Chapter 42: Who Cares About the Dragon Priestess? I, Daniel, Am the Dragon Priest—Am I Proud? (Patreon)

Once Sword Saint stopped holding his interest, Daniel turned to look at Elsa, trussed up on the ground like a caterpillar.

If he remembered right, this woman was a total masochist.

Beat her into submission and she'd fall for whoever did it—that was the theory. But Daniel had already gone all out, so why wasn't she folding yet?

Maybe he just hadn't hit her hard enough?

"What a woman of principle, refusing to give up even now. Guess I'll just have to waste a little more effort," he said.

"I'm getting your heart today, one way or another."

Daniel started toward Elsa, ready to lay into her again.

Everyone watching twitched. They knew Elsa was no saint, but for some reason they couldn't help pitying her a little.

What kind of decent man tried to win someone's heart with his fists?

Even Reinhard was wrestling with whether to say something—there was a difference, after all, between killing and torturing.

Fortunately, Elsa had just finished healing her crushed throat, and she hurried to shout at the approaching Daniel before he could reach her.

"Woof!!"

The bark was so earth-shaking that Daniel actually flinched before he caught her meaning.

"Woof woof, I give up, Master. No more hitting—I'll be your dog~"

As the saying goes, only the wise know when to yield. Elsa couldn't win a fight and couldn't outrun him either, so surrender was the only option left.

Whether it was a real surrender or a fake one, Daniel didn't care. As long as she surrendered, that was good enough.

"Good. From now on, Elsa, you'll behave and do as I say. Don't worry about that idiot Sin Archbishop of Lust—if she really shows up, I'll just put her to work as a firearm."

"Heh... heh heh. Yes, Master," Elsa said, a coquettish, ingratiating smile spreading across her face.

She had no idea whether the monster who'd forced her to call it 'Mother' could beat Daniel, but if she got to see it reduced to a firearm, dying would be worth the price of admission.

Glancing at Elsa, her body still obscured by refracted light, Daniel turned to Felt. "Goldie, go grab a couple of your clothes."

"Ah—okay!"

Felt's head was still a little foggy, but she obediently dug through the shack and handed over a few pieces of clothing.

The fit was off, but it was enough to cover the essentials. Daniel tossed the clothes to Elsa and released the wind-ropes binding her.

Once Elsa was dressed and showed no sign of trying to run, Daniel let her be for the time being.

Emilia came over just then. "Um, Daniel, can I ask who sent Elsa to steal my insignia?"

"Insignia?" Reinhard's expression turned instantly grave.

"Lady Emilia, does this concern the royal selection?"

"Yes, that's right. My insignia was..." Emilia started to explain, then caught sight of Daniel watching her with a bright, knowing smile.

The words caught in her throat.

Something told her that if she admitted the insignia was in Daniel's possession, the two of them would come to blows.

"Never mind. The insignia isn't important—what matters is whoever sent someone to do this."

Emilia decisively changed the subject. Reinhard let it go and simply turned to Daniel with a question.

"Would you be willing to hand Elsa over to the Order of Knights, my lord? This matter now concerns the royal selection."

"You've got to be kidding. I worked hard to capture this Pokémon—hand her over and what am I supposed to play with tonight?"

Daniel flatly refused the proposal.

The tension between the two men flared up again. Emilia, terrified they'd start fighting once more, flustered her way into the middle of it. "No, no fighting! We can talk this out properly!"

"Besides, isn't Elsa already Daniel's now? We could just ask her directly."

Elsa turned to look at Daniel, her meaning plain—she'd only take orders from him now.

"What do you say, my lord?" Reinhard asked Daniel, tone earnest.

"No need to go to all that trouble. I already know who put Elsa up to this."

The moment the words left his mouth, Reinhard shot him a look of open disbelief.

"Don't look at me like that. If I say I know, I know. It was Roswaal."

Off to the side, groggy Felt and Old Man Rom, who'd been enjoying the show, both froze. Was this really something they were allowed to be hearing?

Subaru, meanwhile, had no idea what was going on. "Who's Roswaal?"

"Roswaal is a margrave, and one of my backers."

Emilia answered, her tone puzzled.

She couldn't understand why Roswaal—who had brought her out of the frozen forest and used the promise of freeing everyone trapped there as the price of her entering the selection—would do such a thing.

After all, if he went to all this trouble just to get her disqualified, what was the point of bringing her into the race at all?

For fun?

Emilia wasn't the only one who didn't buy it. Neither did Reinhard.

After all, Roswaal was a margrave and a sworn backer of Emilia's faction.

"My lord, do you have any evidence for that claim?"

Still, Reinhard didn't dismiss it outright, and pressed Daniel for an answer.

"Heh, not buying it, huh? Then let me show off my superhuman intellect."

Daniel pointed at Elsa. "There's your witness, right there. But I won't be the one questioning her—wouldn't want you, milk dragon, accusing me of coaching a testimony."

"Emilia, why did you come to the royal capital?"

Emilia propped her cheek on a finger, tilted her head, and thought it over for a moment. "Um, well, Roswaal told me yesterday to come to the capital with Ram to prepare for the selection."

"So who knew you were coming to the capital?"

"Just everyone at Roswaal Manor, though I suppose people might have seen the estate's carriage on the road."

Daniel gave a light laugh and turned to Felt, whose head still seemed to be back at the inn somewhere.

"So, Felt, tell me—when did you get this commission, and how exactly did you find Emilia in the capital and pull off such a precise theft of her insignia?"

Called on directly, Felt snapped back to attention. "Uh, let me think... it was about ten days ago. A woman from this district came to me and gave me the details."

"She told me to wait at the capital gates today, that a silver-haired half-elf would show up, and I was supposed to steal an insignia off her."

"She had a red-haired maid with her at first, which made it hard for me to move, but then the maid got separated from Emilia, and that's when I got my chance."

The corner of Daniel's mouth curled up into a grin fit for a dragon king. "So here's the question—why did word of Emilia's trip to the capital leak out ten days ago?"

"Emilia only found out yesterday. Before that, the only person who could have known for certain she'd be arriving today was Roswaal."

"Not to mention the commission was handed out ten whole days in advance, and this maid, whose entire job was to watch over Emilia, just so happens to get separated from her at exactly the right moment for Felt to swipe the insignia. If that's not Roswaal's doing, I'll eat one of Emilia's lightning bolts!"

At first everyone was stunned by the logic of Daniel's deduction—the more they thought about it, the more it checked out.

And then they heard the oath he swore to back it up.

Emilia looked utterly bewildered. When she noticed everyone's eyes turning to her, her face flushed hot with embarrassment. "Mou~ Daniel, that's not very polite!"

"Babe, when you scold me it just sounds like flirting~"

Daniel watched Emilia's flustered anger with amusement, savoring her pouting expression. Silver-haired half-elves really were adorable.

Seeing that Emilia looked ready to charge over and blow up at him, Daniel finally stopped teasing her.

"Roswaal's definitely no good guy. Anyway, Emilia, forget about Roswaal."

Emilia calmed down, her expression softening. "But even if you say that, Roswaal is still my only backer."

"Without Roswaal, how am I even supposed to enter the selection? And everyone still sealed away in the forest—who else could I ask to save them?"

Daniel spread his hands. "So you've lost your mule~ But you've still got me, don't you? I could easily take Roswaal's place as your backer."

"I could even help save those sealed family of yours."

"Of course, Emilia, you'd have to pay a small price for it."

For some reason, the way Daniel phrased things gave everyone present the distinct feeling this guy was not, in fact, a good person.

Emilia couldn't quite make up her mind and said she needed to think it over. Daniel, seeing this, didn't push.

"Take your time, then. I've got real business to attend to."

Daniel pulled the Dragon Jewel insignia from his coat, looked at Reinhard, and said in a grave tone, "Reinhard!"

"My lord...?"

Reinhard had just started to ask what Daniel wanted from him, when he saw the Dragon Jewel in Daniel's hand begin to glow.

"!!!"