848: Verge of War

We observed the confrontation between the dragonkin and the beastmen from a distance. You could practically feel the sparks in the air from the tension.

『That’s probably a gang war between the two groups.』

（Is Gazzol not there?）

『Well, the Dragon King Syndicate seems to have a lot of members, so he’s probably somewhere else.』

But isn’t this pretty bad? If they start killing each other here, the conflict between the Dragon King Syndicate and the Beastmen Union would turn into a full blown war. With the two of the largest gangs at war with each other, I doubt this city would survive the antidemon season.

The two sides faced off against each other at a pretty wide crossroads between alleyways, though not as wide as the main street.

Should we stop them? Or just watch? As I was wondering our options, they moved first.

One of the beastmen suddenly grunted and fell to one knee. An arrow had come out of nowhere and pierced his shoulder.

「You son of a bitch!」

「Murder them!」

As the beastmen shouted in rage and rushed forward, the dragonkin took up their weapons as well.

「We’ll show them not to mess with us!」

「Kill them all!」

And so the battle suddenly began.

What was up with that arrow? Did the dragonkin have a sniper hiding somewhere? If they did, they certainly seemed weirdly surprised…

But no matter how it started, their battle only got more violent. One of the beastmen collapsed after getting slashed open by a sword. A dragonkin knelt clutching his stomach after being impaled by a spear.

If left unchecked, it would only be a matter of time until a lot of them died.

『Let’s get a little closer and sneak a heal on them.』

（Okay.）

If we tried to intervene at this point, we’ll just be viewed as enemies. There’s no way both sides would simply thank us and go on their merry ways.

That said, we could at least hide close by and ensure that no one dies.

Fran and I threw some heals at the seriously wounded. We left them unconscious still, so the number of people standing started to dwindle after about ten minutes or so.

There were now only three beastmen and five dragonkin remaining.

At that point, they finally realized something was off. After all, there were no deaths among their companions in spite of all the blood being spilt.

「…?」

「…?」

Both sides must have thought the other side was trying to pull some sort of trick. They stared at each other with probing eyes.

The initial excitement of the battle had subsided, but they were still raring for a fight. It was only a matter of time before they just resume hostilities.

Now what? Maybe we can knock them all out before they see us?

Just as I was thinking that, I saw another arrow flying through the air. It was aimed at the beastmen yet again. But you’d better not think the same trick will work on me twice!

I activated my telekinesis and smashed the arrow out of the air. After seeing that, the beastmen flew into a rage.

「Sneaking around and firing arrows from the shadows! You disgusting cowards!」

「I-I have no clue what you are talking about! You dare insult us!」

「This ain’t no insult, it’s the truth! The first arrow and that last one were both aimed at our side!」

「You lot are simply putting up an act to pin the blame on us! I saw how that arrow suspiciously fell from the sky just now!」

「As if we would do anything so spineless! We’re different from you bastards!」

「Enough with your lies! You weak beastmen need those sorts of tricks to defeat us in the first place!」

「What did you say!? Damn lizards!」

「Foul beasts!」

Ah crap. Did my blocking of the arrow backfire? But if I hadn’t stopped it, it would have landed right in that beastman’s head…

We should knock out the remaining eight first, and then we can deal with the archer.

But again, before we could make a move, something else interrupted.

This time, it was an object rolling on the ground between the two groups glaring at each other.

『What’s that? A black ball?』

（Did someone throw it?）

It wasn’t just us. The dragonkin and the beastmen stared at the ball’s sudden appearance. The ball rolled for a while before stopping perfectly in between the two sides――and then it exploded.

Boom! Along with the sound came a tremendous amount of smoke, enough to completely cover the area.

Then, I suddenly sensed someone else’s presence as well.

「W-What the hell is――Gweh!」

「I can’t see any――Gwah!」

「W-What’s going――Gyuh!」

The men’s screams continued to echo from within the smoke. Every time that mysterious presence moved, I heard the muffled screams of the outlaws.

I considered intervening, but I couldn’t sense any killing intent from that shadowy figure. I also recognized that the beastmen and dragonkin who had fallen down were simply knocked unconscious.

We decided to wait and see for now.

As soon the intruder was the only one left standing, the smoke began to thin.

（Everyone’s down?）

『Looks like that guy in black took them all out.』

Between the dragonkin and the beastmen stood a man wearing completely black gear all over his body. This guy had knocked out all the men from both sides.

Since he took out that many people while his vision was blocked by the smoke… He must be quite skilled.

『Well, I’d expect as much from him.』

（Nn.）

（Woof.）

『You guys both remember him?』

Fran never forgot a strong opponent, and Urushi always had a strange rivalry with him since they were both experts at stealth.

『Ashwrath said he was in town, but I didn’t expect to see him so soon… What is he after? He ended up beating all the dragonkin to a pulp too.』

In front of us was Frederick, the stealth-expert dragonkin who had fought with us at the royal capital.

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