Chapter 384: A Cunning Man
“Well, I hope it makes sense to you guys now,” Tsutomu said after a long session of explanations.
“…”
Back at the Clan House, he had gathered the entire Clan once again to properly talk to them about what had happened on the hundredth layer. He had chosen his words carefully so that even those born of this world could understand what he had done. He confessed, without embellishment, that after the Corroded Elder Dragon’s brain began to regenerate, he had succumbed to fear and prepared to flee… and ultimately, had fled alone.
Amy and Garm, having watched the battle unfold on Monitor #1, were not all that surprised; they had already pieced together much of his thoughts by then. Xeno and Hannah, on the other hand, wore stunned expressions, while Korinna cast a nervous glance toward Amira.
“Bullshit,” Amira muttered.
Contrary to Korinna’s expectations, however, Amira didn’t explode. She simply let those three words fall from her lips. It was such an uncharacteristically subdued response that Tsutomu, who had been bracing himself for a physical assault, could only stare at her in bewilderment.
“I wanted to believe in you,” she said. “But you betrayed me. And now, after all that, you have the nerve to sit there and say you ran? Are you just lying to piss me off?”
“It’s all true,” Tsutomu insisted. “And if I were going to lie, don’t you think I’d have come up with something a little more flattering?”
“…You could’ve taken that thing down alone, couldn’t you? If you’d gone all out from the start, you could’ve beaten it. Were you holding back for our sake?”