Ch.341Chapter 341 – A New Place to Go

After Chris and Kara briefly disappeared somewhere, Eve and Diana went to meet with Princess Gabriella again to discuss our compensation. The rest of our group entered the tent we were using.

“You’ve returned safely, Sia.”

Vanilla, who seemed to have recovered somewhat, raised her hand while lying on the bed. Next to her, the gigas and succubus had their eyes open but hadn’t changed their positions.

“You’ve got it easy.”

“I can’t help it since I’m exhausted from overexerting myself while injured, White Dragon.”

Vanilla said with a smile. The succubus seemed slightly surprised to see Vanilla like this.

“You’re speaking so casually with the White Dragon…”

“That’s because we understand each other better than expected. Qusia, why don’t you try speaking casually too?”

“S-should I?”

Qusia glanced at me timidly as she spoke. Then Sera stepped in front of her and said:

“Dream on.”

“Eek!”

I couldn’t see Sera’s expression since her back was to me, but not only Qusia but even Vanilla started trembling.

After easily subduing the two demons, Sera sighed deeply and spoke.

“Strange women keep getting attracted to you…”

“You have it tough.”

Sia said with a laugh.

“By the way, it was noisy outside. What happened?”

“I’ll explain.”

I immediately explained what we had experienced. Vanilla and the gigas listened to our story with serious expressions.

After a moment, the gigas spoke quietly.

“This means Serious is the only Legion Commander left alive now.”

“Minos was killed by the White Dragon, and the other two lost their lives in the Mikea Kingdom.”

After saying this, Vanilla laughed as if pleased.

“Serves the Demon Lord right.”

“Indeed.”

The gigas also laughed with satisfaction.

“You seem more delighted than I expected.”

“Of course. He betrayed our king and goes around calling himself the Demon Lord. I can’t help but feel good about this.”

Vanilla said with a laugh. Then she muttered as if talking to herself.

“The Demon Lord’s position will be greatly shaken now.”

“He was already anxious because of the White Dragon, and now this has driven the final nail in the coffin.”

Vanilla nodded at the gigas’s response. Then the two looked at each other and began talking.

“The title of Demon Lord refers to the strongest being in the demon realm. But the Demon Lord hasn’t proven his strength. Unless he defeats the White Dragon who fought our true Demon King, he won’t be able to rule over all demons. Losing three Legion Commanders in this situation is extremely painful.”

Vanilla said while raising a finger. The gigas nodded and replied.

“Regardless of strength, they were his loyal servants. Losing just one would shake his position, but now it’s as if three have lost their lives at once. His supporters must be in confusion.”

“Now he truly has no one watching his back.”

Vanilla said with a wicked smile.

“From now on, he’ll have to constantly worry about demons who doubt him and aim for his back. In the past, Minos, Howl, or Virginia would have protected him or taken the hit first, but they’re dead now, so that’s impossible.”

Vanilla said with a bright smile.

“The Demon King’s army won’t function properly anymore. I’m certain of it.”

“The one we served could have easily regained control with his own power, but the Demon Lord can’t. The only way for him to resolve this situation is to defeat the White Dragon himself and gain the demons’ acknowledgment.”

The gigas said while looking at me. I quietly asked them:

“Do you think that’s possible?”

“I guarantee it’s impossible. He’s slightly stronger than us, but the difference is truly minimal.”

Vanilla said the difference could be reversed by trivial factors like physical condition on a given day.

“Since the difference between him and us is that small, you can roughly estimate how he compares to you based on our standards.”

“But honestly, we can’t be confident about defeating the White Dragon one-on-one. This is assuming we’re fully recovered, of course.”

“If we can’t, how could the Demon Lord?”

Vanilla grinned.

“He’s completely blocked. Because of your existence.”

“Serves him right.”

The gigas laughed once more. Vanilla spoke with an expression of genuine satisfaction.

“I’d love to see his dejected face.”

“I understand you’re pleased, but shouldn’t you be concerned about other matters as well?”

Sia said quietly. Vanilla nodded.

“That’s right. There must be innocent demons who were just caught up in this situation.”

“Those who didn’t strongly support invading other countries but got involved anyway.”

Vanilla muttered softly that they should prepare something for those demons.

Meanwhile, the tent flap rolled up, and Chris with a reddened face and Kara with a serious expression entered the tent.

“What is it, White Dragon? Another woman?”

“Me, with her?”

“Don’t say such strange things. More importantly, this is quite interesting.”

Kara looked at Vanilla.

“I didn’t expect to find demons here.”

Kara’s tone had a slight chill to it. However, surprisingly, she wasn’t rushing to attack the demons.

“You’re not attacking first?”

“I think I should hear the situation first.”

Kara glanced at me and said:

“No one in this tent seems concerned about their presence, including you. Even Chris, a goddess, is tolerating their existence. So obviously there must be a story here, and there’s no reason to be hostile toward them, right?”

Kara looked at me as if asking why I would even question something so obvious. She seemed to have figured out that these demons weren’t enemies just by reading the situation, without any explanation.

Her experience as a saint in the Emiris Order hadn’t gone to waste.

“Of course, I’ll need to hear the details. I should inform Diana.”

“Right.”

Diana still didn’t know about their existence. But if Kara thought they weren’t enemies, Diana would probably make the same judgment.

In this situation, Kara glared at me and said:

“Besides, a succubus and a dark elf. They’re beauties except for being demons. More women again.”

Kara lamented. Then the gigas immediately looked at me and asked:

“That’s right, another girl. Is she the goddess’s sister this time? Do you have a thing for collecting sisters as a set?”

“Absolutely not.”

Vanilla seemed to think Kara was Chris’s sister, perhaps because they looked similar.

After I said that, both of them looked at me with suspicious eyes. I glanced at them and said:

“Anyone listening would think I’m some kind of playboy.”

There was no response.

Everyone in the room was staring at me.

“The saying ‘ignorance is not a sin’ can be different depending on the situation.”

Sia sighed as she spoke.

Leaving Chris, whose face was still red, to avert her gaze, I looked at Sera.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“I think you did.”

Sera said while slightly pouting and pulling my arm toward her.

+

After everyone’s attention finally returned to normal, the group laid me down on the bed and began diagnosing my condition in their own ways. Vanilla, who had now recovered enough to get up, created a magic circle near her eyes, and Sera, Chris, and even Kara joined in to examine my body.

After examining me for a while, Vanilla sighed heavily and said:

“White Dragon. You’ve been hiding it well.”

“Hiding what?”

I tried to act nonchalant. Vanilla continued:

“If you lie, I’ll have everyone here, including your alchemist lover, feed you truth serum or whatever to make you confess, so be honest. You’ve nearly collapsed at least once, right? Your body temperature regulation failed too.”

“…Yes.”

Right after defeating Emiris, I experienced exactly the symptoms Vanilla described.

“How did you figure it out?”

“I noticed from the flow of magic and various other signs that the flow was interrupted briefly. It wasn’t for long, but you could have been at death’s door.”

Vanilla had previously mentioned being the scholarly type, and it seemed to be true. I was slightly surprised that she could accurately determine what had happened just from a brief examination.

Soon Vanilla spoke again:

“Let me diagnose you. What happened then was that your magic flow became unstable, interrupting your life support. Your magic flow has become more unstable than when I saw you before. While it’s stable, you’ll feel less pain thanks to the dragon magic characteristics I mentioned before, but once it becomes unstable, you’ll immediately feel pain.”

Vanilla added that the pain would feel more intense because you suddenly feel all the pain you hadn’t been feeling.

“It might be fine for short periods, White Dragon. Some of your companions are skilled in medicine, and though she’s probably eavesdropping, that witch is also excellent at controlling magic. Essentially, if you don’t miss the timing, you can avoid sudden death from magic interruption.”

Vanilla explained that with Sera, Chris, and Beatrice around, I wouldn’t suddenly have my heart stop.

“But if left untreated, the intervals between magic instability will gradually shorten.”

“Is there any possible solution?”

A fundamental cure for my condition was still impossible. I would need the Philosopher’s Stone for the treatment Lumen had suggested.

But I was asking if there was a way to make full use of what little lifespan I had left.

Vanilla soon fell into thought.

“Hmm, if I had to say, there might be a way to adjust your modified body to stabilize the magic flow a bit more…”

“Can you do it here?”

I asked Vanilla. She immediately shook her head.

“If I could, I would have done it already, White Dragon.”

“Really?”

“You’re our benefactor too. We don’t want to let you die.”

Vanilla sighed and said:

“But for me to implement that method, I need appropriate facilities and data. To know how to adjust the parameters and if there are other methods. Without them, I’d have to search, but that would clearly take too much time.”

Vanilla continued:

“For now, the best approach is to have someone maintain your magic flow as stably as possible to prevent your magic or physical condition from collapsing.”

“I see.”

“I’ll tell your alchemist about some potions that might help. I know a few recipes. Of course, they’re demon realm formulas, so they’ll need some modification to use directly…”

Vanilla then looked at Sera.

“I hear your alchemist is extremely skilled. If I just provide the recipes, can I leave the modifications to her?”

“Of course.”

Vanilla seemed to have heard praise about Sera at some point, and Sera nodded and replied:

“Will you tell me right away?”

“Certainly.”

Vanilla nodded at Sera’s question.

“That’s all I can suggest regarding magic-related aspects. I’ll think of the most helpful methods and tell you, but keep in mind this won’t be a fundamental solution.”

“Thanks for your concern.”

Vanilla waved her hand dismissively at my words.

“Still, as I mentioned earlier, if we had the records from when your body was modified and the facilities, we could adjust your body to temporarily prevent your condition from worsening. That’s a shame.”

“I see.”

Facilities that could stabilize my body… The only place I could think of was the Magic Tower.

But going back there would require using warp, and I wasn’t sure if we could enter so abruptly.

It would be nice if there was a place nearby we could go…

‘Come to think of it, there is one more place.’

I immediately thought of a location. I wasn’t sure if the equipment would still be there, though.

“I think I know a place Vanilla is talking about…”

Sera asked in surprise:

“W-where, Kei?”

“Gema Port.”

Kara fell into thought for a moment, as if trying to recall something.

Then she spoke:

“That’s in the Trigena New Kingdom…”

“It’s a port.”

“May I ask why you suddenly mentioned that place?”

“Because there’s a secret Order research facility there.”

Kara was momentarily dazed.

“Could it be that the incident I mentioned in Ferarius…”

“I’m the culprit.”

Kara seemed momentarily dizzy at my words and fell into thought.

I spoke to her again:

“Near Gema Port is the Order’s secret laboratory you heard rumors about, and it’s true that an experimental subject escaped from there. That was me.”

“No, I understood what you said. I was just momentarily taken aback by you suddenly confessing to being the culprit.”

Kara took a deep breath. Then she carefully asked:

“But why didn’t you tell me in Ferarius?”

“Because you didn’t ask.”

Kara glared at me. Then she sighed and said:

“Judging by their reactions, it seems your companions already knew this fact.”

“They’ve only heard about it.”

There was no time or reason to go there directly. And it was dangerous because it was in New Kingdom territory, so we avoided it.

Under normal circumstances, there was no need to step into enemy territory.

But reasons to visit were gradually accumulating.

‘Even at the Magic Tower, the dimensional travel research wasn’t progressing well.’

Because of that, Asam had mentioned wanting to check if the Emiris Order’s laboratory had such data.

‘Plus, I need to stabilize my physical condition.’

While such facilities existed only in the Magic Tower, if equipment remained at that laboratory, it might be better to try there. After all, since it was the facility that created this body, it would naturally be set up specifically for it.

With luck, I might even find data from when they were researching me.

‘…I should go there after all.’

We already needed to sail for Evgenia’s seal, which was located near the sea.

If we planned our route to briefly infiltrate and exit that location…

‘We could minimize wasted time.’

There were reasons to go. The conditions allowed for it.

The only problem was that it was essentially enemy territory, making it dangerous.

That was what concerned me at that moment.

“Kei-san.”

“Lord Kei.”

Sera and Chris looked at me.

“Let’s go.”

“It could be dangerous.”

“That’s okay.”

Sera spoke quietly. Chris quietly gripped her staff.

“For Kei-san’s sake, we’re willing to go anywhere, no matter how dangerous.”

The two women looked at me with determined expressions.