When he rolled his eyes, the human mage’s figure came into view at once. Katroi’s mind was now filled with the fear of death. Until now, he had turned humans into lumps of ice without the slightest hesitation, but this time, he was destined to be captured by humans and meet his end.
With an ambiguous smile on his lips, Damon gazed steadily into the eyes of the captured White Dragon, Katroi.
“How does it feel?”
-……….
“Now do you believe for certain that we are Dragon Slayers?”
Katroi silently nodded. His opponents were, quite literally, perfect dragon hunters. A Dragon Slayer party possessing four Death Knights who knew no fear, a 9th Circle archmage, and a Bone Dragon had never existed before—and likely never would again. Katroi thought that even an Ancient-class dragon would be no match for them.
-Astonishing. To think you possess a Bone Dragon……
Damon shrugged.
“Well, it’s not something to be that surprised about. I have an even more powerful Ancient-class Bone Dragon as well…… I’m in the middle of making it from the corpse of the Black Dragon I hunted last time.”
Katroi was now in a position where he had no choice but to believe the mage’s words. Had he not already felt their tremendous power throughout his entire body? With their skills, they would have been more than capable of hunting an Ancient-class dragon, and a deep shade of fear fell over Katroi’s huge eyes.
-What do you intend to do with me now?
There was not the slightest hesitation in Damon’s answer.
“Isn’t it obvious? Since there’s no need to capture you, I plan to kill you. A dragon’s corpse sells for quite a lot, you see. Or I could turn you into a Bone Dragon……”
Katroi could not help but feel a chill run down his spine as he listened. The thought that he would soon depart this world, and that even his corpse might become a Bone Dragon, filled him with terror. It was far greater than the fear humans felt toward death.
Dragons themselves were a powerful race with virtually no natural enemies, and having lived for thousands of years, their attachment to life was inevitably dozens of times stronger than that of humans. In the end, Katroi abandoned a dragon’s pride and began to beg for his life.
-Spare me.
“……….”
-If money is your goal, I will give you as much as you want. There are tremendous treasures in my lair. I will give you whatever you desire, so please do not kill me.
A faint, sardonic smile appeared on Damon’s face. Seeing the groveling figure of a dragon, a creature that boasted of being the strongest race on earth, made him feel as if something in his chest had opened wide. Were dragons not the ones who usually regarded humans as insects and took their lives without the slightest hesitation? Recalling the deeds of Truvania’s dragons, Damon shook his head without a second thought.
“No, I don’t think there’s any need for that. We’ve already earned an enormous amount of money by hunting two dragons. Whatever treasure a lowly thing like you has gathered over its lifetime would be nothing but pocket change to me.”
-That is not so. The north where I live is filled with precious metal ores. It is because humans cannot reach it due to the cold. I had dwarves develop the mines, and was able to gather tremendous treasures. I will give all of that treasure to you. Even if you sold my corpse, you likely would not receive that much.
Katroi tried to persuade him with all his passion and sincerity, but Damon showed no sign of being convinced in the least. No matter how much treasure the White Dragon had gathered, compared to the treasure inside Increasia, it would be nothing more than a drop in the ocean. More decisively, Damon had no greed for wealth at all.
“That’s not a very tempting offer. To me, satisfying my desire for revenge is more important than such trifling treasure. You dragons slaughtered an enormous number of Truvanians. As if you were stepping on insects. I have no intention of letting you live, so you’d best prepare yourself.”
-I-I had nothing to do with Truvania’s destruction. I did not kill even a single Truvianian, so why must I die?
“Because……”
Damon’s eyes gleamed with vengeance.
“Because you are a dragon. That reason alone is enough for you to die. And you cannot say that you have never killed humans until now. It is something easily known just by looking at the reactions of those who came with you.”
Damon stretched out his finger and pointed at Princess Terenbeti and her party.
“When I first faced them, their eyes were filled with obvious fear. In other words, it proves that many of their comrades fell by your hand.”
Despair seeped into Katroi’s eyes. The last bit of room for persuasion had now vanished completely. Damon’s words were true. On his way here, Katroi had turned many of Terenbeti’s knights into blocks of ice. Without feeling the slightest pang of conscience.
In the end, Katroi lowered his head, accepting death as a foregone conclusion. He looked as though he had given up on everything. Watching him, Damon slowly turned his head toward the Death Knights. Once he gave the order, the White Dragon Katroi would depart this world cleanly.
“Then farewell.”
Just as Damon was about to give the order, someone rushed in front of him.
“W-wait a moment.”
Damon stopped speaking and widened his eyes. The person who had stepped between him and Katroi was Yuliana. There was a look on her face as if she had made some sort of decision. Biting her lip firmly, Yuliana glared at Damon with angry eyes.
“This doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“……….”
“What reason is there for him to die simply because he’s a dragon?”
“Here we go again.”
A weary look appeared on Damon’s face. Yuliana’s strange habit of butting in without thinking had flared up once more. She stood firm in front of Katroi’s huge head and stared piercingly at Damon.
“Of course, I’ve heard your circumstances. If you have such a grudge, it’s only natural to repay it. But your target is wrong. If you want to avenge your grudge, you should take it out on the Truvanian dragons who committed the sin. Taking it out on an unrelated dragon is nothing more than venting your anger. Don’t you think so?”
Damon grimaced and began pondering how to get through this situation. Responding one by one to Yuliana’s nonsensical sophistry was by no means a wise decision.
“This thing is prey. Does one need a reason to hunt? When we hunted roe deer or rabbits, you stayed quiet, didn’t you?”
“Hunting can only be called hunting when definite profit comes from it. Viewed in that context, killing a dragon is by no means proper.”
“Then what am I supposed to do……”
Seeing Damon ask back stupidly, Yuliana planted her hands on her waist.
“This White Dragon said he could pay a ransom. Several times over, at that. If so, wouldn’t it be most reasonable to take the ransom and let him live? I don’t think there’s any need to go so far as taking his life.”
His headache worsening, Damon held his head. Just thinking about having to persuade Yuliana made his head throb.
Katroi, who had resigned himself to death, lifted his head with a startled expression. He did not know what her purpose was, but he could not help feeling grateful that a human was trying to save him. After all, life was precious to anyone. As if aware of that feeling, Yuliana continued to lay out her argument.
“You’re currently being pursued by all of Truvania’s dragons. In such a situation, do you want to make all of Arcadia’s dragons your enemies as well? If you kill this White Dragon, even the dragons living in Arcadia might start chasing you.”
“That’s knowing one thing and not knowing the other. The reason Truvania’s dragons are chasing me is because I seized their magical treasure trove, not because I killed their kin. Dragons are creatures who live thoroughly individual lives. Therefore, they do not grieve over the death of their own kind or plot revenge for it. If this fellow dies, I’m sure Arcadia’s dragons will think something like this: ‘What a pathetic bastard. How stupid did he have to be to lose his life to mere humans? Serves him right.’ That’s what they’d say.”
As Damon continued speaking, despair once again seeped into Katroi’s face. The mage’s words were true from beginning to end. In short, the mage knew all too well the nature of dragons. But Yuliana, too, was desperate.
“Then why are you trying to kill that dragon? Because of simple revenge? Or to make more Bone Dragons?”
“……….”
“Killing blindly isn’t the answer. You may bear grudges with dragons, but you must also remember that you can form good ties with them as well.”
Unable to endure it any longer, Damon shouted.
“What exactly do you want? Is your goal to save the dragon?”
Yuliana nodded without hesitation.
“Yes. Take the ransom and release him. You already have two Bone Dragons anyway. If you receive a sufficient ransom, isn’t there no need to kill him?”
“I can’t do that. I’m sure this thing killed many people on its way here. You can tell at a glance just by looking at the expressions of the people who came with him.”
“We can find that out by asking, can’t we?”
Yuliana turned her head and looked at Princess Terenbeti’s face. When everyone’s gaze gathered on her, the princess, who had been standing blankly, took a step back in confusion.
“I-I……”
Yuliana asked with a serious expression.
“You are the people who came with this dragon, correct? Let me ask one thing. Did that dragon kill any of your party on the way here?”
“……….”
“Please answer honestly. A dragon’s life and death depend on this……”
Conflict appeared on Princess Terenbeti’s face. Of course, it was true that several knights had died at the dragon’s hands. To ease their grievances, it would be proper to acknowledge the truth. But the princess could not readily nod. There were interests entangled in this matter that were difficult to explain in words.
Dragons were a race that possessed tremendous destructive power and pride to match, and because of that, they had a tendency to be clear in matters of debt and resentment. If a human had earned their enmity, they would chase them to the ends of the earth and repay it; if they had received a favor, they would surely repay it as well. That was the nature of dragons.
From that perspective, letting the dragon die like this was not particularly desirable. The knights were already dead, and the dead could not be brought back to life, so once the dragon died, everything would simply end as it was. But if one shifted one’s thinking slightly, there was another solution. Princess Terenbeti had enough wisdom to take that into account.
If she bestowed a favor upon the dragon here, and the dragon survived, the ripple effect would be boundless. For the favor of saving his life, the dragon would undoubtedly guarantee a definite return to the Kingdom of Terenbeti. As long as she buried the matter of the knights who had been turned into blocks of ice, the dragon would surely repay the favor. Thinking of that, Princess Terenbeti shook her head as if there was no need to consider it further.
“That is not true. The dragon did not kill a single member of our party on the way here.”
At the unexpected answer, Damon could not help but be dumbfounded.
“W-what did you say?”
That her words were a lie could be guessed just by looking at the reactions of each member of her delegation. Every one of them was staring at the princess with astonished expressions. However, Princess Terenbeti had already made up her mind.
“It is true that several knights died on the way here. But the reason they died was none other than an avalanche. The dragon actually tried to save them. However, his power did not reach them, and they eventually had no choice but to die.”
“Is that the truth?”
“Yes, it is.”
Princess Terenbeti nodded without needing to think. Then she respectfully bowed toward Damon.
“I, too, beg you. Please spare the dragon.”
At her answer, Yuliana wore an expression that seemed to say, See? She had gained an extremely reliable ally.
“You see? If you insist on killing the dragon despite the fact that he killed no one, only one truth will be revealed.”
“And what is that?”
“That you are a bloodless, tearless slaughterer.”
“This is truly absurd.”
Utterly dumbfounded, Damon shook his head from side to side. The thought that perhaps he should never have captured the dragon in the first place surged within him. If he had killed it without a second thought the moment it fell, none of these problems would have occurred. After thinking and thinking, Damon looked at the Death Knights.
“What should I do?”
“Who knows?”
The Death Knights, too, looked troubled, as if they had no idea what would be best.