Chapter 896

With the depression clearly visible on her face, Sophie explained how the adventurers headed for the Dragon King Syndicate.

「We have to go stop them……!」

「Nn!」

We agreed completely. The Adventurers Guild had already been left in disarray after this incident.

And if that’s followed by a large scale war with the Dragon King Syndicate……

No one will be left to defend the town.

「Sophie, you stay here.」

「Why!? I’m coming with you!」

「We need someone here to unite the adventurers. Only you can do that.」

「……What happened to the guildmaster?」

「He’s dead.」

Fran’s short statement took many adventurers’ breathes away.

The unadorned nature of her words made them all the more believable.

Since time was of the essence, we didn’t have time for a long discussion.

I knew the adventurers wouldn’t accept the fact easily. Well, it’s not like we saw his murderer either.

「I’ll take his body out now.」

「O-Okay.」

They needed to see his corpse with their own eyes first. Unlike Sophie, the adventurers were left confused since they didn’t know about Fran’s dimensional storage, but Fran simply popped out Prear’s remains without further explanation.

「G-Guildmaster!」

「Oh, my god……」

「Our guildmaster, no……」

There were civilians nearby, so Fran stored the corpse back immediately after the adventurers recognized him.

「……Recovery magic didn’t work.」

Fran gave a short account of Prear’s demise. After hearing this, Sophie started contemplating something. The adventurers followed her lead.

「What’s wrong?」

「Umm…… I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but…… I’ve heard stories about someone in the Dragon King Syndicate who has similar abilities: a rare type of dragonkin called a “life dragonkin”……」

「So it really was the Dragon King Syndicate!」

「I won’t let them get away with this!」

After recalling the same story as Sophie, the adventurers immediately expressed their indignation. They seemed willing to charge into the Dragon King Syndicate at any moment.

Sophie, perhaps sensing this, raised her voice in a panic.

「Everyone! It was indeed the dragonkin who attacked us! But there is no proof that the attacker was actually a member of the Dragon King Syndicate!」

That’s the saintess for you, she grabbed the attention of all adventurers immediately. Her voice rung clear, probably thanks to her singing skills.

「There is a possibility that someone is trying to pit the Adventurers Guild and the Dragon King Syndicate against each other!」

「B-But why would they do that?」

「Exactly! What’s in it for them if we fight?」

「I don’t know the reason either, but think about it. What reason would the Dragon King Syndicate have to attack the guild in the first place?」

Sophie knew about Filuria’s devious plan, so she warned against jumping to conclusions. The adventurers, on the other hand, were not so convinced.

Well, that’s not surprising since many of them just witnessed the dragonkin killing their friends.

「Besides, the life dragonkin was not supposed to be very powerful.」

「Really?」

「Yeah. Everyone’s heard the stories about the member of Dragon King Syndicate with the rare life attribute, but he was always said to be a support member with low combat ability.」

We’ve been told about rare dragonkin with composite attributes, rather than the usual earth, water, fire, and wind. If there’s a dragonkin with the life attribute, I can easily see him having a heal blocking ability.

Just because he had that ability doesn’t mean he would be able to kill Prear with it though.

Prear may be a prick, but he was a guildmaster and a very capable fighter.

The culprit would need to be incredibly powerful to slaughter Prear so easily. Given the situation, it’s too soon to say this life dragonkin guy is guilty.

Wouldn’t it be more likely for the real mastermind to be setting up the life dragonkin to take the blame?

Either way, the adventurers found the Dragon King Syndicate incredibly suspicious. All the circumstantial evidence pointed to them.

「The fastest way to found out is to ask the Dragon King Syndicate directly! Let’s head over immediately!」

「That’s right! We can have them spit out everything they know!」

「They’ve gotta be the culprits!」

The anger that had once been suppressed was about to be rekindled.

Fran stepped forward in front of the adventurers.

「I’ll go check it out. You should prepare for the antidemons.」

「Y-You’re……」

「Black Lightning Princess-san.」

Everyone here knew about Fran. Even those that didn’t know her identity saw her abilities just now.

None of the adventurers could complain about her proposal, regardless of how strongly they felt about it.

Some may have heard her arguing with Prear, but her actions during the dragonkin battle and rescue operation left a much greater impact.

No one brought up that incident.

「Sophie, you take care of the rest.」

「Sure. Be careful, okay?」

「Nn.」