Chapter 102: The Second Son of the Impoverished Viscount Household Chases Eyes 3
*
It took several seconds for John’s words to sink into my brain.
My whole body broke out in goosebumps, and cold sweat drenched my back in less than a second.
“Elza! Don’t tell me Master is in this city!?”
I hurriedly questioned Elza, who was sitting next to me.
I regretted putting off asking because I didn’t have the guts.
If it’s Master, the moment she heard the Dragon had undergone Blackening, she’d laugh and go hunt it.
I grit my teeth at my own stupidity for not considering that possibility.
“Damn it! I let my guard down! I assumed we had at least two days before the Dragon disappeared! I should have gone hunting right after waking up!”
No, I should go right now.
It was Elza’s hand that stopped me as I started to get up.
“It’s okay, Master isn’t in this city.”
Elza grabbed the hem of my clothes and made me sit down.
Then, with her free hand, she pointed at her own face.
What?
Ah, the mask.
Damn it, asking Elza if “Master” was here is the same as saying I’m Shin Longdagger, isn’t it?
When I frantically looked towards the others, they were all dumbfounded.
“Masked Man,”
Yuunou-san said, looking like she was enduring a headache.
“Were you planning on defeating the Blackened Jewelhead Dragon? Surely not alone? No, I don’t doubt it anymore, you probably were going alone.”
“Stop it, Houlan. Don’t look at me like you want us to do it together. Even if my wife asked, this is the one thing I’d refuse,” Digris warned.
“My guts alone aren’t enough. Let’s give up,” Drim muttered.
“I’m the only one who hasn’t seen the Masked Man fighting the black one. Would it be bad if I went to watch?” John wondered aloud.
Just as Drim said that, Maricia scolded him, “You’ll really die this time, idiot!”
Houlan and Digris then admonished him, saying you couldn’t even see it in the first place.
Guild Master Calbanus’s voice stopped the place from descending into chaos again.
“W-Wait, please wait, Shin… Masked Man.”
Calbanus continued, his face showing utter confusion.
Also, who the heck is Shin?
“Weren’t you ordered by ‘Kind Barbara’ to make the Jewelhead Dragon appear?”
“Huh?”
Even with the mask on, my voice probably conveyed a clear ‘What are you talking about?’ expression.
“Weren’t you asked by Barbara, who discovered the conditions for Monsters’ Blackening, to come to this city together with ‘Elza the Impaler’ over there!?”
Perhaps my tone displeased him, as Calbanus raised his voice.
No, rather than raising his voice, it feels more like he’s wishing for that to be true.
“If Mast… ‘Kind Barbara’ knew a method like that, she wouldn’t have stopped at a Jewelhead Dragon; she’d be Blackening something much nastier,” Elza interjected.
I could easily imagine Master Blackening some outrageous Monster with a huge grin on her face.
“Indeed… No, but still…”
I cut off Calbanus, who still seemed intent on arguing, and asked Elza.
“Elza, did ‘Kind Barbara’ discover such a method?”
I decided to confirm with Elza just in case.
Knowing Master, I wouldn’t be surprised if she really had found it, though I would be exasperated.
“Master has been angry lately at her senior disciple who left after just sending letters as greetings, so I don’t think she had time to discover something like that.”
Okay, thanks for the death sentence.
While almost crying under my mask, I shrugged at Calbanus.
“No, that can’t be… So you’re saying it was pure coincidence? That the Jewelhead Dragon underwent Blackening, and conveniently, two of ‘Kind Barbara’s’ disciples happened to be here and drove it away—that was also just a coincidence?”
Only one disciple happened to be here.
“How could this be? Then Barbara isn’t coming, is she?”
Seeing the rare sight of someone lamenting that Master ‘isn’t coming,’ my eyes inexplicably grew hot.
Normally, that’s how people feel about high-Rank adventurers, right?
I wish I could let Master hear this.
She’d surely get embarrassed and cause a huge scene.
“What is this…”
Calbanus muttered, clutching his head.