"Stop, what are you doing to that man?" a young feminine voice suddenly excimed, interrupting Draco's interrogation of Elias.

  Turning to the source, the group was greeted by the sight of three unknown individuals.

  The one who had spoken was a beautiful young girl with blood-red hair and pierg green eyes, her locks pulled bato a ponytail.

  Beside her stood another young-looking girl, though it was difficult to dis her age as she allum.

  She had short, pink hair, and her features looked endearing and quite lovable, as was typical of her race.

  The third person was shrouded in a full cloak, making their appearance hard to dis, but based on their body shape, team dynamics, and the strands of blonde hair that peeked out, Draco assumed they were also a young girl.

  'How careless of me,' Draco thought, slowly rising to his feet.

  'I should have sed the area more thhly,' he mented.

  "Help, these people killed those people over there and now they're trying to kill me!" Elias screamed at the top of his lungs, attempting to tto the new arrivals for his survival.

  A tick mark appeared on Vasiliki's head, and she was visibly irked by Elias' false accusation.

  Icicles began creeping onto Elias' feet as Vasiliki attempted to freeze him.

  Draco raised his hand immediately to stop Vasiliki.

  "Hold on," he said, gauging the strength of the three women.

  He judged that two of them were around level 3, and the pallum girl was a level 2.

  This was not something their team, posed of level 1's, could easily handle.

  He was also aware that it would be difficult to expin their current situation.

  No matter how one looked at it, the se made them appear to be the antagonists.

  ‘Sigh, now what do I do? And why do these girls look so familiar?’ Draco pondered.

  "Quick, do something! They want to silence me now!" Elias pleaded.

  Annoyed with Elias, Draco ched his fist and struck him on the head, knog him unscious.

  This act was suffit to vihe new arrivals that Drad his group were the antagonists.

  "I apologize for that," Draco began, attempting to expin.

  "I expin what is truly transpiring—" he tinued.

  Swish! g!

  But the red-haired girl had no iion of waiting to listen.

  She uhed her on and charged towards Draco with the io eliminate him.

  "Alise, wait!" the pallum girl called out, but her plea fell on deaf ears.

  'Fast,' Draco thought, his reptilian pupils diting as he tracked her movement.

  Quickly, he transformed one of his arms into a d tried to deflect the rapier attack.

  The sudden attack was strohan Draco expected, and the force of the impact sent him tumbling to the ground.

  'She's very strong,' Draco realized, quickly trying tain his bance.

  Dimitra, seeing an opening, didn't waste any time.

  She knocked her arrows and fired, providing cover fire for Draco to recover.

  The red-haired girl, now identified as Alise, backflipped to avoid the arrows, putting some distaween herself and the group.

  "Draii!" Vasileios called out in worry, running forward with his shield raised to help.

  Cir, Michalis, Eleni, Nikoos, and Vasiliki immediately took up a battle formation around Draco, ready to respond.

  "Alise, we'll help," the cloaked girl said to the red-haired girl.

  'Wait, Alise? Isn't she the captain of the Astraea Familia?' Draco realized.

  'Then the pallum must be Lyra, and the cloaked person is probably Ryuu,' he deduced.

  The battle lines had already been drawn, with Draco's group fag off against the trio from the Astraea Familia.

  Draew they were in for a tough fight, but he couldn't afford to back down.

  He had to find a way to diffuse the situation and expiruth.

  His heart raced as he pted the gravity of the situation.

  Entering the Astraea Familia like this in the dungeon was the st thing he expected.

  Resolving this misuanding would be no easy task, but he knew he had to try.

  Rising to his feet, Draco brushed the dirt off his cloak, a casual a that seemed to only further annoy the three girls of the Astraea Familia.

  He could seheir irritation at his nont demeanor, as if he was not taking them seriously.

  However, Draco didn't care.

  He khat fleeing was not an option.

  Even if they made it back to the surface, the misuanding would still persist and could evee.

  'Sigh, 't let them perceive us as weak. They might try subduing us without listening if they realize that we are just level ones,' he thought.

  "Are you all, perhaps, members of the Astraea Familia?" Draco asked, his tone measured and polite.

  "Yes, and what of it? Scared?" Lyra replied, her voice carrying a hint of irritation.

  "No, I am not. I just wao talk, so we resolve this grave misuanding," Draco responded, with a light chuckle.

  "We have nothing to discuss with criminals like you," Alise spat, her eyes narrowed in suspi.

  "Either you surreo justice peacefully, or we will make you," she threatened.

  'Damn justice freaks,' Draco thought, as he couldn't help but let out an annoyed sigh.

  "Why do you have to make things so difficult?" he mumbled.

  He wasn't truly afraid of them, but fag Alise, Ryuu, and Lyra together was an impossible feat for his curreo face head-on without res to using a skill he wao avoid using at all costs.

  Closing his eyes, Draco sent out a wide pulse of energy, carefully sing the surrounding area to ensure no other adventurers were approag, further plig the current situation.

  His senses detected only nearby monsters, and no other parties were in the viity.

  Swish !!

  Swiftly, Alise and Ryuu immediately moved in a blur, dashing forward the moment they saw Draco's eyes close.

  They had clearly determihat he to something and o act quickly to stop him.

  Lyra, oher hand, moved at a more measured pace, her goal being to subdue the ranged members of Draco's group.

  Vasiliki reacted without hesitation, spreading a sheet of slippery i the ground in front of the advang Alise and Ryuu, hoping it would cause them to slip and buy some precious time.

  But her efforts were in vain, as the two adventurers easily powered through the ice, their speed and skill undiminished.

  Vasileios quickly moved to the front, activating his skills and readying himself to withstand the ining blows.

  Michalis and Cir, meanwhile, had shifted their focus to Lyra, reizing the potential threat she posed.

  Draco took a deep breath, his mind rag as he sidered the situation thhly.

  He soon came to a decision.

  "Stop!" Draco suddenly excimed, his voice carrying an ued authority.

  He eled the full brunt of his skill, 'Dragon Aura,' mixed with a potent sense of bloodlust, enpassing the entire hallway.

  He also sent a pulse of earth elemental energy through the dungeon walls in the hallway, causing them to lightly rumble in sync with his shout.

  The sudden ge in his demeanor and the effects of his skills immediately took effect, causing Ryuu and Alise to halt their assault areat with caution.

  The air became thid heavy with the pressure he was emitting, giving the illusion of being pulled to the bottom of the sea.

  "What was that?" Ryuu asked, quickly snapping out of the skill's effect.

  When she felt Draco's aura and bloodlust, a sense of unease crept up her spine, and she instinctively retreated, with the same true for Alise.

  Alise and Ryuu were not the only ones affected by Draco's skill; Lyra, Cir, Michalis, Eleni, Nikoos, Dimitra, Vasileios, and Vasileios had all e to a halt.

  Their bodies instinctively tensed up, perceiving Draco as a threat.

  Silence filled the hallway for a while as the rumbling hallway settled down.

  "We will peacefully surrender," Draco stated, breaking the silence, his voice calm and posed.

  It was a decision he had made after deeply pting the situation.

  He had sidered two ways of settling the matter.

  The first was somehow subduing the Astraea familia to make them listen, which was currently impossible.

  The sed was to surrender peacefully, while making a strong impression and preserving their pride as a familia.

  Fighting the Astraea familia would oe the situation and was not worth the effort.

  He could already imagine, how the sario would py out if he did that.

  It was highly likely that if they fought, casualties would occur from his side first, and if that happened, his rage skill would definitely be triggered, leading to a much rger mess.

  He was also aware that Alise possessed several dangerous skills and magic, making her on par with a new level 4 batant.

  The same was true for Ryuu, while Lyra, though not much of a threat to him skill-wise, her ing and dirty tricks were definitely going to be a problem.

  Additionally, Draco had thought of an easy way to solve the whole misuanding.

  He remembered the truth device used by the guild when they first ehe city.

  They just o meet Rose, their guild advisor, to get one, and the truth should be revealed.

  Upon hearing Draco's words, Alise, Ryuu, and Lyra were a bit fused.

  With the amount of bloodlust Draco had released, they were certain that he reparing to attack them.

  But here he was, surrendering without putting up much of a fight, making the situation seem a lot more plicated.

  This, in turn, made them doubt whether Drad his paniohe ones who had itted the murder.

  "What if we do not accept the surrender?" Lyra asked, curious about Draco's capabilities that had allowed him to be so fident in his as.

  "Well, it simply means that it will bee a fight to the death," Draco replied nontly, his reptilian eyes narrowing at her.

  They could all sehat his words carried a serious weight.

  "Iing," Lyra murmured.

  "Disarm," Drastructed his familia as proof of his siy.

  They were initially skeptical, but obliged, believing in his judgment.

  Alise, Ryuu, and Lyra watched as Draco's familia id down their ons, a clear demonstration of their willio surrender peacefully.

  The tension in the air alpable, and the three girls found themselves residering their initial assessment of the situation.

  Draco's calm demeanor and the ued turn of events had left them with more questions than answers.

  They realized that there was more to this enter thahe eye, and they o tread carefully to uhe truth.

  Draco, sensing the doubt in their eyes, determihat it was time to expiuation to them and provide a way to verify the truth.

  His gaze briefly swept across the group, his expression serious.

  "I apologize for the misuanding, but I assure you that this man is the true criminal in this situation. We have been framed, and I would like nothing more than to resolve this peacefully," he began.

  Alise's eyes narrowed, her staill tense.

  "And why should we believe anything you say?" she said.

  "I uand your skepticism, but what more do you want? I believe that roven to be sincere enough," Draco replied, a hint of annoyan his tone.

  "Go on," Alise said.

  "This man named Elias is the one maniputing the situation, and we are merely trying to set the record straight. If you'll allow me, I expihing iail and provide evideo support our cims," Draco said.

  He began expining everything he knew about the situation and provided the evidence.

  To top things off, he even suggested using a truth devi the guild.

  Alise had a furrowed brow, pting after listening to Drad seeing the presented evidence.

  "If you're telling the truth, then we should indeed meet with this Rose ao the bottom of this. But I warn you, if we find any evidence of your involvement in the murder, there will be no mercy," she warned.

  Ryuu and Lyra nodded in agreement, their eyes fixed on Drad his panions, ready to react at the slightest provocation.

  Draply nodded, his expression unreadable.

  "I uand. Let's proceed to the guild and clear this misuanding," he replied.

  As they walked back to the surface with Elias in tow, Draco couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh. 'Sigh, what a waste of the day.' he thought.