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?"

everyone is

everyone stare in my direction, my lips

no one said 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

my group had an edge over all the other people their age participating in the tournament was true combat

bit of experience fighting against demons and the like, but who could proudly say they

think there

winners from each respective age range will get quite a

there's that

my head towards Hein, I grabbed

how I told you that there's a way to cure

"You don't mean…?"

eyes locked onto Hein's,

top prices for the tournament is in fact the elixir

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

how much the dwarves favored us, there was a possibility of them giving it to us if we just asked, but that might result in the elves losing

was a good way to motivate Hein into joining

to finally let the world see just

"You're…not joking, right?"

weak. Completely different from his

must care a lot about his

a smile before patting him on

a contract, why would

"I se—"

Click— Click—

that we heard a clicking sound coming from the side. When we turned our heads, we saw Leopold with his hand

It's up to you whether you will

will

resolute looked appeared on Hein's

over a year with you guys, I had almost forgotten my one true goal, and

around him changed. He gave out an aura of a man who was about to

he's made up

was tying him

what I

I'm glad that

Bang—

body crashed against something

"Ow."

looked up. It appeared that I had bumped against

"Hey, is everything okay?"

met with no response. Waylan stood motionless in the middle of the streets, prompting me

what in the

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

"Ah…"

was then that I let out a strange noise, as my face

street, far

the reason

"…they're here."

***

each other during the tournament, I'm going to go all out and won't hold

energetic voice rang

and entering the city, once she got a close look at the place, Emma couldn't hide her excitement, curiously looking at

look

phone, she snapped

pictures,

I saying

to recall what she was trying to say before,

"Ah, right!"

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

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

"I'm not fighting."

look, Melissa took her glasses out and replaced them with

Emma looked at Melissa and muttered out loud, "Those don't

do the job, it doesn't really

staring in Emma's direction, Melissa

can

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

obvious that you

talking? Is someone

"You…"

"Please stop."