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.

proven our qualifications to the others, so, realistically speaking,

"But?"

everyone

everyone stare in my direction, my lips

mean, if you guys want to participate, go. Do your thing. In fact, use this chance to see how much

my group had an edge over all the other people their age

the like, but who could proudly say they had fought a war against a full-on attack from the demons and came

think

from each respective age range

right, there's

my head towards Hein,

how I told you that there's a way to

"You don't mean…?"

my eyes locked onto

in fact the elixir

the top winner of the tournament, and if I didn't recall it wrong, one of them was the elixir that Hein could use to heal his

possibility of them giving it to us if we just asked, but that might result in the elves

a good way to motivate

was time to finally let the world see just how talented

"You're…not joking, right?"

rather weak. Completely different from his usual

must care a lot

a smile before patting

already 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

I promised you. It's up to you whether

I will

Hein's face as his fists clenched

with you guys, I had almost forgotten my one true goal,

the air around him changed. He gave out an aura of a man who

he's made up his

that was tying him down, his family, his growth

what I was waiting

I'm glad

Bang—

way through my speech, my body crashed against something soft and

"Ow."

head, I slowly looked up. It appeared that I had bumped

"Hey, is everything okay?"

stood motionless in the middle of the streets, prompting

in

wrong, I looked in the direction of where he was staring

"Ah…"

out a strange noise, as my face

of the street, far into

the reason for

"…they're here."

***

meet each other during the

voice

close look at the place, Emma couldn't hide her excitement, curiously looking at

look

phone, she snapped photos of the

took enough pictures, Emma put

was I saying

she was trying to say before,

"Ah, right!"

left hand, she turned to look at Amanda and

each other in the tournament, don't expect me to hold back. I'll show you how much stronger I've gotten during the time

"I'm not fighting."

Melissa took her glasses out and replaced them

Emma looked at Melissa and muttered out

they do the job,

staring in Emma's direction, Melissa

can no longer see

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

that you

Is someone

"You…"

"Please stop."