Published at 30th of August 2022 06:54:50 AM

674 A Certain Girl and the Rumours of the Evil Dragon (side: Miria)

Having reached the Holy City of Ridom and acquired lodgings, Meltisan and I are wandering around town in order to gather information about Saint Lilixira. Then, in a wide open square with a fountain, we succeeded in asking Gram-san, an elder disciple of the Holy God religion.

You have heard nothing, esteemed travellers? In order to settle things with the evil dragon Demon Lord, Saint-sama headed towards the Easternmost Strange Land together with the Holy Knights.

N-no way Saint Lilixira is aiming for Irushisan

Not satisfied with framing Irushisan as the mastermind behind the turmoil in Ardesia, Saint Lilixira is apparently set on subjugating him, even if it meant chasing him to the ends of the earth. Meltisans face turns bitter as we hear about this.

I dont know why everything turned out this way. Only, there are some things Im certain of now.

Saint Lilixira is a champion of humanity, with the greatest fighting strength in this world So even if Irushisan is victorious against her, its possible that he will end up being seen throughout the world as an absolute enemy of humanity. There are only two outcomes possible. Irushisan will be killed by Saint Lilixira, or if he will truly be recognised as the Demon Lord and be hunted forever.

Why did she do such a! T-this is, its definitely strange! Because at that time, Irushisan that dragon was fighting to protect Alban!

H-hey, Miria, calm down! Ahaha sorry, Gram-san, she can get a little excited

Meltia is signalling to meThat line of conversation is badusing her eyes.

Haah, thats some nonsense you said.

I-I happened to be there! I was at the royal castle as Meltisans attendant, who had been invited!

What?

Gram-san frowns at my unexpected declaration.

So, thats definitely wrong! If you hear accounts from anyone who was in Alban, or who had been invited by the royal family, Im sure youll understand theres something strange going on! We need to stop this battle before its too late!!

Gram-san slams his staff on the ground.

I-its one falsehood after the next out of you! Firstly That abominable dragon had already murdered the Hero of Harenae in cold blood!

Y-youre lying

My words catch in my throat. I knew that the Hero had given his life in the defence of his desert-bound homeland Harenae against monsters. However, not only had I not asked around to see if Irushisan could have been behind that, I hadnt even considered it.

Is that true, Gram-san? Umm, could that have been another dragon or something?

Seemingly bewildered, Meltisan inquires further.

Yes, it could have been a different dragon. Another one that happened to enter the domain of humans, one with indigo scales, a white mane, and two heads. After all, dragons like that are oh-so common, arent they!

Gram-san yells at me in exasperated indignation. Passersby are startled at his outburst and glance over curiously.

I cant say anything in reply. If there truly was a dragon with the same characteristics that appeared and killed the Hero, there would be no doubt that it was Irushisan. In the first place, its not common for monsters to assault a city.

Monsters without intelligence can be repelled with protective charms and wards. Back in my village, Mariellsan prepared protective charms almost entirely by herself, but even so monster attacks were few and far between. If a large city were to make similar preparations, they would gather excellent mages and maintain multi-layered protective barriers over the city.

Moreover, the monsters with enough intelligence to bypass the wards usually wouldnt choose to assault a large city, since if the entire city rose up to subjugate it, it wouldnt be able to put up a fight.

For a dragon to have descended on the city, it could have been either to kill the Hero, or to take over the country. Either way it would be a crisis on a historic magnitude. If the Harenae dragon and Irushisan had similar characteristics, then its near-impossible that they could be different dragons.

S-surely theres some mistake in the passing of information so T-thats right! For the sake of pushing the blame of the Alban incident on the dragon, Saint Lilixira deliberately spread false.!

Miria, lets go already.

Meltisan pats my shoulder and shakes her head slowly.

Harenae and the Holy City of Ridom are the two great sacred lands of the Holy God religion. In addition, the Holy Country Liarm had been providing considerable support to the resource-starved Harenae as the place where the Hero was born. Harenae has few other links, but theres nothing strange about information flowing from Harenae to Ridom. On top of that, there would be many witnesses if a dragon were to raid the city. Its not realistic to think its characteristics could have been misrepresented.

M-Meltia san, even so

Im sorry, Gram-san. As travellers, we dont know much about this land. We apologise for our rudeness.

Hmph! As long as you get it! Good grief To hold the Saint in contempt and to revere that evil dragon! Uncouth, and without education or faith! I made the mistake of speaking with you two, thinking you were passing adventurers!

I lower my head as well, apologising to Gram-san, and quickly leave the place.

Im sorry Meltisan. Even though I knew I shouldnt have said that

I guess you were too shocked. Even I was surprised, so it cant be helped that you couldnt hold your tongue.

Hearing about the Hero incident, and that Saint Lilixira had set out to subjugate Irushisan definitely shocked me. But, more than that I was saddened that Irushisan would be spoken of in such a bad light, without even having seen him, much less actually having met him I wanted that elder to consider the possibility that the dragon he was talking about wasnt evil.

Meltisan strokes my head.

Everybody has their own value system after all. Its easier to arbitrarily decide how to view things that are unknown. If you wrack your mind thinking from every angle about everything you arent familiar with, youll reach breaking point and wont be able to accomplish anything. Its not good to be disparaging about those youre unfamiliar with Well, even I from the point of view of the people of Liarm, weve been talking badly of their revered Saint Lilixira, based only on rumours of her from foreign lands, and not having actually met her.

That is true.

Im sure its depressing to hear your friend rejected like that. But, the Irushia that that old man is slandering as an evil dragon is the Irushia in his value system. The Irushia that you actually met is completely different. Its better to differentiate the two. Even after hearing what that old man said, having actually met the dragon before, you still believe in him, dont you?

Thank you. Ive calmed down a little.

I say and bow my head down, causing Meltisan to break into a wide grin.

Fufu, hows that! Even I can say something respectable from time to time, right!

Caught up in her delight, I begin smiling too.

Meltisan Again, youre poking fun at yourself to gloss things over.

Meltisan coughs in order to hide her reddening face.

But, the fact that Irushisan is in great danger hasnt changed. What should I do From the start, someone like me might not be able to do anything at all to help, though

Well, even if you were to head to that Great Monster Domain the end of the earth its probably impossible for you to intercede in the fight with Saint Lilixira. You should do what you are able to. In the first place, youve been travelling all this while in order to meet with said dragon and learn the truth, havent you? If the Saint returns here, you might even be able to speak with her and learn the truth. If she doesnt, the time might come someday when you get the chance to speak directly with the dragon, as long as you continue your journey.

Thats true.

I nod, gazing out over the rows of buildings in Ridom. If Irushisan wins Or if Saint Lilixira wins, either way I should probably remain here until the battle is over.

The Great Cathedral and the palace. After staring at the two great edifices that stand out even among the Holy City Ridoms breathtaking scenery, I turn my gaze to the giant Angel Lumira statue.

Huh?

I rub my eyes.

Muh, whats wrong, Miria? Did something get in your eye?

No, well Theres someone standing. Could it be a ritual of the Holy God religion?

What?

Im not seeing things. A woman clad in robes is standing on the head of the Angel Lumira statue.

The people surrounding us gradually begin to take notice of her, and start to clamour while pointing at the statues head.