My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 109: How Harmful Can a Bad Teammate Be?

Five minutes later, seeing that Cherlinina refused to leave Roland's side, with only her eyes peeking out from behind Roland's shoulder, Kalia silently lowered her head.

"Do you know you're wrong?"

Roland, annoyed, took the old newspaper rolled into a tube and lightly tapped Kalia on the head.

Kalia, sitting on the sofa, covered her head, looking somewhat aggrieved.

Although Roland's force was not great, there was no pain at all.

But Roland actually hit her for another woman, and she felt a pang of heartache.

Damn it, all I did was touch my ears a few times without thinking, why the big reaction?

If Roland knew what Kalia was thinking at that moment, he would definitely say—"As for it."

Although Roland hadn't had much formal contact with Cellina, he wouldn't dare say he knew this demon lady very well.

But she is clearly not the kind of person who is psychologically fragile.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to withstand the blow of his family's destruction, and the oppression of living alone in hiding in the territory of a foreign tribe for many years.

But this man, whom Roland considered a paragon of ruthlessness and taciturnity, had just jumped behind him like a frightened puppy.

It's easy to imagine the psychological trauma Kalia inflicted on her.

Well, Roland himself bears some responsibility for this.

But what's wrong with him just wanting to see friendly interactions between pretty girls?
"Well……"

Cellina increased the pressure on Roland's shoulder.

She can't care about so many other things now.

She just wants to get as far away from this blue devil as possible right now.

How could anyone not be afraid of demons?!
Even though the demons lost the Demon King War, and even though they only dare to cause trouble in the northern border now, the rulers of the royal court are still fighting amongst themselves.

But no matter what, I am a demon!

And Roland, you're really just leaving me to my own devices, aren't you!
I even took a knife for you before! If I hadn't run behind you, you really would have just abandoned everything, right?!

As Roland lectured and punished Kalia, Cellina finally understood what it meant to raise something high and then lower it gently.

That punishment and lecture were way too lenient! This blue-haired guy showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever!

Even if you bang the paper tube harder, I'll still consider it an effort on your part!
Seemingly sensing the death stare coming from behind his shoulder, Roland could only cough.

"Kalia, if you're going to apologize, you should apologize in a proper way."

"Okay, here's what you do: hold this garment up and lean it against the fireplace until it's completely dry."

"Oh……"

Kalia pouted and reluctantly reached out to lift the clothes.

Then she got tired not long after.

She didn't have the same well-trained physical strength as Cherlinina, so she opted for an easier method.

He used his innate magic to create a small clothes rack and then hung the clothes on it.

After doing all this, she smiled at Roland and Cellina.

Cellina sighed, then poked her head out and reminded her, "Move this clothes hanger further away, or it might burn my clothes."

Kalia obediently followed the order and moved the clothes rack and the clothes on it a little further away.

Seeing this, Roland said, "It seems that Kalia has realized her mistake."

“I don’t think so…” Cellina silently put on her headband, hiding her ears.

Although it was essentially just a trick, it was clear that Kalia would be much calmer if she couldn't see her own ears.

Sure enough, after those pointed, furry ears disappeared from Cherlinina's head, Kalia was immediately disappointed and stopped laughing.

He reverted to his initial listless state.

Roland breathed a sigh of relief; the noisy evening was finally over, and he could finally get some rest.

"Alright, everyone get some rest. We'll get up at three and sneak over before dawn."

……

As night fell, Cole began to panic as he waited in vain for Paxson's return.

He stood on the balcony of the governor's mansion, gazing at the snowstorm outside the city, a vague unease creeping into his heart.

He found it strange, after all, Paxson was a seventh-ring transcendent-level Blood Demon, plus two sixth-ring loyal assassins and ten fourth-ring subordinates.

Even if the ambush fails, surely they can escape, right?

Even if your escape fails, shouldn't your ambush at least make some noise?
But everything happened quietly.

After finishing his last cigarette, Cole took a deep breath, quickly put on a coat, and then leaped out of the window, flying towards the distant forest.

He had a bad feeling as soon as he flew out of the city.

The taste of blood.

This faint, almost imperceptible scent of blood, perhaps only detectable by demons and magical beasts, sent Cole's heart sinking to the bottom.

Soon, he discovered the pool of blood that still emitted a faint crimson glow under the cover of night.

And those black armors that were submerged within them.

Cole: "..."

After a brief moment of dread, Cole saw Paxson's clothes lying beside the tree stump.

He never imagined that in less than half a day, his colleague and friend of more than 30 years would die in the depths of the forest.

They died at the hands of their original targets.

Cole sighed and glanced at the Demon King's Hand in the pool of blood, which was beginning to show signs of recovery and regeneration. He even guessed why Paxson hadn't chosen to run away.

"No matter how much one prides themselves on being cold and selfish, in the end, can one's judgment still be clouded by excessive emotions?"

"As a demon, you shouldn't care too much about humans."

"You have changed after all, Blood Demon."

Cole murmured something, then raised his hand and manipulated the earth and rocks, burying everything before him deep underground. He was puzzled as to why the Demon King's Hand, which had disappeared for three hundred years, had reappeared.

But Cole didn't panic.

Three hundred years ago, when he was a frontline commander in the Demon King's army, he had witnessed the power of the Demon King's Hand firsthand.

Because he understood the situation, Cole wasn't flustered.

The Demon King's Hand is powerful, troublesome, and almost indestructible. Once activated, it will not stop its advance until it is completely destroyed, in order to complete its predetermined objective.

Of course, there is another way.

Like what Paxson did, he scattered it and then dispersed the seal.

In this way, they cannot regroup.

At least that's the model for the common Demon King's Hand.

The thirteen prototype Demon King Hands, which are stationed by the Demon King's side year-round and are responsible for guarding the thirteen most important nodes of the Floating Demon King City, are far superior in performance to any other mass-produced machine.

However, Cole didn't need to deal with those thirteen prototype control units.

After all, they had long since disappeared along with the fall of the Demon King's castle.

But Paxson's death, along with the other footprints around the blood pool, and Roland's investigation in the city today, made Cole realize one thing.

His undercover mission has failed.

Now there is only one path in front of him.

Kill Roland before the communication jamming and weather magic end, and leave Blackthorn Territory with the runestone he carries.

Then travel as fast as possible to Riskan, and then take a ship to Isfar in the northern border of the Empire.

Once he entered the territory of the Northern Federation, he was considered to have escaped.

If he could, he would prefer to run away right now, overnight.

If it weren't for the fact that abandoning the mission and returning to the North would result in execution by the lords of the royal court, he really wanted to do it.

"Alright, let's go back and prepare. If it weren't for that kid hiding in that damned elf's barrier..."

"Speaking of which, did that Flam really not discover my and Paxson's infiltration back then?"

Cole shook his head; the question wasn't important.

Now all he needs to think about is how to deal with that troublesome kid.

A kid who wasn't even a superhuman could easily resolve that terrifying storm...

Then there's only one possibility: the runestone the other party possesses has similar power.

Just to be on the safe side, it seems we can't use magic against him.

After picking up the tattered clothes left behind by Paxson, Cole flapped his stone wings and flew back to the governor's mansion.

“Since that kid specifically asked Cuban about those places that he was keeping a close watch on, he will definitely come to the main city again.”

"Maybe we can take this opportunity to launch a surprise attack..."

……

At the same time, in the royal capital.

The trial and arrests in connection with the Wellington rebellion are still ongoing.

The Earl of Syracuse, who was once known for his fickle and indecisive nature, has finally stumbled this time.

However, the interrogation of him unexpectedly yielded some surprising results.

Given his count status and his position as the leader of the neutral faction within the National Assembly, the interrogation was conducted by Kefas, who was also the Director of the Inspectorate.

But after he asked a few questions, Kefas became restless.

"Are you serious? Have you finally gone mad, you old geezer?!"

Kefas slammed his fist on the table, smashing it to pieces.

Sir Delan, who was accompanying the interrogation, also looked displeased.

Although he loves gossip, he's now stumbled upon a truly earth-shattering piece of gossip.

But he preferred not to know.

This gossip is far more significant than the princess's romantic scandal.

"You old fool, do you know how much effort the Empire put into completely sealing away those things in the Demon King's Castle?!"

"How dare you break the seal!"

"And then they even made those sealed artifacts disappear! Do you know how serious the consequences are?!"

Trembling under Kefas's roar, Count Syran was so frightened that he could not utter a single word, fearing that he would be destroyed along with the shattered table at any moment.

And he really had nothing more to say.

He has said everything he needed to say.

He can no longer contact the subordinates he sent to explore the sealed land.

Kefas felt like he was about to faint from anger.

As the director of the Inspectorate, he naturally knew what was inside the seal in the mountains outside the capital.

Kefas believed that if the original Iron Duke and his group of heroes had the ability and means to destroy those things, they would never have chosen to seal them away.

Every single thing inside that seal is powerful enough to stir up trouble in this era.

But now, the seal has been broken.

It has even been damaged for some time now.

If the turmoil in the capital hadn't determined a winner, would this old man have dared to continue keeping it a secret!

Kefas had no more words to say.

All he wanted to do now was check the contents of the seal and carefully verify it against the list of seals left behind from years ago.

While we're at it, let's also clean up those negligent, bribe-taking seal guards.

Damn it, I thought things would finally calm down for a few days, but trouble keeps piling up!
(End of this chapter)