The Dragon King's Fate

Anastrus came to as the wrinkles in his soul evened out enough to let his personage and consciousness surface.

"Honey!"

And the first thing he heard was a man's voice. He spoke in an unfamiliar dialect of a vaguely familiar language.

'This is mytriman? Another continent or a person from Mytriman Continent?'

Anastrus couldn't understand what was going on.

"Are you okay?"

"Phew. Yeah, I'm alright. Calm down a little. You look like you're about to burst with worry."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just that the ladies in the village said that childbirth is one of the most difficult and dangerous things a woman can go through."

"..."

"Honey…?"

"Two things, Thomas."

"Yeah?"

"You've been right next to me for the past nine months. Did it, at any point, look like I was in danger? Counting the labor itself?"

"Well…no."

"Exactly. Stop worrying."

"...Okay."

"And when did you have time to chat up the ladies in town?"

'Am I seriously in the middle of a lover's tussle? Me? The Dragon King? How?'

Although Anastrus was indignant about the disrespect the two people who seemed to have just delivered a baby were showing him, he was growing increasingly curious about what had happened to him after his loss against the robed mage.

The only thing about him that seemed to be working was his hearing. He couldn't see or move, nor could he use his soul sense to investigate his surroundings or condition due to the state of his soul. That spell, with its suspicious air of familiarity, had done quite a number to him. And the caster had disappeared in the middle of casting it.

But if he had survived, shouldn't he still be knocked out in the ruins of his lair? Did the robed intruder have backup? Or was he unlucky enough to be captured by someone else who got curious and lacked a sense of self-preservation?

As unlikely as it was and as little as Anastrus liked it, the robed intruder had proven that he, the Dragon King, wasn't invincible, so someone else might have taken advantage of the damage caused by the mage's spell.

Anastrus tried to wrap his head around what could have possibly happened and what could have led to his unconscious self being next to a squabbling couple. He also wondered what kind of mental illness would let them talk so freely in his presence.

'Unbelievable.'

They weren't even acknowledging him. They just talked about their own petty troubles and flaunted their love for each other.

"I promise, honey, I didn't approach them. They talked to me on their own. They caught up to me, and when they started talking about how I could help you with your pregnancy, I just had to hear them out. But I won't do it again."

The man was almost in tears and on his knees while holding his wife's hand. His blue eyes sparkled as he looked at the short, red-haired woman on the bed.

"Hah."

The woman sighed with exasperation, but a smile tugged on her lips as she grabbed her husband's face.

"I know, butternups. You didn't do anything wrong. I should have known to expect this when I married such a handsome and beautiful man."

"Aww, honey! You're too sweet."

The man blushed and moved in for a kiss.

"Ahem."

A third person, much closer to Anastrus this time, cleared her throat.

The midwife carrying a little baby boy walked over to the two newly-minted parents.

Anastrus felt someone move his body without understanding the situation. He had thought the spell or something else had paralyzed and numbed his body or that it was an aftereffect of losing the connection between his soul and body. But the odd sensations and the softness around his torso and legs weren't because of anything like that.

"Hehe, right."

Thomas chuckled awkwardly and let go of his wife's hands. He began reaching for the bundle of cloth containing his child but stopped halfway, uncertain what to do.

"Here."

While supporting the baby's head, Vira showed Thomas how to hold him before handing him over with a gentle and loving smile on her face.

Thomas' face broke up in a doting smile as he looked at the cute little thing in his arms. Tears of joy welled up in the corners of his eyes.

"Look, honey, he has your stern face."

Thomas tilted the baby so Vira could get a better look. But Vira furrowed her brow and looked at her husband instead.

"See?!"

'Noo!!'

Anastrus was forced to accept reality.

That blasted, robed mage's spell hadn't just fiddled around with his soul. It had entirely screwed him out of his body. Anastrus didn't know why anyone would ever do such a thing. He knew how, but he couldn't understand the reasoning behind putting him in the body of a human baby.

He was in despair.

He had gone from being the strongest, the Dragon King, to the baby of one of the weakest races. Well, humans didn't have to be weak, but the vast, almost absolute majority of them were. And, without exception, there wasn't a single baby human that wouldn't die if they were the least bit unlucky.

One stray stone, one accidental fall, one hungry animal, or one wrong bite of the day's supper could kill a human baby.

"Ahem. This baby of ours is so cute! Although it's not that apparent right now, I'm sure he'll be blessed with good looks and personality in the future. But, uh… Aren't babies supposed to cry?"

"Of course not! It's my son. He won't cry over something like this."

Thomas ignored Vira's confident statement and looked to the midwife with worry. As an expert, she was bound to know more than his wife, who had gotten bored during labor and had been about to go out and chop down a tree.

"Most babies do cry, that's correct."

The elderly midwife spoke with a gentle and calm look. She had been a little worried that the two parents wouldn't have any love left over for their child since they had forgotten about him as soon as he was born. But it seemed like she needn't worry.

"Usually, a crying baby is a good sign. But as long as he's healthy and responsive, doesn't have any trouble breathing, and so on, there's nothing to worry about. Some babies just don't cry."

"I see… That's a relief."

Thomas looked down at his son, the reincarnation of the strongest Dragon King, Anastrus, with a smile of love.

'Hmph. As if I would ever cry.'

Anastrus still had no idea what had possessed the robed mage to make him possess the body of a feeble worm-like human. But at the moment, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

His body was that of a baby, and his soul was still a mess following the spell and being crammed into his current body. It would take ages for him to regain his strength, if it were even possible, to begin with, considering his current predicament.

'Well, he did say to grow stronger. I'm going to show him what stronger really means.'

The middle of Anastrus' brow deepened slightly while his lips twitched since he didn't quite have the right facial muscles to grin yet.

"Oh, honey, he's dreaming!"

Vira raised an eyebrow as she looked at the cramp-like expression on her son's face. She looked to the midwife for advice, but she shook her head gently to let Vira know there was nothing wrong.

Vira and Thomas held their son together as Thomas scooched in next to his wife on the soft bed. They hugged each other and leaned their heads in as they looked at their son with more love than they thought a human was capable of.

"Anthony…"

"...Alerion…"

"...Tekal…"

"...Liyer."

'"Welcome to the family."'