153 – Executioner vs Drakan
They finally met.
I swallowed dryly as I looked at the man in front of me.
Evan Reginald. Among the Enforcers who are no different from my nemesis, the man who stands tall at the top.
I don’t need to talk about my skills.
Wouldn’t it be close to the strongest among officially active wizards? If I had to pick a candidate that could be compared to him, would it be the Drakan members and the dean of the Mage Tower? It’s worth putting the academy principal in.
Anyway, what is certain is that it is strong enough to be counted on one hand by the standards of the human world.
The reason I escaped from his clutches the other day was thanks to the princess’ active cooperation.
If she hadn’t joined me in taking my hostage, she wouldn’t have been able to resist and would have been arrested.
Therefore, there is little chance that Evan will find out who I am, but I can’t help but feel nervous.
Evan politely greets us as we open the door and walk in.
“Welcome.”
Was it originally like this?
Obviously, when we met in the palace, he was much more smirking.
Well, at that time I was dispatched to catch criminals, and now it’s a meeting with an academy student who could be my junior, so I guess my attitude is different.
“I heard about it. It must have been a mistake on our part. As Executive Director, I sincerely apologize.”
Something is awkward. It went quite differently than the picture I had envisioned.
I was worried that there would be a much bloodier war of nerves and fights than at the academy.
Anyway, it was a good thing for me. I want to leave as soon as we finish talking like this.
On the other hand, Granger asked in a light tone without the slightest hint of nervousness.
“Are you a big fan here?”
“You can see that.”
“Ohh.”
I’m not particularly surprised now. Rather, I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t shown a consistent appearance like that.
“If you came all the way here, you probably want to hear a clear explanation from me.”
“Shouldn’t you waste your time and finish quickly?”
Evan doesn’t show any displeasure at Granger’s hot words and actions.
“Before that, let me ask you one thing. The moment you hear about it, you may be in danger. This is not a threat or intimidation, this is a warning. Are you really prepared to face the truth?”
What the hell are you talking about that scares you so much?
Are you unaware of the fact that at this point you have no choice but to listen, even if you are curious?
“Yes. It’s done, so let me know right away.”
“Is the same with the friend in the back?”
Looking at me. To be honest, I hated being involved in anything more troublesome than this, but I hated it even more to come all the way here and not hear anything.
“Yes. Please tell me.”
As he nodded his head and revealed his intention, Evan didn’t even issue a further warning.
“Okay. Then let me know.”
A breath-taking explanation followed by a beat.
“The identity of forbidden magic is dragon summoning magic.”
“… Huh?”
I chewed it over to understand the meaning.
If that’s what you say…
“Are you saying it was correct to use the forbidden spell?”
“No. Although the two look similar, they are strictly different. Because the magic you used is a fake dragon that was only embodied with magical power.”
I didn’t quite understand what he meant, but I decided to keep listening.
“Simply put, it means that it is not a real dragon.”
“I was wondering what you were talking about. What is a real dragon in the first place? Does anyone know about that?”
“Of course I don’t know. Dragons disappeared as the age of mystery faded away. But I can be sure that the dragon you summoned is fake.”
Perhaps feeling that his own magic was being ignored, Granger frowned and glared at Evan.
I roughly understood it.
If it’s a real dragon, it probably means it can’t be that much. Well, a dragon that dies with a single shot from a magic engineering pistol is a bit out of shape.
It was a fact that Granger’s dragon magic was incomplete, even compared to other summoning magic.
Summoned beasts such as sharks and bulls were so lively that they were hard to distinguish from real animals, but dragons shimmered with red magic and only appeared in translucent forms.
I asked him a question out of curiosity.
“What if the magic he uses is to summon a real dragon?”
The answer came from behind. The executioner woman, who had been silent ever since she entered the room, spoke in a calm voice.
“I was going to kill myself at the cost of my life.”
“·······.”
“The killing power of Catherine’s magic is different even among executioners. There are side effects that are difficult to control. Preparing for this mission must have taken a lot of determination.”
Meeting and interviewing academy students was a dangerous mission worth risking your life for?
Anyway, he has the best killing power among enforcers. I’m curious about what the exact ability is because I’ve only witnessed simply breaking the summons into pieces like cubes.
And her name was Katherine. She tried to hear it from herself, but ended up hearing it through her mouth.
I feel like I’ve gotten quite a bit of information, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.
The thing I was most curious about was, of course, this.
“Why is it forbidden to summon real dragons?”
Evan stared at me with her heavy sunken eyes before opening her mouth slowly.
“Because of a secret society.”
···What? Wait for a sec.
I can’t believe this…
“Their name is Drakan. Each member of the organization is strong and dangerous enough to be compared to quite a few Enforcers.”
Her head was pounding. Two completely unexpected incidents suddenly merged into one, so I couldn’t even figure out how to accept this.
She actually had vague thoughts from the first time she saw Granger’s magic. If the Drakan guys saw it, I wondered if they would salivate and try to get it somehow.
However, as I have emphasized several times, they are currently in a state of inactivity.
It was for that reason that he completely excluded the name Drakan from his mind.
I never imagined that I would hear their names through the mouth of an enforcer like this.
I didn’t understand. Because Drakan is a very thorough organization, they thoroughly concealed their identities until they started their full-scale activities.
The timing for the guys to show up and make a name for themselves is half a year from now, the first year’s winter break.
Not to mention, the names of those who can’t move due to the unsealing have already come to the head of the executive department.
Even if something goes wrong, it’s definitely wrong.
“Drakan has only one goal. Bringing back a dragon that disappeared in the human age.”
Granger blankly blinked his eyes and let out a hollow laugh.
“They are like children.”
“Yes. It’s like a child dreaming and chasing unrealistic fantasies. The problem is that the actions taken to achieve that goal are not at all like that.”
The guy tilted his head as if he didn’t understand.
“But why are they all of a sudden? Could it be that dragon summoning was banned because of those bastards?”
“Exactly. I don’t know exactly what they’re going to do after summoning the dragon, but judging from what they’ve done so far, Drakan is clearly evil.”
As the story went on, the question grew.
So far? You mean you figured it all out? How?
“Well, what a terrible thing he did, so he made a fuss like this.”
“Abduction, confinement, child abuse, living experimentation, research on forbidden magic, indiscriminate massacre, induction into war. Would you like to hear more?”
“·······.”
No matter how bad-tempered the delinquent was, he couldn’t keep a light attitude after hearing the evil deeds just listed.
“If you’re such a crazy bastard, you should catch and kill them right away.”
“Of course, we are doing our best. Most of the Enforcers out on the field are only chasing Drakan.”
It is clearly a different flow from the original. A head-on collision between the Enforcer and Drakan.
It’s hard to be sure who will win at once, but it was dizzying how much would change just by the clash of the two forces.
Let’s calm down for now. What I need to do now is not to fall into a panic, but to calmly assess the situation and make a decision on how to act.
First I had to find out more information. Right now, it’s hard to even guess anything.
One wrong decision could have ruined everything.
“How did you find out about the organization?”
At my question, Evan stared at me with sharp eyes.
“Why are you curious about that?”
“You said that earlier. The moment we hear this, we may be in danger. Of course, it’s because of the organization called Drakan. If that’s the case, isn’t it right that we need to know at least one more thing about the organization in order to save our lives?”
To be honest, it may be a bit far-fetched, but for now, I had to get the information this way.
I didn’t deliberately avoid his gaze, I just stared straight ahead.
“…We didn’t know anything about them until recently. But a while ago, someone provided information. I can’t tell you who it is, so don’t ask.”
The informant was the most important, but since his voice was dripping with determination, it seemed that he couldn’t force himself any further.
“Let me tell you one more thing instead. You must never tell anyone.”
We all nodded at the same time, no matter who came first.
Soon after, Evan’s mouth slowly opened.
“Phantom Thief Raven belongs to Drakan.”
WOW
…what?