Published at 10th of April 2021 02:44:45 PM

297 The Closing of Negotiations

It seems the previous dragon-god passed away in the abyss nest.

After tying up Nagrom, the discussions proceeded favourably.

Bella relayed everything I told her pretty much as-is. They seem to have always been a tight-knit community, so they all listened in serious silence.

Then, so, up to now, why have we

Nagrom used our anger to incite us.

Once Bellas explanation has finished, they start intermittently sobbing as they talk.

Still, if Hibi had told us all this when the village fractured, then

Someone grumbles their resentment. But Hibi wouldnt have been able to do that. The split happened right at the peak of the turmoil over the manticore. If the support for the sacrifice order were to crumble, then it would have ended up worse then the village just splitting in two.

A dark atmosphere covers everyone, but no one is directing hostility towards me.

Its bullshit! Its bullshit!

No one, that is, other than Nagrom, who is yelling despite being tied up with rope typically used to tie up large monsters.

Hey Shouldnt we kill him after all? No one would complain if we killed him now, I think.

N-no, I dont want to go down the path of making them comply through force. I dont want this place to become a breeding ground for future problems, so I dont want to rampage here Lets leave the petty old man alone. His crimes can be settled peacefully between the Lithovars.

Hey, what should we do with Nagrom?

I can only blame myself for jumping on the splitting of the village, but I cant overlook how he hit Bellsama.

P-peacefully

I only tried to silence her because she was deceived by the dragon-god, so there wouldnt be this chaos!

Nagrom yells, his face bright red.

Cant we let bygones be bygones?

No, that wont do. In order for that village to be not wary of us, it would be better if we had his head. As long as we have his head, they shouldnt have any reason to be suspicious .

Its bullshit! Its all bullshit! You are all being deceived, how can you not see that!?

I cant bear to watch, so I lightly flick his head with my tail. His body jolts, and his head hangs forwards limply. This should quieten him for a while.

It might be better to keep all this from everyone in that village.

Baron says quietly from my back.

Baron-dono, you dont seem to be very upset?

Bella asks, and Baron calmly nods.

Even if the previous dragon-god only ate abysses as food, there is no mistaking that our ancestors were protected by it. The previous dragon-god saved the village in countless times of crisis Whatever the case, there are plenty of reasons to pay respects.

As I listen to what he says, my heart aches. I feel shame at having worried I would be branded an evil god and killed if I revealed I wasnt the dragon-god.

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But, I dont know if everyone will accept that. Much less now, when time is of the essence If they arent told well, theres a risk of misunderstanding. So for now, we should hide the matter of dragon-god-sama and prioritise reconciliation and cooperation.

I nod in approval. Anyway, its important to quickly build a cooperative relationship now. They can assume that I persuaded them and corrected their distorted way of thinking.

Once the preparations are complete, lets go rescue that village. For now, we should free the three that were imprisoned in the cave under Nagrom-samasNagroms orders.

Th-that many tried to oppose him? If Id only opened their eyes back then, this talk could have gone smoother.

I wonder while looking at Bella, and she panics slightly, thinking I have something I want to say. She chants the incantation and closes her eyes.

I-Is something bothering you, dragon-god-sama?

Eh? N-no, its nothing like that Th-this girl Compared to Hibi, shes a bit more faint of heart. It might be because Hibi was trained thoroughly to be the current miko.

C-come to think of it, why were those three imprisoned?

Akanai was arrested for opposing Nagroms methods. Tatark was guilty of trying to free the sacrifices

Tatark Aah, the person who came to the cave and tried to get everyone to escape, the guy who cut the rope binding my partners arms. Even though I safely killed the manticore, he got caught in the end.

Yarg kept trying to persuade Nagrom to trust the dragon-god, so he was imprisoned in the cave.

Eh? Yarg did that? I was sure hed hold a grudge after losing all the fingers of his hand.

Well, hes the one who personally saw me and my partner kill the manticore. Even when he was taking her to it, he seemed more concerned about catching and sacrificing a traveller than about his fingers, so he didnt seem to be a fundamentally bad person. The fact that there were so many people who were unexpectedly positive towards me was probably thanks to him.

But I wont forgive him.

Please dont eat him when you see him.

I plan to explain to everyone thats not here, gather medicine and weapons, then head to the village, is that okay?

If you come with too many weapons, wont it make an commotion? There should be plenty of spears there already, so dont get caught up over-preparing. I dont know when the enemy will be coming, so Id rather you hurried as much as possible.

Under Nagroms orders, we were preparing a strong version of the morz poison, as well as an antidote in case of accidental injury. As a weapon, it should be stronger than anything that village has.

I-I see Thats reassuring to hear, but that poison was probably made for the purpose of stabbing me to death. W-well, its how its used that matters in the end, right. If Im there, they should be able to trust them, too.