Chapter 66: 69. Authority is Cruel Part 11

"We are not free. We have never known freedom." The draconid starts.

Some of the spectators start talking amongst themselves while looking over at the draconid man. His voice is deep and quiet, and whatever magic was applied to him makes his speech extend to almost the entire radius of the square.

“You are not free.”

Angelidis, Dzan and Sigvor stare at him. He is a bit far from where they are standing, so they cannot see his features clearly like Ajax and Shaula can.

However, considering that he doesn't look like he has ears on the top of his head, Angelidis opens her eyes wide. She seems to harbor a suspicion, one that is soon verified.

“You are not free.”

"Shaula, is that… wait, he has claws, he's a draconid!” Angelidis whispers in surprise. The man has large hands and claws extending from each finger. They are long and jet black just like Angelidis’ own. Ajax notices that their shape is slightly different. While Angelidis’ claws are more like owl talons, his claws are blade-like and thinner.

It almost appears as if small, well-polished daggers extend from each of his fingers. As Ajax looks closer, they almost look serrated. Angelidis cannot see the old man’s hands with that level of detail. She’s not paying attention to that either. She’s wondering how this man’s appearance will make the guards react.

“You are not free.” The draconid man keeps repeating this phrase while pointing towards members of the crowd encircling him. Angelidis just sighs in disbelief, slightly annoyed by the gimmick his speech is using to start things off.

“What is he doing? Looking to get himself killed?" Angelidis scoffs.

Prisca squirms a little hearing Angelidis speak like that about someone she admires. Ajax and Shaula both catch Prisca, Cel and Sito's wincing reactions. None of them were expecting the man to appear. None of them wanted him to appear either. He is the most important member of their faith right now.

By making his face public, he’s only endangering himself. This is what the three of them are thinking right now.

The old draconid man continues speaking, having finished admonishing the audience of fellow demihumans for their lack of freedom. He points his sharp claws over to the statue that is nearly fully formed. Angelidis is surprised by how the light glints off of those obsidian daggers. Dazzling.

"That statue there. Many of you might not exactly understand who that is. I’m sure you’ve spread word amongst yourselves about her already today. For those who don’t know her significance, or those who, like myself, got here late, I will fill in the gaps. She was known as Hideza the Executioner.”

Sigvor and Dzan have heard of that title before. Her name was often invoked as a hero of the marchers and other human supremacist groups. However, they’ve never built a statue of her in the past, instead choosing to invoke her name as an example of human beauty.

Demihuman women are often valued even among human supremacists for their physical appeal, but not as symbols of grace and beauty. The Federation’s social values are slowly starting to change in that regard, so human supremacists like to point to Hideza as a human woman who embodies human supremacist conceptions of beauty.

The old man continues.

“Hideza actually had many names… Conqueror. Pillager. Exterminator. Eradicator. That last one is a name used by those who liken our kin to infestations by an invasive species… Ironically, she never served against an aberrant crawler hive, hahahaha!!!”

The old man’s booming laughter puts the guards surrounding the marchers on edge. He exudes confidence and strength, in a different way than the guards who rely mostly on powerful magical tools to demonstrate their power. The old man continues.

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“Hideza the Executioner. Her legacy was one of pure will and power. Her will was to subjugate our kind and exterminate those unwilling to remain bound. Her power was the ability to carry out her will on a massive scale.”

While the man speaks, Shaula listens carefully to the guards’ force. Currently, they’re guarding the vulnerable marchers, but what will they do to this man once that job is done? She tries to pick up any stray conversation among their group.

However, even they have gone silent. She does hear the sound of fists clenching, jaws hardening, even heart rates increasing.

They don’t seem to like this man speaking about Hideza in this manner. Their physiological reactions make her think that they are furious.

“The executioner killed those few of our kin born in this nation who had ever tasted freedom. I doubt our brothers and sisters who lived even after slavery was abolished experienced the degree of freedom those freemen had. For her atrocities against our ancestors, she was given the title of Divinity, while she was alive. She was the divinity of the 33rd generation of nobility.”

Tch.

Angelidis clicks her tongue at those words.

She considers the respect that this crowd of human supremacists has for that butcher. It fills her with irritation to think about it. The old man sneers with a wide toothy grin.

“Isn't that something! Osva loved her actions so much that he gave her that rare and prestigious title. Not only that but he gave it to her, bestowed that honor upon her, while she was alive instead of posthumously! Isn’t… that… something…"

Ajax, Shaula and Angelidis watch the reaction of the crowd. There is some murmuring, but most of the crowd remains silent, sharing the old draconid man’s silent anger.

Shaula is still watching the guards who remain standing still as statues themselves. She is careful to see if they’re about to blow up on his speech. If they try to arrest him, even if she doesn’t confront them, others among this crowd will. There are protesters here who have some fire in their bellies.

Will the guards start attacking, even killing, the surrounding protesters so they can capture him? At that point, why would she need to hold back against them?

At what point… would she be allowed to fight back alongside the protesters with her full power? Angelidis looks over at Shaula’s cold gaze and notices her lips twitching in excitement as the man continues speaking. She feels fear. She turns back towards the old man.

"Hideza’s life was dedicated to our enslavement. The humans here worship those who would see us without our freedom and had the power to make that a reality. But guess what, my friends? Those men there surrounding that false idol? They are not free either.”

His voice is quiet and unwavering, exuding a quiet anger even while he smiles wide. His smile does not reach his eyes. The marchers remain silent while he speaks as he had assumed they would. None of them can speak right now because their mana is still being used to fully complete the statue.

They can only move once the statue is finally completed.

Though his words are fiery, the old man is undaunted.

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