Decision

I am the hero, right? My sword held high over my head, the dragon at my feet, all I have to do is strike and bring my trophy home.
The dragon is smaller than I thought it would be, almost too small to be responsible for all the terrors attributed to it. It isn't much larger than a horse. There was no way it could cast a shadow over the whole village or shake the mountains when it landed, but it is still a monster, a dragon, and nothing good ever came from a dragon interacting with people, right?
At any rate, the dragon has to die. It must die, and it is up to me, the hero, to kill it. One quick stroke and the deed is done. No one needs to know the dragon was sleeping, or dead, or frozen. I don't even have to tell them the story; it writes itself.
The bloodied hero appears on the horizon with the dragon's head in tow. They will murmur and spin tales of the valiant fight. Remembering their terrors and nightmares, the dragon becomes the sum of all their fears. I will be the hero, the sum of all their hopes and dreams. I don't have to do anything. I just have to let their praise wash over me and never do anything to allow them to see the real me. Heroes are rewarded, and I can live well off those rewards for the rest of my life.
Do I even have to kill the dragon? It is already dead, or at the very least frozen. For as long as I have stood over it, not even the faintest mist flowed from its mouth or nose. It has been too long for it to be simply holding its breath. As long as I keep it frozen, the trophy endures and even if it is hibernating, I still win.
I am the hero, right? Of course I am. Who else would be? I am the only one here, the only one who ventured into the mountains to find the dragon. I am the one who stands over its naked vulnerability with my sword in hand, ready to strike. The hero slays monsters, or at the very least makes others believe the monsters can be slain. I am the will, the hope, the ambitions of my people manifest in perfect form. My perfection is self evident. If I wasn't perfect, I wouldn't have made it to the cave, to the dragon, right?
It is a simple choice, not a hard decision at all. I swing the blade, slay the dragon, and accolades and rewards awaiting me in the village. All I have to do is act, or at least pretend to.
Who will know what happened in the mountains but me? There are so many caves, so many valleys. No one will find this cave and even if they do, they will never figure out what really happened. As long as I let the legend grow, it will serve me, and my community, of course, well.
Here I stand, sword in hand, over the sleeping dragon. All I have to do is strike and claim my reward, right?