Chapter 321: Chapter 321: 15 year old Inglis and the Two Princes (12)

「Kgh…! But, I still haven’t lost… yet!」

Weinsel tried to stand up, his body trembling, supported by his lance. It was astounding, considering how heavy the damage he suffered!

「Stop it, big bro! You’ll die if you keep this up! Just surrender, please!」

「SHUT UP!! You’re a weakling who can’t do anything! Even now I can kill you easily! Don’t get cocky and think you’re above me when I’m the one who’s letting you off the hook!」

「You can’t!」

「What…?!」

「You can’t kill me the way you are right now! Try it if you want! In exchange, you gotta surrender!」

Spoke Lahti, challenging Weinsel. It sounded like recklessness to Leone.

「W-, wait, Lahti! That’s reckless!」

「What she said! Don’t be so easily provoked!」

「Lahti! Leone and Liselotte put their lives on the line! If you do such a reckless thing now, everyone’s hard work will—!」

The three of them agreed on that, but…

「Well, what’s wrong with that? Even if they’re not of blood, they’re brothers. Sometimes the fist talks better.」

Leon, alone, shrugged and said some irresponsible things.

「Big brother! Don’t be irresponsible like that! We can’t let anything happen to Lahti! We all had worked hard—!」

「Now, now, calm down there, Leone… I’m sure he understands it himself. He understands, and he still said it nonetheless. Which means he’s got something to back up his claim, don’t you think?」

Leon spoke to Leone in a slightly hushed voice. She saw Lahti looking at her… or not, he was looking at Leon, and then nodded once. Leon nodded back.

「……Kay? Put some faith in him, he’s your friend, isn’t he?」

That half-joking smile of his created a strange sense of security and trust for Leone. It had always been. She now no longer doubted what he said. That was why she could answer honestly.

「Fine. If that’s what you said…」

「If so, then I will trust Leone’s judgment.」

「Here! Me too!」

Both Liselotte and Pullum decided to just watch as well.

「Then come at me! Lahti! I won’t pull any punches! Just don’t resent me if you die!」

「Yeah, the same goes for you!」

Nobody could stop either from fighting now.

「UOOOHHHH!!!」

Lahti took the first move, plunging straight at Weinsel. It was really an ordinary charge. So ordinary, Leone found herself surprised.

Even Leone could handle that easily! It was simply impossible Weinsel couldn’t do anything about it.

「Don’t stand before me with that weak-a̲s̲s̲ charge!!」

Weinsel, true to his words, wouldn’t pull any punches. From his outstretched lance, he shot lightning bolts at Lahti.

「——!」

Seeing that, Lahti put his head lower and crossed his arms in front of it, seemingly in a defensive posture. And yet, he didn’t stop. He seemed to intend to use his arms as a shield to go straight into it.

But, in Leone’s eyes, it was simply impossible he could withstand the lightning bolts with just his arms. The lightning struck Lahti’s arms. And when it did, Lahti’s sleeves were torn from the inside!

「——?!」

Indeed, it tore from the inside, as if it had burst out. In other words, it wasn’t because of the lightning. And finally, the nature of the discomfort became immediately apparent.

Lahti’s arms became many times thicker, longer, and had changed. They were no longer that of a human being. That shape, that color… especially the blue scales on the epidermis were as clear and beautiful as a polished mirror. Before long, a tail grew on him, and his whole body swelled!

And even the roar he let out, the very sound of it!

「Wha…?!」

「D-, dragon?!」

「He-, he’s the spitting image of the Dragon God!」

In terms of size, compared to the enormous Dragon God Vufailbane, he was basically a child-sized… no, an infant-sized dragon, but he was still several times the size of a person, bigger even than a medium-sized Magic Stone Beast.

His mighty scales repelled the lightning from Weinsel’s lance! And the weight of his gigantic body hit Weinsel using his momentum.

「NUOOOHH?!」

Unable to defy the rush, with their obvious weight difference, Weinsel’s body was blown wide open.

「DAAAaaahhh!!」

Lahti’s voice and the dragon’s roar were mixed, intermingling as one! The dragon chased after Weinsel’s blown-away body, leaping high with its gigantic body, and landed right before him.

「He, he he he! How do you like that, big bro… giving up yet?!」

Lahti, pinning down Weinsel, twisted his draconic lips, perhaps in an attempt of smirking. Weinsel, however, didn’t let out any response.

「Nn?! Oy, oy, you okay?!」

He hurriedly moved away and brought his nose close to his brother, checking on him. That was when Leon approached.

「—He’s fine. I’d bet he’s just fainted, this guy’s sturdy… Heey, anyone, bring me a rope! We gotta tie him up while he’s still out cold so he won’t run amok! Also, strip all of his Artifacts!」

Leon called out to Luwin and the Knight squad, and all at once people were moving.

「Lahti?! Wh-, what happened to you?! Are you okay, does it hurt?」

Pullum rushed to Lahti, looking worried, and Leone was concerned about the same thing.

「I-, is that an effect of the Dragon Roar?!」

「The two of us benefited a lot from it too, but I never thought it was possible to become a real dragon because of it!」

「…Well, Inglis said that I’m the most compatible with the Dragon Roar, so I’d definitely awaken something. She told me to train, so I did…」

According to Inglis, unlike her who had to eat loads of it before awakening the Dragon Roar, Lahti was able to understand the words of the Dragon God after eating a little of the Dragon God's flesh…

That was proof that Lahti had a good match with the Dragon Roar, which meant that there would be changes occurring within Lahti as they appeared in Inglis and in Leone and Liselotte’s respective Artifacts.

Inglis’ advice to Lahti before she left was for him to train a lot and eat a larger quantity of the Dragon God's meat so that he could use it as a trump card.

And, as proved, it was realized here. Inglis once again hit the bull’s mark with her prediction. Many thanks to her for that.

「So, I trained a heck lot during midnight, with mister Leon here watching over me.」

「You, brother…?! So you knew my brother was amongst us?!」

「So, the roars I kept hearing in the middle of the night were you training, Mister Lahti!」

「Well, I just stumbled on him transforming when I came here… See, it was a bargain. He let me slip in, I watch over his training.」

「Sorry for keeping things in the dark. Deceive your ally first before you deceive your enemy, that’s what Luwin said.」

「No, I don’t mind that… And we’re all safe, too.」

「All’s well that ends well!」

Leone and Liselotte both smiled at Lahti. That was when Luwin came walking in.

「Prince Lahti! We have finished restraining Prince Weinsel. We will immediately advise the remaining enemy soldiers to surrender!」

「Yeah, do that…」

「What will you do with him after you’re done?」

Leon asked Lahti and Luwin. First, they would use the fact that they had captured Weinsel to get his soldiers to surrender, but…

What would they do with Weinsel after that? Leone was also concerned. They did fight, but he didn’t come off as a bad guy overall…