1005: Georg

After seeing Fran holding me at the ready, Meltritte simply smiled. However, her smile seemed to be more melancholic than mocking.

Though she was ready for a fight, she showed no signs of going on the offensive.

「Hello, girl of the black catkin. Just so you know, I won’t chase if you run away.」

「Hmm? I’m not running.」

「This continent will soon turn into hell on earth, and I’ll be the one making it happen. If you act now, you might still be able to gather up your friends and escape Gordicia.」

「……I’m not running.」

Fran spoke with certainty as she stared right into the girl’s eyes. Meltritte sighed lightly, recognizing the determination in Fran’s words.

「Fine. Can I ask you something?」

「What?」

「Why do you ally yourself with the dragonkin? All black cats hate slavers more than anything else, no? Georg, the trafficking ringleader, is the king of the dragonkin. Therefore, shouldn’t all dragonkin be your enemies?」

「…! So Georg is the boss of the slavers after all?」

「That’s right. Dragon King Georg leads the largest slave trafficking organization in existence, with transport routes stretching throughout the world.」

Though the organization itself had existed for ages, Georg took them over by force and placed his subordinates in charge.

Dragonkin generally disliked slaves, but Georg never showed such feelings, at least openly. He apparently took a great deal of pride in the fact that he was special, so he had a tendency for challenging the dragonkin norms.

Basically, he thought he was hot stuff for using slaves because it made him stand out from the other dragonkin.

「He even truly believed the delusion that the gods recognized him as a new dragon king, when he was nothing but a fake! Hilarious!」

「Fake?」

Weren’t dragonkin with golden scales the sign of royalty? Why call him a fake?

「Just look at that accursed Trismegistus. Royal dragonkin have mana containing all the basic attributes, aside from evil. But Georg was different. All he had was two: fire and evil.」

「But Georg had golden scales.」

「And that’s exactly what makes him a fake. Evil energy is the power to distort the natural laws of the world. He was subconsciously using his innate evil energy to color his scales gold. It’s as simple as that.」

This was apparently an open secret among the dragonkin elders of the northern reservation. One day, a rare dual-attributed child suddenly acquired golden scales.

Everyone knew this child was no royal dragonkin, but he might become a valuable tool for promoting the northern reservation’s agenda. That’s why the elders decided to use Georg as their figurehead Dragon King.

And soon enough, Georg actually came to believe in his role as the new king of the dragonkin. That’s when things started spiraling out of control.

Not only did he spread his radical ideas for a new dragonkin nation, as well as take over the slave trafficking ring, he also started worshiping the Evil God. He even offered human sacrifices to gain additional power.

His Dragon Domination skill, for example, was bestowed upon him by the Evil God. Yet Georg lusted for even greater power, so he secretly set up evil crystals in various towns to sacrifice even more people.

「The dragonkin haven’t shown a shred of remorse since their divine punishment, proving they don’t deserve to exist anymore. Erasing the entire race would make the world a better place.」

「There are both good and bad dragonkin.」

「Hmm? Can you say the same thing even for your mortal enemies, the blue catkin?」

「Nn. There are good blue cats too. Just being a blue cat doesn’t make them a villain.」

Fran could say that with certainty thanks to Zefmate.

Though she hated blue cats with a passion back when we first met, Fran’s been through countless experiences since then. She’s met plenty of ordinary blue cats, mostly in the Beast Kingdom.

Fran’s sense of values has changed a lot thanks to all these encounters. I don’t know if you can objectively call this growth, but it’s definitely big progress in my eyes.

「I even have a blue cat friend.」

「……Hmph.」

After seeing Fran’s response, Meltritte gave a scornful scoff.

「The dragonkin are a worthless race of garbage. Those barbaric, lowly lizards are capable of nothing aside from causing harm to others. They are scum who live in comfort as they blame everyone else for the problems they’ve caused. My family is dead because of their negligence!」

Meltritte shouted as she stared at Fran with darkness in her eyes. Her wide emotional shifts between calmness and excitement seemed unnatural, and dangerous.

「Have you ever heard of the evil dragonkin?」

「Nn.」

「Many evil dragonkin are killed by their fellow dragonkin, but some are spared. A few seize their chance to escape, others smuggled away by their family. A good number manage to leave Gordicia, you know.」

Since evil dragonkin are doomed to lose their sanity, the law dictates their deaths at the hands of their fellows. However, there are some who, for whatever reason, managed to successfully escape.

That said, the evil dragonkin can’t survive just because they made it out of Gordicia. Dragonkin are discriminated against in many nations, and these guys radiate an aura of evil.

In the end, many of them had no choice but to turn criminal, joining bandit gangs or other such organizations.

Meltritte’s family was apparently attacked by a band of dragonkin bandits, and lost their lives in the incident. Both her ancient ancestors and herself were thrown into the depths of despair by the dragonkin.

To her, the entire race contained nothing but villains.

「This world has no need for dragonkin.」

「That’s not true. Not all dragonkin are bad.」

「You little girl……」

Judging from her initial attitude, she probably felt something like sympathy for Fran and the black cats.

However, they were just too different. Meltritte’s anger only grew as she realized this. I could see the hostility glinting in her eyes.

But the same went for Fran.

「It’s obvious that Georg was a bad guy. But how long have you been manipulating him?」

Indeed, it’s hard to say that Georg did anything good. As the leader of the slave trafficking ring, he was clearly someone worthy of Fran’s hatred.

But was this truly Georg’s doing? Could he really be the one controlling the antidemons if he was being controlled himself? That’s very doubtful.

If so, who actually planned these recent events?

Perhaps sensing the unspoken question in Fran’s gaze, Meltritte chuckled.

「Ahahahaha! That man was truly pathetic! All his preparations for the independent dragonkin nation were repurposed for my plan. All he had to show for it was his own death!」

Meltritte explained, laughing all the while. It was indeed Georg who prepared the evil crystals. He planned to strike down many towns with his army of mercenaries and dragonkin, and massacre the inhabitants as sacrifices.

But before he could carry out his plan, Meltritte seized control.

「As you can imagine, I put the finishing touches on it.」

「……You mean the titans?」

「Yes, you’re absolutely right.」

So those titans really were controlled by Meltritte after all.

「A few sacrifices are justified if I can finally eradicate the dragonkin!」

Meltritte shouted, with the madness clearly clouding her eyes.

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