Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 73: Preparations (1)

The story is stubbed. Some of its chapters are only available over on Kindle Unlimited. You can read up to chapter 4 for free here, including any chapters beyond the books I've published. Link to Amazon.“Survival of the fittest is easier said than done...why couldn't I have been reborn a bit bigger, huh?”If waking up in a new world wasn't bad enough, an idealistic teen starts her new life as a newborn dragon not by being embraced by a loving family, but having to escape two hungry kobolds wanting some grilled lizard for breakfast. Now, status screens obscure her vision in a hostile forest filled with vicious magical monsters, as two concerning Titles welcome her to her new life.Equipped with fragmented memories from her past life and the game-like mechanics of her new reality, the young dragon must face trials and tribulation, undeterred by the reaper's scythe inches from her neck. Despite her challenges, she is determined to find civilization. For nothing will stop her from fulfilling her one true desire: to become an Idol.Note: I am currently editing and rewriting my early chapters due to growing as an author over these two years. If you guys notice a sudden drop in writing quality or not a note that this chapter was edited, then please know that I haven't edited them yet. I am using you guys' feedback to grow, so thank you for your patience!

“Hey, Yoshi-kun. I think you’re——”

Hearing that voice for the first time stopped me in my tracks. On my way home from school. On the playing field of our junior high, and at the bookshop in front of the station. And then in the empty lot where the white cat slept. Shiina Yuki, the strange girl who somehow knew all about me, always approached me like that.

We laughed, cried, got angry, held hands. Again and again, we repeated those disappearing memories and ephemeral promises. That’s why I never knew. I never knew the value of Yuki’s smiles or the meaning of her tears. Nor even the singular sentiment behind her many ‘Nice to meet you’s.

This is a captivating, heartrending tale of meetings and partings.

Heartbreak was the worst thing Kanata thought he’d face this week. He was wrong.When the world begins to rot and the dead rise, survival becomes the only thing that matters. Trapped in a school turned slaughterhouse, Kanata finds himself side by side with unexpected allies—his sharp-tongued childhood friend, a fierce upperclassman with a blade, and a dangerously calm teacher with a mysterious past.With betrayal still fresh and the world falling apart, Kanata isn’t looking to be a hero. He just wants to stay alive.But in the apocalypse… staying alive is the hardest part.

Rei just wanted to read novels in peace, no girlfriends, no drama, no accidental death by divine lightning meant for a cockroach…But for now, he is the son of a powerful duke, reincarnated into a fantasy world full of magic, monsters—and dangerously obsessed women.They were childhood friends of that duke son. They all are sweet noble girls. One is emperor’s daughter and one is my older sister. Now they’re grown up… and they all want one thing.And that thing is Rei.Welcome to a world where love means stalking, loyalty means stabbing your rivals, and marriage proposals come with blood pacts and fireballs and even my system mocks me. Rei fiancées battle each other daily and his life is a romantic comedy… except it’s also a warzone.Oh, and his final mission is marry the Demon Queen. A literal succubus overlord trying to conquer the world.Somebody please help him. In a realm of swords, sorcery, and yandere chaos. So, he can find peace or at least keep his limbs attached.