Chapter 188 - 33

When Ziel and Lilith returned to the academy people's encampment, he saw many soldiers of the Cirlus Kingdom standing guard outside the tent. Then he glanced in one direction and saw King Redis and his family walking along with King Raghnall and Merlick into one of the large tents that seemed to have just been built. Not long after, Princess Cordelia came out of the tent and saw Ziel, who had just returned from outside. Luckily, Lilith had already returned to her tent.

Ziel pretended not to see her and continued walking towards his tent. But Princess Cordelia had no intention of letting him go. Even though it was raining heavily, she still ran and chased Ziel.

"Wait a minute!" Princess Cordelia grabbed Ziel's shoulder.

"How can I help you, General Cordelia?" Ziel asked her hoarsely. He wanted to quickly return to his tent before people realized that he had not been back for a long time. Previously Ziel asked permission to go out for a while to the supervising teacher in his tent. But if he still hadn't returned for a long time, perhaps the teacher would be worried about him.

Princess Cordelia's face twitched when Ziel addressed her with that nickname. Somehow she felt uncomfortable when she heard that from Ziel.

"Hmm… can you not call me by another nickname? I feel weird hearing you call me that." Princess Cordelia spoke awkwardly to Ziel.

"I understand. The War Goddess of the Cirlus Kingdom." Ziel obediently addressed Princess Cordelia by her other nickname.

"Stop it! Are you kidding me!? I know you are strong. But I'll be forced to fight you if you keep calling me that!" Princess Cordelia was annoyed by Ziel's attitude towards her. She got angry, thinking Ziel was mocking her.

"Is that true? I probably won't be as kind as last night either. Honestly, didn't you peek again when I came out of the tent earlier? Didn't I warn you?" Ziel said while releasing a bit of his strength. It made Princess Cordelia depressed, and she started breathing heavily.

"Eh!? How did you know about that!?" Princess Cordelia quickly covered her mouth with her hand. She unconsciously made a slip of the tongue while speaking.

"What do you want? Was my warning last night not enough?" Ziel narrowed his eyes at Princess Cordelia.

"This time, I didn't do it on purpose! I swear! At first, I checked the situation around the campsite, and then I accidentally saw you going towards the island's center. Eventually, I became curious and kept an eye on you." Princess Cordelia took her eyes off Ziel. She didn't dare to look at him for fear that he would suddenly gouge out her eyeballs.

"What have you seen there? Depending on your answer, I might not let you go this time even if Kalya comes to help you." Ziel said coldly to Princess Cordelia. His words sent a chill down Princess Cordelia's spine.

"I… I just saw you met someone there. Then you threw a ball of light into the sky. That's all I've seen." Princess Cordelia answered honestly. She trembled in fear that Ziel would be angry with her answer.

"I understand. This time I will let you go. But if you do it again, both of your eyeballs will disappear in that instant." Ziel reminded Princess Cordelia of last night's events. Princess Cordelia stopped breathing for a moment while imagining that terrible thing.

"I understand! But, may I ask you something?" Princess Cordelia dared to ask Ziel even though she was currently under the pressure of the power that Ziel released. She was curious about something and wanted to find out right away.

"Say." Ziel quickly allowed her.

"How did you know that I was looking at you? Whereas before, you couldn't realize it. Besides, what exactly are you doing in the center of the island together with that black-robed person?" Princess Cordelia let out all her curiosity to Ziel.

"It is effortless. I need to feel someone's gaze directed at me. If that gaze uses aura, mana, or familiarity, it's definitely not you. However, if I can't feel the three things I previously mentioned or I can't find the source of those gazes, then the one who's spying on me is you." Ziel answered Princess Cordelia's first question.

"While the next thing is because of your father's fault that brought the source of trouble to this place. You better prepare for the magical beast horde invasion that will arrive any minute." Ziel left Princess Cordelia, who was speechless in shock after hearing his answer.

"Hey! What do you mean by my father's fault!? You must answer clearly!" Princess Cordelia shouted at Ziel. Luckily it was raining heavily, and no one was listening. But Ziel ignored Princess Cordelia and continued walking back to his tent. Princess Cordelia could only grit her teeth and walk back to her tent, but she suddenly remembered the warning Ziel had said.

"Gather all the soldiers! Prepare for magical beast attacks!" Princess Cordelia gave an order to one of the soldiers standing guard in front of her tent. Even though she hadn't checked the magical beast horde with her own eyes, she felt that Ziel's words could be trusted.

"I understand!" The soldier quickly gathered the soldiers in front of Princess Cordelia's tent.

"What happened, Princess Cordelia?" Flavio came closer to Princess Cordelia after seeing the soldiers running with slightly tense faces.

"Looks like there will be a horde of magical beasts approaching this camp. so we are preparing for it." Princess Cordelia calmly answered Flavio's question.

"Is that true? Do you know how many monsters will attack this camp?" Flavio's face became serious after hearing Princess Cordelia's answer.

"I still don't know the exact number of those monsters. But I'll find out soon enough. It's better if Mr. Flavio and the other teachers also prepare to face the magical beast hordes this time." Princess Cordelia didn't have time to explain in detail to Flavio because she didn't know much about the magical beast horde either. Right now, she intended to check the island's situation firsthand with her own eyes.

"I understand. But, next time, you can call me by my name directly without honorifics because our ages aren't too far apart either." Flavio smiled refreshingly before leaving Princess Cordelia.

"Eh? Oh, yes." Princess Cordelia couldn't help but smile bitterly in response. Until now, she is still not used to dealing with a man who holds affection for her. She would rather face a high-level magical beast than a man like that.

After Flavio completely disappeared from her sight, Princess Cordelia activated her sea goddess eye ability. At first, her face looked normal when she looked in one direction. When she turned his gaze to the others, her face suddenly became tense. She saw a group of magical beasts numbering in the hundreds approaching their camp. She continued her inspection in the other direction. Then she gritted her teeth because the monsters surrounded the camp from three directions, and the beast hordes would be coming to the camp soon.

"All soldiers, get ready! We will soon face an attack from magical beasts!" Princess Cordelia quickly mobilized her troops to prepare to face the hordes of magical beasts in their respective positions.

(How did he know that there would be an invasion of the magical beast horde? Not to mention the numbers are so abnormal as someone planned this. Could it be that he did it? No way, I'm sure he wouldn't do something like this. What's more, there's her lady in this place. Then who? Wait, didn't he say about the source of trouble earlier? Could it be...)

Princess Cordelia's mind was in complete chaos at the moment. Even so, she could still find an answer from Ziel's words to her earlier.

(I'll make sure of that later. For now, the most important thing is to kill all those magical beasts. With the help of the academy students and teachers, we can do it!)

Princess Cordelia put aside what Ziel had said before. She was currently focused on the magical beast horde invasion. If possible, she didn't want the academy students to join the fight because she felt it was perilous, especially in the middle of heavy rain like that. But sadly, she had no other choice at this time and had to rely on them.

***

After Ziel returned to his tent, he saw no one there. He asked one of the soldiers manning around the tent and learned that other students and teachers were gathering in another tent. The people from the academy were gathered in a tent that looked much larger in the encampment. It was the tent that Ziel had seen King Raghnall and King Redis enter into before.

When Ziel entered the tent, the attention of everyone inside was on him. But it was only for a moment as their attention returned the King Raghnall in front of them. Then Ziel saw Clara quietly waving at him with a tiny smile. Ziel quickly walked over and joined his group.

"I apologize for interrupting your investigation. At first, Merlick and I just wanted to keep an eye on you. But I didn't expect that a big storm would occur today. I hope you don't have to think about our presence here and continue to carry out your investigations as usual." King Raghnall smiled and gave his words to the academy's people and the Cirlus Kingdom soldiers inside the tent. He didn't want his appearance at that place to cause a commotion in their camp.

Initially, King Raghnall had intended to set up a tent some distance away from the combined camp of the people from the academy and the soldiers of the Cirlus Kingdom. But suddenly, Princess Cordelia came to his place and picked him up. Princess Cordelia said it would be dangerous for a king to camp with only a few soldiers. Even though she knew King Raghnall and King Redis weren't weak, she didn't want to take unnecessary risks. Therefore Princess Cordelia suggested King Raghnall join their camp, and the rest would be taken care of by her. King Raghnall and Merlick had to agree with Princess Cordelia's suggestion.

"When you are dealing with magical beasts, you don't have to worry about us because we can take care of ourselves. You have to focus on the monsters you are fighting and the environment around you." Merlick added King Raghnall's explanation.

"Ah, I forgot to introduce you. Maybe most of you already know him. He was the current king of the Demon Kingdom, Redis Parphial. At the same time, the woman next to him was the genius mage of the Demon Kingdom and the queen of the Demon Kingdom, Triana Parphial. The other two are their son and daughter…" King Raghnall smiled at the academy students and soldiers in front of him. He stopped his words because some of them started to get noisy after hearing the name of the Demon Kingdom. As things calmed down, King Raghnall continued his explanation.

"King Redis and his family are currently on holiday in the Cirlus Kingdom and will be VIP guests in this kingdom. Coincidentally they came with me to keep an eye on you because they also wanted to explore the islands of the Cirlus Kingdom. Although the Demon Kingdom also has many islands and abundant marine resources, the natural scenery is not as beautiful as in this kingdom. So, I ask you to be kind to them." King Raghnall closed his explanation while keeping a big smile on his face.

The academy students looked at each other. The soldiers also didn't immediately answer King Raghnall's words because many people from the human race harbored bad sentiments towards the demon race. Some of them were Princess Reina and Prince Albert, but they couldn't show their displeasure at that place.

"We understand, Your Majesty!" The soldiers of the Cirlus Kingdom could not help but have to accept it. However, some of them seem reluctant to answer.

Not long after, Flavio entered the tent and whispered something in Merlick's ear. Merlick's face suddenly turned gloomy after hearing Flavio's report. The people in the tent were curious about what Flavio had told him.

"Are you sure about this news?" Merlick asked Flavio in a low voice. His face looks solemn now.

"I'm certain. I got this news from Princess Cordelia." Flavio answered firmly.

"Merlick, what happened?" King Raghnall asked Merlick out of curiosity about what they were talking about. But Merlick hadn't had time to say anything because they heard a scream from outside.

"All the soldiers are ready to fight! A horde of magical beasts attacked us!" Princess Cordelia's voice reached the ears of the people inside the tent.