All Chapters of THE ALMIGHTY WAR DRAGON : Chapter 61
- Chapter 70
117 chapters
THE FALSE POWER KNEELS
The Chancellor’s face twisted as if Evans’ calm was an insult he could not tolerate.“Shut your mouth,” he barked, finger stabbing toward Evans again. “In Rovek, men like you learn silence quickly. You don’t speak over my wife. You don’t speak in my presence.”Evans didn’t move. The cold night air brushed his cheeks, carrying the smell of car exhaust and hospital disinfectant. He could feel eyes on him from the entrance, nurses half-hidden behind glass, guards holding their breath.“I didn’t humiliate her,” Evans said, voice steady. “She humiliated herself. A child was dying.”The Chancellor’s wife scoffed loudly, stepping forward like she wanted the crowd to hear her more than they heard him. “Listen to him,” she said, mocking. “He thinks he’s important because he played hero for ten minutes. Look at his clothes. He’s a beggar with a loud tongue.”The Chancellor nodded as if she had given him permission. “Exactly,” he snapped. “You want to act brave? Then you’ll learn what power fee
AUTHORITY BREAKS
The Chancellor was already on his knees.His expensive trousers touched the rough pavement like it was nothing, and his hands hovered in front of him in a helpless half-gesture, as if he didn’t know whether to beg or salute. The anger that had filled his face seconds ago was gone. What was left was fear, clean and unmistakable.“Mr Patrick,” he said quickly, voice shaking. “My Lord, please. I didn’t know. I truly didn’t know it was you.” He swallowed hard and spoke faster, like speed could undo what he had said. “I spoke in anger. I was protecting my wife. I meant none of those threats to your friend.”The staff at the hospital entrance held still, watching like witnesses at a trial. The guards from the convoy looked stiff, eyes forward, pretending they weren’t hearing their leader plead. Evans stood beside Patrick, shoulders squared, and felt the night tilt into something unreal.Patrick didn’t move. He looked down at the Chancellor like the man was a problem on paper, not a perso
CEREMONIAL POWER
“Do you want everything we have to disappear in one night?”She stared at him, still clutching her cheek. “You’re the Chancellor,” she said again, weaker now. “Why are you scared of him?”The Chancellor swallowed and looked toward Patrick like he needed permission to explain. When Patrick didn’t stop him, the Chancellor spoke, voice raw. “Because Rovek is not mine,” he said. “It has never been mine.” He pointed shakily toward Patrick without daring to extend his finger fully. “Rovek belongs to him. He is the kingmaker. We chancellors are ceremonial leaders. We smile, we speak, we sign what we’re told to sign.”Silence spread through the crowd.Even the hospital administrator looked like his knees might fold even though this was not a new information for him to digest. Evans felt something cold settle in his stomach, not because he doubted Patrick’s power, but because he finally heard it said out loud by someone who lived under it.The Chancellor’s wife looked as if the world had shi
MR PATRICK'S CITY
It was time to leave the hospital and with Evans and Mr Patrick already driving on their way out, the hospital disappeared behind them, but Evans couldn’t shake the feeling that the air still carried shouting.Patrick’s car rolled out of the gate in broad daylight, smooth and quiet, like the convoy scene had been a dream that belonged to someone else. Evans sat in the passenger seat, shoulders heavy, staring at the clean dashboard and the polished wood trim. It didn’t match the image in his head of the Chancellor kneeling on pavement. Patrick’s hands stayed steady on the steering wheel, relaxed, as if nothing important had happened at all. That calm irritated Evans more than the Chancellor’s rage had.Patrick broke the silence first. “You still want that drink? You really enjoyed yourself and it was as if you couldn't get your fill.” he asked, eyes on the road.Evans let out a slow breath. “Not right now,” he said. “Right now I want to understand what kind of place I’m standing in.
INTO ROVEK'S BELLY
Evans closed the window. “No,” he said. “But I believe that I can make a difference.”Patrick’s lips pressed together. “That’s how you end up disappointed.”Evans turned to him. “And this is how you end up cold.”Patrick didn’t flinch. “Cold survives.”The car crept forward another few feet, tires crunching softly over uneven asphalt. Patrick kept his eyes on the road, but his voice carried something older now, heavier.“Trying to make a difference doesn’t make people love you,” he said. “It doesn’t make them grateful. It doesn’t even make them remember you kindly.” He paused. “It just makes you visible.”Evans watched a cracked building slide past the window. “Being visible isn’t a crime.”“No,” Patrick replied. “But it is dangerous.” He exhaled once. “You think sacrifice earns loyalty. It doesn’t. It earns expectation. And when you fail to meet it, they turn.”Evans frowned. “You’re talking like this from experience.”Patrick’s jaw tightened. “I am.”The car slowed again. Sunlight
DEBT HAS TEETH
The traffic did not just slow. It locked.Cars sat bumper to bumper under the hard midday sun, engines idling, horns bursting in short angry waves. Evans leaned forward, staring through the windshield like looking harder could force the road to open. On the right side, the crowd had thickened around a small fruit stall that looked ready to collapse. Crates were stacked unevenly, and a torn shade cloth hung like a tired flag. The men around it didn’t look tired at all.Evans kept his eyes on the scene. “Patrick… what’s happening over there?”Patrick didn’t turn his head. He checked the mirrors once, calm and practiced, as if the bigger danger was behind them. “Nothing unusual,” he said.“That’s not an answer,” Evans replied.Patrick sighed through his nose. “It’s debt.”Evans frowned. “What the hell! So you are trying to say that debt makes people barge into a woman’s shop with muscle?”Patrick finally glanced at him. “In Rovek, it does.”Evans watched a thick-armed man shove past a
NO MERCY FOR THE INDEBTED
She swallowed. “Please good sir, business has been bad,” she said quickly, words rushing as if speed could convince him. “The border… the Aureldrake clan are heavily stationed at the second line between Rovek and Drakarion. Imports are limited. Fresh stock is harder to get. People don’t buy like before.”The clean-looking man scoffed. “Don’t say big names to impress me,” he snapped. “I don’t care about clans. I don’t care about borders. I mean how does war or even politics affect me recieving my money?”“But that’s the reason,” she pleaded. “I sell fruit and drinks. I need fresh goods. If I had what I used to get—”He cut her off with a sharp laugh. “If, if, if.” He pointed at her stall. “All I see is a weak woman hiding behind stories.”Evans turned his head slightly toward Patrick. “You hear this?”Patrick’s eyes stayed on the road. “I hear it.”“And you’re still sitting here,” Evans said.Patrick finally looked at him, and his gaze warned him without raising its volume. “You asked
WHERE FEAR RULES
The scream tore through the street like it didn’t belong in daylight.“Mama!”The little boy’s arm was stretched behind him as the big man dragged him away, his feet skidding on dust and crushed fruit. The mother lurched forward, coughing hard, both hands grabbing at her child’s shirt. Her fingers slipped because her hands were shaking too much, and because the thug didn’t slow down for human weakness.“Please!” she cried, voice breaking. “Please, don’t take him! He’s all I have!”Marrec stood a step back with his clean shirt and his calm face, watching the panic like it was a tool. He didn’t look at the boy’s tears. He looked at the mother’s fear, measuring it, deciding how much more pressure to apply.“Bring him here,” Marrec said lazily. “Maybe seeing him scared will help her remember where she hid my money.”The boy twisted, sobbing. “Mama! Mama!”“I’m here!” the woman screamed, trying to follow. “I’m here, baby, I’m here!”A second thug blocked her path with a thick shoulder. S
THE FIRST PUSH
Heat hit Evans the moment his boots touched the road.The smell was dust, sweat, crushed fruit, and hot metal from engines trapped in traffic. People stood in a loose circle, not too close, not too far, as if distance could keep them innocent. At the center, the sick-looking mother tried to push herself up, her hands trembling on the pavement. Her son’s scream still rang in the air as the thug dragged him like a prize.“Stop!” Evans’ voice cut through the street, firm and clear. “Put him down.”The thug didn’t stop. He only tightened his grip and dragged the boy harder, like pain was part of the lesson. The boy’s face was wet, dust stuck to his cheeks. The mother coughed again and reached out, but her arm shook and dropped.Marrec turned his head slowly, finally looking at Evans like Evans had interrupted a meeting. “Who’s this now?” he asked, amused. “Another hero in daylight?”Evans pushed through the crowd. People moved back without thinking, the way people moved away from fire
NO LAW ON THIS STREET
The thug who had been shoved smiled. "You say that because you don't know how we look like and act when we are angry."The thug tightened his grip, but the child squirmed and kicked. “Mama!” the boy cried again. “Mama, help!”The mother tried to take a step, and Evans held her back gently. “Stay behind me,” he told her. “Please.”She shook her head, tears spilling. “They will kill him,” she whispered. “They will hurt him.”Evans’ jaw tightened. “Not while I’m standing here.”The thug who had been shoved spat on the ground and stepped forward. “You think you’re strong because you pushed me?” he growled. “This is Rovek. We don’t care who you are, we will grind you to pieces and we will surely not answer to any court of law or be punished by any legal system.”Evans met his eyes. “Then you should start caring,” he replied. “Because you’re humiliating a sick woman in public.”The thug snorted. “She owes money.”“She owes money,” Evans repeated, voice steady. “So you destroy her stall, dra