Chapter Thirteen: You Promised Me
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From the spectators’ point of view, this trial had been a spectacular roller coaster.
First, the two Great Shamans accused the Dragon’s Daughter of being an impostor. Then the nobles sent representatives to challenge them on matters of doctrine, refuting the two Great Shamans’ arguments one by one.
Next, one of the representatives suddenly betrayed them, instantly placing the nobles at a severe disadvantage.
After that, the nobles produced evidence that the High Priest had violated the sacred commandments, hoping to force the two Great Shamans to sit down and negotiate.
Instead, the High Priest had gone straight for mutual destruction, taking everyone down with him…
Twist after twist after twist. The citizens who had come to enjoy the spectacle were thoroughly entertained.
Of course, the citizens did not really care who the villain was in the end. They merely wanted to see blood flowing like a river.
“Hang the High Priest! Hang the Dragon’s Daughter! You lot who have always held yourselves above everyone else—up onto the gallows with all of you!”
The cries of “Hang them!” grew increasingly impassioned. Many lizardfolk were shouting themselves hoarse when someone suddenly shoved them aside with brute force.
Erlina shouldered her spear and silently forced her way through the crowd. A twitching sea cockroach was impaled upon the weapon, tiny currents of lightning magic continuously crawling along the shaft to keep the creature paralyzed.
It was a master-level technique that could only be acquired after decades of immersion in lightning magic.
The red-robed monk-servants sealing off the square tried to stop her, but Erlina merely raised her foot and delivered two lightning-fast kicks, striking their knees with perfect accuracy.
Stepping over the fallen monk-servants, Erlina reached the center of the square. Ignoring the Dragon Valley guards all around her, who had raised their weapons as though facing a mortal enemy, she flung the sea cockroach from her spear and said calmly:
“We caught an Other.”
Rain casually placed a Slowing Curse on the Other, then shouted loudly to the surrounding crowd with a malicious smile he made no effort to conceal:
“The Others, who nearly destroyed the world a thousand years ago, have returned to the continent. If this isn’t the end of the world, then what is?”
“That’s right!” Deya hurriedly shouted toward the watching citizens as well. “The Others are about to reach Dragon Valley City! Run, everyone!”
No one ran.
Everyone stared at her in bewilderment, then turned to look at the Other slowly crawling across the ground.
What?
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What was that supposed to be?
Centurion Tarasha was the first to recover. He strode rapidly toward Deya.
He did not care what an Other was. All he knew was that the lord of the city had ordered him to seize the false Dragon’s Daughter.
Rain flicked his finger, dispelling the curse.
Freed from its restraints, the sea cockroach suddenly flipped onto the ground. Its slender legs gathered strength, and it sprang high into the air, pouncing toward Tarasha’s face—the nearest target.
Tarasha had been prepared. He drew his saber and spun into a slash powerful enough to sever a lizardman’s neck.
The blade struck the sea cockroach’s abdomen but was stopped by its hard, scaled shell. The creature curled its body around the weapon, its slender legs gripping the blade. When Tarasha’s slash had run its course, it suddenly kicked off and leapt again, landing squarely on his face.
Tarasha thrust out his left hand and seized the sea cockroach, trying to tear it away by force. But something hard had already pierced into his mouth, and thick, scalding fluid ran down his esophagus into his stomach.
He flung the sea cockroach away. His stomach felt as though it were burning, and before long the heat transformed into an unbearable agony.
Tarasha, in torment, collapsed to his knees. Clutching his jaw with both hands, he remained hunched in a posture of desperate retching, horrified to see his abdomen being torn open from within.
Four sea cockroaches crawled out of his body. After shaking off the scraps of flesh clinging to them, they turned their greedy gazes toward the surrounding crowd of lizardfolk.
At last, a terrified scream erupted from the crowd.
The first lizardman turned and fled, followed by a second, then a third. Someone stumbled and fell. Within moments, dozens of feet came crashing down upon his back. His vision was swallowed by clouds of dust, and in the blink of an eye, it was stained a merciless red.
The nobles panicked and turned to flee the square. The instant they rushed into the alleyways, Darkscale assassins disguised as paupers surged forward under cover of the crowd, driving lethal blades into the nobles’ chests and abdomens.
Although City Lord Agor was surrounded by nobles, he was the Darkscale assassins’ primary target. Several blades struck him on the spot, and he collapsed, hovering on the brink of death.
“So the shamans… never intended to make peace with us…”
His eyes opened wide in unwilling disbelief, while his fingers curled and twitched in agony. An assassin seized his back from behind and sliced open his throat.
The Dragon Valley guards, who should have been protecting the nobles, had already descended into leaderless chaos after Centurion Tarasha’s death. Now they could only run about like headless flies, scattering alongside the terrified civilians.
Moans, sobs, trembling cries, and wails of despair filled Deya’s ears with the voices of countless people begging for help. She looked around blankly, her eyes empty of focus and light, tears nearly spilling down her cheeks.
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“Why… why did it turn out like this…?”
“Look out!”
Erlina’s sharp warning rang beside her. Deya abruptly raised her head and saw lightning streak across her field of vision, reducing several sea cockroaches pouncing toward her to dust.
Rain seized her hand and pulled her toward the cliff. Erlina followed close behind, repeatedly killing the Others that tried to approach with bolts of lightning.
In a matter of minutes, the sea cockroaches had multiplied into dozens. The unprepared guards and civilians of Dragon Valley City were utterly incapable of stopping the Others from spreading and reproducing.
The three of them reached the edge of the cliff. Deya finally awoke from her daze and tried to wrench her hand free from Rain’s grasp, crying out:
“Why did you deceive me? I trusted you so completely… Why?”
“I didn’t deceive you.” Rain shoved her onto the stone path leading to the Scale Temple and spoke rapidly. “Only when civilians see the Others eating people with their own eyes will they believe, as quickly as possible, that the apocalypse is coming—and choose to flee Dragon Valley City.”
“You could have let them see the Others and then killed them!” Deya shouted furiously. “So many people didn’t have to die!”
“That was impossible,” Rain retorted succinctly. “There is a difference between an ugly monster and a monster that slaughters people by the dozen. The former only disgusts people. The latter terrifies them. Fear is the fastest way to awaken the instinct to survive.”
“I’m not listening! I’m not listening! I’m not listening!” Deya screamed hysterically. “Lies! They’re all lies!”
“If you say one more word, I’ll strip you naked and throw you down there!” Rain seized her by the collar and snarled impatiently. “I’ll let the Others eat you alive!”
Deya immediately fell silent, thoroughly frightened. Tears once again welled in her eyes.
“Sir Fahel,” Erlina said suddenly. “The city is already in complete chaos. I believe no lizardman will ever again doubt the existence of the Others. Of the two problems we faced at the beginning, the first has been resolved perfectly.”
“The second problem—how to help Dragon Valley City deal with the Others—requires you to honor your agreement with Deya and provide an answer.”
“That’s right!” Deya finally came to her senses. Her attitude instantly changed by a hundred and eighty degrees. Clinging to Rain’s arm, she pleaded, “Rain, please, save them! You promised me! I traded two months of maid service for your help!”
“Me, save them?” Rain rejected the idea with absolute certainty. “The one who will save them has never been me. It is you, Deya Scarlet.”
“You must become the true Dragon’s Daughter.”
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