DAR Vol. 4 Chapter 14 Part 3

<That’s a cloud of iron filings. It only looks like it’s floating, but inside, those filings are moving faster than the eye can follow. Touch it, and your body will be pierced by countless needles, shredded like sandpaper. Now I’ll add lightning to it.>

A sphere of light appeared within the dark cloud.

A harsh crackling echoed ominously through the air.

<A dual-element spell of earth and lightning: “Judgment of the Gods.” A new spell, by the way. Your body will be shattered instantly by the iron dust, then burned away by lightning—erased without even leaving a shadow behind. You won’t even have time to feel the pain before you disappear from this world. The brat gets angry when I cause collateral damage, so I’ve designed this spell to only affect the area inside this sphere! You should be in awe of my brilliance! Fuhahaha…>

As Uncle Gry let out a sadistic grin, the two gryphons recoiled and huddled together.

Their eyes were still defiant, but now laced with visible fear.

If anyone had to say who looked more villainous at this moment, it would undoubtedly be Uncle Gry.

The spell was so vicious that not only the gryphons, but even Roa and the members of Nostalgia turned pale.

<Try defending yourselves with your feeble magic. Show me you can resist mine. If you can endure it, I’ll at least grant you the honor of becoming my subordinates. Though in exchange for living a few seconds longer, you’ll only experience more pain and terror! Now—>

“Wait!”

Uncle Gry’s head feathers were yanked.

“There’s someone there.”

It was Roa who had pulled them.

Uncle Gry turned a disgruntled eye toward him, but strangely, the gryphons looked utterly stunned by the scene.

From behind the broken wreckage of the carriage the gryphons had destroyed earlier, a human crawled out; a soldier from the investigation party. He must have been asleep inside or failed to escape in time.

If Uncle Gry cast the spell, the soldier would be caught in it.

<If he’s in the way, that’s his fault. Let them go and they’ll just come at us again.>

“Use a different spell.”

<They’re gryphons, even if weak. A half-baked spell won’t finish them, it’ll just leave them wounded.>

“This isn’t the time to argue!”

As Roa shouted, Dietrich’s voice rang out. And that’s when one of the gryphons moved.

A tendril of shadow crept from its body and snared the struggling soldier.

They had understood the argument between Roa and Uncle Gry, and acted on it.

“Ah!”

Someone from Nostalgia cried out, but it was too late.

The red magic wolf lunged forward instinctively, but the gryphon shoved the captured soldier in front of it, forcing the wolf to halt.

KyuUU! the gryphons cried.

<…Taking a hostage? Cowards…>

Uncle Gry glared at them, clearly disgusted.

<Very well. I’ll just erase the hostage along with them. There won’t be a shred left—>

“No! I won’t allow that!”

Roa yanked hard enough to nearly rip out his feathers.

The gryphons flinched backward slightly.

Their wide-eyed surprise was again directed at Roa.

<I wasn’t done talking! If there’s no evidence, no one will know who did it! Fortunately, the only witnesses are you and the sleepyheads! You won’t be blamed. Just shut your eyes if it bothers you. It’ll all be over in a blink!>

“Stop being ridiculous and just restrain those gryphons! Don’t let them esca—ah!!”

Dietrich, having rushed up beside Roa and Uncle Gry, let out a dumbfounded cry.

The flapping of wings filled the air.

The gryphons were taking off.

One of them gripped the captured soldier in its front claws, holding him like a shield in front of Uncle Gry.

With just a second’s hesitation, it could crush the man to death. That threat froze the magic wolves in place.

<Escaping?! Cowards!>

Even Uncle Gry didn’t attack.

Roa was gripping his feathers with both hands and yanking as hard as he could, forcing Uncle Gry to restrain himself.

The gryphons grew smaller and smaller in the sky, disappearing in the direction of the Citadel Dungeon.

<…Brat…>

“What? If you’re going to complain, I’m not apologizing.”

Roa glared at Uncle Gry, bracing for criticism.

But instead, Uncle Gry broke into a grin.

<Hahaha! Now I’ve got a reason to visit my old den! Let’s go rescue that soldier! Hurry!>

“!?”

<What are you waiting for? Isn’t this exactly what an adventurer should do? You tried to protect those tagalongs and that reckless noble girl, didn’t you? Even if it’s just one of them, you’re going, right?>

Roa bit his lip.

He understood what Uncle Gry meant. He knew Uncle Gry understood his ideals.

In a situation like this, he didn’t want to choose not to go.

But if he said he would, Dietrich would definitely insist on coming too. He had come all this way out of concern for Roa. He wouldn’t let him go alone.

Which meant all of Nostalgia would be dragged into it.

Roa didn’t want to impose that on them.

He turned to Dietrich.

Dietrich met Roa’s uncertain gaze, and with a big grin, nodded.

That smile told Roa everything. Even if Roa said no, Dietrich would go.

That was just the kind of man he was.

He’d come all the way to the Citadel Dungeon for someone like Roa, after all.

So Roa made up his mind.

“…Let’s go!”

<That’s the spirit, brat! Hahahahaha!>

Uncle Gry’s booming laughter echoed beneath the starry sky.

Behind him, Kristoff slumped with a heavy sigh.

“…I thought I’d finally steered things so we wouldn’t have to go… How did it come to this…”

<Must be your karma!>

Uncle Gry’s chipper quip caused Kristoff to collapse to his knees, both hands on the ground.

Cornelia wore a wry smile.

She had likely anticipated this outcome the moment the soldier was taken; her expression was one of resignation.

Bernhart, meanwhile, was off muttering to himself, probably still analyzing the last spell.

And the twin magic wolves were silently watching Uncle Gry with cold eyes.

𑁋

“What just happened!?”

Joel raised his voice, trying to grasp the situation.

The sudden snowfall. The explosion that followed.

His thoughts had been rattled by the thunderous noise, his body battered by the gale. Dirt smeared him from head to toe, and scattered debris had left him wounded.

With Eileen utterly useless, and being the highest-ranking male knight present, Joel had effectively taken over leadership of the Citadel Dungeon investigation team. He had even restructured the team so all critical information would reach him first.

But the soldiers were either unconscious or running around in a panic; none of them could give him a clear answer.

From their screams, he barely pieced together that something had fallen from the sky. There were also cries of “A gryphon is attacking!” mixed in, but he couldn’t afford to take the frightened ramblings of terrified men at face value.

“Sir Roa!!”

Amid the lingering dust, Joel caught sight of Roa and the members of Nostalgia. If something had happened—and had already ended—it meant they were the ones who had dealt with it. Out here near the Citadel Dungeon, there were no others with the power to handle such incidents.

Certain of that, Joel rushed over without sparing a glance for anyone else. Though Roa had once asked him to stop calling him “Sir” and switch to “Roa,” his need for reassurance had made the honorific slip out again.

“Joel…”

The moment Roa noticed him, his face took on a troubled expression.

“I’m sorry… one person was taken.”

Roa bowed his head as he spoke.

Joel didn’t yet understand what had happened and was confused, but he couldn’t afford to ignore this.

“Taken!? What exactly happened?! What was that explosion!? Was it another magic beast attack?! What kind of enemy—?!”

He fired off questions in rapid succession. It was too blunt, but he couldn’t stop himself in his desperation to understand.

Roa faltered under the onslaught.

“Hey, old man. If you keep dumping questions like that, even Roa won’t know where to start. Calm down.”

Dietrich cut in from the side.

What irritated Joel more than being interrupted was the fact that Dietrich—who didn’t look that much younger than him—had just called him “old man.”

Joel already held a degree of mistrust toward the Nostalgia members. They’d suddenly appeared claiming to be Roa’s companions, then started questioning the investigation team’s integrity. Sure, they’d saved their lives once, but that didn’t mean he trusted them completely.

“You—!”

“Yeah, yeah, I get that you’re in a rush. You want to understand the situation, right? The Citadel Dungeon gryphons attacked. They dropped a massive ice chunk using ice magic, and Roa’s sneaky gryphon blocked it. That’s what caused the snow just now. Still following?”

<Who are you calling sneaky!?>

Uncle Gry yelled, but Dietrich ignored him to keep the explanation moving. Joel couldn’t hear his voice anyway.

The twin magic wolves also threw Dietrich disapproving looks, because he’d made it sound like Uncle Gry had handled it all himself, even though they were the ones who had actually intercepted the magic. Dietrich knew that if he said it was the twins, it would only prompt Joel to ask more questions, so he intentionally kept things simple by giving credit to the more “convincing” source.

He silently apologized to the twins as he disregarded their glare.

“Gryphons? Then was that explosion their doing too?”

Joel’s eyes widened in shock as he continued his questions.

“No, that was… our reckless gryphon dragging the attacker down from the sky. That impact caused the blast.”

<Reckless!? Who’s reckless!? You’re the reckless one! You’re the one who said it!>

As Uncle Gry looked about ready to lunge, Roa held him back by pressing a hand to his neck. Dietrich was clearly baiting him; getting back at him for earlier grievances. He knew Roa would hold him back, which was probably why he felt free to throw around insults like that.

Roa relaxed slightly, amused by the childish squabble between them.

Dietrich noticed and gave a subtle smile.

“So… in other words, your gryphon defeated the Citadel Dungeon gryphons? You repelled them?”

“Basically, yeah. But that idiot gryphon got sloppy and let one escape. A soldier was taken. We were just discussing heading out to rescue him.”

“What!?”

Joel’s eyes widened further, his mouth falling open. He radiated disbelief.

Of course he would. Heading to the Citadel Dungeon meant going directly into the gryphons’ den. Just standing in the surrounding plains had already exposed them to repeated life-threatening danger. There was no way anyone could expect to return alive from the heart of it.

It was a deathtrap, plain and simple.

Risking one’s life for a single soldier, just because they were in the same expedition, wasn’t bravery: it was madness. Even for a knight like Joel, whose creed was to protect the people and die for them if necessary, it was unthinkable.

Sacrificing yourself for someone else… that was—

“…A saint…”

The word slipped from Joel’s mouth.

The moment it did, something clicked in his mind.

Roa had saved their lives time and again, and now he intended to risk his own for one soldier.

If this wasn’t the work of a saint, what was it? A noble soul commanding gryphons and twin magic wolves…

The image of the legendary first Hero and Sage, who were said to have tamed magic beasts, overlapped with Roa’s.

He was a being to be revered; akin to those worshipped as gods in the legends. The most beloved and honored figures in history.

In Joel’s gaze, reverence began to shine.

“…Please… abandon him.”

The words came unbidden from Joel’s lips.

“There’s no need for you to go, Sir Roa! Someone like you doesn’t need to throw away his life for a single soldier! You have strength! You have a future! Losing you would be a massive blow to this country!”

Joel desperately gripped Roa’s hands, his pleas spilling out.

“Please don’t do anything reckless. We’re nothing more than cast-offs sent to die outside the army’s command. Someone like you shouldn’t be risking everything for the likes of us. Please… treasure your life.”

Faced with Joel’s desperation, Roa didn’t know what to say. He looked to the members of Nostalgia for help, but they didn’t intervene. They all seemed perfectly content to watch Roa being admired. In fact, they welcomed it.

They knew Roa’s self-esteem was far too low. If anything, it was about time he learned just how much he was worth. This was a perfect chance to start.

<What’s with this knight? Does he think we’d lose to a couple of hatchlings like that? How insulting.>

Uncle Gry glared over Roa’s shoulder at Joel.

But Joel didn’t notice. He seemed completely caught up in his own world.

“I’m not planning to die. If I think it’s impossible, I’ll back off.”

“But still! It’s far too dangerous!”

Tears began to stream from Joel’s eyes.

Roa felt the urge to run away, but Joel was gripping his hands tightly, making escape impossible. As expected of a knight, his grip was strong; Roa couldn’t break free.

For a while, Joel’s emotional pleas continued, bordering on begging.

…Of course, no matter how weak he looked, Roa was stubborn. A bit of persuasion wasn’t going to change something he’d already decided.

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