Ruling as the Next Dragon Sage!-Chapter 81: You Don’t Get to Play Saint Now

"I-it’s...it’s you...!" Sultan quickly muttered. And my tail, raised in the air, naturally fell to ground level.

What...

Sultan.

Have you seen Vaniti before?

Vaniti doesn’t smirk, doesn’t smile, or anything. She speaks, all seriously—more than I expected.

"You remember, don’t you now...Chancellor?" Vaniti asked, her grip getting even farmore tighter. Sultan grunted more in pain, but his initial shock still overode every other emotion within his body.

"Th-the ranger! You’ve come back? I thought...I thought..." Sultan trailed off, yet again. His eyes rolled to the ground instead. It seemed like he was trying to make every sense of this. Any sense of this at all.

Then, that’s when it clicked within my head.

The Ranger Corps, the one Vaniti was apart of. Even I had forgot about that initial detail. That Vaniti was someone before I met her. Someone who was betrayed by her own comrades and companions.

But with the way Sultan looks...it makes it seem as if...

Sultan and Vaniti—alongside her Ranger Corps, had met somewhere. Before I got to either of them.

Shit, maybe before I was even walking within this world and was still a stone statue.

But now? This adds something I never knew between the two. And the more I look at Sultan’s face, the more I can see it.

Fear.

Remembrance.

And an odd feeling of...something else. Something layered beneath the two.

Almost two separate identities, really.

Her voice doesn’t come with condescension, more so that she’s trying to force Sultan to see her. Not just physically, but mentally as well.

"Look at me, Chancellor. Tell me, was it you that did it?"

Sultan hesitantly looked up towards Vaniti’s eyes, but his own fluttered, dimmed slightly as if seeing her emerald and pearl eyes was like looking into a headlight.

"I–I have no idea what you’re talking about. Please...! I have nothing—"

Vaniti’s left hand instantly let go, and grasped onto his apparel. His royal apparel. Her right hand did the same as it let go of his hair, and with her own strength, raised him up to her eye level—so the two were seeing eye to eye.

"The Na’va Corps. Established in Juropia—it was only weeks ago, how could you have already forgotten?" Vaniti asked, but this time around, her words carried a sense of slight urgency. As if pushing him to remember would also help her.

"Deep in the forests of Aurea Islands, past further than Royalia, or Komarine, or Ja’nan. You had a infestation monster problem that you did not want the public to know about, perhaps on the rise of your elections...who knows,"

"It was that of my Ranger Corps which I was grouped with that we had arrived there to dispatch, but I was later abandoned, and thrown away as I was a tool—but who am I to lie. I was always one."

Sultan, Koga, and I only listened further in on Vaniti’s monologue. This is the most expression, or the most I’ve ever hear her talk recently. So if she were to shed this many words on Sultan.

It wouldn’t be for no reason.

But then, her head slightly turns, her eyes trying to track me, but just look at my genuine direction. We don’t lock eyes nor hold eye contact, but at the very least,

"I had no doubt in my mind, if the Sovereign which I stand next to had not arrived, I surely would’ve died,"

Then, her head snaps back to Sultan. Her grip on her apparel getting so tight, I was sure she would’ve ripped the clothes right off of him if she wanted to.

"Now, I ask you, Chancellor. Was it you...? Were you the one to commission the orders against my own squadron? Were you the one to ask for my own downfall?"

Then, her right hand slowly drifted away, fingers spread apart, and there, white light brimmed. [Spirit Magic], I could tell.

But then, it’s shape took form of a small dagger. [Spirit Dagger], so even she knew that spell as well. She’s become so accustomed to [Spirit Magic] itself, she can basically get it to do her own will. Form elementary weapons if she wanted to.

"Will you answer, or not?" She pressed the blade against his neck, as Sultan’s breathing picked up. Koga outstretched his hand, wanting to do something—anything, but not as long as I was here.

There’s no way Vaniti would go through with it. I get it, she might be a little pissed that people she’s known and worked alongside would just drop her out of nowhere, and she somewhat thinks that Sultan might be behind it.

But...even this...is just too far. If I learned anything—and I mean anything, playing this damn game. It’s that brute force to get the answers you want never work out in the end.

As Sultan could only stare at her eyes, and his breathing picking up...all of a sudden...it started to slow down. His eyes narrowed at her’s, and thinking this was a sign for a challenge, Vaniti’s eyes never did.

Not to add on to the fact that as of right now, she can’t see facial expressions, but the fact that Sultan’s face faded away from the expression of fear and worry...became something else.

Realization.

"No...n-no...it can’t...be...?" He spoke in broken up words, muttered to himself. All of a sudden, one glance at Vaniti was all that it took for his fear to go away. His calm, and composed demeanor came back as if it never left.

Vaniti was somewhat confused at this as well, her grip loosened on his apparel, and she slowly pulled the blade back from his neck. Even she was intrigued to see how would this play out.

"It...wait—then that would mean..." Sultan trailed off again. Whatever he was connecting in his head was obviously being kinkered out. I wish I had a [Dragon’s Authority] ability to read minds and whatnot, but despite being blessed with 4, I still don’t have one.

"But that was...so long ago. There’s no way you could’ve survived unless..." Sultan’s eyes looked right back at hers. Then her split-colored hair, her attire, armour, everything.

His eyes immediately widened right after.

Then, his face became one with anger.

"It was you..." Sultan snarled, darkly. In quick fashion, he made Vaniti unhand him as she took a step back. Shocked, her face obviously sharpened.

"Perhaps you remember now?" Vaniti shot back, but Sultan shook his head.

"No...I’ve had my suspicions about you far long ago, but I threw them all away. But now, I see it as clear as day." Then, he eyed his staff.

"...and I don’t need to consult with Fate or Future itself when the problem resides right in the past."

He looked right back at us, "You were the one that plunged Aurea Islands into this chaos in the first place! You were the one that forced my hand to do all of this and made me embark this journey! It was you!"

Vaniti simply shook her head, "Casting blame onto others isn’t fairly virtuous, Chancellor. Take accountability for your own actions."

"And that’s exactly the argument I’m trying to make! Your actions led us and the nation right down in the path we are going! It was you who assassinated the last Chancellor. It was you who ruined the elections. It was all...you."

There was silence, the odd silence. Sultan’s finger outstretched casted towards Vaniti, but I could only watch with subtle shock. My eyes slowly widened upon the further realization of each and every accusation thrown towards Vaniti.

Even she herself, was shaken up slightly. Behind the neutral expression, it was there. Tension. She was a little bit tense.

So, I spoke up.

"Vaniti...?"

Her ears twitched, then immediately turned towards me. Then back to Sultan.

"Y-you’re..." She trailed off. I expected her Spirit Eye, even in this highly sensitive condition, for her to state that Sultan is lying, yet again...and maybe that this is all a scheme to buy some time for the Chancellor.

But even she struggled to say it.

Because...a part of me believed that...whatever Vaniti saw...was telling her the opposite.

That in the rare occasion.

Sultan was telling the truth.

And now, I couldn’t help but doubt Vaniti just slightly.

"Years ago. Before the quake, before I became Chancellor. It was you who assassinated Chancellor Gi and plunged Aurea Islands into the national ruin that it was! And now you come here, trying to play hero?"

"You don’t get to play saint! Not now of all times! There’s thousands and thousands of blood on your hands because of your actions!"

Vaniti’s eyes narrowed, but I could see it.

She was visibly shaken up.

And I could never imagine the emotionally quiet spirit elf—ever to be shaken.

So this only meant one thing, that 1—Vaniti truly believed in this and that Sultan wasn’t lying.

Vaniti looked towards me, her lips wanting to say something, anything, but she couldn’t, and when she did, it didn’t sound convincing either.

"H-he’s lying. He has to be," She began. Her fingers twitched, unsure of what to do. Her body was failing her in every right more than one, and neither could she confirm either way.

"I have no recollection of this event, and as a matter of fact, this was my first time stepping onto Aurea Islands alongside my Ranger Squad."

Sultan’s voice grew not only bolder, but louder as well. "And you would stand here and lie! As far as I see it, you are no different from me!"

"I could never be like you. I..." She trailed off, not sure what to say next. Because, slowly, it was like her ears twitched as if she heard something she wasn’t supposed to. And then, she looked around, everywhere else...

Before she looked right at me.

"Ryuuzen...?" She asked softly, slowly. I didn’t understand why she was calling me out until...

Oh.

She...she saw it, and even sensed it.

Doubt.

She sensed doubt in me.

Doubt in the only person who had helped her so far.

Doubt in the Sovereign who made her the Consort of Calamity.

And...

Doubt in the person, she also asked for trust.

That couldn’t be a good look.

"Ryuuzen...I–I, I strictly have no idea on what he’s referencing! You have to trust me, please, Ryuuzen," She asked.

Then softly again, "You trust me...right...?"

And then at this moment, it felt like my heart was stabbed. Her eyes narrowing down on me, not even holding eye contact, but to get a feel for my emotions. She’s trying to brute force an answer out of me based on how I feel alone.

I...didn’t know on how to answer it, to be honest.

But Vaniti no longer required an answer, and the way she saw it. She had asked the person to trust her, and now here comes this misleading moment to where I don’t truly know who Vaniti is.

But when I couldn’t answer in time, or couldn’t find an appropriate answer, Vaniti’s head bowed down and looked away, and when she turned towards Sultan again.

It was naturally neutral.

"I see. Then so be it, Sultan." She spoke hastily, almost quickened and rash. As if she had already made up her mind on something, and then, before I knew it, I outstretched my hand.

"N-no! Vaniti don’t!"