Michael heard Iris yell loudly but wasn’t annoyed, instead he felt much more relieved. So her saying she didn’t know meant she didn’t know in this way, not that she truly didn’t know the way to find the divine artifact.

“So that’s it…”

He was about to nod when he suddenly frowned as if he had discovered a very big hole in her story.

‘If she was sealed in that battle back then, logically her body should have been on the battlefield. But she said she came from her territory deep in the Ancient Forest. System, is she lying or not?’

[You’re abusing me. Since when did I have the ability to help you analyze situations?]

‘Just bear with me for a bit. If she’s lying then I really have to be careful around her. But if she really is just an airhead who acts more than she thinks, then it’s no problem.]

In Michael’s mind at this moment, things were extremely tangled. Living with her for these past few years wasn’t a short time. Although he didn’t like her, basically in situations that required seriousness, he could still trust her.

But if she really made up a story to trick everyone, then things would be extremely serious. He couldn’t help but consider the worst possible scenario.

It could be that her subordinates had already been lying in ambush. As soon as things deviated from her original plan, they would kill to silence everyone.

[You don’t need to worry too much. Don’t forget Iris said her divine artifact was split into three parts, and that other god’s divine artifact was the same. High chance is that sealing a god, even a severely injured one, isn’t easy, so she had enough time to run back to her territory.]

The system’s extremely reasonable explanation made Michael feel a bit lighter inside. But he should still confirm it to be sure.

“You were heavily injured on the battlefield, and then Sun God and Sea God tried to seal you, so how did you manage to return to the Ancient Forest?”

Hearing this question, Iris didn’t think that Michael had suspected her. To her, he was just like a child with a bit of petty cleverness. So she immediately glared at him. The veins on her forehead bulged slightly, clearly angry now.

“Are you looking down on my strength? Or looking down on my flying speed? Even if I was heavily injured, that doesn’t mean they could seal me right away.

It was just one divine artifact, not a god using a divine artifact. Using my divine artifact to hold them off gave me plenty of time to return to my territory.”

Being yelled at right in the face like that, Michael actually smiled, which stunned her. If by now she still couldn’t figure out what was going on, she’d be an idiot.

Ignoring the fact that he still hadn’t fully recovered, she immediately grabbed his ear and pinched hard. The sharp dragon claws touching it poked a hole through his ear.

“Nice one… Who gave you the guts to suspect me? If your intelligence is so good, use it to deal with enemies. What’s the point of using it against a comrade?”

Michael’s face was all scrunched up from the pain, but hearing her preach like that made him freeze. It wasn’t that this logic was new, just that he didn’t expect her to say it at this moment.

“That’s my fault, so can you let go of my ear now?”

Hearing that, Iris immediately let go. She only wanted to warn him a little, and besides, she’d just stabbed a hole in his belly. If she hit him again now, it’d be a bit too much.

“But since when did you get so smart? Didn’t even take a few seconds to see through my intentions?”

Originally didn’t want to hit him, but if Michael was asking for a beating, that wasn’t her fault. So she didn’t hold back and punched him straight in the face.

“Hmph, I’m always smart. The only one here who’s sometimes smart and sometimes dumb is you.”

Michael felt his head was a little dizzy but didn’t react much. The number of times he’d been punched in the face like this was a lot, so he’d gotten used to it.

“Me suspecting you isn’t unreasonable. After all, you didn’t actively tell me everything clearly. If it was Leo, I’m sure he would have suspected the same thing.”

Hearing him say such nonsense made her find it extremely funny. No matter how you put it, among the three of them, Michael was still the most ‘childish’.

“Ha ha ha, I’m sure he wouldn’t have suspected. A brat like you, what do you know about a leader’s vision?”

Suddenly being laughed at in the face and treated like a child like this made the veins on Michael’s forehead bulge.

Now that he had strength, he wasn’t the weak little brat from a few years ago. If there wasn’t a satisfactory explanation, don’t expect him to let this go.

“Hmph, if you don’t explain clearly, I’ll fight you to the death.”

‘Ohoho… You wanna fight to the death? Then let’s start right now.”

From the past until now, Iris had never shied away from a fight. Back when she had to protect the dragons from extinction, she had to hold back a bit, but now there was no need to be cautious anymore.

“Forget it, no fighting. Just explain it clearly to me.”

Seeing her so full of fighting spirit, Michael didn’t want to get involved. Training needed to be combined with rest. He didn’t want to be tortured both physically and mentally all the time.

“Hmph, boring.” Iris pouted.

“Do you actually know or not? Or are you just good at talking nonsense?”

Michael blatantly used a provocative tone with her. Anyway, he still had to hear the answer. He needed to learn a lot if he wanted to improve.

“For Michael, my value is big enough for him to accept all the risks. Without me, the strength of Leo’s faction would drop sharply.

Even if I really did betray him, he would still try to get me back, or at the very least, have me return to the Ancient Forest without interfering in human affairs anymore. He would do everything to make sure I don’t side with the enemy.”

Explaining up to this point, he understood now. As long as your value was high enough and you hadn’t made an unforgivable mistake, then it was considered as if nothing happened.

Iris had helped them with many things, but it seemed that aside from Michael letting her beat him up for fun, they hadn’t given her anything else in return. Honestly speaking, in the group right now, she was the one with the greatest contribution.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep