He was no prophet who could foresee the future, nor had he ever studied the habits of the dragon race. He was merely an ordinary adventurer who had wandered from place to place before finally taking refuge with the White family.
He had no way of being one hundred percent certain that this giant dragon would continue to treat everyone with kindness once she woke up, just as no one could be certain of tomorrow's weather, the year-end harvest, or whether they would return safely from every adventure.
As Carson fell into silence, Banrot spoke up once more. He cast aside his previous deceptive rhetoric, his tone becoming blunt and naked.
Knowing that Carson's confidence to refute him was growing weaker and weaker, he simply stopped beating around the bush.
“Dragon-slaying Hero Carson! Don't you... want it?” His eyes locked onto Carson's face, his greed completely undisguised. “You know what that title means in the Adventurer’s Guild, don't you?”
“As long as you've slain a giant dragon, no matter how ordinary your background was or how low your rank was before, from that moment on, you will be a universally recognized Legendary Rank adventurer.”
His voice trembled uncontrollably. Just imagining that glory made his entire body burn with heat, his mind racing.
“The Adventurer’s Guild in every city-state will open its doors to you. Your name will be recorded in the guild's history books, carved onto memorial stone tablets, and passed down and remembered by generations of adventurers.”
He shifted his gaze away from Carson and swept it over everyone present, as if distributing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to the crowd.
“As long as you stand on my side today and take part in this, none of you here will have to remain obscure, bottom-tier adventurers. You won't have to take those poorly paid guard duty chores anymore, let alone endure the contempt of high-rank adventurers.”
“Your names will be written into the guild's chronicles, and in the future, your descendants can proudly brag about this experience to others. Are you really willing to miss out on this?”
The bearded brute's Adam's apple bobbed heavily. He looked down at the unconscious girl on the ground, then stared at the chipped, old axe in his hands.
This axe had accompanied him ever since he entered the adventurer trade. It had slain monsters, repelled bandits, and was usually used to chop firewood to make a living. It had long been his most loyal companion.
If they could truly slay a giant dragon today, this ordinary old axe would become a dragon-slaying battleaxe recorded in history.
The moment this thought arose, his breathing instantly became heavy. But when he looked at the frail girl once more, the greed surging in his heart was slowly suppressed.
Chas's face was filled with naked disgust.
He was not good at verbal arguments, but he made his stance clear through his actions. He stood in front of the girl, his feet planted firmly on the ground, his chin slightly raised, adopting a posture that made it clear he would show absolutely no mercy to anyone who dared step forward.
The archer remained silent throughout, merely taking a quiet step closer to Carson to solidify his stance.
“And you call this glory?” Carson finally spoke, his voice unusually calm, like the dead silence of the sea before a storm.
He raised his eyes to look at Banrot, his gaze sharp as a knife, sweeping directly across the other man's face.
“She is lying here unconscious because she fought with all her might to protect this village!” He suddenly raised his voice, his long-suppressed anger completely erupting.
“Yet you want to take advantage of her defenselessness to chop off her head and trade it for your own fame and status. And you have the nerve to call this glory?”
Banrot's face darkened completely, a cold, hostile aura flashing through his eyes.
But he did not back down in the slightest. Instead, he took a step forward, his tone turning thoroughly low and cold, stripping away all of his disguised rhetoric.
“Fine, then let's not talk about empty glory and focus only on the most realistic issue,” he said coldly. “If she wakes up and immediately turns on us, can your high-sounding words block her Dragon Breath?”
He looked around the area, shifting his gaze away from Carson to sweep over Chas, the archer, and finally landing on the bearded brute and the other young adventurers.
“I know you are an upright person, Carson, and you don't want to take advantage of someone in a vulnerable position. I can understand that. I'm not ungrateful either; she repelled the monster tide and indeed saved all of us.
“But gratitude is one thing. Now is not the time to comfortably play host. Placing everyone's safety on the goodwill of a giant dragon is the most foolish adventure.”
He intentionally emphasized his last words, then turned around and raised his arm, pointing toward the broken fence of the village behind them.
“Look at the people in the village, the elderly and children left behind. They don't have the slightest bit of combat ability.
“If something really happens, we adventurers who can fight and run might still have a slim chance of survival, but they will be the first to die a tragic death. What do you have to guarantee the safety of the entire village? Do you dare guarantee absolute safety on behalf of this giant dragon?”
Carson's lips parted slightly, but he was momentarily tongue-tied, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal.
Banrot caught the fleeting hesitation in his eyes and immediately struck while the iron was hot, pressing further. “A purebred giant dragon almost lost to a mixed-blood lizard, with her pathetic state fully witnessed by us humans throughout the entire process.
“You've traveled the world for so many years and seen so much human wickedness. Do you really think that after experiencing something like this, she can just act as if nothing happened and let it go peacefully?”
The entire place fell into a dead silence; no one responded. Chas clenched his fists tightly, his heart filled with resentment, yet he could not find any convincing argument to refute him.
The bearded brute's gaze darted back and forth between the two of them. His palm tightly gripped his axe handle, already soaked with cold sweat.
He vaguely felt that Banrot's reasoning was wrong, but his mind worked too slowly, and he couldn't put his finger on the problem.
He just had a faint feeling that if this giant dragon really wanted to slaughter the village and harm people, there was absolutely no need for her to fight to the death to help them repel the monster tide.
“This is our only! And our best opportunity.” Banrot slowed his pace, his tone becoming low and earnest, like a friend trying to persuade a conflicted companion to do something that was difficult but necessary.
“I'm not cold-blooded or heartless. I truly appreciate her saving us. But once she wakes up and turns on us, no one present, including the villagers, will survive.”
He paused intentionally, letting the silent atmosphere continue to apply pressure and deepen everyone's misgivings.
Then he raised his hand, reaching past Carson's shoulder to point toward the broken fence behind him, looking at the villagers who were filled with dread.
“Do you dare wager the lives of everyone in the village to gamble on this sliver of vague goodwill?”
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly dousing all of Carson's persistence and leaving him completely cold.
He could feel Banrot's gaze locked onto him, and he could also sense the eyes of the villagers behind him, all resting heavily on his back.
He knew that no matter what excuses he made, Banrot could block them with reasons like “safety cannot be guaranteed” or “there is a risk of her turning on us.”
He also knew deep down that he indeed could not give anyone an absolute guarantee.
If it were only a gamble on his own life, he would not hesitate. But the chips in this gamble were the lives of all the innocent people in the village.
He slowly turned his head to look at the village behind him.
Would this little girl, who had fought a powerful enemy to the death and almost lost her life just for a return favor, really vent her anger upon waking on these ordinary people who had witnessed her pathetic state?
“I have an idea...”
Rate on N.U.
