Chapter 90 - Midlight Village#10

"Was he one of the so-called 'Gods'?" I can't help but question that. Why? Well, to put it simply, his mana level was similar to that of an Elf King, but his demeanour and the way he ignored Zwain indicates that there is something more about it than it looks like. He looked down not only at me but also at everyone present in this party. For him, it looked as if we were ants crawling beneath his feet. I even wondered about the story of that girl…errr..what was her name again? "Oi! You, what is your name?" I asked the brown-haired girl, whose hair looked as if she just woke up. Stupefied, she blinks at me with her black eyes before gritting her teeth and speaking.

"Not tell-Oww" Zwain hits her this time. Well, he looks slightly irritated at her actions. With slightly teary eyes, she looks at Zwain, who glares at her, making her flinch before looking away from him. Then she looks at me with slight irritation and speaks,

"Elaine."

"Change it. Change it, right now," my voice gets heavier as I glare at her. Someone as clumsy as her would be the last person to use that name. 

"Wh-wh-what are you talking about? It's my name. I can't just change it because a stranger told me to change it," she stutters as she caresses her head with a confused look on her face, but then she sees that I am serious, so she gets scared of the current situation.

Shaking my head, I look at her, then ask,

"Sorry, I got a bit excited. Do you have any other name?" I ask her with an expressionless face.

"B-But you don't seem genuine with your sorry-owwo owwo- STOP BULLYING ME!! I have another name, it's Lilith," she speaks with slight pride in her voice as she looks at me. Looking at her expression, it's as if…she is looking down on me.

"All right, Lilith, tell me. What else do you know about that sage?" I ask her the important question that I think I must know. It is a loose thread that should not be left open.

"What sage, hmph, I am not telling you anything," she says as she sulks with a pouting expression as she looks away but peeks at me. I, who was looking at her with an expressionless face, glared at her for a few moments before shaking my head and taking out my dagger.

'Checking her memories would be the best thing right now,' thinking that I move towards her one step at a time. At first she does not look at me, but once she sees me coming towards her with a knife, she makes a scared expression as she starts shouting, "Hey! Hey! Hey! That's a dangerous, sharp object. Take it away from me. I don't like sharp objects. Why are you looking at me like that? NO! STAY AWAY YOU CREEPY CHILD! STAY AWAY! ALL RIGHT, I'LL TELL YOU! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING," looking at her begging in no time, I ended up making a long sigh. Just what kind of idiot we ended up taking in? Wait! Why are we even letting her follow us? Sigh…I look at her with a tired expression as my eyes darts to her face, which is filled with a crying expression.

"I-I heard from my mother that 'the sage came from a different world' was one of the theories that people of the village thought was true. The other thing I know about the sage is his mastery in time magic. He seems to be a well-versed expert in Time related crafts," Lilith speaks as she gets scared looking at my annoyed expression.

Looking at her with an emotionless expression, I ask her again, 

"Why are you searching for that sage? If he is out of your league and you are so scared of that sage, then why are you still looking for him?"

"I-I can't tell you that. It's a secret that I must keep. It's my family's secr- Okay! Okay! Don't glare at me like that! I just thought it was cool to have a time related artifact with me.." She tells the truth as she gets scared of my expression.

'This girl…' I really have no words to speak about her actions. Is she really dumb or just a born idiot? I can't read her at all. I observe her teary expression,  crying like a baby there, as she holds her legs while sitting on the ground.

"Stop sulking. Sigh…This is getting nowhere..Tell me Lilith, how were you planning to escape from there in case the Sage finds you stealing his artifacts?" I ask her, trying to be as understanding as possible. She looks at me dumbfounded, then sticks out her tongue as if trying to make a cute expression. She then bonks her head with her fist as she speaks.

"I forgot-Owww owww owwwo owww…" Lucy started hitting her with an irritated expression on her face. Looks like Lucy had enough of her.

"Well, since we are getting nowhere with this idiot, we are coming back to the 2 choices we could make right now. One, we look for the sage and that artifact and all, as it is the only trail we have here. Two, the other thing we can do is to go to Alfheim from here and come back later after we have enough information, especially on Time Magic, and also on that Sage too," I look at them all making a serious expression, even Lilith, as they look at me to continue, "so before I give the final decision let me ask you this question, just in case, can any of you defeat a King one on one?"

They look at me for a few seconds, then look at each other's faces and then look back at me for a while before Kaneto asks,

"Morpheus, I think we misheard you. Can you say that again? Especially the last line." He is making quite an interesting expression there.

"Can anyone…of you…defeat…a King.. one on one?" This time I say everything one at a time as I look at them. They blink at me before continuing their silence for a moment.

"I have fought one King before but I lost very badly," Leraye speaks with a helpless face as everyone turns at him. Their expressions are shocked, to say the least.

"The fact that you are alive after doing that is quite an achievement in itself," Lucy says as she looks at Leraye with a wry smile.

Zwain simply says silently as he turns his head away. He seems to mutter something along the lines of 'hey, nice weather today.'

"I haven't and I don't think you need to ask the kids. Although I can probably handle a Sin Devil or two at my best," Kaneto expresses his thoughts. Well, that's understandable, I guess.

I then spoke my decision,"All right, so-

"I haven't defeated either," interrupting me, Lilith speaks with a proud expression as she raises her hands. Since it's not worth the effort, I ignored her totally.

"All right, so here are my thoughts. First, there is a high chance that the Sage is King level or higher, but the real reason I don't want to barge in there is that we don't know if he is the only one there or someone else is present with him too. Someone of equal level to him, maybe? If that happens, I won't be able to protect all of you and fight at the same time. Honestly, there are too many unknown variables in this situation and I won't take any foolish steps. With that all in my mind, I have decided to leave from here to Alfheim and come back when we have gained enough information and strength." I speak and they nod at my decisions. 

'And obviously get myself a bit stronger too. If Time power is really concerned here, then my options get limited, I guess. Will I be able to handle someone with Time power? Theoretically, if there is a limit to his power, then it might be quite feasible, but if he does not have a limit…' My thoughts stray from there. This makes things a bit more complicated than before., 'To think I would get an enemy of this level, this early. Well, let's hope everything works out fine.'

We then leave for Alfheim.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Don't leave me alone here. How can you all be so cruel to a lady like me?" Looks like Lilith is going to tag along with us, too. Well, having her will make our party more talkative, so it's not really a bad thing. As long as she doesn't have a bad influence on Corey and Chase, that is. 

—

3RD PERSON'S POV:-

IN THE DEMON CONTINENT AT THE DEVIL KING'S CASTLE:

Ladros is bowing to the Devil King as a respectful smile forms on his face. The Devil King speaks to him before Ladros nods and leaves the castle. Outside the castle, Ladros sees Wrath walking toward him.

"Hey! Looks like you are finally getting some action, haha. I wish I could take part in the war too. Even though it will be one-sided, haha. Man…Can't I just join in secret and leave in secret? Like, you know, not tell anyone and have fun, then come back and without anyone noticing?" Wrath speaks with a smile on his face as he looks at Sin Devil of Greed, Ladros. He acts friendly, but then puts a knife on the neck of Ladros as he continues.

"Give me Unia already. How long are you gonna have her, you bastard?"

"If you end up joining the war, you will kill not only the enemy but also our forces. A freak like you, who will destroy everything I have planned, would be the last thing I will allow to interfere with my plans. As for Unia, she is my Queen Piece, there is no giving her to you. This is my last warning. There will be no next time," Ladros speaks in a heavy voice as he leaves from there.

"You sure are in a good mood today. Well, have you heard what happened with Envy and Sloth? Just be careful, who knows when you might end up dying because of a foolish mistake," with a sly smile Wrath speaks as he leaves from there.

Ladros pauses for a moment before clenching his fist as he looks at Wrath going away from him.

"Envy died, huh? As for Sloth, I heard his light is as dim as it can be possible," Ladros mutters in a low voice, as he ponders over something. His gaze then turns to his castle as he focuses on it. 

Flapping his skeletal wing, he pours mana into them to make mana coated wings and starts flying towards his castle.

After he leaves from there, the King, who was observing Ladros and Wrath's interaction, turns back to Wrath, who has finally arrived in front of him.

"Tell me about the person who killed Envy," the Devil King says.

"It was a girl named Aisha," Wrath answers with a respectful bow.