Ch#90
{I, don’t feel like it. Not really. But us in this state. Help. Demon King. Explain the situation. Request aid. Where is the Demon King?}
The emperor’s brow furrowed even deeper at the elf’s words.
The emperor stared silently at the elf’s expression for a moment before turning his head wordlessly to look at Kiriel. Kiriel’s face had also stiffened, as if he understood the ancient tongue.
“Demon King? Did I hear that right? Young Lord Yudia.”
“It seems so. But it’s a bit odd to mention the Demon King so casually. Like calling over a friend you’ve had a slight falling out with.”
The two exchanged words before looking back at the elf once more.
The elf was turning his head this way and that, taking in every corner of the room as if the scenery was utterly fascinating.
{The Demon King is dead.}
{Dead? Generation shift? Who is the next Demon King?}
Ah. The emperor let out a small exclamation before opening his mouth again.
{Correction. The demon race was annihilated. They lost the war. Now, demons are almost gone, except for those who became fugitives.}
Bewilderment spread across the elf’s face at the emperor’s words.
{What nonsense is that? No Demon King? No Demon King and you’re still alive? How?}
The emperor’s eyes narrowed at the elf’s meaningful words.
Trying to speak in the humans’ language wasn’t going smoothly at all.
‘Looks like their side doesn’t use this as the common tongue either.’
Well, 1,500 years was more than enough time for languages, eras, and even the shape of the continent to change.
Elf, Lefha.
He was the guardian of the elf city.
Long ago, when a massive dungeon formed with the city at its center, cutting off any path of escape.
The elf chieftain sacrificed himself to seal the entire city in the deepest place they could reach.
At first, they tried to somehow survive inside, but the elves began losing their reason bit by bit.
In the end, they decided to seal the elves’ souls and bodies entirely and fall into a deep slumber.
And they set up magic so that one elf would awaken at irregular intervals.
They called that being the ‘guardian.’
But for some reason, when he opened his eyes, part of the seal was torn, and the stagnant demonic energy that had built up over a long time flowed in, corrupting his kin.
Their once snow-white skin had turned black, and their blue eyes had shifted to violet.
They had been tainted by the demonic energy of the monsters.
Demonic energy is toxic and eats away at the mind.
Even in that situation, Lefha waited. For the moment someone would break the seal and enter.
If someone came in and reached out to them, he planned to seek help from the Demon King first.
Because the Demon King was the only being in the world who could manipulate all existing demonic energy at will.
Even the demonic energy rooted in their bodies like roots could be drawn out by the Demon King.
If that proved impossible, at the very least, she would help them regain their sanity.
After that, they could settle in the forest where they lived for a while.
Demonic energy, if not controlled by its bearer, would kill or devour surrounding life, so they needed time to adapt.
<Argh, this is frustrating. Not a single person who can speak elf tongue? Really?! Do you think that makes any sense?! No one I can have a proper conversation with?!\>
Lefha clutched his head and shouted in frustration.
But to them, it must have looked like he was just throwing a tantrum.
Feeling stifled inside, he roughly rubbed his face with his palm.
‘To begin with, why did they go to war with the demons?’
Weren’t humans and demons on pretty bad terms?
The elves, who wielded noble magic power and had high pride, didn’t mix well with most races, but he remembered that humans and demons had frequent dealings.
There had even been a village right in front of the perpetually dark Diana Forest where humans and demons lived together, forming bonds.
They couldn’t have children due to their differing natures, but even so, there were quite a few who lived with purification stones around their necks because they loved each other. That was how deeply intertwined those races were.
Humans and demons.
‘And among them, a half-blood was even born.’
Children could never be born between demons and humans. No matter who carried it, one had to risk their life. Because a human bearing demonic energy couldn’t survive.
So when an impossible existence was born, the world had been quite abuzz.
However, that human and demon were quite special beings.
The human was blessed by the gods, overflowing with holy power throughout their body, and the demon was the Demon King, who could control demonic energy to the extreme.
Beings who could achieve balance with their respective powers had met, and a child was born between them.
Of course, balance was bound to break eventually.
Usually, the human with the shorter lifespan compared to the long-lived demons would collapse first.
Even then, he’d heard the human woman carrying the child hadn’t lived much longer…
‘But I heard she held on for nearly ten years.’
What on earth had happened for such a good relationship to reach the point of annihilation?
{Annihilation impossible. Demon King is hereditary. Even if one remains. Demon race.}
Flinch.
‘Elves… all gone.’
Bunny’s shoulders trembled faintly.
Thinking Bunny was scared, Kiriel silently patted her back.
<Damn it, what the hell am I supposed to do…….>
The elf, who had been muttering softly, turned his head.
Just then, his eyes met Bunny’s in midair, as she was looking at the elf.
<Huh?>
Lefha, who had been roughly raking back his hair, stared steadily at Bunny.
Elves have a racial ability of sorts. The power to pierce through the essence of objects.
They can read the unique energy of each race with their eyes.
In short, their eyesight is extraordinarily keen.
No matter how much the exterior changes, they can see right through to what’s inside—that’s the elves’ unique ability.
Lefha’s eyes widened dramatically as he looked at Bunny.
‘There it is, the Demon King!’
She seemed like a young demon who hadn’t been born long and hadn’t awakened yet… but what slumbered within her was unmistakably the seed of the Demon King.
‘And behind her is a child of god. A bit mixed in?’
There seemed to be a hint of demonic energy mixed in. Though the much stronger holy power completely suppressed it, making it barely visible.
The moment Lefha opened his mouth to speak.
Suddenly, Bunny’s pupils slit vertically.
Lefha stopped breathing.
The instant their eyes met, he felt as if something enormous was looking down at him from high above his head.
‘…Ah.’
Lefha unwittingly bowed his head and barely exhaled the breath he’d been holding.
‘As expected of the Demon King’s seed.’
If he’d spoken up here, his head might have been lopped off.
With that thought, Lefha raised his head again. And in the eyes they met, what he read in Bunny’s pupils was fear.
{…But time has passed. Even demons change. Perhaps a great deal.}
Lefha reflexively changed the subject.
Demons, who weren’t on good terms with humans.
Yet the Demon King’s seed in a human’s arms.
Pupils filled with fear.
Whatever it was, the circumstances were clear.
After staring back and forth between Bunny and Kiriel for a long while, Lefha’s eyes suddenly widened hugely.
‘…Ah. A half-blood.’
It was a half-blood.
‘I never thought I’d see a half-blood born between a human and a demon right in front of me.’
If she was a half-blood, it made sense why she was in human arms now.
Because when young, they were no different from humans and would die immediately if exposed to demonic energy.
The emperor, watching Lefha, rubbed his chin.
He couldn’t figure out what to do with this man when communication wasn’t working properly.
As the emperor pondered, Lefha strode forward and suddenly grabbed Kiriel’s clothes hem tightly.
{I, will follow. This man.}
“…….”
“…….”
At Lefha’s abrupt declaration, the emperor and Kiriel fell silent.
