Hagen tripped and fell down.
With a rough breath and his butt stuck on the ground, he looks at me.

“W-why is Sir Adofu…… here? And, why is he riding a twoheaded dragon?!”

…… Now, I’m just as lost as he is.
Adofu is currently in an awkward situation as well, so I guess it can’t be helped.

“No need to call me sir. I am no longer the captain of the knights. I’m just a fugitive prisoner.”

“Cu-curses!”

Hagen stood up, pulled a dagger from under his hip, and charged straight to Adofu who was on top of me.
The tip of his blade was shivering.

“Put down your weapon, Hagen. I don’t feel like fighting. Do you know what happened to the other members of your group who were sent to subdue the evil dragon?”

“They abandoned me and ran away……”

“Irushia said… that they were all killed by the evil dragon.”

“Wha-what?! That’s ridiculous!”

“Apparently, you were the one who said all of that to Irushia, Hagen. So, have you seen him?”

“If I had, I wouldn’t still be lying in the desert like this! Y-You’re making no sense!”

“I see. I understand now.”

Adofu took a breather after saying that, then continued.

“You were supposed to be dead. I mean, anyone who faces the evil dragon will make people think that they’re dead by then. But…… you missed one.” (Adofu)

That last sentence was for me. I slightly nodded.

“Irushia believed the false report, and called out your name, you, who is the leader of the squad. That’s quite a luck you have.” (Adofu)

“What exactly…… is your point?”

“I’ll say it clearly. I was framed by him. The squad that was sent to hunt down the evil dragon were as well. Irushia killed them as an excuse to get me out.”

“Bu-but, that’s-…! There’s no way that Lord Irushia would…… to go to such extent……”

“If it were a lie, there’d be no meaning in me telling you about all this stuff. Come. We need your testimony on this.”

Hagen didn’t believe him right away.
But, after repeating everything again with details this time, he gradually started to make sense of it now.
Hagen seemed to have felt something fishy in the murder case itself, which was supposed to be for Adofu, rather than the original case he was given.

“…… That two-headed dragon is that evil dragon’s evolution? If so, then I was indeed left out.”

Hagen says while holding onto his neck.

“I understand. I’ll help you out. …… If I head back alone now, they’ll probably kill me to shut me up.”

Hagen finally acknowledged us.
The horse’s…… Maria’s leg-injury was instantly healed by Partner’s〖High Rest〗skill.
Maria, after getting up, stared at Hagen as if looking at garbage.

…… Gaining the lost trust of an animal is very difficult, I think I remember someone quoted that before in my previous life.
But, you were the one who started this when you first ran away, Maria.

And so, Ball Rabbit, Adofu, two Red Ants, Hagen, and Maria all rode my back as we headed towards Haranae.
It was quite a rowdy bunch.

“Dragon, could you wait outside the city? With Hagen here, it won’t turn into a battle. If it’s just guards, my arm alone can push through them. I promise you that I will clear away the false crime of that young beastwoman.”

I shake my head.
If you find yourself messing up at the wrong timing, it will only spread the problems that have been subsided.
I don’t think that all of this will simply end by merely talking.
It’s not that I don’t know how it might get messed up.
I just don’t like to wait outside for things to end.

“I…… see.”

Once again, I fly low for a few more hours, heading straight to Haranae.

I saw rocks arranged in a circle.
It looks familiar. I’ve seen this before, it’s the same magic circle from that Hero’s amulet.
This is proof that we’re nearing Haranae.

I feel a little uneasy, but I’m not really troubled by it.
…… As I think that, Ball Rabbit fell from my head.
I caught him immediately, then landed on the ground soon after.

“Pefu~u……”
【“Huh…… something bad……”】

…… Don’t tell me it’s that? Does it affect him.
We’re still quite a distance from it.
Does it affect monsters’ senses somehow?

“Kuchaa……”
“Kuccha……”
“Nieghh……”

Maria and the Red Ants fall off me.
Is it really that bad?
Should we go around it?
No, there’s a high chance that it’s been arranged to surround a large area.
If not, then there would be no point.

“…… If we could just somehow get around this, then there’d be no more tricks from these powerful talismans.”

I wonder if I could go around it……
Since it’s come to this, there’s no choice. Sorry, but I’ll carry you in my mouth.

“Gru~o”

I turned to my side and looked at Partner.
I then stretched my neck and caught Ball Rabbit and one of the Red Ants in my mouth.

“Kucha~a?!”

The cries of the Red Ant echoed, but Ball Rabbit stayed silent.
Ball Rabbit used to not like it at first, but he got used to it.

Partner imitated me and extended her tongue to the other Red Ant and pulled it in her mouth.
You better not swallow it this time, unlike before.
While feeling the Red Ant struggle in my mouth, I went passed through the Magic Circle.
I landed again, and spat out Ball Rabbit and the Red Ant from my mouth.

When the sun started rising high up, Adofu told me “I think it’s time to stop flying”, and so, I grounded myself and started to run.
Soon after that, Haranae came in sight.
I bent down and moved, after approaching a significant distance, I put down Adofu and the others.
I can’t get closer to the city anymore as a dragon.

After everyone got down, I used〖Human Transformation Art〗.
Since it’s now Lv7, it should be considerably better.

Heat runs through my body and I become small.

“Gra~a? Gra~a~a!”

Partner twisted her neck and began rampaging noisily.
She was probably unsettled from what was happening.
I should’ve let Ball Rabbit warn you ahead of time.

I had a bad feeling when my body was shrinking.
…… Do me and Partner retain the same head size?

I immediately grabbed Partner’s head and pushed it down my shoulder.
Her resistance is quite powerful.

“Gra~a~aa!”

Forgive me, buddy.
If left be, we’d be humans with two heads.

Because it was deformed, Partner’s head was soft.
With my body changing, I became smaller and smaller.
Partner’s head disappeared when I finally reached human size.