956: The Carrot and the Stick

「Kill this fucking geezer!」

「Geezer? Aw, that stings. I don’t think I’m that old yet.」

「Shut your fucking mouth!」

Unable to stand Izario’s provocations any longer, the dragonkin all rushed at him. Despite Izario’s fame, it seems they couldn’t recognize him with his sword undrawn.

Every single one of them showed zero hesitation. Such a difference in numbers would generally spell trouble, but Izario simply waved his hand at Fran with a relaxed expression.

Is that a gesture signaling “don’t worry about me”? No wait, that’s probably “don’t overdo it”.

『These guys might be under the Dragon King’s command. Let’s neutralize them without taking their lives.』

（Got it.）

Fran nodded lightly and readied me, but many of the dragonkin were already charging at Izario. They must be furious at him for the earlier taunt.

After capturing the few targeting her, Fran began to observe Izario. She wanted to see Izario’s style up close, and it’s not like he needed any help.

Izario continued defending himself with Ignis, just as he did when fighting antidemons. The shit-eating grin on his face only amplified the irritation of his opponents.

「Die! Die, die, die!」

「I’ll kill you!」

「Kill me? Kids these days are always so violent. It’s especially shameful when you shout things you can’t even do.」

「Why can’t I hit you!?」

「Urooogh!」

They may be small fry compared to us, but they’re still dragonkin. That means higher base stats than lesser antidemons. Probably why they got so overconfident though.

And in response to the onslaught, Izario simply blocked all of their strikes.

What looked to be a one-sided beatdown went on for about three minutes. Then, one of the dragonkin suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground.

「Ugh……?」

He was puzzled by his body’s refusal to listen as he struggled to control his heavy breathing. It went quickly from there. The other dragonkin collapsed one by one in a similar manner.

Just like when Zubalb challenged him. I was able to anticipate the outcome this time, so I managed to see through the trick right away.

Well, it’s pretty simple.

The same heat application he used against the antidemons. It inflicts damage by raising the internal temperature of the target’s body.

The only difference being the temperature wasn’t hot enough to burn the victim, only give them a fever.

With such high internal temperatures, they would be quickly deprived of their stamina. The dragonkin forced themselves to move with so much heat, so they soon collapsed.

Their anger and excitement probably heated them up more, so they never managed to realize anything until it was too late.

Izario only raised their body temperature, though if he wanted to, he could burn their lungs or eyes for more damage. This technique seemed pretty bland at first glance, but it could easily be more terrifying than shooting out fire.

「You saw through it?」

「Nn.」

「Hahaha. You’re pretty good, huh? Since I use fire, it’s pretty difficult to capture people without injuring them. I had to do a lot of trial and error to come up with this.」

So Izario had to come up with this trick since he could only use fire. After all, Ignis’ flames would burn anything to a crisp no matter how hard he tried to hold back.

We bound the captured dragonkin and gathered them all up. Though defeated, their hearts were not broken yet. All of them kept leering at us.

「Well, boys. May I ask you a few questions?」

「Guh……! I’ve got nothing to say to you!」

They seemed very arrogant, so I doubt they’d answer us nicely. Fran stepped in with me at the ready, in preparation for the interrogation.

But Izario lightly extended his hand to stop Fran. I guess he wanted to handle it. Fran clearly had plenty of killing intent towards the Dragon King’s subordinates, so he must be worried about her going too far.

Fran followed Izario’s signal, backing off and nodding slightly.

「Hahaha, no need to be so mad.」

「Shut the fuck up! Kill me already!」

「Oh, come on now. I just want to say I was pretty impressed. All of you guys just kept coming at us no matter how many of your allies fell.」

「Any warrior would do so.」

Were these guys actually dragonkin warriors? I seriously thought they were a bunch of good-for-nothing thugs.

「Yeah, as expected of dragonkin. Very brave of you.」

「Hmph. The dragonkin are a warrior race.」

The leader of the dragonkin puffed up his chest as if proud of himself. Not sure how he’s pulling that off, considering he’s still tied up and sitting on the ground.

Isn’t he a little too easy to please? I guess if you think about it, Izario was overwhelmingly powerful. Receiving praise from someone that strong could be considered a feat. The biggest factor was that these guys were simpletons though.

After noticing this reaction, Izario decided his strategy would work, and began trying to persuade them.

「I don’t want to kill such brave warriors if I can help it. Can you do me a favor and tell us the truth? Then we won’t have cause any more trouble here.」

Izario showed no sign of aggression at all, simply speaking to the dragonkin in a calm tone. The dragonkin seemed puzzled by Izario’s unexpected behavior.

「I don’t know who you are or where you come from, but you don’t want to die here either, right? As I said before, we are official investigators sent by the Adventurers Guild. We can’t let you guys go so easily, or the name of the guild will be tarnished. Please, can you tell me a bit of useful info?」

「……You’ll just kill me after I talk!」

「No, I would never. But I can’t say the same for my partner……」

Izario glanced at Fran. The dragonkin followed his gaze to her as well. The look on their faces said, “So what about this little girl?” They were obviously underestimating her.

In comparison, Izario grabbed both his shoulders as if he had just witnessed some horrific sight. He spoke again to the dragonkin in a lower tone of voice.

「That girl really hates slavers. She got a little excited when she found out the dragonkin might have connections to them. If she’s involved, I think the interrogation might get a little rough.」

Izario glanced at Fran again. Obviously, he was trying to take the good cop/bad cop approach. In response, I made Fran say a few threatening words.

「Slavers must die. I kill you.」

Fran waved me around randomly in the air and mumbled the line in monotone. However, the killing intent she gave was completely real. The dragonkin sensed how serious she was.

All of them grimaced.

「You don’t want some little kid stabbing you all for fun, right? Come on, just spill the beans. Take the load off your shoulders.」

「I kill you.」

「Urgh……」

「Come on now. It’s not too late yet.」

「First, I’ll peel off all the scales and see if it makes your skin smooth.」

「Wow, that’s just horrible. So what’s it gonna be?」

「I-If I talk, will you spare us?」

「Of course.」

Izario smiled at him with a smug look on his face, and I can see that the dragonkin got visibly relieved.

Guess his plan worked.

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