Chapter 165

PHA – Chapter 165 – Elven Hero’s Secret

Despite her efforts to hide her identity as the “Hero,” Alice found that others frequently uncovered her identity through inexplicable methods.

Fortunately, compared to how Aird and Luna uncovered her identity, Filia’s case was much more peaceful. At the very least, Filia didn’t try to attack her from the very onset. Instead, the elf snuck into her room and asked her about her identity.

“How did you find out?” Alice asked, indirectly answering Filia’s question. Filia sounded relatively confident when she posed her question, so Alice didn’t see it necessary to continue hiding her identity. “This should be your first time meeting me, right?”

Alice wasn’t aware that Filia had already taken notice of her when she entered the elven village with her schoolmates. She had also knocked Filia unconscious before the latter could catch a glimpse of her in the Nature Shrine. Hence, in her opinion, this should be Filia’s first time seeing her.

“Mhm… You’re not from the village, so it’s normal for you not to know about me. In that case, let me introduce myself,” Filia said, understanding Alice’s confusion. She might be relatively well-known in the elven village, but it wasn’t strange for a human from outside the village to not know about her. It was especially true considering this human was only a little girl. “I’m Filia, the Seventh Hero’s girlfriend. My specialty is mana perception.”

“Mana perception? Isn’t this a trait that all elves possess?”

Alice couldn’t help but be confused by Filia’s words. She knew that elves were perceptive toward mana. However, that didn’t explain how Filia managed to see through her identity. After all, if Filia could see through her identity as the Hero by relying on this trait, every other elf in the village would’ve probably noticed that she was the Hero by now. However, that clearly wasn’t the case.

“That is indeed a trait of our elven race. However, what elves are sensitive to is natural mana. In other words, mana that wanders in the air after being born and hasn’t been processed,” Filia explained. “However, my case is a little different. Besides being sensitive toward natural mana, I can also accurately perceive other people’s mana. Meanwhile, I would usually take note of unique mana signatures so that I could locate them should I need to in the future.”

“Unique mana signatures…” After hearing up to this point, Alice suddenly thought about something Lalu had mentioned. Specifically, the thing about Filia occasionally leaving the Elven Forest because she “sensed the Demon King’s aura.” Everything made sense after listening to Filia’s explanation. “For example, the Demon King’s Power?”

“The Demon King’s Power is a special case. Although it sounds like a type of mana, I cannot perceive it. However, I can perceive the dark mana the Demon King’s Power generates, and I have an incredibly deep impression of it,” Filia said. Then, she silently looked at Alice for a moment before asking, “You get what I mean, right?”

Alice instantly understood what Filia was trying to say. It would seem that Luna wasn’t the only one who noticed Filia’s presence. Apparently, Filia had similarly taken notice of Luna. Or, more specifically, Filia had taken notice of the exceptional dark mana inside Luna’s body. Every bit of dark mana in Luna’s body came from the Demon King’s Power. So, since Filia said she had a deep impression of the dark mana the Demon King’s Power generated, she must’ve noticed the peculiarity with Luna’s mana.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem that Filia intended to pursue this matter. Although she had noticed that the dark mana in Luna’s body came from the Demon King’s Power, she must’ve also noticed that this dark mana wasn’t showing signs of continuous growth.

If Luna was truly a Demon King, the Demon King’s Power would continuously develop her dark mana, allowing her to achieve frightening growth. However, Filia failed to detect this frightening growth in Luna. It was as if the Demon King’s Power had just poured a large amount of dark mana into Luna and left after doing so. Although Filia didn’t know what had happened to cause this, the Demon King’s Power evidently wasn’t inside Luna’s body.

Hence, Filia simply treated Luna as someone who had come to obtain a large amount of dark mana because of a fortuitous opportunity. She didn’t deem Luna as the Demon King. If she did, she would’ve taken action against Luna the moment she saw the other party. After all, her hatred for Demon Kings was considerable.

Of course, if it came down to a fight, Filia definitely wouldn’t be a match for Luna.

“I already noticed the unique mana signature on you the moment you entered the village. Those mana fluctuations are not something I will ever forget in my life,” Filia said. In reality, there was another reason Filia didn’t take action against Luna, and that was because Luna was Alice’s maid. Meanwhile, Alice carried something on her that could prove her identity. “You have the Hero’s Sword on you, right?”

Although Alice had put the Hero’s Sword into a weapon storage box, the storage box was of the lowest quality. Hence, it was inevitable that it let some mana leak out. Meanwhile, Filia must’ve taken notice of this leaked mana.

“Yes, I do have the Hero’s Sword on me.”

Alice sighed in relief. Fortunately, Heroes didn’t have something like a “Hero’s Power” that distinguished them from others. Although most people would refer to the Hero’s strength as the “Hero’s Power,” it was merely a fancy way of saying “a buttload of light mana.” It wasn’t an actual power source like the Demon King’s Power. Thus, Filia couldn’t tell that Alice wasn’t actually the Hero.

Otherwise, her fake identity granted by God would be exposed, and who knew what Abel, who was hiding in Filia’s panties, would think of this revelation?

“But to think you remember even the Hero’s Sword’s mana signature…”

Although Alice understood how Filia had seen through her identity now, she was still a little surprised by this situation. After all, it didn’t seem like it was necessary for Filia to memorize the Hero’s Sword’s mana signature. It didn’t seem like Filia was the type of person who was interested in the Heroes of past generations, either.

“That’s because my boyfriend isn’t good with swords,” Filia explained. “Abel was designated as the Hero amidst the Demon King’s invasion. Unlike the other Heroes, he didn’t have a lot of time to train his magic and swordsmanship. Hence, he chose to give up on the sword and focused solely on magic to fight the Demon King… Because of this, he used our race’s Primal Elven Staff exclusively as his weapon, and he would often leave the Hero’s Sword all over the place.”

“So, you memorized the Hero’s Sword’s mana signature to help him find the Hero’s Sword whenever he misplaced it?”

After saying so, Alice couldn’t help but look at Filia’s lower body strangely. She didn’t think that Abel was such a reckless fellow.