Chapter 328

“I’ll be going now. Be sure to take care of yourself.”

After Alice chatted with Andusia for some time, the cooldown of the magic robe’s Mana Concealment skill finally finished. So, she put on the robe and waved goodbye to Andusia.

“Just go. Don’t act like you’re my mother,” Andusia said as she looked at Alice in disgust. If anyone was to be the mother in their relationship, she should be the one to take on the role instead. After all, Alice was always the one coming to her for help.

However, despite Andusia’s reaction, she was quite happy to receive Alice’s concern in reality. It had been a long time since anyone had shown concern for her. The last time anyone sincerely cared about her well-being was before she became a Demon King.

Relying on Mana Concealment, Alice concealed her body and aura before sneaking out of the window she came in from. Then, she leisurely walked away from the residential building. After all, if she moved too quickly, she might disturb the airflow too much and possibly alert the guards on duty nearby.

After leaving the residential building, Alice found an alleyway devoid of surveillance before she removed her robe. Then, she walked out of the alley like nothing had just happened. Although Icarus City was the Rhine Kingdom’s capital, security in the city wasn’t so strict that every alleyway would be under surveillance.

Alice had already learned where she could acquire Living Wood from Andusia. However, because the procurement process might be troublesome, Alice had no choice but to set this matter aside. Only after she was done investigating the Rhine Kingdom’s royal family would she try to acquire a block of Living Wood.

Indeed. Try.

According to Andusia, Living Wood could only be obtained from the treants. However, Living Wood was an extremely rare treasure even to the treants, so they typically wouldn’t give it away.

Treants were a special race with a tiny population. Rather than say they were animals, it’d be much more appropriate to consider them plants capable of independent movement. Because of this, treants propagated by growing saplings and hoping that these saplings could eventually grow into treants. Meanwhile, Living Wood was an excellent cultivation bed to nurture powerful treants.

If the treants gave away their Living Wood, it would reduce their chances of giving birth to powerful treants. Their low population and lack of strength had always been a concern for the treants. So, it was only natural that they would attach great importance to their Living Wood. Even if Alice asked the treants for Living Wood as the Hero, the treants wouldn’t necessarily agree.

Alice had also asked Andusia how she managed to acquire Living Wood from the treants. Alice thought Andusia was acquainted with the treants since she had managed to get her hands on a block of Living Wood all those years ago.

However, when Alice saw Andusia responding with an awkward smile, she understood what had happened… The Ninth Demon King must have taken the treants’ Living Wood by force. In that case, if she were to bring up Andusia’s name to the treants, she would most likely become an enemy of the treants on the spot.

Since relying on Andusia was out of the question, Alice had no choice but to figure out another solution. Unless absolutely necessary, Alice didn’t wish to give up on obtaining Living Wood. After all, Lilith looked like she liked Andusia very much. She would be traumatized if Andusia suddenly disappeared from her house one day.

Alice knew how much otakus valued the things they liked. In Lilith’s mind, Andusia’s worth might even surpass the Rhine Kingdom’s throne.

“Hmph. I’m being so nice to you, so you best hope you’re not the mastermind I’m looking for.”

Alice naturally didn’t forget that Lilith was still under suspicion. If Lilith really was the person impersonating Etoria to try and muddle the relationship between humans and demons, Alice would not need to search for Living Wood anymore.

While thinking of Lilith, Alice suddenly experienced a strange feeling. Although she wasn’t holding onto the anal plug-shaped dagger, the mana she used to activate Chaos General remained in her body. Meanwhile, the strange feeling she just experienced was feedback from this mana.

The information the feedback conveyed was simple—a Dark Guard had been killed! The Dark Guard wasn’t dismissed naturally. Instead, it had disappeared after suffering severe damage.

Because the Dark Guards were composed of dark mana, they wouldn’t die even after they received lethal injuries. So long as mana remained in the dagger, Alice could simply summon the destroyed Dark Guards again.

However, it should be known that neither the sledgehammer-wielding loli nor shota magician was weak. Although they weren’t as strong as the Four Heavenly Kings, the fact that Miriya, the Eighth Demon King, found it worthwhile to keep them as part of her Dark Guards must mean that they were elites among the demons.

The Dark Guards might not be able to unleash the strength they had during their peak due to their lack of soul and independent thought, but it still shouldn’t be possible for the average person to defeat them. It would take someone on Catherine’s level to defeat the Dark Guards easily.

The Dark Guard that got killed is…the one sent to observe Lilith.

After sensing the change in the mana within her, Alice quickly found out which Dark Guard had gotten killed—the sledgehammer-wielding loli. Upon realizing this, Alice no longer found it as surprising that someone had managed to defeat one of her Dark Guards.

Before sending off the loli, Alice had instructed the loli to cast her sledgehammer aside. This was so that the loli could pretend to be an ordinary little girl while following Lilith. It also didn’t matter if the loli threw her sledgehammer away. The sledgehammer was similarly made of mana, so the loli could recover her weapon the next time Alice summoned her using Chaos General.

Alice also guessed that whoever fought the loli should have experienced a tough battle. After all, Lilith was a princess with little authority. Although the person who defeated the loli Dark Guard had commendable strength, they were unlikely to be on Catherine’s level.

Fortunately, according to the feedback Alice received, the loli Dark Guard didn’t die in vain. Both Dark Guards remembered Alice’s instructions. So, when the loli Dark Guard realized she was about to get defeated and had no chance of escaping, she secretly dug out the surveillance camera in her left eye socket and tossed it to a hidden location. Only after doing so did she let her opponent defeat her.

In other words, Alice could find out how the loli was discovered and who had defeated the loli so long as she retrieved the camera.

It seems the investigation on Lilith should come to a conclusion soon, Alice thought to herself as she made her way toward the camera stained with the loli Dark Guard’s aura. So long as she retrieved the loli’s camera, she should have a general idea of how to conduct her investigation on Lilith. At that time, it wouldn’t take long for her to get the results she wanted. I wonder if Collins’ side will notice the Dark Guard?