Apparently, I'm the Infamous Earl's Legendary Bride

Book 2: My Lord Saves the Citizens - Chapter 85

Malcolm Hurston, the coward that he was, knew when it was time to give up and flee, and the moment he had seen the girl in a strange flying contraption using ancient magic and sending tidal waves of water out of thin air at the dragon, thus extinguishing the fire that would have burned everything in its path to ash, he knew he was beaten.

Who was that girl? he wondered. How was she related to Aldric Templeton? But of course, he'd find that out soon enough, when he managed to escape this place and return to the capital. And when he had managed to soothe King Henry's infamous rage over this failure and begged his uncle for a pardon, he'd be hunting her down and make her his. He'd be using her and her magic for his own ends.

His feet quick, he sprinted through the corridor of the dungeon, his panting echoing loud. Suddenly, he came to a stop and spun around, having encountered a dead end.

Which way was it again? he thought, darting his eyes about. Who the hell designed this dungeon, to make it so complicated that it was damn confusing to find one's way?

"So you run with your tail between your legs when you realize you're losing?" a voice came.

Hurston spun around, and to his astonishment, he saw a man walking toward him, and once the man came to stand in front of him, he realized it was Juan Templeton, Aldric's very irritating younger brother.

"Any last words?" Juan said, his face a hard mask. "Before I send you to the netherworld?"

Hurston snorted. "As if the likes of you can do a thing to me. I'm a noble. I'm well connected and blessed and—"

"I don't give a damn!" Juan said as he charged forward, swinging his sword at Hurston who widened his eyes.

He summoned his circle and managed to send out a small flickering flame of fire. Juan evaded it easily as he burst out laughing. He said, "You call that magic? You must be jesting. I've seen Norsewood men who only had their mana awakened a week ago who could do better than that." He sliced his sword across the air, the blade cutting Hurston's arm, and the man screamed as he fell back against the stone wall.

The pain piercing through his core, Hurston seethed. "You! How dare you!"

Standing over the bastard, Juan said, "How dare I? How dare you imprison and enslave all those civilians. How dare you!" He swung his sword again, swiftly, and in one smooth move, he sliced Hurston's head from his shoulders, rendering him dead in an instant.

Staring at the bloody corpse, he said, "Aldric commanded me to bring him your head, and I will."

***

As Vincent watched Lady Quinn and Lord Aldric on the magnificent flying bike airborne and then chasing after the dragon, he turned his attention to the priests on the bridges. He simply couldn't believe the loathsome lot were doing such horrid, unholy things, a stark contrast to their religion and belief, controlling the monsters and using them to attack Norsewood. And perhaps other small towns and villages in Athol, too. They were practically murdering people. Why? And under whose order? But of course, Vincent knew they'd find that out soon enough. Now, he needed to concentrate on bringing down these bastards.

Summoning his magic bow and arrow, he aimed and then fired, one after another, swiftly, the electrical weapon hit each target smack-dab in the center of their chests, bringing them down, killing them in an instant. Then the last, right in the chest again, as he watched the high priest Ivor fall to the ground below, dead.

Once all the priests were taken care of, the monsters came to a halt and they fell to the ground like lifeless dummies. Vincent caught Theo's eye down below, and the older man raised his hand and gave him a thumbs-up as the soldiers cheered, their victory assured. Now, it was a matter of taking care of the guards who were left, around eight hundred of them, who were already fleeing. The soldiers, as ordered by their lord to not let any of them out of here alive, chased after them, swords in hands and magic out and blasting.

***Quinn

Awestruck, I watched as Aldric, standing on the dead dragon, roared, his sword raised in the air. Around me, the soldiers, too, roared and cheered with their weapons raised. The civilians, who had woken up from the ruckus and had feared for their lives only moments ago, now stared in disbelief at the sight of the unimaginable scene before them. Indeed, this would soon spread like wildfire around not only Athol but other kingdoms, too, and all across Eseron, that the infamous earl of Norsewood, the cold-blooded warrior Lord Aldric Templeton had slain a dragon and saved hundreds of civilians' lives.

After coming to the ground and getting off the hover bike, I rushed up to Aldric the moment he came down from the dragon, and with one arm around me, he said, "Thank you for aiding me. It means the world to me to slay that monstrous dragon."

I nodded, my hand cupping his blood-covered face. "I'm glad I could help."

He leaned down, and I knew he was going to kiss me, but I covered my hand over his lips. I said, "Uh, not when you're drenched in blood, my lord. So let me clean you up first."

I stood back and then showered him with water with my magic, and after, a swirl of warm wind, drying him. Once I was done and he was sparkling clean again, he chuckled as he wrapped his arm around me. I planted a light kiss on his lips, and when I moved back, I said, as I stared at the humongous corpse, "I suppose we can't possibly leave it to rot here, can we? It'll ruin the environment, for sure."

He nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"I'll store it away in my space storage, I suppose," I said. I stood back and was about to summon my circle when people started crowding around the dragon, viewing it with interest. I chuckled. "Or maybe I'll leave it until everyone has had a good look at it." I leaned in and whispered, "I think it'd help etch in everyone's minds just how strong you are." I winked at him.

Aldric shook his head, along with a slight smile. "Quinn, you are indeed crafty."

I was pleasantly surprised he understood where I was going. I wanted the civilians to see just how powerful he was as the lord of the land so that they could be awestruck by him and desire to stay in Norsewood as its citizen, or at least join hands with us as an ally.

Laughing loudly, Uncle Colt came up and slapped Aldric on the shoulder. "You did it, Aldric. You did it, you avenged our people. You took down Hellfire."

"It's not Hellfire," Aldric said.

"Huh?" Uncle Colt frowned. "It's not?"

I said, "Apparently, its name is Gydris, a two-hundred-year-old dragon. It's a baby, apparently."

"The priests were controlling it, as well as the monsters," Aldric said.

Uncle Colt was quick to understand what Aldric was implying, and his face turned dark. He said, "Are you saying four years ago was..."

Aldric nodded.

Uncle Colt fisted his hands. "Who is it? Who's behind the disgusting plot?"

Aldric shook his head. "We'll need to investigate that."

Klein and Les came up to us, and Les said, "You really did kill a dragon."

Aldric turned to look at the behemoth behind us. "It was a bit difficult, but luckily, Vicky knows of its weak spot." He pointed to the throat. "The fire core in its throat."

"Fire core? Throat?" Les said, looking confusingly at the dragon. "And who is Vicky?"

Klein said, "Lord Aldric, congratulations on slaying a dragon. You're the first man in all of Eseron to have done so. It's..." He shook his head, his eyes bright. "It's a miracle."