955: Anomaly and Dragonkin

「I get why you came to this continent now, but let me warn you about one thing.」

「What is it?」

「You shouldn’t stay here for long. This is no place for someone like you, someone with a future.」

Izario muttered with a solemn look on his face. I could see that those words came from the bottom of his heart.

Fran, however, was not convinced.

「But you’re here all the time.」

「We’re different. Like I said before, I’m just an ordinary guy with a divine sword.」

Izario seems to have really low self-esteem, though I can understand why after listening to his story.

But after fighting on this continent for a decade, I’m sure he’s become strong enough to deserve his Rank S t.i.tle by now…… I guess it’s hard to get people to change their minds after so long.

Izario was constantly calling himself “Talentless” and acting out the role of the useless old drunkard. Well, maybe he’s only half acting. Anyways, the reason why he acts so useless in public may be because he felt like that’s how things should have been, in a world where he never found the sword.

I also noticed the similarity between the wielders chosen by Gaia and Ignis. Perhaps these blades only selected those who wouldn’t grow arrogant after obtaining them. Rather, they chose people who even disrespected the blade itself.

As a result, such a person would be less likely to abuse the sword for personal gain. That’s probably not the only factor, but I’m pretty sure that particular mindset is important.

「Well, that’s enough for a break. Let’s get going now.」

「Nn.」

Fran nodded and stood up. I attempted to use the antidote spell on Izario, but he applied it to himself before I had the chance.

Wait, he could use healing magic?

「Magic?」

「A must have for heavy drinkers, no?」

No, what!? Learning magic for the sake of drinking?! Maybe this guy’s got no talent with a sword, but what about everything else……? As I recall, there weren’t many people capable of using healing magic.

「Is that okay? Won’t you get weaker if you get rid of the alcohol?」

「Oh, uh, I’ll be fine! I mean, the request was just for investigation, so I won’t be needing any alcohol. We’re better off without the smell too, right?」

With the alcohol drained from his body, Izario gave a panicked defense. Seems like he still has a hard time admitting to his lie. He’s so desperate that I’m starting to feel little sorry for him. Guess I can give him a little hand.

『Fran, Izario has a point. The enemy might find us if he smells of alcohol.』

「I see. Okay then.」

「Y-Yeah! You get what I mean, right?」

He somehow seemed pitiful despite being so much stronger than us. I thought he was “acting useless half the time” earlier, by maybe only 20% of it was an act.

We set out again for the investigation, but we were soon confronted with a strange situation. Izario’s face seemed have gotten a bit serious too.

「Oh, that there’s a squad of dragonkin.」

「Nn. About 30 of them.」

「Hmmm. According to the guild, no dragonkin should have been dispatched to this region……」

We discovered a squad of dragonkin who shouldn’t be here. Could they be working for the Dragon King?

That said, this area was not off-limits, aside from Trismegistus’ castle. If they came all the way here for some reason, it wouldn’t be a crime.

「Guess we have no choice. We gotta try making contact with them. If it’s those rebel dragonkin we’ve been hearing about, we might have a fight on our hands.」

「I’m looking forward to it.」

「You sure seem happy.」

Izario shrugged his shoulders in a teasing manner, but his eyes were not smiling. He must have noticed the almost deadly fighting spirit emanating from Fran.

We’ve already informed the guild about how the Dragon King took over the illegal slave trafficking ring. Naturally, Izario must have heard about it too.

Combined with the story of Fran’s history, he should easily be able to infer how Fran would feel about the ones under the Dragon King’s command.

「Just in case, don’t do anything until they strike first, okay? If they turn hostile, you’re free to go wild.」

「Nn!」

「Please, I’m counting on you.」

Three minutes later.

The dragonkin noticed the approaching Fran and Izario. Right after, they suddenly rushed up to us.

Urus.h.i.+ was hiding in the shadows just in case. If the need arose, he’s in charge of the surprise attack to disrupt our opponents.

「Stop right there!」

「Name yourselves!」

Many of the dragonkin were very young, and they seemed rebellious too. Like, the kind that would probably grow up into hoodlums.

Combat-wise, they were below average for dragonkin, so they seemed to have no idea what we were capable of. Yet, they did not seem to doubt their own superiority.

Except for the few who were trying to intimidate us, all of them were smirking and sneering.

「Oh, so scary. Anyways, which reservation are you dragonkin from?」

「We don’t answer to you. This area is off limits. Leave quietly, and we’ll let you go.」

「Huh? Off-limits? We’re here on a mission from the Adventurers Guild, you know? Why doesn’t the guild know about this off-limits stuff? Who in the world decided this?」

「……Tch.」

The leader of the delinquents clicked his tongue at Izario’s unfrightened demeanor. He also seemed to realize the troublesome fact in Izario’s words.

He must have thought we were just ordinary adventurers hunting down antidemons. Now that he knew we were officially a.s.signed by the guild, they could not legally interfere with us.

But the dragonkin remained defiant.

「This continent belongs to us dragonkin! What we decide becomes law!」

「Hmm? When did we agree to that? Aren’t you guys the ones who destroyed Gordicia in the first place? And now you’re gonna claim owners.h.i.+p?」

Izario spoke provocatively, as if he wanted to get on the dragonkin’s nerves. This was clearly a taunt.

He may be trying to cloud the man’s judgment in order to squeeze more information out of him. Or, maybe trying to anger the guy into a fight, so that we could claim self-defense.

At any rate, he had already decided that there was no point in a proper discussion.

「Come on, you naughty boys should just go home before you get hurt. Say you’re sorry and I’ll let you off the hook.」

「Son of a b.i.t.c.h! Don’t treat us like children!」

「If that’s all you can say, you really are a kid. Right, wittle dwagon?」

「Kill this f.u.c.king geezer!」