“What’s wrong?! I’m telling you to do it now! It is your job as guards on standby! Restrain Hagen at once! Did you not hear what I just said?!”

The hero shouts orders to his soldiers.
But, no one followed his commands.
The Hero’s face looked pale as he stares back at the people.

Surprisingly, things went as planned.
Adofu exposed his lie and Hagen made it worse for him.
As a result, everyone has completely lost their trust in him.

Even though the Hero has been ranting on for a while now, no one seems stand up for him.
It looks like he just blew a fuse.

I shifted my gaze to the execution site.
Nina is tied up in the last.
She looks like she doesn’t know what’s going on, but at least I can see that she has hope in her eyes now.

It’s over.
If everyone loses trust on the Hero, Nina should also be released.
The Hero will also be judged in accordance with the law of this city.
He has sinned that much. He’s not going to be treated innocent.

Should I avenge Adofu though?
Wait a minute. If that Hero runs away, is there even anyone here who can capture him?
It’s true that Nina and Adofu’s relatives can certainly be saved.
But in the end, isn’t it possible to let Adofu’s fiance and his brother take revenge at their killer?

“I told you to move it! I do not feel good today! What’s with those eyes?!”

The Hero forcibly tries to leave from the execution site.
That guy, he intends to just get away from all this……

“M-Make a path! You’re in the way! Out of the way!”

Hagen chased after the Hero and grabbed his shoulder.

“H-Hey! Don’t think you can run away……”

“Do not touch me with those filthy hands!”

The Hero grabbed his sword and carelessly shook Hagen off.
Hagen was tossed off his back, and fell on the ground.
Hagen turned his back on the Hero and crawled away while trying to get up.
Behind him, the Hero pointed his blade towards Hagen’s back.

He’s about to do something crazy.
It doesn’t look like he’s trying to threaten him.
His eyes look dead serious. He’s lost all reason.
At this rate, Hagen’s gonna be killed.

I put Ball Rabbit down, since I was holding him, kicked off the ground, and leaped to the front.
While in the air, I release my〖Human Transformation Art〗.

My body immediately grew bigger and reverted back to its normal size.
I hear screams from here and there among the crowd.

There’s going to be a few people who’ll get injured while running away, but that’s Ball Rabbit’s job to treat them.
Adofu did say that Peach Ball Rabbits are smart, plush, and sometimes terrifying, but often adorable enough that people would keep them as pets.
…… However, since they consume more food than most pets, they’re often released.
The humans probably won’t be too wary of Ball Rabbit.

“Gru~o~o~o~o~o~ooo!”

When I roared, the Hero switched the tip of his blade from Hagen to me.
He swung his sword at me, but I grabbed hold of it with my fangs.
The Hero tries his best to pull his sword out, but I bite it firmly with my teeth. I’m not letting you go here.

He stopped moving.
I’m counting on you now, Partner.

“Gra~a~a~aaa!”

Partner head-butted the defenseless Hero.
The Hero let go of his sword and lightly bounced back.

He raised his leg.
It seems he’s about to kick Partner’s head and jump back from the force.
The Hero’s feet hits Partner’s forehead. I thought he was able to dodge in time, but the Hero’s back heavily hit the ground.

We’re outmatching the Hero.
This is the result of the hard work I put in increasing my level.
I had already checked the Hero’s status when I mixed in with the crowd, and in terms of max numbers, I was greater than him.

……However, the Hero still has physical enhancement skills.
For now, I got one sword out of him, but the Hero still has two swords unsheathed.
I don’t think this alone will be enough.

I tossed the sword that was in my mouth.
The sword stuck deep unto the ground.

For Adofu’s sake too, I can’t let this guy get away anymore.
I may be the only one here who can fight against this guy.
I will… kill the Hero. This is a guy that can’t be let loose no matter what.

“Just what…… are you…”

When the Hero stood up, he unsheathed his second sword.
That’s the same sword that dealt a heavy blow to me when we first met.
I’m guessing he only uses that sword when he’s actually serious.

“Gru~o~o~o~oo!”
“Gru~a~a~a~aa!”

I roared together with Partner, and charged straight at the Hero.

“〖Quick〗!”

When the Hero shouted, a light enveloped his body. Speed enhancement magic?

“There aren’t many dragons with the same name as me. I see… so it evolved. That was truly unexpected, but… it would look like you’ve brought an outrageous surprise.”

The Hero points his sword at me.

“However, if I kill you, I can still recover my status! Ha ha! I constantly have the luck to escape my troubles! It seems you only wanted to save those slaves, but you came out at the worst possible time! Your claws are too soft, you fool!”

…… He’s right, if I hadn’t come out, then everyone would’ve completely lost faith in him.
Nina might’ve been released without much problems too.
Since I’ve now revealed myself, the series of events that Adofu and Hagen risked their lives to create were all for nothing.
To think I’d hear the faults of my own actions from this guy, if he saw a chance, of course he would’ve done it.

But, if I didn’t come out, Hagen would’ve been killed.
And the Hero himself would’ve been able to escape.
Hagen would’ve died, and the enemy of Adofu and his relatives would’ve escaped.
I can’t just accept that and pretend nothing happened.
If I defeat the Hero myself, then everything would work out peacefully.

“Gru~o~o~oooo!”

I held my frontclaw up high and clashed with the Hero’s sword.
The Hero grabs my claws using the center of his sword and deflects its angle.

I open my mouth wide, and attempt to directly eat the Hero.

“〖Luna Lucent〗!”

From the Hero’s sword, countless beams of light popped up.
I didn’t bother dodging, and continued attacking.

The light directly hits my face.
One hit my forehead, two hit inside my mouth, one hit my cheek, and another hit my neck.
I can feel severe pain from the parts that got hit.
It was more damage than I thought. Did I overestimate my defense?

“Haha! How’s that?! This sword was made to kill evil dragons like you!”

When I looked at him again, the Hero held his sword high up again.
Right here!
I will endure it with all my might and continue to attack.

“Gru~o~o~o~oooo!”

“Wha-…?!”

I succeeded in thrusting my fangs to the Hero’s shoulder.
My fangs reach past his clothes and comes into contact with his flesh. Blood starts to overflow, and it leaks from my mouth.

I lift the Hero’s body up in the air.

The fangs can’t penetrate past his skin. Is it just me, or is it getting harder the deeper I sink it in?
Looking at him, it really is strange that his status is still normal.
Even though we have a huge difference in terms of physical strengths, I still can’t bite into mere human flesh.

I tilt my head and slammed the Hero to the ground.
The ground cracked and the sand dispersed.

“Damn, you……”

And just like that, I did the same by tilting my head to the other side and slammed him to the ground again.

“Gra~a!”

Sorry, Partner. I’m hurt too. But we have high HP, so just bear with it.
The pain is divided to both heads too.

When I tried to slam a third time, some of my fangs got flung to the air.
The Hero’s body that got suspended in the air flew backwards.
He lands on his feet while staggered.

“〖Rest〗!” “〖Rest〗!”

The knights who came to where the Hero landed recited.

“A-are you alright…… Sir Irushia?”

It seems that the knights were still confused as to how they’re gonna treat the Hero, but they don’t look like they were gonna abandon him, though.
There’s a large commotion, but it seems that exterminating the dragon is top priority, huh.
This is indeed a precarious situation for me… If I lose now, those knights are just gonna get fooled by that guy again.

Still, it’s bad enough that those in standby have joined in.
I won’t have any problems dealing with a bunch of normal people, though.
Just like what Hagen did before, I can render them unable to battle without taking their lives.

But right now, it's a different story.

“Thank you. You saved me there.”

The hero said as if he got hurt badly on purpose, he then looked at me and lifted his mouth.

This guy… He’s planning on using his allies as a human shield.
It’s gonna be quite difficult to attack the Hero while not involving a knight.

My title skills are visible to the Hero.
I’m sure he’ll see true my character and take it from there.