Chapter 124 - One-Hundred-Thirteen

The elder elf seemed displeased with this back and forth conversation, but I could not care less about his opinion, already at the edge of my seat and ready to make my point known by force if needed.

"Alright, alright, we will talk about that brother of yours but wait a little! Calm down first and hear me out alright?" Helraya suddenly says, making us all look at her with displeasure in your eyes as we question why in the world would she see fit to interrupt us right now.

"I-I think we should not go after him right now." She starts blabbering out before we can interrupt, and I'm about to slash out at her when she raises her arms and speaks even quicker: "If the Demon King is there when we invade he will take your brother far away, he has some very annoying skills that are capable of such things and he knows that you can't act harshly while he has your brother with him." 

If smoke could raise from my ears I think I would be steaming right now, but for the sake of my brother I take a deep breath, even if against my will, and say:

"…Explain." I barely manage to speak between growls, hoping that this little plan of hers is worth the patience I'm having with all of them right now.

"The Demon King is interested in you, right? He even sent you an invitation, what I think we should do is to bait him out of there while another team goes and rescue your brother!"

"So you want me to sit and wait even knowing where he may be only so that I have a cup of tea with Cain?!" I ask, my mind turning blank with rage.

"Wait, Thil, what she says makes sense." Says Leonel from behind me, reaching out for my arm and bringing me closer to him, turning me around while giving me a slight squish and rubbing his toe on my skin, trying to calm me down and bring my attention towards him.

"It does make sense." He says lower so only the two of us could hear our little talk. "We cannot afford to lose him again, and for what you have told me he really seems to have some strange skills, is possible that he can run away with your brother, then who knows how long it will take us to find him again. Let's do this with caution, alright?" I clench my teeth, looking away, too stubborn to give up but aware that we should choose the best option to save my brother.

If we lose him again I cannot even think how long it will take us to find him again…

Leonel, aware of my behavior, takes my silence for compliance and turns to talk with the others, and for a few moments I avoid the subject, focusing my mind in calming down, focusing on slowing down, but since my heart had speed up my breathing staying still like such only makes me want to run out more, the adrenaline rushing inside, so instead I start to focus on him, Ereinion Calien, known to me as Leonel; and, strangely enough, the effect is almost immediate while I hear Leo's calm heartbeat, taste his fresh familiar odor up close, feeling his warmth palm against my skin, and look as his serious face while he handles the others.

I end up holding the hand that was on my arm, cupping his palm on mine, finding comfort it that small act, embracing the warmth of his body and taking one last deep breath before looking back at the others, trying to listen in the conversation that did not wait for me.

"Well, I'm pretty confident about the information I have gathered from them, but I cannot guarantee it for sure, so be aware that there are little things that even I would want to know all right? So." She claps her hands, making me frown and try to understand where this conversation has migrated to. "Those three in charge of the devil kingdom are the Demon Lord Demon King Cain, the First Demon Prince, Seth, and Dearil as the Second Demon Prince."

"Aren't Demon King and Demon Lord the same?" Leonel asks.

"Oh no, they are quite similar but very different. Demon Lord is the title given to the strongest demon of each kin, and more than one demon can have that. Demon King, however, is literally a king, the governor, and as such there is only one."

"Oh, I see…" 

"Anyway, as I said before, there are many kins inside the demon category, most are put together by convenience by humans, and even elves are called that in some places."

"Indeed we are." Says the elder, but my eyes cannot stop from glancing at Leonel, who suffered such reality up close and personal.

"And as such there are many types of demons who, being so outnumbered, have to stay together to survive, and others, like my kind, are capable of blending in with human society. However, what demons have in common is their unusual magic, or unique magic as some may say, and some are passed by kin, like mine, but others are simply born with it; we even had humans as Demon Lords before, consumed by their dark magic enough so to be categorized as one of us. The unique always suffer in face of others for their differences."

As she keeps talking I'm reminded of a creature I fought a long, long time ago, that started using necromancy after the loss of his lover, and I'm sure he must have been viewed as a demon at some point too; only that I'm left to wonder if it had been for liking a man or for dealing with necromancy.

Everything Hel says is very interesting… but doesn't help me much, especially when she starts to list demons, names and characteristics at an overwhelming speed, making the elder take notes on the side.

"There are the Mamon, low greedy demons that are good spies, but have no loyalty except for money. Asmodeus, a medium to high demon, is a nasty beast, very rare to find but very…easy to notice, he is a l.u.s.tful devil, strong body, more beast than man, not very intelligent, but very ugly.

"Aquiel, low demon, a pestering demon, good spy too, but annoying to deal with since he has a childish behavior and likes to annoy, making it easy to bait. Agares, medium to high, strong opponent, one of the few demons that are intelligent, used to command and-"

That's the point where I stop paying attention for the lack of memory space, only the name of those creatures is already enough to overwhelm me, so no point in trying to keep all that information in, learning only about their general behavior pattern; but even that has its limits in usefulness since they were as different as people, or rather, even more if you think about how many species were mixed together in the same category.

My attention, however, is caught again once she mentions something that sounds quite familiar.

"There are things called Nevlar, translated as the Call of Death, that lingers under. If you think our reality is a thin layer, then they lay under that, waiting to be invited in, with not enough strength to stay on their own. They need someone to feed them, to keep them corporeal, and many times are used to…possess bodies, so that way they can stay in our reality for longer."

Those sounded much like the puppets we saw before, the ones that took the lives of many, including my dear deer friend, Elfihe.

"They are common weapons for the dark practitioners such as dark elves and demons, so it would be advisable to use magic or have some magical weapon to deal with them since corporeal attacks will only damage the holster of the dark energy, not the Nevlar themselves."

She opens her mouth to keep going, adding questions upon questions in my mind, but the elder suddenly closes his little notebook, bringing the attention to his stiff face.

"That's enough for now Miss. Helraya. We can continue later if you will, for now you have to deal with the situation you promise us."

We give each other a quick glance, all sharing dislike towards this arrogant elder, but I cannot start another argument since we decided to plan this rescue better before doing anything harsh, so no harm is done in having her work on Aeglos and the elves before that.

I just hope we are not late yet again…