Chapter 167: Draconic Influences

Chapter 167: Draconic Influences

Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Central Sirathan Mountains

"Cleric Liv Sigmond greets noble dragon!"

The air turned cold and my pupils dilated the instant she spoke.

*Cr-r-r-r-r-r-rACK*

*CR-R-R-R-R-UUNCH*

The eavesdroppers who I had been ignoring were instantly turned to clouds of blood as they were each barraged with dozens of steel marbles.

*Crumble*

Hearing the noise of someone moving I turned to see someone darting down the mountain in a panic. -There's the other one..-

Casually raising my hand, several steel marbles formed in my palm before instantly vanishing

*Cr-r-rACK*

*CR-R-RUNCHHH*

Although the cleric didn't get to see what happened to the eavesdroppers on the mountainside, she got a front row seat to this one.

Her calm composure was quickly washed over with fear and panic as she watched the remnants of the person's body tumble down the mountain.

Seemingly frozen from fear, she didn't budge as I reached down and grabbed her by the neck.

"Ack!" She grabbed my wrist as I lifted her off the ground but quickly stopped fighting.

My eyes were oozing with the intention to kill. "How did you know that?"

Her eyes were filled with pure fear. "Y..your eyes.. g..great.. lord.."

I instantly knew what she was talking about, but my intention to kill her didn't change. -Even if she knew my eyes were a dragon’s though..- "How did you know dragons could take humanoid forms?"

Just before she could answer several beams of light were shot past us and into the forest.

*BRRRMMM-BRRM-BRRRMMM*

Each beam cleanly incinerated everything it touched leaving nothing where it passed through.

-I guess Ilios found a few other eavesdroppers..-

As if not even noticing the beams, she was quick to continue. "It is common- ugh.. knowledge t..that dragons can c..change their f..forms.."

My body instantly filled with a deep disgust before I could continue. "If that's the case, then why do hunters hunt dragons?"

"Ack... It is.. p..prohibited.. to hunt t..the.. intelligent.. ones..."

-The intelligent ones?- Confusion quickly mixed in with my disgust. -So that means..-

"Haah.." As I leaned down to rub my head against him, thoughts raced through my mind. -To think the cleric in that notebook still killed the halfie even with all that knowledge..- As I thought more and more about it though, something Liv said kept replaying in my mind.

'It's prohibited to hunt the intelligent ones.'

It was a statement that weighed on me more than it should have. -The halfie that was killed was clearly old enough to have intelligence so.. why did she kill it..- It made me feel curious but disgusted at the same time, a truly odd sensation.

But, much like everything, it didn't last forever.

With a bit of help from Ilios, I quickly got distracted and turned my focus to more productive things.

"Well, shall I finally go for a swim?"

- Liv Sigmond ~

It had been several hours since I split up with him at this point and I was still laying in my tent about 5 kilometers away, completely unable to sleep.

*rustling*

Looking down towards the entrance, I saw a familiar hand push aside the cloth entrance. "Are you doing alright now, captain?" It was a demihuman man named Sten. In short, he was the newly appointed vice-captain after I became the captain.

"Hah.. what constitutes 'doing alright'?" It was refreshing to see his face, but it didn't make the uncomfortable sensation go away.

"What's wrong then? Didn't the medics say there was nothing wrong?" His concern was deep, but it didn't help.

"Y..yeah, but just because they didn't see anything doesn't mean nothing is wrong.." What I felt was a nearly indescribable fuzziness in my head.

It didn't hurt or feel good, but was instead just this uncomfortable fuzz that I felt whenever I thought of anything related to dragons which, currently, was all I could think about. -Was this what he did to me?-

'If you go to tell anyone I am a dragon, you will die.'

It was a threat I assumed meant he would come kill me if I said anything, but the more I thought about it, the less it made sense. -Did that threat really have to do with the magic he casted? It wasn't an oath rune but that's what it sounds like..-

Although I was tempted to test it, if it really was a type of oath magic that I simply didn't recognize, I would die on the spot.

-In any case, even if this sensation never goes away.. It's better to be alive... I should just think of this as my punishment for being so uselessly confident...-

"Captain?" Sten gave me a worried look as he closed the entrance to the tent again.

"Huh? Sorry, what did you say?" Without noticing, I had zoned out for quite a while.

"Haah.. Squadron 1 leader is outside wondering what our plans are to find the mystic beast corpse."

-Oh, right.. the mystic beast..- It was the sole reason we came all the way out here but I had already forgotten about it. "That man said it was 9 kilometers southeast from where we were, so we will go find it in the morning... Tell everyone to get comfortable for the night."

"Haah.. alright. I'll let you know if there is anything else." As he stood up, he carefully set down a bowl of hot soup on the table next to my hammock and walked back outside.

Although I would normally be thankful for the kind gesture, it somehow made me feel irritated.

"Haaah..." Sitting up in my hammock, I picked up a bottle of wine and used it to flush out my thoughts and numb my mind. As I sat there with the half empty bottle in my hand, a single thought resonated through my head. -Why did I think that was a good idea...-