53. Operational Plans
Late at night, Reina arrived at the deserted warehouse and sat on the sofa. A full-length mirror was placed before her, reflecting the image of a well-proportioned, blue-haired maid, her figure alluring and graceful under the dim magical light.
Looking at her reflection, she closed her eyes and reflected on herself.
After arriving at the Dragon King’s Palace, she had four operational tasks.
The first was to manage the Azure Scale Knights.
Throughout the history of the dragon race, the foundation of every [Demon Moon]’s establishment and survival had been their sphere of influence. Relying solely on individual strength was an outdated method. Even though Reina believed she could currently defeat any evil dragon in a one-on-one fight, she still decisively chose to manage the Azure Scale Knights.
As a [Demon Moon], besides having an obedient… relatively obedient Calysia, Reina only had the Azure Scale Knights… This knight order was merely the Dragon King’s personal guard and didn’t hold any real weight within the dragon race.
Reina had Ann and Azure cooperate to first investigate who among them were spies for other factions and identify trustworthy knights to cultivate. As for the others, they were either “potential recruits” with wavering loyalties or spies sent by other Demon Moons.
Those suspected of being traitors were directly assigned by Reina to missions outside the [Silver Dragon Airspace]. This ensured that they wouldn’t pose much of a threat or leak information.
Solidifying the Azure Scale Knights as her own secure base was her primary objective.
Second, managing the human world.
Based on the letters she had received, Reina was absolutely certain that humanity wasn’t in a desperate situation.
First, most human territories were occupied by orcs. Relying on the power granted by treasures, they had become the most prominent demon nation in the world. Compared to their territory, both the blood race and the dragon race seemed somewhat insignificant.
But this wasn’t entirely a disadvantage for Reina. Precisely because of the orcs’ rampant behavior, humanity’s hatred was directed towards them. Therefore, using the conflict between orcs and humans to create her own sphere of influence was the key to Reina’s plan.
Reina assigned Ann, her most trusted subordinate, to the areas bordering the human world, and had her maintain contact with the human spies. This way, both sending and receiving letters could be done at a relatively safe distance.
As for now, the humans believed Reina was the Goddess of Light, and they believed Ann was the hero who saved humanity…
In reality, Reina was already half-dragon, and Ann was a full-fledged succubus.
As Reina had predicted, the letter from the humans, though delayed, finally arrived:
“Dear Hero, we are deeply grateful for your protection and assistance. May we establish more frequent contact?”
“We are very interested in the Goddess of Light you mentioned. We believe that the gospel of the Goddess of Light will eventually return to us and cleanse all disasters.”
Thus, initial trust had been established. The next step was to continue constructing this fictional persona to give Reina a suitable identity in the human world.
When the time was right, Reina would break free from Calysia’s control and return to the human world—that was her current aspiration.
But the reality might not be ideal. First, Reina’s light magic was severely tainted. Her ability to manipulate dark light made her seem like a demon goddess. Second, her identity as a dragon might have already spread throughout the world… She had even been kissed forcefully by Calysia in public last time!
The third point was managing the Dragon Realm.
This Dragon Realm seems to be asking for trouble.
…Reina gave this assessment.
After taking over some of Calysia’s work, Reina discovered something quite interesting.
None of the four [Demon Moons] seemed reliable.
Not only were they unreliable, they were even suspected of switching sides.
Shining Scale, Crimson Scale, Gold Scale, and White Scale.
Among them, Crimson Scale and Gold Scale had already been blacklisted by Reina.
White Scale was a super shut-in, not leaving her home for centuries.
Shining Scale remained neutral, worked diligently, and focused solely on survival, embodying the word “cowardly” to the extreme.
Reina felt a headache—seeing this, she was almost certain that the Dragon Realm needed a complete overhaul. That Calysia completely ignored this matter because she believed that as long as her individual strength was enough to crush everything, she could get whatever she wanted.
If this continued, Calysia’s fate was still worrying. She was a fool who couldn’t be left alone.
Although Reina didn’t want to bother with the affairs of the dragon race, as managing the human world was her priority, as the saying went, “If the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold”—if the internal crisis of the dragon race couldn’t be resolved, Reina wouldn’t extend her hand to the human world, a paradise untouched by the current conflict.
She couldn’t rush things.
Of course, what also gave Reina a headache were the dissenting voices. Therefore, many decisions were made in Calysia’s name.
—This way, any complaints would be directed at that dummy Calysia.
Based on the current results, Reina had already successfully directed the dragon race’s attention towards the orcs. She would also participate in the upcoming battle between the blood race and the orcs. This would obviously step on some toes, but Reina wasn’t afraid.
After all, she was far too familiar with both orcs and dragons.
Finally, Reina had to manage Calysia.
Calysia was a huge dummy. Besides being lazy and gluttonous every day, she would always drag Reina into doing things with her. If it weren’t for Reina’s excellent time management skills… she would absolutely never agree to Calysia’s daily invitations to engage in various strange recreational activities.
To prevent Calysia from taking advantage of her, Reina would sometimes deliberately avoid her and occasionally try to educate her.
To prevent getting pregnant with dragon eggs.
But what Reina couldn’t ignore were the growing dragon features since returning from Wood Village—her horns were becoming more vibrant, her limbs were becoming stronger, more like a dragon’s, and she could even control the growth of dragon scales on certain parts of her body.
If it were just an internal influence, Reina wouldn’t be worried at all.
The problem was, she seemed to be about to grow a tail.
One day, Reina woke up from a drowsy sleep and discovered a hard, bluish-purple scale growing on her fair skin above her buttocks. It felt like a strange, soft tissue.
This, besides the dragon horns, was the most unacceptable thing for Reina.
Reina opened her eyes. She had already taken off her clothes, and her reflection in the mirror revealed her fair skin and alluring curves, a sight that made her blush.
She tentatively touched the still underdeveloped dragon tail, and her whole body trembled as if electrocuted, filling her with shame and unease.
She couldn’t accept this reality.
“I don’t want to become a dragon…”
Reina wondered what went wrong.
First, it definitely wasn’t battle or time. She had calculated it perfectly, and Little Cal had helped her as well.
Second, it definitely wasn’t the magic transfer. Simply replenishing vassal magic power wouldn’t affect the Dragon Mark’s growth.
So, there was only one possibility.
“Did I fall in love with Calysia?”
Reina looked at the blue-haired dragon girl sitting in front of the mirror, stripped down to her underwear, and voiced her doubts.
