Chapter 124: Demon Realm's Puppet

"Extend the field trip's duration?"

Inside the dean's office, the old dean revealed a shocked expression when he heard Alice's request. He couldn't understand why Alice would suddenly make such a request.

"This… While I'm not trying to reject your request, I'm afraid I am powerless to do anything about this, Your Highness."

"Why? Extending the trip by a few days shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Alice didn't get angry after getting her request rejected. After all, she wasn't some pampered princess. She was simply having difficulty understanding why the dean had rejected her request. From how she looked at it, extending the field trip's duration simply meant spending a few more days in the Elven Forest. It shouldn't impact classes too much.

"I believe it won't hurt for students to have fun for a few more days, right?"

The March Academy's students were either extraordinary talents in magic or nobles who didn't care about magic. Hence, extending the field trip by a few days shouldn't affect their academic performance. After all, talented students could quickly catch up to the curriculum if they only fell behind by a few days. As for the nobles, skipping a few days of classes…was something they typically did, anyway.

Ever since learning from Zauna that they would be visiting the Elven Forest for only two days, Alice had panicked a little. Although she indeed possessed an amazing talent for learning, she wasn't omnipotent.

No matter how strong her talent was, there was no way she could finish learning a taboo in just two days. Not to mention, the elves most likely had more than one unique taboo in their possession. After all, the elves' history dated back to tens of thousands of years. There were bound to be many talented elves born throughout this long period, so the number of unique taboos the elves have accumulated should number at least ten.

Although Alice wasn't trying to be greedy, she felt that it was imperative she learned as many taboos as possible. After all, nobody could say for sure whether the Demon King's Power would fight back when it was close to destruction. Meanwhile, as an existence meant to destroy the world's laws, the Demon King's Power should have plenty of ways to retaliate.

For the sake of dealing with the Demon King's Power, Alice naturally had to learn as many taboos as possible. The variety of the taboos she learned also needed to be large so that she could have more options to deal with the Demon King's Power.

"Yes, I know that. The academy's classes are relatively lax, and elective courses are based on the individual's choices. It wouldn't be a problem if we only rest for a few more days," the old dean said. Then, revealing a helpless smile, he continued, "But the problem is that we are visiting the Elven Forest this time, Your Highness. You might not know it, but the elves are an incredibly prideful race. Although they have started to interact with the outside world more in recent years, they still do not welcome outsiders to stay in the Elven Forest for long periods."

Prideful race?

Alice recalled her interactions with Lalu in the past month, and she couldn't sense any of the so-called "elven pride" coming from the loli elf. Or rather, Alice couldn't help but get the feeling of a tsundere when she looked at the prideful expressions Lalu made. For example, whenever she asked Lalu for something, the loli elf would first give an arrogant response before agreeing to whatever request she made the next moment.

Alice simply couldn't see any sort of elven pride coming from Lalu.

"Oh, right, I recall there being an elven student in your class, Your Highness." When the dean saw the strange look on Alice's face, he quickly recalled that Alice was in the same class as Lalu, the only elf studying in the March Academy. He also understood why Alice had reacted to his words in such a way, so he said, "But you shouldn't think that all elves are like her, Your Highness."

"I understand." Alice nodded. Although she couldn't imagine what Lalu would look like behaving truly arrogant, she could still understand what the old dean was trying to convey.

While Lalu might be an elf, she was still only a 17-year-old girl. Her adaptability would certainly be stronger than older elves. Hence, it was normal for her to acclimatize with human society after living in the human realm.

However, it was a different story for other elves. Even if most elves looked young, anyone who looked like they were in their teens or older had most likely lived for dozens or hundreds of years. Their ideologies had long since solidified. Even if the elven race's policy had started changing to one that favored having good relations with the outside world, it wasn't easy to change beliefs they had adhered to for decades and centuries.

"Is there no other way?" Alice asked, scratching her head as she looked at the old dean expectantly. She hoped that the dean could help her out on this matter.

"There really is no solution to this problem. Our academy has already contacted the Elven Forest and discussed the school trip with them half a month ago. If we abruptly change our terms now, it'll probably earn the Elven Forest's dissatisfaction. At that time, we might not even be able to hold our school trip," the old dean said, shaking his head helplessly. Although he was the March Academy's dean and possessed significant authority in the Gryffin Kingdom's education system, he lacked power when it came to diplomatic relations with the Elven Forest.

Alice didn't expect to face such a hurdle in her request, so she couldn't help but feel a little frustrated. She also realized that while her identity as the Gryffin Princess was useful in the Gryffin Kingdom, it lacked sway when it came to matters concerning other countries and races.

Of course, Alice had an even more powerful identity she could use, and that was her identity as the Hero. Other than the dragon race and demon race, this identity was useful against most other races in this world.

After all, once the Demon King began waging war, the demon race wouldn't hesitate to attack every other race except the dragon race. In this situation, the Hero, the only existence capable of standing up to the Demon King, was the only hope for the various races to beat back the demon race. Thus, it was only natural that other races would try to provide as much support to the Hero as possible.

However, while the Hero's identity was useful, Alice dared not use it casually right now, not after coming across so many spies in both the human and demon realms. Currently, not even Lalu was aware of Alice's other identity.

In the end, Alice left the dean's office with Luna in disappointment. She also started to think of a way to learn multiple taboos in just two days. Since she couldn't change the school trip's duration, her only other option was to learn the elves' taboos as quickly as possible.

"Alice, since you can't persuade the elves' side, why not try tackling this situation from outside the academy?" Luna suggested when she saw the tangled look on Alice's face. "For example, how about getting His Majesty to negotiate with the elves? His Majesty knows of your identity as the Hero. If you make the request, he will definitely try to fulfill it to the best of his abilities."

"This involves the elven race's personality. I think it wouldn't matter even if Hatter negotiates with them… Not to mention, isn't it excessive to have a king personally negotiate with the elves just to extend a field trip? Doing so would definitely cause the elves to grow suspicious," Alice said, shaking her head. She definitely couldn't let Hatter negotiate with the elves. However, Luna's suggestion of thinking outside the academy did expand Alice's range of thought. If she couldn't find a solution through the academy, why not tackle the problem from another angle?

Since holding diplomatic negotiations to extend the school trip was excessive and ineffective, was there any other way to force the elves to keep the March Academy's students in the forest a little longer?

Suddenly, Alice realized that she might be able to put her identity as the Demon King to use.