Chapter 156 – The Woes of Speculations

In reality, there was no need to wonder what was causing the Demon King to feel distressed.
Everyone was aware that only one thing, or, more specifically, one person, could cause the Demon King to grow anxious.

Hence, when Davis heard “Alice's” words, his expression changed immediately.

Initially, Davis thought their plan to acquire the Seeds of Nature would proceed without fail now that the Demon King was here.
However, it would seem that he had been too optimistic to assume that that person wouldn't appear.

Sure enough, a moment after Luna finished speaking, a burst of powerful mana exploded in the sky, causing everyone to instinctively lift their heads and look up.

The next moment, a tall and muscular man descended from the sky, the man holding the easily-recognizable Hero's Sword in his right hand as he landed on the ground.
The instant the man's feet touched the ground, everyone could even feel the ground beneath them trembling.

Before today, neither the demons in the demon army nor the elven warriors from the elven village had seen this man before.
Yet, the moment these people saw this muscular man with a pretty face, they instinctively recognized this man's identity.

“Hero.”

Luna spoke in a somber voice, the singular word she said validating everyone's thoughts.

In reality, Luna didn't have particularly good acting skills.
However, the cloak she wore hid her expressionless face, and she had also used mana to distort her voice.
Thus, nobody noticed any problems in her acting whatsoever.

“Are you sure you want to start a war with me now?” Luna asked as scripted.

“I don't have a problem with that.
Neither of us is fully developed, anyway, right?”

Alice had naturally learned how to alter her voice with mana from Luna.
Thus, rather than sounding like the little girl she was, she now sounded like a man speaking in a deep and resonant voice.
Although speaking this way also required her to put pressure on her throat, which was a relatively uncomfortable thing to do, she only had to keep this up for around a dozen minutes, so she decided to bear with the discomfort.

“If you leave the Elven Forest with your army now, we can delay our fight till a different time,” Alice said in a magnanimous tone.

“Don't even think about it.
I must get the Seeds of Nature today no matter what,” Luna said, following the script they had previously agreed on.

Alice had found these lines exaggerated and embarrassing when they initially held their discussions.
However, she had no choice but to go through with this awkward dialogue since it was somewhat of a tradition to the people of this world.

“It seems we failed to reach an accord, then,” Alice said and chuckled in a deep voice.

Alice currently had her back facing the elves.
She also stood relatively far from the demon army.
So, nobody had noticed that the Hero's “body” hadn't actually moved at the slightest after landing on the ground.
There wasn't even any sign of the Hero breathing.

After all, this “body” was only a modified suit of power armor.
It naturally couldn't breathe like a normal person.
Fortunately, nobody had noticed this point as everyone was focused on the dialogue between the Hero and the Demon King.

When Davis looked at the Hero standing between the demons and the elves, his expression darkened a little.
Then, he moved closer to Luna and softly asked, “Did you perhaps notice that the Hero was in the Elven Forest previously, Lord Demon King? Is that why you had us wait for several days?”

In Davis's opinion, the reason “Alice” had asked the demon army to distract the elves for several days was most likely because she had discovered that the Hero was coincidentally present in the Elven Forest.
Hence, she must've decided to wait for a few days in hopes that the Hero would leave without noticing what was happening outside the Elven Forest.

Unfortunately, not only did the Hero not leave, but it would seem that he had also discovered that the Demon King was up to something.
Hence, “Alice” had decided to stop hiding and come out to personally handle talks with the elves while also dealing with the Hero at the same time.

Luna naturally did not answer Davis's questions.
After all, Davis was not part of the script she discussed with Alice, and she had no idea how she should answer the other party, so she might as well not answer at all.

“It seems the Demon King doesn't have a very good relationship with the demons.”

The elven warriors also saw the interaction between Davis and Luna.
Although they couldn't hear what Davis had said, they could still see that Davis had said something to the Demon King, but the Demon King had completely ignored Davis.

During the stalemate these past few days, the elves had more or less interacted with the demons in the demon army.
Thus, they knew that all of the demons here were simply following orders and that they held no ill will toward the elves.
In fact, Davis's stern and earnest personality had improved the impression they had of demons.

Hence, when the elves saw the Demon King giving Davis the cold shoulder, they couldn't help but pity Davis a little.

“That is only natural.
All Demon Kings originate from humans who bear deep resentment toward humanity.
They aren't born from actual demons.
So, it usually takes some time before a Demon King starts getting along with the demons.”

The response to the elven warriors' mutterings came from behind them.
When these elven warriors turned around in surprise, they saw that their patriarch had arrived on the battlefield.

After walking up to the elven warriors, Patriarch Elway looked at Alice's “tall and robust” back and sighed, saying, “I didn't think the Hero would also appear… But neither the Hero nor the Demon King should have fully matured yet.
I wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing?”

There had never been a precedent in history where the Hero and the Demon King would fight before one or both of them had developed to their full potential.
This was because past Demon Kings preferred to hide until they were fully grown.
However, it would seem that the Demon King of this generation had decided to take a different approach.
Not only did this Demon King take the initiative to expose herself before maturing, but she had even run into the Hero.

“Should we help the Hero, Patriarch?” a female warrior asked Patriarch Elway as she looked at the Hero and the Demon King staring off at each other.

“We can't.
Even if the Hero and the Demon King aren't fully developed, a fight between them is not something we can recklessly interfere in,” Patriarch Elway said, shaking his head.
It might be a different story if Filia was here.
With her strength, she might be of help to the Hero.
Unfortunately, Filia had disappeared somewhere without anybody knowing her whereabouts.

Subsequently, silence enveloped the battlefield for some time.
As neither the Hero nor the Demon King opened their mouths to speak, the demons and the elves dared not make a sound, either.

Eventually, though, Luna, the pretend Demon King, broke this silence.

“Die.”

A calm and cold voice came out of Luna's mouth.

Immediately afterward, a torrent of pitch-black mana flooded out of Luna's body and formed two gigantic hands.
Although these hands looked like simple mana constructs, every demon and elf present on the battlefield could feel the pure destructive power contained within these hands.
If they were the ones facing these gigantic hands, just a squeeze from these hands would turn them into meat patties.