891: A Sudden Turn
「……I was an illegal slave too.」
「……!」
As Fran described her situation, Prear was at a complete loss for words. Apparently, he didn’t know about this in advance.
「I was chained and beaten every day.」
Fran recounted the time when she was a slave, but Prear still seemed unable to speak. He remained frozen, staring back at Fran.
「I was always hungry. Always frowning at my own smell. Still, I lived.」
「……」
「I forced myself to remember everything they made me study, because they would beat me if I couldn’t.」
Fran continued in the same tone as before, but Prear winced slightly. Did he empathize with something in Fran’s story?
「They treated me like I wasn’t a person. Still, I had to put up with it to survive.」
Fran glared at Prear with deep-seated anger in her eyes.
「You say slaves are a necessary sacrifice? You’ve gotta be kidding me!」
「……Nrgh!」
Her uncontrollable killing intent brushed against Prear’s skin.
Prear’s eyes widened as a pathetic moan escaped his half-open mouth.
This was certainly no act, only fear from the bottom of his heart.
「Not just for my kin, but also for myself. I will destroy the slavers.」
「……But…… But……!!!」
Prear mouth moved, trying to say something in return, but the words weren’t coming out.
He must have realized it. No matter what he said, he would never be able to talk down Fran, someone who has experienced slavery firsthand.
The strength drained from his body. It seems he’s given up.
「……Sigh. I get it. Yeah, I get it now. You won’t stop at anything……」
He muttered in a weak tone. But then, he soon looked up at Fran and started pleading.
「But please, not in this season! I’m begging you!」
「……」
「I’ll look into the slavers as soon as we get rid of the antidemons! I’ll give you everything!」
「I don’t trust you. You didn’t tell us about Seliadot either.」
「She’s not employed through the guild and she didn’t even come in to greet me. I can’t count her as an a.s.set in the case of an emergency.」
Prear was not lying. I’ve been using Principle of Falsehoods against Prear ever since I started getting suspicious of him.
However, nothing he said was a lie.
But how is that possible? The guy reeks of lies.
After thinking it through again, I realized that he might be speaking in half-truths.
If he was wary of lie-detecting skills, he could always speak with vague words to avoid lying.
With regards to the slavers, he said that he would look into them and give us the information he obtained. However, he could do that even if he was connected to the slavers.
That’s why we decided to ask Prear a question to determine if he was clean, once and for all.
「Prear, are you connected to illegal slavers?」
「Hah? What the h.e.l.l? Does it look that way to you?」
So he avoids a direct answer.
「Yes or no. Answer with one or the other.」
「What? Are you accusing me of something?」
「Nn.」
「……I don’t need to answer this s.h.i.+t! Don’t irritate me any more with your stupid questions! Get the f.u.c.k out of my sight!」
I knew it. Instead of answering, he pretended to get angry and kick Fran out. This guy was obviously guilty.
Fran reached for me on her back, but then paused.
『What’s wrong, Fran?』
（Master. Prear said earlier that his highest priority was the survival of the city. He wasn’t lying, right?）
『Hmm? Yeah, it seems that’s the truth.』
（I see……）
Fran turned to Sophie.
She had been watching the entire conversation between Fran and Prear with worry. Since Sophie wanted to protect the town too, this discussion was of utmost importance to her.
It seemed as if it could turn into a battle at any moment, so she must have been very anxious.
We could either take Prear down, or respect Sophie’s wishes and let him go. This was a rare instance of Fran being conflicted.
Tension filled the air of the office.
Fran’s internal struggle didn’t last long, but she ended up not being able to choose either option.
「We’re under attack!」
「T-The dragonkin!」
「s.h.i.+t! They’re way too strong!」
A series of screams and sounds of destruction rang out from the bar area. I also heard an explosion. This was no ordinary drunken brawl.
We dashed out of the office to check out what was happening in the bar. There, we found more than ten dragonkin engaging the adventurers in a death battle near the entrance to the guild.
All of the dragonkin covered their faces with masks to hide their ident.i.ties. Moreover, they were all quite skilled.
A dragonkin with red scales on his arms, seemingly the leader of the group, was particularly talented.
He was the smallest in the group, and even appeared to be a child at first glance. However, I could tell instantly that he outmatched even Gazzol.
But why would the dragonkin attack the guild?
I saw a few of the adventurers already injured in the a.s.sault.
「Master, let’s capture these guys first.」
『Yeah, we’ll handle the leader.』
「Nn!」
『Urus.h.i.+, you support the adventurers!』
「Woof!」
「Sophie, let’s back up the adventurers!」
「Okay!」
We wouldn’t be able to continue interrogating Prear until we take care of these guys either way.
The adventurers looked relieved when they saw Fran unsheathe me and take a step forward. All of them knew her abilities by now.
The dragonkin leader, on the other hand, started grinning under his mask. His narrowed eyes were fixed on Fran.
「Hoh? You’re pretty strong.」
Despite his size, he had the hoa.r.s.e voice of an old man.
「You too.」
「Gwahaha! Bring it! I’ll take you on!」
「That’s my line.」
「How entertaining! I expected this to be a boring job, but I didn’t know I’d get such a bonus!」
The battle-crazed dragonkin rushed toward Fran with his sword at the ready. He didn’t seem to have a grudge or anything, and he also said the word “job”. What on earth was he after?
（I’ll beat him down first, then hear him out.）
『Sounds good to me!』