“―― The previous Dragon God has already perished in the Abyss nest.”

After healing and tying Nagrom up, Bella’s story-telling went smoothly.

Bella told everything I said to her to everyone in the anti-Ryujin village.
The villagers were stayed quiet and listened to her story till the end.

“T-Then, everything we did was all for nothing……”
“…… We were just played by the shrine maidens and Nagrom-sama”

After Bella finished telling everything, everyone started gossiping and whispering to each other.

“If that’s the case, then Hibi should’ve told us from the start so both villages wouldn’t have to split up……”

Someone among them said.
Though I’m sure Hibi wouldn’t bring herself to say it even I told her to.
The village splitting apart wasn’t only because of Hibi hiding the truth but also because of the uneasiness from the whole Manticore fuss.
With how the sacrifices are split from both villages, and each village being able to capture lost travelers in their own separate ways, the village being divided in two wasn’t really a bad thing since having two villages means their territories will expand, giving them more chances to capture more outsiders to feed the Manticore.

Despite the angst that everyone was feeling after hearing the truth, no one looked at me with hostility anymore.

“It’s all lies! Lies, I tell you!”

…… Nargom, who is currently tied up in a rope used for hunting monsters, persistently claims.

【“Hee~ey…… can we just kill 'im already? No one'd complain if he dies now”】

…… No, let’s not. I don’t want to make it look like we’re forcing them to cooperate if we kill even one person who disagrees with us.
And, I also don’t want to leave one of the roots of this conflict at bay, so, uhh……
Let’s release him instead.
I’m sure he’ll make up for his wrongdoings once he helps out the Lithuvar Tribe for good.

“…… What does Nagrom want now?”
“It’s true that we were also caught up when the village split apart…… but, we can’t just overlook that Nagrom assaulted Bella-sama like that”

Guys, give him a second chance……

“I was only trying to silence Bella for believing in the Dragon God’s nonsensical hogwash to prevent any more confusion!”

Nagrom retorts with his face all red in anger.

“Should we just throw him to the river?”
“No, not yet. We don’t want the other village to be alarmed once we march over there, so we should bring Nagrom’s head with us. We’ll show them Nagrom’s head and tell them that we’ve come to bring them aid.”

…………

“It's all lies! Lies, I say! Can't you see you're all being deceived!”

I couldn’t bring myself to watch, so I covered my eyes with my tail.
And, with a struggled groan, they hung Nagrom’s head.
Nagrom spoke no more.

“…… It may be better for everyone back at the village to not know about your true identity, Ryujin-sama”

Baron, who’s still riding on my back, suggested.

“…… Baron-dono, you’re fine with it?”

Bella asks Baron, and Baron hesitantly nods.

“…… Even if the previous Ryujin-sama only helped us because he eats Abyss, it still doesn’t change the fact that he protected our ancestors for many years. Even the current Ryujin-sama has helped us many times already…… so there’s no reason not to dishonor either one of them.”

Hearing that from him, I felt something warm well up inside me.
Now I feel ashamed of myself for even thinking that they’d turn their spears against me after I revealed to them that I’m not their Dragon God.

“But, how everyone responds to the truth is different for each person. And, with everyone’s spirit all sharing one goal now…… let’s not waste time and clear away all the misunderstandings of both villages right away. We should follow the current Ryujin-sama’s wishes and make the village whole again.”

I nodded in agreement to Baron’s words.
He’s right, the most important thing right now is to make both villages work together.
If we can show the villagers in the Ryujin village that the the anti-Ryujin village is here to help, and if I still pretend to be their Dragon God, we’ll settle any disputes that may arise once we go back.

“After we finish getting ready, we will head to your village as soon as we can. For now, release the three people who Nagrom-sama…… I mean, who Nargom locked up.”

Oh, so that means there were those who went against Nagrom and got captured.
Maybe you should’ve released them first after you found out the truth.

My eyes were looking at Bella while I was thinking to myself, and I think she thought that I had something to say since she held then her staff straight and closed her eyes.
She muttered her chant again, indicating she’s using〖Telepathy〗.

【“I-Is there something else bothering you, Ryujin-sama……?”】

Eh? Uh, no, nothing I was just, uhh……
Y-You know…… I was just thinking that you’re somewhat a bit weak-willed compared to Hibi.
But, maybe that’s just because she was given the proper training to be the next shrine maiden, I think.

A-Anyway, why were those three people locked up?

【“Akanai was caught performing spear training that was against Nagrom’s ways. And, Tatarc was charged guilty of letting the Manticore’s sacrifices escape……”】

Tatarc…… aah, that guy who tried to help the sacrifices escape that time, but Partner ended up ruining his rescue plan by declaring that we’ll do the rescuing instead.
The Manticore has already long been defeated by then, yet that guy still got captured, it seems.

【“As for Yarg, he kept telling Nagrom that he witnessed the Dragon God save them from the Manticore and spare him afterwards, but Nagrom refused to accept his claims and locked him up as well”】

Eh……?
Yarg did something like that?
I thought he’d still loom over his grudge against Partner for biting his finger, but he turned out to be someone really decent.

Yarg was with Tatarc and they both saw me take down the Manticore before their very eyes.
Also, I think Yarg was more focused on sacrificing me to the Manticore than he was about his fingers when he took us to the cave where the other sacrifices were.
Yarg must be the reason why so many of the villagers here started talking about the good deeds I did for them.

【“But, he won’t forgiv me”】

…… Partner, if you meet him again, stay away from his fingers.

【“Ryujin-sama, I will still go around and explain everything to those who aren’t here while also preparing weapons and medicine, is that alright?”】

…… Weapons huh, won’t they throw a fuss if they see you approaching them with weapons on hand?
I think there’s still tons of extra spears back in the village, and preparations will probably take some time.
We don’t know when the enemy will attack, so I’d like you to finish as soon as possible.

【”…… We were planning on dipping our weapons with Mors poison and that means we would need time to mass produce medicine in case we accidentally hit an ally. Does the other village have better weapons than our poisoned ones?”】

Hell no…… your poison-coated weapons are a hundred times better than the plain ones back in the other village, though I’m sure Nagrom taught you all to coat your weapons with poison in the event he planned to fight against the Dragon God……
J-Just use anything that you can use, I guess.
Since I’ll be going with you, hopefully they won’t misunderstand or anything.