After bowing her head to express her gratitude to Ella, Altina followed Vera's wings as she lay on the ground, walked up Vera's back, and finally came to the dragon horns above Vera's head.

Altina, standing on a higher ground, waved to Ella.

"Thank you for your blessing, Your Majesty! I will also prepare a small return gift for Your Majesty in the future!"

"Then wait until Ms. Altina approves of Willa and then give it to me!"

"Well then, my dear friend, I look forward to seeing you again."

"Well, Vera too, we need to reach the realm beyond heroism soon."

After waving vigorously at Altina and Vera, Ella watched the man and the dragon disappear into the sky.

Ella couldn't help but let out a breath of white air.

"Haha, even the black dragon has found a mate."

"What are you expecting, Princess?"

"Eh? No, no, that's not the case. What we should do now is to find Cang Yan and his group up ahead. They were so engrossed in the battle with Vera that they've sustained serious injuries. After reporting our next move to Lotte, let's head to the river ahead."

"Yes, my lady."

Chapter 16 Approaching

After letting Camisia return to the carriage to inform her companions of her next move, Ella, wearing a white coat, went alone to find Cang Yan and his group who were swept away by Vera. Cang Yan's vanguard took Vera's dragon claws during the attack and suffered a serious injury that was not fatal, but if he was not treated immediately, he might be disabled for life.

Stepping into the snow that was almost up to her thighs, Ella breathed on the hand holding the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment.

"I should level up to 30. It's really inconvenient without flight magic."

Although for me, upgrading is just a matter of casting the same magic all night, the process of casting the same magic for a whole night is too boring. I will feel bored and tired in less than half an hour. Then I will comfort myself by saying that I will try harder tomorrow, and then slip into the room to sleep.

Of course, if there were no other conditions, I would definitely upgrade very seriously. However, since I already have many ways to save my life and can protect my companions in critical moments, I have no motivation to continue upgrading.

"Come to think of it, it's been a while since I've visited Patricia. Maybe we should find some time to go to the Papal States and visit Lintelina and the others."

Patricia was a ghost girl that he met in the Papal States. Because the ghost girls might be abducted by slavers, Patricia and her friends had been hiding in an abandoned mansion until he bought the mansion and hired undead guards. Only then were Patricia and her friends able to enter and leave the courtyard freely. Before leaving, considering the lives of the ghost girls, he temporarily lent them part of his magic airship and asked the ghost girls to help develop the magic airship business, so Patricia established a chamber of commerce called Mercury.

Lintelina was the noble girl he had rescued from the bandits in the underground tower. He had visited her once before in the form of Entarosphiel - or to be more precise, eavesdropped on her. Thanks to his noble knowledge, Lintelina's caravan was running well and had developed to the point where he didn't need to intervene.

While enduring the cold and thinking about the future, Ella quickly reached where Cang Yan and his group were.

The frozen river was full of busy soldiers. Although Vera only created a strong wind to blow the soldiers away, because the soldiers were wearing armor, the force of their landing would cause cracks in the frozen river surface. Fortunately, most of the soldiers fell into the snow on the shore. Otherwise, under the violence of numbers, holes would definitely appear in the frozen river surface, and the soldiers would fall into the river.

"Stop if you come."

When Ella was about to move forward, a young soldier with red cheeks from the cold stopped her. Ella took a quick look at the soldier. The clothes under the leather armor were very thin, and she could even notice that he was shivering in the cold wind.

Like most countries in the kingdoms, the country's economic conditions are not very good.

Ella concluded this in her heart, but before she could speak, another soldier came in and interrupted her.

"We just had a battle here. Wait, are you alone here, little girl?"

The soldiers who came later stretched their necks to look behind Ella, but there was nothing there except a series of footprints left by Ella in the snow.

"Yes, I came—"

"They don't look like an enemy invasion, and the way they're dressed... is this the eldest daughter of a noble family lost? Come over here first, I'll report to the commander-in-chief."

"No, I'm a high-ranking priest of the Enstanit Church. I know someone here, and I want to help them."

As she spoke, Ella waved the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment that she had previously used to assist her walking, injected a little magic power into it, and made it emit a golden glow.

The soldiers glanced at each other and immediately showed respectful expressions. The priests of the Enstanit Church, known for their philanthropy, were very rare in the kingdoms, and high-ranking priests were even fewer. Generally speaking, there were only one or two in the temple in the royal capital. Although they could not confirm Ella's identity, the sacred light emanating from the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment would not deceive them.

"H-So it's the High Priest, your appearance at this hour is most kind. Please come inside. I will report your arrival to the Commander-in-Chief."

"Well, please, can I go find a friend I know first? Also, my partner will be here soon, so I hope you can make it easier for me."

"Okay, I'll convey everything to the Chief."

After saluting Ella, the following soldier led her inside. Of course, there was no shelter nearby, so there was no such thing as an "inside." The guard trotted over to the officer, and Ella, guided by the terrain, found Cang Yan and his group. Perhaps because they were treated as important guests, many soldiers gathered around the injured Cang Yan, awaiting orders. There was even a dedicated military doctor, bandaging him.

"Berg, Berg!"

"Hmm... no need to be so nervous. I'm not dead yet. I just can't carry out missions anymore."

"How could that be! I will definitely heal you! — 『Healing Hymn』."

"Ahem, it's useless, don't waste your magic power."

The female healer's face was covered in sweat. With her limited remaining magic power, she was very reluctant to use first-level magic, but she still chose to chant the difficult spell of third-level healing magic. However, the fact was that even the "Healing Hymn" that could heal deeper wounds could not heal Berg's leg injury. The wound was so deep that the bone was visible and it was extremely hideous. It extended from the base of the thigh to the knee. If there was not a healer in Cang Yan who could slow down the blood loss, Berg might have already passed away from the other world due to excessive blood loss.

The only reward was that the wound stopped bleeding, but at the same time, Berg's already pale face became even worse because his vitality was over-stimulated.

"Ina, that's enough! If this continues, the captain won't be able to hold on even if her wounds don't heal."

"but!"

"I know."

If he is not cured now, Berg will end up being disabled for life unless he can get a higher-level life-restoring medicine or a panacea in the future.

"I shouldn't have risked challenging the dragon in the first place. As captain, this is the price I have to pay."

"But Berg was protecting me..."

Before the female healer could finish her words, she squatted on the ground, covering her face with her hands and burst into tears. The crowd, including the soldiers around her, fell into a deathly silence.

It felt a bit egregious to continue watching, so Ella thrust the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment into the crowd, forcing the soldiers surrounding them to move aside.

"Can you please move aside? It will be too late if we wait any longer."

Almost at the same time, everyone turned around to look at Ella, but Ella had already prepared herself mentally, and her expression did not change.

"I am a high-ranking priest of the Enstanit Church. I can resolve your difficulties."

Although there were doubts for a moment, such as "Why is a high-ranking priest here?" and "Isn't he too young?", the soldiers still honestly made way for Ella.

After the soldiers made way, Cang Yan's people naturally saw Ella's appearance.

"You are a demon—"

"We'll talk later. You guys need this, right?"

Interrupting the shield warrior who was supporting Berg's upper body, Ella reached out and showed a small bottle of bright red liquid in front of everyone. It was not a dark color similar to blood, but more like a gorgeous orange-red color. The moment it appeared, it attracted everyone's attention, especially Cang Yan and his group who realized what the medicine was. Even their breathing became heavy.

The healer squatting on the ground asked in a trembling voice.

"Is this... a high-level health-restoring potion?"

"Well, if I have this, I can recover from Berg's injuries, right?"

To be precise, it should be the highest-level life-restoring potion, but correcting it here would be a bit boastful. In reality, I could have cured it with just a simple healing spell, and I chose a magic potion to be less conspicuous. The other party couldn't heal the wound with a third-level healing spell, but I was able to heal it with a first-level healing spell. It was truly incredible.

"What do you want in return?"

Unlike his companions, Berg, with a pale face, raised his head with all his strength. However, the healer walked to Ella's side before Ella could answer, took the medicine bottle from Ella's hand with red eyes, looked at Ella with gratitude, pulled out the cork, and sprinkled the medicine on Berg's injured thigh.

Berg immediately struggled.

"Ina, what are you doing!?"

"We'll talk about the return later. I don't want to dither now."

"you……"

Looking at Berg sighing, Ella couldn't help but feel at a loss for words. She didn't want anything in return, but if she told Cang Yan now, it would probably make Cang Yan feel embarrassed for his previous anxiety. Fortunately, someone took the initiative to help Ella out.

A young man with a bow and arrow on his back walked up to Ella. He must have seen that Ella did not want to reveal her identity, so he did not call her the Demon King.

"Thank you very much for your help, Your Excellency the Priest."

"Just call me Ella. I have something I want to talk to you about. Can we talk alone?"

Ella glanced at the young man meaningfully, and the young man nodded knowingly and bowed to the soldiers around him.

"Thank you for your concern. Captain Berg is now fine. Please go and help those buried under the snow."

These soldiers had originally come to Cang Yan according to the commander's order. Now that Cang Yan said he didn't need help, the soldiers naturally walked away. However, it is worth noting that some soldiers looked very bad when they left. Because the high-level life recovery medicine took effect too quickly, the granulation on Berg's leg could be clearly seen wriggling. For ordinary people, it is natural to feel nauseous when seeing such a scene for the first time. If the soldiers did not often see blood, it would not be surprising if they vomited on the spot.

After all the soldiers had left, the young man carrying a bow and arrow knelt on one knee. This was the etiquette when meeting a king in the human kingdom.

"Your Majesty the Demon King."

"Eh? There's no need for such etiquette. Besides, this is the Kingdom of Uriel. If the soldiers see us, there will be misunderstandings, right?"

"But you are the king of a country..."

"Alright, alright, stand up now. I'm here because I have some questions for you."

Ella's words made the young man pause for a moment, and taking advantage of this moment, Berg behind the young man - his leg injury had recovered in the past while, and his complexion had turned healthy - stood up with great effort, and with the support of the shield warrior, he limped to push the young man aside and prepared to kneel on one knee. However, after Ella said that there was no need to salute, Berg stood up again.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the superior magic potion. I will definitely pay you the corresponding reward."

"We'll talk about the reward later. Berg just recovered a short time ago, so why don't you sit down and talk? Berg, were you fighting a dragon just now?"

Seeing that Ella didn't sit down, Berg didn't accept Ella's kindness, but in fact, Ella didn't do so because the ground was too cold.

Without hesitation, Berg, with his messy dark blue hair, nodded.

"Yes, when we were about to head to the City of the Dead, we happened to see a giant dragon attacking a human castle. The king promised it a reward of 300 gold coins, so we followed it all the way here with our soldiers."

Although she really wanted to say that Berg and his group were courting death, Ella was more concerned with the new term than complaining. She transferred the Pestle of Heavenly Punishment from her right hand to her left hand, tilting her head slightly and asked.

"The City of Death? What is that?"

"yes--"

"Is that a carriage?"

"Why is there a carriage here?"

"I think he's a friend of the priest."

Before Berg could explain, the soldiers' questions interrupted the conversation.

Chapter 17: Rumors of the Seal of Jealousy

"Senior, approaching another nation's army without even a guard is reckless."

"Ahahaha... I forgot."

Facing the look from Shen Gan opposite her as if she was an idiot, Ella could only give an awkward smile. According to the normal procedure, she should have waited for Camisia to come back after explaining the situation to Lotte, and then go with Camisia to look for Cang Yan.

"Luckily, I didn't reveal my identity. Otherwise, if I were captured by the soldiers and used to threaten the demons, it would definitely be a big problem. No matter what they said, Camisia, worried about Ella's safety, could only nod. Well, whether these soldiers could capture Ella on their own was a question. If Ella was pushed into a corner, what would happen?"

Iris probably thought that if she was pushed to the limit, she would use javelins and Chloe's tears, Ella thought so, but in fact, she could return to her friends safely with just "Ice Ball" or "Holy Pestle", even if the enemy had 500 people.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the soldiers are too weak, but that Ella's presence has exceeded the specifications. Whether it is "Ice Ball" or "Holy Pestle", it will only consume a minimum of 1 point of magic power. With Ella's current level 29 magic power reserves, she has reached the level of being able to use nearly 300 ice balls at the same time.

Even though it takes five ice balls to deal with one soldier, with the help of magic potions and extremely high magic recovery speed, she can break out of the encirclement like cutting wheat, not to mention that this is without using the Fire Arrow. If she uses the Fire Arrow that can increase the magic power by three levels, even if there are several times more soldiers, they will not be able to stop Ella.

"By the way, what are these soldiers doing? I saw them digging something out of the snow when I arrived. Is this a custom in the Kingdom of Uriel?"

"No, no, you're overthinking it. They're probably trying to save someone. I don't think any country has the custom of burying people in the snow."

Angeline responded to Mitis's distraction with a troubled expression, then after greeting Ella, ran to the nearby soldiers and helped them dig the people out of the snow pile.

"Where are Lotte and Camisia?"

"Lutee-chan said she would guard the carriage, and Camisia stayed there for safety reasons. Anyway, why are Cang Yan's people here too? What happened here?"

Iris glanced at Cang Yan and his group standing behind Ella with an uneasy look on their faces. Because of the blatant challenge they had shown in the Holy Academy before and the contrast with Ella's help, Cang Yan and his group naturally felt ashamed.

"They were just fighting a dragon."

"Looks like we've lost now? Well, you're just dreaming of fighting a giant dragon with just this few people."

Ignoring Ella's silencing gesture, Mitis continued waving her hands as if to shoo away flies.

"Even an underage dragon would require a well-trained army to bravely fight it. Relying solely on these feeble soldiers is truly presumptuous."

Of course, Mitis was not lying. Just a casual glance revealed the white-haired old men and short children among the soldiers. Even if it was just a polite remark, their fighting capacity could only be described as "average".

Following Mitis's blunt words, Cang Yan and his group lowered their heads.

"Indeed... I shouldn't have rashly accepted a request to fight a giant dragon."

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like