My Disciples Grind, I Get 100x Their Progress

”Changed? I don’t feel anything about me has changed, Lady Cleenah. Aren’t I the same as ever?”

”...The same as ever?”

”Of course. I still do what I believe is right, just as before.”

Mercer glanced at the Dragons behind him, then continued.

”Everything I have done so far is for the good of the Dragon race. I have no intention of letting us stay in the state we’re in now.”

Cleenah didn’t like that answer.

If it was all for the good of the Dragon race, why did Mercer have to come with forces ready to attack the Qiezhuran?

But she couldn’t ignore what the Eyes of Essence showed her either.

Mercer was telling the truth.

At the very least, the man truly believed that his actions would bring good to the Dragon race.

There was no lie in that statement, and that was exactly what made it harder for Cleenah to understand what was happening.

”Then... what about Lady Clyne?”

Hearing that name, Mercer smiled slightly. Unlike Cleenah, he seemed to have no trouble at all talking about that woman.

”Clyne? That is the past. Everyone has to move forward to carry on with their lives, don’t they?”

”...The past?”

”It has been quite a while since her passing. Of course I won’t forget who Clyne was, but that doesn’t mean I have to go on living while thinking of her.”

Mercer paused, then continued in the same calm tone.

”I have moved on with my life. You should do the same.”

Cleenah fell silent.

’...Liar.’

This time, what the Eyes of Essence showed was completely different.

Mercer could smile and say that everything was over, but he was lying.

The man hadn’t truly left Clyne behind the way he had just claimed.

Then why did he have to pretend?

Cleenah wanted to ask, but before she could even open her mouth, Mercer had already spoken first.

”Besides, Clyne won’t come back just because we keep remembering her wishes. The Qiezhuran is still here, and so are the Dragons who must carry on with their lives.”

”...I know that.”

”Then think of them. I’m not asking the Qiezhuran to disappear. You only need to be under the Drazhuel, and all of this can end without a battle.”

Cleenah looked at the Dragons standing around her.

Some still looked uneasy, but not one of them moved to leave her.

Even after hearing what the elders had said, they still chose to stay by her side.

That was what made her answer so difficult.

”Isn’t that better?” Mercer went on. ”You won’t have to keep worrying about the attitudes of other Clans. As long as you follow the Drazhuel’s decisions, the Qiezhuran will still have a place in the new Dragon World.”

One of the elders nodded in agreement, but Cleenah didn’t notice.

She was still thinking about Mercer’s lie.

The man clearly hadn’t forgotten Clyne, and for some reason, he didn’t want anyone to know it.

”However, there is something you must accept,” Mercer said again. ”The Qiezhuran no longer has the strength to decide its own path. If you keep insisting on holding a position you cannot defend, in the end it is your own Clan’s members who will be the victims.”

Several Qiezhuran Dragons began to show their displeasure.

Mercer didn’t raise his voice, and he didn’t even sound as if he were mocking them.

Unfortunately, that didn’t make his words any more pleasant to hear.

”A good leader must know when it’s time to yield. The same goes for Clan members. Loyalty won’t help much if you spend your lives trying to keep something you were never able to protect in the first place.”

Among the Dragons standing guard over Cleenah, Damien slowly lifted his head.

’...What?’

Had that man just said that the Qiezhuran couldn’t protect what was its own?

That they should yield because they simply weren’t strong enough to do anything?

Of course Damien knew that the Drazhuel were stronger.

He had never even minded admitting that joining them in the past would have been a reasonable choice.

But hearing Mercer say it like that, right after bringing so many Dragons to surround his homeland, made something inside him harder to hold back.

”Look at your state now,” Mercer said to Cleenah. ”I haven’t even ordered an attack, yet you’re already struggling with this situation. What will happen if a real enemy comes, one that gives you no chance to surrender?”

’...Bastard.’

Damien clenched his fists tighter.

So that was how Mercer saw them?

A band of weak Dragons who couldn’t even protect their own home, and so should be grateful when the Drazhuel came to take over?

Mercer might be right that the Qiezhuran had no chance of winning this battle.

But did that give him the right to speak as though they had no pride whatsoever?

”If you want to save the Qiezhuran, stop thinking about useless pride. I have given you a way out. All you have to do is accept it.”

Damien almost laughed to hear it.

A way out?

After bringing traitors and surrounding them at midnight?

That man said it so easily, as if every member of the Qiezhuran were merely a group of children who had to follow the orders of adults.

And the most infuriating part was that Damien couldn’t even argue about the question of strength.

He knew all of that very well.

But knowing something and accepting it were two different things.

”...Enough,” Damien muttered.

The Dragon beside him turned. ”Damien?”

”That’s enough.”

The Mana that had been stirring in Damien’s body grew stronger.

He heard someone call his name once more, but his attention was already wholly fixed on Mercer.

Who was that man to dare say the Qiezhuran didn’t deserve to decide its own future?

Who had given him the right to come with a band of traitors and then teach them how to save their own homeland?

Damien wasn’t a leader yet. Perhaps he was still too weak to realize his own ambitions.

But that didn’t mean he would keep quiet while his home was belittled right in front of him.

”Damien, wait!”

Unfortunately, that warning came too late.

With a face full of fury, Damien suddenly shot away from the line protecting Cleenah.

Mana exploded from his body as he charged straight at Mercer, paying no heed at all to the difference in strength between them.

”BASTARD!!”

”Damien!?” Cleenah gasped, while the other Qiezhuran Dragons all turned at once, never having imagined that one of their own would be the one to start the attack.

But Damien had already moved.