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Chapter 145: The Day After The Attack

The day after the demon’s attack. Originally, the second day of the Council of Seven Sphin Nations was supposed to be held today, but since it would be difficult to continue the meeting in the current situation, the schedule was decided to be revised.

However, the leaders couldn’t possibly return to their home countries without having clarification on the full picture of the current demon attack, so we planned to spend several days scrutinizing and sharing information.

After discovering the demon’s corpse last night, I called Ruzark via telepathy. About an hour later, the dignitaries arrived at the hidden room. By comparing the cut off arm and wing with the corpse left in the room, the headless corpse was once again determined to be the body of Brakylls.

They assumed that the head must have been blown away by No Face in the battle, but something didn’t make sense. The cut surface of the neck was cleanly cut with a blade. But there was no point thinking about it further without any other clues. And judging from the flow, it seems that the research and academic institutions of the Elfald Holy Kingdom will investigate the demon’s torso hereafter.

In addition, the female demon, Astrue, was burned to ashes by Kinu’s composite magic. Thus it was not possible to confirm her death. But Kinu said that Astrue was definitely burned down. And since most of the people saw blue fireworks blooming in the night sky from the Imperial Capital Conference Hall, she was assumed to be dead.

On the other hand, the whereabouts of No Face was completely unknown. And the purpose of his intervention in this incident was also unclear. However, judging from Nelfie’s appearance, we might be able to understand a little more if we ask her.

It seems that Nelfie fell asleep last night after returning to the airship with Kinu. It was the first time I had ever seen her so exhausted. It doesn’t seem like anything happened to her, but… I’m very curious as to what happened. I just have to wait until Nelfie calms down for now.

As I was staring up at the ceiling in my bedroom inside the airship, pondering these thoughts, there was a knock on my door.

「Oh? It’s open.」

「Aun, are you free?」

「Nelfie… are you feeling okay already?」

「Yes. Sorry about last night.」

「No, there’s nothing to apologize for. Thanks to your hard work, we were able to solve many things regarding the demons and the Emperor.」

「But there are things that you haven’t solved, right? Especially regarding No Face.」

「Well, yeah… Can we talk about it? I’m not going to force you, if you don’t want to. Everyone has things they don’t want to talk about. Besides, I will always prioritize you over the circumstances of the bigshots.」

「Thank you. But I want to share it with my friends. About what happened yesterday.」

「Alright, then. But let me tell you this first. No matter what it is, we will always be on your side. I just want you to know that.」

「Aun, you truly have the mouth of a con-artist… Then, let me begin from where the telepathy ends—」

From there, Nelfie explained in detail about what had happened after the Emperor was defeated.

What surprised me was that No Face seems to be Nelfie’s biological brother. He disappeared suddenly 70 years ago and has never been found since then. However, last night he suddenly appeared in front of Nelfie and handed her a book.

The book contained the history of the Dark Elves since the Human-Demon War. It seems that she has only skimmed through it so far, but the contents were horrific. Even now, demi-humans are still discriminated against among humans, but the dark elves are especially severely discriminated against, and it’s commonplace that they’ll be killed instantly as soon as they’re spotted. Furthermore, it seems that a subjugation force was organized to attack the hidden villages in various places.

The mastermind behind it was the Elfald Holy Kingdom. It is a country that worships “God Lumis” as the sole god and holds a strong hostility towards demons. As for No Face’s purpose, even his younger sister, Nelfie, said she doesn’t have an idea at all. If No Face holds a grudge against humans, then I don’t understand the point of taking hostile action against the demons.

「If No Face’s goal is revenge against the humans, then what the demons are trying to do should also be convenient for No Face… But in this series of events, he has consistently acted hostile against the demons.」

「Indeed. That’s why I can’t even guess his purpose. I could only sense the atmosphere that he was trying to accomplish something big. But I haven’t seen him in 70 years. His personality and thoughts have changed. I couldn’t understand anything about my brother’s thoughts anymore. I’m pathetic.」

「No, that’s not true. On the contrary, for 70 long years you believed that your brother was still alive. I honestly respect your faith.」

「That’s because you guys have been by my side. I couldn’t have shouldered it alone. Honestly, there were so many times when I almost gave up.」

「I see. Then, please continue to rely on us. And I will also be relying on you from here on.」

「Yeah. Thank you.」

「Speaking of which, did you tell Kinu and the others about this?」

「No, I’ll tell everyone when we gather tonight.」

「Hmm… I’ve decided.」

「Hm? Decide what?」

「Let’s keep the fact that you and No Face are related and the book you were given a secret. Based on that, we will officially announce that No Face assassinated Brakylls. The best we can do is speculate about his motives. All we have to do is tell the higher-ups what we know right now.」

「Thank you. Doing this for my sake…」

「It’s fine! If anyone tries to do anything to you, we’ll do everything in our power to protect you. Even if it means turning the entire world into our enemy.」

「Seriously… Don’t blame me if I fall for you after this, okay?」

「Haha, don’t do that please. Kinu will get angry.」

「Just kidding. I won’t betray my close friend.」

Nelfie’s complexion had improved visibly. She was even able to make jokes now. Well then, I’ll do my best as well!

Though I said it jokingly, what I told Nelfie was my true feelings. Even if I have to make the whole world my enemy, I will protect my friends.

「Well then, I’ll be off now.」

「Huh? Where are you going?」

「Ruzark and the others are examining the current events at the Imperial City Council. I also have to report about the No Face case, so I’ll do my best to avoid unnecessary scrutiny.」

「I see, good luck.」

「Leave it to me.」

After finishing the talk with Nelfie, I left the airship hangar and walked along the main street towards the Imperial City Conference Hall.

The day after the attack the damage to the city became clear. The north, west, and south where Orthros appeared, and a part of the east where I fought Brakylls were heavily destroyed. There were probably some human casualties, but thanks to Drake and Shinku, the damage was less than I thought.

However, the governing body of the imperial capital was completely paralyzed. As a result, there was no clear instruction from the government, and it seems that it was Ruzark who worked closely with the guards to encourage rescue operations.

Kinu, Shinku, Drake, and Zen were currently helping with the rescue effort. I had promised to talk with Nelfie, so I gave priority to that. But after finishing the meeting with Ruzark and the others, I will head over to help out as well.

After slipping through the crowd and walking for a few minutes, I arrived at the Imperial City Conference Hall. As I looked up, the glass windows were still broken, and the scattered pieces of glass were scattered at my feet. However, there was no other damage to this building.

To be honest, if this area had been attacked intensively, even with our defensive measures, there would have been at least a small amount of damage to the dignitaries. If that had happened, tensions between countries would rise, and it might have naturally led to a war.

After greeting the guards at the entrance, I arrived at the room where the meeting was being held.

While sighing at the heated discussion that could be heard through the door, I opened the conference room door and stepped inside.