Catching the Tail, Getting Caught
"I came here intending to hit him myself, but you've beaten him far worse than I expected."
"Ahem."
The Dragon Saintess, arriving under the escort of the cardinal who had followed behind her, looked down at Kayalmirek with an expression of pure disbelief.
More striking than her reaction was the fact that she had genuinely planned to thrash him herself. Bold woman, I thought — and then she actually produced a club from somewhere and brought it down squarely on the face of the already thoroughly pulverized Kayalmirek.
"How could you?! How could you sell out your own people like that!"
She struck him several more times, clearly wanting to keep going, but her breathing grew ragged and she herself wore out first, gasping for air.
"Feeling any better?"
There was something oddly endearing about the Dragon Saintess in that state. I couldn't help a quiet snort of laughter, and she wiped the sweat from her brow and gave a small nod.
"A little. Yeah, that helped."
"Want me to hold him so you can hit him some more?"
"Oh — then if you could angle his face like this—"
She was already settling into a punching stance when Cardinal Theosender hurried over from behind, grabbed her, and hauled her away, insisting she maintain her dignity in front of the humans.
"Ahem."
The border guard captain cleared his throat as well, trying to reset the atmosphere.
We were standing at the Dragon's Border — more precisely, in a standoff with Kayalmirek planted dead center between both sides.
And I, the one who had caught him, stood right beside the prisoner.
In that tense, bristling silence of mutual posturing, I spoke first.
"Kayalmirek entered human territory, so the Border Guard now holds full authority over him. We all agree on that, correct?"
Groans of protest rose from the Dragonian side — the frustration of losing a high traitor and betrayer.
But I smiled and offered them an opening.
"That said, this once I intend to give the Dragonians a chance as well. Through a joint investigation, we need to firmly identify whoever stands behind this man."
I had already run this past the border guard captain. Since I was the one who had caught the prisoner, he hadn't raised any real objection.
"Ahem — and on top of that, we'd appreciate it if you looked the other way regarding this particular incident."
The fact that a single male student had stormed into Dragonian land, breached an outpost, and taken a Judge captive was something the Dragonians would rather bury themselves. Still, I deliberately came in low and conciliatory.
That way, they would accept the deal more readily.
The cardinal and the high-ranking Judge began murmuring among themselves. The Dragon Saintess hesitated a moment, then stepped over and said something to them.
"Very well. We accept."
Nice.
I celebrated inwardly, then turned to the border guard captain.
"Then I'll leave the investigation to you, working jointly with the Dragonians. Is there anything else you need from me?"
"Nothing in particular. Ngh — the real problem will be the report."
"The Dragonians are victims here too, so it shouldn't cause too much trouble."
If this had been humans versus Dragonians, the kingdom would have reacted violently. But this was humans and Dragonians standing together against Kayalmirek — and, by extension, against Dogfight.
Yesterday's enemies becoming today's allies was a situation they could swallow without much resistance.
As the high-ranking Judge and the border guard captain conferred and coordinated schedules, I stretched my arms overhead.
Eris, Jaguar, Hashim, and the other non-humans were also victims, so they were actively joining the discussion.
All right. Time for me to go.
Before any of them had arrived, I had already beaten Kayalmirek half to death and extracted the locations of several bases. I intended to head for those.
If I announced it, there would be endless arguments about not going alone, about following proper procedure.
Better to go alone, find the antidote or a treatment method, and then tell them.
The moment I started to move, a man in a robe with a shaggy head of hair burst out of the crowd and charged at me.
"Hey! Are you kidding me right now?!"
It was the mercenary mage who had warped me from Elgrid all the way here — Weirdo.
"Ah. Right."
"'Ah, right'? 'Ah, right'?! Watching you cross the Dragon's Border was the single most shocking thing I've ever seen in my life. A mercenary lives on trust, and I had no idea if you were alive or dead, so I couldn't just leave—"
He had clearly suffered for it. I pressed a heavy coin pouch from my pack into his hands.
"Well then, valued customer — shall we head back now?"
"…"
The instant pivot, the way he started rubbing his hands together — I almost wondered if the whole outburst had been an act.
"No. There's somewhere I need to stop before we go to Elgrid. We'll start there."
With his warp magic, it wouldn't take long. I just hoped he had a marking near where I needed to go.
His expression shifted oddly.
"You want more money? What I just gave you covers that."
"It's not enough."
"You think you can push me around because I'm a student? Cut the crap and get ready."
"…"
Weirdo glanced at my face, pouted, and grumbled that fine, he understood. As if I would have handed over that kind of money just for waiting around.
"Are you leaving?"
Eris approached once the conversation wound down.
I did want to take her along — but if I did, Jaguar and Hashim would start whining about why they weren't invited.
Wait. Why would that matter?
On second thought, what did I care if one beast and one short guy complained?
"Eris. I found out where one of their bases is. I'm heading there now — want to come with me?"
"What? But…"
She glanced around at the others.
"He's already told me some things, so he'll talk soon enough. Anything beyond that, the Border Guard and the Dragonians will pass along once they learn it."
I wasn't leaving Kayalmirek behind for no reason.
"The important part is this: even once they know, the Border Guard can't move immediately."
Reports had to be filed, orders waited on, a pursuit team assembled. It could take days. And in that time, my sister and the elf girl would be in danger.
Eris nodded at my words and finally decided to come.
"One more passenger."
"What? The fee will of course be additional—"
Weirdo, mid-preparation, looked at Eris and his jaw dropped. Afraid he might start drooling, I scowled hard, and he grinned sheepishly.
"One person or two, doesn't matter. Get ready already!"
"Ugh."
"You've worked hard today."
Accepting a damp towel from the maid Bertia, Rin — the last to arrive — offered a faint smile of thanks.
They had torn through the villages and cities near Elgrid and returned to the dormitory.
Even though it was well past bedtime, everyone had gathered in May's room to collate the information gathered that day, waiting for Rin to finish them off.
In truth, what they had learned amounted to little more than the fact that Dogfight had informants planted elsewhere. Nothing truly central had surfaced.
Rin had hit the largest target, so they could only hope she had brought back something that might crack the case.
"Why is this even my room, though."
Ignoring May's grumbling, Rin stepped inside and began a brief rundown.
"The information I got from the so-called pharmacist is that Dogfight is selling a drug."
"A drug?"
Tana echoed, and Rin nodded.
"A drug that grants people special powers, sold at an extremely high price. And only certain people are allowed to sell it."
"Probably something that lets you gain the abilities of the magic beasts from the Demon World Forest — the ones Daniel mentioned."
Hayun's assessment drew quiet agreement from the others.
Eve raised her hand and asked,
"So was that pharmacist the one making and selling the drug?"
"No. He called himself a pharmacist, but he was just a middleman. He didn't keep stock. When a buyer appeared, he contacted Dogfight and received exactly that amount."
A pharmacist who didn't make medicine — just bought it and resold it.
Rin bit her lip and muttered,
"I should have stayed calmer. I hit the pharmacy so hard and so fast that I cut off the trail to the contact."
The pharmacist himself had only been selling for money; he knew nothing of real value.
Of course, Rin couldn't have known that at the time. It had been the best she could do in the moment — but regret was inevitable all the same.
Laid out like this, the results were hardly impressive. They had tried to find Hare as well, and failed at that too.
"It was only one day. We start again tomorrow, so don't lose heart, everyone."
Elise clapped her hands together as she spoke.
In truth, they had already kicked the hornet's nest, so speed was essential — but they were students. They could claim illness and skip a few days of classes, but even that had limits.
Until then, it was a timed race to secure solid information.
"Why are you pretending to be normal?"
"My, I am perfectly normal. Delinquents like May are the abnormal ones."
"These days, do we call masochists normal too?"
"I'm not a masochist or anything of the sort. I simply enjoy being handled roughly by Master. Being cursed at, kicked, collared…"
Elise's expression turned rapturous at the mere thought, and May's face visibly curdled.
Then Eve joined the fray.
"Hitting and collars, I'm not sure about — but when he swears, isn't it kind of sexy?"
Rin, who had been looking serious a second ago, broke into a bright smile.
"You get it! Daniel looks so mild, but he has this secretly sexy side. It's gotten even stronger since he came to the academy!"
Sen poked Hayun and asked,
"Sexy? What does that mean exactly?"
"Hmm, hard to explain. Like… after training, when he pulls his shirt up to wipe off the sweat?"
Hayun's sudden situational example only left Sen more confused. May rested her chin on her hand for a moment.
Tsk. When he warns the kids not to smoke, he does have that kind of edge…
She was the one doing the pushing right now, but she briefly imagined Daniel taking a more forceful approach with her.
"…Dangerous."
May nearly drooled, then hastily pulled herself together and steeled her resolve.
"Talking about what you like is fine, but…"
"Rivals and comrades, is it?"
Tana and Bertia were trying to smooth things over with awkward smiles when Bertia's eyes flashed. She drew a dagger hidden against her thigh and flung it straight at the window.
Something vanished with a sharp whoosh.
"W-what was that just now?"
Tana, standing in the same direction, asked in alarm. Bertia hurriedly checked outside the window, then drew another dagger.
"It seems that while we were catching their tail… our own tail has been caught."
A woman had been watching them through the window only moments ago — on the third floor, no less, like something out of a ghost story.
"I think… we need to prepare."
At the same instant, a massive fireball came hurtling toward them from outside the window.