The atmosphere among the allied forces was depressing. There weren’t many casualties, but it didn’t change the fact that they had lost the first battle. Furthermore, their opponent’s reinforcement forces and the strange masses of fire demoralized them. Nonetheless, the war was far from over.
The elves quietly equipped themselves and prepared for the next battle—it was the same for Zich and his companions. They sat in a circle around a bonfire. No one was heavily injured, but they couldn’t escape from the fatigue of battle; Hans fought elves on the frontlines, Lyla shot out magic from all over the place, and Snoc made and maintained a gigantic tunnel. Yet, no one was sleeping.
Whoosh!
A great wave of mana whirled near them. Hans and Snoc quickly got up.
Thud!
Zich walked out of the wave of mana.
“Welcome back, sir!”
“Yeah,” Zich responded to Hans and handed Lyla an artifact. It was what could be said as Lyla’s ultimate item: a teleportation artifact. Lyla let Zich borrow it since he said that he needed to check on something in Mentis. This action also signified how much Lyla trusted Zich now that she let him borrow a rare artifact without any qualms.
“I used it well.”
“How was it?” Lyla asked.
Zich shook his head. “It’s impossible to infiltrate the castle like before.”
Zich plopped down in front of the bonfire. Hans and Snoc also returned to their original seats.
“Was the surveillance really heavy?”
“It doesn’t matter how heavy the surveillance is. Before I could take a step inside the castle, troops rushed in. I tried multiple times but got blocked every time.”
“You used the artifact with the invisibility function that also hides your presence too, right?”
“Of course.”
“And it was still impossible?”
The effect of Zich’s skills combined with an artifact that made users invisible and hid their presence was astonishing. Even when they were saving Romanne and surveillance was high, they were able to move inside the castle like it was their house.
“When that power was unleashed, it became impossible to sneak in.”
“It’s a truly bothersome power,” Lyla complained.
“It’s fine. Even if I assassinate the Iron Tribe King, it’s not guaranteed that our enemies will stop. No, since they’ve come all this way, their king’s death might be an insignificant matter.” Thus, even though Renu’s assassination became impossible, Zich wasn’t that disappointed.
“How is the atmosphere?”
“It’s not good sir,” Hans answered Zich’s question.
“It’s expected since they lost the battle.”
However, it wasn’t a fruitless war since they clearly confirmed that the existence Renu talked about could buy them time until the ritual was over.
Lyla asked Zich, “What are you going to do from now on?”
“I’m not sure. I’m sure the commanders of the allied forces will think of something.”
“By the way, the command unit was looking for you, Sir Zich. They requested you to visit the headquarters to discuss future plans.” Hans gave his report.
“Oh well, it’s tiring to be so popular.” Zich got up while shaking his head. “I will be back in a bit. You guys should sleep first.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Understood, sir!”
As Zich headed towards the allied forces’ headquarters, Hans and Snoc began to prepare their bedding. It seemed like they were extremely tired as they fell asleep as soon as they lay down. Unlike them, however, Lyla didn’t fall asleep. With her eyes wide open, she stared at the bonfire.
* * *
Zich returned after quite a bit of time passed.
“You haven’t head to bed yet?” Zich asked when he saw that Lyla was awake. She stood up.
“Let’s talk for a bit.”
Zich stared at Lyla’s face for a bit and nodded. “Okay.”
Lyla led Zich away from the campsite. Considering elves’ sensitive ears, they walked a considerable distance. Then, after walking in front for a while, Lyla suddenly spun her body around and stared directly at Zich.
“You know what I’m going to say, right?”
“Of course. You are worried that I’ll become a Demon Lord.”
“Are you going to change?” Her tone was serious. Within her memories, which were full of holes, the appearance of the Demon Lord of Strength Zich Moore was clear—including how much harm he caused to the world.
Although her memories were spotty, if one had to place her somewhere, Lyla was on the good side of humans. As she traveled with Zich, she became quite attached to him. So, to her, this was a considerably serious problem.
Since she didn’t have memories of her past, she didn’t know the existence of her family, friends, or even acquaintances. Perhaps, they didn’t even exist, and there was a possibility that she wasn’t even human. Thus, to her, the closest existences by her side were none other than the companions she traveled with: Zich, Hans, and Soc. And if she had to choose one person as her closest companion, it was definitely Zich. Hans and Snoc strictly obeyed Zich’s orders as his servants, so Lyla couldn’t help but maintain a certain distance with them as she planned out schemes and conversed with Zich as equals. In short, Zich was the closest being to Lyla. So, if Zich turned into a Demon Lord…
She didn’t have the confidence to oppose Zich emotionlessly like before. At Lyla’s grave attitude, Zich also answered seriously, “To tell you the truth, I don’t have any thoughts about wanting or not wanting to change.” In a way, it was a real Zich-like response.
“But you tried not to change so far.”
“To be precise, that was just the result of doing whatever I wanted.”
Even though he had done kind acts that suited his personality, the overall result was that he was now far from being the Demon Lord of Strength.
‘Regardless of everything, just the fact that I’m a Karuwiman Honorary Knight shows that I am far from being a Demon Lord.’ Even now, Zich thought it was ridiculous that he was a Karuwiman Honorary Knight.
“Then did the things you wanted to do change? Why did it change suddenly?”
“It’s because the reason why I started doing kind acts has become compromised.”
Lyla was about to ask for the reason, but she soon closed her mouth. Considering Zich’s personality, it was probably difficult to persuade him anymore. Even though Lyla was curious about it, she didn’t need to hear about it right now. Moreover, even if she heard it, nothing would change.
“Then what if you get a different reason?”
Zich’s gaze intertwined with Lyla’s.
“Hans and Snoc dream of becoming heroes. What do you think will happen to them if you become a Demon Lord?”
“They’ll have to make me their enemy.”
“You sound certain of that. You don’t think they’ll follow you?”
“I didn’t educate them so sloppily. If I become a Demon Lord, they’ll definitely come to defeat me regardless of what they feel.” It was amazing that Zich could say that so confidently.
“And what do you think I’ll do?”
“You’ll probably do the same. Regardless of the fact that we travelled together, you’re not a bad person. On the other hand, you try to do good.”
“Yeah. Then are those reasons not enough?”
“Well….” It was a doubtful reaction, but Zich didn’t immediately look displeased and say that he was just going to do whatever he wanted. Lyla was not very satisfied with Zich’s reaction, but she didn’t give up. “Then what about temporarily?”
“Temporarily?”
“Yeah. I’m not saying that you should refrain from changing because of your connections with us. I’m just saying we can be a temporary reason for you to not change into a Demon Lord.”
“What about after that?”
“I’m going to find a good enough reason for you,” Lyla replied with strong resolve.
Zich stared at her face. As if to show her sincere and strong resolve, she stared at Zich with a very serious face. Zich laughed as if he thought this situation was very fun and interesting.
“That sounds good to me.” Zich replied and continued, “I haven’t finished training Hans and Snoc anyway. Performing kind acts isn’t too bad either, so I’ll listen to you.”
Lyla’s face brightened up.
“I just have to continue living like how I am right now, right? Don’t tell me to live more kindly than this right now. Even if I’m going to listen to your conditions for a while, there’s a limit.”
“Of course. Honestly, if you really start living as a good person, I’d be terrified. So I’m pleading with you not to go that far. I like how you are right now.”
“As expected, you really know me well,” Zich chuckled. His laugh was like his usual self. It was not the cruel and selfish Demon Lord from her memories.
Lyla felt relieved. Since Zich said all this, he probably would be fine for a while.
‘But I can’t completely be at ease.’
This was only a temporary solution. She needed to find a reason that was good enough for Zich as soon as possible, and she couldn’t let down her guard right now either. Even though she got a yes from Zich, it was just a verbal promise. If Zich decided to change his mind, that would be the end of it.
‘He probably won’t do that for no reason though.’ However, this also meant that if there was a good enough reason, Zich would ignore his promise. ‘But even then, I can’t let him become the Demon Lord.’ Lyla firmly made her resolve.
“Well, if we’re done talking, let’s go back. Even though our enemies are all at Mentis, it won’t be good for us to stray too far from the campground. I also have some matters to think about.”
“What matters?”
“I mean, you must not want me to just kill the fuck out of people.” For this war, Zich had planned to leave all the strategizing to the officers in the allied forces just like his Demon Lord days and purely enjoy killing people.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then I need to find the quickest way to end this war. That’s also a kind act.”
“Yep!” Lyla replied with glee, but she could not help making a bitter smile at Zich’s next words.
“And I also have to prepare a way to do my hobby at the same time. Sigh, as expected, doing kind acts is so difficult.”
* * *
The Iron Tribe King, Renu, was in the basement of the castle. The door to the basement was fully open. A tree on fire was visible past the door, but the tree wasn’t burning. Surprisingly, the fire enveloping the entire tree was part of its body. The tree possessed a powerful power over the fire around it, making it an unbelievable combination. The tree was the power sealed underneath the castle and the power from the ancient empire of Clowon.
The tree was large, and there was more than enough space to fit a large tree inside. As soon as he entered through the door, he saw that the stairs were covered in tree roots all the way to the bottom of the stairs. Dozens of elves stood below the tree, and they were all full of white hair and wrinkles. Since elves aged very slowly, they were elves that had lived very long lives and didn’t have much time left to live. They were the elders that used to lead the Iron Tribe in the past. Even though death was close to them, it wasn’t as if they were about to die in the next few years. Moreover, even though their physical capabilities were weaker than younger elves, their knowledge and wisdom from past experiences elevated their magic abilities.
Renu worked extremely hard in hiding the elders of the Iron Tribe from everyone else because they were the reason why the Iron Tribe was able to use Clowon’s ancient power. Even if Renu sacrificed everyone else, he needed to protect them at all costs.
“Ugh!” Renu let out a groan while watching the ritual.
His whole body hurt. Since he received a huge burn scar from his interaction with Zich, his body was wrapped in bandages. Severe burn marks peeped out between his bandages. No matter how many potions he poured over his skin, it only relieved his pain momentarily and his skin didn’t return back to normal. In addition, the random bursts of pain hurt like hell.
However, the more pain he felt, the more his desire to complete this ritual increased—now, it was not even just a desire but an obsession. With his blazing eyes pouring out his anger and pain at the entire world, he stared at the flaming tree that burned his body.