894: Prear

After tying up the red-scaled dragonkin with some difficulty, Fran jumped down into the hole in the floor.

She had intended to carry him too at first, but the hole was too narrow for the two of them to pass through.

Instead, she jumped down the hole by herself to immediately reach the first floor.

Fran landed on the ground after killing her momentum with aerial hop. A horrific sight revealed itself before us.

「Prear!」

「G-Girl……」

The remains of the mutilated adventurers were scattered throughout the tavern.

There were probably over twenty dead, but all of them had been torn apart limb from limb, making it difficult to tell which part belonged to whom.

『Urushi, find the survivors!』

「Woof!」

We found Prear lying in a pool of blood. His torso was in tatters and the lower half of his body was completely missing.

We rushed over to him and cast Greater Heal, but……

「It won’t heal!」

『Healing inhibition!』

His wounds showed almost no signs of healing. Even against healing inhibition, this should be a very powerful spell. And yet, Greater Heal barely did a thing.

To be honest, we didn’t need to save him. The problem is that he had the info we wanted.

As Fran continued to cast healing spells, Prear slowly opened his mouth.

「Serves… me right… Looks like… this is it……」

「You shouldn’t talk.」

「Keh…… I’m… already done for.」

Prear continued his words, coughing up blood from his mouth all the while.

「In my desk… there’s a note with…… info on the slavers……」

「……Weren’t you working with them?」

「……Just… business partners…… Maybe you’d… see it differently though…… Kahaha… I knew right when… you got here…… it was time… to end the deal……」

The light gradually faded from Prear’s eyes.

「When… the season… was over, I really… planned to give… it all to you……」

「……」

「I know you owe me… nothing, but…… t-take care of the town…… Please……」

「You don’t have to tell me.」

「Ha… ha…… That makes this the… second town… I’ve failed……」

Prear muttered one last time as he closed his eyes.

「……He’s dead.」

『Yeah.』

When Fran appeared in the city, he must have realized that he was done for. No black cat adventurer would allow the illegal slavers to run free.

And Prear knew Fran would discover his connection to the slavers eventually.

That’s why he tried to delay the revelation of that fact as long as possible, so that he could incorporate Fran into the town’s defenses during the season of antidemons.

When the antidemon season ended, he must have planned to beg for his life by providing us everything he knew.

Fran was left stunned after her target for revenge died without her even lifting a finger. But things were not over yet.

BOOOOOOOM!

『What!?』

Right after Prear drew his last breath, a thunderous roar and tremor shook the entire Adventurers Guild.

At the same time, the main street seen from the entrance of the tavern shone a bright red for a moment. Such a deep red that it looked like dusk came early.

Furthermore, bright red flames started gushing out from the hole in the ceiling, as if someone had put a flamethrower there.

We quickly set up a barrier around us and the survivors, but a slight brush of the flames ignited the chairs and other furniture.

I hurriedly tried to extinguish the fire with water magic, but the flames simply kept pouring down from the upper floors. Spraying some water on the first floor wasn’t going to do much.

It seems someone caused a huge explosion up there.

『Did the red-scaled guy do this?』

「I’ll be right back!」

Fran rushed back to the fifth floor――but it no longer existed. Everything above the fourth floor had been blown straight off, so the guild building was reduced to a four story building.

The ceiling of the fourth floor was also missing, so I guess it’d be a three story building.

There was no further point in checking the red-scaled dragonkin’s survival.

If he got caught in that explosion, he’s already dead. If he escaped somehow, he’s already long gone.

『I can’t sense any signs of him……』

「Nn……」

I tried to search the perimeter, but all the flames were blocking my detection.

Did one of his friends come and silence him? Probably more likely that he blew himself up, taking his own life to avoid interrogation.

Just like with Numerae, it keeps happening in this town!

「Urushi?」

「Woof.」

The scent of the escaped dragonkin should still be on the first floor. If we follow that trail, we might be able to follow them. But it seems Urushi wasn’t too confident.

Besides, there were some things we had to do first.

『We need to get the info Prear mentioned.』

「Hmm.」

『And put out the fire too. If we just leave it, the whole district could burn down.』

The buildings here were made of stone and brick, yet they still kept burning.

These flames seemed to be charged with mana, just like the red-scaled dragonkin’s Dragonblood. They didn’t spread as fast as they would on normal wooden houses, but they also showed no signs of slowing down.

『Let’s hurry.』

「I’m on it.」

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