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Beast Tamer Who Got Kicked Out From the Hero’s Party Chapter 186

CHAPTER 186: THE INTERROGATION

　
Rollys, the royal capital of the kingdom located in the very center of the Central Continent.

Located in the very center of the royal capital was the royal castle.

In the huge audience room, there was the figure of Argus Von Rollys, the King who ruled over the three regions of the Central, Southern, and Eastern Continents for many years now.

Although he was over sixty years old, the aura of supremacy he wore about himself had not diminished at all.

At the current moment, he was looking down on a certain group of people with a rather stern and sharp gaze to himself.

The group that was kneeling in front of Argus…… was Arios and the other members of his Party.

Arios, Aggath, Mina and Rin…… The group that was collectively called the “Hero’s Party” and was supposed to be praised for their valiant efforts, were currently prostrating themselves before the King, cold sweat dripping from their temples and backs.

「Arios.」

Arios’s body jerked strongly as the grave voice of Argus reached his ears.

「I hope that you do understand the reason as to why you were called in here, correct?」

「W-Well…… This is……」

「You set the entity known as the Devil free, and then murdered the sole witness of your crime, an innocent Adventurer. Furthermore, you tried to take credit for defeating the Devil by going into cohorts with it…… What do you have to say in your defense in the light of those charges?」

「……I didn’t do any of those things, Your Majesty.」

Even under Argus’ stern gaze, Arios did not admit to his faults.

「Oh, is that so…… So then, are you saying that the official letter of complaint that we have received from the villagers from the Southern Continent is lying? Even though it documents your actions and crimes in great detail?」

「It is true that I have saved those villagers from danger, and I have never done anything that would put their health or lives in peril. Perhaps they are confused out of fear, and are unable to comprehend what they have witnessed?」

「So what about the reports coming from the Adventurers’ Guild?」

「I have no idea what those reports are even talking about. This has to be some sort of mistake on their end.」

「So then, are you saying that none of the things mentioned in those reports are your fault?」

「Yes, Your Majesty. It is precisely like that.」

Arios replied firmly.

This is a truly imposing attitude, as if he has done nothing because of which he could be ashamed of.

Seeing Arios looking and speaking with so much confidence in his voice, the King’s aides genuinely felt at a loss.

Could it be that the Adventurers’ Guild’s report was wrong?

Surely it must have been that the villagers were mistaken.

After all, Arios is a Hero.

There is no way that he would do such a thing.

They had all come to think that way because they had all treated the existence of “Hero” as something sacred.

…… However, Argus would not be so easily misled.

「You absolute imbecile!」

「Ngh!?」

Arios’ face tightened as Argus’s shout rang out across the audience chamber, sounding like a roar of thunder in the middle of the night.

Aggath and Arios’s other companions also shuddered on the spot.

Argus was a King.

He was not a typical foolish king who would allow himself to be controlled by someone else, but a wise King who firmly treaded the earth with his own two feet.

So did Arios really think that he could possibly deceive such a perceptive monarch?

But no matter what Arios had thought, the answer could only be one: no, there was no way that he could possibly do that.

「Did you honestly think you could get away with telling such a blatant lie here!?」

「B-But I am telling the truth here! Your Majesty, there is no way that I would ever lie to you and……」

「Are you still trying to pile even more lies on top of the ones that you already spoke about!?」

Argus’s mood started to rapidly descend.

Seeing this, Arios’s complexion deteriorated as well.

He desperately tries to defend himself from the King’s accusations, but……

Unaware that all of his efforts were counterproductive here, they only served to cause Argus’s mood to reach its lowest point possible.

「…… Enough of this.」

Disgusted with what he was seeing in front of him, Argus raised his hand to signal Arios to stop.

「It would seem that you cannot even hold a decent and coherent conversation at the current moment. First of all, I suggest you go and cool your heads off somewhere. Knights, take Arios and his companion to the prison dungeon, right now.

「Wha!?」

Does that mean that the King would put him, the Hero, in prison, just like that!?

Hearing that, Arios was at a loss for words, unable to even form a reply.

But Argus’s eyes were serious about this.

And the knights who were ordered to carry out their King’s will were also deadly serious.

They walked up to Arios and his companions and held their arms from both sides.

「Now, move it! This way!」

「Kuh…… T-That’s preposterous! I’m a Hero!　So why am I to be thrown in prison like some common……!?」

「Worry not, it is only going to be an overnight stay for the time being. So I advise you to use that time wisely to cool your head off and reflect on your actions until now, and what you want to do in the future.」

「Your Majesty, you’re making a huge mistake here……!」
「Silence, you fool. I don’t want to hear another word from you today. I don’t want to see your face anymore. Begone! Go to prison and face the weight of your sins.」

「Kuh!」

Arios’s face contorted greatly.

Anger, impatience, humiliation…….all sorts of emotions appeared on his face in the span of a single moment.

It would be really easy for him to shake off the knights right here and right now.

No matter how well trained the knights are, they would be no match for the strength of the Hero going seriously against them.

However, if he did so in front of the King like that, he would be as good as rebelling against the King himself.

No matter how reckless Arios was, that was a line that he himself would never dare to cross.

It would mean him falling into the position of a rebel, forsaking his role as a Hero and everything that was associated with it at the same time.

Because he understood that, Arios allowed himself to be meekly taken away by the knights while biting his teeth in frustration.

However, he was glaring at Argus really feverishly right until the very end.

「Fuh.」

Arios and his Party members disappeared, and Argus rested his back deep into the throne.

A long and heavy sigh then spilled out of his lips.

「I never thought that he would ever do something like that……」

Thinking about what Arios and the others had done, Argus became bitter at the thought of what they had done and the potential damages that could have caused.

Although he had way too much pride in him than it was worth and had no regard for the opinions and well-being of others……

Argus really did not expect that Arios could possibly stoop so low and do something so incredibly stupid.

Argus then thought to himself.

What Arios has done was absolutely unforgivable.

Normally, I would have caused him to be tried as a criminal and land him a life sentence in prison.

But Arios was a “Hero”.

If Arios would be gone, humanity would lose its only weapon to oppose the threat of the Demon Lord.

Although the Demon Lord was still in its dormant state at the current moment……

Eventually, it would wake up from its slumber and start working in earnest in order to eviscerate humanity as a whole.

If there would be no Hero at that time, humanity will have no choice but to become extinct when faced with the Demon Lord’s wrath.

So as unfortunate as it was, Arios was a necessary presence.

But that doesn’t mean that he can do whatever he wants.

If it was going to be something small and insignificant, the Crown was ready to turn a blind eye to that, but……

This time it was clearly too much.

He hoped that Arios was seriously going to be sorry and would repent for his foolish actions, but judging by his character and behavior, as well as his earlier attitude, it was unlikely that something like that was to happen anytime soon.

But then, what should he, as the King, do?

Argus thought about it long and hard.

「I would like to somehow control Arios and his Party to some extent, but…… Hmm. Should I lure him into cooperating with some sort of reward? No…… That would only serve to make things worse. He would only grow even more arrogant. It was clearly a mistake to allow him to do whatever it was that he pleased until now…… Maybe what is needed here is someone to supervise them? That way we could have at least SOME semblance of control over them……」

Muttering to himself, Argus thought about the future.

「Well then…… Yes, let us start with that. If there’s a watchful eye looming over them, then I’m sure that none of them will try to do anything stupid. So for a while, we are going to let them act as normal and see where that gets us from that point onwards…… If they manage to end up going back on the right track, then that would be perfect. But if that was not going to happen no matter what…… Well, in that case, we will have to consider using our old reliable insurance method.」