Reincarnated as a Dragon and Raised by a Demon

As the knife was pressed against his throat, the thirsty dog leader looked up with an expression that suggested he had given up everything.

“Kill me.”

“How many people have you killed before that?”

“I haven’t counted since 100.”

Since it seemed like there were about thirty to fifty of them, each individual must have killed at least two people.

“Surely the guards responsible for this area wouldn’t have just let you go?”

“…….”

He kept silent at Aila’s words.

“You have an accomplice, don’t you? Someone quite high up.”

Whether my guess was right, his eyes were trembling severely.

“What’s wrong with a strong person doing as they please with the weak?”

“Perhaps it was like that in the past. But that’s not aligned with the current ideology of the Empire.”

“The current Emperor is merely the puppet of the Demon King.”

Taking a deep breath, Aila swung her sword gently.

With a single stroke, the leader’s head flew through the air and fell to the ground.

“Your crime is treason against the Imperial Court.”

We started moving in the vehicle they had been using.

Dahlia knew how to drive, so she took on the role of the driver.

Jema, who had driving experience, sat in the passenger seat and we agreed she could switch if necessary.

“Hey, was what you said earlier true?”

“Don’t you trust me even after meeting me in person?”

Aila spoke while looking out the window.

Of course, it didn’t seem likely that the Demon King would be involved in such things.

“In the old days, it was natural for the strong to become the Demon King and rule the country.”

“What about now?”

“Just the existence of Nive is a deterrent.”

In other words, even if there were factions that wanted to rebel, they couldn’t act out openly because they were restrained by the Demon King Nive.

“Could there be many such factions?”

“We don’t know. There is a team in the Intelligence Department that investigates, but they never share their findings.”

The job of the Intelligence Department is officially to oversee the country and monitor enemy states.

Through recent terror incidents, it became clear that they do other things as well.

Of course, when I first met Solche and Alium, I could roughly guess what kind of operations they were involved in based on their objectives.

Roran’s first impression was that it was a kind and friendly country to everyone, but after hearing what the thirsty dog leader had said, I felt like I had briefly glimpsed a darker side of Roran.

It indicated that there were those who were dissatisfied with the current Roran imperial system.

“About this city’s terror attack…”

“It’s something I’ve been concerned about. They might have joined forces with Latnia. But it’s already beyond my authority.”

Currently investigating the case is Aila’s older sister, Leah, who is the leader of the Knight Order.

The overcast sky finally began to pour rain.

Dahlia, using the auto-driving magic, was looking out the window when something seemed to come to her mind, and she lightly clapped her hands and turned around.

“By the way, I think I saw someone there earlier.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know the name, but he was one of the three leaders that Ririan dealt with.”

Since we were in the middle of a battle, I didn’t remember the face well, but I recalled he had a bushy beard.

“I’ve seen him coming out of the guards in the city we stayed in.”

“If they turned a blind eye to him, he must be at least the captain of the guards.”

Even Aila seemed not to know the names of all the managers of every city.

“Is that certain?”

“It should be. He was earning a wage while helping the guards. He didn’t come often, but he showed his face about twice a month.”

At Dahlia’s words, Aila rested her chin on her hand and fell into thought.

“By the way, Dahlia, your technique was amazing. Is it magic?”

Catherine asked about the technique Dahlia had shown a moment ago.

“It is magic, but I can’t use it multiple times. At most, three times a day.”

“Could you teach me later?”

“I can teach you, but can you fight without a sword?”

At Dahlia’s question, Catherine shook her head.

“Then that won’t work. The technique is maintained as long as the sword is stuck in the ground.”

“Is that so? What a pity, but that won’t work then.”

Dahlia was still able to fight well enough against enemies without a sword.

Thinking it could be quite useful if I learned it, I considered asking her to teach me later.

As the car drove along the road, we were passing through some city.

“Looks like we have arrived at a city?”

“Which city?”

“Blue.”

“Our destination is ‘Green.’”

“Then we will pass through.”

Dahlia didn’t take the road heading toward the city of Blue and continued straight ahead.

The view of Blue from the road was filled with blue lights, just as its name suggested.

The rain was pouring even harder, as an added annoyance.

I felt it again in Latnia, but the Empire’s territory is quite vast.

Even while riding in a car, it takes over a day to see a large city.

“Why are we going to Green instead of the capital? There’s a train station in Blue too.”

“There’s no particular reason.”

From Dahlia’s words, it seemed that going to Green would actually take longer than going from Blue.

Though Dahlia looked puzzled, she didn’t seem too concerned.

“Hello~”

“…….”

No one opened their mouth, and the voice was just in my head.

I hesitated for some time whether to respond.

I didn’t want to get dragged back into the chattering hell again.

In fact, it felt a bit annoying.

“Don’t pretend you can’t hear me.”

It seemed Nive had some ability to read minds, as he spoke to me unilaterally.

At this point, I wanted to go back immediately and ask him to give me back my tail scales.

“I was sleeping.”

“Really? Then sleep more.”

“Thank you.”

“Listen while you sleep~”

There was no way I could sleep while listening to his story, so I had no choice but to listen to Nive’s words.

“Anyway.”

As I was listening, I remembered what the thirsty dog leader had said.

I thought I could just ask the person involved directly, so I waited for a chance to speak.

“Hey, do you also govern the Empire?”

“I don’t know how to govern or anything like that.”

With Nive asking what was wrong, I relayed everything that had happened.

“I see. It must have been tough.”

“It wasn’t tough.”

“Such characters often appear. The most famous one recently is Cecilia.”

Startled by the name I had never heard before, I blurted out a word, and Aila, who had been sleeping, woke up.

“What are you talking about? Cecilia?”

“Demon King.”

When I conveyed Aila’s reaction to Nive.

“Ah. This is something I shouldn’t say. Just forget about it.”

“Forget it, you say?”

“What are you talking about? Pass it along. What do you mean by Cecilia?”

I tried to contact him again, but Nive didn’t respond.

“Are you not going to answer?”

“Ugh… If it’s not in your favor, you won’t say anything.”

Aila continued to grumble with an annoyed expression.

Surprisingly, even though Nive lived in a deep mountain castle, he seemed quite well-informed about the happenings in the world.

While I was conversing with the Demon King, the car had already passed through the roads adjacent to Green.

By evening, we had arrived in front of the Green station.

“What will happen to this car?”

“I’ll sell it.”

Everyone was surprised at Aila’s sudden proposal.

The cars we had been riding until now were borrowed.

But this one was a byproduct from exterminating a crime organization.

Aila assured us that selling it quietly wouldn’t create any major problems.

“But you have no idea where to sell it, right?”

“If I put it out cheap, someone will buy it.”

To sell the car, we moved into the city of Green.

Typically, there are shops that sell food, clothes, and accessories, so it is easy to sell used items.

However, the issue with this car was a different matter.

While it is generally widely available, it was still quite expensive, so not many people were willing to purchase it.

Depending on the type, it is said that a new car sells for about 15 gold.

To sell it quickly, we decided to sharply lower the price, but Aila firmly rejected that idea.

“I won’t sell it for less than 20 gold.”

“No one will come out to buy it at that price. It’s not even a new car.”

Dahlia suggested selling it for half of that, at 10 gold.

The vehicle we had ridden was a truck-type car that showed obvious signs of long use.

In other words, it was a used car.

“Guess you’re not a noble’s daughter after all. You have no sense of economics.”

“I’m not a noble!”

“What are you talking about? Everyone knows. You’re the daughter of the Carlos family.”

Dahlia seemed to already have some knowledge about Aila’s background.

“I am a daughter, but my family has nothing to do with me.”

“Well, whatever, but seriously, miss. No one will buy this junk car for 20 gold.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

Aila, unlike before, began to reconsider lowering the selling price.

She quickly gave in to her own stubbornness about something she wasn’t well-versed in.

“Then let’s find a place where we can sell this first.”

“Sure.”

After wandering around the city, we saw a wide area where people had set up stalls.

“Did you come to Green for this reason?”

“Exactly. There’s a train station in Blue, but there’s only this flea market around here in Green.”

I thought this place would be adequate to sell the car.

We were able to get a spot assigned by the person in charge at the entrance of the flea market.

“You usually have to apply in advance, but it went smoothly.”

Dahlia made a finger gesture to mimic money.

However, Aila didn’t seem very pleased with that sight.

“Isn’t this illegal?”

“It’s just an unused spot anyway. What’s the big deal? The world doesn’t always turn justly and equally.”

Parking the car at a rather secluded spot in the flea market, we all sat down on the ground in a line.

Dahlia didn’t write the price of the car on the paper, but simply wrote “For Sale.”

“Why didn’t you write the price?”

“Because it seems like your leader wants to sell it for as much as possible.”

“Is that even possible?”

“I have experience trading, anyway. I know how to negotiate.”

We decided to let Dahlia handle the sales.

Several people approached and asked what we were selling, and Dahlia opened the car door, explaining.

“This car. Are you interested?”

“Hmm.”

The customer hesitated for a moment, then shook their head and walked away.

“Maybe we should have written down the price after all?”

“No, just wait.”

A long time passed, but no customers showed up to buy the car.

Soon it was time for the flea market to close, and we decided to take a short nap in the car.

Thus, we welcomed the next morning.

“What the heck, we didn’t sell it in the end.”

As Aila grumbled, Dahlia yawned and answered leisurely.

“Guess you’re not a rich girl after all. You’re quite impatient.”

“I’m not that wealthy. Today’s the day we can sell it, right?”

“Probably.”

The flea market required a certain fee to be paid each day.

Dahlia paid a little extra and secured a wider spot that saw a lot of traffic.

Rolling up her sleeves, Dahlia cleared her throat and began her sales pitch in a bright and cheerful voice.

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