Reborn as the Failed Lord with my Resource Gathering System.-Chapter 211: You think he is the dragon monarch?

The very next day, news of the attack at the Royal Academy spread through the capital like wildfire, burning through every tavern, market, and noble estate.

Rumors spiraled out of control. A dangerous mage had infiltrated the academy—the bastion of the kingdom’s future—and attacked the Duke of the Aurelian Duchy directly.

Questions hung heavy in the air, whispered behind hands and shouted in the streets. Who would dare? Who had the audacity to strike at Dorian Aurelian, the man who had single-handedly revolutionized the kingdom’s economy?

To the common folk, the answer was obvious. It wasn’t news that certain factions of the nobility despised Dorian for the immense growth and power he had brought to the kingdom. But envy was only the surface of the hatred.

It wasn’t new for Dorian to crack down on corrupt nobles, stripping them of their titles and lands without a shred of mercy or hesitation.

While this ruthlessness forced other nobles to walk a straight line out of fear, it also festered a deep, boiling resentment. They wondered how a mere Duke—a former Baron—wielded such absolute power over everyone.

Hell, the darker rumors even speculated that he was secretly the King’s lover. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

All in all, the citizens began to suspect the old guard. They believed the established nobles were plotting to end the Duke to save their own skins.

This suspicion curdled into widespread hate.

Crowds gathered in front of noble mansions, chanting hateful words, demanding justice for the man who had given them light and jobs.

To the public, the mage was a mercenary hired by a powerful, jealous figure.

But within the castle walls, to the King and her inner circle, they knew exactly what nightmare had just walked through their gates.

...

Inside the King’s Throne Room, the atmosphere was suffocating.

Revina sat upon her throne, her posture rigid, her expression an unreadable mask of regal indifference.

Beside her stood Alex, her loyal bodyguard and advisor, his hand resting casually near the hilt of his sword.

Chairs had been arranged on both sides of the room, turning the audience chamber into a battleground for a confrontational meeting regarding the Academy incident.

On one side sat the military might of the kingdom: Duke Salvaina, calm and calculating, and beside him, Duke Teriam Gorgia, a man whose bulk was matched only by his bluster.

Opposite them sat the spiritual authority: High Priest Sandro Hentro, the leader of all churches within the Lumberg Kingdom.

The tension was palpable. With everyone present, the silence stretched until it was broken by the High Priest. He looked directly at King Revina, his eyes sharp and probing.

"Your Majesty, if I may," Sandro began, his voice smooth but carrying the weight of the church.

Revina didn’t flinch. She looked his way, her eyes cold. "Carry on."

"Where is the young man who was at the center of the recent attack?" Sandro asked, glancing around the room as if expecting Dorian to pop out from behind a pillar.

"I expected that he would be here to clarify the situation. It involves him, does it not?"

Revina kept quiet.

A flicker of annoyance crossed her face. She hated being questioned, especially about him.

Sensing the shift in the air, Alex decided it was best he responded. As the King’s right hand, he wielded more authority in this room than anyone save Revina herself, regardless of the High Priest’s influence on history.

"Duke Dorian is currently revisiting a site in the kingdom. Urgent business regarding the restoration," Alex lied smoothly. "He has refused to partake in this discussion, but rest assured, he has already told us all he knows regarding the assailant."

Upon hearing Alex’s reply to the priest, Revina looked to the side, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from throwing a small tantrum. Dorian’s refusal to attend was typical, but it made her job harder.

Sandro frowned, his dissatisfaction evident.

But it wasn’t just him. Duke Gorgia wore the same look of disdain.

Both men were wondering how Dorian had the audacity to refuse a summons from the Council.

To them, it was a slap in the face of tradition.

"If Duke Dorian has refused to attend, then it must be for a good reason," Duke Salvaina spoke up, his voice cutting through the silent judgment. He sat with his arms folded, glancing at the priest with a look that suggested he knew more than he was letting on. "I say we not dwell on his absence and move on with the meeting."

"Right, right, exactly. We have bigger problems to worry about than attendance records," Alex chimed in, eager to move the topic away from Dorian.

However, the priest still kept his eyes on Salvaina.

He had heard the rumors—that Salvaina had made his own daughter Dorian’s personal guard and adopted sister. It was clear he was willing to defend the upstart Duke.

Revina decided to drop the hammer.

"Yesterday’s attack was caused by the Witch Bonnie," she voiced out, her tone dropping an octave. "The Witch of Turmoil."

Gasp!

The reaction was instantaneous. They all looked towards her, shock and horror etched onto their faces. The air left the room.

"The Witch..." Sandro stammered, unable to complete his sentence.

Revina looked at them, calm and collected in the face of their panic. She had expected this reaction. If anything, she had expected worse.

For as long as the kingdom had existed, Witches had been their ultimate enemies. Powerful beings serving under the Witch God, dedicating their immortal lives to reviving the Demon Lord—the Dragon Monarch—and making him theirs.

Their goal wasn’t just theological; they planned to take over the heavenly realm and the mortal realm alike, reshaping existence for the Demon Lord to rule.

As such, they were enemies of the Gods, and by extension, enemies of mankind.

For years, the Kingdom of Lumberg had been the bulwark against this darkness, holding the highest kill rate of witches in history.

This made the witches wary of them.

Not only did King Revina, who had ruled for hundreds of years, wield the sacred blade Faja—a weapon capable of killing a witch permanently—but she could also extend her white mana to her soldiers, creating a special operations team tasked with hunting witches.

But for years, the witches had gone into hiding. They had been ghosts, myths to scare children.

Yet now, for some reason, one of them had dared to show herself in the very kingdom known as the Hell Warden for Witches.

"I see," Salvaina uttered, the first to recover. "I knew a time would come when they would come out of their hiding. That said, to attack Lumberg of all places... it had to be for a good reason if they were willing to take such a dangerous risk."

"And for it to be one of the Seven Leading Witches, Bonnie the Witch of Turmoil, is even more surprising," Gorgia added, his gravelly voice filled with concern. "Why the Academy? Witches look for destruction and chaos. I expected a military zone or the palace."

Revina leaned forward, her eyes narrowing. It was time for the second truth.

"I am sure you all are aware of the Witches’ main goal. It is to lay claim to the Demon Lord, to worship him mind and soul," Revina exposed, letting the words hang in the air.

"The Demon Lord has awakened already. And he walks among us."

While Salvaina didn’t give much of a reaction—his face a mask of calculated neutrality—the remaining two seemed even more shocked than when they heard the witch was back.

"You’re saying... the man who went by many names, the Dragon Monarch... from the legends, has returned to this realm?"

Sandro nearly stood up from his chair, gripping the armrests until his knuckles turned white, eager to hear a response from Ravina.

"Yes," she replied simply.

Both Sandro and Gorgia gasped in shock.

"Where is he? Your Majesty, you have to tell us!" Sandro leaned against the wood of the table, his religious fervor taking over.

"I, the High Priest, though following the direct guidelines of the God of Light, I have also been a follower of the Great Dragon Monarch lore. If such a being is truly here in this age and time, then I must meet with him."

"Calm your excitement, High Priest," Alex reprimanded sharply.

"You know the King cannot do something like that. Not now. We are certain the reason for the Witch’s attack was due to the appearance of the Dragon Monarch. We must tread with caution and keep his identity a secret."

"That makes no sense!" Gorgia clapped back, slamming his hand on the table.

"The witches have proved no threat to us! Her Majesty can wipe them all out with the Holy Blade. We have the means to protect the Dragon Monarch if he is truly here in the flesh. Bring him out! How are we to know if he is a fake or not without seeing him?"

Revina’s eyes flashed with danger.

"Are you insinuating that Her Majesty made a mistake?" she asked, her voice low and deadly. "Need I remind you that I wield the blade Faja, gifted to my bloodline by the Dragon Monarch himself? Do you think I would not recognize his aura?"

Gorgia opened his mouth, then closed it.

He could not find a viable response to that.

Salvaina chose not to get involved in their back-and-forth.

He sat silently, observing. His knowledge far superseded the two of them, and he knew when to keep his cards close to his chest.

Suddenly, a thought seemed to strike Sandro. He looked from Revina to Alex, and a look of disbelief crossed his face.

"Wait... don’t tell me..." Sandro held back a laugh, his voice trembling with incredulity. "Her Majesty believes Duke Dorian is the Dragon Monarch?"

He snorted. "Because he happened to find layers of dragon eggs in the mountain?"

As the official story went, Dorian happened to find dragon eggs deep in the abandoned mountains and found a way to make them crack.

But the King, Revina, was the one who used her blade and Exlor to tame the dragons.

Then, she offered them to Dorian, allowing him to add them to his army as a reward for his service.

This was what most people believed, even though there was never an official story leading to it.

The priest went on, the look of laughter even more evident on his face now.

"I did hear rumors that there were people who believed that man was the reincarnation of the Dragon Monarch because of his intellect. But isn’t that all there is to it? Can we really call him that just because he happens to be very smart? It makes no sense."

Crack.

Revina gripped her armrest tight, the wood groaning under the pressure.

As King, she had always been trained on how to speak to her subjects, to maintain composure at all times. But any time it involved Dorian, she had little tolerance for disrespect.

"Do you believe the Dragon Monarch would reveal himself to the same species that brought him to his knees in the past?"

She uttered the words with a venom that shocked the room.

Alex, who was standing right beside her, realized instantly that she had spoken with too much emotion—too much personal defense.

Smack!

Knowing she had spoken more than she needed to, Alex slammed his palm onto his face.