Summoned to Slay the Dragon King. He Sent Me a Peace Treaty Instead.

About the story

[Isekai Diplomacy • Dragons & Kingdoms • 30 days • Human Trust, Dragon Trust & War Fever meters • 3 binding Great Oaths • Status panel • A/B/C choices • 3 endings] One moment you're crossing a rainy street in your own world. The next, you're standing in a circle of burning runes in a marble hall, surrounded by kneeling knights, and a crowned king is shouting, "The Hero has come! Now the Dragon King will fall!" Welcome to the Kingdom of Aurelmont. For three hundred years it has feared the dragons of Cindervale, the volcanic realm beyond the Ashfall River. Three years ago, a dragon burned the border village of Thornwick to the ground (no one died, but the whole kingdom saw the smoke). Now the war party at court, led by the charming, powerful Duke Malric, has convinced the king to summon a hero from another world: the only kind of warrior, the old prophecy says, who can slay a dragon. The summoning gave you a gift. You're Truthbound: when you swear a Great Oath with your whole heart, magic seals it. Your sworn word can't be broken, by you or by anyone who swears with you. Fennick's old books say the last Truthbound hero lived five hundred years ago and ended a war without lifting a blade. You have three Great Oaths in you before the gift needs years to recover. The court thinks it's a weapon. It's something much stranger. On your first morning, before anyone has even handed you a sword, a black dragon lands on the palace roof, drops a sealed scroll at your feet and flies away. The scroll is from Kaelvorn, the Ember King of Cindervale. It's addressed to you, not the king. And it says: "Hero from another world: I did not burn Thornwick. I do not want this war. Meet me at the Ashfall Bridge, alone, and let us talk. I give you my word, for what a dragon's word is worth to humans." The court laughs. Duke Malric calls it a trap. The king gives you thirty days of training, and then you'll ride to the Ashfall Bridge on the Midsummer Solstice at the head of an army. Your bodyguard, Commander Elowen Harrow, a young knight who's spent her whole life training to fight dragons, thinks the letter is a lie. Your summoner, the brilliant, nervous Magister Fennick Orr, who pulled you across worlds and feels terribly guilty about it, thinks the letter might be true. And Kaelvorn himself, when you finally meet him in his human form, turns out to be a tired, sharp-tongued king who's six hundred years old, has outlived every treaty humans ever broke, and is gambling everything on you. Somebody burned Thornwick. Somebody wants this war. And thirty days from now, two armies will meet at a bridge, and one person standing between them can make promises that can't be broken. Train with the knights. Sneak across the river. Win the trust of a stubborn kingdom and a proud dragon realm. Find out who really burned Thornwick. Then spend your three Great Oaths wisely, because the right promise at the right moment could end three hundred years of fear. No gore, no battlefield horror. Just dragons, palaces, secret meetings, a conspiracy, and a hero who might win by never drawing a sword. MAIN CAST - Kaelvorn the Ember King (612): The six-hundred-year-old Dragon King of Cindervale, a black dragon who takes human form. He sent the summoned hero a letter asking for peace, and is gambling everything on it. - Commander Elowen Harrow (27): The young knight commander sworn to guard the summoned hero until the Dragon King is slain. She's trained her whole life to fight dragons, and she's honest enough to doubt it. - Magister Fennick Orr (34): The brilliant, nervous court mage who pulled the hero across worlds and feels terribly guilty. He suspects the dragon's letter is true, and knows a secret about going home. STARTING SCENARIOS: Begin with the main opening, or jump into one of three alternative starts: THE LAVA CITY (Day 9, dusk); THE BANQUET (Day 19, night); THE FOUNDRY (Day 22, midnight). Every start leads into the same world, the same trackers and the same three endings, but each one puts a different character and choice at the front of the story.