Please leave the party - Chap 10 - The Mysterious Chimera Battle and a Conspiracy Unveiled

As soon as daylight hit, everyone except Nathan and Fira went in search of the professor, who had gone to the scene of the last dragon attack.

Everything was in ruins; it didn’t look like there had been a battle, rather just a one sided massacre in which the Orcs had no chance of winning.

Fira looked around the area for a while, but the only thing she found were burn marks and strangely, no monsters—not even on the way there.

“This is very strange. There must have been monsters lurking in the area,” Fira remarked.

“I agree, it doesn’t seem natural.”

The monsters’ apparent disappearance could be explained in a number of ways, none of which were particularly encouraging.

The worst-case scenario, since they weren’t prepared to face a dragon, is that the killer is nearby.

Another possibility is that the killer left a monster at the scene, intending to use it to wipe out any orcs who might show up or be assigned to the mission.

The third possibility was that the dragon’s overbearing display of power tipped the local food chain in favor of some monster, who would then come closer in search of easy prey without having to deal with the dragon directly.

Of course, there were many other possibilities, but those three stood out as the most likely explanations.

“We need to report our findings to the guild immediately.”

“Agreed! We can discuss what happened later, once we’ve gotten word to the guildmaster. Let’s get moving!”

Before they could leave, a chimera appeared.

A chimera is a hybrid creature that combines characteristics of different species.

Since they still have a voracious appetite to fuel their massive frames, this explained the disappearance of the monsters.

Fira took a fighting stance and told Nathan, “We have to fight; there’s no other way.”

Fira was in the same class as Merentiel, but she was much stronger and had more experience.

She was the only person besides Nathan who could beat anyone in an arm wrestling match.

“I’ll go ahead.”

Nathan volunteered to be the tank.

The chimera attacked them quickly, but Nathan blocked its tail with his shield, and then Fira cut it off.

Despite taking damage, the chimera quickly recovered and launched a new, more vicious attack. It was time for another counterattack by Fira, who swung her sword.

Her blade connected, causing sparks to fly, and the chimera staggered backward.

Now it was Nathan’s turn again.

He held his shield high, ready to block whatever attacks came his way.

His opponent tried to jump forward, but Nathan easily deflected the leap.

With a single blow, he sent the chimera flying.

As soon as it landed, the beast began regenerating.

There was no doubt about it: They needed to finish this battle quickly.

Nathan prepared his shield.

This time, he decided not to hold back.

The next thing he knew, the chimera was dead.

“You’re amazing,” said Fira.

“No problem.”

“The dragon is doing more than just killing orcs. It is changing the environment, which could do a lot of damage to the kingdom,” Fira said with hope.

If the dragon only attacked orcs, it would be hard for them to do anything, but because he was also hunting animals, they would have a reason to attack the dragon.

That meant they might be able to take action against the dragon, but Nathan couldn’t help feeling uneasy about it.

“But why wasn’t that in the report? I mean, that would have been very helpful,” Nathan asked with concern.

“Nathan, do you think there’s someone in the guild trying to hide what this dragon has been doing?” asked Fira.

“Hmm…”

When Nathan thought about it, he realized there were many suspicious things about the situation.

For example, they hadn’t heard any rumors about dragons attacking villages. If they did hear something like that, the reports wouldn’t be kept secret. There would be plenty of information floating around.

And especially about something happening at that institution that was altering the local ecosystem in some locale.

Someone must want to keep this quiet, right?

“Well, we can try asking around later,” said Nathan.

***

Two creatures were talking in a place away from Nathan. One was a dragon in human form, and the other was wearing a hood.

“Well, did you do what I asked?”

“Yes, here it is,” the man in the hood said, handing the dragon a folder that the dragon started reading right away.

“Well, that’s great to know. I’ll take care of it,” the dragon said as it took off, leaving the hooded man behind.

Before he disappeared, the man in the hood whispers, “This is going to be interesting.”