"He flew right past you?"
The old man was surprised that Dragapult had managed to get past Haxorus and enter the Dragon Cave. He murmured:
"Looks like we'll have to assign two Dragon Tamers here from now on."
"Easy for you to say. Aside from the three Dragon Tamers up in the sky and the apprentices in the Gym, Lance took everyone else with him. Where would our Dragon Village find any extra Dragon Tamers?"
Clair got straight to the point and began complaining about Lance.
The Dragon Cave had originally had two guards, but Lance had taken both Dragon Tamers away, claiming that the League Prosecutors were short-staffed and needed to borrow them temporarily.
Yet once he borrowed those two Dragon Tamers, they never came back.
The speaker meant nothing by it, but the listener took it to heart. Roy wondered whether the League Prosecutors really were that short-staffed.
"Your cousin has his own difficulties."
The old man naturally understood Lance's predicament. His promotion to Chief Prosecutor might have looked glorious, but he had practically no people of his own within the prosecutor system. That was why Lance had been forced to recruit from his hometown.
Before entering the cave, the old man pressed his palms together and bowed toward the entrance, saying, "Sorry for the intrusion."
Clair pulled Roy along to copy the old man's gesture, bowing together to show their respect for the dead.
Just as the three were about to enter, they saw Salamence emerge from the cave.
Salamence had not found Dragapult, mainly because there were many places inside where he could not spread his wings. If he forced his way through, he would certainly damage many of the skeletons of their predecessors.
The old man patted Salamence on the head and had him wait