Chapter 431: Devils in the Holy City (1)
Chapter 431: Devils in the Holy City (1)
"Hng..." Elysia opened her blurry eyes as she felt something moving above her tummy. She glanced there. Rhea got out of the sleeping bag while looking into her eyes.
"Good morning~" Rhea smiled brightly.
"Mm, good morning to you too, Aria." Elysia replied with a smile, then she propelled her body to a sitting position.
She looked around. Everyone else was still asleep, with or without sleeping bags. The feast last night made them sleep soundly. After all, it was a pretty big feast.
After that, Elysia turned once more to the baby in her arms. For some reason, she felt that there was something different about Rhea from last night.
"Hum-mm, have you grown up once again? Maybe, you are now like a seven year old little girl. Congratulations~" Elysia pinched Rhea's cheek gently. She got Rhea's giggle in return.
"Un, my strength will fully recover in maybe nine days or eighteen days at most. At that time, I will be the one protecting you, Master Elysia." Rhea patted her chest with pride and joy.
"I see, it only took that short of a time for my baby daughter to grow up." Elysia gave Rhea a tender gaze.
However, it was interpreted as something different in Rhea's eyes. She became a little panicked. "Ah, oh, I can also stay in baby form if you wish."
"Mm…" Elysia shook her head slightly. "You misunderstood me, I'm happy to see you grow into a mature girl again. Then, I will be in your care."
"En!" Rhea nodded with both joy and relief.
'Mhn, Ely, we need to guide our Vann, mm, mn...' Elena muttered softly and faintly.
Hearing that, Elysia immediately checked into the Soul Realm. Her spirit regained consciousness, and Elena was still fast asleep.
'Are you awake, Sister Elena? Or are you just talking in your sleep?' Elysia tried to ask, but she didn't get an answer.
'Ely, Vann's human form... I don't want she to be like Tom or Angela...' Elena shifted her sleeping position slightly and hugged Elysia's spirit tighter.
'Uhh...' Elysia felt squeezed and overwhelmed. Her spirit's movement was very limited because the sleeping Elena treated her as a bolster!
She and Elena had talked about it last night. The two of them had decided to guide Vanessa to have a human form like Yuuki.
Vanessa just needed to learn from Yuuki or any beastkin so that Vannesa's future human transformation would retain the majority of the human form over the beast.
After all, Elena preferred the Beastkin Race transformation over the Beast Race.
'If you hug my spirit tighter than this, I might find it difficult, Sister Elena. Get up now or I'll bite your ear~' Elysia whispered into Elena's ear and blew a soft breath there.
Elena only trembled a little but didn't wake up at all. Seeing that, Elysia decided to gently bite Elena's ear.
"Oh, umm, huh?" Elena woke up in a daze. She slowly realized what had just happened, then she smirked while holding her damp ear. "Oh my, my, you woke me up in such an enticing way, Ely. Am I going to get a good morning kiss too?"
"N-no? I did that because you hugged my spirit so tightly. I can't move my body other than my head, so that's it." Elysia wriggled away from the source of the mischievous intent.
At that moment, she realized that the others had awakened from their deep sleep. She needed to get back to the outside world immediately. "I need to return to my body immediately. We will return to the Human Continent. See you later, Sister Elena."
After saying that, Elysia's spirit lay back down on the bed like a doll whose strings were broken.
"Escape, huh? I haven't even finished teasing you. But, well, your spirit is mine~" Elena hummed in a seductive voice.
'Please don't do anything weird to my spirit!' Elysia's consciousness had just returned to her body, but Elena's remark made her panic and embarrassed.
'Hum-mm~ Come back here if you dare. You wake me up by gently biting my ear. Let me repay you~' Elena ignored Elysia's plea and did the same to what Elysia did to her just now.
"Do you have a fever, master? Your face is starting to turn red." Rhea asked with concern.
"No, I'm fine. Let's get ready to go to the Human Continent. We also need to reorganize this place before we leave." Elysia stroked Rhea's head and stood up. She immediately turned her attention to other things.
Everyone in the group exchanged good morning greetings, then put their camping gear back into Elysia's Space Bag.
After that, they all left the cave and climbed onto Nell's magic carpet to fly to the southeast. Their current destination was Aeddoterra City, the Human Continent.
"Woah! We leave the Beastkin Continent and welcome the world!" Yuuki spread her arms wide while standing at the very front.
But, there was a big hand that pulled her back and made her fall on her butt.
"Oow, what's your problem, big man?" Yuuki voiced her protest even though she didn't feel any pain.
Gio didn't answer with any word. He just patted the magic carpet to convey an easy-to-understand intent.
"Hum-hum, not bad." Nell nodded happily to see that. She taught Gio quite a lot last night, but with Vanessa's help as a translator, of course.
"Let me guess, Gio wants you to sit like a nice girl. It's dangerous if you stand over there." Leila tried to translate the simple gesture with a few extra words of kindness.
"But, those strong winds won't blow me away. We are protected by Goddess Elysia's protective barriers. Is it wrong to express my happiness?" Yuuki pouted and puffed out her cheeks. Snowflakes appeared around her body, but she asked Elysia instead.
"No, that's not wrong. You can express your happiness as much as you want. However, it's dangerous to stand on the other end while we're traveling at high speed. If this magic carpet is suddenly maneuvered due to an unforeseen event, I'm sure your excitement will instantly turn into a regret." Elysia smiled at the end of her explanation.
"Erm." Yuuki nodded several times. She immediately became a good, obedient girl and sat quietly in serenity.
Meanwhile, a bit of chaos was happening in Aeddoterra City. Because of yesterday's occurrence, the devil hunting assignment was no longer carried out at night but during the day as well.
The number of devils that managed to infiltrate the city wasn't much, but they couldn't be counted on the fingers either.
"How about other teams' reports? Is there any news about that devil? It still surprises me to know that a Saint-level devil has infiltrated this holy city." A holy knight clad in golden armor stared intently at the vast city with his orange eyes.
Another holy knight checked some of the information on the board in his hand before reporting. "No significant reports since yesterday afternoon, sir. We've completely lost track of that Saint-level devil."
"What's their purpose in infiltrating this holy city, huh? What about the interrogation of the captured devils?" The dashing orange-haired holy knight wore his golden helmet. He was about to return to explore the city once more.
"The three captured devils decided to commit suicide last night, sir. Restraint magic failed to hold them back during the interrogation." The adjutant knight reported with an intonation of regret.
"I see, they prefer a quick liberation without telling us anything, huh. Whatever their goals, those demons will never have a noble cause. Since they dared to set their feet on this holy land, then this place would be where they would be liberated in the holy light." The orange-haired holy knight flicked his cape and glanced back.
"We will explore the outer circle of the city by splitting up. We just need to arrest all suspects, without exception. Let's go!" After saying that, the orange-haired holy knight jumped down from the watchtower.
"Yes, sir!" The other holy knights immediately followed in their general's footsteps.
They were one of the elite teams tasked with carrying out executions and reinforcements when information was obtained. However, the information became garbled and stuck with no other output since last night. Thus, quick action must be taken immediately.
On the other side of the city, a particular dark purple-eyed girl had just entered a hidden alley. She was wearing a full-body cloak and was panting from exhaustion.
"Huff, hahh, ugh... Shit, I've risked everything for that day and everything can't be undone. There were only a few elite devils who managed to infiltrate this city. I've come this far, if that's the case, everything has to proceed even though the original plan won't end as it should." The cloaked girl stared at the Holy Cathedral with her glistening dark purple eyes.
"But, that old hypocrite has to die today. It's what has to be realized at all cost." After saying that, the dark purple-eyed girl immediately took off her cloak and changed clothes on the spot.
She changed into her academy uniform, and then wrote something on a gray board. After storing any evidence in her Space Bag, she walked out of the hidden alley leisurely.
At the same time, the entire city's activities were restricted for an undisclosed reason. All residents were asked to remain in their respective residences for three days, and today was the first day.
Despite the anxiety experienced by the citizens, a red-eyed girl was eating a few slices of pizza while looking at the latest trending magazine. She was so relaxed to enjoy her day even though she hadn't been out of the hotel since morning.
"Hm, what's going on with people. They look restless or maybe looking for something? Nevermind, that's their business, not mine." Sylvia glanced out the window with a clueless expression. She just shrugged her shoulders as if she didn't care.
After that, she went back to looking at the news and discourse in her magazine. There, she once again found her second friend displayed as a top supermodel of gorgeous dresses.
"Ais, you're in this city, right? But, where are you? I've been to the adventure guild, to around the palace, and even I visited the academy. Is it possible that you're a hidden priest in the Holy Cathedral? That's impossible, right? Ha, ha-ha..." Sylvia laughed dryly and reached her hand out to her pizza box. But, there was nothing left.
"Hum? I'm out of pizza, I need to buy some more and take a leisure stroll through the city. I want to taste a new kind of pizza variety~" Sylvia hummed and walked out of her room while carrying her magazine. She did not forget to wear a summer hat and sunglasses like a tourist going to the beach.
The innocent yet clueless Devil Princess had absolutely no idea what would wait her out there. All that she knew, she was just going to follow her heart's desire.