"You guys should figure this out yourselves."
With a nonchalant expression, Riezel spoke straightforwardly.
"I'm not getting involved."
"..."
As soon as everyone heard Riezel's words, they were stunned and speechless.
"Don't look at me like that." Riezel glanced at their expressions and went on. "I'm just a wandering adventurer, not like Gazef Stronoff, who's not only a citizen of the kingdom but also has an official position there. Isn't it a bit weird to talk to me about matters of state or even racial issues?"
"Y-You're right..." Lakyus muttered, then shook her head. "But Sir Brynhart is incredibly strong, and you've dealt with those monsters before. If we have your help, then—"
Before Lakyus could finish her sentence, Riezel interrupted.
"You know, the whole idea of 'help' is problematic from the start..." Riezel said with a half-smile. "Let me ask you, why should I help?"
Upon hearing this, everyone was immediately stunned and speechless again, but Riezel's next words would leave them even more stunned and speechless.
"I intervened this time, not because I wanna help the kingdom or fellow humans, but because I have some past dealings with those monsters and, to some extent, because of coincidence and being forced by the situation."
Riezel explained flatly and bluntly.
"If you still don't get it, let me be more straightforward—I don't wanna help people I don't think are worth helping, like those corrupt nobles in the kingdom, for example."
"In the first place, isn't this exactly what those nobles should be doing? They collect taxes from their people and claim the land as their own fiefs, so when the kingdom is in trouble and threatened by powerful monsters, shouldn't they, as nobility, be leading the charge to defend it?"
Riezel's words were so casual that Lakyus and the others could only stare at him in speechless silence.
"...Aren't you an adventurer too?" Evileye asked, furrowing her brows. "Since you're an adventurer, isn't dealing with monsters supposed to be our job?"
Hearing this, Riezel rolled his eyes, speechless at her nonsense.
"Yeah, it's our job, but it's not our responsibility." Riezel retorted bluntly. "In the end, adventurers are just armed individuals getting paid to do a job. We've openly said we won't get involved in national affairs, right? So, please don't make adventurers sound all noble, okay?"
Seeing that Evileye and even Lakyus seemed about to say something more, Riezel raised a hand, stopping them.
"Okay, no need to say anything more. I've done my part. I've ensured those monsters won't indiscriminately slaughter the innocent. I'm personally satisfied with that guarantee."
"As for how those corrupt nobles and those monsters will play their games, I couldn't care less."
"So, if you're planning to discuss how to deal with those monsters and protect your kingdom, don't come to me. I'm really not interested."
Even though Riezel's attitude wasn't particularly forceful, the calmness and indifference in his tone made it clear that he truly didn't care.
"..."
Lakyus and the others furrowed their brows, feeling helpless.
Truthfully, Riezel's words weren't entirely unreasonable.
Yes, the nobles of the kingdom were certainly unpleasant to deal with, so it made sense that no one really wanted to help them with anything.
Riezel had, at least, done his part.
Not only had he saved everyone present and helped calm things down in the royal capital, but he had even made an agreement with those monsters to prevent the majority of innocent people from suffering in the future.
From here on, as long as those monsters kept their word, his contribution would be the greatest, and no one could criticize what he had done.
However, without his help from here on, it would indeed be a huge loss.
Because of this, while they accepted his reasoning logically, emotionally, Lakyus and the others still felt helpless and couldn't accept it.
At this moment, Evileye sighed before speaking up.
"...Seems like I'll have to ask that guy for help."
Evileye's face was full of displeasure as she spoke.
"Who?"
Lakyus asked, making the others look at Evileye.
"Someone you all know." Evileye didn't elaborate much and explained briefly. "I'll try to contact him. If it's him, he should be willing to offer some assistance."
Seeing that everyone was still looking at her, Evileye continued.
"Don't worry. I can guarantee that guy's power is beyond human level, even to the point where you could say he's one of the strongest beings in this world. If he's willing to make a move, even if those monsters come right at us, we'll have a way to deal with them."
Evileye spoke with an expression of displeasure, yet the words she said conveyed great trust in the 'guy' she mentioned.
Riezel, on the other hand, curled his lips upon hearing Evileye's words because, while others might not know who Evileye was talking about, he was very clear.
'Is she talking about him?'
In Riezel's mind, the 'guy' Evileye meant was none other than the platinum knight who had suddenly attacked him over four months ago in the northern forest of E-Rantel.
Of course, the true identity of the knight was not that of a knight, but a dragon—and not just any dragon, but one of the strongest, a True Dragon Lord known as 'Tsaindorcus Vaision', though people usually referred to him as the 'Platinum Dragon Lord'.
Among the True Dragon Lords, the Platinum Dragon Lord was one of the most powerful and was considered one of the strongest living dragons. Not only was he the son of the Dragon Emperor, but he had also participated in the war between the dragon race and the Eight Greed Kings, which made him knowledgeable about YGGDRASIL and the players—though he wouldn't know everything, he had a clear understanding.
He also acted as a guardian of this world's balance, paying close attention to its development and remaining particularly wary of players who came to this world.
As a result, whenever a player was transported from YGGDRASIL to this world, he would often take action by either gathering information on them and then testing them or even sometimes directly eliminating those who sought to disrupt this world's balance, saving it from destruction.
Because of this, the Platinum Dragon Lord was considered an enemy of players, and unless a player earned his trust, he would usually be on the opposite side of them.
Evileye knew the Platinum Dragon Lord, aware of his existence and responsibilities because he frequently traveled around while controlling a suit of platinum armor from a distance.
Yes, the platinum knight was just an armor controlled by the Platinum Dragon Lord. Even though the armor looked like a knight and was humanoid in shape, the inside of the armor was completely empty—merely a controlled puppet.
Two hundred years ago, the Platinum Dragon Lord had joined the Thirteen Heroes in this way and spent some time adventuring with them, which resulted in Evileye meeting him and fighting side by side with him.
Aside from the Platinum Dragon Lord, Evileye also knew another person who had once been part of the Thirteen Heroes—a human woman who had extended her lifespan through magic or similar means, surviving from two hundred years ago to the present day.
'If I'm not wrong, her name is Rigrit, right?'
Riezel, relying on his excellent memory, recalled things about the woman named Rigrit.
Rigrit was one of the rare outliers in this world, with a level of around 40, an existence above even the Realm of Heroes.
She was also friends with the Platinum Dragon Lord, and through that connection, she had obtained a magic item created with Wild Magic, which was now the magic ring Riezel wore on his hand.
Gazef's master had once been an adventurer and had been in the same adventurer group as Rigrit, who hadn't retired at that time. Rigrit, being a close friend of Gazef's master, greatly admired Gazef as a disciple of her old friend, so she gave Gazef the magic ring, helping him, who was already halfway into the Realm of Heroes, fully step into it.
Rigrit had also been part of Blue Roses, making her the senior to Lakyus, Gagaran, Tia, and Tina. In addition, the reason Evileye joined Blue Roses was very likely because of Rigrit.
It seemed that Evileye, who was connected to them, was about to ask Rigrit for help in contacting the Platinum Dragon Lord.
"Platinum Dragon Lord, huh..."
Recalling the confrontation in the northern forest of E-Rantel more than four months ago, Riezel muttered quietly.
'Now that I think about it, he did mention back then that he was going to investigate whether the ring on me was stolen...'
Riezel thought that, at the time, the Platinum Dragon Lord must've assumed he had either taken the magic ring by force or secretly stolen it from Rigrit.
'It's been so long, and there hasn't been a word from him. Maybe he's already confirmed my ring's origins are clean?'
Riezel silently contemplated.
What Riezel didn't know was that the origins of his ring were indeed clean because the Platinum Dragon Lord had immediately contacted Rigrit to confirm this matter shortly after fighting Riezel.
However, thanks to this, Rigrit learned about Riezel's existence and his power, and then, at the Platinum Dragon Lord's request, she asked Lakyus and the others to investigate Riezel, learn about him, and trace his origins.
Had Riezel known this, he might have—no, he would have definitely used the Platinum Dragon Lord as a test to see just how strong his power had gotten after leveling up later.
Ending his thoughts, Riezel spoke again.
"Well, since you guys have made up your minds, let's leave this place. If we don't leave, those monsters will never be at ease."
Hearing this, Lakyus and the others nodded in agreement.
In truth, they had been wanting to leave for a while.
It was only natural.
Staying so close to a group of terrifying monsters really tested their hearts' capacity for stress. If it weren't for worrying about Riezel's safety, they would have already retreated to the royal capital long ago.
Now that Riezel was out, they were eager to leave and return to the city.
"Let's go."
Using Fly, Riezel took the lead and flew off in the direction of E-Rantel.
Seeing this, the others immediately followed, leaving the vast grassland behind.