AN: Sorry for taking so long with this chapter. I had to help family move houses over the weekend, but the main reason for the delay was that I changed my mind twice about the second half of this chapter, so I had to do a lot of rewriting.

Also, I'll mention that I edited Julius' age in an earlier chapter to "early thirties". This is because I realised that it's extremely implausible for a king this old to not be married and with children yet; having an heir is important for a king, after all. Making him younger makes this somewhat more plausible. The reason I originally had him be in his fifties was because I thought he'd need time to implement all his policies, but then I realised he wouldn't need that long: Alexander the Great died at the age of thirty-two but still did much more than Julius did, for example.

Bringing in an army of draconic monsters had seemed like a difficult idea at the time. But it was a simple and quick process in comparison to what came afterward.

First of all, there was considerable damage to the Imperial Capital and to several outlying villages. Rebuilding was, as always, a more difficult task than destruction. And the draconic monsters couldn't provide much help: only a few of them were used to working with humans in any way, and none of them had the dexterity or the skill needed to repair human-sized buildings.

Then, of course, were the tensions between humans and draconic monsters. While there had technically been coexistence between them before, this involved humans taking wyverns as slaves while the other draconic monsters largely kept away from the humans, and killed and ate any that they could.

And there was the abrupt loss of the Dragai aristocracy: some had been killed by vengeful wyverns or geytar, while most had fled to avoid the wrath of those they'd oppressed for so long. While this was the original goal of the rebel side, that didn't change the fact that the aristocracy had been ruling this country for countless centuries, and their abrupt loss raised the question of how the country would now function.

All of these problems were made easier by the five leaders of the rebellion, Dell Walker and his friends. They had no great title or fame just a few days ago, but they had lit the sparks of rebellion by releasing captive wyverns, and then had been prepared to die for their actions. When Dell stood up—on the very stage where he would have been executed, ironically enough—and explained that the draconic monsters had come here to help, that quelled much of the unrest in the capital.

Throughout this all, Adam and Lilith did their best to stay out of the spotlight. True, they'd had to fight the Dragon Riders remaining in the capital's central square and then spoken briefly to Dell's group, but afterwards they retreated to an alley to disguise themselves. Adam put on a cloak to cover his plate armour and Lilith switched to her human form.

Because while Dragai had just been cleansed of its corruption and was now on the path towards true coexistence… there was still a certain fallen hero out there.

-ooo-

When things had settled down, Adam and Lilith met up with Glenn in a nearby tavern. The young Dragon Rider looked exhausted from everything that had happened recently, yet he also looked immensely satisfied. The three of them ordered mugs of ale and sat down at a table

"I still have trouble believing this is all real," Glenn said. "Not only have all of the aristocrats—those that haven't switched sides—gone, but there are dragons of all kinds everywhere…"

This raised a question in Adam's mind. "What about your family, Glenn?" he asked. "Do you know what has happened to them?"

Even if Glenn's family had pushed him into a career that he hadn't wanted, that didn't mean he would have no regrets about their fate. Family was, in the end, still family.

"I'm not sure what's happened to them," Glenn admitted, a shadow falling over their face. "They live in an estate quite far from the capital… Most likely, they've heard what's happened here and gone into exile."

Left unspoken was the other possibility of them being killed. Adam opened his mouth to say something else, but Glenn raised a hand to stop him.

"No, I went into this knowing what might happen to them," Glenn said. "I don't… I don't need any pity for that."

"Maybe not, but we can still find out what's happened to your family, at least," Lilith suggested.

Glenn sighed. "Thank you."

They remained silent for a few moments. The sounds of hammering trickled in from the outside, evidence that the rebuilding was still ongoing, while the cheerful conversations of other tavern patrons could be heard from all around them. From the latter, Adam heard the term "Dragai Revolution" several times; it seemed that this was what people were now calling the recent civil war.

"There's still something you're worried about," Lilith said. "I'm not even using telepathy or anything, it's clear from the way you look."

"It's… well, it's a silly thing, really," Glenn said. "I'm just feeling like I didn't really do anything important today—"

"That, to be blunt, is nonsense," Adam said. "You helped us to enter the Imperial Capital in the first place, provided us with crucial information."

"Without you, we probably would have tried rescuing Dell's group, rather than trying to recruit the dragons," Lilith said. "After all, we wouldn't know about what was happening here if we went to the dragons' territory. But even if we succeeded in that rescue mission, things wouldn't have turned out as well as they have now."

That seemed to cheer up Glenn. "Thank you for telling me that," he said. "It's funny, even after everything I've been through in the past few days, I still have trouble being confident in myself."

Glenn took a drink, then Adam and Lilith did the same. The three of them spent a few moments just listening to the sounds of the other people in the tavern.

"What do you plan on doing now?" Lilith asked eventually. "You said you didn't want to be a Dragon Rider in the first place, and with what's happening now, I'm not sure there'll be any more Dragon Riders at all."

"I'm not sure, really," Glenn said. He looked down towards his drink. "Originally… I had thoughts of becoming a bureaucrat in the imperial court. I've always been pretty good with my sums, and keeping track of accounts, things like that. But…"

"But that position isn't very prestigious, I'd imagine," Adam said. "Not in comparison to being a Dragon Rider."

Glenn nodded. "For the past few centuries, for as long as anyone—any human, at least—can remember, military positions have been valued above all others. It's silly… without the bureaucrats and the servants and lots of other people, no one would be able to get anything done."

"That's not unique to the Dragai Empire," Adam said. "In many human nations, the people exult heroes as their saviours against monsters. In some cases, this has allowed heroes to abuse their positions…"

Adam took another drink of ale and thought back on his training. The importance of following the Order's teachings was impressed into each and every one of the hero candidates, moulding them into dedicated paragons to defend humanity against monsters. Adam still remembered those teachings, even if he now had a different way of following them. On the other hand, there were far too many heroes who indulged in their own desires… and one who slaughtered humans as freely as she did monsters…

"—still can't believe it! There was a monster fighting on our side, the one with bat wings!"

"There were lots of other monsters fighting for us today—just didn't expect that one."

Adam looked over at another table. There was a group of burly men sitting there; labourers who were currently taking a break from a hard day's work.

"And that man who was fighting beside her—he didn't look like a local, with that armour. Was he one of those heroes from the Order?"

"Heroes are supposed to fight monsters, though—never heard of one who's willing to fight alongside 'em."

"Anyway, just glad that we got a hero who was willing to help us for once. That last one didn't do anything for us."

Adam gripped his mug much more tightly. He quickly remembered his situation and relaxed his grip to avoid breaking the mug. Next to him, Lilith tensed as well.

"I can't believe it—wouldn't a hero do something, at least? But she just ran off without saying anything, not even promising to bring reinforcements…"

"No, I remember she did say something. It was… what was it again?"

"She said that she 'wasn't needed here'. That part makes no sense."

"The old king might've been a bastard, but maybe he had a point about the Order. They're only interested in themselves, they don't care about anyone else…"

Adam took several deep breaths. It was possible that these men were talking about someone else, but if there was even the slightest chance of it being her…

Lilith touched Adam's hand underneath the table, and Adam felt a wave of magic wash over him. While he didn't have a mirror around to check, he knew instantly that Lilith had just altered his appearance so that no one could connect him to the hero who'd fought in the central square earlier.

Adam turned towards the men and asked, "Hold on, there was really a hero here before today? When did that happen? And how did you know she was a hero?"

"She passed through the capital on the first day," one of the men replied. "She was a woman in armour that looked nothing like the armour that Dragon Riders wear. She had this great big sword on her back and, just by looking at her, you could tell she was a powerful one."

The man continued talking about the hero for a while, but Adam was no longer paying attention. He'd heard enough to realise that the hero who'd previously come to Dragai was, without a doubt, Justinia. He looked at Lilith, who was similarly alarmed.

-ooo-

A few minutes later, Adam and Lilith left the tavern—after saying their farewells to Glenn—and headed for the royal palace. They discussed the recent revelation along the way, using telepathy to avoid being overheard by anyone else.

I can't believe she came here as well, and we barely missed her, Adam thought. Did she feel she wasn't needed because there were already many humans dying? Yet that didn't stop her from intervening in Lescatie…

Maybe it's because of the difference between how Lescatie and Dragai normally run? Lilith wondered. Not many humans die in Lescatie normally, whereas in Dragai… the common-born humans were forced to do the dangerous job of capturing wyverns.

That makes sense, Adam replied. It's also possible that she did intervene in some way to ensure that the aristocracy won, keeping Dragai in its original state… We may never know for certain.

And we almost ran into her, Lilith thought. She shuddered. If we'd come here a few days earlier, or if she'd decided to stay here a little longer…

We'll have to keep taking these precautions, Adam thought. We can't afford to let her find out we're still alive.

Not until we're strong enough to actually take her down, Lilith agreed.

That caused Adam to remember the method that he and Lilith were using to strengthen themselves lately. He and Lilith blushed, then they looked away from each other and stopped the telepathic conversation.

As they walked through the streets, Adam saw many wyverns helping to clear away the rubble so that the humans could rebuild. He also saw, at one point, some human children nervously approaching a wyvern and then running away. It was clear that Dragai was slowly but surely moving towards a brighter future.

They finally arrived at the palace. There were humans going in and out of the open doors, carrying out food, clothing, furniture and other kinds of loot. Much of this would be needed to replace property lost to the previous war, but Adam had no doubt that some was being taken simply out of greed or as revenge against the palace's former inhabitants.

The inside of the palace was a hive of activity. There were humans picking up more loot to take away, but there was also a large crowd of people in a meeting room who seemed to be discussing the future of Dragonia.

Though perhaps "discussion"… wasn't the right term.

"You were the one who started this all!" said a maid, presumably one of the servants working in the palace. "You gathered allies and freed the dragons, and got them to come back to save Dragai!"

"Th-That wasn't just me," answered a very flustered-looking Dell. "I had lots of help in gathering the allies, and—and freeing the wyverns, and—"

"You're the one the dragons will listen to!" said a cook, still wearing his dirty apron. "You have to be king so you can keep them in line!"

"But—But that wasn't really my work…" Dell said, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else other than here.

It was clear that the people of Dragai were anxious for new and better leadership. Dell was a logical choice from the perspective of the average citizen, but he obviously didn't want to be a leader. Yet something needed to be done soon before the country descended into anarchy.

Dell happened to look in Adam and Lilith's direction, and relief appeared on his face.

"Hold on, I need to have a private discussion with my friends about—about what to do with the dragons! Just wait here for a few minutes!"

The crowd wasn't willing to let Dell let go that easily. Eventually, Lilith made an illusory copy of him and turned the original Dell invisible, and even that tactic almost failed when someone nearly bumped into the invisible Dell. But after a full minute of confusion of chaos, Dell finally managed to escape to an empty room, Adam and Lilith right behind him.

"Thank you so much for that," Dell said. "And, um, sorry for presuming to call you my friends."

"It's no problem, if I was in that situation, I'd have run away long before you did," Lilith said.

Dell looked from Lilith to Adam and back again. "Come to think of it, there wasn't the time for you two to give a proper explanation back then. Can you tell me about that now? The story of how you ended up working together?"

"Yes, but on the condition that you be careful with this information," Adam said. "There are several reasons why it would be dangerous if revealed widely…"

Over the next few minutes, Adam and Lilith took turns to explain their history. The sound of footsteps could be heard from outside the room, but no person tried to enter the room thanks to a spell Lilith cast.

"And while we can't help that multiple people saw us today, we hope that our disguises will prevent Justinia from learning that we're still alive," Adam said. "Dragai's isolation from the rest of the world also helps in this regard."

"But after leaving here, we'll need to be more careful," Lilith said. "I'll need to stick to human form more. I couldn't do that here because, well, I didn't really have the option of fighting dragons and Dragon Riders while holding back."

"This… This is a lot to take in," Dell said, shaking his head. "I thought that revolting against an oppressive regime was important, and now you're talking about gods and the history of the world and…"

"If there's anything you're having trouble following, we could go into it in more detail," Adam suggested.

Dell raised a hand. "No, I think that's enough detail for now. I just have one question: can I mention this to my friends? They're, ah, the four I was with when you rescued me before."

"I think that should be fine," Lilith replied. "You did trust them enough to start a civil war with them, after all. And sharing this information with them should help you handle it better."

"Thank you," Dell said. He looked down towards the floor and sighed.

Several people stopped outside the door and began discussing where Dell had gone to. Adam didn't worry about them noticing that their target was nearby, trusting in Lilith to keep the room safe from intrusion.

"They see me and they think I'd make a good ruler, just like those heroes from the stories," Dell said. "But I don't know the first thing about ruling a country. I don't even have what it takes to rule a village! And—" Dell pointed at himself, "—do you think this is the face of a hero?"

Adam raised an eyebrow. "Those people out there clearly don't care for your appearance. But I understand the rest of your point. Do you know of any possible candidates for the role of king, or of any alternatives to having a king in charge?"

"If I did, do you think I'd be in this situation?" Dell asked sardonically. Then he sighed again. "There was one person who might have been able to do that. Dragolinde Lambton, the highest-ranking out of the few nobles who supported our cause. She gave a lot of financial support to us in secret. But I heard, just a couple of hours ago, that Castle Lambton had been attacked and she was killed."

Dell stood up and started pacing around. He was younger than Adam yet he looked even older at the moment, thanks to the sheer burden that had been thrust upon him.

"This… all of this… has gone beyond anything I ever expected," Dell continued. Not only is the aristocracy—a system that's been in Dragai for hundreds of years—gone, but now dragons are going to be living amongst humans. It's… It's too much for me to handle."

Adam placed a hand reassuringly on Dell's shoulder. "It's more than any one person can handle. But working together, we should be able to solve this… eventually."

Dell slapped his face with both hands, presumably a method of encouraging himself, and nodded. "Right. And… thank you, again."

"Now, let's focus on one problem first, finding new leadership for Dragai," Adam said. "There must be some people here who have leadership experience: guild leaders, family elders, aristocrats who disagreed with the previous regime and sided with the rebels. It would be worth gathering them together…"

-ooo-

Deonora flew through the air at high speed. This was an activity she still enjoyed, even after more than two hundred years of life. Perhaps it was because the scenery from up in the air was always changing. Perhaps it was because the thrill of twisting and turning through the air was something that could never be lost.

Though at the moment, Deonora wasn't able to do any twists of turns, due to holding a tiny and fragile passenger in her left forepaw.

Hmph… I took him alive on a whim, but is there truly any purpose to this? He's likely to face execution the moment I deposit him in the human city, so all I've done is slightly prolong his life.

For a moment, Deonora considered just dropping her passenger and letting him experience an exhilarating fall for the last few moments of his life. She then quashed that idea. Bringing her passenger in for a proper execution—as silly as that sounded to a dragon—would help the humans feel less fear at having dragons among them.

And there was another reason why she couldn't drop him just yet. She had one request of his to fulfil. Normally, Deonora wouldn't care about fulfilling the request of a mere human, especially one who was technically her prisoner. Still, he had been surprisingly audacious when making his request, so she decided she might as well let him have one moment of satisfaction before his death.

Eventually, Deonora spotted a castle in the distance. It consisted of four massive towers arranged in a square and joined together by walls. It was a large structure by human standards, as a dozen full-grown dragons could have perched on its roofs without feeling overcrowded. And at the moment, it was heavily damaged, with cracks, craters and charred surfaces everywhere. One of the exterior walls had even collapsed in one spot, leaving a fifty pace-long stretch where any human or flight-incapable monster could simply walk into the castle.

"We're here," Deonora announced, also slowing her flight at the same time. "This must be Castle Lambton."

The passenger in Deonora's left forepaw shifted his body so he could see what lay below. He let out a gasp of what was presumably dismay.

"I… I heard that the rebels attacked this castle, but…" King Julius said. "But… to see it with my own eyes…"

"There are some humans left there, however," Deonora said. "Not as many as there should be for a castle that large, but there are some."

Without prompting, Deonora began to descend. She landed next to the collapsed portion of wall, at the same time releasing the king from her forepaw. The two of them then looked at the area on the inside, which was packed with buildings to the point of being a small town in and of itself. Several humans could be seen here, but they screamed and scattered like mice at the sight of a dragon, retreating into the buildings.

"I-If there are survivors, then perhaps… perhaps she's still alive!" Julius cried. "I must find out the truth!"

The king ran through the gap in the wall and into the castle town. He soon entered one of the buildings.

"Those other humans may kill you, so you should be more cautious," Deonora called out after him. "Though if they do, I won't bother bringing back your remains."

For a moment, Deonora regretted having such a large body and thus being unable to follow the king. Then she remembered that her body gave her strength and a fearsome appearance surpassing that of every other monster, which more than outweighed the few disadvantages.

Still, it might be interesting if I had the ability to take on a smaller form, Deonora thought. I've heard tales of dragons who could do such a thing, but never encountered one in the flesh. A smaller form would allow me to explore many more of the caves that dot these mountains…

-ooo-

After a few moments of searching, Julius encountered a group of his citizens huddled in a room of one house. They looked to be labourers, servants and other normal citizens, with no fighters of any kind among them.

"Y-Your Majesty!?" one of them said. "How are you here!? A-And where are your guards!?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Julius said. "Do you know what has happened to the lady of this castle, Dragolinde Lambton?"

"Sh-She's—"

Before Julius could hear the full response, he felt the points of spears press against the back of his neck.

Have the rebels taken over this castle!? Julius thought.

Julius slowly turned around and saw a shocking sight. He was being threatened by two guards sworn to Castle Lambton, with the distinctive symbol of the green serpent on their armour.

For a moment, Julius wondered if the rebels had managed to even infiltrate the guards here. Then he noticed the fear and uncertainty on the guards' faces, and the slight trembling of their spears.

"We'll take you to the lady," one of the guards said eventually. "Follow… Follow us."

Julius was led out of the house and deeper into the castle town. As he walked through the streets, he caught glimpses of people looking at him through windows. He sensed more fear and uncertainty from them… and also anger and resentment.

Eventually, Julius was led to a warehouse that was packed with wounded people. Sitting at one edge of the warehouse was a woman with green hair who wore a long blue dress. She was currently helping to heal the wounded alongside a couple of court mages.

Julius' arrival caused a commotion in the warehouse, which in turn caused Dragolinde to look up. She stopped her work and hurried over.

"Julius… how did you come to this place?" Dragolinde asked, her blue eyes wide. "I heard… I heard that the fortress you retreated to had been destroyed!"

"That's true, but the dragon responsible for that decided to capture me alive," Julius replied. "I'm glad you survived as well. But…"

"Let us talk privately," Dragolinde said, not quite meeting Julius' eyes.

Dragolinde went over to the two court mages, who looked exhausted from their work, and briefly placed her hands on their shoulders. The two mages immediately looked refreshed, indicating that Dragolinde had given her own spirit energy to them to help them continue the healing.

After this, Dragolinde had Julius brought into a nearby building. Once the two nobles were seated at a table, Julius' guards moved away and stood by the door.

"First of all, Julius… I need to tell you that I supported the rebel cause," Dragolinde said.

Julius jaw dropped. It was unbecoming for a king, but he was long past caring for such things.

"Do you want to know why I did that?" Dragolinde asked.

Julius regained some of his composure. "No… recent events have led me to understand why you would do that," he replied. "You were right, Dragolinde. You told me, again and again, that my policies would eventually lead Dragai to ruin. I didn't listen to you, and now…"

"Dragai has sustained severe wounds, but it has not fallen into ruin," Dragolinde said. "From what I've heard, the dragons have overthrown the old regime but have refrained from simply slaughtering its people. You were brought here alive by a dragon, weren't you?"

"I was," Julius admitted. "But, if you were part of the rebels, then—ah. I see. Not all of your subordinates agreed?"

"Most did, but a majority of the Dragon Riders disagreed… as was the case elsewhere," Dragolinde said. "The fighting was so fierce that the castle was half-destroyed, as you've already seen, and most of the people died or fled. Eventually, the rebel side lost and I was taken prisoner."

"Yet I heard that you'd been killed," Julius said, not trying to disguise the worry in his voice. "Did I simply receive early, mistaken information?"

"Or perhaps the loyalist forces here feared what would happen to morale, if it was known that a noble of my rank had joined the rebels," Dragolinde said. "Presumably, they planned on revealing the truth once everything settled down… But we may never know for certain. When the dragons came, the loyalists were either killed or fled."

"Leaving this castle with… it can't be more than a tenth of its original population," Julius said. He bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Dragolinde…"

Dragolinde gently pushed Julius' head back up with her hands. "You can't blame all of this on yourself, Julius," she said. "Dragai was enslaving dragons and oppressing geytar long before you were born."

"That does not change the fact that my policies exacerbated these trends," Julius said. "I was always focused on the prosperity of Dragai—what I thought would lead it to prosperity—that I neglected the very people that make up this nation. And you never stopped counselling me to change course, yet I never once listened to you… And your people, along with countless others, have paid the price for my foolishness."

Julius recalled the countless wounded people he'd seen in the warehouse. He took a deep breath.

"It is your right to execute me for what I have done."

There was silence for a few moments.

"No," Dragolinde said eventually. "No, I will not do that."

"But—"

"It's true that I supported your enemies, but that doesn't mean I hoped for you to die. I…" Dragolinde trailed off, her eyes wet with tears. "I was ready for the possibility of your death, but I… I cannot order your death when you are right in front of me. I still remember… that boy I met when I first came to the royal palace, who showed me around when I was too nervous to talk to anyone…"

"And I still remember that girl who helped me learn the history of Dragai, a subject I used to loathe," Julius murmured. "But you won't be allowed to simply spare me. Your people won't allow it, none of the other citizens of Dragai will allow it, and the dragons—though I suppose they are becoming part of Dragai now—won't allow it."

"After everything I've done for Dragai, this is one bit of selfishness that I refuse to compromise on," Dragolinde said. "And I have an idea…"

When he heard what this idea was, Julius spent several minutes trying to convince Dragolinde not to go through with it. Yet she did not give up, just as she hadn't given up on convincing him to rule differently as a king.

-ooo-

About ten minutes later, Julius found himself outside Castle Lambton again, this time with Dragolinde standing beside him. The two guards from earlier were also present, but they were a considerable distance away. Not that Julius could blame them for wanting to stay away from a dragon.

"So, you're the human in charge of this castle," Deonora said.

"Yes, and I'm very grateful for others of your kind liberating us earlier," Dragolinde said, giving a nervous bow.

"It's those others you should thank," Deonora said dismissively. "Now, do you have any plans for your former king? If not, I will promptly bring him to your capital city."

Dragolinde swallowed and explained her plan to the dragon, quietly enough that her own guards wouldn't be able to hear it clearly. Julius was nervous throughout this process; while he didn't mind dying himself, he feared that Deonora might take offense and kill his childhood friend as well.

Eventually, Deonora turned towards Julius and stared at him. She gave a brief nod.

Dragolinde walked away, a miserable expression on her face. Julius reached into a pocket and clutched a magical charm there.

A few seconds later, intense flame bathed the spot where Julius had been standing. That was the last time that anyone ever saw the final king of Dragai.

Then Deonora took flight and left Castle Lambton. Dragolinde and her guards walked back into the castle town. Just before stepping out of view, Dragolinde looked briefly over her shoulder at the spot where Julius was standing, invisible.

Now alone, Julius let out a sigh of relief. He walked to a nearby house, one where Dragolinde would meet up with him later, and slumped against a wall.

That worked, Julius thought, looking down on the charm in his hand. It allowed him to become invisible while leaving an illusion in his place, and was one of several charms that he, as king, carried in order to ensure his survival. It was a risky gamble, but it worked. I suppose that, from a dragon's perspective, a single human isn't much of a threat…

But now… now I am no longer king. What am I to do now?

AN: Working out how to resolve Julius and Dragolinde's situations took me a while. I planned to have him survive ever since the previous chapter, but their reunion and Julius' faked death I had trouble with. But I think this ending is something that the Dragonia book may actually be hinting at: it says that Dragolinde may still be living in her castle to this day, it says that Julius didn't flee the country and doesn't say anything about him dying, and it's mentioned that the two are childhood friends (a setting that often leads to romance…)

Also, I decided to rename Castle Dragolinde to "Castle Lambton" for this chapter. This is because a castle with the surname of its ruling family is plausible, but not one with the first name of a single ruler (what happens when you pass it down to someone else?). My headcanon, at least as far as this fanfic is concerned, is that it will later become known as Castle Dragolinde due to people honouring its last ruler.