The Reincarnated Lizardman Wants a Hamburger

Kurt and his party’s journey proceeded smoothly, and after continuing their travels, they eventually reached the Dragon Kingdom.

Dragon Kingdom Dragmar.

As the name “Dragon Kingdom” and the national title “Dragmar” suggest, it is the only country on the continent ruled by dragons.

In fact, this was quite unusual, as dragons were not recognized as members of society in any other country, and dragons themselves refused to live alongside other humanoid races.

Some countries even classified dragons as monsters, despite their intelligence and ability to communicate, contrasting sharply with how goblins and orcs, who once opposed humans, were still classified as humanoid races despite being despised as demonic.

The reason lay in the dragons’ arrogance and greed.

Dragons are a powerful race, born with strong bodies, astonishingly long lifespans, and exceptional aptitude for magic.

However, the problem was that they were not only born with immense power.

The overwhelming strength they possessed from birth inevitably led them to view other intelligent races as inferior beings, seeing them not as equals to be respected but as subjects to be exploited.

The result was a living calamity that slaughtered countless people and enslaved them according to their whims.

It was only natural that the Holy Kingdom classified dragons as one of the Four Great Evils, a group of four races harmful to humanity.

The demons, who once enslaved races like orcs and goblins, used them as armies to wage war against humans, bringing them to the brink of extinction and still regarded as the worst of the Four Great Evils.

The fallen vampires, who sustain their existence by using human lives as fuel.

The wizards, whose origins are tied to the Ancient Empire, posing the risk of revealing the empire’s secrets and sometimes actively using its knowledge to become agents of calamity.

And the dragons, who consider themselves the only true humanoid race, viewing other races as mere talking livestock.

Among these, demons and vampires are inherently evil and are hunted down by the Holy Kingdom on sight, while wizards and dragons were once actively reduced in number through witch hunts and dragon slayings.

As a result, the current Dragon Kingdom was surprisingly livable.

Why, you ask, is a country ruled by dragons, classified as one of the Four Great Evils, a livable place?

Because the dragons who made it unlivable were all slain by the Holy Kingdom.

In any case, the Dragon Kingdom was, in conclusion, a fairly decent country.

While the royal family and high nobility titles were reserved for dragons, and non-dragon races could only rise to the rank of low nobility at best, and dragons were revered and worshipped, these were minor conditions.

Excluding such trivialities, the Dragon Kingdom’s rule was relatively moderate.

The dragons, who governed each region, were each akin to a grand mage, and even without their magical abilities, their powerful bodies were equivalent to an army. They used their abilities to ensure bountiful harvests and protect their territories from monsters and foreign invasions.

In return, the common folk had to serve and worship the dragons for their entire lives, but from their perspective, it was merely a change from serving human nobles to serving dragons, leaving them with safe and prosperous farmland under dragon protection.

Thus, the current Dragon Kingdom was an unprecedented example of peaceful coexistence between humans and dragons since dragons first appeared on the continent.

—

The royal palace of the Dragon Kingdom, Dragmar.

In this exceptionally special palace, where only the pinnacle of dragons could reside, two dragons were in opposition.

One was the golden dragon, Queen Fulurdis, who ruled the Dragon Kingdom, her noble aura unmistakable even in her dragon form.

The other was the red dragon Albus, whose mere presence caused heat waves to ripple around him, a dragon of fiery temperament.

Despite being the most prosperous and ideal coexistence of humans and dragons in history, conflicts were inevitable.

No, perhaps it was precisely because of this era that hidden tensions were rising even more.

Within the Dragon Kingdom, two factions of dragons were locked in a stalemate, their disagreements unyielding, like a tightly stretched rubber band ready to snap at any moment.

The regressionists argued that the current subservient role of dragons to humans was laughable, akin to a master fawning over livestock, and that dragons should return to their former ways of life.

The civilizationists countered that the current prosperity and glory were only possible because they had abandoned their barbaric past, and returning to those days would only bring back an era of hunting and persecution.

As the Dragon Kingdom grew richer and more stable, the conflict only intensified, reaching even the royal palace, where voices were raised in factional disputes…

“Ha… Son, I heard at the recent council meeting that the son of Duke Brigand in the north, who’s 50 years younger than you, has already inherited a barony and is ruling it. You’re over 200 years old now; shouldn’t you be doing something?”

“…”

Raising their voices in factional disputes…

“Can you at least answer? You’re over 200 years old now; how long are you going to stay cooped up in the capital playing card games? I’m so embarrassed in front of the ministers.”

“It’s not just a card game; it’s a tabletop strategy simulation called ‘Battle of Worlds’! It’s an intellectual and refined hobby!”

“My, my! Look at how you talk to your mother! This won’t do. I should have the printing house that makes those cards audited right away.”

“Ah! Really! Just try it!”

“My, my! Are you really going to breathe fire at your mother?”

Factional disputes…

“And isn’t that card the same as the one you bought last time? Did you think I wouldn’t notice? How many of the same cards are you going to buy?”

“It’s not the same card! It’s a rare version from a regional tournament prize! And I didn’t buy it; I won it! Though I did pay the entry fee… You don’t even understand!”

No, this wasn’t a factional dispute; it was just a family squabble.

Even a queen ruling a nation had children, and even a dragon born with the qualities of a grand mage had adolescence.

In the royal palace of the Dragon Kingdom, the subjects were dragons, but a very common mother-son argument was unfolding.

Even a queen was, after all, just a mother worried about her unreliable child, and even a crown prince was, at home, just a rebellious teenager.

In the end, Queen Fulurdis, faced with Albus’s stubbornness, decided to postpone the tax audit on the card game printing house and took a step back.

“Ha… Fine. That’s enough. Do you remember the ball I attended last time? I met the young lady of Duke Eclair, who just debuted in society. She’s quite charming, with clear, white scales. So, I was thinking, I’ll arrange a meeting soon, and you can at least meet her…”

“Ah! I can handle it myself!”

Though the queen had taken a step back, from the perspective of a 200-year-old adolescent dragon like Albus, it was still excessive meddling.

Finally, unable to endure the unproductive argument, Albus stood up from his seat.

Thud!

Though still a hatchling, Albus’s body had grown to the size of an adult dragon, and each step he took caused the floor to tremble as if a small earthquake had occurred.

Just as one might unintentionally slam a door due to the pressure change when opening it, Albus’s movements, though not intended to shake the ground, had a similar effect.

And such situations often fuel parent-child arguments, and dragons were no exception.

At Albus’s seemingly rude behavior, the queen, like any parent, slit her pupils vertically.

“Child! Are you trying to collapse the floor?!”

“Ah… Seriously!”

At this point, Albus couldn’t back down.

In the end, Albus, with an annoyed voice, shapeshifted and stormed out of the palace.

—

“Seriously, so annoying…”

Albus, having argued with the queen, walked the streets in a foul mood.

His appearance was now perfectly human, thanks to his experience sneaking into card game tournaments, so no one recognized him on the street.

Blending naturally into the crowd as he had done dozens of times before, Albus didn’t hide his irritation.

The queen had become increasingly naggy in recent decades.

Especially after attending social events or council meetings, it was unbearable.

Of course, he knew it was all out of concern for him as the future king of the Dragon Kingdom, but…

“Running the kingdom? Just get some competent human to do it. Isn’t it weird that just because I was born the queen’s son, I have to be king? It’s not like royal blood is special or anything…”

The problem was that Albus himself had no interest in power, a thought that would make the queen’s breath reverse if she heard it.

“Well, since I’m out now, I’ll have to spend the next few weeks outside.”

What should he do to pass the time?

As he pondered, a group of adventurers, including a lizardman, caught his eye.

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