The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 557: “Don’t tell me you want to ride me?”

Several days passed quietly.

The Tegor Forest, as if nothing major had ever happened, continued its tranquil and stable ecosystem, unchanged for thousands of years.

The Elven Homeland was the same. After the initial fervent discussions, the matter of the Tegor Forest being consumed by evil aura and the appearance of a Demon Spirit, only to be vanquished by a foreign visitor, gradually subsided.

Of course, there were still lingering effects.

For example, after that incident, Sophie confined herself within the Queen’s Palace, no longer appearing in public. No one knew whether she had suffered some kind of blow, or if the slaying of her former nemesis had left her in a melancholic state, unable to extricate herself.

Because of this, Leia, Nia, and the other Elven magicians of the Elven Corps were deeply worried, often guarding the Queen’s Palace, hoping to lift the Queen’s spirits.

However, Sophie’s unusual behavior did not affect the upcoming Elven festival.

Sophie had specifically instructed that the Peace Festival should proceed as planned. Although the recent events in the Elven Homeland and the Tegor Forest could not be ignored, the Queen believed that in times of turmoil, it was even more necessary to emphasize the importance of peace.

Therefore, the Peace Festival would be held as usual.

This made the Elven Homeland quite lively recently.

Not only because of the upcoming festival, but also because the Elves took this opportunity to invite many trusted friends from other races to participate in the Peace Festival.

Due to the recent evil aura incident in the Tegor Forest, some in the outside world had noticed the anomaly. Consequently, various human nations sent envoys to connect with the Elves, intending to investigate the cause.

The Mitra Kingdom also sent personnel to investigate.

In response to this, Sophie finally roused herself, shouldering her responsibilities and emerging from the Queen’s Palace.

Then, regarding the incident, Sophie offered her explanation.

“The recent anomaly in the Tegor Forest was entirely due to the appearance of an Apostle of the Old Demon Faction’s Original Demon, who conducted a Demonic Refining Ritual here.”

Sophie revealed the truth to the assembled envoys.

However, Sophie selectively disclosed the facts.

For instance, while she admitted that the incident was caused by the appearance of an Apostle of the Original Demon, she didn’t mention that the Apostle was a Demon Spirit, a being supposedly extinct for thousands of years, nor did she mention her own connection to it.

Furthermore, she claimed that the Tegor Forest being transformed into a place of evil aura was simply due to using the Evil God Lilith’s power to deal with the Apostle, without mentioning that it stemmed from Shien’s personal grudge.

The Elven Queen had already discussed this with Lid, agreeing that they should conceal Shien’s actions.

Otherwise, if it became known that Shien had instigated Lilith to cause such a large disturbance, affecting countless lives in the Tegor Forest, then even if no one dared to directly confront Shien, given his position as an Earl of the Kingdom, the Kingdom would inevitably become the target of criticism, leading to further complications.

If some short-sighted individuals then did something to displease Shien, causing him to lose control and lash out, the next time they might not be able to contain the damage as they did this time.

Considering this, Sophie and Lid decided to omit any mention of Shien’s personal involvement in the incident, portraying him as someone who assisted them in capturing the Apostle of the Original Demon.

This way, others wouldn’t be able to exploit the situation.

Under these circumstances, the matter gradually died down.

Thanks to this, Shien had been living quite comfortably these past few days, no longer as busy as before.

With Machi’s death, Shien had vented his anger and returned to his usual leisurely self, as if nothing had happened, spending a peaceful time in the Elven Homeland.

Every day, Shien either played with the fairies gathered around him, occasionally feeding them magic power to shorten their reincarnation period, or strolled through the Elven Homeland with Lucy and the others, seemingly oblivious to everyone else.

Perhaps due to the approaching Peace Festival, many stalls and shops had appeared in the Elven Homeland, filled with a dazzling array of goods.

These weren’t ordinary goods, but genuine magic items.

As the foremost magic race among humans, every Elf was a natural magician, so the most popular items here were naturally magic items.

These were all high-quality goods handcrafted by Elven magicians.

There were magic potions far exceeding those produced by outside alchemists.

There were magic tools with performance far surpassing those from outside magic item shops.

There were even some fine magic weapons like staves and wands.

These were all high-quality goods rarely seen in the outside world. Coming from the hands of Elves, they had an absolute guarantee of quality, and no one would doubt it.

In the past, it was incredibly difficult for outsiders to obtain these excellent, fine tools and potions crafted by Elves. Only during the Peace Festival, when the Elven Homeland opened to the outside world, did other races have a chance to acquire them, making it a rare and valuable opportunity.

If not for the fact that only invited guests could participate in the Peace Festival and enter the Elven Homeland, the place would have been overrun by people from all races.

Shien accompanied Lucy, Lilith, Lasha, and even Millu on several shopping trips in the Elven Homeland. Sometimes, he would even drag the sleepy Airi and the festival-indifferent Lid along, going on shopping sprees together.

Especially Lucy, her eyes shone brightly as she looked at the stalls and shops. Every time she went out, she returned with her hands full, having purchased countless Elven-made magic potions and tools over the past few days.

Shien also wanted to do the same, but unfortunately, he wasn’t as wealthy as the princess.

The princess had the backing of an entire nation and a national treasury to support her. What couldn’t she buy?

Shien, on the other hand, was pitiful. Although a noble, he was an honorary noble who received a stipend. Apart from his annual fixed allowance, any other expenses had to be earned by himself. It was a tough life.

Fortunately, he had a dragon. A single scale shed by Yulin could be sold for a large sum of money. Many Elven magicians also wanted to buy dragon blood, dragon saliva, dragon tears, dragon teeth, dragon claws, and other such things from him, allowing Shien to earn a decent income. He wasn’t afraid of being broke, nor was he afraid of becoming dependent on his future wife, letting the wealthy princess pay for everything.

It was just Yulin’s resentful gaze that always made Shien feel a little uneasy.

“This dragon girl is becoming more and more human-like. Is she about to transform into a human?”

Shien consulted Airi about this.

At that time, Airi glanced at Yulin and, in a rare moment of alertness, nodded.

“It should be soon. Within a year at most, maybe even a few months, this girl will successfully shed her dragon body and transform into a demon. It seems you’ve been feeding her quite a bit of magic power.”

The Dragon Mother gave her affirmation.

This made Shien a little conflicted.

“If this dragon girl transforms into a human, won’t I be unable to ride her anymore?”

The thought made him a little reluctant.

But Airi, while looking at Shien with disdain, said this:

“Dragons are different from other demons. Once they shed their dragon bodies and transform into demons, they awaken a Unique Skill, and this Unique Skill is fixed: Dragon Transformation.”

—[Dragon Transformation].

This was the Unique Skill possessed by all dragons who transformed into human form.

According to Airi, dragons who transformed into humans would only awaken this Unique Skill, and no others.

Including herself, it was the same.

And the effect of this Unique Skill, as the name suggested, was to allow dragons to transform back into their dragon forms.

After transforming into a dragon, their power would increase exponentially, at least tripling, and at most increasing tenfold.

Therefore, even after transforming into humans, dragons could revert to their dragon forms at any time, and their power would be far greater than before their transformation.

Yulin was the same. Even if she transformed into a human in the future, she could easily transform back into a dragon.

“Wow.”

Shien clicked his tongue and exclaimed.

A Unique Skill that could increase power tenfold at most?

That could rival [Samsara of Heaven’s Decree].

As expected of dragons, known as the kings of magical beasts.

Of course, not every dragon’s [Dragon Transformation] could increase their power tenfold.

At least, among dragons, only Airi’s [Dragon Transformation] could increase her power tenfold.

For Giacinta(Jacinta), his [Dragon Transformation] could only increase his power fivefold.

Other dragons had even less of an increase, mostly around three or four times, rarely reaching five.

“This girl has good talent. She’s already close to Limit Level before transforming. If she awakens her Unique Skill, she should be able to surpass a fivefold increase.”

Airi had high expectations for Yulin.

As for Shien, he was looking forward to something else.

“Let’s put aside the power increase for now and talk about Dragon Transformation.” Shien looked at Airi with burning eyes and said without hesitation, “Since you said that transformed dragons can all use Dragon Transformation, you can also transform into a dragon, right?”

Upon hearing this, Airi fell silent.

Then…

“…Don’t tell me you want to ride me?”

Airi gave Shien a death stare.

“How could that be?”

Shien retorted righteously, but in his heart, he began to scheme.

“How can I trick this girl into letting me ride her?”

Shien accidentally muttered this aloud.

Airi’s face instantly darkened.

“Even if I jumped from here and fell to my death, I would absolutely not let you ride me!”

Airi declared fiercely and turned to leave.

“Hey, wait!”

Shien hurriedly chased after her.

Thus, Shien spent several peaceful days.

Until bad news found him.