by baddagger
Mara is the newest Royal Mage of the Thousand Kingdoms. She is also a fraud. A former carnival con artist with almost no magic, Mara survives court with quick lies, sharp instincts, and Karnux the Great—an ancient dragon cursed small enough to ride on her shoulder. Then an elven ambassador explodes in front of the High King. The weapon is ancient. The suspects are dangerous. And the High King puts Mara in charge of the investigation. Now she has to solve the murder while keeping the court from discovering its newest Royal Mage is a fraud.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 8 Oct 2026, 14:48 UTC
Entry forecast updated 8 Oct 2026, 14:48 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
beats 84% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 60% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 10–19 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.
