Dominic was lost in memories of the worst day of his life for a long moment, then continued.
"The first thing that I saw was the smoke. So much smoke. Then the Dagos uniforms coming out of a burning house. They were throwing the bodies in the street as they cleared the village.
They weren’t even sparing the children.
The next thing that I remember, I was on a Dagos soldier. Dragon Claws tear through flesh like tearing soft bread, you see.
He wasn’t shocked, even at the last moment, there was nothing but hate in his eyes.
I took his short sword and chased another soldier into a house. I used to idolize the Manor Guards, I watched them every afternoon during training and memorized their sword drills, practicing with a stick for a blade.
Half the village kids did."
Dominic realized that he was delaying, and focused on the story.
"The sounds of burning houses and soldiers looting drowned out any sound that soft leather boots made on the floor, and the second man never even saw me coming. I don’t know why, but I tore his throat out with my claws.
I never did use that sword. I’ve still got it, and it’s never been used since.
When I came out, someone had found the first body, and the soldiers were gathered in the town square. They saw me right away, but they were standing in a defensive circle. I screamed at them, and it turned into a gout of dragon fire, the first time I ever used the ability in my life.
An entire unit died there.
After that, I hunted through the woodsmen’s houses and the small farms around town, and found dozens more soldiers, but no survivors.
My house was empty, and I took the few valuables that we had. I couldn’t let the soldiers have it, and my parents weren’t there. I found their bodies at my Uncle’s Manor, along with the Manor Guards, and all the extended family.
The Dagos invaders had dragged them into the yard, tied them to poles, and burned the women to death.
Someone must have stopped them because the fires had been put out, and the last few died to swords. There were so many bodies there. A thousand, more? I don’t know. I never counted them.
More soldiers showed up while I was checking the Manor for survivors, and they began looting the bodies.
Something in me snapped, seeing them being so callous to the dead, and I don’t remember the next part, just that I bit someone’s hand off with the most beautiful ruby bracelet held in it.
I’ve got that too. It’s a bit damaged, but I’m saving it for the day that I find a relative of the Earl’s wife."
Dominic stopped to take a drink and wet his mouth, while the Princess and the soldiers shared horrified looks.
"How old would you have been then? I was still doing basic education with Governess Camilla when Wavemates fell." Alexis asked, her eyes wet with tears.
Dominic counted back. "I turned ten just before the attack. A bit small for ten years old, but Dragonkin are like that. We mature slowly and live long lives. Or so my mother used to say.
But I don’t remember anything after biting that soldier’s hand.
I am certain that days passed before my mind was clear again. But the next thing that I remember, it was dawn, and I was sleeping in the forest, covered in blood and surrounded by a mountain of soldiers’ bodies."
"Berserk." One of the soldiers whispered.
The others nodded, and Princess Alexis frowned.
"Do you know exactly how long after the attack that was?" She asked, treating him with the cautious care that one would give a wounded animal.
Dominic smiled at her, trying to assure the Princess that he had come to terms with the past.
"Not more than two or three days. There were still more Dagos soldiers moving through the area or sitting in villages waiting for orders.
Once I realized there was nothing left to go back to, I went to my home and loaded what I could into my Storage Cube. The soldiers destroyed all the magitech in the village when they attacked.
I’m not sure why. Even now, Dagos needs it.
After that, I went west into Axbridge. It’s seven hundred kilometres west down the river, and then through the jungle. Every soldier I saw, I killed. As long as they were in a unit smaller than ten.
If they were in a larger unit, I avoided them.
Unless they were sleeping in a house that I could burn down with them in it.
I had always assumed that was the reason that Dagos called me a War Criminal. For all of their despicable tactics, they still get upset when someone targets their camps in the night."
The Regiment’s head cook stopped Dominic there.
"Wait, you’re saying that at ten years old, you crossed an entire country, killing an unknown number of Dagos soldiers while they slept, and managed to make it out of the country? Why didn’t you just come south? You were already at the Cygnia border." He asked.
"Cygnia was an ally of Dagos until the start of this war.
Officially, they didn’t accept any refugees, and they would have turned me over to Dagos if I was caught. Over time, they stopped enforcing the policy, and by the time I came back last year, nobody cared anymore." Dominic replied with a shrug, then muttered under his breath.
{It’s not an unknown number. It’s one thousand, eight hundred and seventy asleep, three hundred and four awake. At least, the ones that I remember.}
Though it was a bare whisper, the camp was so quiet that those sitting around him heard it anyhow.
The soldiers of Dagos were not wrong to fear feral Dragonkin.
Dominic alone probably had a higher kill count than most military Regiments had before the war started.
The Head Cook chuckled. "Well, at least we know that their accusations aren’t slandering you. They’re just the complaints of the winners of a pyrrhic victory. But it does explain how you went from minor Royal to apprentice of a tool smith in the commoner district.
Nobody would have thought to look for you there."
Dominic chuckled. "And now I think that I’ve terrified my fiancée. Well, we’ve got time for me to rebuild my reputation and public image. None of the other young Noblemen here are going to try to steal her heart away."
At least not after learning that Dominic really was the sort of man who wouldn’t hesitate to eliminate threats or even stack bodies to send a message.
The whole camp seemed to freeze in time, waiting for Princess Alexis to respond to Dominic’s public claim.
But Alexis was just smirking at him.
"You really do need a makeover. Your character lore doesn’t match your fashion sense." She finally replied.
Dominic laughed. "I’ve got some gold chains and I have a forge to make a scimitar. Perhaps someone can dig up a tricorn hat?"
The Princess giggled. "While the reformed pirate turned scoundrel Prince is a good storyline, I still don’t think it quite matches. Too naval for someone from a landlocked country."