Seoryun automatically poured himself a glass of cold water, hoping to jolt his exhausted mind awake.
The icy water slid down his throat into his stomach, the cIlliya so intense that he shivered.
A bit more awake, Seoryun finally replied, "Yes. The demons have indeed shown up here. And that’s not all—"
"So that’s how the Yaguk Theocracy got the news and why they sent out the Royal Knight—this finally makes sense."
Illiya suddenly realized.
Indeed, the demons had appeared around the borders of the continent.
His guess from the night before had turned out to be true. Then... the prediction that a new Demon King had erged among the demon race might also be true?
A sense of grounded certainty suddenly settled over Illiya, as if the dust had finally settled.
"But I’m still really curious—how did you find out?" he asked.
Seoryun chuckled at the mory of what happened with Darius the night before. After laughing, he suddenly rembered sothing, and his expression turned a little odd.
He carefully chose his words, trying not to make his explanation sound too confusing.
"A while back, rember how that rchant ntioned sothing about the city lord? He talked about how the city lord was looking for a son-in-law. Last night, I couldn’t think of anything better to do, so I brought Darius with to sneak into the city lord’s manor."
"So... there’s sothing wrong with the city lord?" Illiya asked.
Seoryun gave a dry laugh. "No. Actually, we never even made it to the manor. We just arrived in the city, and we had no idea how to even get there."
Illiya: ???
Ignoring Illiya’s bewildered expression, Seoryun went on talking to himself, "Darius and I wandered around for a while. When we didn’t find anything interesting, we decided to head back."
"Just as we were about to return, we spotted two shady figures that caught our attention. It’s hard not to notice people sneaking around like that, constantly looking around and surveying the area. And on top of that, they were both wearing hats that completely covered their faces and carrying a big bundle of who-knows-what. It was really hard to convince ourselves that they were harmless."
"Since we had nothing better to do, we quietly followed them, just to see what they were up to."
"And then?" Illiya couldn’t help asking.
Seoryun’s expression suddenly turned complicated, as if words failed him. He didn’t even know where to begin.
After thinking about it, he realized there was no way to explain it clearly in just a few words, so he simply pulled Illiya along and walked out.
"It’s really hard to explain—just co with and you’ll understand everything once you see it," Seoryun said as he walked.
Thinking about what those two demons had done, a strange idea popped into Seoryun’s head. His tone turned odd. "I feel like... after you take care of this incident, we won’t ever have to worry about safety when visiting the demon realm again."
Illiya’s expression turned blank. He looked more and more confused.
Wait a minute—what exactly had happened?
Illiya was completely dumbfounded as Seoryun dragged him outside.
He had no idea what had just happened, nor what Seoryun and Darius had witnessed the night before.
Their rambling, cloudy explanation had left Illiya’s brain feeling like mush.
From that ss of words, he managed to extract a few key points: a night-ti infiltration of the city lord’s manor—only they couldn’t find the way. On the way back, they ran into two suspiciously dressed, suspiciously acting individuals who might be demons.
And then the so-called king suddenly stopped halfway through his story and said no more.
His teacher used to complain that people who talk halfway and don’t finish their sentences are so irritating.
Illiya never really understood it before, but now... he completely agreed. Talking halfway drives elves absolutely mad.
Thankfully, Seoryun was planning to take him to the scene in person.
Hopefully, once they got there, Illiya could understand exactly what had happened—and what it led to.
After leaving the inn, Seoryun led Illiya away from the main roads and into narrow alleyways.
After passing through many dim and hidden alleys, they finally arrived at their destination.
Illiya stared at the empty space before them, feeling like he’d just been tricked.
He tugged on the corner of Seoryun’s coat, his tone inexplicably annoyed. "...So after all this trouble, you brought here just to look at an empty lot?"
Seoryun glanced at the barren and desolate surroundings and let out an awkward cough. Only then did he realize that his actions had, indeed, been a little strange.
He hadn’t explained anything beforehand and had simply dragged Illiya to this remote place.
If their roles had been reversed, he might have also thought the person bringing him here had a few screws loose.
But after years of being a king, he had naturally developed a thick skin.
Seoryun felt no guilt about being questioned. He pointed at the barren ground ahead and said, "Illiya, you’ve got it all wrong. Look carefully at where I’m pointing and think about what this place was used for."
Illiya: ???
He stubbornly looked again.
A desolate space, yellow dirt, and a few sparse, sickly saplings by the roadside.
Other than that, there was absolutely nothing there.
Illiya said, "Isn’t this just a desolate piece of land? What’s so special about it? Also, weren’t we supposed to et those two suspected demons you ntioned?"
The three questions hit Seoryun so hard that his head began to spin.
He paused, sorting through Illiya’s questions in his mind. He arranged them in sequence and prepared to answer them one by one.
"First of all, yes, we are indeed here to et those two demons. But before we do, I need to show you sothing puzzling they’ve done—sothing that might just shift your entire worldview."
"And yes, this place is indeed barren. But you’d never guess why such a desolate piece of land exists in the middle of a bustling city."
Illiya was confused.
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