The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 833: “Not Because He’s the Hero.”

Shien’s former acquaintances who set their sights on the Royal Capital weren’t limited to the Ragna Empire and the Beastmen’s Priest Corps.

Far away, in the Tegor Forest, within the Elven Homeland, Elven Queen Sophie had already emerged from her Queen’s Palace. Holding her scepter, she stood before a group of elves.

“Your Majesty!”

Leia and Nia, the two Legendary Grand Mages of the Elven Race, immediately saluted.

“Your Majesty!”

The Elven mages of the Elven Corps, the pride of the Elven Race, also bowed their heads one after another.

Sophie nodded in satisfaction. These people before her were the pride and pillars of the Elven Race. Looking at their familiar faces, she felt a surge of pride that was difficult to describe.

Without outwardly expressing her pride, Sophie glanced at everyone present and spoke softly.

“For this Tripartite Conference, our Elven Race must also be present. As one of the representatives of the Human Race, we will discuss important matters with the Divine Race, the Demon Race, and the other races of the Human Race.”

“As the elite of the Elven Race, you will accompany me to the Royal Capital of the Mitra Kingdom.”

“That is the nation established by the Hero who once saved the world. The Hero we know is also from that country. He has already returned and encountered quite a few things in the Royal Capital.”

“Hero Shien is a friend recognized by our Elven Race. This Tripartite Conference was also initiated because of his identity. He will undoubtedly become the focal point of this conference and will be placed on the negotiating table by the three races, who will determine their future attitude towards him.”

“This matter is of great importance. It not only concerns the peace between the three races but also deeply involves the safety of our friend. Therefore, we have two objectives for this trip.”

“First, we must strive to maintain peace and prevent the recurrence of the painful wars of the past.”

“Second, we must do our utmost to protect our friend and become Hero Shien’s strength.”

As she spoke, Sophie’s voice became serious.

“Tell me, can you do it?”

Hearing this, the Elven mages didn’t hesitate.

“Yes!”

Uniform, delicate shouts resounded throughout the Elven Homeland, causing the other elves to turn their heads, their eyes filled with longing and admiration.

“Very good.”

Sophie nodded with great satisfaction.

“Then, let’s depart.”

Sophie raised her scepter high.

In the next moment, emerald green light flickered, enveloping all the Elven mages present.

Among them were two figures that Shien would definitely recognize if he were here.

“Hero…”

An Elven girl with shoulder-length bobbed hair, holding a small staff, muttered, her eyes appearing somewhat dazed.

Seeing her distraction, another Elven woman beside her patted her shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Jenom?”

Hearing the other person’s voice, Jenom snapped out of her daze and looked at the Elven woman beside her.

“Teacher Carol.”

Jenom called out softly.

“Thinking about that man?”

Carol saw through Jenom’s thoughts with discerning eyes.

Jenom subconsciously shook her head, but after a moment of thought, she nodded.

“I still can’t believe he’s actually the Hero.”

Jenom said this.

“I understand how you feel.” Carol paused, then said with mixed emotions, “I also didn’t expect that the foreign man we almost unilaterally rejected would turn out to be a Hero.”

“But I think I understand now.” Jenom gripped her staff tightly and whispered, “I understand why Melika likes that man so much.”

Since he was the Hero, it was no wonder that even a pure elf would be attracted to him.

It seemed natural for Melika to fall for him, right?

Jenom thought so.

However, Carol shook her head.

“You misunderstand, Jenom.”

Carol denied Jenom’s statement.

“Huh?”

Jenom was slightly taken aback, looking at Carol in surprise.

Meeting Jenom’s gaze, Carol spoke.

“Melika doesn’t like him because he’s the Hero; it’s because the person she likes happens to be the Hero.”

These words rendered Jenom speechless.

Although it was just a change in the order of the words, the way Carol put it completely changed the reason for Melika’s love for Shien.

“Although we have never experienced love, we understand ourselves, we understand what it means to be an elf.” Carol said meaningfully, “Do you think we would only love a hero?”

Of course not.

An elf’s love is pure, untainted by factors like identity, status, or power.

Even if someone is the Hero, if they don’t gain the approval of an elf, they won’t gain her love.

The previous Hero Mitra was a living example. It was well known that he pursued Elven Queen Sophie, but she rejected him. Otherwise, this history might have become a beautiful tale.

Wasn’t Mitra a Hero?

Wasn’t he great?

On the contrary, he was a truly great person, so great that even the Divine Race respected him.

He saved the world and defeated the Demon King. These achievements were destined to be passed down forever.

Yet, such a great person still couldn’t win the Elven Queen’s love.

Therefore…

“Melika must be the same. She didn’t fall in love with him because he’s the Hero, but because there’s something genuinely attractive about ‘Shien Buztout’ that draws her in, something that makes her offer her love to him.”

Carol’s voice reached Jenom’s ears.

“Something genuinely attractive about Melika…”

Jenom pursed her lips, falling silent.

“Alright, don’t overthink it.” Carol interrupted Jenom’s contemplation. “Melika and the Hero’s matters are for them to handle. Let’s focus on this Tripartite Conference.”

“Yes.” Jenom adjusted her mindset and then asked, “Will Melika also be present at this Tripartite Conference?”

“Yes.” Carol nodded, smiling rarely. “She is already the blessed one of the Goddess of Nature. For this Tripartite Conference, she will definitely appear in the Royal Capital of the Mitra Kingdom, accompanying Goddess Nadue.”

Hearing this, a glimmer of anticipation appeared in Jenom’s eyes.

She looked forward to seeing her childhood friend, her inseparable playmate from her youth.

Even if Melika had left her behind and become powerful, it didn’t matter.

Just like that, the emerald green light carried the elite of the Elven Race, under the watchful eyes of all their kin in the Elven Homeland, and flew towards the horizon.

Their destination: the Mitra Kingdom.

…

Royal Capital, Buztout House.

Today, no one came to visit.

The black dragon lying in the plaza was like a massive fortress, exuding an intimidating pressure that made countless people instinctively avoid the area.

Even the members of the Buztout household would tread carefully when entering and exiting, as if afraid of waking the dozing dragon. Every time they passed through the plaza, they would subconsciously lower their voices.

Thanks to this, even though Shien had been promoted to Marquis, becoming a great noble of the Mitra Kingdom, with a status and position no less than a Duke, and even surpassing a Duke by an unknown degree, in these past few days, not a single person dared to visit the Buztout House to congratulate Shien on his promotion.

Of course, while no one came in person, the gifts were certainly abundant.

In these past few days, congratulatory gifts from various powers and nobles were continuously delivered to the Buztout House.

Along with the gifts came letters.

Unable to visit in person, the nobles and heads of various powers didn’t dare to neglect this matter. They each prepared letters filled with congratulatory and praising words, sending them to the Buztout House.

And naturally, Shien wasn’t going to handle these letters.

Therefore…

“I hate you! Shien Buztout!”

In a luxurious office on the top floor of the main residence, Riley screamed like she was going crazy while dismantling the mountain of letters.

“Don’t mess them up, Riley.”

Vivian, watching the letters being disarrayed by Riley, quickly reminded her.

These letters not only needed to be read but also replied to one by one. If they were too disorganized, problems might arise.

Riley naturally understood this.

But she was truly on the verge of a breakdown.

“There are so many, and I have to reply to each one. How long will this take?” Riley fought back the urge to set these letters on fire and yelled, “Since we’ve already torn off the bandages and aren’t letting anyone visit, can’t we just throw these letters away and ignore them?”

“I understand how you feel.” Vivian said helplessly, “But he can do that, we can’t. Don’t you understand?”

Indeed, Shien could let loose and not bother with social niceties, but Riley and Vivian couldn’t.

The reason was simple: His Majesty the King had already sent someone to advise them.

“Relationships between nobles still need to be maintained, not only for the sake of each other’s face, but also for the balance of power within the kingdom.” Vivian said, “If the nobles were to unilaterally hate and antagonize the Buztout House, while they wouldn’t dare to do anything now with Shien, Princess Lucy, and the others as deterrents, what about in the future when they are no longer around?”

The rise of the Buztout House was incredibly rapid, and because the head of the family was Shien, it was destined to become second only to the royal family in the Mitra Kingdom.

If such a powerful family offended too many people now, the future inheritors would definitely face various difficulties, troubles, and even disasters.

From the perspective of a king, Ancil naturally didn’t want to see the Buztout House, with its special status in the kingdom, become a public enemy, attracting the antagonism of the kingdom’s nobles, or even leading to hostility and mutual destruction between them.

That would be a disaster for the kingdom.

Therefore, Ancil deliberately sent officials to give instructions.

And these instructions were naturally not directed at Shien.

Ancil knew that Shien disliked such roundabout matters, and whether he would listen to him was uncertain.

Therefore, he entrusted these matters to Riley, letting her handle them.

It could be said that Riley was now cleaning up the mess for Shien, the hands-off boss.

This was also the reason for her breakdown.

“This… this is just too much!”

Riley wailed.

“There’s no helping it. It’s not just the nobles of the kingdom; kings, emperors, nobles, heads, and leaders of other human powers have also sent letters of greeting and congratulations.” Vivian smiled wryly, but also offered comfort. “Actually, this isn’t entirely a bad thing. At least you’ve established contact with the high-ranking officials of various human powers through this channel. Even though you are currently the acting head of the Buztout House, in the future, when you inherit the Lazareth House, you can still use these connections to build relationships with these important figures.”

For a noble, this was absolutely a tremendous opportunity.

“With the support of so many human powers, the Lazareth House might not be unable to reach the future heights of the Buztout House.” Vivian encouraged, “Come on, Riley, you have to believe in yourself, you are the best.”

Hearing this, Riley’s expression improved slightly.

“Fine.”

Riley reluctantly accepted her fate.

Just then, the office door opened.

“President Riley! There’s an additional batch…!”

Lumia walked in, her arms holding a stack of letters piled so high it almost reached the ceiling.

“Thump!”

Riley’s head slammed heavily onto the desk. She twitched a few times and stopped moving.

“Riley!”

Vivian’s cry of alarm echoed through the office.

…

At this time, Shien was still unaware that his acting head was about to be indirectly driven to death by him.

He was in the garden behind the main residence, sparring with Diere.

“Haaaaaaaaa…!”

Diere’s entire body’s magic power was surging wildly. The horn on her forehead trembled incessantly, absorbing magic power from the atmosphere like a black hole, causing the magic power to swirl into her body like a vortex, transforming into her strength, making her roar.

Diere, like a demon or a ghost, charged towards Shien, her hands like claws, bringing forth streaks of claw light, carrying immense power, and slamming towards him.

“You’ve increased your power again?”

Shien stood opposite Diere, without drawing his sword. Watching Diere rushing towards him like a demon or a ghost, a look of seriousness appeared in his eyes.

He could sense that after half an hour of continuous improvement, Diere’s attacks were now sufficient to penetrate the protection of his [Inner Manifestation of Heaven’s Decree] and cause him some damage.

“In that case…”

Shien clenched his fists and met Diere head-on.

“Boom!”

Claw light and fists collided, causing the atmosphere to vibrate and a wave of air to surge outwards.

“Haaaaaaaaa…!”

Diere roared relentlessly, charging towards Shien, her claws bringing forth streaks of cold and sharp claw light, continuously attacking him.

Shien naturally raised his fists to meet her attacks, continuing to counter every move.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” …

Immediately, Shien and Diere’s figures intertwined, colliding incessantly, causing dull crashing sounds to rise and fall, carrying waves of air pressure, forming two storms in the garden.

The two fought fiercely, causing the peerless demoness sitting leisurely in the pavilion, drinking tea, to have her eyes flicker.

“This little girl actually possesses a power similar to Millu’s?”

Shafney watched Diere, who had transformed into a demonic form, gazing at her single horn, her heart filled with turbulent emotions.