The Devouring Dragon

"It's a pleasure to meet you, young king! I am Thrain, a general under our great king, Vargan!" The short man walking towards me called out gruffly, giving me a kind yet stern smile. Behind him, Ragnat and Raya escorted him into the building.

[Thrain] [Dwarven General] - Level 70

Judging from his level, it seemed that the Land of Iron had a more balanced structure of power, as opposed to Ragnar's - which had consisted of him being strong as hell, a couple of decently strong sons, and then a bunch of weak generals.

I was sitting on a small wooden chair, with a large wooden table standing in front of me. I was at the near-mansion that Chippy had built to be our original home, which was sitting just a couple dozen miles out from my new dire wolf territory.

Nearly a week had passed since I received the three new quests, and I wasn't wasting any time. I had expanded the Chipmunk Platoon even further, ordering them to start building a massive wooden wall to stretch around the perimeter of my territory.

It started just mere feet from behind the building I was in, as I had decided to subtly expand my territory outward into the forest slightly. 

Over the past few days, I had used [King's Aura] and [King's Command] to force the majority of the demon birds, gremlins, slimes, and trolls that lived in the area that I was expanding out into to become my subordinates - thus expanding both my territory and my army.

And so, this building ended up being a marker for where my territory began and thus was the decided meeting place.

The second scouting team heading to the Land of Iron had more success than the first, as the more intelligent commanders and pack leaders had managed to make contact with the inhabitants.

I had sent Ragnat over to negotiate a meeting between me and the king a couple of days ago, though it seemed the Dwarven King was smart enough to not willingly leave his kingdom and meet me personally.

If he had come himself, then I would've just killed him on the spot and laid siege to that section of the forest soon after. 

But, alas, he had wisely sent a general in his stead, so my plan shifted slightly.

"The pleasure is all mine," I said eloquently, nodding at the man, "I am Valon, but you will refer to me as the Beast King."

"Hah! The Beast King, ya say?" Thrain chuckled loudly, his grin growing wider, "Some might take offense to ya taking that title!"

"Some? Are you one of them?" I grinned slightly threateningly in response.

"Not in the slightest, young king! I wouldn't consider myself a beast!" Thrain chuckled loudly.

Thrain was short, standing not even four feet tall, but also muscular - giving him what I dubbed the 'mini-pekka build.'

He was also wearing a set of sleek, metallic silver armor, along with a large iron helmet tucked under his arm. He had long, dark braided hair hanging down his back, and his skin looked rough and hard.

Overall, he looked about what I expected a dwarf to look like. 

"I apologize for our king not comin' himself, but," Thrain gave me a slightly sheepish grin, "You've got a bit of a reputation on ya now. You understand, don't ya?"

"It's fine, I won't be offended by something like this," I hummed simply, "We can call this a preliminary meeting."

"Fine by me!" Thrian chuckled, sitting down in the chair roughly, the wood creaking under his weight despite his small height.

"Ragnat, leave us. Raya, you can stay," I ordered simply, and Ragnat nodded at my words, not needing to be told twice. He turned around, walking back through the door and leaving me, Raya, and Thrain as the sole three people in the massive room.

"Hah, so this is yur queen, huh?" Thrain grinned, nodding at Raya, "My apologies, missus. Didn't realize it was ya escorting me here."

"It's fine," Raya nodded easily.

"Now, the reason I wanted to meet with your king," I started, nodding at Raya. She stepped forward, reaching into her waistband and pulling out a rolled-up paper, placing it on the table.

She unrolled it, revealing the make-shift map that we had crafted. It was made with a combination of Raya, Podo, and the three prince's knowledge of the forest, along with more information from our scouts.

It wasn't that different from the poorly made map that Raya had drawn me in the dirt when I first met her, but it was more detailed and slightly altered.

In the bottom left, the southwest, was my territory. With the new expansion, my territory now covered slightly more than a fourth of the map.

Next, there was a small strip of unclaimed territory. Then the Meadow of Love in the bottom right, the southeastern section.

Above that, there was another strip of unclaimed territory, slightly larger than the one separating my territory from the Meadow of Love. In the top right, northeastern section, was Tiamat's territory.

Finally, to the left of that, there was another strip of unclaimed territory. Then, the Land of Iron sat in the top left, northwestern section of the forest.

On the outskirts of the map was flatlands, but I didn't try to do anything but look from the top of the mountain. I had no need to yet, and I didn't want to risk encountering any devils, fallen, or other underworld-dwelling creatures that lived out there.

"The forest?" Thrain asked, glancing down at the unfurled map.

He unintentionally confirmed my suspicions that the Land of Iron was much more organized, and that the inhabitants were more intelligent than the dire wolves were. They already had a map of the forest.

"Yes," I agreed simply, placing my finger over the Meadow of Love section of the map, "What is your kingdom's relationship with the Succubus Queen?"

Thrain didn't answer immediately, instead glancing back up at me. His lips twitched downward slightly, but he schooled his face quickly.

"...we are on friendly terms," He gritted out, doing his best to keep his face neutral.

Friendly terms my ass. He obviously didn't like her.

"I wish I could say the same," I responded, starting to develop my plan, "She has sent numerous scouting parties into my territory, and my own scouts have seen forces gathering at her border. If I had to guess, I'll be at war with her soon."

That was a blatant lie, but he didn't need to know that.

Thrain didn't answer, merely staring at me as he took in my words.

"As you can imagine, we're not exactly stable right now," I lied, gesturing outward with my hands, "The previous king died not even ten moons ago. We are far from ready for a war."

I wasn't completely lying, and that wasn't far from the true situation. The dire wolf numbers had been cut down dramatically during my massacre through the forest, and a large number of commanders and pack leaders had died, along with the actual four generals.

However, we also weren't pushovers. I had done a lot during the last week to make up for the poor condition Ragnar had left the kingdom in. The three princes were pretty strong, and I was a mini-boss myself at this point.

Overall, if the Succubus Queen really was preparing to start a war with us, it wouldn't be in our favor. They were magic users, and my underprepared army, along with the lack of defenses due to Ragnar's incompetence, meant that we would be on the back foot.

I was strong enough to not truly be at risk of death, but I would have to forfeit a lot, if not all, of my territory.

Luckily, the Succubus Queen hadn't really sent any scouts and wasn't preparing an army. Instead, I was the one preparing the army - in fact, I was in the process of doing so right now.

"When they attack, we won't be able to put up a strong fight. My territory will be rolled over, and she'll take it all for herself," I continued, dragging my hand over from the Meadow of Love to my territory.

"I hope your king's relationship with her is really friendly," I finished, gesturing at the map again, "Because her territory and strength will double. If she's greedy enough to come after us at our weakest moment, then I don't doubt that she's greedy enough to keep expanding. She won't stop at just half the forest - she'll take the entirety of it for herself."

Thrain took in my words for a moment, his face steely. Then, he finally spoke.

"May I be blunt, young king?" He asked, looking back up at me. I simply nodded in confirmation.

"I won't pretend to know everything about ya, but I know the gist of it. We have… methods, of seeing what happens in this forest," Thrain grunted, "I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but I've heard how ruthless you are. What you did to the dire wolf king is proof of it - one man taking down a whole kingdom isn't exactly comforting. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd prefer you being around over risking the Succubus Queen gettin' more land."

His point was reasonable - if I heard that a beast who ate his enemies after defeating them took down an entire kingdom on his own, I wouldn't want them to be my neighbor either.

"I'll tell you the truth, Thrain," I hummed, preparing myself to lie my ass off, "I have no intention of taking any more land. This building we're in right now? It was meant to be my home."

I waved at the room around us, "I had no intention of taking down the previous king, but he left me no choice. He attacked me relentlessly, and I had to defend myself. I don't enjoy violence, and I'm more than satisfied with the territory I have now. So…"

I tapped on the Meadow of Love on the map, "I want an alliance with your king. An alliance to take down the Succubus Queen, so I can live peacefully. To prove it to you - once we win, you can take all the land for yourselves."

As if. We'll take down the queen, take her land, then I'll stab the Dwarven King in the back and take his land too. Two birds with one stone.

Thrain blinked at my words, his eyes widening slightly as he looked at me doubtfully, "All of it? You truly just want to live peacefully?"

"I do," I nodded, looking at him seriously as I didn't let my face convey a hint of my lies.

He looked at me again for a moment, his face unreadable, and then he let out a sigh, "Hah. For a one-man army, you're surprisingly normal. I'll talk to my king and arrange a meeting."

Good. That's what I want you to think. I'm just a normal, peace loving guy. Totally not trying to conqueror the whole forest or anything!

"I appreciate it," I hummed, nodding at him with a grin. He stood up from his chair, and I looked over at Raya, "Escort him out, Raya. Have a safe journey, Thrain."

"You as well," Thrain grunted, walking toward the door, "I think we'll be seeing each other again soon."

Raya led him out of the building, and I was left alone for a few minutes. Then, she returned.

"I didn't know you could do that," Raya muttered, walking back over and sitting next to me at the table, "I knew you were lying, but I still almost believed you."

"It's a necessary skill," I simply replied, "You can't solve everything with your fists."

Actually, you could, but it wouldn't be the most efficient way. 

If I didn't go for the political approach, and instead just charged into the Land of Iron, and then the Meadow of Love, and started massacring, it would probably work.

I'd become strong enough from [Devour] to take on Tiamat, and then I'd complete the tutorial.

But, that wasn't the best method, mainly because of what came after.

After I finished the tutorial, and the entire forest was mine, I would be open to the threats of the rest of the world. 

If I were just one man, my entire army in shambles from the tutorial, then I wouldn't be able to defend my territory. The devils valued the Familiar Forest, as it was where they got their familiars, so I'd be in a lot of danger.

I'd either have to take my chances against the entire devil faction, or I'd have to flee and hope they don't chase me down.

The best path was to take it slow, accumulating both land and subordinates as I grew my strength. Then, when the time to meet the outside world came, I'd have both Tiamat and thousands of monsters under my command.

I'd form a faction of my own.

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AN: Thank you for reading! I'm really enjoying this story right now, so I'll be updating it multiple times a week! 

Along with that, I updated my Patreon to include 20 chapters ahead of my public publishing schedule, which includes a bunch for this story! (5 right now, but I'll be adding more because I'm pretty passionate about this story!)

Patreon.com/Koyon !