Late Evening - Mid Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

- Andre Pinero ~ (The ‘Executive’)

*Shink* *Shink*

"Sir Pinero, the scout has returned."

-Took him long enough..- Setting the blade I was sharpening down on the table, I looked up at the messenger with a serious expression. "Bring him in."

It had been several hours since I sent the scout to Kaelallan to check if the dragon was still alive, but the scout had taken far too long. -I wonder what kind of problem I'll have to clean up this time…-

Right as I started to get annoyed, the scout finally came in and gave a deep bow, being sure to hold the position until he got permission to speak.

"You look a little pale.” Assuming things really did go wrong, my agitation started to worsen. “Don't tell me you failed?"

The boy immediately broke into a cold sweat. "No sir, nothing of the sort. It was just my first time seeing a dragon." Although my gut told me he was telling the truth, his body language said he was lying.

-He isn't dumb enough to lie that blatantly, right?- "So what did you find?"

"T..the plaza, w..where the king gave his s..speech, was devoid of people besides the royal guard, but in the middle was a dragon's body that was pinned to the ground.” Likely noticing my unhappy mood, he immediately broke into a cold sweat. “There was also a pile of 5 bodies on the monument's platform, likely belonging to the assassins that were sent last week."

-Did one survive?- I took a second to think about it before assuming they were just being kept alive for information. "So what about the dragon? Was it alive?"

"I believe so since it was pinned to the ground, but it was in rough shape."

My eyes immediately went wide. "What do you mean by 'rough shape'?"

"Well, its nose was crushed and it had a rather large wound on the top of its head from something blunt. It had blood coming from its head, nose, and mouth..." The scout's voice had become slightly shaky.

-What?! It wasn’t damaged by a sword but instead by something blunt?- Lawton was, although extremely strong, someone who relied on their sword, blunt force just wasn't his style. -But to be able to damage a dragon so severely with blunt force... Just who…- "You said it was pinned down?"

"Yes... Uhm..."

"Spit it out." Although I tried to suppress it somewhat, my agitation started to show.

The scout’s face only continued to lose color. "Its head, legs, and wings were pinned to the ground by huge refined metal rings."

-What?!- Although up to that point, I had been steadily piecing together and visualizing what happened, that singular piece of information destroyed it all.

The scout had no reason to lie about something like this, and even his body language told me it was the truth, but it was something I simply could not believe.

Several questions flew through my mind before I finally decided to try and move around it. "Did you end up figuring out who fought the dragon?"

His face immediately lost its last remaining color. "Ahh, yes actually-"

*Shing* His voice was cut short by the sound of a sword slicing through the thick stone door.

“Hm… Are you the boss?" Standing there in the cloud of dust was a massive demihuman with a heavy metal greatsword.

It was a man that was immediately recognizable. -This dumba*s scout was getting tailed?!-

- Lawton Keen ~

Going back a couple of hours, I was on his way to the royal barracks to get my ID. -I can't believe I actually left it in the barracks again…-

I was in the plaza playing cards with a few subordinates when I lost a bet, but to pay out the 20 silver I lost, I needed to have my ID. But thankfully, the barracks were not far and I got there quite quickly.

After scouring through several rooms for a few minutes I finally found it lying on the ground next to the chair at my desk. -This is the third time this month…-

Starting to get slightly annoyed with myself, I quickly made my way back out of the barracks and made my way toward the plaza.

On the way there, I decided to stop and get the boys some drinks at a nearby tavern, but right before I walked in, I noticed someone in a very familiar cloak walking down the road. -There was another?!-

The person might have just been a random citizen wearing the same cloak since it was a basic black one, but my intuition told me that wasn't the case.

-Around S rank maybe… I can make it quick.- Reaching for my greatsword, I thought of simply slashing the assassin down but decided against it for a slew of reasons. -let's wait and see what he wants...-

For the next hour or two, I followed the man around town. He ended up taking a long route to the plaza but was also asking several people on the street various questions along the way.

Once he eventually got to the plaza, he only looked at it from a rooftop for a moment before hastily leaving.

From there, he took the main road out of the city before getting outside Kaelallans walls and running into a nearby forest at full speed. -Is he running to their hideout?-

Seeing the golden opportunity, I was extra careful while following the man before eventually making it to the outpost.

From what I could tell, it just looked like a rather small cave entrance, but the inside was spacious and lined with various rooms.

The main room I came into had a few tables with various drinks and coins scattered about, but no one was in sight. -Their security is pretty light…-

Assuming everyone was in the side rooms, I figured it was my time to shine. -In any case, it is time to help the lord!-

Not wanting to waste more time than I already had, I quietly opened the closest door to the hideout entrance.

The man on the inside was half-naked and staring at me with wide eyes.

-Hm. Wrong room.- *Shing*

Cleanly and silently slicing the man in half, I left and moved to the next room.

Things progressed like that for quite a while before I finally started getting agitated. -How many damn rooms does this cave have?!-

I had killed about 15 people in rooms and about 6 in the main area at this point, but none of them were stronger than S rank, but then, I finally made it to the last door. -This must be the boss's room, right?- It was the only room with a thick stone door, as all of the others were just made of cloth or wood.

-Well, it's not like it matters too much. If he isn't here, I just need to wait for him to come back.-

*Shing* Cleanly slicing the thick stone slab in half, I looked into the room and saw two people staring at me, one of which had a considerably strong aura.

"Hm… Are you the boss?" Although I could see them, I couldn’t see any details through the dust. -What a dusty ass room...-

- Vasilias ~

*distant chatter*

Slowly opening my eyes, I noticed the night sky still hanging over me.

Feeling Ilios still laying on my chest, I looked down to see him looking at me with his tail wagging. -You are the cutest thing!-

Feeling the wave of warmth overtake my heart, I reached down to rub his head but was cut short by some loud noises

*THUD* *THUD*

-Well, I guess she’s finally awake...- slowly sitting up, I looked into the plaza and saw the gray halfie trying to break itself free

*THUD* *THUD*

"Uwwaaah… I'd recommend you stop making so much noise, you'll wake people up..." I let out a nice yawn as I hopped off the platform and walked toward her.

The entire plaza fell into silence following my voice.

"Who-"

Hearing her attempt to speak in her dragon form around humans, I immediately darted up to her and threw a hammer kick down on the top of her head.

*Crunch* The plaza cracked as her mouth was forced shut with immense force.

Her pupils dilated and locked onto me, clearly absolutely furious, but that anger vanished the instant I looked her in the eyes and spoke.

“If you say a single word before I put up silencing magic, I'll skin you.”

Her face immediately washed with fear as she clearly understood it wasn't a hollow threat.

-That's a better expression.- "I think it's time we have a little talk. What do you think?" *Crackle* The cracks in the plaza spread as I pressured her head with my aura.

She vigorously nodded her head the instant I finished talking.

"Good, that makes things easier."

In the next instant, a 10-foot wall of stone and a thick vacuum barrier formed around us.

"I’ll get straight to the point… What is a halfie like you doing cooperating with the tower?"