Jaeho and Samantha, following Sikude, headed toward Embay Forest.
Even though it was clearly midday, the forest was so unnaturally dark that anyone could tell it was a Demon Territory at a glance.
The abnormal vegetation visible right from the entrance of the forest was just the beginning.
Everywhere, it was a world of strange, crimson and black-tinged plants.
Jaeho had never actually been to the Demon World, but this place seemed to match the image perfectly.
“Ah, well, I tried to recreate my hometown’s atmosphere as closely as possible…”
“Sure, sure. I can understand that.”
Jaeho nodded.
“But if you make it look this obvious, isn’t it bound to get discovered by the Elves?”
“But in all these hundreds of years, the Elves have never once found us.”
“…That kind of carelessness is what led to this situation!”
Of course, it was entirely due to Jaeho’s arrival.
But Sikude, who had no way of knowing that, just hung his head like a criminal.
“Alicia-nim. But why aren’t you observing the flowers here?”
“Hmm?”
Samantha’s sudden question made Jaeho pause.
“Up until now, you were always collecting new flowers as we went, weren’t you?”
“That’s true. But…”
Where Jaeho was looking, a crimson flower the size of a human head was devouring a mouse.
“I’m not even sure if that’s really a flower.”
If he just used his Observation skill, he could find out easily.
But… he really didn’t want to use Observation just to confirm something so morbid.
Jaeho’s pure passion for flowers wasn’t prepared to accept that sort of monster(?) as a flower…
“Ah, well, since you’re the Regent of Spirits, of course you must be very interested in flowers. This one is called Krokos. It’s a fairly common flower in the Demon World.”
“…”
Sikude, kindly offering unwanted information.
“The Krokos flowers I know look nothing like this…”
[ <Alicia’s Plant Encyclopedia> — < Flowers of the Demon World> has been unlocked.]
“Wh-what’s wrong?”
When Jaeho’s face darkened, Sikude shrank back anxiously.
“Phew… Fine. Since it’s come to this, let’s at least find out.”
Now that the Encyclopedia was unlocked, there was no harm in filling it up.
“<Skilled Plant Observation>”
The upgraded Observation skill, now even more powerful.
[Krokos]
[Observation Progress: 45%]
[A crimson flower existing in the Demon World, which catches and devours insects or small animals…… (more)]
[(omitted)]
[Effects]
[1. The digestive fluids of Krokos cause ongoing damage.]
[2. (Unconfirmed)]
As expected, it started off with a remarkable 45% progress.
“Collecting it…”
Jaeho’s gaze lingered on the Krokos for a long moment.
Snap—crunch—
Watching it thoroughly gnawing on mouse bones didn’t make him eager.
“I’ll come back to it later when I have more time.”
For now, Jaeho decided just to register it in the Encyclopedia.
***
At last, the group reached what seemed to be the heart of the forest.
Sikude moved cautiously, holding his breath as he tiptoed forward.
“So, what exactly is it you want me to do?”
Fighting the Elves was out of the question.
It wasn’t even possible to win to begin with.
“All we want is for the Elves to just leave us alone and go away. They won’t listen to us at all…”
“I know first-hand how stubborn Elves can be. But what I don’t get is, aren’t you demons? Did you just let them beat you up?”
“W-what are you saying?! You said you know the Elves, and yet…”
Sikude shivered as he spoke.
“The Elves are no different from demons… The Elf Race is more demonic than demons themselves!”
“If the demons lost their homeland to demons, isn’t it only natural that they’d become as demonic as demons?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Samantha interjected at Jaeho’s words.
“Hmm, anyway, you guys are strong too. So I just can’t get why you’re so afraid of the Elves.”
“?? What do you mean, demons are strong?”
“Isn’t that why you took Rijellan Forest from the Elves?”
“Ah, that’s not because the Elves were weak.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“The beginning and end of Elf life depends on the Shinmok. If the Shinmok says to die, that’s what Elves do.”
“That’s true.”
Jaeho fully agreed with that part.
“The Shinmok is the pillar of this world. In other words, it’s a place that connects with other realms—like the Demon World or the Celestial Realm.”
That was what Sikude was trying to say.
The Shinmok could serve as a bridge between dimensions, and normally blocked the path so the three realms wouldn’t interfere with each other.
But the demons crossed over through that place and stabbed the Elves in the heart.
“I heard the Shinmok sacrificed itself to block the Contaminated Dimensional Passage. In that process, the Elves were cast out onto the continent as well.”
“So… the reason the Elves ended up scattered across the continent was because of the Shinmok’s will?”
“That’s right.”
“Then how do you know so much about all this?”
“I-I heard it as a rumor! We didn’t directly participate in the war at the time, and besides, we’re Peaceful Demons…”
Sikude still didn’t forget to subtly defend his own side.
“It checks out as the truth, anyway…”
Still, the claim that demons were weak wasn’t convincing.
“That’s not true!”
Sikude shouted in fear.
“If demons were so strong, why would we stay stuck in Rijellan Forest even now?!”
There could be various reasons.
Even for demons, fighting the entire continent would be a heavy burden…
“It’s the Elves!”
“Eh… even so, you can’t seriously claim you haven’t expanded because of the Elf Race…”
“No, really, it’s because the Elves appeared…”
Twang—!
A sharp arrow suddenly flew out of nowhere, piercing right between the group’s arms and legs.
The arrow brushed by so closely that any wrong move would mean instant death.
Step—step—
With the sound of footsteps, a group of Elves finally revealed themselves.
“So this is where the rat ran off to.”
“Eek!”
Sikude trembled under the Elves’ scornful gaze.
“And now…”
This time, the Elves turned to look at Jaeho and Samantha…
“…?!!!!”
Their faces showed astonishment.
Unmistakably, the familiar aura of a living spirit and a fragrance that did not belong in a demon’s forest…
“Could it be—are you the Regent of Spirits?!”
With noses as keen as hounds, they recognized him instantly.
Gulp—
He had come along to help Sikude, but now that he was facing the Elves, Jaeho hesitated.
Was it really a good thing that they recognized the Regent of Spirits?
‘Even if I say no, they won’t believe me anyway.’
In that case, the only thing left was to come up with a reason why he’d been with the demons…
[With the effect of the title, the Elves feel respect toward you.]
“So it really is the Regent of Spirits!”
“Did you come here to exterminate the demons after hearing about their presence?!”
“…You’re quite well-informed.”
“……”
Samantha looked at Jaeho with eyes full of envy.
She couldn’t help but think how easy things must be for him.
“Don’t worry! We’ve already captured all the demons here. Soon, we’ll be able to send them all back to the Demon World!”
“Eek—!”
Sikude shot Jaeho a desperate look.
“Wait, wait. You’re sending the demons back to the Demon World? Not killing them?”
“That’s right. Demons who remain in the Middle Realm can’t die anyway. If they’re killed, they just return to the Demon World.”
[Sikude is feeling extreme fear.]
“What? If they can return to the Demon World, why is he so afraid?”
There was a strong sense that something unsaid was going on.
“You damned demon! Get up and walk!”
“Ugh…!”
Sikude was roughly dragged off, stumbling.
“Will you come with us as well, Regent of Spirits?”
“Hmm? No, I was just…”
He quietly tried to back away, but couldn’t ignore Sikude’s pleading eyes, as if to say, “You’ll never find what Tinlight left behind!”
“W-well, I suppose I will.”
“Great! Then this way—oh, and I see you have companions.”
Only then did the Elves notice Samantha.
Grr—
Samantha’s anger flared inside, but since she’d heard everything Sikude said, she kept her mouth shut.
The Elves might be an even stronger race than she’d realized.
She was already on bad terms with the Elves and others anyway.
“Oh? For a human, you have quite decent Spirit Communication Power.”
“Huh?”
But unlike before, the Elves seemed quite friendly to her now.
“But you still don’t seem to know how to handle Spirits properly. Well, I suppose that’s inevitable for a human.”
Just as the Elf said, Samantha hadn’t gained any proper class skills since she became a Spirit Knight of the Desert.
Because she hadn’t leveled up and changed classes steadily, but had instead changed due to a sudden Quest.
“Regent of Spirits, are you intending to have that human serve as your assistant?”
“Uh? Well… something like that?”
She was his secretary.
“In that case, she’s far too unskilled. If you don’t mind, may we give her some training?”
“Wait! Shouldn’t you ask me first, since I’m the one involved…”
Samantha protested again, but the Elves ignored her.
—Will you be okay with this?
Jaeho asked Samantha with his eyes.
—…I’ll be fine.
Suppressing her irritation, Samantha nodded boldly.
Though the Elves’ attitude was infuriating, it was a chance to properly learn her new Spirit Knight class.
[Class Quest]
[The Inferno Elf Tribe specializes in handling Fire Spirits. Learn from them how to wield the power of Fire Spirits.]
“Might as well get it over with.”
The Elves weren’t exactly likable, but for her own growth, she had to endure it.
And for the sake of Jaeho, who seemed even weaker than she expected.
…But unlike Samantha, who steeled herself for this, Jaeho was seriously worried.
He’d already experienced the Elves’ Spartan-style training himself.
Pat pat—
Jaeho patted Samantha on the shoulder.
“Good luck.”
“?!”
But Samantha just blushed at this incomprehensible gesture of encouragement and turned her head away.
***
They arrived, following the Elves, at a mountain village with an eerie atmosphere.
“If you can even call this a mountain village… This is just…”
Houses built from blood-red logs, decorations made from the bones of unknown beasts.
In the middle of the village square, around a hundred demons were gathered.
“S-save us!”
“We’re good demons, really!”
The demons were desperately begging the Elves who surrounded them.
“Shut up, you filthy demons!”
“We’re going to burn you all and send you back home!”
The Elves, spewing harsh words that didn’t match their beautiful appearance, were making some rather odd threats.
“It’s a mess… but it feels familiar.”
Jaeho tried not to think of Alicia’s Flower Garden.
“Alicia-nim… What are you going to do now? You do have a plan, don’t you?!”
While the Elves were briefly away, Sikude quietly whispered to Jaeho.
“…..”
“…..?”
“…..?”
“Alicia-nim…? Hello?”
“Hmm? Ah! You called? Sorry, I was thinking about something else.”
“Y-you’re not planning on breaking your promise, are you?!”
“Haha, no, let’s just wait and see for now.”
“Couldn’t I just wait until they’re all dead, and then look for what Tinlight left behind?”
He would never admit to having that thought, of course.
“But didn’t you say you can’t die, that you’ll just return to the Demon World? Isn’t that a good thing?”
At Jaeho’s question, Sikude hung his head with a grim expression.
“…That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“…I really didn’t want to talk about this…”
Afraid that Jaeho might just pretend not to know, Sikude revealed another secret.
“During the Demon Invasion of the Middle Realm… I lost a bet with Tinlight over drinks and was dishonorably discharged.”
At last, the truth was revealed!
That was why Sikude knew so much about the invasion of Rijellan Forest.
If only he hadn’t drunk that day, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
“Yes, it is true that the demons can’t leave Rijellan Forest because of the Elves! When the Elves go mad, they’re truly terrifying!”
Sikude trembled all over.
“And if we do go back to the Demon World now… we’ll face eternal torture!”
“Eek!!”
At the mention of eternal torture, the nearby demons recoiled in terror.
“No…! Not the boiling forest sauna…!!”
“Ph-phytoncide…!!! Ugh!”
“……..”
Jaeho was truly at a loss.