The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 525: “Now That’s an Interesting Thing to Say.”

Ten minutes later, Shien and Melika left the hot spring, fully dressed, and emerged from the grove.

Melika’s gait was a bit awkward, making Shien want to laugh.

“Need help walking, Melika?” Shien teased.

Melika’s face flushed crimson.

“N-no, thank you…” she mumbled, her voice barely audible. Only Shien, with his enhanced senses from [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree], could hear her.

Melika’s shyness and nervousness returned after the initial fear and unease subsided. She kept glancing back at the hot spring, recalling what had happened with Shien, her face burning.

Even now, Melika still couldn’t believe she had lost her purity to Shien here. She had decided to silently guard him like her predecessors, but now, she had lost the most important thing. How did this happen?

And Mr. Shien had also said he would marry her. So, she was going to marry him? What about the princess? Melika’s mind was a whirl of confused thoughts.

Shien, oblivious to Melika’s inner turmoil, walked briskly, enjoying her flustered appearance, like a thief who had just stolen a precious treasure.

“By the way, Melika,” Shien suddenly said, “your magic power seems to have increased quite a bit, hasn’t it?”

“Ah!” Melika, startled by Shien’s voice, was brought back to reality.

She finally noticed the change in herself. She could feel a much greater magic power surging within her, at least ten times stronger than before. Melika’s eyes widened. “H-how could this be…!?” She panicked again.

“You didn’t notice?” Shien was surprised. “Didn’t you realize that just now, when we… ahem, you know, the magic power from the surroundings suddenly flowed into your body, greatly increasing your magic power?”

Shien had noticed this immediately. After all, he was the closest to Melika at the time, even in direct contact. He couldn’t possibly not notice the abnormality of the surrounding magic power and the surge in Melika’s magic power.

He had been startled by this phenomenon, thinking something was wrong with Melika after he “devoured” her.

Later, Shien realized that not only was Melika physically fine, but she also seemed somewhat entranced, her rapidly increasing magic power not out of control, so he was relieved.

He had thought it was some special elven trait and didn’t investigate further.

Until now.

But Melika seemed clueless.

“I… I was almost unconscious at that time… I didn’t know what was happening…” Melika said, both shy and surprised. She truly hadn’t noticed. As an elf born from nature, Melika’s sensitivity to magic power should be even greater than Shien’s, and since the source was her own body, she should have noticed the drastic change.

But at that time, Melika was completely lost in the moment, her mind in a daze, feeling nothing.

This wasn’t Melika’s fault, but Shien’s, for taking advantage of this innocent elf. When had she ever experienced such a thing? Moreover, it was with the person she had given up on, believing their love to be a tragic, unrequited one.

Thanks to this, Shien had his way, while poor Melika, in a daze, was taken advantage of, only aware of the initial pain and the later indescribable pleasure.

Therefore, Melika hadn’t noticed the change in her own body, let alone the surge in her magic power.

“This… this is already magic power at the level of elven royalty…!?”

Melika was scared by this sudden change.

Shien also frowned.

Since coming to the royal capital, Melika’s magic power had been increasing strangely, non-stop for months.

This strange situation seemed to have been troubling Melika, and now it had surged again. No wonder she was panicking.

Since this wasn’t due to some special elven trait, what was the cause?

“It seems we need to figure out this magic power problem of yours.” Shien asked Melika, “Have you told anyone about your situation?”

“N-not yet.” Melika shook her head, a little worried. “Actually, one of my reasons for returning to the Elven Homeland was to ask the elders about this.”

The Elven Race had the strongest magician corps in the human world, as well as the most powerful legendary magicians, their research and mastery of magic far exceeding those of the outside world.

Having sought help outside to no avail, Melika naturally wanted to ask the elders back home.

However, Melika had just returned yesterday and was still immersed in the joy of reuniting with her people and her childhood friend, so she hadn’t had time to do so yet.

Who would have thought that it would suddenly become so serious, her magic power increasing more than tenfold? She had no idea what was going on.

“In that case, why don’t we go to the Queen’s Palace now?”

Shien suggested after some thought.

“Go to the Queen’s Palace?”

Melika was stunned.

“Let the Elven Queen and the two commanders by her side examine you.” Shien pinched Melika’s delicate cheek and said with a smile, “Your situation is clearly becoming more and more abnormal. If we don’t figure it out, what if something happens?”

Melika blushed again.

Shien’s slightly intimate gesture made her uncomfortable.

Even after what happened between them, Melika was still the shy and easily flustered Melika.

Even though Shien’s actions made her happy, it was still the same.

The only problem was…

“Is it really okay to trouble the Queen and the two commanders with such a small matter?”

Melika was still hesitant.

“It’s about your body, who would call this a small matter?” Shien rolled his eyes. “I think it’s a big deal.”

It had to be a big deal.

Otherwise, if something happened to this little elf he had just “devoured,” what would he do?

He would be heartbroken.

Besides, Shien didn’t want such a commotion to happen again next time he did that with this little girl.

Otherwise, he would eventually be scared witless.

“But…”

The little elf still looked hesitant.

“No buts.” Shien interrupted her. “We’re going, and I believe the Queen will be willing to help me with this small favor.”

Even if it wasn’t for his sake, for Airi, Lilith, Lid, Millu, or even Lucy’s sake, the Elven Queen would be willing to help.

Shien didn’t think the Queen would risk offending so many big shots and turn him away.

“Let’s go.” Shien said to Melika, “We’ll go to the Queen’s Palace first.”

“What about Princess Lucy and the others?” Melika asked weakly.

“Let them go and have fun first.” Shien shook his head. “I’ll join them later.”

Melika didn’t say anything more.

The two left, heading towards the street.

Unbeknownst to them, in the depths of nature, a pair of eyes was watching them.

“Melika…”

Nadue stared at Melika’s back, then after a moment, she smiled and left.

…

Meanwhile, Shien and Melika returned to the streets of the Elven Homeland, arriving at an area covered in ice and snow.

Here, members of the Elven Corps and some elven passersby were using fire magic to thaw the area.

Among them was an elven girl with shoulder-length hair, holding a short staff, looking listless as she worked.

“Over here, Jenom.”

“And here.”

“This area needs thawing too.”

“This is all your fault. Take responsibility and restore this place to its original state.”

The magicians of the Elven Corps had stern expressions, as if supervising Jenom’s “community service,” but because of their overly serious faces, they looked more cute than intimidating.

Only Carol, at the forefront, with her arms crossed and an impassive expression, looked not cute, but terrifyingly fierce.

“Finish this area, then there are other places you need to take care of. Hurry up.”

Carol scolded.

“Yes…”

Jenom replied listlessly, using fire magic to thaw the buildings, her expression even more dejected.

Seeing this…

“Pfft!”

Shien couldn’t help but laugh.

“Mr. Shien…”

Melika said, embarrassed.

But it was too late.

The moment Shien laughed, not only the members of the Elven Corps, but even Jenom turned their heads and looked over.

The next moment…

“Me… Melika—!”

The dejected expression on Jenom’s face instantly vanished, replaced by a bright look as she saw Melika, then she saw Shien chuckling and her anger surged.

“You bastard, you still dare to come back…!?”

Jenom shouted and instinctively raised her short staff.

However, a fist stopped her.

“Bang!”

“Ouch!”

With a thud, Jenom clutched her head and crouched down.

“You’re the bastard. You still dare to use magic here after causing all this? Are you stupid?”

Carol, standing behind Jenom, clenched her fists and said coldly.

“Teacher Carol…”

Jenom looked at Carol tearfully.

“I said, don’t call me teacher.” Carol said with an impassive face, rejecting Jenom’s address, then looked at Shien and Melika. “I told you many times not to do anything suspicious, didn’t I?”

Carol’s words were clearly directed at Shien.

Undoubtedly, Carol was blaming both Jenom and Shien.

Of course, Shien wouldn’t admit it.

“Now that’s an interesting thing to say.” Shien shrugged innocently. “I was just asking Melika to show me around. Is that considered suspicious?”

Hearing this, Jenom jumped up.

“Liar! You clearly abducted Melika!”

Jenom angrily accused Shien.

Shien chuckled.

“Have you ever seen anyone abduct someone and then bring them back?” Shien looked at Jenom as if she was an idiot. “It was clearly you who saw Melika and me happily strolling, became jealous, and attacked us without a word, which is why I took Melika and ran, right?”

“You…!” Jenom pointed at Shien, furious.

Shien had once again used his Unique Skill—[Shifting the Blame].

This skill dealt a heavy blow to Jenom’s heart.

“Mr. Shien, Jenom, please stop arguing.”

Seeing that Jenom was about to explode, and Shien was also smiling, ready to retort, Melika quickly intervened.

Carol sighed, looking helpless, like a teacher with two troublesome students.

As for the elven magicians of the Elven Corps, they naturally exchanged glances.

“What’s going on?”

“Was Melika abducted by that man, or is Jenom just jealous?”

“I think that man is right. If he wanted to abduct Melika, why would he bring her back?”

“More importantly, the vice-commander is also right. If that man wanted to do something to Melika, he wouldn’t need to wait until they returned to the Elven Homeland.”

“So, it’s really because of Jenom’s jealousy?”

“I think so.”

“Me too.”

“That child, she’s always been unwilling to see Melika play with others since they were young.”

“That’s right.”

The elven girls whispered amongst themselves.

Jenom almost vomited blood.

“I heard that!”

The elf girl’s furious voice echoed through the frozen street.

Undoubtedly, this round was Shien’s victory.

Not only did Jenom take the blame for Shien, but she also lost everything.

After all, without her, Shien and Melika wouldn’t have run away and been alone together.

The fact that Melika was “devoured” by a certain beast was all thanks to this hot-tempered elven girl.