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Chapter 12 Unhesitating Betrayal

After Roy finished denouncing the nobles' blasphemous crimes, he finally bowed down before the two high shamans, expressing his deep repentance.

The two great shamans did not immediately press their advantage, but instead turned their attention to the lizardman nobles opposite them.

The high priest had a gentle expression, while the archpriest's demeanor was cold. Although neither had explicitly stated their position, the nobles understood perfectly well that the shamanic order was offering a way out for everyone:

If you surrender now, we can punish only the ringleaders and not implicate the others.

Of course, the shamanic group couldn't possibly wipe out all the nobles, as that would force them to fight to the death, but that didn't mean the shamanic group had to suffer this loss silently.

The nobles of Dragon Valley City were forced to admit that the "Daughter of the True Dragon" was actually an imposter, and these two humans were pushed forward as the main culprits to take the blame. Then it was made clear that from now on, only the Shamanic Order could support the Daughter of the True Dragon, and today's trial could end here.

As for the aftermath, we'll settle that later.

Lord Agor coldly watched the nobles whispering, unsurprised by the vassals' duplicity.

If the nobles of Dragon Valley City could truly unite, why would they have been suppressed by the shamanic group for so many years?
Let's use our trump card.

He gazed leisurely into the distance and saw Tarasha, the centurion of the city's defense forces, leading his troops and roughly shoving away the onlookers who were blocking their way.

The guards forcefully parted the crowd and pushed a bound lizardman mother and child into the square.

When the high priest saw the mother and child, his pupils trembled.

His mouth opened awkwardly, but no words came out.

The high priest looked at his old colleague, who had made a complete fool of himself, with a hint of disdain in his eyes. Then, Centurion Tarasha shouted:
"High Priest of the Shamanic Order! This woman claims to have had an affair with you and has given birth to a sinful illegitimate child!"

The surrounding crowd erupted in uproar: What? The great shaman, who was supposed to abstain from sex for life, actually had a mistress and an illegitimate child?
“Tarasha,” Lord Agor’s voice rang out with a smile, “How can you allow the high priest to be slandered so easily? If you are making an accusation, you must provide evidence, otherwise you are committing blasphemy.”

"This is the evidence!" Tarasha forcefully tore off the pendant from the child's neck, held it high in his hand, and turned to let the onlookers see it.

The surrounding crowd gasped again, for the pendant was a silver scale.

The Dragon God's Scales are sacred objects from the Horn Temple; there are two in total. The golden one belongs to the High Priest, and the silver one is in the hands of the High Priest. They are said to bless the two high shamans with longevity and protection from all diseases.

Now the High Priest has bestowed the Silver Scale Relic upon a child, doesn't that mean this child is...?

“Mercy is a virtue approved by the Dragon Lord.” The High Priest finally spoke, slowly saying, “Last year, this mother prayed to the Upper Horn Temple because her child was weak and sickly, so she begged the shamanic community for help.”

"Out of compassion, the high priest temporarily lent the Silver Scale Relic to the child to cure his illness. I don't think this should constitute conclusive evidence of violating shamanic precepts, right?"

Lord Agor also smiled and said:
"In that case, Roy's accusations against the aristocratic group are also without any evidence and should be considered baseless slander and defamation."

“Of course.” The High Priest would never apply double standards in front of everyone. In order to preserve the High Priest’s reputation and prestige, he had no choice but to sacrifice Roy as a pawn. “False accusers should be punished equally; this is the virtue of justice bestowed by the Dragon Lord.”

At Lord Agor's glance, Centurion Tarasha immediately stepped forward and dragged away the ashen-faced nobleman Roy and the crying mother and child.

The situation on the field has once again reached a stalemate. After the standoff between the two sides, the lizardmen who were initially fanatical and shouting for battle have gradually calmed down.

Neither nobles nor shamans had any clear evidence to prove that they had committed blasphemy, but suspicion does not require any evidence.

It seems like neither side is any good...

“Dia,” Raine chuckled softly in a voice only the two of them could hear, “you should remember this scene.”

"Remember these nobles and priests, how ugly and lifeless they are, beneath their dignified robes."

Dia bit her lower lip silently and nodded gently. "Good, very good!" Having witnessed his mistress and son being dragged out to be executed, the High Priest suddenly went completely mad, pointing viciously at Dia and roaring at the nobles, "You say she is the daughter of a dragon, then I ask you: the end of the world is coming, and the true dragon has appeared. Where is the end of the world?"

“According to the scriptures, the Dragon Daughter will only unleash the divine power within her bloodline when the end of the world arrives,” the nobleman Hasache explained. “In other words, even if the end of the world hasn’t come yet, the Dragon Daughter can still descend to this world, only appearing as a mortal…”

"Then I can just grab any mortal and claim to be the daughter of a true dragon!" the high priest roared furiously.

"High Priest!" the high priest shouted sternly, "Watch your words!"

"Why should we shrink back in the face of blasphemy!" The high priest roared, pointing to the sky. "If it's not the end of the world, why did the Dragon Lord send the daughter of the true dragon to earth?"

This question is actually quite unreasonable, because Hasache has already answered it. The scriptures do not explicitly state that the true dragon's offspring will only appear at the end of the world.

However, when shamanic groups preach, they have always used the doomsday prophecy and the idea of ​​a true dragon saving the world as a combination of tactics to intimidate nonbelievers into converting to the dragon god faith.

Compared to those obscure and difficult scriptures and doctrines, the people were naturally more familiar with the saying "the end times are near, and the true dragon will appear," so they shouted curses at him from the periphery:

"Shut up! Where is the end of the world? Don't spout nonsense like a clown and make us all laugh!"

Hasache frowned slightly and turned his head to signal to Lord Agor with his eyes.

This situation was completely unexpected for Agor.

Logically speaking, if the shamanic order wanted to maintain the high priest's position and prevent the scandal of him having a child with his mistress from being exposed, it should have reached a tacit compromise with the nobles.

Don't worry about whether my Dragon Daughter is real or not, and I don't care whether your High Priest has violated the precepts. Let's just fool the people together.

However, the high priest himself suddenly went mad, fixating on the supposed end of the world and insisting on denying the dragon's daughter's identity, leaving the nobles in a dilemma:

Should we let the Dragon Girl and the High Priest perish together?
He looked at the high priest again, only to find that the old lizardman had closed his eyes, revealing a cold expression that said, "I'm tired, I don't want to care anymore."

Agor quickly weighed the pros and cons and realized that if he insisted that Dia was the daughter of a dragon, he would probably not be able to convince the people of the city.

It would be better to stop while we're ahead and use the Dragon Girl to take down the High Priest, thus severely damaging the shamanic order's strength.

"High Priest," he asked kindly, "which sin is more grave: impersonating the daughter of a true dragon or having a child with a high-ranking shaman who has broken his vows?"

Dia stared in shock, her eyes widening in disbelief as she looked at Lord Agor.

Aren't we on the same side? Why...?

“There is no difference,” the High Priest replied coldly. “They will all be sentenced to hanging, their souls imprisoned in their corpses, hanging on the cliff to suffer day and night until the day the Dragon Lord returns and personally judges their crimes.”

“Then I have no problem.” Agor nodded calmly.

Centurion Tarasha waved his hand, and the guards quickly split into two groups. One group dragged away the still-frantically cursing High Priest, while the other group approached Dia and Raine, preparing to arrest and interrogate them.

"Impersonating the Dragon's Daughter was my idea all by myself!" Dia finally mustered her courage and stood up to shout, "Lord Faher was also deceived by me! If you want to arrest someone, arrest me instead..."

Before she could finish speaking, Ryan grabbed her shoulder, interrupting her impassioned speech of self-sacrifice.

"Don't interrupt the show, step back."

"Ellina, come out!"

(End of this chapter)