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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I pondered the reason why they brought the Dragoness, and I thought it might simply be because they didn’t want to lose.
If the Cardinal came alone, it would have been fine for Jaguia or Hatsim, but compared to Eris, the Guardian of Yggdrasil, he would have felt inferior.
I thought it might be a childish reason, like wanting to take the lead in the conversation, and what I had felt several times while living was that, surprisingly, people in higher positions were more childish.
‘These guys always try to win even in trivial battles of wills.’
Considering that the human saint seemed more focused on her external image, the Dragoness here, although she had two voting rights, didn’t seem to be very busy.
“I’ve heard everything. First of all, I apologize.”
But the words that Dragoness Zane blurted out first were a bit unexpected. I didn’t expect her to start with an apology.
To be honest, if we think rationally, the dragonkin were also victims. Seeing them on the way here, they didn’t seem to know much about this situation either.
From their perspective, a human suddenly intruded and caused a commotion, and then a beastman, dwarf, and elf with solid backing appeared, leaving them in a situation where they couldn’t do anything.
“Apology? That’s not necessary at all. We are the ones who should apologize for suddenly coming here.”
Eris stood up, bowed slightly, and countered.
It felt like they were pretending that the previous confrontation with the dragonkin never happened.
“I heard about it. There are people who have contracted a disease that turns them into dragonkin?”
Dragoness Zane calmly asked as she sat down, and starting with the impatient dwarf Hatsim, Jaguia, and even Eris…
In the end, when it was my turn, I talked about my sister and presented my hypothesis.
“Actually, I have clashed with an organization called the Tudogs a few times before. Those guys…”
The Demon Realm Forest was a forest known for being famous yet dangerous not only to humans but to the entire continent, so it wasn’t difficult to explain.
After hearing my explanation about the Tudogs, their expressions darkened, and they looked serious.
“There’s a group like that?”
“They have the technology to implant the powers of demons into human bodies? Not a kingdom, but a single organization?”
Hatsim and Jaguia also expressed their surprise, and Zane closed her mouth tightly as if lost in thought.
“It seems there’s a possibility that they are involved.”
“Right? If they can implant the physical abilities of demons into humans, it shouldn’t be difficult for them to do the same with the dragonkin’s bodies.”
Eris added weight to my words.
However, the problem here was how they obtained the power of the dragonkin, and Zane opened her mouth.
“Actually, the number of dragonkin trespassing has been increasing recently.”
“Dragoness!”
Cardinal Theosender, who had been standing silently next to Zane, raised his voice in surprise.
Hatsim and Jaguia frowned, wondering why he suddenly acted like that, but Theosender didn’t even spare them a glance and tried to stop Zane from saying anything else, but…
“Why are you doing this? I came here because of this. It might be related to this incident, and as I listen to their words, my suspicion is turning into certainty.”
“B-But the fact that there are dragonkin trespassing…”
It meant that there were many dragonkin who were internally dissatisfied, and it was a warning that they shouldn’t carelessly mention it in front of other races like us.
But the Dragoness firmly ignored it and continued.
“At first, I thought there were many dragonkin who harbored dissatisfaction. As you all know, the dragons have fallen into a deep slumber.”
If their gods were just neglecting them and sleeping, anyone would be dissatisfied.
They would blame the dragons for any little thing that went wrong.
“That’s why I met with the families of the dragonkin who had trespassed, but according to them, they weren’t the type of people to abandon their families and leave, and they had no reason to do so.”
“…”
“It happened over and over again. Over and over. I have now concluded that they didn’t simply leave because they were dissatisfied with life and the dragons.”
Despite her position as the Dragoness, she had met with the families of all the dragonkin who had trespassed.
She was in the highest position but acted like the lowliest, the very embodiment of an ideal saint.
“This is a serial kidnapping case. But there was no evidence, and I had difficulties investigating such matters due to my position.”
“Ahem.”
Theosender, who was standing next to her, cleared his throat.
It was clear that even if she had strongly insisted on investigating somehow, they would have told the Dragoness not to bother and just smile at the dragonkin.
“Then you all came. As Daniel said, it seems that the organization called the Tudogs is extracting dragonkin and conducting experiments on them.”
Zane’s small fist trembled.
She seemed to hear the screams of the dragonkin who had shed tears of pain in her ears.
“Inquisitors at the front line are the ones who can do this. Theosender, let’s start investigating the inquisitors right now.”
“Dragoness! That’s no different from insulting them!”
Theosender tried to dissuade her in surprise, but Zane rather stood up abruptly and confronted him.
“Are you joking right now? Our dragonkin may have been kidnapped and subjected to human experiments. Since they were taken from our land, the culprit is likely to be a dragonkin too. An investigation is a given.”
“They are the shield of protection guarding the Dragon’s Boundary! Doubting them is an act of undermining their honor!”
“So you’re saying we should just sit still like this? For their honor? Theosender, please come to your senses! If we stay still like this, the inquisitors will be labeled with suspicion. Thoroughly investigating here is the way to protect their honor!”
“But…”
‘This is going to take a long time.’
Seeing the cardinal, who looked rigid at a glance, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Eris, who made eye contact with me, must have had the same thought as she nodded slightly. The cardinal was here not for the purpose of escorting but for surveillance.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Experiencing even indirectly how hard the Dragoness’ life must be, the High Inquisitor hurriedly entered from outside.
He glanced at us with a perplexed expression and quickly approached the cardinal and the Dragoness, whispering in their ears.
The cardinal’s eyes widened, and he immediately began to watch our reactions, but the tactless Dragoness shouted as if to show us.
“They must have escaped after noticing in advance that we were going to arrest them to investigate the inquisitors! We need to quickly form a pursuit team!”
“D-Dragoness! There are outsiders present!”
“It’s more shameful to keep our mouths shut even after seeing our own people being sold out! Theosender and High Inquisitor, don’t test my patience any further.”
At her rebuke to quickly form a pursuit team, the two dragonkin had no choice but to bow their heads and leave.
It seemed that one of the inquisitors belonged to the Tudogs and was attempting to escape because he was about to be caught.
After all, if he stayed here, he would definitely be caught.
He had rolled the dice of either 1 or 6.
“I should get going.”
I slowly got up from my seat and picked up the sword at my waist.
“Huh? You’re going? Our pursuit team will depart immediately.”
Zane said in surprise, but it didn’t seem like they had the luxury to do so.
“How are you going to chase him across such a vast Dragon’s Boundary with a hastily formed pursuit team? He knows the Dragon’s Boundary well, so he must have secured an escape route in advance.”
His only job was to stand guard here every day, so there was no way he wouldn’t have prepared that much.
“Eris, help me out. We need eyes to find him.”
“Don’t worry.”
The pattern of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, had already appeared in the eyes of Eris, who was preparing with me.
***
Keyalmirec, a dragonkin belonging to the Tudogs and a Heretic Inquisitor, was running with all his might, wrapped in a green camouflage cloak.
The back of his hand, which had been pierced by the human earlier, throbbed, but he ignored it and didn’t stop his steps.
‘Damn it!’
What a situation he was in because of those Tudog bastards.
To think that he, a Heretic Inquisitor, would be covered in countless crimes and trespass…
‘It’s okay. Once I cross the Dragon’s Boundary, I’ll meet the Tudogs, change my appearance, and live on.’
Those guys even turned humans into dragonkin.
They should be able to turn dragonkin into humans too.
Of course, becoming human was extremely unpleasant and disgusting, but he had to survive first.
If he was caught now, it would be an immediate execution.
“Huff! Huff!”
Still, Keyalmirec was somewhat confident that he could escape.
He had secured an escape route in the long stretch of the Dragon’s Boundary, and he was even wearing a camouflage cloak in this dense forest.
In fact, it was nearly impossible to find him.
‘Even if the pursuit team was formed quickly, they just departed. It will be difficult for other outposts to depart immediately due to the commotion. By the time they reach the end of the boundary, I will already be on human land.’
As he continued to run, Keyalmirec finally saw the iron fence.
For him, a martial arts expert, crossing this level of fence was a piece of cake, so he was about to jump right away.
But at that moment, he felt a burning pain in his thick tail, as if he had been burned.
“Aargh!”
Keyalmirec tried to turn his body in surprise to check his tail, but his tail wasn’t there.
“Looking for this?”
A human holding his tail, dripping with blood.
Daniel McLean.
“H-How?”
It didn’t make sense.
How the hell was he here?
It would take a considerable amount of time to get here from the Havelock Forward Base. He had run in a hurry even with leeway because he was worried about the presence of the elf, Eris, who lived in the forest.
‘He traversed the forest faster than an elf?’
He couldn’t understand it, but anyway, it was unfolding as reality in front of his eyes.
“Yeah, it was you, huh? No wonder you rushed in so anxiously earlier.”
“…”
Normally, he would have killed him, who was alone, and crossed the fence.
But Keyalmirec, who had already been beaten by Daniel once, pathetically chose to run away.
If he was caught here, it would be an immediate execution.
With that thought, he tried to cross the fence.
For some reason, Daniel McLean was just staring at him without stopping him.
At that moment, a flash of realization struck the dragonkin’s mind strongly.
“Ah…”
Keyalmirec hurriedly returned to the dragonkin’s land.
That was a close call.
If he had crossed over to the human land in front of that guy just now…
“You noticed, huh?”
Then Daniel’s fist, which had finally charged forward, accurately struck Keyalmirec’s abdomen.
Even though it was infused with only a faint mana, combined with his physical abilities, it unleashed destructive power, and Keyalmirec’s huge body floated in the air, breaking through the iron fence and falling over to the other side.
“Ah, ah…”
Despair rose on Keyalmirec’s face.
From Daniel McLean’s mouth, who was walking over the broken iron fence, came the judge’s verdict.
“When a human crosses into the dragonkin’s land, all jurisdiction over them is transferred to the dragonkin.”
That’s why humans could be taken, subjected to inhumane torture, or eaten, and the humans couldn’t interfere at all.
“The same goes for dragonkin.”
On the contrary.
Dragonkin too.
The moment they crossed into human land, all their rights were stripped away, and they turned into mere beasts.
Keyalmirec shed tears of regret, thinking he should have been caught by the dragonkin instead.
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