Chapter 749

「How about I take you on??」

Dimitris, who had been watching the situation quietly, leapt out onto the stage.

「Hahaha! A rank S wants me! I'm honored!」

Sibylla exclaimed with glee in spite of the situation. She was indeed a combat fanatic.

「You all stay back!」

「Understood.」

Sibylla made Neidhart back down, coming forward herself. Dimitris quickly threw a hit at her.

「Hmph.」

「Guh!」

He stayed out at distance and thrust his fist out as if making a jab. Sibylla's jaw forcefully snapped up.

「Damn fast! That's what I'm talking about!」

「You can still laugh after that?」

（Master, did you see it?）

『Barely. He's ridiculously fast.』

He thrust out his fist at an incredible speed without any preliminary movement. I would need to concentrate harder to avoid missing the ki blast that flew out.

Sibylla brushed it off with a laugh, but it should have been incredibly powerful. Any other guy's head would have exploded.

「Hmph, hmph, hmph.」

「Guh! Gah! Gwoh!」

「Shh!」

「Bwah!」

Dimitris' continuous ki blast attacks struck Sibylla all over her body. Sibylla seemed to be trying to avoid them, but Dimitris did not allow her to do so.

Sibylla was taking a one-sided beat down, and yet Hilt and Colbert looked at her with surprise.

「Y-You're able to take that many hits from Grandfather……」

「Without even a scratch……?」

To those with less fighting ability, Dimitris appeared to be using weak attacks. However, each shot was filled with terrifying power.

Perhaps Hilt and Colbert have experienced being directly hit by them.

「That's what I'm talking about, this is truly rank S! You throw them out like they're nothing, yet they're so heavy!」

「You're one tough lady. I've never seen someone who remains so calm after taking this many hits.」

「I'm confident in my sturdiness! Hey!」

「Hmm. Not a bad attack.」

「Tch. My telekinesis was blocked too?」

Sibylla's telekinesis was as powerful as when I use my catapult, yet Dimitris brushed off such a lethal blow with a light wave of his hand.

The amount of ki that surrounded him was extraordinary. The sharpness and swiftness of the techniques he was using didn't seem to be that different from those of Sibylla. Yet, because of the enormous amount of ki contained in his body, his power was several orders of magnitude greater.

「Ora ora ora!」

「Hmph!」

「Geh!」

Sibylla launched a series of sword blows, but they were all evaded with ease and countered with punches.

Still, Sibylla's eyes were shining brightly and she was licking her lips with a half-smile on her face. Dimitris saw this and for some reason looked pleased.

「Dahrya!」

「Hmm!」

「Tch! I thought I got you, but you parried it so easily!」

「It's a good slash, but it won't hit me!」

「Gah!」

For the first time, Dimitris put some force into his move. He stepped forward with a thud that made the stage crack, and thrust out his right fist while twisting it.

The immensely powerful fist slammed into Sibylla's abdomen, but Sibylla did not fall down. Rather, she only backed up a few meters, rubbing her belly and looking slightly distressed.

If Fran had been hit by this attack, it would have undoubtedly caused a lot of damage. Sibylla was really top class when it comes to defense.

Dimitris' face as he looked at Sibylla had an expression of joy as a warrior.

「That didn't do much either, did it? Kukuku.」

「Nah, that did quite a number on me.」

「Didn't look that way to me.」

「This might be bad if I don't get serious.」

Sibylla muttered to herself and slowly raised her left hand, holding it up in front of her. The adventurers on the stage stiffened. Something was going to happen. They knew it.

I saw red mana rising from her left hand. At the same time, Sibylla's presence suddenly changed. She always had the vicious aura of a hungry beast, but…

Now it was getting even greater.

The pressure of her aura suddenly skyrocketed. As the surrounding adventurers backed away, the encirclement that had surrounded her grew wider. Is she going to show the trump card that we didn't get to see in her fight with Fran? Her aura was overwhelming, it felt as if we were right in front of a raging dragon.

In such a situation, Dimitris was as composed as ever. He spoke to Sibylla in a tone of voice that could even be described as calm.

「……Hey. I want to ask you something.」

「What is it?」

「Many say that Raydoss has been plotting against and waging war against Kranzel and other neighboring countries, causing them a lot of trouble. What do you think about that?」

「What? That's pretty sudden.」

「Just answer the question.」

「Well, I guess I'd have to say I feel bad about it. Sorry.」

As soon as Sibylla said this, many people were surprised, probably not expecting such a simple apology from someone from the Kingdom of Raydoss.

「I know this is just going to sound like an excuse, but I didn't think it was this bad until we came here.」

Sibylla started to talk about the internal situation in the Kingdom of Raydoss.

To summarize, the central power of the Raydoss Kingdom had been weakened due to the change of the king a while ago, and the dukes of the North, South, East, and West are doing as they please.

The dukes in the southern and eastern parts of the kingdom were especially ambitious in taking territory, and were constantly planning to invade other countries. Those were the various conspiracies we've seen, aimed at gaining a foothold in the region.

It would be a failure of a commanding officer to talk about their country's internal affairs to an enemy country. No one would do this, but Sibylla probably didn't understand enough about negotiations to understand how that works. Since she came from a country that was closed off from the rest of the world, she must have zero experience in diplomacy.

Or, she could be aware of all of that, and was trying to show that Raydoss as a whole is not bad. Maybe she has some other agenda too.

Either way, Sibylla, being a combat specialist, was not really interested in political matters. But she certainly resented the way her country was doing things. Her apology was sincere.

「The central government told them to refrain from any major moves until the situation in the country is settled. I didn't expect those orders had been ignored to this extent.」

I guess the central government was weakened as an organization, and was therefore unable to detect the movements of the dukes. Perhaps the auditors sent to examine such things had been bribed or erased.

「Hmmm…… One more question. Are you in a position to move around freely in the Raydoss Kingdom?」

「You're a man who likes to ask questions.」

「Well what is it?」

「I guess you could say that. The six Red Knight Orders have the authority to move freely within the kingdom. Only the King or the Chancellor can give us orders, that’s how much discretion we are given.」

Isn't that pretty amazing? They have groups in the military with the authority to do whatever they want in the country? I think it would just be a breeding ground for rebellion……

They are apparently a special order of knights specializing in killing magic beasts, and was hastily created when adventurers disappeared from the country. They are still allowed to move freely as a remnant of that era.

It may be because that's just how important the role of hunting magic beasts is.

Dimitris nodded lightly as he listened to Sibylla's answer. Then, some surprising words came out of his mouth.

「I see…… Then… would you take me to Raydoss?」

「Haaaah?」

「Grandfather! What are you……!」

Hilt, who had been standing behind the wall of adventurers, let out an involuntary shout. But Dimitris completely ignored her.

「Have you gone senile, old man?」

「I have not. Kranzel, Belioth and the rest of the world have been talking about Raydoss as an evil, ruthless country of the worst kind. But is it true?」

It seemed Dimitris has long been interested in the kingdom of Raydoss. The great northern kingdom shrouded in mystery.

In the areas where Dimitris was active, it was spoken of as the root of all evil, and only bad impressions are spread.

But is there such a thing as a country filled with pure evil that needs to be destroyed? No, there is not. Although a nation may be vilified for having conflicting interests, it is impossible for every man, woman, and child to be evil.

「I am sure that there are people like that man in the mask, but I don't think that is all. Yet the Kingdom of Raydoss is a country that does not welcome adventurers, so no information comes out.」

There's hardly anyone coming and going. No matter how much research is done, no accurate information can be expected.

If Dimitris had done some serious research, it might have been a different story, but so far he has been only somewhat interested.

However, when he saw the people who came from Raydoss, he became very interested in them.

「Even so, you're just going to suddenly tell me to bring you?」

「You can't truly understand anything unless you see it with your own eyes. When you listen to a story, it is always subject to the narrator's subjective viewpoint.」

「Well, maybe that's true……」

「Besides, these days I don't have anyone to fight mock battles with. Most of them fall in a single blow, and they take a long time to recover. But not you, right?」

He smirked as he said that. Looking at his joyous expression, I'm inclined to think that this was the more compelling reason.

「Kukuku. Are you telling me to be your sandbag? Well that's a good deal for me too. It's a perfect way for me to overcome my weakness to blunt damage.」

「Then it's settled.」

「Yeah, let's join forces.」

Then, Dimitris turned his back on Sibylla and looked towards the adventurers.

「It's as you heard. Sorry, but can you let us off the hook here?」