Chapter 149
Kathe sipped her tea and muttered .
“I see . So the water dragons are in a lot of trouble then . ”
Just then, Dorgo glared at her .
“I told you many times…”
“Oh, yes . You did . But you didn’t say anything about helping them . ”
“Well, there was no talk of help until yesterday…”
“Is that so! Then it cannot be helped that I didn’t know about it . ”
Kathe was relieved . She stuffed a pastry into her mouth .
Dorgo looked annoyed . He straightened his posture .
“Kathe . I mean, Wind Dragon Ruler . ”
“D… Uh, Dorgo . What is it?”
“I do believe that I contacted you last night . ”
“Eh?”
Kathe started to rummage through her pockets .
Then she took out a bracelet . It had a pretty red gemstone on it .
She began to control the device .
“Oh, you are right…”
“Your Majesty . Have I not told you this before?”
“…Yes . ”
“Even if you are not in the palace, you must be reachable . You must check the bracelet . ”
“…Yes . You did say that . ”
“This is most unfortunate indeed . ”
“Yes . ”
“What would you do in an emergency? Do you realize that you are a ruler?”
“I am very sorry . ”
Kathe looked downcast as she was scolded .
Her tail drooped weakly to the floor .
Once the lecture was finished, Dorgo turned to us and bowed .
“I am most sorry that you had to see that . ”
“No, no! Do not worry yourself on our account . ”
“Yes . Don’t think about it!”
Goran agreed with me .
Eric sipped his tea with a smile and said,
“I think it is a very fine thing that one as young as Kathe has decided to take the position of ruler . ”
“Oh, you exaggerate . ”
Kathe looked bashful .
I ignored them and turned to Dorgo .
“But Mister Dorgo, you look quite healthy still . Why did you decide to step down as king?”
“It is normal for our heirs to take our place once they reach a certain age . ”
“I see . That’s quite different from us humans . ”
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“Yes . We have longer lives, after all . If we only passed on our royal authority when we died, who knows how long it would take?”
“I suppose you are right…”
Eric didn’t seem to like this explanation very much .
It was not a good reason to make someone so young king, in his opinion .
Dorgo saw this and continued .
“Aside from our lifespan, humans and dragons are not so different . ”
“Really? But what does that have to do with…”
“If we used the same system as humans, it would result in similar power struggles among the dragons . ”
I had never imagined that dragons would do such a thing .
It was a little surprising .
Eric and Goran also looked surprised .
“And what about a child with parents who could die at any moment? With such long lives, there is a high possibility that dragon children could die before their parents . And so they might want to take power by force . ”
“So long lives rob you of patience?”
Eric asked .
Humans lived for nearly one hundred years . That was very short compared to the high elves .
As for dragons, they could live for tens of thousands of years .
You would think that long lives would mean lots of patience .
“Of course, I think we have more patience than humans . We could wait for hundreds of years . However, our parents would not die of old age . ”
“I see . ”
“Besides, we do not weaken as we age . We may get stronger, but not weaker . ’
In that case, their children may never become king .
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“And so having them inherit the throne early is a form of self-preservation for us . ”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, we can still be killed . ”
“But aren’t parents stronger for having lived longer?”
“Most of the times, yes . But as they say, sometimes a kite can breed a hawk . ”
“I see . ”
“And there are many ways for weak people to kill those who are strong . ”
Poison, traps, ambushes, attacking in large numbers . There were many ways indeed .
“Giving it to them before they become impatient will prevent them from killing their parents . ”
Goran heard this and said,
“I can only imagine how ferocious a power struggle between dragons would be . ”
“Yes . It will be a battle between very powerful dragons . It would affect the terrain and even the weather . ”
Dorgo said with a laugh . But I could tell that he did not think it was funny .
It would change the terrain because the high dragons had that much power .
“It’s not only between parent and child . Brothers and sisters may also fight . And so all of it can be avoided my making them king while they are still young . ”
“I see . So it is up to the parent to stop any sibling rivalry . ”
It was a common thing among humans .
But when humans fought for the crown, many people died .
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But for dragons, the lands were destroyed .
And so they had a system in place to discourage it .
“But dad is stronger than me! And so I think that he should do all of the work . ”
“Kathe . That logic is flawed . ”
Kathe had blurted this out with confidence, and so she looked troubled when I argued against her .
“…Is it?”
“Yes . ”
“Mister Ruck is right . Inheriting the position early also has the purpose of teaching you . ”
This way, an experienced king could support and educate the successor .
It was that kind of system .
Now that I think about it, it made a lot of sense .
“Maybe humans should do the same . Eh, Eric?”
“Unfortunately, I don’t think it would work well with humans . ”
“Really?”
“There is the relationship with your relatives and dissension among the nobles…”
“Hmmm . ”
“Besides, I doubt the new king would enjoy having the previous ruler hovering around them . ”
“That’s true . ”
Using the same system for humans seemed like it would just cause more fighting .
That’s what I thought .