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Villain Awakening: Rising to the Strongest Dragon God-Chapter 44: Harsh Empire
An uncanny pressure pressed down on the stable. The thieves couldn’t move.Three figures frozen in the stable darkness.
Sweat pouring down their faces, necks, backs, every part of their bodies slick with terror. Hearts gripping in chests like fists clenching too hard.
Auryn’s eyes glowed brighter. Crimson and gold threatening to devour them.
Auryn looked closely, noticing the trio was made up of two men and a woman.
The woman was young. She looked maybe fourteen. The younger male was probably same age, barely old enough to hold a knife without shaking.
This society is just like the modern world.Or maybe it’s worse.Things are deteriorating pretty damn fast. He thought.
Auryn’s aura pulled back slightly. Just enough they could breathe again.
He was about to wave them off with a warning when he noticed a similarity between them.
In an instant, Auryn appeared in front of the older man before he could even blink or take another step.
He held him by the collar and the man’s leg left the ground. Auryn lifted him and it felt like he was as light as paper.
Their eyes met as he raised the older man up then Auryn tilted his head ever so slightly.
His voice was cold with annoyance and disgust.
"That’s not how you raise kids, you bastard" He cursed.
Tossing the man straight into one of the stable openings like dirt. The man crashed into the barricade leaving wooden splinters everywhere.
He looked back at the boy and girl and honestly didn’t know how to help them right now.
He knew very well that poverty was easily one of the reasons for this lifestyle of theft.
Auryn sighed inwardly.
"Run." His voice was cold with finality. "If I ever see you again doing this. I will keep your lives as mine. Do you understand?"
The children nodded like lizards in the dark. Auryn’s eyes menacing enough even without his draconic aura.
The older thief, even amidst splinters and pain was still the first to respond. He crawled like retreating rat and scrambled through the rubble and runnibg like a mad man.
The other two followed as they ran stumbling, gasping, fleeing into the night like prey who barely escaped a predator’s jaws.
Auryn watched them disappear. Aura fading completely. The stable boy was pressed against the wall in fear. He couldn’t speak or move.
Auryn checked his Mare and everything was intact. Nothing was stolen. He ran his hand across the horse’s back.
"Good girl,"
He turned, walking back inside. Behind him, the stable boy finally exhaled. Clutching at his still beating heart. Auryn hadn’t paid him attention and yet it felt like his chest was about to explode.
Inside the establishment was louder than usual. The evening crowd settled in. Firelight throwing shadows across wooden tables and scratched benches.
Auryn found Borin at a corner table. Two mugs already waiting. Two already empty.
"Handled it?" Borin asked without looking up. He’d sensed the eyes on them earlier but opted to ignore, knowing Auryn could handle it.
"They ran away," Auryn said.
"Ran away or you let them go?"Borin grunted as he chugged down the next pint.
Auryn sat, didn’t answer nor touch his drink. Just held it. Staring at the bubbles at the top with a innate detest.
Soon voices drifted from nearby tables. Near the hearth, farmers discussed the upcoming Goldflame Festival with the tired resignation of men who couldn’t afford what tradition demanded.
"Three weeks out. Are you going?" One asked.
"If the harvest holds. I can’t afford the offerings this year. Last year’s tribute nearly left me without a coin to my name."
Another farmer spat into the fire. "Nobles take and take. Don’t give us nothing back. Those bastards"
The three men just resigned themselves to the depths of their cups.
A bit closer to the bar, laborers spoke in lower tones about something darker.
"Heard about house Rollo? Brother-in-law killed them all. Took the children and vanished," a near toothless man spoke.
"Third family this month in that district. Something’s wrong and nobody’s investigating," his companion who looked like he was gonna die in the next second retorted.
"Are bandits getting bolder. Or it’s something worse?" The man’s eye met a passer-by and his lips sealed shut immediately, covering his almost empty mouth.
By the window, merchants tallied costs on worn parchment, arguing over numbers that didn’t add up anymore.
"Settlement costs had doubled. Bread’s twice what it was last year."
"Can’t feed the kids. I’ll be petitioning Lord Reeves’s court next week for grain subsidies," a burly merchant spoke louder than welcomed.
"Good luck with that. Nobles don’t care about grain when they’re busy fighting each other," his companion side while eating.
Auryn listened. He took it all without uttering a word. His mind was his canvas. Painting the picture of how the empire was lacking.
The goldflame Festival. It was both traditional and religious offerings they can’t afford.
He knew about these from the book. It was basically the church’s way of saying they mattered too.
Food scarcity with nobles who don’t respond. families dying or disappearing
was just another day in the life of the characters the story didn’t find important enough to even mention their names.
These were the real people with real worries and they were ignored for demon breaches and territorial expansion.
Auryn twirled his cup still looking at Borin whose attention was somewhere else. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
This is how I bring them under my table. Aim for the masses and control their hearts
He smirked while he observed. He was right to explore more around the low-tiers of society.
While Auryn listened in. The tavern owner moved through the crowd. Attending them.
She had thick auburn hair tied loosely at her nape, strands escaping to frame sharp eyes that had seen her fair share.
Her blouse was worn but clean, it clinched at the waist, fabric pulling tight across her chest when she leaned to pour drinks.
Her hips swayed naturally as she moved between tables. Exhaustion carving lines at her eyes, but her smile was bright when it surfaced.
She was attractive in the way working women often are. Practical beauties with no time for pretense.
She served a table of laborers. One reached out, his hand on her hip, sliding lower. She didn’t flinch, simply slapped his hand softly.
"You’ll have to buy more to touch darling," her words were like milk, sliding off her tongue without effort.
"Anything else you need?" She asked the man who only smiled sheepishly. His face red from the alcohol.
He laughed alongside his friends as the man hiccuped.
"More Ale..." He screamed. Slamming a few copper coins on the table.
She moved immediately even as Auryn watched. Nodding in disappointment but while he was disappointed. Borin was intrigued.
She combed the area and approached their table. Set down a plate of bread and salted meat neither of them had ordered.
"On the house. Travelers need proper food," she spoke with a charming smile.
Borin looked at her now when she was close enough. His gaze followed her figure, neither subtle nor crude. Just with open appreciation.
He reached for Auryn’s drink. "Give me that, lad"
She caught him looking and smiled. Not the professional smile she’d given the laborers. Something alot warmer.
"Fine establishment," Borin said noticing her smile, his voice warmer than usual.
"With even finer company. What’s your name Ma’am?"







