“How the hell did you even find out about this, Zen? Very few are privy to that information and we intend for it to remain that way. Not even the council members are aware of this, yet somehow you found out. How? Just how?” grumbled John as he lead me somewhere.
We were inside some building that was close to the edge of the city. The building from the outside looked like some small little hut but it had a basement with complex pathways, making it difficult for anyone to navigate without knowing the full layout of this place. Which is why John is leading me since I somehow managed to convinced them to allow me to talk to the previous Dragon Lord.
“You don’t need to know how I got that information, John. Just know that I have my ways of— mining interesting conversations,” I chuckled with a grin.
“You don’t understand, Zen. I NEED to know because this is not an information that anyone, especially the public should know. There is a reason why we declared him dead after the war. But I guess you’re not going to tell me anyway,” he frowned.
“But I am not just ‘anyone’, am I? Besides, I know what you all are doing with him. He’s the only ‘being’ that had successfully assimilated demon blood into his veins and hadn’t gone mad, or dead,” I sighed.
“H— how did you even know that?! Zen— that information is only privy to the guildmasters alone. Oh my— how did you get this information? Don’t you dare tell me that you’ve been snooping around digging information from the guilds. We trust you Zen, don’t you dare break our trust,” he warned me.
“I did no such thing. Do you even think I even have the time when I’ve been travelling literally everywhere trying to resolve each continents of their problems? It was only a matter of figuring why you needed him alive. And I have my own— sources, that I trust,” I said.
“I thought we're best buds and trusted one another,” he sulked.
“Do best buds perform human experiments behind their backs?” I told him bluntly.
“Ok, now you’re way out of line. We had never and WILL never perform such a thing. I am telling you straight from the bottom of my heart, we did no such thing!” he pointed at me with his index finger.
“You’re right, I am out of line. It serves as a reminder for you that I’ll always be watching and hearing things about you. I know you have your duty as a guildmaster but there are some things that are worse than what I just did. Even though we are best buds, there are some lines we do not cross,” I warned him.
“Fine, consider your warning noted. Can’t believe you would accuse me of performing human experiments,” he spat.
“How else would I get you to take me seriously? You’re my very first friend and I would hate to make you my enemy for the wrong choices you make,” I explained.
“I thought Lily was your first friend? Speaking of which, how is she by the way?” he asked casually.
“She’s doing great. Possibly the strongest out of all of us now. Decided to marry her by the way. How much further do we need to go?” I asked him.
“W— w.. what the fuck?! You can’t just drop a bomb and just wave it aside like that! We are continuing this conversation after this is over. I can’t believe you threw away your principals and decided to take on another wife. Even I was impressed by your principals, Zen, that even I started following it. Guess I’m gonna be the only one who is loyal to my wife,” he puffed up his chest.
“Well, if your wife constantly pester and nags you to get another, you think you can bear it forever? Besides, I’m not marrying her on a whim. I have my reasons,” I explained to him.
“Whatever you say man, he’s just up ahead. You’re gonna need to head in alone as he doesn’t likes seeing me, guess it’s mutual I suppose,” he pointed the direction.
***
“And here I thought that man wanted to see me again. Didn’t expect it to be you instead. Congratulations in finding out about me,” chuckled the ex-Dragon Lord.
There he is. Chained up in every way imaginable except his face. No doubt the chains alone couldn’t keep him locked up here. I am fairly certain that Peter had already disabled most of his movements by hitting majority of his pressure points. Only his important vitals are working to keep him alive as long as possible. What a pathetic way to live; fitting for a traitorous heretic that he is.
“You don’t seemed to be surprised that I’m here. Were you expecting me?” I asked.
“I wanted to get a good look on the saviour of the city. Boy, is he dashing. Who knew this young boy would actually be capable of slaying the Queen himself. A commendable feat, some might say,” he continued chuckling.
“Indeed. I slayed your beloved Queen yet you seemed amused. Thought you would bare your fangs at me. Oh sorry, do you have still fangs or is it human teeth now?” it was my turn to chuckle.
“You won’t get a rise out of me nor will you be getting any information about the Queen. You’re not the first, and certainly won’t be the last to interrogate me,” he started giggling.
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“Really now? I’m fairly confident in my negotiation skills. Care for me to try?” I asked with a smirk.
“Who am I to say no to the saviour? C’mon, do your—“ he couldn’t finish his sentence as I punched him hard on his face.
“PUHAHAHA!! Look at you go! I wasn’t expecting you to start off with violence! You had me fooled with your smirk earlier!” he laughed loudly before spitting some blue blood out of his mouth and a soft clattering could be heard across the ground.
“Damn, you cost me a tooth. You know how long it takes to grow back?” he glared at me.
“Blue blood— I know you served the Queen and was one of her trusted slave. I highly doubt she would be willing to share her blood with some common fool. Tell me, how many times did you have to lick her boots before she willingly shared it with you?” I spat.
“Well, what can I say? I’m a natural charmer that even a Demon Queen is attracted to,” he shrugged. I gave him another punch in the opposite direction.
“HAHAHA! Does your fingers hurt yet? I bet it must be screaming about now,” he grinned.
“You underestimate me, my gauntlets are not some cheap item can't protect my fingers. You’re in for a world of pain if you think you can continue to avoid my questions,” I said to him.
“You think I fear death? I embrace it everyday. My life was not full of sunshine and butterflies as one could imagine,” he spat.
“Oh I can imagine, alright. You— licking the boots of the Queen; imagine touching her smooth blueish skins or even caress her ample bosom, expecting her to accept your embrace if given the chance. O, I’ve seen her in all her glorious form. She was certainly beautiful with curves in all the right places. But the Captain was always in the way, isn’t it? No matter how hard you tried to improve yourself, he was leagues above your power level,” I jested.
He said nothing in return which was a start. He was starting to frown after hearing me insulting his Queen. Seems like I am pushing the right button in stirring him up.
“She could never looked your way, isn’t it? Her heart had always belonged to the Demon King, despite being dead for years now. Yet you cling on to hope, praying for a miracle that she might look your way one day. Hoping one day you might have the chance to fuck her,” I continued.
“Choose— your next few words wisely,” he glared at me with murderous intent.
“And why should I? Struck a nerve, did I? You know that to be true. How you were so infatuated with her, how you longed to bed her, you said she saved your life and you were indebted to her. But deep down you know that wasn't true. You fell in love with a demon. What’s the matter? Can't get a female of the same species to appreciate you? Or elves? Or even lizard people? Yet you settled for a demon instead. What a fucking joke, innit?” I laughed.
He sprung at me attempting to attack me but the chains held him down. Well well, he could move after all. How interesting that he didn't try to escape. But I’m not here for games; I kicked him on the face hard enough to make a crack on the wall behind him.
More blue blood dripped out of him as I didn’t bother to hold back in torturing him. He was a traitor and deserves this. How many lives were lost because of him and his “Queen”, I ought to BLAM! him for his heresy against humanity.
“I am done playing games. You will answer my questions or I’ll kill you as I did to your Queen. Or Baku,” I glared at him.
“W— what?” he quickly raised his head with a surprised look.
“I know your Queen served a Cosmic Being. She was a Champion, wasn't she? And Baku was the Vessel of that very same God. Both of them shared the very same blue blood. There is no one that is going to protect you now, ex-Dragon Lord. Or should I say— Pietro Sorrel,” I spat the words.
He kept quiet but glared at me. Guess he didn’t expect anyone to figure out his secret.
“You think I couldn’t figure out your identity? Information gather is what I’m good at. How smart of you to work with the Queen to dispose of the Dragon Lord and for you to assume his place. That must had been a chore getting rid of him. Yet you so cleverly followed after me to the Northern continent where my last name was spilled. I bet there were rumours floating about that there was a Hawthorn living in the city, isn't it? Only you didn't know who it was. That was still your real face at that time, isn't it? I suspected it was the Queen who impersonated the Dragon Lord during that meeting where you were chosen as the last remaining member on the secret mission. How convenient. Yet you were lucky enough to struck gold in the end,” I said.
“H— how did you figured out?” he confessed.
“You mistook me for a fool, Pietro. I never trusted you to begin with nor even after we made it back from the Northern continent. I knew deep down you were on a mission of your own. My gut feeling had never been wrong thus far hence, I ordered Lily to do a little spying of my own. But it turns out you were either dead or missing at that time, probably because you had already assumed your new identity. But your biggest mistake was your so called ‘pregnant wife’ that you used to pull the heartstrings on people. How clever of you to use sympathy as a distraction for your disappearance who you managed to fool John but not me. Who would had suspected that you were acting as the Dragon Lord when your wife was so good at acting. Too bad your "wife" wasn't expecting Lily to be stalking her until she dropped her guard with her fake 'belly'. Bet she didn't know was someone peeping at her when she was showering. You might had fooled John, but you can never fool me. It was a matter of filling the blanks and solving the puzzle as to why you needed a fake wife,” I told him.
“But I never thought you would go so far as to alter your whole body structure and facial features to look exactly like the ex-Dragon Lord. Must had been the reward for you after spilling my last name to the Queen. Yet you decided to impersonate Rick on top of your own. I daresay that was bold indeed. Rose’s Revelation spell couldn’t break through your second disguise as you had completely altered your body. How tricky, but it is all for naught now the moment I found your identity,” I continued.
“W— What do you want?” he asked.
Colour me surprised, I didn’t expect him to give in that easily. Is it because I figured out his secret identity? Or he had given up since I revealed to him that Baku is dead. He must had thought the Vessel would be coming to save him.
“Which God do you serve? What does he or she wants?” I asked him.
“Y— you think the Gods find me worthy enough to speak with? Not even the Queen was capable of speaking to the God Of Deception directly,” he started chuckling.
“So you have no idea then? How disappointing. What a waste of time coming here,” I sighed.
“Fine, since you’re genius enough to figure out my true identity, allow me to deliver to you a gift. This is the exact words the Queen told me so listen carefully. I'm only gonna say this once. “To speak to the Gods, you have to serve them with a tea”; these are the words she told me. Even she couldn’t figure out what that riddle meant,” he shrugged.
“A— are you fucking with me? Tea? Are you asking for another beating?” I spat with fury.
“I ain’t lying. As I said, consider this a gift since you were smart enough in figuring out so many of my secrets. Even I'm curious in solving that riddle so why don't I have you do it since you’re so eager to speak to the Gods,” he answered flatly.
I stared into his eyes; there was no sign that he was lying. What in the actual— tea? Fucking tea? Are all the Gods British or something? Am I suppose to serve them tea? And how? Who the hell can I even discuss this with? Moi perhaps? Will she know about this?
“Is that all you’re gonna give me?” I asked him.
“Hey, you’re the only who figured out so many things when others couldn’t. I’ll admit, your “negotiation” skills are pretty good,” he chuckled.
I thought of leaving until I heard a footstep behind me. Oh shit, was he eavesdropping on us? This is not going to go well.
“Pietro? Is that— really you?” asked John with disbelief look on his face.
“Howdy partner? How you been?” he smiled.
“Y— you.. you fucking asshole! Weren’t we friends?! We bonded so much after we made it back! I mourned for you after I thought you were dead! I mourned for your wife who I thought was killed by a demon during the assault in the city! All that time I kept thinking how much I failed you and your wife, yet all of this as deception by you?! You motherfucker!!” shouted John as he rushed after Pietro but was held back by me. And by held back, I meant I had to jammed Tengu-kaze into the ground to stop John from killing him.
“Stop it, John! There’s no point in killing him! Keeping him in prison is a better fate for him than a swift death! You should know that very well!” I continued holding him back.
“FUCK!” he shadowed punched the air which produced a shockwave towards Pietro but thankfully it did not harmed him.
John angrily stormed out from the prison basement and I followed after him, stopping short by the door to ask one last question.
“Pietro, you knew about my identity much earlier yet you kept it a secret for a few years. Why?” I asked him without turning to look at him.
“There was no reason for me to reveal all my cards immediately. That and— I thought we were friends after what we been through,” he lowered his tone at the end.
“We could had been. Until you made the wrong choice,” I spat and exited the cell.