Blue-Eyes White Dragon: Adopted by the King of Knights [94]

The Witch stood tall upon the earth.

Around her lay the city reduced to ruins, and amidst those ruins stood an army of countless undead.

—These fifty thousand undead were creatures she had summoned overnight from neighboring towns.

Zombies, skeletons, werewolves… all sorts of dark undead had answered the witch’s call, transforming the once-deserted city of Orléans into a genuine lair of monsters once more.

“W-What’s going on here?”

From a balcony of the castle, the orange-haired girl stared at the vast army of undead sprawled across the ground below—she nearly thought she’d picked up the wrong script and wandered into a horror film.

Perhaps this actually was a horror film.

Demons, monsters, witches, undead… every element of horror was present here.

“—But that was all in the past!”

Jeanne Alter raised the cursed black-dragon banner high as she stood among the ruins, the flag whipping fiercely in the wind.

“From today forward, from this moment, I shall grant you eternal life!”

“O Dragon, manifest your divine miracle!”

Jeanne Alter waved her banner, praying as sincerely as any true saint.

Yet, the object of her prayer was no longer the absent, uncaring God.

Instead, it was the Dragon.

The symbol of strength, terror, and calamity—the Dragon!

And the dragon answered her prayer.

Bluey pierced his own claw with a fingertip, allowing a few drops of dragon blood to drip down from the sky onto Jeanne Alter’s pale banner.

Whoosh—

The banner instantly erupted with dazzling white light.

This radiance fell upon the undead army, rapidly giving flesh to their decayed forms, covering them in scales, and breathing souls into their vacant eyes.

Dragon Servants.

The lowest bloodline of dragonkind—in this world, akin to Dead Apostles. Because of the dragon blood’s corruption, they existed neither as humans nor spirits, twisted beings whose souls even gods refused to acknowledge. If Wenna had been present, she wouldn't have recognized these entities as genuinely living beings—but did that even matter?

Born from wrath, the Dragon Witch finally had the subjects she had always dreamed of—subjects who would never betray her.

At last, she had a genuine opportunity to build her own kingdom upon this land.

“Behold, this is my nation!”

Standing proudly on the ruins, Jeanne Alter introduced the kingdom she’d created by her own hands to the two pale-faced girls in the castle.

What? You're asking the name of this country?

“It took me an entire night to come up with this name, so listen carefully—”

“I wish to proclaim myself a saint, performing miracles at the end of days. Thus, this nation shall be called ‘Enlightenment.’ And since it’s a country bound to dragons, I'll add the word ‘Dragon’ as well.”

The Kingdom of the Enlightened Dragon.

…

Jeanne Alter was a woman of action.

Immediately after transforming the undead, she led these confused Dragon Servants straight into the construction of the Kingdom of the Enlightened Dragon.

“Go into the city, gather all useful resources.”

“Then we’ll build a brand-new city.”

Jeanne Alter initially intended to rebuild upon the ruins but reconsidered due to the immense costs of demolishing and rebuilding. It would be far simpler to find an open plain and construct a completely new city.

This city would become the symbol of her Kingdom of the Enlightened Dragon.

Interestingly enough, Jeanne Alter boldly chose white as the city's main color theme—she insisted it was to thank Bluey for her help, deliberately selecting the dragon's color as the city's signature shade.

But everyone knew a tsundere like Jeanne Alter never spoke her true feelings aloud.

…Could it be that this Witch who wished destruction on the world secretly longed for purity?

This sounded ridiculous, yet strangely reasonable.

—Even villains preferred being in the company of good people, wishing secretly to be called “good” themselves, didn't they?

Not that Jeanne Alter considered herself evil.

She was simply enacting vengeance—righteous vengeance. The people of this land who allowed a true saint to be falsely branded a heretic and burned alive deserved punishment. Every single one of them.

“This…this is too far!”

Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash finally learned Jeanne Alter’s true identity and the horrific disaster she'd brought upon this land.

When Jeanne Alter offered them the invitation to “stay and help build this country,” Mash immediately rejected it without hesitation, her voice ringing with conviction.

“Give it up! Your ideals are twisted and impossible to realize!”

“Look at those people working for you—do any truly serve you from their hearts? They merely fear your strength and obey out of dread.”

“You’ve never seen a real utopia… A true ruler is someone who gains genuine recognition from their people—not one who controls through fear and commands with force.”

Mash’s rebuttal was confident and firm.

After all, she’d once served under the true Holy King, witnessing genuine nobility—from the King and knights down to the common people, even the god who ultimately destroyed that land was noble in some form.

Compared to them, this woman claiming to be Jeanne d’Arc was merely playing at kingship, like a child pretending to rule a kingdom.

“Senpai, let's go. We'll find the true Servants and save this world!”

Mash took Fujimaru Ritsuka’s hand, hurriedly pulling her away.

—She feared Jeanne Alter might change her mind any moment; running away later would surely be difficult.

Yet—

“Senpai?”

Mash tugged on Ritsuka’s arm again.

But the seemingly frail orange-haired girl stood firm, feet rooted to the broken yet revitalizing earth beneath her.

“Mash.”

After a short silence, Ritsuka finally spoke.

“I understand your feelings, Mash.”

“But somehow…I feel that the Servant capable of saving this world is already here—no, more precisely, it's her.”

The orange-haired girl raised her head, eyes glowing with determination unique to a savior.

“I’m not leaving. I'll stay here and help her build this nation.”

“I believe the key to truly saving this world lies within it!”

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This is a fan translation of 综漫：青眼幼龙，被骑士王捡到了 by 歌冰丽月. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!