Chapter 184: Constantine Is Dead?

Leon, who was driving the carriage in front, listened to the continuous gunfire and suddenly recalled, his gunner, to put it nicely, was a neurotic beautiful girl, but to put it bluntly, she was just a crazy little loli.

If it weren't for the inconvenience of being on a carriage, Leon had no doubt that Rebecca would have moved that giant fire-element cannon from her backyard here.

Shaking off his thoughts, Leon focused on controlling the carriage and galloped forward.

The chase continued.

Dangerous creatures kept charging out from both sides of the street, and the bullets in Rebecca's bag were running low.

While firing, she turned to look into the carriage, "Old man Tiger, are you done yet? I'm almost out here!"

Tiger stuck his head out from the carriage,

"You just keep shooting. Let your old man figure out a way," After saying that, he shrank back inside.

"Argh!! Teaming up with an annoying old man and a dumb straight guy is so frustrating!!", The crazy loli grumbled irritably while increasing her firepower output.

Just as Rebecca completely ran out of bullets, Tiger finally stepped out of the carriage.

In his hand was a bundle of black fine threads.

Rebecca tossed her overheated dual guns aside, "Old man, what's this?"

"Just watch, little girl," As he spoke, Tiger threw out the fine threads.

The threads spread out in the air, revealing themselves to be a finely woven giant net.

The giant net slowly drifted to the ground, and those mindless dangerous creatures didn't even notice it, stepping directly onto the net.

Tiger timed it perfectly and snapped his fingers.

Instantly, arcs of electricity and sparks flickered through the giant net beneath them, and the monsters standing on the net howled in pain.

The high-intensity lightning immediately immobilized them, blocking the street and preventing the security officers behind them from catching up.

"Amazing, old man!" Rebecca's eyes sparkled.

"Hmph, girl, you still have a lot to learn."

The carriage sped away, disappearing into the distance.

———

The three escaped to a slum area.

Leon pushed the carriage into a foul-smelling swamp, then found some hay to feed the horse. Once the horse was full, he let it go.

After handling that, Leon entered a simple house.

Rebecca was inspecting her weapons, while Tiger was lighting a fire for warmth.

Leon walked over to the fire and sat cross-legged.

Tiger pried open a can of beef with his blade and handed it to Leon, "I originally wanted to welcome you back with a roasted beef feast, but given our current situation, we'll have to make do with canned beef."

Leon smiled and took the can, "Master, I really didn't expect our reunion to be like this."

"Hah, being able to meet at all is already lucky. I honestly thought the Silver Dragon Clan had already gotten rid of you."

Tiger pried open another can and handed it to Rebecca before turning to Leon, "You and Rebecca came to find me, so that means you saw the message I left for you at the farm?"

Leon nodded, "Yeah, I saw it."

"What message?", Rebecca quickly finished half of her can and blinked her big eyes curiously.

"Oh, it's about the mole. Master said you're trustworthy."

"Oh~ I see. So old man Tiger thinks highly of me," Rebecca said.

"I do think highly of you, but this matter is too important. I can't judge you just based on a good impression," Tiger continued, "I left that message in the barn at my farm about a year ago, estimating that Leon would return around this time. This past year, I've secretly been tracking and investigating the three of you."

Rebecca was slightly surprised, "You've been tracking us this whole time… and I never noticed?"

As a former top member of the Imperial Dragon-Slaying Army, Rebecca had exceptional counter-surveillance skills (not locking the back door of her house didn't count as a counter-surveillance skill).

Yet Tiger had managed to track her for an entire year without her realizing it.

'This old man… is truly formidable.'

Tiger waved his hand dismissively, "Just simple tracking, nothing worth mentioning, nothing worth mentioning~"

Rebecca forced a smile, her mouth twitching.

Now she knew where Leon got his calm and composed show-off attitude from.

Like master, like disciple, they both had the same smugness.

After some casual chatter, Leon brought up a serious topic.

His first concern: "Master, isn't Mistress with you?"

"No. The Empire's situation turned out to be more complicated than I initially thought, so I moved your Mistress to an absolutely safe place where someone is looking after her."

After a pause, he added, "The donkey is there too."

"Oh… As long as Mistress is safe."

Then, Leon asked, "Master, you said the Empire's situation is complicated, what exactly do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Tiger sighed and began explaining slowly, "Three years ago, when you vanished in the Silver Dragon Battle and the Dragon-Slaying Army suffered a crushing defeat, the Empire put all the blame on you. Not only that, but they also labeled you as a 'traitor.'"

"At that time, I didn't know what had happened on the battlefield, but I was certain that the disciple I trained would never betray his comrades or his country."

"Back then, everyone said you were dead. I had no desire to stay in an Empire corrupted by power struggles, so I left with your Mistress, intending to spend the rest of our lives in peace."

"Until one day, I noticed a Silver Dragon seemingly searching for me. Through her, I got in touch with the Silver Dragon Queen. We met, and she told me you were still alive."

"After learning the general situation, I decided to return to the Empire, investigate the truth, and clear your name."

"I reached out to an old friend in the Empire's high ranks. I didn't tell him you were alive, I just asked him to contact the people responsible for the Silver Dragon Battle and demand they clear your name."

"But they completely ignored my request and even tried to silence me."

"Two Imperial Guards blocked my way. I knocked them out with the back of my blade."

"But the next day, their corpses were hung on the palace walls, and I was labeled a wanted criminal."

"That's when I realized, the Empire was completely rotten, and your framing wasn't just about shifting blame. Someone deliberately set you up."

"There's only one way to make those bastards in the Empire sit down and talk—violence."

"In the past year, I killed the head of the Imperial Courtesan House, the owner of a major casino, and even a powerful drug lord. The Empire felt the pressure, so they sent dangerous creatures after me.

"I'm guessing they'll resort to even more extreme methods soon."

Leon silently listened to his master's account. After a long pause, he spoke, "You've worked hard, Master."

"There's no 'hard work' about it. It's been a year, and I still haven't cleared your name. In the end, I still need your help."

Leon reached out and patted Tiger's shoulder, "Don't say that, Master. You've already done so much for me."

"Sigh," Tiger let out a deep sigh, then adjusted his mindset and asked, "What's your plan now?"

"Hmm… First, I need to find out who set me up. He should have deep ties to the Imperial family."

Tiger narrowed his eyes slightly, "So you were framed after all."

Master and disciple began exchanging their collected clues and intelligence.

Meanwhile, Rebecca quietly stole the rest of Leon's uneaten canned beef.

———

Atop the palace walls, two figures overlooked the Empire.

"Leon is still alive."

One man spoke slowly, his voice deep and naturally commanding, "You failed. You didn't kill him back then."

The other man knelt on one knee, his voice trembling, "Forgive me, my lord… B-but back then, I clearly pierced his heart. He shouldn't have survived…"

"Hah… Useless."

The 'lord' glanced down at the kneeling man, "He rescued Tiger tonight with your former teammate, Rebecca. He'll likely come for you next. This is your mistake, go fix it."

"Yes… my lord…"

"Additionally, you know quite a lot of inside information. The only reason you've survived until now is that those above have spared you. So, if you fail again this time, you won't need Leon to make a move, your own life will be forfeit. Do you understand?"

"U-Understood, my lord. This time, I will definitely succeed!"

The 'Lord' flicked his sleeve and turned away, "Within five days, I want to see Leon Casmodeous' corpse."

———

After roughly understanding the information each of them had and exchanging their thoughts, Leon brought up something very important.

This was something Rossweise had reminded him of a while ago, 'Even after going from cohabitation to long-distance, my sharp-tongued and tsundere wife are still making an impact.'

"One more thing, Master. Do you know about the Crimson Flame Dragon King, Constantine?"

"Constantine? I know of him. He's an ancient Dragon King who only exists in the gaps of historical records. Even in my younger years, I never encountered him in person."

Tiger said, "Rumor has it that Constantine was a legendary hero of the dragon race, possessing immeasurable strength. Previous generations of the Dragon-Slaying Corps had fought him several times, but each time they suffered crushing defeats. He was truly a formidable opponent."

"Wow, was there really such a powerful Dragon King?", Rebecca asked.

Tiger nodded, "The reason he is revered as a hero of the dragon race is that, in the early days of the war, he seized countless territories from various foreign races, not just from humans, but from other, even more mysterious races. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to cross blades with such a mighty Dragon King. I'd love to test myself against him one day."

Leon scratched his forehead and coughed lightly, "Master, I'm afraid you'll never get that chance."

"Why not?"

"Because I killed him..."

Tiger: ?

Rebecca: ??

Well, well, well. The grand reunion of the two most boastful warriors in the Dragon-Slaying Corps was truly spectacular. Rebecca was so engrossed in the drama that she had completely forgotten about the beef stew in her hand.

"We are talking about the same Constantine, right?"

Tiger wasn't doubting his disciple, he just wanted to confirm.

"Uh... I think so?", Leon said, "A while back, he planned to invade the Silver Dragon Sanctuary. Coincidentally, at that time, Rossweise was... in a special situation. The Silver Dragon Clan couldn't hold him off, so I stepped in a little..."

Smack!

Rebecca suddenly placed her small hand on Leon's shoulder, her loli face filled with seriousness, "Captain, you actually helped the Silver Dragon Clan? You really have defected to the revolution, haven't you?"

Leon covered his face in silence, "No... I told you, it was a special situation. You think I wanted to?"

"What exactly was 'special' about it?", Tiger asked.

"Well... uh...", Leon averted his gaze, feeling like he was sitting on pins and needles.

Rebecca was getting anxious beside him, "Say it! What was it?"

"It was... the third princess of the Silver Dragon Clan was about to be born..."

"So what? She was born, big deal. What does that have to do with you, Captain? Why didn't you just take this chance to run away?", Rebecca asked.

Tiger narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had already seen through everything, "Rebecca, it's not that your captain didn't want to run."

"Then what is it?"

"The third princess of the Silver Dragon Clan... is your third daughter, isn't she? Leon?"

"D-DAUGHTER? You have a daughter with the Silver Dragon Queen? And not just one—THREE?"

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