The gentle touch of the wind reached my skin as I walked down the white road. The sun over us was shining through the place, making the white infrastructures all over the place brighten up. However, despite the direct sunlight coming from above, all I could feel was the cold breeze due to the massive forest surrounding the entire kingdom.

What I could see as we walked was the scenery of a beautiful paradise. But, a beautiful paradise was not complete without the elegant inhabitants of the place. All of them were staring at us as we passed through them... with visible disgust on their beautiful faces. As if we were some kind of walking turds on the road. Their grimaced faces were following our every step along with the murmurs that I could not hear clearly, fortunately.

However, the person I was walking with did not seem even bothered with the masochist fest stares we were getting. He was just looking around the area with a smile on his face. It was just the two of us, Karoon was left behind because Queen Ayani did not want to let her go and Karoon for some reason, felt the same.

I think they are enjoying each other's company.

"What do you think of this place? This place is the marketplace of this district. There should be more people in this place, if not for the war currently occurring in this kingdom."

Wow, so you're telling me that it could be worse, huh?

"You are right, this place is interesting," I replied.

Yeah, especially the people.

We had been walking around the kingdom and he already showed me tons of places in this kingdom, although those were just a small fraction of this massive place. From the beautiful river filled with pink flowers to a mini-park on top of a towering mountain with King Asmit's statue in it.

Then, we wandered around the crowded places in this kingdom, like this one.

We turned in the direction of the tree of Erela, and as we did, the people on the road suddenly rushed away from the road we were walking through.

I mean, I can't even bring myself to get mad at them anymore, they are very entertaining to watch. They are running away like we have some kind of contagious deadly disease. I'm starting to enjoy seeing their panicked faces as they run.

"By the way, where is Kuro?"

"She joined the other Marionettes to watch over the forest at the boundaries of the kingdom."

"I am surprised to see that you're letting her do her things on her own, despite the current situation we have with the people of this kingdom," I said while narrowing my eyes as I stared at the empty road.

"Although I did not agree with it at first, she eagerly asked me to, so I ended up not having a choice but to let her. On a different note, Casimir. I heard you ordered the Marionettes to investigate the Elder council," Leal said as the people in the road were cleared.

I did what?

Elder what?

I cleared my throat. "I am just curious about something. Do you disagree with my actions?"

Leal shook his head. "No, I have seen it coming. Knowing you... it's not a surprising thing to know what you did."

I am genuinely surprised that I actually did the thing that you just mentioned just now.

I put my hands in my pants pockets. "I am glad that you understand my reasoning."

For a few seconds, he remained silent then stared at me with a stoic expression on his face. "Your assumption was right. My father, the king, doesn't hold the greatest power in the hierarchy of this kingdom. There is a faction that has equal if not far greater influence than the king of this kingdom. They were the ones who put my father to the throne, and if the king let his guard down even for a moment... He will lose his throne. They have the power to overthrow him and proclaim another person to be the king based on their desire alone. All they need is a good reason to gain the support of all the citizens of this kingdom."

A good reason?

For example, having an alliance with a fucking demon?

I am surprised that he still hasn't been kicked out yet.

"That's why the citizens of this kingdom look at us that way... because their beliefs are aligned with the Elder council?"

Leal slowly shook his head. "Not all of them, the king is still on his throne despite the drastic decision he just made. It just means that the majority of people of this kingdom fully agree with his decision to form an alliance with you. You just can't see them because the ones who disagree with the decision are more vocal than the ones who do." A puzzling smile emerged on his face. "Or perhaps, all of them hate us and have no problem showing it, but they still understand that we will be a big help in this battle. And they trust their king more than we see us as filth. After all, they witnessed what kind of powerful force this kingdom is about to fight."

He really knows how his people think, doesn't he?

However, If you say it that way, it actually makes a lot of sense.

They don't like me, they just know I will be useful. Sounds about right.

"Look at this, Casimir. It's a rare phenomenon, you should see this."

I veered my gaze where Leal was looking, to the tree of Erela in front of us. From our distance, the gigantic tree was completely visible as it sheltered the massive area right beneath it. But what took my attention was the ball of lights suddenly scattered out from the trunk of the massive tree. They were flying in the sky like daytime stars with various colors that made the scenery extremely fascinating to watch.

Slowly, the swarm of the ball of lights became thinner as they gradually spread throughout the area while shining in colors.

"The Nature spirits, the souls of the kingdom of Erela. The ones who can't and won't judge, and the saving grace of the people of this kingdom. Aren't they beautiful?"

I turned my gaze to Leal. "Yeah, they really are beautiful."

I watched them as the Nature spirits flew out towards the forest surrounding the kingdom. However, I felt my smile slowly lessen as I stared back at the tree of Erela. There were things on its body that grabbed my attention, I did not notice them when we arrived, but at this moment, it was completely evident due to the Nature spirits no longer covering the tree.

As if they intentionally showed it to me.

Craters... A lot of them, as if the tree was bombarded by a barrage of destructive force that a massive part of it was destroyed. The trunk of the tree was filled with it, and it was a great surprise that it was still gloriously standing.

"What kind of person would do such damage to an innocent tree?" I unknowingly commented while staring at the tree.

However, what I received was Leal's confused face while staring at me. "You don't know?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Know what?"

I heard him slowly exhale while looking down before facing me again. "The person who did that damage to the tree of Erela was one of your people."

What!

"Eh?" I stared back at the tree with a lot of craters on it.

A meruem did this?