Pioneer Lord: I Have Conquering System

Atop the small hill, fully armed Beastman Barbarians manned their Bed Crossbows, glaring down menacingly. Below, the Silver Dragon trembled.

Both sides in this conflict shared one thing in common: they each believed themselves to be at an absolute disadvantage. If a fight broke out, the outcome would be impossible to predict—a situation exceedingly rare in the history of warfare.

Sophia worried that the slightest move would get her shot full of holes; she highly doubted her Dragon Scales could withstand Bed Crossbows of this caliber. The people of High Cliff Castle, meanwhile, feared the Giant Dragon knew devastatingly lethal Magic, so they watched its every move.

The moment they detected any preparatory movements for Casting, they would pull the trigger and fire the Crossbow Arrows without hesitation.

Sophia was so full of regret she wanted to cry. ’Why did I have to run away from home? Great. Now I’m cornered right outside my own door.’

She could already picture herself being captured, her Dragon Sinew, Dragon Blood, Dragon Scales, and Dragon Heart sold off to various places.

Levi propped his custom-made Mountain Copper Shield to the side, his hand tightly gripping the wickedly designed, chain-linked Fish Spear.

The Lord’s eyes narrowed, his gaze fixed intently upon the Silver Dragon.

At a distance of one hundred paces, he was ninety-nine percent confident he could drive the Fish Spear into the Giant Dragon’s body.

Just then, the Silver Dragon moved. It used its claw to pick up a dusty, tattered scrap of cloth and let it flutter in the wind.

"What is it doing?"

Levi wondered if it was some kind of medium for Casting Magic; for all he knew, that unimpressive gray cloth could be a Magic Material imbued with immense Magic Power.

"Is that... a white flag?" Zat said, sounding uncertain.

Sophia Anse Ledesma was a Silver Dragon—to be precise, the third daughter of the Silver Dragon Clan on Dragon Island. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

On Dragon Island, life was carefree. Every day, the Dragon Race elders told Legendary tales of the Giant Dragons who had roamed the Middle Ages Continent, so she never had to worry about any real danger.

But the world was so vast, and Sophia wanted to go out and see it.

The more Legendary tales she heard, the more she couldn’t suppress the restless stirring in her heart.

In the stories, those Legendary Giant Dragons had amassed fortunes that could rival entire kingdoms; some had even established their own Dragon Kingdom.

Whenever she heard about the great deeds of her predecessors, Sophia grew so envious she wanted to fly away from Dragon Island that very instant and head for the Middle Ages Continent.

However, Dragon Island had its rules: only adults were allowed to leave the island to travel abroad.

She could only sigh in frustration and suppress the impulse deep within her heart.

Then one day, after toiling for her Uncle Fiat for an entire day, she finally earned a reward of ten Silver Coins.

Just as she was gleefully about to deposit them into her Little Dragon Coin Jar, that old woman who gave birth to her unexpectedly showed up. Without a shred of mercy, she emptied out the treasures Sophia had been saving for so long and confiscated them.

The pretext was that she was still too young, a spendthrift who couldn’t hold on to money, and that her mother would return it all when she came of age.

She flew into a rage, but for a Giant Dragon, age equals Power, and she lacked the strength to even resist.

After that, the thought of escaping Dragon Island became irrepressible. Having already scouted out the loopholes in the Guard patrols, she packed her bags and fled that very night.

Following a map she had stolen from her Uncle Fiat, she arrived in this very Wilderness.

From then on, everything went as smoothly as she had imagined. Emulating what the Legendary Giant Dragons in the stories did in their youth, she used her reputation as a Giant Dragon to gather a group of subordinates as soon as she arrived.

According to her plan, she would hide in her lair and have her subordinates collect treasure for her. Once she had collected enough, she could return to Dragon Island in style.

But now...

She had woken up to find her home surrounded, and her Subordinate Corps was nowhere to be seen.

Although she had no idea what had happened, Sophia knew that if she made a single move, she would become nothing more than a stepping stone to fame for these Dragon Slayers.

To survive, to stay alive, Sophia decided to surrender. She had always firmly believed that for a dragon, simply staying alive was the most important thing.

’A Giant Dragon’s honor... can you eat it?’

"So, you’re saying you surrender?"

The Lord cautiously approached the Silver Dragon, holding up his Giant Shield. He peeked his head out from behind it to confirm again.

Legendary Dragon Slayers would typically rest both hands on the hilt of their Dragon-slaying Sword and face the Giant Dragon head-on. It made for a more impressive sight.

Levi, however, believed his own life was more important than looking impressive. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

After all, it was entirely possible the Giant Dragon was trying to lure him over and employ the tactic of "to catch the bandits, first catch the king."

If he had a few Archbishops from the Church Court by his side to protect him with the Radiant Holy Shield Technique, he might have gritted his teeth and gone for it. But in reality, all he had was a group of clueless Beastman Barbarians.

Even Orak the Shaman was a second-rate practitioner who could only cast self-buffing Magic.

Risking his own safety on the hope that his enemy would keep their word, just for the sake of looking cool? That was just asking for death, and not in a smart way.

As for looking impressive, once he was away from here, couldn’t he describe his own heroic figure however he wanted to the scholars and Minstrels?

It was only when he stood before the Silver Dragon that Levi truly grasped the immense size of a Giant Dragon. This Silver Dragon might only be considered an adolescent whelp among the Legendary Giant Dragons of lore, but even so, its body was a good thirty paces long, and it stood as tall as a two-story building.

Levi couldn’t begin to imagine what a true Legendary Giant Dragon must look like. He now understood that his earlier thoughts about slaying a dragon had been far too naive.

Sophia nodded hurriedly, speaking in flawless Common Tongue, "I surrender! As long as you don’t kill me, I am at your mercy."