Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

What a fool! He's handing the knife to the enemy! Edward looked at his brother in shock, as if he had just met him on the first day. But Philip was completely oblivious, thinking he had found the Dragonborn's weak spot.

"Come on, cold-blooded lizard! Your disguise has been exposed!" Pierre said confidently, "Go and enjoy your feast! Let everyone see just how evil you, the followers of the Five-Headed Dragon God, are!"

Chapter 187 Deinonychus

Edward's scales opened up because of grievance and anger. He almost wanted to reveal his true form to prove his innocence, but he knew that if he did so, he would have no reason to live anymore.

The evil Dragonborn would at most be hunted down by the people of one town, but if Edward Fengquan hadn't died... almost half of Qingzun City would have gone out to nail the lid of his coffin shut again.

His brothers and sisters could not tolerate his "resurrection", and the rest of the family was even less likely to do so.

"I don't believe in Tiamat. You're mistaken," Edward said in a deep voice. "I've never had such an evil habit as cannibalism. Don't try to throw dirty water on me!"

"Oh, really? You seem like a good Dragonborn?" Pierre shouted at him. "Very well then! Tell me about your clan and the movements of your neighboring clans, and tell us what you are up to! You're doing a good deed, saving the lives of an entire kingdom!"

"Don't tell me you don't belong to the clan or that you're from somewhere else. Everyone knows that the largest dragonborn clans in Western Inassus are near the Kingdom of Latour, and for dragonborn, clan is above everything else!"

Edward had no choice but to remain silent. The other party was coming for him, and the seeds of suspicion had already been sown. No matter how he responded, the crowd would ultimately come to the single conclusion that he was an evil dragonborn. Silence was the only effective way to resist.

Of course, this would also allow the charges to be brought to justice, no matter what.

"We should hang this lizard!" someone immediately suggested, "lest he return with more dragonborn!"

"Wake up! The Latour Kingdom isn't that close to here!" someone retorted. "We should capture him and detain him. That'll give us enough leverage!"

The latter prevailed in the debate, as even the members of the Dieu family seemed to support the decision. Finally, with the sound of shackles snapping, the halfling was freed from the cage, while Edward was forced to crouch in a cage that was only half his size.

The half-orc seemed to be frightened and let everyone manipulate him like a rag doll. However, when he walked out of the cage and passed by the dragonborn who walked into the cage, Edward's vertical pupils suddenly shrank.

The halfling's lips moved, and a short word in dragon language slipped into Edward's ears.

"Sorry……"

Dragon language! This halfling actually speaks Dragon language?! Edward was shocked. If that were the case, he shouldn't have shown such fear towards a dragonborn like himself! Only a very small number of evil dragonborn who believe in Tiamat would actually consider eating halflings. Most dragonborn don't have this habit!

Dragon language is an extremely ancient language, difficult to teach outside of dragons and dragonborn. This halfling most likely learned it from a dragonborn. And for the same reason, if this halfling were a food ingredient, there's no way he could have learned it on his own! He's more likely to have once been a friend of a dragonborn, or even a dragonborn clan, who would have had the opportunity to learn Dragon language!

So... he was coerced! Coerced into dealing with... him?

Edward curled up in the locked iron cage, allowing the eyes and words outside to put pressure on him, but his mind was still working fast, thinking about the possibilities of all this.

The traces of his spellcasting in the alley last night must have been discovered, so they planned to set a trap to capture him. But a mere Dragonborn spellcaster shouldn't be a particular threat, so he was probably just part of the plan.

There must be someone more important to deal with. Witte? Philip? Edward quickly ruled out these two irrelevant options.

Or was Pierre planning to take on Mr. Reslaufer? But Mr. Reslaufer didn't need his help at all... Edward roughly checked the number of people present who might be members of the Dieu family or their subordinates, and estimated whether this number could be enough to kill Reslaufer to death - obviously not.

But if it wasn't to avenge the Dieu family member who died last night... then isn't there only one choice? Edward suddenly looked at Angrita in horror and opened his mouth to remind them, but faster than him, a rough and smelly piece of cloth was rolled up and stuffed into his mouth.

"You're confessing now?" Pierre clapped his hands and sneered, "There's no rush. Let's wait until the banquet is over!"

"The cage just now was used to lock up this evil, cold-blooded animal, but he won't be the meal tonight." Pierre looked around and smiled slightly. "Otherwise, won't we end up like them?"

The sense of superiority this statement brought made most of the guests smile knowingly. After regaining control of the situation, Pierre ordered the fourth cage to be opened: "That lizard isn't one, but this one could be a delicious addition to our table."

The fourth iron cage was about the height of a person. As the curtain was lifted, the creature that was originally lying inside suddenly stood up, tilted its head, and observed the surrounding environment with the eyes on both sides of its head.

It was a bipedal reptile, its scales covered in sparse, primitive hair. Its mouth, studded with sharp teeth, betrayed its predatory nature. Its most recognizable feature was its feet, whose second toes, shaped like a pair of giant sickles, were specially shaped. Judging by the wear and tear of its sharp claws, it was easy to imagine this creature had used them to disembowel its prey more than once.

This was obviously no ordinary beast, but almost no one present recognized what kind of creature it was.

However, Daisy saw through its true identity at a glance: "Is this... a Deinonychus or something?! It looks just like the one in the picture book I saw! But, but how did this thing appear here? It shouldn't be here!"

"Deinonychus...dragon?" Daisy's voice was loud and her tone was attractive enough that the name of this creature soon spread throughout the table - but still no one knew what it was.

"A dinosaur, a—" Looking at the inquiring eyes of her companions and those strangers, Daisy soon could only stamp her feet. "I'm just a singer! You ask me to explain, isn't that too much for me?"

"No, that's enough. It seems this young lady has much more knowledge than most of us here," Pierre continued. "Yes, this is a creature called a 'dinosaur,' but as this young lady said, they don't live in our world, but in a land far away."

"I bought it from a mysterious merchant—everyone in Rhofrey Town should remember that strange fellow who settled here. According to him, this creature has completely died out in its former homeland, with only a few remnants settling in the merchant's hometown. But that wasn't why I bought it."

"The mysterious merchant told me that this is a ferocious and swift predator, and more importantly, its meat is very delicious."

"Mr. Racelover, please?"

Chapter 188 A sudden change during the banquet

The mercenary stared at the creature trapped in the cage, which was said to be from ancient times, but he had no intention of taking action.

"Mr. Racelover?"

"I won't take action. This is your problem to solve." Leslaufer pointed at the imprisoned Edward. "You just asked him to face all this, and I have no objection. But now, it's my turn—you, go kill this Deinonychus."

"Ah?" Pierre was startled. "No, you didn't..."

"Ok?"

"I'm willing to go on stage for Brother Pierre!" A younger and stronger man from the Dieu family stood up and shouted, "You're just a commoner, you don't have the qualifications—ah!"

Leslaufer was too lazy to talk nonsense. He picked up the dried sheep bone beside him and threw it into the air. With a sharp whistle of wind, the young man fell to the ground. His thin layer of chain mail could not completely block the jagged and sharp cross-section of the sheep bone, and a bloody wound was immediately opened on his shoulder.

"Children should not interrupt when adults are talking," Dubler said, glaring coldly at the angry members of the Dieu family. "I say, Pierre Dieu, it's your turn."

"Okay, I'll go." A hint of forbearance flashed across Pierre's gloomy face, but he finally compromised and walked towards the locker room. Soon, he changed into a set of leather armor and a rapier, then came back calmly and stood in front of the iron cage containing the Deinonychus.

"Open it!" Amid the noisy shouts of the crowd, the beast, which was three to four meters long and over one meter tall, was released. Its stiff tail swayed with the shaking of its body. Its huge head, slender arms and terrifying claws all showed that it was a living machine that relied on efficient killing to survive.

The beast sniffed the various complex scents in the air and first glanced at Reslaufer standing beside it - some intuition told it that it was a stronger version of itself.

"It's a substitute of the same type." Daisy looked intently at the terrifying lizard that she had only heard of but never actually seen. However, even at this time, her mouth was not idle.

However, what was unexpected was that after just one look at Pierre who was on high alert in front of it, the Deinonychus turned its gaze away and searched for something in the open space farther away.

"What is it doing?" "It doesn't look like a good hunter..." Whispers rang out among the people at the table. Before the discussion reached a climax, the monster suddenly let out a savage roar and then pounced towards the empty space!

Its huge body passed through Pierre in front of it without any hindrance - it was an illusion!

"Protect Brother Pierre!"

The young man, whose shoulder had just been stabbed by a bone from Reslaufer, paled. He screamed and rushed forward, trying to stop the dinosaur's attack. But how could a frail human body withstand a beast over three meters long? The beast's paw, with its exaggerated sickle-like claws, struck the young man squarely in the abdomen. As he flew backward like a leaf, his internal organs immediately splattered all over the trail!

But in the open space, a figure suddenly appeared, rushing towards the defenseless Angelita with a dagger in his hand, and holding her in front of him - it was Pierre Dieu!

"Let me go!" Angelita was about to fight back, but the dagger in her neck forced her artery to collapse. "Honestly, don't move, miss! Otherwise, I can't guarantee your safety!"

"Mmmm--" Edward in the cage roared anxiously. His worst assumption came true!

"Do you know what you're doing?" Reslaufer rushed to a guard and elbowed the stranger, with whom he had no grudge, to the ground. A two-handed sword appeared in his hand. "Let her go now, and I can kill you alone!"

"Hey, hey, hey..." Pierre fearlessly pointed the rapier in his other hand at Reslaufer. "People like you have never experienced failure, right?"

"But you've miscalculated this time—did you think that by forcing me into action, you could uncover my true purpose? You're wrong! Absolutely wrong!"

"Whether you killed the Daye Gang, those guards, or even all the Dieu in Joffrey Town, I don't really care, and I don't intend to seek revenge on you! My only target is her!"

"If you dare come over here, I'll kill her! How about it? You don't have a spellcaster on your side now, right? That Dragonborn can't do anything now!"

"You're underestimating me!" The bard, shocked and angry, jumped onto the table. "Let's listen to this song. It's called 'Waltz of Blades'—Cloud of Daggers!"

"A trifle!" Pierre whistled. On the other side, an illusory magical hand appeared in the air and quickly lifted the curtains of the last two iron cages and opened the locked iron doors. "Save your song for these beasts! Goodbye!"

The spellcaster who controlled the wizard's hand - the pancake vendor that day - rushed to Pierre's side. A black cloud so dark that even light could not penetrate it immediately covered the entire banquet, and the inside and outside of the Loirelu family manor were in chaos!

"Don't let them run away!" Reslaufer roared at the top of his lungs, but the next moment, a bear paw came out from the darkness and knocked the mercenary to the ground unexpectedly. Its owl-like original eyes approached the attacked Reslaufer, and its beak was extremely eager for a bite of fresh flesh and blood.

It's an owlbear. That damn bastard Pierre actually got an owlbear!

Was this the fifth? Or the sixth? In his haste, Reslaufer could no longer think, only to do his utmost to cope with the crisis before him. His greatsword pried a small gap between him and the owlbear, allowing him to escape the powerful paw before the iron beak fell. However, in the darkness, he could not and dared not distance himself. Fighting a monster weighing nearly half a ton had become his only option.

There was only one problem—he had no armor to protect him. The gap between monster and human was immediately widened. When the heavy, feathered body fell and crushed towards Reslaufer, the sword struck the flesh like steel!

However, just as Reslaufer was about to be crushed by the monster, without any warning, a cloud of light mist emanated from the pendant that Reslaufer had always regarded as a transforming weapon, and quickly condensed into a force field as thin as a cicada's wing around the mercenary.

The owlbear ignored this, but just as it was about to crush Leslow, the mist force field gently but firmly pushed it aside. The monster had never seen such a strange situation before, and almost subconsciously, it swung its claws and smacked the mercenary's head again.

This was an ineffective attack, but on the contrary, a drop of blood dripped from the palm of the owl bear, accompanied by the monster's painful groan, the owl bear was actually affected by some force and suddenly became weak!

This was Reslaufer's only chance to fight back—if he was willing to step out of the goddess's protection! Of course he could!

Chapter 189 Refusing Hostage

It was indeed impossible for Eldath to give a weapon to a mortal. The more likely reason was that Leslaufer just happened to need a weapon, and the pendant did have this function.

When Reslaufer stopped actively thinking about how to use it, the pendant finally revealed its original power - it was a magical item that could automatically cast protective spells like a priest.

Being under the mist, even though Reslaufer knew almost nothing about magic, he could feel that such protection would only take effect when he gave up fighting back, which was more like the style of the goddess.

But Reslaufer could not accept such protection forever - after taking a breath, the mercenary quickly broke free from the protection of the spell, swung his sword and attacked into the darkness.

The owlbear roared in affront in the magical darkness, but just as Reslaufer was about to engage it in a bloody battle, he was surprised to find that the bear's paw, which was about to touch him, was suspended in mid-air and could not be taken down no matter what.

"Old Lei, don't move, run towards me!" Vondar's shouting drowned out the beast's gradually weakening roar. Reslaufer no longer hesitated, and immediately left the owlbear behaving strangely and ran towards that direction.

It is extremely dangerous not to trust the judgment of your companions on the battlefield, especially for the easily impulsive Reslaufer. Doppler had suffered such a loss when he was very young. Since then, he has learned how not to ignore the advice of his companions when his blood is boiling.

Following Reslaufer's actions, the surrounding darkness quickly melted away in just over a minute, and the surrounding lights illuminated the inside and outside of the manor again, but unfortunately, many guests could no longer see this scene.

As far as Leslaufer could see, he saw such an astonishing scene: the druid was turning over and riding on the back of the Deinonychus, and beside the upright lizard, a snake-cockaur was flapping its strange wings and leaving the owlbear.

No wonder the giant suddenly stopped moving - the much smaller monster pecked its hind leg, turning the owlbear into stone.

"The spell ended prematurely. They must have found some way to get completely away from here!" The druid riding on the Deinonychus, with the squirrel Leaping sitting on his shoulder, shouted to Leslaufer, "Let's go after Annie. Black Claw remembers their scent!"

"You tamed this Deinonychus?!" Daisy stared in astonishment at the druid who sat steadily on the Deinonychus's back without a saddle or bridle. "Did you name it Black Claw?"

"That's its own name!" Bella said, "Mr. Vondar, please stay here. Daisy, you come on board too. It should be able to carry two people!"

The dwarf nodded and accepted the arrangement: he would never be able to catch up with the dinosaur. Daisy's eyes lit up, but soon she pursed her lips when she saw the owlbear statue over there.

"No, you two should go and come back quickly. I must stay here." As he said this, the poet played a sad tune on the mater.

"Are you worried about that? The Cockatrice can petrify its target for more than twenty hours..."

"Theoretically, it's twenty-four hours, but do you dare to confirm it? I don't!" Daisy spoke quickly, trying not to interfere with her soft humming. "Theoretically, this thing only needs to fail a Constitution saving throw within six seconds, but you see, it looks like it could lose control at any moment. I don't know if it's this big guy's fault or the rule book, but someone has to keep it in this state!"

"Lao Lei has to go get Annie back. If she gets out of trouble, who can handle this pile of shit?"

Bella and Leslough looked at each other. Daisy was right, and her piano playing seemed to have really calmed the huge monster. Time was running out, so the two of them no longer hesitated and immediately chased out of the manor.

While the cockatrice had been a great help, the druid wasn't a beastmaster, and hadn't originally intended to follow the Deinonychus. However, to everyone's surprise, the squirrel, Hoppong, leaped from Bella's shoulders and onto the cockatrice's back. With its tiny paws tightly wrapped around the neck of the creature that resembled something like a bird, a lizard, and a bat, the cockatrice actually followed!

"Two cavalrymen and one infantryman…?" Daisy muttered, shrugging her shoulders. Then she suddenly pointed at the guests who were trying to get close to Edward, who was still trapped in the cage. "Everyone, sit back down and stand still! We've had enough trouble today. No hostage-taking, no infighting, no opening the cage, and no sacrifices—if anyone makes me angry, I'll let the bears bite you!"

Although "sit back" and "stand up" are two completely contradictory instructions, the last sentence of this beautiful and sweet-voiced poet was too intimidating. No one, including Witt Loireau, dared to raise any objections. Those who were quick immediately straddled the stools with their legs trembling, while those who were slow to react even chose to squat with their heads in their hands.

On the other side, far outside the town of Joffrey, a carriage made entirely of intangible magic suddenly dissipated in the wind. The three people who were pulled off the carriage were immediately thrown to the ground and rolled over several times on the hard ground before they finally stopped.

"Didn't you say this spell lasts for a full hour?" Pierre leaped to his feet, glaring at his most capable spellcaster. "You'd better explain what's going on!"

"I didn't have time to fully cast the spell. 'Coche's Carriage Spell' normally requires a ten-minute ritual summoning, Brother Pierre! Not to mention I also needed to maintain darkness to obscure my vision!" The spellcaster, as a peripheral member of the Dieu family, had decent physical fitness, but he still couldn't get up as easily as Pierre. He could only lie on the ground groaning in defense, "But at least bringing us out here is what we expected... Hiss, damn, my feet, ah..."

"Indeed..." Pierre nodded slightly, but did not bother to help his subordinates up. He swung the rapier in his hand into two sword flowers and narrowly avoided the emerald green sword edge.

"Ms. Antichi, you are truly courageous. I thought you would take the opportunity to escape."

"And then you'll capture me, exhausted, and run away before Uncle Reslaufer shows up?" Angelita snorted. "Don't overthink it. Instead of that, we might as well take this opportunity and fight!"

"But before that, I'm curious about one thing: Why are you going to all this trouble? Do you have a grudge against the Antichi family, or do you simply want to use me as ransom?"

Chapter 190 The Foolishness of the Right Position

"You're overthinking it, miss," Pierre said, already bracing himself. "You're still waiting for that mercenary to rescue you? If he's lucky enough to avoid being ripped apart by the Deinonychus, he'll either be petrified for a whole day by the Cockatrice, or torn to pieces by that female Owlbear! Or maybe all three!"

"But I won't pin my hopes on those beasts and monsters, so I won't let you waste too much time." Pierre suddenly drew his sword and attacked. "Just follow me honestly and give up resistance! Don't you want to know why? You'll know the answer soon!"

"Someone wants me!" Angelita's face suddenly darkened. She had guessed part of the truth. "They want to take me back!"

"Perhaps there is just one or several important figures who want to see you." The rapier in Pierre's hand was three times more agile than a poisonous snake. Every move was aimed at Angelita's vital points, but once the girl fought back, it seemed to be just a feint. She would appear on the other side of Angelita the next second, making her exhausted to deal with it.

After a moment's thought, Angelita followed the logic of this part: "Of course, let's meet him. After all, someone like you who stays in a small town has no right to know the truth."

Such words deeply hurt Pierre: "Shut up! As long as I capture you, I can also become a nobleman of the Kingdom of Latour! And you will witness all this in prison!"

Capture her? That's more than just a "noble" title! Angelita scoffed inwardly, no longer engaging in idle chatter, focusing instead on her sword. Soon, as the two figures crossed paths again, Angelita once again adopted a foolish stance, exposing all her weaknesses.

"Fool Style? That move won't work on me. Didn't Reslaufer teach you that?" Pierre was amused by this naive idea. "The user of Fool Style pretends to be a Fool, thereby tricking their opponent into becoming a Fool. But in the eyes of an expert, a Fool is just a Fool—let me teach you that!"

Pierre took the initiative to attack, and Angreta reacted the same way she had to the giant stirge bat. However, Pierre was not a blood-sucking beast. After only a few strikes, Angreta's thigh was immediately scratched and bloody.

"Do you understand?" Pierre stretched out his left thumb and index finger and wiped the blood off the sword. "Give up. If I can't beat that mercenary, I can't beat a little girl like you."