The Author's POV

"Say, demons are not going to suddenly show up out of nowhere and attack us, right?"

Walking through the city, a rough voice sounded next to me. It was Leopold.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, just that…"

Leopold looked around and lowered his voice.

"I'm kinda tired of dealing with demons, and I was wondering if another situation similar to Henlour might happen."

Oh, it was about that. I nodded.

"Not sure, to be honest. But unlike the dwarves, elves are much better at detecting demons since they are super sensitive to mana, so there's a chance that no such thing will happen."

"…what do you mean?"

"Just like I said, elves are much more sensitive to demonic energy. Therefore, it is a lot easier for them to spot demons. In fact, didn't you notice the barrier before?"

Squinting, Leopold looked behind him.

"The one at the bridge?"

"Yeah, that alone should stop most of the demons."

Had Angelica not worn the special bracelet, she would've easily been found out. Even if she had turned into a ring form there was a chance for her to get spotted.

During The Conference, in the novel, it was because of this that no demons managed to interfere. That being said, never say never.

"That's reassuring."

Leopold finally relaxed and took a deep breath of the fresh air.

Then, his footsteps suddenly halted as he brought his hands closer to his face. A clicking sound repeatedly rang in the air.

Click— Click—

"What are you doing?"

"Ah, shit."

With an embarrassed look, Leopold lowered his hands and scratched the back of his head.

"I was trying to have a smoke, but I forgot we can't do that here."

"…."

Seriously?

Before coming here, I remember expressively reminding Leopold that he couldn't smoke lest he wanted to piss off the elves. I even took away his cigarettes in order to make sure he didn't. He was just that addicted.

Plus, with how nature oriented the elves were, any form of littering or smoking was a big no-no.

"Right, sorry."

Putting the lighter away, Leopold's face scrunched up a little.

Staring at him, I shook my head.

'He's already suffering withdrawal symptoms.'

The last time he smoked was not that long ago, maybe half a day? Just how addicted was he?

Shaking my head, I followed the rest of the group around the city.

Ignoring Leopold's progressively worsening face, we continued our tour of the city.

Most of the city was accessible to us apart from a few places, like the enormous building that stood in the middle of the lake.

Apparently, that place was where the elders held important discussions, and since we were not that important, we could not go there. That was probably where Douglas went.

"I wonder if we're going to be participating in the tournament…" Hein murmured from the side. It was audible enough for everyone present to hear.

"You want to participate?" Ava curiously lifted her head. "From what I've heard, we don't really need to participate."

"We don't," I replied with a nod.

the others, so, realistically speaking, we don't

"But?"

like everyone is

stare in my direction, my lips

we couldn't. I mean, if you guys want to participate, go. Do your thing. In fact, use this chance to see how much you guys have improved over the

over all the

experience fighting against demons and the like, but who could proudly say they had fought a war against

don't think

that the winners from each respective

there's

my head towards Hein,

remember how I told you that there's a

"You don't mean…?"

eyes locked

one of the top prices for the tournament is in fact

prices granted to the top winner of the tournament, and if I didn't recall it wrong, one

there was a possibility of them giving it to us if we just asked, but that might result in

this was a good way to motivate Hein into joining

the world see

"You're…not joking, right?"

rather weak. Completely different from

must care a lot about his

with a smile before patting

signed a contract, why would I lie

"I se—"

Click— Click—

then that we heard a clicking sound coming from the side. When we turned our heads, we saw Leopold with his hand on his mouth, trying to light up

opportunity that I promised you. It's up to you whether you

will

resolute looked appeared on Hein's face as his

had almost forgotten my one true goal, and that was to save my

changed. He gave out an aura of a

like he's made up his

the one knot that was tying him down, his family, his growth would

was what I

I'm glad

Bang—

my body

"Ow."

head, I slowly looked up. It appeared that I

"Hey, is everything okay?"

stood motionless in the middle of the streets, prompting

what in

that something was wrong, I looked in

"Ah…"

out

street, far into the distance, was a certain

that wasn't the reason for

"…they're here."

***

was saying, if we're going to meet each other during the tournament, I'm going to go all out and

energetic voice

she got a close look at the place, Emma couldn't hide her excitement, curiously looking at everything like a newborn

look at

out her phone, she snapped photos of the

she took enough pictures, Emma put

I

she was trying to say before,

"Ah, right!"

her left hand, she turned to look at Amanda and Melissa with a challenging look

expect me to hold back. I'll show you how much

"I'm not fighting."

look, Melissa took her glasses out and replaced them with

muttered out loud, "Those don't really fit

do the job,

staring in Emma's

can

a while for Emma to get her comment. Once she did, she shot a

that you can still

Is someone

"You…"

"Please stop."