White fog spread through the air, and Mana Perception began to grow sluggish.
Nanoda knew this feeling well — it was the same Demon she'd encountered back in the Kingdom of Ert.
"Want me to take him out?"
The blindfolded female Demon already had her tachi in hand, radiating bloodlust, as if she meant to prove she wasn't dead weight after hearing Hafleet's words.
"Go for it."
"No."
Almost right on the heels of Solitär's words, Nanoda reached out and seized the hand holding the tachi.
This warlike temperament common to Demons really did leave Nanoda at a loss.
Clang.
The sound of clashing metal rang out, and a young-looking Demon emerged from the white fog.
He wore a black eyepatch over one eye and loose, monk-like robes, and carried a staff topped with a ring, resembling a Zen monk's staff. What stood out most was that from one of his horns hung three ornaments of different sizes, like earrings.
"Tch."
The moment the young Demon spotted the two blindfold ribbons on the blindfolded female Demon, he immediately reached up and pulled off his own eyepatch, as if shedding something uncomfortable. His slightly twisted expression settled back into coldness.
"Nothing wrong with your eyes — why wear a blindfold for no reason?"
Hafleet teased his old colleague with a smug little jab.
"I don't like Demons who share my element."
The young Demon's words made just as little sense as ever. A moment later he turned and stared straight at Nanoda.
"I want to become your subordinate."
The young Demon was blunt about it, and like the blindfolded female Demon before him, he dropped to his knees. "I watched that battle. That strength is worth following."
"How did you slip past my Mana Perception?"
Nanoda had assumed this Demon had fled the scene back then — she hadn't expected he'd been hiding in some corner watching the whole time, and had even trailed her all the way here.
"I put all my fog into sealing everything off from what's outside my body. Since the fog belongs to me, I can observe everything through it. Of course, the moment I attack carelessly, I'd be exposed to you."
"You have quite the talent for hiding."
The world of magic truly was full of wonders. This was the first time Nanoda had encountered a spell that could mask both Mana and presence itself — something that completely neutralized the very skill she relied on most: perception.
The drawback was that it couldn't be used for attacking — though perhaps some sufficiently clever opponent could find a way to see through it.
Nanoda reached out and grasped at the clear white fog.
"What's your name? ...Wait, don't tell me you don't have one either?"
With the eyepatch off, this Demon looked more and more familiar — Revolte had seemed to have a subordinate just like him.
"I don't have one."
Two nameless, reasonably strong minor talents.
Better to bring them along than leave them to cause trouble elsewhere.
"Then that can wait too. Come with me — I'll take you somewhere good."
Solitär watched Nanoda without saying a word. She honestly couldn't figure out what this Demon standing before them actually wanted.
"My magic is more offensive — I'm stronger than him!"
The blindfolded female Demon still wanted to show off her strength. She swung her tachi down at the ground.
A sharp wave of green wind swept past, sending grass debris flying in every direction.
"At full strength, I can cut loose a whirlwind — that was only a fraction of it."
Another close-combat mage, one who cut tornadoes with a tachi.
"Not bad at all."
Nanoda nodded.
What had started as a group of three Demons had suddenly grown into five. After a brief round of introductions among themselves, Nanoda led the sizable procession onward toward Gaderia.
Somewhere in the palace of a nation in the Central Lands.
Denken, worn out after a long day, straightened his back. As Chief Court Mage, his standing was comparable to that of the nation's prime minister.
Mages held a poor status in the Northern Lands due to the Empire's suppression, but they were highly sought after throughout the Central Lands and the Southern Lands. That was part of why he'd left Weise for the Central Lands in the first place.
"Honestly, I really am getting old."
Standing before the full-length mirror, Denken studied his newly grown beard and his somewhat shrunken frame.
His father-in-law was nearly **0 years old, and aside from a stooped back and some thinness, he hadn't shrunk at all — the old man could even still smoke a pipe now and then.
So why was he the one shriveling up with age?
Once a tall man standing one hundred seventy-five centimeters, he was down to just one hundred sixty now — and still shrinking as the years went by.
"I wonder how things are with Lektire."
News traveling from the Northern Lands to the Central Lands always arrived several days late. It was only recently that he'd learned Weise had been through a war.
Still, remembering that Macht was there eased his mind somewhat.
Otherwise, the instant he'd heard the news, he would have dropped everything and rushed straight back to the Northern Lands.
"I really should take some leave and go back for a visit."
Denken made up his mind. He picked up his staff, packed a few belongings, and went to process the paperwork to leave the palace.
Early the next morning, he left the palace grounds.
Walking along the sparsely populated streets, Denken planned to find a decent Merchant Guild to buy or rent a carriage for the trip.
The palace did have carriages set aside for official travel, but since Denken was heading home, those wouldn't do.
Important figures rarely showed themselves out in public — most citizens only ever heard of them without ever laying eyes on them. Walking these quiet streets, Denken found it rather peaceful; back at the palace, the lower-ranked mages always greeted him respectfully every single day, and he had to respond to each one.
"The Goddess's Order is the real heresy! Our New God handed down an oracle through the Scripture! That's the one true divinity!"
"Lady Goddess is the one who granted the Sword of the Hero, gave Humans magic, and has protected them all along! That New God that came out of nowhere is the real heretic!"
"It's been so long — has the Goddess ever actually shown up to help Humans? Aren't our cities still standing today thanks to the mages of a thousand years ago?"
"Our priests wielding Holy Power mattered just as much, didn't they? Everyone knows the Hero's Party that defeated the Demon King had a priest from our Goddess's Order among them — Grand Bishop Heiter, who's still alive to this day!"
"Oh, enough already — stop fighting!"
At a certain intersection, two priests in white robes each proclaimed the glory of their own god while yanking on each other's ears, heads knocking together as they traded blows, seemingly determined to settle the matter once and for all.
"Not this again?"
Denken was well past being surprised by scenes like this.
The Church of the New God's influence was rapidly spreading from the Northern Lands into the Central Lands, with faint signs it might soon push into the Goddess's Order's stronghold — the Southern Kingdom.
The nation he served favored freedom of belief, so squabbles like this broke out almost daily.
For all his respect toward faith, Denken himself wasn't much of a believer — compared to some distant, intangible god, his own family felt far more real to him.
"I wonder how that person in Gaderia is doing."
Along with the intelligence from Weise had come word of their ally Gaderia as well — Gaderia's position now was even more precarious than Weise's.
Denken had never forgotten the kindness shown to him when Lektire's illness had been cured back when she was a child. He planned to stop by Gaderia to pay a visit on his way back to the Northern Lands.
____
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