Starting out as a Dragon Slave-Chapter 82: Accusation

They staggered through the portal, gasping for breath, blood and dust clinging to their clothes—but they were alive. The real world greeted them with pale light, clean air... and the strange, unsettling feeling of returning to a reality that remained blissfully ignorant of the horrors they had faced.

-« No time to rest," Jonah said, his voice clipped and urgent, not even waiting to catch his breath. "We’re heading straight to the Hunters’ Bureau. Someone needs to hear this."

The others didn’t respond. They were still in shock. The dragon’s corpse, the blistering attacks, Naël’s death... and, above all, Isaac. What he had become in the darkness. What he had done.

An hour later, they reached the regional Hunters’ Bureau—Île-de-France Branch. The building was stark and utilitarian: raw concrete walls, reinforced security checkpoints, armed guards stationed at every entrance.

-« Urgent," Jonah said firmly at the reception desk. "Anomalous mission report. Rank C dungeon. Encountered... an unknown entity. Extremely dangerous."

The receptionist barely glanced up, typing briskly on her terminal, cross-referencing their portal exit report.

- « Urgent report? For a C-rank?" She raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You flagged it as a ’visual anomaly’ and ’humanoid form’?"

- « Yes," Jonah growled. "And it’s not just some random glitch. We’re talking about a humanoid dragon-like creature. It took out the dungeon boss in one hit, then waited for us to show up so it could kill us too."

- « Understood," she replied, finally looking up with a more serious expression. "We’ll have you debriefed. But... you’ll need to wait. The report room is currently occupied."

She motioned to two assistants in white coats.

- « The hunter Isaac Nohr is injured. Take him to Medical Room 2."

Isaac didn’t protest. He gritted his teeth, his back slightly hunched under the weight of exhaustion. His skin still burned where the scales had pushed through, and the compressed mana in his core left him feeling almost nauseous.

- « Card validated," said the assistant. "You want a full protocol? It’s going to cost you."

- « Yeah. I’ll pay."

He was led to the medical wing, while Jonah and the others were left in the waiting room, where they were offered nothing but water. No senior officer. No analyst.

- « Seriously," Jonah muttered, collapsing into a chair. "We brush with death, we see a goddamn dragon, and they’re making us wait like we just ran into some kind of magic slug."

- « They think we’re exaggerating," Roland said with his arms crossed.

-« They’re wrong," Ivy replied, her voice cold.

Forty minutes later, a man in a black suit finally arrived. Round glasses, a worn-out expression, an analytical yet cynical gaze. His badge simply read: D. Vallin, Anomalies Division - Île-de-France Region.

They sat around a cold, impersonal conference table. Vallin placed a blank notebook on the table and switched on a small recorder.

- « Alright... You mentioned a ’humanoid, unidentified, dragon-like entity.’ Rank C dungeon. That type of claim automatically triggers a Level 3 priority. Not Level 1. Not Level 2. Three."

Jonah clenched his jaw.

- « It wasn’t an illusion. Or a phenomenon. It was real."

- « Then tell me everything," Vallin sighed. "From the beginning. No summaries. No drama."

They explained. The arrival. The empty cavern. The boss already dead. The dragon’s corpse on the chitin throne. Its silence. Its gaze. Its dialect. Its speed. And above all, its power.

- « It killed Naël in a second. No incantation. No visible magic. Just... speed we couldn’t follow. And then it went head-to-head with Isaac... I’ve never seen anything like it," Jonah murmured.

Vallin remained silent, calmly taking notes.

- « You said it spoke to you, correct? In a language you didn’t understand."

- « Except maybe Isaac," Roland interjected. "I think he understood. He didn’t say anything, but his face..."

- « Hm."

Vallin slowly closed his notebook. He sat in silence for a moment, staring down at the table.

He let out a long sigh, like a man who had just realized that a storm was brewing and no levee could possibly hold.

- « You don’t know this, obviously. But... for the past two months, hunter teams have been vanishing. Everywhere. Japan. Canada. Brazil. Spain. They disappear inside standard dungeons. No distress signals. Nothing. And when we send reinforcements? The portal’s already shut. And empty."

A cold silence fell over the room.

- « S-rank hunters have disappeared like this. B-rank too. So believe me, what you’re describing... it might be the first real lead we’ve had."

Jonah paled slightly. Ivy’s frown deepened. Roland didn’t react outwardly, but his fists clenched under the table.

- « You... you think what we saw is behind all those disappearances?" Sanae whispered.

- « I think what you saw is one of them," Vallin replied. "And I have no idea how many there are."

He looked at them for a long moment.

- « But what surprises me most isn’t that you ran into it. It’s that you’re still alive."

The silence grew even heavier.

In the medical wing, Isaac slowly opened his eyes, his arm still hooked to a drip filled with painkillers and regeneration fluids. The sterile, flickering light overhead made him feel nauseous.

The faint buzz of a ceiling light filled the small room. The atmosphere was stifling despite its simplicity: gray walls, a metal table, two chairs. Nothing else.

Isaac sat there, still partially hooked to the IV. His left arm was slightly numb from the medication they’d administered. Dressed in a black T-shirt provided by the infirmary, his superficial wounds had already healed... but inside, his mana core still swirled slowly, as if wary of what was coming next.

The door opened with a faint creak.

A man entered calmly, a file in hand, round glasses slipping slightly down his nose.

D. Vallin. Director of Anomalies — Île-de-France Region.

He sat down without a word, pulled out a pen, placed the file on the table, and spent a moment silently studying Isaac. Then, finally, in a calm voice devoid of any emotion:

- « You know why I’m here?"

Isaac met his gaze. He didn’t look away.

- « I’m guessing it’s not just to check in on me."

Vallin gave the barest hint of a smile.

- « No. Although I could pretend I’m concerned about your health."

He slowly flipped through the file.

- « What you did today was remarkable. You eliminated an unknown threat, one possibly tied to a global string of hunter disappearances. You saved your team. You’re a C-rank hunter... who took down a being that may have wiped out S-rank hunters. Impressive. Even if I suspect the creature you encountered was weaker—likely why it appeared in a low-rank portal."

Isaac simply nodded. He wasn’t interested in playing the hero.

Vallin snapped the file shut.

- « And yet, Jonah mentioned something rather... curious."

A heavy silence settled over the room.

- « He said it seemed like you understood what ’the creature’ was saying. That you reacted to its words, as if you comprehended them perfectly."

Isaac didn’t answer.

- « I’m going to ask you a question, Isaac. It’s simple. And I want an honest answer."

Vallin leaned forward slightly, his piercing eyes shining with a strange intensity.

- « Do you understand their language?"

A faint breath. Isaac crossed his arms, his expression calm, his face unreadable.

- « Yes."

Vallin didn’t react. Not immediately. He remained still, his pen hovering in the air.

- « Interesting," he finally murmured. "Very interesting."

He slowly jotted something down on his notepad.

- « That’s not a common ability. No known magic system, no ability we’ve cataloged can translate an unknown language like that. Did you learn this dialect, Isaac?"

- « No."

- « Then... how do you understand it?"

- « I don’t know."

Vallin raised his eyebrows slightly.

- « You don’t know?"

- « I’ve told you what I know. It just... happened. As if my brain was translating it automatically. I can’t explain it."

Vallin’s gaze sharpened.

- « Or maybe... it’s not your brain. Maybe it’s your blood."

Isaac remained impassive.

- « I’m just asking," Vallin continued slowly. "I’m not accusing. But when we have a hunter who can understand an enemy that’s killing our people around the world... and he survives when others leave not even a body behind... we have the right to wonder."

He interlocked his fingers on the table.

- « Isaac Mordred. Are you... human?"

A long, heavy silence.

Isaac stared back at him, unblinking. His voice dropped like a blade:

- « Have I ever once betrayed humanity, Vallin?"

- « That’s not what I asked."

— But that’s what you’re insinuating.

Vallin leaned back slightly in his seat, a thin smile spreading across his lips.

— You’re clever. I’ve never doubted that.

He stood up slowly and closed the file.

— But keep this in mind, Isaac. The world is changing. Fast. And we don’t know who’s on the right side anymore. Or what it even means to "be human" in this mess.

He moved toward the door, his hand resting on the handle.

— You’re free. For now. The national commission will review your report. But believe me... they’re watching you now. Don’t give them a reason to think you’re not one of us.

He paused just before stepping out, still not looking back.

— And if you have things to say... say them before they come looking for them themselves.

With that, he left, the door closing with a hollow thud.

Isaac remained alone. Silent.

He slowly closed his eyes, his heart heavy. He had known this moment would come.