A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 324: Escorted to a Dungeon

Chapter 324: Escorted to a Dungeon

I was forcefully dragged away by the duchess and her guard for an interrogation. I could’ve easily denied going with them with my power, but that would just put more of a target on my back than I already have, which I don’t want, so the simplest solution is to just go with them.

They took me to the Duchess’ personal residence, which surprised me. After all, why would I be taken here?

Turns out it was to take me to their private dungeon. It was actually a lot nicer than you would think, with a decent place to sleep and a table in each cell we passed. Clean too.

There were some people inside the cells, some of them were eating and others were reading. I even saw one of them masturbating in the corner.

Still, it was a dungeon, so it still had this thick and musty mossy smell that filled the air, constantly clinging to you like it was a parasite.

Wait a minute... It is a parasite. Sort of at least.

It was falling from the air, clinging to my skin, sapping away my magic and then falling off as and when I moved.

Why they brought me down here? I have no clue, but at this point, I refuse to go any further. Not after I just discovered that I was being drained of my mana for some reason.

So I stopped.

And clearly none of them were expecting me to do so. Not the Duchess, not the other officials and not any of the four guards that surrounded me as my ’escorts’.

They all stopped and turned to look at me, some confused, but most irritated and offended.

"Why have you stopped? Keep going." One of the guards ordered.

As if I’d listen.

Instead I stared the Duchess directly in the eyes and demanded an explanation, "What is this stuff? Why is it here?" My tone was one filled with a venomous tongue as I gestured to the dust in the air.

The moment I finished speaking though, I ignited my body, covering in in flames. But not just ordinary flames, as I fear that these weird dust bites would be able to tear through that, so I instead used [Hell Fire]. Which seemed to work in that regard at least.

The four guards surrounding me instantly backed away, gathering between me and the Duchess, their bodies shaking as they put up a brave front.

The officials look like they were about to pass out from the fearful realisation of what I am.

As for the Duchess, she merely had a smirk on her face as she lifted her head as if to look down on me.

"It seems that I was right, you are a demon." She smiled smugly, as she had triumphed over me.

"Yes, I’m of demonic descent. What of it." I retorted nonchalantly, because it really wasn’t a big deal. So what if I was a demon? That means nothing here.

"Because you are the origins for all of the sinister machinations and malicious air that have been plaguing this city has been through for so long." She declared with a mocking deride, even though I barely even knew what she was talking about.

"I’ve been in this city for barely even half a year, so how the hell did you come to the conclusion that I’m the source of all your problems?" I snapped back, with a barbarous expression.

The Duchess’ eye twitched momentarily before her mask of complete assertiveness came back as she tried to bullshit her way through this.

"Simple really, your ’friend’ from the guild told us-"

Before she could even finish that statement, I stopped her, because I knew from her tone who exactly she was referring to, "That bitch was lying. She only said that because she wanted some petty revenge against me. I’m a demon myself, and my father taught me all about demon-kin and how they generally operate."

The Duchess seemed to be stumped as she stuttered and stalled her next words, trying to find some kind of rebuttal, but it never came.

Instead one of the officials spoke up instead, saying this, "Well I have it on good authority that you are a person of suspect. And all this thanks to my friend, of whom you so coldly rejected their tutelage."

Oh, her. I forgot about that. Not because I’ve repressed the memory or anything, I just forgot that it ever occurred, given how much has happened since then.

"I barely remember that, and all I can recall was how creepy she was being towards me. If anything, she was being a stalker with how she carried herself and how she knew so much about me. At the time I wanted to keep certain things to myself, but she pushed me away with how she acted towards me. But that was then. Now? I’ve decided to forgo hiding things."

I pointed at her accusingly as I declared, "If you’re not okay with who and what I am, then you’re just a fraud who lied to her people about her goals. The people will then see you for who you really are, just a greedy narcissist who uses the plight of others to better your own image."

Everyone in this dungeon hallway was shaken to their core, apparent by their same reactions, mouths agape and eyes shrunk in disbelief after hearing what I said.

And seeing that none of them were going to do anything, I decided to leave.

But the moment I turned around, the four guards snapped out of their stupor and rushed to block my way out of here.

I raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you doing?" I was honestly getting tired of this shit. I’ve spent like nearly two weeks helping my friends, and have barely had any downtime in that time, or just time for myself.

I was getting frustrated with these antics as I was finding them to be a great waste of my time. And I could feel a righteous anger starting to build up within me. It was a familiar sensation, but one that I couldn’t quite recall properly.

Regardless, I just want to leave so that I could have some free time for myself. If they hadn’t had this parasitical dust here sapping away at me, then I wouldn’t have cared about this interrogation, and would’ve gone along with it.

But after everything that I’ve experienced relating to the Duchess, from the auctions after party, to her lies about the curse that created ash, and now this? I’ve grown to detest her and what she tries to be and represent.

My patience with her is running thin.

"Where do you think you’re going! You still have to be interrogated! And for more than what happened earlier now too!" One of the guards bellowed at me, her voice piercing the air like the spear that they were all pointing at me.

"Leaving, because I’ve realised that being here will be a pointless waste of my time. I’m not just going to follow you straight into what is obviously a trap. I would advise against such an act by the way, I won’t say why, but bad things will come because of it." I stated in such a blunt yet monotone manner.

And I was indeed telling the truth, for the most part at least. This was indeed just going to waste my time, and given how things have gone and the way they set up environment, they probably were planning to keep me here against my will.

Too bad for them, I’m too powerful to be held in a place like this. Besides, even if they did succeed in capturing me, I believe that my father would do something.

And that seemed to make them even more hesitant to make a move against me, as they could feel the weight behind my words. It wasn’t an empty threat, it was a promise.

I heard the Duchess scowling behind me. I could imagine her face all scrunched up in rage at the audacity that I was displaying.

Then she spoke up, her voice gritty but still trying to be amicable, "Why, just why are you being like this... So... So dissonant!"

’That... wasn’t at all what I was expecting to hear from her.’ I thought as I turned around to see her trembling form, her head lowered as her arms shook. But it didn’t appear to be from anger, but something else instead.

*Sigh* "Because you’re using this," I gestured to the dust surrounding us once more, "And trying to sap away my mana with it. If that’s not an attempt to try and weaken me so that you can capture me more easily, then I don’t know what it’s supposed to be."

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