Chapter 81: Simulated Trial

“I heard about your former identity from Loki,” Qiaolin said.

“One of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Demon Race, the ‘Infinite Great Sage.’ To apologize so directly to a human like me is quite a loss of status, wouldn’t you say?”

“That is all in the past. Now, I am merely an ordinary librarian. Furthermore, the current Demon King advocates for friendship with the Human Race, so I certainly have no intention of being your enemy.”

“Crowley, you seemed quite indignant when you lost to Sister Tor back then. Do you want to go a few rounds with me? I won’t go easy on you like Sister Tor did,” Fafna challenged.

Crowley looked at Fafna’s grim expression and smiled calmly.

“The whole world knows that the Black Evil Dragon Princess of the Dragon Race has broken through to the Saint Rank. Even the current Demon King is no match for you, so how could I be?”

“Hmph, at least you know your place,” Fafna sneered.

Tor was a woman she respected, a figure like an older sister to her.

Naturally, she could not tolerate this defeated foe insulting her.

If Qiaolin hadn’t stopped her, she would have torn this place apart!

“Then… how should I address you?”

“I am Qiaolin.”

“Mr. Jolin, what kind of knowledge do you seek by coming here?”

Crowley asked.

“Lord Crowley, we need a type of Sound-proofing Magic, preferably a high-tier spell,” Loki stepped forward to explain.

“Sound-proofing?” Crowley rubbed his chin.

With a wave of his hand, several parchment scrolls lined up before him.

“These are all spells related to sound. Feel free to browse them.”

Crowley sent the scrolls toward Loki.

Seeing this, Qiaolin also reached out to touch one, but he was repelled by an invisible force.

“Please forgive me. The magic here can only be accessed by internal personnel of the Demon King’s Castle. Outsiders do not have the authority to view them.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

The Dragon Princess snatched a scroll.

Ignoring the repulsion of the Magic Power, she flipped it open, only to find it completely blank.

“You dare play tricks on me!”

“I already warned you, Lady Fafna. This is for the protection of these spells.”

“I have no interest in such low-level magic anyway!”

Fafna threw the scroll aside.

Crowley opened his palm and caught it.

“Don’t be upset, Fafna. We’ll just let Miss Loki finish looking,” Qiaolin said.

Qiaolin glanced casually at all the magic scrolls before him.

A blue light flashed in his eyes, and immediately, without anyone noticing, the incantations on the scrolls appeared clearly in his vision.

Qiaolin felt a bit disappointed.

Although there were many spells he hadn’t seen before, his rough analysis revealed that he already understood about seventy or eighty percent of their effects.

None of them could do anything about Fafna’s snoring.

“I’ll take this one!”

Loki picked up a scroll and waved it at Crowley.

Qiaolin looked over, but since the girl was a bit far away, he couldn’t see what kind of magic she was holding.

“You’ve made your choice? Then, the usual rules…”

“Eh? Could it be a little cheaper? Lord Crowley, points are very hard to come by.”

“I must follow the rules. Otherwise, the Demon King will be displeased.”

“Fine, fine.”

Loki sighed and tossed a card to Crowley.

He took it and put it away.

“Mr. Jolin, we can leave now.”

“Alright.”

As he watched Qiaolin’s group disappear behind the door, Crowley’s dull gaze became increasingly solemn, eventually shifting into a strange emotion.

A man who could make the Black Evil Dragon Princess so obedient—it was hard not to suspect his identity.

‘I didn’t expect you to still be alive. As expected of the man that Saintess trusted and relied upon.’

Crowley slowly turned his head. Deep within the vast void behind him, the space was trembling uncontrollably.

Every clump of Magic Power was twisting and deforming under an unknown force, like a wet rag being wrung dry.

Crowley had been in this Library for hundreds of years.

The entire area had long since merged with his Domain.

Yet, a moment ago, he felt like he had lost control over his own Domain.

All the Magic Power had been stained with a single emotion—

Anger.

This was not the work of that Dragon Princess.

The Dragon Race did not possess such exquisite control over Magic Power.

‘Celestial Hero, what do you intend to do now that you’ve returned to the Demon King’s Castle?’

—

After leaving the Library, Qiaolin became much quieter.

Fafna watched him, feeling anxious but unable to do anything.

“Does Mr. Jolin know that Saintess?” Loki asked suddenly.

“Why would you think that? She is a figure from 300 years ago.”

“Is that so? Then you must be one of her believers. The Celestial Saintess, Tor… it’s rumored that the offerings she receives in the Holy Hero Church are second only to those given to the chief god, Odin.”

“She was indeed loved by countless people, both during her life and…”

Qiaolin thought of the Celestial Saintess who treated friends like family and enemies with mercy.

The flowers and blessings they received along their journey were all offerings from the people to Tor.

Unlike the Hero’s magic, which was only capable of destruction and slaughter, most of the magic the Saintess learned was of the Heal type.

She had a creed of not killing, which often earned her the Hero’s mockery.

What they didn’t realize was that it was precisely this kindness that had granted them countless forms of assistance during the final battle.

“Qiaolin, you should have just killed that guy earlier. Even after all these years, that old man still likes to talk back!”

“He is not our enemy, Fafna. I warned you beforehand not to engage in senseless killing.”

Qiaolin’s lecturing tone felt somewhat familiar to Fafna.

“Honestly, you’re starting to act more and more like Sister Tor. How boring.”

“Hehehe…” Qiaolin laughed.

Fafna’s complaint actually made him quite happy.

‘Perhaps it should have been this way all along.’

“Sigh, I really can’t get a word in while listening to you two talk. Lady Fafna, you were part of the Hero Party before, right? Do you have time to share some of your stories with me later? I’d love to have something to brag about at the tavern.”

“You have a lot of nerve, daring to make a request of this Empress.”

Loki seemed to have expected Fafna’s rejection.

She immediately turned her gaze toward Qiaolin.

“Mr. Jolin~ Look at this. I used a huge amount of points to exchange for a spell for you two. Even if there’s no merit, there’s at least the hard work I put in.”

“Alright, alright. I’ll agree on Fafna’s behalf.”

“Hey, you! You dare use Qiaolin to threaten me!” The Dragon Princess’s face instantly flushed with anger.

Seeing this, Loki quickly ducked behind Qiaolin.

“That’s enough, Fafna. Calm down.”

“Hmph!”

The dragon loli could only huff in frustration and give up.

“By the way, Miss Loki, what do you mean by points? Is it a form of currency?” Qiaolin asked.

“You could understand it that way. Since most of the magic in the Library is precious, the Demon King established a Point System. You exchange magic for points earned by completing missions. Oh, right—it’s not just magic; it includes Magic Tools and Magic Crystals as well.”

“That sounds like the Demon King’s Castle version of an Adventurer Guild. Where do you accept these missions?”

“At the ‘Starfall Palace,’ the residence of the Tyrant of Rock, Lord Caesar. Commissions are often posted there, but the points you get are relatively few. The real bulk of points comes from the Simulated Trial Ground in the Demon King Palace.”

“Simulated Trial Ground? What’s that?”

Facing Qiaolin’s string of questions, Loki answered patiently, “It’s a place where you can simulate and replicate enemies the Demon Race has faced in the past. As long as you defeat them, you can earn a large number of points. It’s just that the difficulty is quite high.”

“There’s actually a place like that? Can we participate in those trials?”

“Eh?”

Hearing Qiaolin say this, Loki’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Oh, right! You should be able to participate as long as the Demon King grants you permission…”

Loki’s gaze couldn’t help but fall on Fafna.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“With someone of your strength, Lady Fafna, it should be easy to sweep through all the opponents, right?”

“Of course. No matter who the enemy is, they won’t be stronger than Archimondia was,” Fafna said.

“Even if Archimondia herself showed up, I wouldn’t be afraid!”

“Haha, it’s not that intense. With Lady Fafna’s strength, it will be more than enough.”