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Chapter 68

Slung onto Arleaf’s back is Karma Blaze and the core part glowed.

“We shall never bow to your contemptable accusations!”

Muu, agreeing with Arleaf, shows its stance on the matter by bellowing out.

“Muuuuu!”

Muu cries out with axe in hand.

“Filthy heretics... dragonslayers! What are you doing standing there?! Hurry and finish off the dragon!”

“Damn it!”

My body feels incredibly sluggish... but I ready my crossbow and prepare for battle.

“Cohgray...”

Even now, Celes doesn’t seem to be convinced one way or another.

“Celes...”

But as soon as I try to speak with Celes...

‘Beware!’

Heeding Veno’s warning, I turn around to see a mage taking a preemptive strike, shooting a great ball of fire at me.

“Giga Flame Burst!”

It’s as impressive as Arleaf’s Fire Bullet.

But wait. I can’t intercept that with my bolts!

“Aqua Shot!”

Arleaf tries to counter the fireball with a magical scattershot of water.

The fire quickly boils the water into steam and cuts through it, still hurling towards us.

“Whoa!”

Somehow, we all managed to sidestep and dodge the attack.

“Cheeky brats!”

“Here is some more. Fire Bat, Aqua Arowana, Wind Spider!”

Arleaf casts her spells to summon forth various animal-shaped magic: a bat of flames, a piranha of water, and a transparent arachnid wrapped in a vortex.

Hey, she’s already got the hang of the spells she learned from Veno!

The flaming bat dances and releases sparks near Arleaf, creating a fantastical spectacle.

“I will not hold back.”

“What strange magic...! But say goodbye to your beastly friends!”

Arleaf and the priest stare down each other.

Then, the priest and his subordinates ready another spell.

“Good priest!”

The tip of Celes’ blade clanks against the ground as she directs her rage against the priest.

“This is a battle between Cohgray and me! You shall not interrupt us!”

“The dragon is right before you! Why do you embrace such sentiment towards him?!”

“As I have said, we will have a duel! Even if Cohgray were to be a dragon, I am... a warrior devoted to the Teachings and we shall have an honorable fight! Now you will cease your folly!”

“Hmpf...”

It seems like there is something in her religion which forbids the priest butting in.

“The rest of you stand down as well! ... we will have a dignified duel!”

The other dragonslayers do as Celes said and quietly stand by, albeit with uncertainty and worry.

“Arleaf, Muu.”

‘Buyest time for there is room for more discussion... then we shall execute our escape plan.’

I look at Celes, hoping that she would calm down and assess the situation.

... but she raises her sword at me.

Wha—?!

I instinctively take a leap backwards.

As soon as I move out of the way, I see Celes sword exactly where I was already.

“Celes!”

“Cohgray! Are you truly a dragon?!”

“... do you think anyone would answer with ‘yes’?”

Had I said so, I’m sure they would all instantly strike me down.

Even if I were to be completely possessed by Veno, I still wouldn’t be answering with a yes.

“Right you are. Thus, I have a proposition.”

Celes rapidly approaches me to speak with me.

Damn, I’m not nearly strong enough to get away from her!

I don’t have the slightest idea what level I would need to be able to fight her head on.

I take a single bolt out of my crossbow, enchant it with poison, and stab myself on the arm.

Maybe it’s because we’ve leveled up, the toxins in Arleaf’s Poison Cooking have been more potent than ever. Lately, I’ve been using a blend of that and Slow Poison.

My diminished abilities bounce back up in an instant.

With this, at least I should be able to match Celes’ movements.

“Tell me about it.”

“Cohgray, I shall take responsibility to protect you whilst you are under arrest. Then, we shall properly test with magic whether you truly are a dragon or not.”

Oh, so she doesn’t really believe in that light spell the priest casted.

Honestly, I would love for Celes to give me a fair trial... well, no, I’d love that I didn’t get tried at all.

“You know I deeply respect you, Celes, and I cannot express how grateful I am to hear that you would give me the chance to prove my innocence. However, unfortunately, I must decline.”

“Why must you?!”

Celes, though still hesitating, violently and swiftly thrusts her sword at my torso.

I’m sure she’d KO me instantly if I got hit by that.

But if she’s only this quick, then not all hope is lost!

Poison Cooking is stronger than you think! I nimbly jump sideways and out of the trajectory of her sword while firing a few shots with my crossbow.

The trigger is light and crisp.

The recoil is a little strong, but fortunately, Celes wasn’t expecting my shots.

“Do you still not get it?”

I mean, of course I can’t tell her I actually have a dragon within me.

But I have a great excuse for the situation they’ve thrown me in.

“Surely, you understand, Celes. Even if you believe me, the others won’t. They think I’m the culprit. They’ve had it in for me since the beginning. Not to mention, they can decide everything behind your back.”

“...”

I know Celes is smart enough to understand that.

“But I have people I can depend on to ascertain the truth. Hence which is why, Cohgray, that I must capture you!”

I feel that Celes is trying to keep the dialogue up so that she can prove my innocence.

Yeah. I’m sure she’s able to kill me, but she’s not sure if she wants to. I can tell she’s trying to drag this out as well.

‘... if I am able to protect thee from their interrogative magics, then it would not be so bad to let them take thee.’

That sounds... really unlikely that it’d end well for me.

If you think about why they want me, it’s not for any crimes against humanity like what I had supposedly done at Nisua.

It’s probably because they know that I can undo the modified Dragonfall’s Charge.

I’ve been incredibly inconvenient to the puppeteer behind the scenes.

It doesn’t matter whether they find me innocent or not.

‘Aye, certainly. However, thou believest that this dragonslayer is trustworthy, no?’

I did. But they’ll probably find a way to assassinate her too.

They’ll say that she’s fallen victim to the dragon or something like that.

It might be better that we find out who’s pulling the strings first.

It’d be great if we can do something like capture the priest and make him confess the truth... but I don’t think we have a chance with so many Celes-level adventurers around him.

If only you could make a truth serum to get him to talk.

‘Hahaha... that would not be such a bad idea. It is not something that I would normally enjoy, but I am beginning to feel less guilty to make them suffer.’