Rogue Villain-Chapter 259: Gazelle And Leopard

"Haha! That’s more like it!"

Ackser laughed. However, his laugh didn’t make the elder lash out. Instead, it had the opposite effect. The mana and pressure retreated back inside the dragonling, releasing everyone in the halls from their oppression.

"I thought for sure that would do it. But I guess you’re too scared to do anything, right? Oop—I didn’t mean that as a provocation. I’m just confirming my suspicions. You don’t want to fight Kargas at all, do you?"

The old dragonling heaved a deep sigh, still with his head tilted forward. He slowly raised it just enough to look at Ackster through his brow.

"...You’re a fool to think I won’t recognize my own grandson when he’s standing right in front of me. I also know better than anyone what he’s capable of."

"...I see. The jig was up from the get-go. That’s a shame. I was hoping for some excitement."

Ackster was disappointed but not surprised. With how powerful the old dragonling was, it wasn’t strange he could see through Mio’s attempt at concealing Kargas’ true appearance with a similar face.

"You can stop pretending, Kargas. It seems like we’ll need to go with plan B."

The not-so-fake Kargas peeled tiny pieces of colored gel off his ears, nose, and cheeks.

"Thankfully. I’m not sure I could have taken on all of these on my own."

"You need to trust your abilities more."

"If you say so."

Ackster cleared his throat as realization dawned on Tararat and the others in the crowd. This entire thing was complete bull. There was no fake Kargas. It was all a plan to get the dragonlings to attack Ackster and Kargas so Kargas could kill them all.

Fortunately, the elder’s pressure had poured ice water on their fiery moods, turned up by Ackster’s provocations. If Kargas made a move now, more than a couple of them would be sane enough to flee. Without the elder’s interference, almost everyone would have been angry enough to charge at them, with the elder leading that charge.

It was a long shot from the beginning, but the more dragonlings Ackster provoked, the easier it would be to control the damage to the Guild’s reputation. It still wasn’t what Wilma had wanted, but Ackster was already too far gone. Wilma wanted a peaceful resolution with as little harm as possible to the innocent dragonlings.

But Ackster wanted Kargas to grow as strong as possible, something he could do by killing a bunch of dragons and dragonlings.

It was just that after regaining his sanity, even Kargas was a little hesitant to attack fleeing dragonlings who didn’t even know his past.

"As you might have realized by now, I didn’t bring the imposter who fooled me to fool you. There was no such impostor. It was all my doing from the beginning, but let’s skip that. The reason I did it all was to settle this grudge between Kargas and the Land of Dragons once and for all. It’s like with mining. Would you rather have a controlled explosion with no casualties or for the entire cave to collapse and kill everyone in it?"

Ackster could see outrage and anger begin to dye the faces of the crowd, so he hurried it up.

"Well, since my first plan of an outright brawl failed, we’re going with plan B. Anyone who wants to challenge Kargas and try to kill him can do so. You might die in the process, but it’s whatever, right? With how much you all hate him, I’m sure you would be willing to go that far, right?!"

Ackster scanned the crowd with his eyes. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Feel free to send messages to your tribes’ strongest warriors, too. Bring everyone here and tell them to fight and kill Kargas."

"...You’re starting to sound as if you want me dead, you know. You might have helped me regain sanity, but I’m starting to get worried over here."

"Nonsense. I just want them to give it their all. Besides, I’m confident you can do it."

Ackster turned to the worried Kargas and patted him on the shoulder. A sane Kargas was such a clash with the image of Kargas he still had in his mind from a couple of years ago, but he was a lot easier to deal with.

Ackster turned around as he realized something.

"Ah! Except for you!"

Ackster pointed at Tararat with a grin.

"You’re coming with me!"

Tararat glared at Kargas before tearing his gaze away to meet Ackster’s.

"...Fine by me."

Tararat also wanted a go at Kargas, but compared to him, Ackster, who fooled him, had already fought with him once, and talked shit in front of the entire Council, was a higher priority.

Besides, there was already a bunch of young and old dragonlings eager to vent their pent-up rage at Kargas and try to kill him. It still confused Ackster, even if he was getting used to their reactions. But he still couldn’t understand it.

When he asked Kargas, who looked at him as a great benefactor, all Ackster got to hear was that it was complicated. Good thing violence wasn’t.

Ackster was pretty sure he would find the answer to Kargas’ and the Land of Dragons’ past when this was all over. He might even be able to pry the answer from Tararat’s fiercely clenched jaws.

"I’ll let you have this place. I’ll bring Tararat to an area nearby and play a little."

"Sure. Be careful."

"Ha!"

Ackster didn’t waste any time and vanished from the spot in a burst of speed. He was always careful. What did Kargas mean?

’This is getting pretty fun.’

Ackster still would have preferred an all-out brawl with the dragonlings since that would let him fight and kill until he could do so no more. But a single, no-holds-barred fight with Tararat would hopefully also bring him past his limits.

Tararat shot Kargas a final glance before also dashing out of the Council Hall and chasing after Ackster, who was leaping across the earth like a gazelle, inviting Tararat, the leopard, to chase.