[V10C24] Human Ego

“…And that’s what happened during our investigation into the Red Dragon of Dalsmore.”

Robson recounted the events of three days ago to a man at an inn room in the town of Lugaroa.

Once he was finished, the man sitting across from him silently placed a number of silver coins on the table.

The man was tall, but his hooded cloak and the bandages covering his face concealed his true age. Robson believed he was rather young though.

The bandaged man had contacted Robson a bit before the commotion with the red dragon, asking to buy information from him. Robson was initially approached by a middleman, but after refusing to deal with intermediaries, the bandaged man paid him a visit.

Honestly, Robson had initially assumed that the bandaged man was someone from the Dragon Knights trying to overthrow Dunning. However, he quickly realized that this was a mistake.

If the man had been a fellow Dragon Knight, Robson was confident in his ability to sense which division he belonged to based on demeanor alone.

“About the Silent Witch…”

The man began speaking under the bandages. He didn’t seem to be masking his voice, but he only spoke in an emotionless tone devoid of any discernible inflection.

“Where is she right now?”

“She’s currently under house arrest at the inn,” Robson answered. “Well, considering Captain Dunning’s unauthorized decisions were the main cause, she’ll probably get off with a slap on the wrist. I intend to testify on her behalf.”

Robson found the bandaged man’s question was a bit surprising. He hadn’t expected him to take an interest in the Silent Witch.

The man had always spoken the bare minimum during their exchanges, so his question about the Silent Witch must have had some deeper meaning.

(Not that I care enough to pry into the subject.)

While Robson was a bit curious, he understood that this man was not someone to make enemies with. From the man’s behavior, Robson could tell that he knew how to order people around, meaning he held a certain level of power.

One misstep and Robson might lose his head.

“Oh, and here’s something I found in the Dalsmore Forest. There’s no name written on it, but judging from the contents, it should belong to that magical biologist.”

Robson placed the remnants of a knapsack on the table, along with a bundle of papers that had been inside. He had found these in the forest.

The documents were mostly illegible due to the dirt, but they seemed to be records of studying dragon ecology. Their authenticity was confirmed by the presence of what appeared to be a dragon scale pressed between the sheets of paper.

Without a word, the bandaged man placed three silver coins on the table.

“I don’t suppose you could add a bit extra?” Robson asked. “It’s definitely a bit aged, but there’s a real dragon scale in there.”

The bandaged man then placed a gold coin on the table.

“Thanks for the business,” Robson muttered, pushing the ruined knapsack toward the bandaged man.

The bandaged man used his gloved hands to carefully pick up the bundle of papers and skim through the contents. Then, he picked up the scale and held it up to the sunlight streaming through the window.

“Give me your opinion as a dragon specialist. Did this scale come from a living dragon?” The bandaged man asked, causing Robson to ponder for a second.

Since he had already been given a gold coin, he might as well identify the scale for free.

“The scale has remained intact without any processing, even after all these years. That means it must have peeled off a living dragon. Judging by the size and color, it probably came from a dragonling right before transitioning into adulthood.”

“And the species?”

Robson squinted at the coin-sized scale in the bandaged man’s hands, held up against the light. It normally appeared dark brown, but also displayed shades of orange, red, and yellow based on the play of the light.

“I’m afraid I can’t say for sure, since the scales from young dragons have pretty vague coloring. It’s hard to identify the species based on color alone, even for experts.”

“I see.”

After the brief statement, the bandaged man carefully wrapped the scale in oiled paper, then placed it in his bag along with the documents. Then, he raised his head to look Robson right in the eyes.

This felt like the first time Robson had seen the color of those eyes, which were light blue with a drop of green mixed in.

“This will be the last time I contact you,” the bandaged man said. “Thus, I want to ask you one final time. Are you truly unaware of what happened between Captain Dunning and the magical biologist Theodore Maxwell eight years ago?”

“No matter how many times you ask, I can only say that I know nothing. I really don’t… That said…”

Robson glanced at the man’s bag, which now contained the ragged knapsack, before continuing.

“I found the remnants of his knapsack lying there in the forest. And I suspect Captain Dunning is a cold enough man to thrash the poor guy and leave him there to die, all alone.”

“If Captain Dunning caused any harm to the magical biologist Theodore Maxwell, he will face the appropriate consequences. Perhaps he may even be dismissed from his post as captain,” the bandaged man said.

“Well, I guess that can’t be helped,” Robson replied.

The bandaged man’s blue eyes stared at Robson with a coldness that seemed to regard him as heartless.

“Do you want Captain Dunning to be overthrown?” The man asked.

(Sharp guy.)

Robson couldn’t help but put on a sarcastic smile.

Since this would be their last encounter, it wouldn’t hurt to vent a little.

“I truly respect Captain Dunning from the bottom of my heart. He has devoted his entire life to dragon hunting, and as a result, saved countless lives. I can’t even remember how many times he’s saved my skin.”

Compared to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Divisions of the Dragon Knights, which specialized in dragon subjugation, many considered the Investigation Division to be lackluster.

Even so, Robson believed that Dunning was a hero.

“And that’s why I want him to retire as a hero.”

Dunning blamed his own powerlessness every time he saw someone fall to a dragon, whether they were a subordinate or even an unrelated dragon disaster victim.

And with each instance, he grew more and more distorted by his hatred of dragons. It was only a matter of time before he broke.

“Back in the day, Captain Dunning was someone you could reason with. Until his hatred of dragons warped him. Nowadays, he’s so fixated on killing dragons by any means necessary that he can’t even hear the advice of people around him. I’ve been thinking that someone needs to put him in his place for a while now.”

However, Robson was too scared to do this himself. Thus, he had continued working in the Dragon Knights while wishing day in and day out for someone to solve the problem for him.

…But that all ends here.

“I plan to retire from the Dragon Knights,” Robson said.

“Because you feel guilty for letting Captain Dunning fall?”

“Maybe a bit of that too. The real problem is that red dragon though… Talking to it was bad, real bad.”

The Red Dragon of Dalsmore had transformed into a tanuki and spoke to them like a real person.

While Robson knew that greater dragons could understand human language, he had never encountered such a friendly dragon before.

To him, dragons were supposed to be targets for subjugation. They were supposed to look down on and hate humans, not engage in dialogue.

“I know this might just be me, but I wanted dragons to be like natural disasters, calamities that can’t be reasoned with. So when that dragon showed me that they could speak in such a human-like manner…”

Robson covered his face with one hand and laughed self-deprecatingly.

“…I started wanting to hate them.”

Perhaps it would have been better if all dragons were as mindless as lesser dragons. Or like wild bears and wolves, where communication was clearly impossible.

Because once you can engage in a dialogue, it comes with the expectation of understanding and mutual agreement. Then frustration arises when that expectation goes unfulfilled, leading to resentment towards the other party.

──Why can’t we understand each other?

“And that’s why I want to retire before I end up breaking like Captain Dunning… Feel free to insult me for it if you want,” Robson said in a sarcastic tone.

“I won’t.” The bandaged man gently shook his head. “…That hits a serve, in more ways than one.”

For some reason, Robson could imagine that the man wore a wry smile beneath the bandages, very similar to himself.

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