Larat: ‘According to the Holy Order’s intel, the heroes of Mace, Saber, and Peace had suddenly gone missing before entering the Elven Kingdom. Sounds too fishy to be true’

So, in order to make a private investigation, Larat disguised himself as a merchant and proceeded to enter the Elven Kingdom.

Holy Order strictly had forbidden their heroes from interfering, lest cause an international accident, if that were to happen; a war with Elven Kingdom was a definite possibility.

Larat: ‘All it means I cannot enter as Larat the Hero, but Lar the Peddler can go in as much as he pleases’

Larat: ‘With my suppressed aura and disguise, they should not be able to tell I am a warrior much less a hero level one’

Larat: ‘Still, elves are everywhere. I cannot sense another human nearby. I might need to cover more distance before I can lock on to their mana signature’

Usually, when he had a hunch, Larat was often right.

For some reason, he was confident that the disappearance of the heroes had to have something to do with the Elven Kingdom and not the demons.

Larat: ‘I must trust my instincts. They never led me astray’

Out of all the heroes, Knight of Night was easily the most radical one, in a sense; he pushed everything to the extremes.

Knight of Light may be the most powerful hero, but he was a rule following idealist. If the Holy Order told him not to enter the Elven Kingdom, he will obey without a question.

But not Larat Lemuri.

He would take the justice into his own hands and use it as his blade.

The rules of the Holy Order did not matter. If they must be broken, so be it. Larat was the type of man who would do what must be done. That, among other things was the reason why Dark Lord considered Larat, rather than Leon, to be his most dangerous adversary.

* * *

Kyra Kara: “So this is the Elven Kingdom, huh? So many citizens are flying”

Looking around, Kyra saw many elven people using magic for their daily tasks. Floating crates, animated armors, and elemental creations were not an uncommon sight.

It was safe to say, their society operated heavily on the utilization of magic.

Lukalis: “Magic is far easier for elves to use than humans; it is rare for elves to have no magical ability. Because of this, Elven Kingdom is far more advanced in terms of magic usage”

Cifer Palak: “I have never been in this kingdom; it sure is a sight for sore eyes”

Kyra: “It sure is”

It was great to have another demon join their ranks, especially someone at the level of a Demon Lord like Cifer. Kyra’s hair ended up momentarily flaring up from excitement.

After the Ignis Corps was captured by Shadow Lords, their fire based blessings were extracted and Dark Lord proceeded to give most of them to Kyra, since she had next to no offensive power herself. It was also an experiment to see if a demon’s body is compatible with a blessing, which as it turns out, it is.

Ever since then, Kyra developed fire based abilities, in particular: fire and burn resistance, flame generation, and flame control. The stronger she became, the more powerful her blessing based abilities would become.

Lukalis: “So, do you mind explaining why the hell are you two following me?”

Kyra: “It is Milord’s orders. In order to not attract suspicion, we are travelling in three man squads”

Lukalis, Kyra, and Cifer were squad 1, Dark Lord, Camilla, and Meros were squad 2, Morphus, Verine, and Jun were squad 3, and Lake, Navek, and Goblin Captain were squad 4. In other words, all the key players were here.

Cifer: “If it is his will, I shall follow it”

Lukalis: “Fine. As long as you don’t get in my way”

As they kept following Lukalis, Kyra asked.

Kyra: “While we are on that topic, what exactly are you trying to do?”

Lukalis: “I am trying to warn family, the Kreschen Household and have them evacuate before we begin the main event.”

Led by Lukalis, they found themselves at the entrance of a certain mansion. Using advanced magic, Lukalis made the three of them invisible even to the elven eyes.

If they used their teleportation rings, the elves would have easily sensed the disturbance in flow of magic and their cover would have surely been blown.

Sneaking into the mansion, Lukalis looked around, only to find the entire place to be populated by unfamiliar faces.

Lukalis: ‘This is the manor of the Kreschen Household….But why is there not a single member of my family here?’

Of her family, she still had her parents, three older sisters, and two younger brothers. Lukalis was the middle child. There was also her extended family, several cousins, aunts, and uncles. Even her grandmother was still alive, even though she was in her late 800’s

Lukalis: “Something is definitely suspicious…”

Kyra: “Then why don’t we ask one of them?”

With a smile on her face, she grabbed one of the servant elves and proceeded to make him loose consciousness by putting a handkerchief laced with a particular solution. Since it would work on a human, for an elf with even more acute sense of smell, it would be even more effective.

Lukalis: “Kyra! What are you doing?”

Kyra: “Getting some answers. Cifer-san, could you please make a place where we can interrogate this one without anyone noticing?”

Cifer: “That should be no problem”

As a Shadow Demon, Cifer could create a small pocket dimension using Darkness magic. Essentially, it allowed it to function as a separate storage place, isolated from the outside world. The three of them plus the captured elf proceeded to enter the pocket space.

Kyra: “Let’s try this”

After making the elf regain consciousness, Kyra took out a curious item from her pocket. It was her old right eye in a glass.

Ever since Dark Lord healed her, Kyra had a new right eye in its place, but it could not access her demonic power since it was artificial.

For a little while, her right eye was in Dark Lord’s possession. But for this mission, Dark Lord gave it back to her.

Using it, one can potentially brainwash a specific target by flooding the victim’s mind with illusions. As such, it was a perfect tool for getting much needed information.

With a flash, the demon eye glowed white for a moment before turning off.

Kyra: “It is done. Now, Lukalis-san, ask him anything you want and he will tell you”

Lukalis: “Thank you, Kyra”

When the interrogation ended, Lukalis’s eyes were filled to the brim with tears.

It turns out after Lukalis was betrayed by the Elven Kingdom and sold out; her family did not stand by idly and demanded Lukalis to be rescued. But Elf King had other plans.

The entire Kreschen Household was accused of treason. All of Kreschen family fortune was taken over. The males of the family were butchered in cold blood, while the women were subjected to torture and rape at the hands of Elf King himself.

When their bodies became unusable as a result, he simply fed them to monsters. The entire Kreschen line was extinguished, save for Lukalis.

Lukalis: “I will make him pay”

Her statement may have been simple, but the emotions she radiated were anything but.