Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 31
Helping Hand
I could see the soldiers running around, screaming. Some of them were rolling on the ground, trying to put out the fire.
It was an even more horrific sight than I had imagined, so I turned my head away. Fortunately, before I lost my composure at their screams and ran down the mountain, the soldiers threw themselves off the cliff.
“Mm. What a waste of good wood.”
Since I still wasn’t used to handling fire, the trees nearby had also caught fire.
The flames from Dragon Breath never went out until they had burned everything completely. So the fire wouldn’t die down until all the trees were burned. It was regrettable, but there was nothing I could do.
I clicked my tongue softly, and just as I was about to turn to descend the mountain, a sudden dizziness struck me. My legs gave out, and I collapsed with a thud, coughing violently.
A mouthful of blood spilled out, and then a nosebleed started dripping down.
“Is this much power too much…?”
Even though I had a dragon heart in me, the rest of my body was human. It seemed this much power was still too much to handle. Next time, I’d have to use a bit less strength.
As I roughly wiped the blood with my sleeve, I suddenly noticed Soldier 4 sitting on the ground, trembling.
“Ah, ah…”
His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were wide open. Drool dripped from his open mouth, but he couldn’t even scream properly.
“You. What’s your name?”
“…I-I’m sorry! Please, just spare my life!”
Soldier 4 hurriedly threw himself to the ground and cried out. He even pressed his hands together above his head and rubbed them desperately.
I wondered why he was suddenly acting like this, since I hadn’t said I’d kill him.
“No, I asked what your name is.”
Soldier 4, who had been sneaking glances at me, turned even paler. His entire body was visibly shaking.
“M-My name is Brayden.”
“Brayden, if you promise not to tell anyone about what happened today, I’ll let you live.”
“Y-Yes, I promise…!”
As I looked at the terrified Brayden, for some reason, the image of the hero’s party popped into my head.
They probably wouldn’t just obediently let themselves be killed, since they were the hero’s party, but even so, after learning of the Crown Prince’s underhanded plan, I couldn’t bring myself to just ignore it.
“You. Do you know where the prison holding the hero’s party is?”
“Excuse me? Ah, y-yes. I know where it is.”
I had no intention of helping Kyle or the hero’s party escape.
Still, I could at least give them a warning.
I just planned to tell them that the Crown Prince had made such and such a plan, so they should give up on subjugating the Black Flame Dragon and run away.
“Lead the way.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
By the time I returned to the imperial castle with Brayden on horseback, it was the hazy hour before dawn. The imperial castle was still shrouded in silence, though now and then soldiers and servants could be seen moving about.
There probably weren’t many people who would recognize me, but just in case the Crown Prince caught sight of me, I walked through places with as few people as possible.
“They’re not going to hold a trial in the morning, are they?”
I murmured anxiously, and Brayden, somehow understanding me, replied.
“From what I heard… the trial will be held around three in the afternoon.”
Thankfully, there was still some time.
Brayden hugged the wall as closely as possible and headed deep into the imperial castle. Soon, a familiar tower appeared.
“By the way, how are you going to get inside the prison? The guards are posted there…”
Brayden pointed to the guards stationed at the tower entrance and spoke. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead.
But I couldn’t just go around breathing fire here and exposing myself as a dragon…
“What should I do…”
I scratched my head and examined the soldiers guarding the tower. There were only two at the entrance, but it was obvious there’d be many more inside.
“Well… The guards won’t recognize your face anyway, so how about changing into armor? I know where they keep the armor.”
It was such a surprisingly good idea that I looked at Brayden with newfound appreciation. He was more useful than I’d expected.
“Smart. Let’s go.”
Brayden looked a bit embarrassed at the praise, and moved on.
I quietly followed him, and soon a large gray building and a small training ground came into view.
“This is the Imperial Guard building. I’ll show you where the armor is, so follow me.”
Brayden, now suddenly acting quite proactive, led me to the storage room.
There, I borrowed a suit of armor that belonged to who-knows-who. It reeked with the stench of sweat from whoever had worn it before, but I didn’t have any choice.
“If you go to the prison tower and say you’re there for an internal patrol, they’ll let you in. Nobody wants to do internal patrols because the prison stinks so badly.”
