The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 317: Irrefutable Evidence

”I think I can at least resolve the more serious accusations.” I need to resolve these more serious accusations at least for now.

”I can explain and I have proof for everything, and yes I admit that I committed some of these murders, but it’s not a surprise that I killed someone, right?” I say as the Duke looks at me arrogantly.

”Is that so? Do you have proof that you are not a traitor who is allied with the demons to increase your strength?” Duke Auberon speaks with confidence, while he speaks, I have my crows gather information about the duke.

Stealing his papers and passing that information to me, he will pay dearly for underestimating me so much.

”First about my growth and the teleportation circle, I see that important people are here, even the king and his family, so the right thing would be to ask for permission to do something like that, right? Can I use magic?” I look at the royal family.

Some seem tense, but they approve while more guards join the room, I’ve gained the approval and that’s what matters.

”As everyone here should know, monsters, demons, and demonic items have a similar type of energy that they emit, which makes the magic used by them have a very different trace than that of humans or other races due to the mana.”

”Naturally, someone’s mana is maintained for a good time even after death before joining the ambient mana and changing its composition...”

”Where are you going with this?” The duke asks impatiently.

”Where I’m going is simple, there are several ways for a magic circle, weapon or person to emanate the same type of mana as the demons, first about the magic circle.”

”What do you think would happen to a magic circle used to transport demon corpses?” I say with a huge smile.

”...”

”Imagine that this same magic circle has already been used for decades to transport dead bodies, wouldn’t the energy it emits naturally change?”

”Are you telling everyone that you use that to transport dead demons? Where’s the proof?” He speaks, certain that I have nothing, but thanks to my current power, I can literally generate attacks from here to my kingdom easily.

”...” I snap my fingers and the shadows open a little above the ground, dropping dozens of fresh demon corpses that I just killed, they should feel honored to be useful to me.

”As you can see, these are demons, and by the blood and release of magic, you can see that they haven’t been dead for long.” There are 20 mutilated corpses on the floor, some nobles take a step back in disgust as the blood stains the floor.

”This explains the magic circle, doesn’t it? First, the magic circle was already in that place long before any adjustment of the kingdom’s barrier, which is changed every 5 years, its being in a blind spot of the barrier is not planned, but rather a failure of the kingdom itself in the barrier.”

”And if you go to the basement of the Grand Duchy right now, you will see many other demon corpses and demons imprisoned, ready to be tortured in search of information or other things.”

”...Okay, you have a point, so where does that magic circle go?”

”To the Dead Mana Forest.” If I say this place, I know they won’t try to check, because the mana of that place would kill most of them, and trying to go there without knowing if they can come back is something that few would do.

”Now about my size and increase in power is also relatively simple to explain, I believe you have done extensive research on me.”

”Even though my age has only been revealed recently, based on what you already know about me, there’s no way I can be more than 20 years old, right?” I say while some nod in agreement since I replaced Kaelith, it’s more or less that time.

”However, that’s where you made a mistake, Duke Auberon, you questioned my ’abnormal growth’, but did you take into account the natural life expectancy?”

”How long does a human live on average without counting abilities?”

”...From 40 to 70 years...” He speaks data that are obvious and simple to obtain.

”Great, you’re absolutely right, now what is the life expectancy of a dragon?”

”...” He remains silent.

”You don’t know, do you? Well, know that it varies depending on the dragon tribe, but the general average ranges from 5,000 to 30,000 years, depending on the type.” Most would be between 10,000 and 15,000 considering other factors, but basically they live quite a long time.

”Now tell me, Duke Auberon, how much life expectancy would a hybrid of these two races have? If you consider that it inherited the qualities of both races, I would guess around 7,000 to 10,000 years, probably.”

”...”

”Of course, that’s assuming the hybrid survives, and as you yourself mentioned, I’m a hybrid of a dragon and a human who has a potentially terminal illness that makes me cough up blood.”

”So, taking into account the age of a dragon, how mature do you think my degree of maturity is?”

”This...” He becomes tense because I’m really managing to refute everything with logical things.

”I want everyone to pay attention, given the average life span of a dragon, I would still be considered a child who was practically still a baby until recently.”

”T-Then where’s the proof of what you’re saying!!” Duke Auberon speaks now with a less confident tone.

”I want all the mages here to verify if I’m going to use magic or any ability.” I say coldly while some are already prepared, soon I end up doing something I never expected to do.

And that is to let Pandora Yandere shrink me, my body begins to diminish and my muscles and flesh adjust to the new size as well as the bones while I force myself to hide as much power as I can to appear weaker.

”...” Everyone looks at me in shock, since now I’m 100 centimeters tall, and although my body is mature for the size, I can undoubtedly be called a child given the size.

’I hope they don’t talk about the curves and breasts I have.’ Obviously I have breasts and curves that a child would never have, I’m like a miniature version of the larger version instead of being really just small.

”Now, Duke Auberon, as you can see, and as everyone has noticed, I did not use magic or ability, I just returned to a size more consistent with my age.”

”...Y-You’re a child?” He speaks uncertainly.

”In short, yes, my father says I’m mature for my age, and unfortunately many try to kill me, so I need to appear more mature than I am, my power was gained through effort and dedication.”

”And it’s not something that arises out of nowhere as you are assuming, you said I’m in an alliance with the demons to have more power, but know that I would never need others to be strong, I am strong and always will be.”

”I bet everyone here knows that dragons are stronger the more draconic parts they have visible, but normally they can hide that by looking like humans.”

”As a hybrid, I have something similar, the difference is that instead of scales, my size changes to an adult, teenage or child appearance.”

”So, Duke Auberon, I believe you can see that in this form I have less power, right? What do you think will happen when I grow up again?”

”Okay, this seems convincing...a-and the heroes, as their teacher I know that you put them through various life-or-death situations! What do you have to say about that?” Duke Auberon asks, but at this point it’s just desperation to prove he’s right.

”That’s one way to put it, but no one died, right? I defended them, and thanks to me they learned to be stronger, their power increased, they learned to work better as a team.”

”Everything I did was aimed at making them stronger for the war against the demons, after all, they are our hope of victory, right?”

”Also, the adventurer group I took with me also failed to fulfill their duty, and as such they are responsible for any problems that occurred with the heroes, after all, they disappeared into the dungeon to hunt for treasures instead of defending the heroes as in the contract.”

”...And if it’s about my name, as Akari has already informed all the curious nobles, my name was chosen after a prediction made for my father, this name, in addition to being a way to honor my mother in the surname, also protects me.”

”My father had no way of knowing that the chosen name and my mother’s surname would be similar to the current Demon King.”

”The king will probably release me, he won’t risk losing me without concrete evidence, and continuing this can further tarnish the image of the others.”

”So I ask here and now to the members of the royal family, does this prove my innocence? Or will I have to show something else?”

I say with an immense smile that looks bizarre on my small body, causing shivers in some.

An obvious manipulation tactic to avoid talking more, I can hardly make more proof now.

”Yes, this is already enough proof...you are the Grand Duchess and one of the central pillars of the kingdom, that’s enough to prove your innocence.” The King speaks, avoiding eye contact.

”But it’s not over...” I speak, drawing attention.

”Since I was accused of a high treason crime against the kingdom that has been proven false, I want Duke Auberon to receive an appropriate punishment, and he had the chance to blame me with his flawed evidence.”

”So I’m also going to accuse him of some crimes that I know he has committed.” I say as some papers come out of the shadows below my feet, which I just stole from his office while the crows that destroyed themselves gave me good information.

”I hope you can defend yourself against this, Duke Auberon.” I say with a huge smile as I begin to read to everyone what Duke Auberon has been doing in the last few years.