I defeated Jas, and finally, I was able to completely put the past behind me.

What if I hadn't had that duel with Jas? Maybe I would never have been able to stand up on my own and would have continued to rely on Justina forever.

Thinking about it, in a way, maybe I should thank Jas.

Gran and Ginny also returned safely. Justina came back after tying up the loose ends.

Everything is resolved. And they lived happily ever after.

…That would be nice, but reality is not so simple.

"A man in a black robe?"

After school.

Gran, Ginny, and I were gathered in an empty classroom without people.

There, Justina, who had returned after taking care of the final matters, brought us that information.

"Yes. It seems Rakustin was incited by a man in a black robe. He said something like, 'There's a good way to bully Alto.'"

"Now that you mention it, when we were kidnapped, I think I saw someone like that at the scene."

"Also, the perpetrators of the kidnapping weren't caught in the end... Who were they? Could they be the henchmen of the man in the black robe?"

"I wonder..."

Justina and the others tilted their heads, thinking.

Although we were discussing a lot, it seemed we couldn't find an answer.

In the midst of it all, I arrived at a possibility.

"...A cult."

"Huh? What's that?"

"Before one of the morning classes, the teacher mentioned something, right? That there was a cult that wanted to eliminate the dragons or something."

"Did he talk about that?..."

"I vaguely remember something like that... But wasn't it just a rumor?"

"Later, I also heard people in town talking about those kinds of people."

"That is..."

"And... to top it off, there's the man in the black robe Justina mentioned. I recently saw a figure like that in the plains."

Each thing on its own didn't seem important, but putting everything together, it couldn't be ignored.

It was extremely suspicious.

"Alto, what do we do?"

"We can't let it go. Just like they incited Jas, they could do it again... and if their goal is to eliminate the dragons, we have to stop them."

"Yes, just as I expected from you, Alto. I knew you'd say that."

"I'll help too."

"Of course, me too."

"Alright... let's go, all together."

Gran and Ginny's family ran a shop and often did business with people from outside.

Thanks to those connections, we obtained detailed information about the suspicious people hiding in the plains.

On the opposite side of town... advancing through the plains, there was a ruined church near the edge of the forest.

There were reports of sightings of people in black robes there.

We thought about reporting it to the knights, but for now, we only had suspicions and no concrete evidence.

We decided to go investigate ourselves.

"There it is..."

After walking through the plains for a while, we found the ruined church, just as Gran and Ginny's information said.

The windows were almost all broken, and there were holes in the walls and roof.

It looked like it could collapse at any moment.

"…Hey, Alto."

"…Yeah, they're there."

I lowered my voice just in case.

As Justina had said, through a hole in the wall, I saw figures inside the church.

There was more than one.

However, at first glance, they looked like normal people.

I didn't see a man in a black robe; either he was hiding or not present.

Gran and Ginny looked at me.

"What do we do? Being here is extremely suspicious, but they don't seem to be doing any strange rituals..."

"I wish they were doing something obvious, like cutting a chicken's neck and bathing in its blood while laughing."

"Don't say such creepy things."

"I just want it to be something clear. I don't actually want to see something like that."

"…Let's observe a bit more."

We couldn't determine if they were a cult or not at that moment.

Although it was sure they were suspicious for gathering outside the town...

But we couldn't attack just like that.

"This is too slow... I'm going in."

"Huh?"

Before I could stop her, Justina stepped forward and entered the church.

"Hey, Justina!"

We hurriedly followed her and entered the church.

"This is..."

"Did you come too, Alto and the others? You could have left it to me."

Justina was standing in the center of the church, surrounded by fallen people.

They seemed conscious but couldn't get up.

"What happened here?"

"They attacked me suddenly, so I just patted them a bit. It was self-defense, right?"

It felt like excessive self-defense, but...

There was no doubt that these people had something to hide.

I'd like to take my time to find evidence...

But it didn't seem like we had much time.

It would soon get dark.

The best thing would be to report it and let the knights handle it.

"What... is this...?"

At that moment, the church door opened, and a new figure appeared.

That was the man in the black robe we were looking for.

The man in the black robe looked around and immediately understood the situation, showing intense anger.

"You're the dragon princess! Why are you here...?"

"If you know Justina, that means... we got it right?"

Although it was known that there was a dragon princess, few knew that she took human form and acted with us.

Unless it was someone from the academy, most wouldn't know that Justina was a dragon in human form.

That this man knew meant he had quite a bit of knowledge.

...It wouldn't be surprising if he was part of a cult trying to eliminate the dragons.

Gran and Ginny also reached that conclusion and were on guard.

"Who are you?"

"You're going to tell us about these people."

"Tch."

The man in the black robe tried to run, but I wasn't foolish enough to let him.

I leaped and positioned myself behind him in an instant.

I pointed a training spear at his back.

"When did you get behind me?"

"I've been training a lot lately. Doing this is not a problem. Now, tell me about yourself and your goal. This is a training spear, but it's still a piece of iron and it hurts quite a bit if I hit you."

"You...!"

"Talk, tell us everything."

"So you're Alto Estenia, the one favored by the dragon princess... It's because of people like you that we can't free ourselves from the dragons' slavery!"

"Slavery?"

"Yes! The dragons try to control us! Slowly, like a noose around the neck. No one sees it, and if I say it, everyone thinks I'm crazy! Idiots... dragon domination is near!"

What he said was absurd.

The dragons didn't try to dominate people.

Even if they tried, with their power, they would have already done it.

It was just this man's crazy fantasy.

But... his hatred towards the dragons seemed real.

"Why do you hate dragons so much?"

"It's obvious! They are our enemies!"

"No way..."

"Of course! I lost my home because of them! Because they cooperate with this country... I lost my homeland!"

Probably, this man was from a country that was an enemy of Almot.

A country that challenged Almot in war...

But was defeated by the overwhelming power of the dragons and lost its country.

Lost its home.

Although there weren't many, there were some countries like that.

"I understand your situation, but... why did you help Rakustin?"

"We know you've been acting in secret."

"To teach that dragon princess her own helplessness."

The man, cornered by Gran and Ginny, glared at Justina with hatred.

"It seems you've fallen for this girl. You've helped her in various ways. But if she falls into despair, you'll feel the same as I do... the helplessness of not being able to protect what you love."

"So... you just wanted to bother me?"

As Justina said, this man had been using Jas just to annoy her.

If Justina got hurt, maybe the dragons would change their attitude...

In a way, the man's goal could be achieved.

But I wouldn't allow that to happen.

"You're finished. We're turning you over to the knights."

"Surrendering... is not an option. I carry my whole country on my back!"

For a moment, I was overwhelmed by the strength of his determination.

He used that distraction to pull out a palm-sized glass-like sphere and threw it to the ground.