<h4>Chapter 552</h4>


    Zich enjoyed talking to Joachim and Evelyn after not meeting them for a long time, and thus he went to converse with the two whenever he was free. The more he talked to them, the more Zich was able to confirm one crucial fact.


    ‘Those guys will live well even without me.’ Of course, if those two ever encountered danger again, Zich would crush those who dared to threaten his former subordinates with the might of a dragon yer. But it seemed like there was a low possibility that he would need to do that. Not long after, the two left the Steelwall Estate. Both Joachim and Evelyn were high-ranking nobles, and Joachim in particr was the lord of the Dracul Estate. They couldn’t leave their posts for too long.


    “We really hope that you will attend our wedding,” Joachim said to Zich.


    “Pleasee with Ms. L,” Evelyn added.


    Although reluctant to leave, the two departed with the promise of a reunion.


    ‘I must go to their wedding,’ Zich thought. So, he needed to finish everything before that.


    Zich also met the Crown Prince when thetter came to visit the Steelwall Estate. Since they had met once before, the Crown Prince approached Zich in a familiar fashion, but unlike before, he addressed Zich formally. This was because of the change in Zich’s social standing and status. As expected, he tried to entice Zich to join his side with the promise of new titles, starting from the Count title and even as far as the title of Duke. Zich was uninterested. Even though the Crown Prince insisted, when he realized that Zich was genuinely uninterested, he had no choice but to give up on the matter.


    “Fortunately, you truly seem uninterested in bing a noble. If you go to another kingdom and be a noble there, that will ce us in a very difficult position.”


    If a dragon yer born from the Cronon Kingdom became a noble of another kingdom, it would damage the prestige of their kingdom severely, especially if the other kingdom didn’t have good rtions with them. Furthermore, it seemed obvious that the Steelwalls, who made up arge part of their military might, would get negatively affected by the news. After all, it would be scandalous that a dragon yer had gone to another kingdom because of the discrimination he faced from the Steelwalls. On the other hand, if Zich simply didn’t go to another kingdom, the Crown Prince could ease the political pressure on him by exining that the dragon yer just wasn’t interested in noble statuses.


    “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I have no interest in aristocratic matters.”


    “I hope you will keep your word on that, sir. The other kingdoms have been giving a tremendous amount of attention to you. We have been especially eyeing the Sestil Kingdom’s movements.”


    The Sestil Kingdom was the kingdom that Count ud had been part of, and they naturally had an extremely bad rtionship with the Cronon Kingdom.


    “Did you just say the Sestil Kingdom, sir?”


    “Besides the Pinne family, most of the opposing troops in this war belonged to the Sestil Kingdom. Of course, they are losing their minds since their rtionship with a dragon yer reached the worst possible oue.” The Crown Princeughed, clearly happy about his enemy kingdom’s misfortune. His conduct as a royal was really exemry.


    Zich retorted, “I don’t have many ill feelings for the Sestil Kingdom.”


    “Yes, unfortunately, that seems to be the case. However, they probably won’t think you do.” A person’s impression of the other party could turn sour from a simple fistfight. Evidently, it would be more so for opposing parties who had fought a bloody war not so long ago. In addition, the Steelwalls fully redeemed themselves after the war and their behavior was justified. It was enough to cause such a misunderstanding.


    “This is information that just came in, but it seems like those guys are nning to ask you to seed Count ud’s position.”


    “They sure tried using their heads,” Zich said.


    With Count ud’s suicide, the end of the ud family seemed near. Count ud’s only child was Zich''s dead mother, and he had no close rtives. There could be distant rtives if they looked hard enough, and they would’ve normallye running to take the Count’s seat by now if the ud family’s image hadn’t reached the absolute gutters from this incident. Although the Count’s title andnd were enticing, the idea of inheriting a Bellid supporter’s asset deterred them.


    Yet, if Zich inherited Count ud’s position, the story would be different. Zich was the one who crushed Count ud’s schemes, and ?he was the Karuwiman Honorary Knight with deep connections with the Karuwimans. If such a person became the next Count ud, the negative image they had as Bellid followers would be all washed away. It was needless to exin the benefits of having the representative of the dragon yers as one of their nobles. Zich was also the previous count’s grandson. There were a plethora of reasons to offer Zich the position.


    “If you ept the offer, they are willing tobine nearby estates to raise your title to Duke. Since the majority of the estates surrounding Count ud’s estate were also part of this war, they wouldn’t be able to refuse. Instead, many would offer to give up parts of their territories to clear their names.”


    “Oh my, how is everyone handing out the title of Duke so easily?”


    “That’s how appealing the skills and fame of a dragon yer are.”


    “Well, I’m not interested.” If he wanted to, Zich could take away the Steelwall Estate. It wasughable that he would try to get the ud Estate now.


    “Seeing your face, it really seems like you aren’t interested. That’s a huge relief.” Although the Cronon Kingdom wanted to avoid losing Zich to any other kingdom, losing him to the Sestil Kingdom was the worst-case scenario. That would mean that Zich’s unbelievable force would oppose them. His inside sources already judged that there was a low possibility that Zich would ept such an offer, but even this tiny chance of the worst possible future ced the kingdom on high alert.


    ‘I should’ve sided with the Steelwalls from the beginning and built a connection that way,’ the Crown Prince thought to himself and sighed. Who knew that this war would progress in such a way, and who could have expected a dragon’s appearance? Not to mention, somebody defeated that dragon and be a dragon yer—if somebody had foreseen this situation, the Crown Prince would look all over the kingdom to find that very person.


    The Crown Prince said, “Anyway if you happen to be interested in a noble position in the future, I would like to ask you toe to our kingdom first. We’ll give you the best treatment. Since it may be awkward with Count Steelwall from your perspective, we will assign your estate as far away from him as possible. Of course, we would never give you uselessnd either.”


    “I don’t think that’s going to happen, but if I be interested, I’ll consider your offer in a favorable light.”


    “Thank you.” The Crown Prince wasn’t able to get the answer he wanted, but heforted himself with the fact that he avoided the worst-case scenario of Zich going to another kingdom. Then, he brought up another topic. “I have one more request. What do you n to do with the dragon’s body?”


    It was the body of a legendary dragon. Many people wanted to collect its body, whether it was a mage who was eager to study it, a noble who wanted to use it as a family’s symbol, or a merchant who was obsessed with collecting valuable items. Even in legends, a dragon’s flesh, bones, teeth, scales, and all other parts were considered precious ingredients. Currently, the dragon’s body had been taken by Count Steelwall’s army and was being kept in the Count’s mansion.


    The Crown Prince continued, “Count Steelwall told me that he has no intention of iming ownership of the dragon’s body. He imed that the people who defeated the dragon have full rights over it.”


    Since several of the Count’s knights had also participated in the dragon’s conquest, the Count could im partial ownership of the dragon’s body. However, he gave up all rights over it and considered the dragon’s defeat as the knights’ individual merits. Naturally, those who wanted the dragon’s body attempted to contact the dragon yers, and of course, the one they wanted to meet the most was Zich.


    Although the ownership over the dragon’s body had not yet been clearly determined, no one could deny that Zich’s share over the dragon’s body was thergest by far, and that was the reason why the Crown Prince had brought up this matter to Zich. However, Zich had no intention to do what the Crown Prince wanted again.


    Zich simply said, “I have no intention to sell it.”


    Zich was not greedy for money, and he already had enough money to spend as much as he wanted. Moreover, Zich received a hefty sum from Count Steelwall for his contribution to this war. On the other hand, Zich wasn’t particrly interested in iming rights over the dragon’s body. Even though he didn’t have any special interest in keeping the dragon’s body, there was no reason for him to sell it either.


    The Crown Prince said, “Based on your merits, you’ll be granted arge share of the dragon’s body, but wouldn’t it be difficult for you to carry all of it? Excuse me for saying this, but you don’t even have a set residence, and I don’t think a magic box can contain such an enormous amount.”


    “Well, I do have a ce to store it.” If Zich stored the dragon’s body in the Clowon ruins, who would be able to steal it? It was a ce that was impossible to approach without Windur.


    The Crown Prince tried to persuade Zich a little bit more, but Zich’s response was continuously negative. There wasn’t much benefit for him to sell the dragon’s body.


    “I guess it can’t be helped.” The Crown Prince sighed and eventually gave up. To an ordinary person, the Crown Prince would have mentioned the kingdom’s force and half-threatened them, but he couldn’t do that with Zich, the representative of the dragon yers. In the worst-case scenario, if Zich got angry and stormed into the pce, no one would be able to stop him.


    “Then, if you change your mind or need to dispose of the dragon’s bodyter, please ask us first.” This was the only thing he could say in the end. Then, he thought, ‘I guess I have no choice but to ask the others if they have any intentions to sell their shares.’


    However, the others wouldn’t be easy either. Those who had arge stake to the dragon’s body were the elf princess, the former master of the magical tower, the Saintess, and the Saintess’ bodyguard—they were all people who the Crown Prince couldn’t treat with disrespect. Moreover, Hans, Snoc, Elena, and the others had already given up their shares to Zich. One fortunate aspect was that everyone who wished to purchase the dragon’s body was in the same position as him. Even though the Crown Prince didn’t have any advantages, he wasn’t at a disadvantagepared to the others either; the Crown Prince had no choice but to console himself like this. Thus, the Crown Prince ended his meeting with Zich without much profit.


    * * *


    Zich looked up at the dragon’s body. Even though it had been several days since the dragon died, the dragon’s body showed no signs of decay. Although it was widely known that the dragon’s body was being kept in the Count’s mansion, it was left fully exposed in the corner of the mansion’s yard. Only the presence of several soldiers guarding its surroundings indicated the importance of the dragon’s body. The reason why the dragon’s body was left fully exposed in the yard was simple—there was no room to store it. In the first ce, it had taken considerable effort to just bring the body to the mansion’s yard.


    Zich tapped the dragon’s scales with his fist. He was met with strong resistance and he thought, ‘In legends, they made armor out of dragon scales.’


    He could tell how unbelievably tough the dragon’s scales were when he fought against it. If a cksmith made armor with the dragon’s scales, amazing armor would definitely be created.


    ‘No wonder the Crown Prince wanted to buy it himself.’ Zich had no intention of making anything out of the dragon’s body, but he had no intention to give it away either. ‘I’m sure I’ll find a use for itter in life.’


    However, it didn’t matter to him if he couldn’t find a use for itter on; he could just live with it in his possession till the end of his life. While Zich quietly observed the dragon’s body, he sensed two people approaching him from behind. Judging by how the soldiers were not restraining them, they didn’t seem to be anyone suspicious.


    ‘Well, it would also be hard to steal this secretly as well.’ Zich stared at the people approaching him.


    “Oh my, Sir Zich, you were already here.”


    “…Hello.”


    One smiled at him and the other hesitated to say hello to him. They were Chelsea Windne and Pina Acous—Glen’s exrades.