals Orevogorsk had and how they would all contribute to it.

How horrifying! She mentally exclaimed as she walked away from the glass factory. Is this truly the future?

Even the merchants she knew who only cared about their profits weren’t this materialistic.

That woman… it was all because of the machines she was bringing into this land, Anastasia thought. The machines she was bringing here, Anastasia realized, would make people dependent on them. Worse, since such machines had to be operated in a carefully calibrated and organized manner, those operating them might become the equivalent of mindless thralls doing the same thing over and over again from the moment they entered their workplace till they left it. Time itself seemed like a new master lording over them, as every worker and official stuck to such rigid schedules like they were puppets operating in the rhythm of clockworks.

Now that she was looking around Orevogorsk, another thing also struck her as disconcerting. The architecture of the city was far too clean and organized. Every house and building seemed like the same blocky design, repeated over and over again, made of the same materials. Even if other Vaelrin settlements were poorer, they had cultural character in them.

Orevogorsk, on the other hand… it was far too uniform, so different from the chaotic yet vibrant character of normal towns and cities.

This society she’s trying to build, I don’t like it all, the dragon thought as she continued walking around town. Even if this brings comfort and wealth, why would anyone strive to become stronger in a world like this? A world like this will just squeeze the individual into uniformity.

Alicia, you speak of many great things, yet you’re only going to make your fellow Vaelrin weak… It’s as if you’re kicking the ladder so that no one else will strive to become as strong as you.

Anastasia refused this nonsense. Society should be shaped and ruled by the strong; that way, people would seek strength. This ‘industrialization’ would only wipe out individual strength and replace it with collective strength, and collective strength was only useful with a powerful leader. But how was a powerful leader supposed to arise in a society like this?

No, if Vael was to be saved, it mustn’t be these machines that would do this. It should be her, Anastasia, the last True Dragon of the North, who would save Vael. She would demonstrate to all Vaelrin the virtue of becoming strong by wiping out the human invaders on her own if they came back. Then, she would preserve the old Vael she knew in this corner of the world. That way, they would be inspired to become like her and take back their place in the sun.

All the machines and money of the world would not be able to overcome a true great man or woman, and she was going to prove that herself.

“Lady Anastasia?” A voice called out to her all of a sudden. “Lady Anastasia?”

Anastasia’s eyes widened briefly. She was once again lost in her thoughts earlier. She frowned and refocused on her food. Claire, who was in front of her, didn’t seem amused by Anastasia’s behavior.

It was already evening, and the two of them shared food at the hotel they were in. Anastasia, however, barely touched her meal. This avatar of hers, while very similar in anatomy to that of a mortal, was essentially made up of pure mana. She didn’t need to eat or sleep at all.

Though, of course, since the main purpose of a dragon’s avatar was to let her experience the lives of mortals, Anastasia came to have a rather decent appetite for food. The food here was much better than anything in the rest of Vael. She imagined it must have been due to ingredient quality. 

This hotel also happened to serve a style of cuisine she had never tasted before, cooked by folks who came from a country known as Alsatia. Bourguignon was the name of the stew in front of her. She did like the aroma and flavor of the stew, but at the moment, she didn’t feel like eating at all. Her mind was far too occupied with the vampiric woman who designed all of the nonsense this city offered.

“No, no, don’t even think about it,” Claire suddenly said with a sharp tone, realizing what was in Anastasia’s mind. “It’s already a headache as it is to have you here. If you’re not going to leave, at least don’t ruin my diplomatic mission.”

“Hmph, as if I care about that. I’m only here to figure that woman out,” Anastasia huffed.

She didn’t particularly like her ‘partner’ at all. Claire didn’t even have the grace of inviting Anastasia to the diplomatic mission here when she set out, and she had the gall to repeatedly try to kick Anastasia out of her team. To be fair, the two of them did have separate objectives for coming here, but Anastasia didn’t like the disrespect of this weak, young vampire.

She’s lucky I consider her too irrelevant to put her in her place, Anastasia thought as she continued to ignore Claire’s nagging to ‘not do anything rash’ and ‘to listen to the rest of the council,’ as if any of them had a right to tell Anastasia what to do. She beat them all easily in a duel. Therefore, it was her methods, her plans, and her ideas that were most righteous and correct, and the council was wrong unless they were able to beat her.

Unfortunately for them, if they couldn’t even beat this avatar of hers, then they would have no chance against her draconic body. It was why she simply tuned the vampire’s words out. She didn’t even argue with her partner. After all, a true lioness wouldn’t concern herself with the opinions of sheep like Claire.

The rest of the night proceeded as usual for Anastasia. Claire repeatedly tried her best to appeal and reason with Anastasia to never do anything that would jeopardize their mission here, and Anastasia completely ignored her. Eventually the vampiric noblewoman became tired of this, retreated to her room, and went to sleep, leaving Anastasia alone with her thoughts as she read a book she bought from one of the stores.

It was a book from Alsatia, written in Alsatian, and translated into Vaelrin, titled ‘The Great Republic.’ 

It was dry, highly technical, and a bore to read.

To summarize, the book largely only talked about this newfangled idea of governance being tried in a nation called Hesse. The book called for the removal of royalty and nobility, declaring that the popular sovereignty was the only way forward and that a society operating in this manner would be a society better suited for a world dominated by industry.

Why would she even bring something like this here?

Anastasia was very annoyed by this. One of the things she wanted was for the people of Vael to recognize her strength and treat her as their queen once they saved her. The ideas being espoused in this book were a direct challenge to that. She rolled her eyes as the first ray of morning light filtered to her room, closing the book with a snap.

She then stood up and looked at the morning sun rising outside.

Is this what you believe in?

Anastasia frowned. Considering this woman’s strength, she could have just about anything she wanted. She knew that Alicia was the Alicia Allister, the legendary hero from the fables. Surely her strength was enough to spur Vael into a new golden age, but instead she was engaging with this… this drivel!

Anastasia held the book up, incinerating it in her palm and letting the ashes drift to the ground. Perhaps that was her plan. If the Virtuous nations were trending the same way, then the entire world was bound to be weak. And if the rest of the world was weak, it was ripe for the taking for the strong.

I don’t like it, thought Anastasia. I don’t like it at all.

The strong were meant to rule, but strength could only be gained through conflict and competition. All this comfort would only weaken everyone. It was not the right path forward. Not at all.

Even if that wasn’t Alicia’s intent, that was clearly what was happening. A society where strength was not valued was doomed to fail. It would collapse under its own weight sooner than later, and its people would be forever tainted by their lack of ambition. Deliberate or not, Alicia’s current efforts were a disaster waiting to happen.

She is going to ruin the world. And the only one who can stop her… is me. 

Clenching her fist, Anastasia grinned as she realized what she had to do. It had been a while since she faced anyone who could even hope to challenge her. If anyone could make for a worthy opponent, it would be the legendary Alicia Allister. She was only fighting for the sake of Vael, of course, but who said that she couldn’t still have fun?

“I therefore conclude that Orevogorsk must create an arms industry soon,” Vittorio said as he gave Alicia his weekly report. “I have talked a lot about Maxim, and he concurred with me that this will be necessary, both to create and maintain peace for Vael and to create another industry that would make use of the steel surplus we have. And if Concordia keeps digging their claws into our homeland, I’m certain our people would feel more comfortable this way.”

Alicia thoroughly checked the papers Vittorio handed to her. He was becoming far too good at this, Alicia thought. From what she had observed recently, Vittorio had been reading a lot of military theory from Alsatia and Concordia. He seemed to be applying it bit by bit on the Orevogorsk militia, which was now, in Alicia’s eyes, turning into a new army instead of a mere security force.

The recommendations and projections Vittorio gave her practically called for the creation of a truly professional, Alsatian-style military force. He included requirements for proper armor, uniforms, basic arms like combat staves, grenades, mortars, towed artillery, and even railway guns.

“Your Grace, it is time for us to create a formal self-defense force,” Vittorio declared. “If Maxim is able to jumpstart a defense industry here, then we will have the capacity to create a force to surpass even the directory’s salvation army.”

“And for what reason must we do that?” Alicia asked with a frown.

“You are powerful, Lady Alicia. But Orevogorsk and Vael must not rely on your strength too much. One woman cannot be expected to bear the burden of a nation on her shoulder alone.”

“You make a good point, but isn’t this a bit too much?”

Alicia sighed as she finished checking Vittorio’s proposal.

“Besides, we don’t have the resources, capital, and equipment for this yet. Even if I considered this, it will take time before we can start.”

“I know, and I have no problem with that. But it is imperative that we begin planning for this and building the foundations for it. For Vael.”

“For Vael?”

“Yes, for Vael.”

Alicia smiled as she looked at the window at the side of her office.

“Vael needs bread, peace, and work first,” Alicia said. “A limited rearmament to make us less vulnerable to mankind is needed, yes, but I aim to soothe the starving masses first.”

“I agree, Your Grace.”

“Good. We’ll have a compromise then. I’ll talk to Maxim about the possibility of establishing a munitions plant here, and a factory to produce combat staves.”

Vittorio’s face lit up at that suggestion. Even so, it was momentary, and his face remained neutral.

“It is a good start, Lady Alicia,” Vittorio said, a hint of excitement leaking from his tone. “Thank you for considering my proposal.”

Alicia nodded. She was about to dismiss him when suddenly, she sensed something.

A frown grew on Alicia’s face.

Vittorio tensed. “Lady Alicia? What’s wrong?”

“...Someone’s trying to prod on the barriers I set up,” Alicia said. “That dragon.”

“I’ll assemble the militia,” Vittorio said with urgency.

But Alicia raised her hand to stop him.

“Don’t do anything that might attract her attention,” Alicia said. “I’ll deal with the dragon myself.”

Alicia quickly exited Wintervale, flying on the northern side of Orevogorsk. There, she found Anastasia at the border of her defensive barriers. The woman seemed like she was studying Alicia’s barrier spells.

“Lady Anastasia,” Alicia called out as she approached the dragon. “I know what you’re trying to do. I’m warning you, if you continue doing this, I will have no choice but to—”

“You’re Alicia Allister, aren’t you?” Anastasia suddenly said, not bothering to turn to face Alicia.

Alicia stopped on her tracks.

…So she really did know all this time?

Does Claire know too?

Figuring out that her disguise was truly pointless, Alicia finally dropped the facade, revealing her true appearance. Though the dragon didn’t seem interested in it at all.

“Did you come here just to fight me?” Alicia asked.

“I did.” Anastasia finally turned around, a small smile on her face. “I see what you’re trying to do. Your methods are destroying this country, and will drive Vael to destruction.”

“And you’re here to stop me? By fighting?”

“In the end, the only thing that truly matters is strength. If you are strong enough, it does not matter what I say, and if I am strong enough, it does not matter what you say. I don’t like wasting my time on things that are pointless. Why talk when it won’t even matter?”

Anastasia spread her arms wide, a mad grin on her face.

“Alicia Allister, I challenge you to a duel! The fate of Vael will be determined by the victor! Will we continue to weaken our roots and lose our way following your path, or will Vael return to its glorious past with me at the helm?” She held out one arm toward Alicia, beckoning her forward with a finger. “Shall we?”

Alicia sighed. “Well, if you insist.”