Rising up from a Nobleman to Intergalactic Warlord!!

Located in the mountains of eastern Holfort, Lucoa's village was hidden within a narrow valley that few outsiders were aware of. Receiving only the occasional visit from the local lord and traveling merchants, when the locals caught sight of a battleship sailing into their harbor, they flew into a panic fearing they were being invaded. Having the children and elderly take refuge in the Elders' longhouse, everyone else grabbed their makeshift weapons and rushed to the docks to make a stand there. Nervously standing at the end of the pier, the villagers readied themselves to fight to the death.

"You… You do not scare us invaders!!", a black-haired, single-horned dragoness proclaimed, gripping her wooden sword nervously. "The Dragon Clan is more than capable of taking you out!"

"Elma, what in the world are you doing!?", Lucoa sighed over the ship's external speakers. "Are you too blind to notice the noble crest on the ship belongs to the Holfort Kingdom?"

"Huh… ", Elma replied, recognizing her voice, "Wait… Is that you, Lucoa!? What are you doing aboard a battleship?"

"Give us a minute; we are on our way out. I will explain everything to you in person.", Lucoa stated.

Realizing that they were not under attack, the villagers let out a collective sigh of relief as Yamato's forward doors opened. Extending a ramp out to the walkway, Lucoa and company disembarked the vessel with apologetic expressions. Rushing over to her, the dragoness pulled Elma into a hug and told her it was nice to see her again. Returning the gesture for a moment, she quickly snapped back to reality and pushed Lucoa away.

"Alright, Lucoa, talk! Whose battleship is this, and who are these people with you?", Elma questioned with an irritated look. "Depending on your answer, I may have to put you down!"

"Jeez, still as serious as ever, I see.", Lucoa giggled with a happy smile, "This is Duke Stark's former flagship Yamato, and aside from the women in the white coat, we are his wives."

"Duke Stark, who is that?", Elma remarked as she looked at the other women in confusion. "Hold on a moment, is that Queen Mylene!? Why is the queen here?"

Realizing they were several years behind the rest of the country, Mylene took a few minutes to update them on recent events. Telling them about her divorce from the king, the downfall of the Principality, and the nation's newest duke, the villagers were dumbfounded that none of this had been communicated to them. Immediately apologizing for their behavior, Elma dispersed the crowd and sent people to tell the Elders that it was a false alarm.

"Now that we have cleared that mess up, can I ask what brought you here today?", Elma questioned in a softer tone.

"Well… I… I am pregnant.", Lucoa answered as she touched her stomach. "As you know, I did not pay much attention to lessons growing up, so I came back to ask for help. From what I can vaguely recall, there are several do's and do not's for our kind during pregnancy. My hope is that the Elders or one of my friends might offer me some guidance so I can carry this baby to term."

"You are pregnant!?", Elma shouted with excitement. "Fafnir, Ilulu, Tohru, did you hear that? Another dragon is going to be born!! Kanna will be elated to have someone to play with finally."

(AN: Elma, Fafnir, Ilulu, Kanna, and Tohru all look the same as they did in the anime. All other dragons in this village are NOT from the anime.)

"…we are standing right here, no need to yell…", Fafnir complained with an irritable look. "While I am still trying to wrap my head around the thought of you being married and having kids, I am genuinely happy for you. Just out of curiosity, you did not get him drunk for both events, right?"

"Nice to see you too, Fafnir.", Lucoa laughed with a sigh, "As for your question, I will have you know that Victor genuinely loves me and all my quirks. We have known each other since he was just a little kid."

"I see, so you used brainwashing to get yourself a husband. It all makes sense now.", Fafnir commented as Tohru drove her fist into his gut to shut him up.

Knocking the wind out of him, Fafnir collapsed to the ground gasping for air. Managing to wheeze out an apology, he curled up into a ball to recover from impact.

"Lucoa, is he really your friend?", Roxanne inquired.

"Fafnir is a rather unique individual; he prefers the company of his books to living people. Due to his reclusive lifestyle, any language filter and tact he once had vanished long ago.", Lucoa giggled, "The fact that he stuck around shows he still considers me a friend. If he did not, he would have been among the first to leave."

"Uh-huh…", Angelica remarked, deciding to chalk it up to the uniqueness of dragons.

Stepping forward to greet her friend, Tohru pulled Lucoa into a hug with a big smile. Happy to see her old friend again in the flesh, she immediately began demanding an answer to why she had never written back to her all these years. Giving Tohru a very confused look, Lucoa asked what she was going on about. Having received nothing from the village since her departure, she honestly thought that Tohru was just messing around with her for not coming back sooner to see them.

"Since your abrupt departure, Tohru and I have written you letters each year to check up on you.", Elma insisted, "Are you saying you never once received a letter from any of us?"

"I only received one letter; it was from the Elders announcing Kanna's birth.", Lucoa assured them.

"Told you those old bag of bones were withholding your letters.", Ilulu commented as she rolled her eyes.

"You have grown up to be quite the looker, Ilulu. Last time I saw you, you were just a little girl.", Lucoa remarked with a happy smile, "Have you found yourself a boyfriend or husband yet?"

"I am not interested in finding someone and settling down yet. My plan is to become an adventurer when I come of age and seek out excitement outside this dull place.", Ilulu said with a proud smile.

"Uh… If Lucoa has been gone for a few hundred years, does that not mean you are at least that old?", Olivia spoke up, "You are more than old enough to register as an adventurer at this point."

"Since dragons mature far slower than other races, we are forbidden from leaving the village until our five hundredth birthday.", Elma explained, looking at Lucoa. "Lucoa here broke that law when she fled the village, and her subsequent escapades caused quite a lot of headaches for all of us."

Turning to Lucoa for a further explanation, the dragoness resigned herself to telling them everything that happened back then. Starting with what led up to her self-imposed exile, Lucoa stated that she was a very unruly child growing up. Disinterested with the boring, mundane lifestyle of the village, she sought to create her own excitement by pranking other villagers and wreaking havoc whenever and wherever she could. Starting small with things like egging houses and setting farm animals loose, slowly she ratcheted things up until one day one of her pranks went too far.

"I… I set up a few fireworks to jump scare locals along one of our less used pathways. Since I had no former experience using explosives, I used a bit too much and accidentally caused a rockslide when the surprise was triggered.", Lucoa spoke, "My victim managed to avoid being caught in the rockslide, but the sacred shrine further down the slope was not so lucky. Before I could do anything to stop it, the debris tore apart the most revered place in the village. In that moment, I genuinely thought they were going to kill me for desecrating the shrine… So I wrote a letter of apology and stowed away aboard a merchant's vessel."

"Initially no one had any idea what happened, but after investigating the scene, the Elders went to find Lucoa to reprimand her. They found her letter inside her home and dispatched several adults to go find her. Assuming she had used Dragonification to flee, no one bothered to search the ship, allowing her to escape completely unnoticed. At the next port of call, Lucoa jumped ship and disappeared into the crowd, according to the merchant.", Elma further explained, "Since she was hellbent on hiding from them, the Elders decided to let her go and washed their hands of her. Over the many years since then, we occasionally heard rumors about her antics, but overall nothing too outlandish happened… until she almost killed a nobleman's son. After that, we heard absolutely nothing about her, leading us to believe she was either dead or a slave."

"Actually, the Guildmaster reassigned me to the Bartford Territory's guild outpost as punishment for my actions. While I was quite bitter about that initially, that reassignment was what led me to meeting my husband, Victor.", Lucoa said with a warm smile, "Since meeting him, my life has been full of nearly unending adventure and excitement. Now I am about to start a new chapter of my life as the mother of his children."

Even though the long series of events leading up to that point was a headache for many people, her friends were genuinely happy to see that she found her happiness. Promising to support her to the best of their ability, Elma motioned for everyone to follow her as she began walking toward the steep staircase that led to the Elders' longhouse. Helping Fafnir back to his feet, the group walked up the stairs together while Lucoa's friends caught her up on everything that had happened in their lives since she left.

---Twenty Minutes Later---

Upon reaching the longhouse, Elma knocked on the door and announced Lucoa's desire to meet with them. Giving everyone permission to enter, the servant inside requested that everyone take off their shoes as they entered the building. Complying with the request, Elma led the group to where the Elders were awaiting them. Greeting the twelve dragons as they entered the room, Elma took her position nearby as their guard while everyone else took a seat on the cushions provided to them.

"You caused quite the commotion with your return, Lucoa. While it is partially our fault for not recognizing your husband's crest, showing up unannounced on a warship is unacceptable.", a dragon with two silver horns remarked with an expressionless look. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"You have my sincerest apology! It was not my intention to sow panic among the villagers.", Lucoa said, bowing her head in respect. "Today I found out that I am expecting my first child. As I failed to pay attention during my studies, I come here seeking your guidance to properly navigate this tumultuous moment in my life. I am honestly terrified that I will make a mistake and harm my child... So please… Help me."

Looking at one another for a moment, the Elders reflected on the information she gave them. Understanding why she had come back after all this time, most were inclined to offer their guidance, but one of the older female Elders vehemently rejected her request. Berating her colleagues for even thinking about helping her, she reminded them about what she had done prior to fleeing the village.

"Until Lucoa makes amends for desecrating the Sacred Shrine of Change, we should not even consider helping her.", the fiery red-haired dragoness commented.

"What must I do to make amends?", Lucoa inquired, willing to do anything for her unborn child.

"One hundred lashes and ten years of hard, manual labor is a good place to start.", the dragoness responded, much to the dismay of everyone else in the room. "It should honestly be more like fifty years, but I am willing to be lenient on you after enduring a self-imposed exile all these years."

"First you restrict our ability to reach Lucoa, and now you want to punish her for something that happened several hundred years ago! What happened back then was an accident; she did not mean to destroy the shrine. Until today, she has served a harsh, self-imposed exile and only broke that to seek our help with her pregnancy.", Tohru protested, "You are far too biased on the matter because the dragon who triggered the prank was your daughter. Your punishment would likely result in the death of the unborn child."

Hearing that their correspondents to Lucoa were being prevented from leaving the village, the Elders turned to the dragoness with a questioning gaze. Confirming that she was indeed the one responsible for withholding the letters, the dragoness blamed her colleagues for not handing out a harsh punishment to Lucoa after locating her in the capital.

"My daughter was mentally traumatized for decades after the incident. Even though it was Lucoa's prank that resulted in the destruction of the shrine, she held herself partially responsible for triggering the fireworks.", the dragoness seethed. "While she was eventually able to move past it, I believe we are owed compensation for her mental anguish."

"You have overstepped your place, Loraine!", a dragon with four electrically charged whiskers snapped. "Several of us sent letters to the Guild asking about Lucoa's status after the incident with the nobleman's son. Are you the reason we never received a response from them?"

"Of course.", she confirmed. "When an official request for compensation from the noble household arrived, I sent a letter on our behalf to the Adventurer's Guild asking that Lucoa be made a debt slave to compensate the family. A few decades of being a noble's plaything would have been sufficient compensation for my family's suffering. My daughter's fiancé canceled their engagement because of your stupid prank, and I lost out on having grandchildren!"

"You would have reduced her to a nobleman's plaything just to satisfy your own grudge…", Roxanne snarled as she flashed her teeth. "How dare you suggest that the two things are remotely similar! Utter another word and there will be hell to pay for what you did!!"

Sharing Roxanne's sentiments, Victor's other wives glared at her, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Unwilling to admit she had crossed a line, the dragoness opened her mouth to speak only to find Roxanne's blade suddenly pressed against her throat. Startled by how quickly Roxanne had moved behind her, she closed her mouth and nodded her head meekly.

"Please provide us the information Lucoa needs for a safe pregnancy, and we will walk away and never return.", Roxanne told her. "Nod your head if you understand."

Enthusiastically nodding her head, she gave her consent to share the information with Lucoa. Handing a book over to her that contained everything she could possibly need to know, Roxanne withdrew her blade and returned to the other's side. Turning to leave the building, Fafnir, Ilulu, and Tohru rose from their seats to address the Elders.

"Given everything that has happened, I think I speak for the three of us when I say we are leaving with Lucoa.", Tohru said.

"Agreed.", Fafnir and Ilulu stated.

"You mean the four of us.", Elma corrected her as she handed over her ceremonial weapon. "Lucoa is my dear friend; I refuse to be employed by someone who would wish her such gruesome harm."

Shuffling out of the building without another word, the Elders let out a sigh of relief once they were gone. Happy that no blood was spilled today, they were about to begin reprimanding their colleague when a small sphere revealed itself to them.

(Cleare)

Having relayed the events of what happened here back to Victor, he was none too happy with the Dragon Elders. Sitting on his throne-like chair on the New Genesis' bridge, his murderous gaze made their blood run cold. With a wave of his hand, the Elders were forcefully pinned to the floor, barely able to breathe.

"While you are rightfully owed compensation for my wife's actions in her youth, unfortunately, you will not live to see a single iota of it.", Victor stated, using the Force to crush Loraine into a gory ball. "Anyone stupid enough to threaten my family will taste my unbridled rage. Ensure that your citizens understand what will happen to them if they pursue this matter any further."

Caked in the blood of their deceased colleague, the Elders swore none would ever speak of this matter again. Assuring him that Lucoa and the others would be left alone, they pleaded for him to let them live. Hoisting them into the air, all of them began clutching at their throats as he squeezed the life out of them.

"The subordinates I have entrusted to watch over your village will ensure that promise is upheld.", Victor warned them. "Compensation for the destroyed shrine and other damages Lucoa caused will be sent to you within a few days. Good day."

Ending the call there, the Elders fell to the floor gasping for air. Watching the sphere disappear, they began to tremble as they discovered how terrifying Lucoa's husband was. Even though he had not been physically there, the hulking giant of a man effortlessly killed one of them and damn near strangled the rest to death. Not wanting to ever encounter him in person, every one of them scrambled out of the building to warn the villagers about involving themselves with Lucoa and the rest again.