The Knight from the Fairytales-Chapter 24: Opening a Hole

When Beihai leaped onto the giant dragon's head, this battle reached its conclusion. All he needed was to gather strength and then deliver one punch, and the dragon's skull was completely pierced through by immense force!
With that single blow, the Evil Dragon couldn't even manage the most basic wail of pain. Its body went limp and collapsed to the side, consciousness fading into blurriness. Though it could still feel its body, it could no longer command its nerves to control it.
The dragon's will before death was immense - even with its head punched clean through, it could still think. One could imagine how strong the opponent's will must be in a proper battle, but now this will had become nothing but a burden.
Unable to control its body, the only thing left was to think. Could human power really reach such heights?
According to conventional plots, shouldn't both sides exchange verbal taunts first, talking about ideals and cruelty, reality and ideologies? Like the villain saying this world operates on survival of the fittest, then the hero starts talking about love and friendship, before charging forward in chuunibyou fashion - I shout my battle cry, you shout yours, then we fight for three hundred rounds.
But reality was cruel. When the opponent's first strike failed, he immediately switched tactics and punched it to death with one blow.
Let me be blunt, are you even a knight anymore?
Most crucially, even now I still have to question: Is this guy really human? Are you sure he's not some giant using magical artifacts to shrink himself? But even giants aren't this exaggerated!
If he could achieve this, then why did I become a dragon because of greed in the first place?
Beihai diligently searched through the dragon's body and finally pulled out a golden ring from amidst the blood and flesh.
This ring brought misfortune to whoever saw it, then added greed attributes. If someone stayed long-term in a pile of gold coins, they would transform into a dragon.
But these attributes were completely useless to Beihai. Or rather, not useless, but what they offered wasn't enough to match Beihai's level of greed.
Humans ultimately seek wealth, status, money, or at the very least, beautiful women. But Beihai had the power to obtain all these effortlessly.
What he needed was even greater power, something this ring couldn't provide. Even if it could dragonify Beihai's body, it would still be too weak.
Compared to this ring, the entity called the System was far more useful, capable of providing much more - whether money, artifacts, or power. What the System could offer and satisfy far surpassed what this ring could provide.
Naturally, he wouldn't pick up a sesame seed only to drop a watermelon.
Picking up the little golden dragon nearby, he made it swallow the ring - perhaps that would boost its strength somewhat.
But for now, Beihai scratched his head, feeling rather troubled.
He needed to head back now. During the final battle, after allocating his remaining attribute points and unleashing his full power, Beihai hadn't expected to carry the King so far away.
"Having slain the dragon, I should have the Dragon Slayer title now."
Beihai muttered to himself without stopping, beginning his journey back along the original path.
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By the time Beihai returned to the city walls, he had been traveling outside for an entire night.
The royal city soldiers were no longer standing guard but had gathered together, protecting a little girl.
They all stared nervously into the distance, weapons gripped tightly in their hands as they waited.
Elsa stood with them, gazing into the distance, her small hands clenched tightly together, unconsciously bringing them together in a prayer gesture held below her chin.
"Oh, you're all still here? I almost passed right by."
Beihai's voice came from behind, startling everyone. Turning around, they found Beihai dressed in casual clothes, his armor already gone.
A soldier gathered courage and approached Beihai, cautiously asking: "That..."
"No need to say more. You can hold the funeral now - I killed your King."
"Killed him?"
Someone couldn't help but exclaim!
"You're the dragon-slaying hero!"
"You must have fought fiercely with that evil dragon all night long!"
Before Beihai could explain the truth, these people started letting their imaginations run wild, envisioning how magnificent and brutal the battle must have been. Everyone began showing expressions of gratitude.
Some soldiers simply dropped their weapons and started spreading the news throughout the city. There was no helping it - the King had been corrupted by greed, and the crucial point was he still had brains.
According to development patterns, he would hoard gold coins, unwilling to release them. With coins not circulating and barter trade taking over, everything would eventually collapse. Even if people were imprisoned, not a single coin could be mined, eventually leading only to plunder.
So the King understood: I must plan systematically, I want sustainable exhaustive fishing.
Of course, he engaged in these activities because Beihai wasn't planning to return the money to them.
While the soldiers and some citizens were cheering, Beihai picked up Elsa and left first, afraid these people might come to their senses and ask him for money. Otherwise, he'd really have trouble refusing.
But in reality, Beihai was overthinking it. With such a massive amount of gold coins entering circulation, it could directly crash the local economy, turning money into worthless paper.
With massive gold inflows - if everyone in this small, broken place becomes wealthy, gold would effectively depreciate. Wouldn't I need to go to better places then?
If he gave too little, neither side would save face. So the best approach was to give nothing at all. This was why every dragon slayer, after slaying a dragon, kept both the dragon's glory and the cave's gold coins for themselves.
Now all that was needed was for the new king to implement reforms, and this country could get back on track. This also meant that if Beihai really tried to return the treasure, they would say it wasn't necessary - these were the dragon slayer's rewards.
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"Knight Sir, where are we going now?"
Elsa and Beihai walked through the snow, and naturally the little girl couldn't contain her curiosity.
"To a green church. We need to hurry - I've already delayed for another day."
Elsa's small hand held Beihai's tightly, unwilling to let go. Leaving this kingdom meant that in the outside world, he was her only reliance now.
Grandmother, I've left the kingdom. I'm exploring the outside world. Can you see me? You must be secretly protecting me, right?
"Elsa, stop daydreaming. Listen carefully, if you're going to follow me, there are some things you need to understand. I operate by one principle: as long as you're in the right, if anyone dares bully you, I'll beat them up for you!"
"Oh, and there are those who use moral coercion - don't think you're in the wrong. Just call me over, and I'll properly enlighten them."
Beihai couldn't help but start lecturing, worried that Elsa was too honest. In the middle of winter, her shoes had been stolen by some child who came up with some ridiculous excuse, and Elsa actually believed it and even blessed them.
If it were other children, they'd roll up their sleeves and fight back. If you really wanted to argue the point, they were bullying you because you're honest, because you're educated.
And of course, those who use moral coercion - Beihai hated that most. Like that famous stupid question: The cost of achieving nuclear fusion is that you have to torture a cat to death. Are you willing?
You deliberately place completely unequal weights on both sides of the scale, so it inevitably tips to one side.
Then you put morality on the lighter side, trying to declare that both sides are now equal in weight.
As if this could measure how thick your morality is.