okay honestly this turned out completely differently than how i expected and i kind of strayed away from the gold... anyway someone please add on because i cant write endings for shit
The village often got questions. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?" they would ask. "Keeping a dragon so close to your village?"
"No," the village would reply, and then shoo the visitor away.
The village had always protected the dragon. He was awake more than most dragons, so he ate much more, but the duty of feeding him and keeping safe and alive had always been the village's. And in return, the dragon kept furnaces going and provided protection from animals that would usually be classified as threats, such as bears. They took one look at the him and drew back into the forest. No one would want to go against a dragon that size.
Except, of course, the knights.
The villagers tried their best to keep news about the dragon quiet. They didnt want any attention. But try as they might, word spread quickly of a village under a dragon's spell. The dragon eats them, the rumors said. It hoards their gold and eats their children! Its horrible, horrible!
So knights all over the kingdom took up their shield and sword and announced they would slay the terrible beast.
A crone took care of them. She was old, older than anyone knew, and fiercely protective of Keefalyuse. She chased away the knights, yelling obscenities and throwing rocks. So the village relaxed a little.
There was one knight that would not leave. He returned every couple of weeks. He would not stay away, even when the crone knocked him out. He did not believe the village when they tried to explain the situation. He wasnt convinced when the villagers showed him how friendly the dragon was.
But the knight was clever. He thought, If I slay the dragon at night, the villagers will be free come morning, and they will thank me graciously. They surely would let me keep the gold. So when the sun set and the last of the lanterns were blown out, he snuck into the dragon's cave.
Just as the fingers of the rosy dawn touched the sky, there was a shout. The knight was standing in the village square, bloody and triumphant. "Villagers!" he announced. "The dragon has been slayed! His throat has been slit and his body burns in the cave!"
The silence was terrible. The villagers huddled around the mouth of the cave and mourned, the crackling of the body their only dirge.