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

Chapter 376 My lord, please take this side path
Under Roland's unbearable wrath, the Demon King, whose intelligence had not yet fully recovered, finally realized his mistake.

Then this guy went quiet.

She gave a somewhat awkward, almost tantrum-like hum, seemingly unwilling to admit her mistake, and then went into silent mode.

Roland could even picture the human-form Demon King, his neck stiff and unwilling to admit his mistake.

After sighing, Roland looked at Neve and said, "I can grant your request, but we can't leave Enwa so soon."

"Also, did you know that you can only use communication magic at a distance from Envado?"

Neve became anxious upon hearing this; "Can you hurry up? The war is about to begin!"

"As for communication magic... communication magic is unusable throughout the entire Enwa region, and it has been like this for the past thirty years, due to the presence of mist."

"To use the communication magic, you must leave Enva and go to the neighboring town of Kulin."

"But if you want to get there, it will take three or four days by carriage, and it will be faster by horseback, but it will still take two days."

“Those fixed teleportation arrays are under strict guard by the Royal Court Army, and even with my authority, I cannot use them casually.”

Roland sighed after hearing this: "So, to use communication magic, one has to travel at least several hundred kilometers away?"

"Yes. This is generally used for communication among demons within the Enva area."

As she spoke, Neve took out a magical device and said, "This device has a fixed frequency engraved on it according to the user's needs. When you want to use it, you select the frequency and then inject magic power to connect to another person's device. It's quite convenient to use."

Cellina then complained, "I didn't have anything this convenient when I was a kid..."

"Both human and demon societies are developing, so it's normal for them to have some technology."

Roland took the device from Neve and asked, "So, can you tell me how many Primal Runestones the Heartbreaker King's Court has collected?"

"How much are you still short of the standard of ten? I mean, if you remove the one you have on you."

“Nine,” Neve answered readily. “To be precise, ten. This one was also a runestone taken from the Cangya family, but it’s still in a dormant state of contact with runestones.”

Roland paused for a moment, glanced at Cherinina, and then looked at Neve: "Didn't you say that the rune stone you have was obtained from the Cangya family?"

“Yes, it’s one of the two runestones we retrieved from the Cangya family.” Neve asked, somewhat puzzled, “Is there something wrong with it?”

"No! The other rune stone should be on me!"

Cellina suddenly spoke up, then revealed her runestone: "It should be right here!"

"Eh?!!!"

Seeing Neve's shocked expression, Roland didn't believe that this somewhat foolish girl, like Kalia, who was prone to believing outsiders based on simple judgments, was lying.

Roland looked at the Demon King floating to the side: "Are you sure you're not mistaken? You actually gave the Cangya family three runestones, not two?"

"No, this is the only thing I won't forget," the Demon King's voice rang out decisively. "Something must have gone wrong."

"Perhaps... Cellina's rune stone really did belong to her, or maybe the rune stone automatically chose a new owner."

"And the two rune stones I handed over did indeed fall into the hands of the Demon King's Court."

"The rune on this little girl named Neve is the original rune I obtained from that saint years ago. The runes on it are exactly the same."

After hearing the Demon King's words, Neve, who was slow to realize what was happening, finally understood.

She began, trembling, to use the power of the runestone to sense the soul of the gauntlet spirit...

then……

"I'm so sorry, Demon Lord! I didn't know you were actually a woman!"

"It was my fault for not recognizing you immediately! I'm very sorry!"

Seeing Neve bowing repeatedly to the gauntlet, Roland teased, "Looks like even after being dead for three hundred years, your prestige is still pretty high."

"You're just a soul left, and you can only stay in the gauntlet, yet there are still people who are so afraid of you."

"It seems that what the Blood Demon Lord said about restoring you to the throne is not entirely impossible?"

The Demon King scoffed, "Don't be ridiculous. The Demon race has always respected the strong."

"If I really do collect all the souls and successfully reshape my physical body, then this question is worth discussing."

"But don't you know my situation?"

"I only have half of my soul left now, but fortunately, the key memories and information have been restored. Besides, as a dead person, how can I chat with you like this? Don't you know why?"

"It's just that the person can't come forward to tell you some things."

After being comforted by Cherinina, Neve stopped bowing and apologizing, and instead asked another question: "So, Lord Demon King... why did you stop the activation of the divine artifact?"

"Once that artifact is activated, the demon race can get rid of the fog disaster, right?"

The Demon King didn't explain further: "Do you think I understand that artifact better, or does the Lord of the Heart Demon understand it better?"

Neve fell silent upon hearing this.

Mainly because I don't dare.

The unexpectedly timid Little Demon shrank back, completely forgetting the purpose of his visit. Roland then spoke up, asking, "Alright, let's get back to business. Did the Demon King's Court really only find two runestones from the Cangya family?"

“Yes! I can confirm that!” Neve quickly replied.

Roland rubbed his chin, deep in thought... Could it be that the Sunstone really was something Cellina possessed?

If we approach it from this perspective...

Roland looked at Cellina.

She hadn't said a word since the beginning, just clenched her fists and lowered her head, seemingly lost in thought.

“Nives,” Roland said softly, “If the Demon King’s Court had discovered that members of the Azure Fang family were born with a Primal Runestone, what would they have done?”

"Don't worry, just tell me directly."

Neve hesitated for a moment, looking at Roland, then at the Demon King, and finally at Cherinina. She then whispered in Roland's ear, "They'll definitely take that member away... then kill him and take the rune stone."

"After the Demon King's fall, the Demon King's Court unearthed a device in the former territory of the Holy Empire of Mankind. This device can be used to forcibly release the dormant state of the Primordial Runestone."

"Although the runestone unlocked in this way cannot be used, it can be used to infiltrate the Golden Horn as a key to activate it."

After saying that, Neve timidly added, "I'm innocent..."

“It’s no use talking to me.” Roland smiled, then continued, “So, where is the device that can undo the dormant state of the runestone?”

"You said it yourself, even excluding the rune stone you have, there's only that one left that's still in the deactivated state, right?"

"We have to steal the runestone before that happens."

"As for the fog, we'll talk about it later."

Neve nodded quickly: "I know! Everyone, please follow me!"

……

"What? Is the intelligence reliable?"

Inside the Covenant Temple, the Gargoyle Lord, who was standing before the Golden Horn pondering a question, turned around in surprise to look at the scout who had come to deliver the message.

That terrifying face, so sculpted it could stop a child from crying at night, now wore an expression of surprise.

“I have confirmed it; the intelligence is correct. Miss Neve did not return to the Heart-Beating Demon King's Court in time after entering Enva, and her whereabouts are currently unknown.”

"Furthermore, at the location where the mist phenomenon occurred not long ago, we detected a faint aura of rune power... The Demon King's Court suspects that Miss Neve has been swept away by the mist and requests immediate support."

The Gargoyle Lord said with a headache, "Where can we send anyone out now! Doesn't Neve have guards? I remember it was a great demon from the Heart-Beating Demon King's Court."

"...It is said that Miss Neve secretly influenced her with the power of the Primal Runestone, and returned on her own after sending her to Enva."

"By the time he realized he had been infected and rushed back, it was too late to find him."

The Gargoyle Lord fell silent: "Aside from the Greater Demons who need to guard stable nodes, how many people are left capable of entering the mist?"

"There are a total of seventy-three people, of whom only three are Great Demons, and none of the three are Great Demons belonging to the Royal Court."

"In other words, we can't directly order them to do such trivial things anymore," the Gargoyle Lord added helplessly.

But then he seemed to remember something: "Right, isn't Dracula on his way back?"

"He used the teleportation array, so he should be back in Enwa by now."

"Call him here."

"Although I'm injured, it shouldn't be a problem for me to go into the fog to find someone."

"It's just a broken hand; it's nothing to the Blood Demon."

Upon hearing this, the scout quickly accepted the order and withdrew. Soon after, the Gargoyle Lord's communication device rang.

[Damn it! You're gargoyles, not misers! I just got back to Enva, haven't even stepped inside the Blood Demon King's court, and you're already telling me to work?]

Don't think that just because we're good friends, you can make me run around everywhere!

"I've been busy enough following Danso's orders these past few days! And that human is still missing. The front lines are in complete chaos. I've finally managed to come back and catch my breath. You should probably hire someone else!"

Faced with Dracula's sarcastic remark, which was, given his personality, completely exasperated, the Gargoyle Lord slowly spoke: "Dracula, don't you even think about why we brought you back?"

Did you really think we brought you back to 'recover from your injuries'?

"It's simply because they're afraid you'll be targeted by the Vatican and the Society. Besides, Enva's situation does require a reliable fighter to maintain stability."

"It's just a broken hand. I'll arrange some fresh blood for you later."

"And I think that girl Neve was most likely not swept away by the mist."

"I just couldn't stand what the Demon King's Court was doing in the human world, so I sneaked back and am hiding here now."

"Just look around the area. There will definitely be traces. If you can't find it, come back. Don't worry about it too much."

"After all, we've done our best. Even if Neve really got caught up in the fog, we can't really risk getting lost in it to find her."

(End of this chapter)