Demian opened the front door of the banquet hall widely. Even in the dark hall, he immediately found Lara and approached her without hesitation. The heavy sound of his shoes rang like hitting a drum.
"What's that?"
Paimon muttered. Black hair as dark as the night, red lips that went up to one side as if he was scoffing, and a sharp madness flowed out of his blue eyes. He was definitely a human being–in all ways but force.
"Did you see that?"
Valac whispered with a gloomy face. He had a timid face, a deep sigh, and a tone as if he was whining by revealing his resentment to the fullest. Valac's voice dug into Paimon's head.
"It is the seed of the demon lord."
"Hahaha…"
"That's the first one."
Valac had deep doubts about Demian's identity even before he ascended to Prince Sidhar's body in Hautean. How can a human who was unaffected by black magic exist?
So he tried to get the black sorcerers under his command to find out who Demian was. However, his plan failed because Demian was much stronger than expected. Somehow, he was captured by Lara and fell into Acerus' hands. By the time he had absorbed Lilith's power, he was convinced.
The seed of the demon lord.
Demian Drake was a man who was born human and would become the demon lord. That was also the reason he could get the swear of obedience from Lilith. Valac, who ate Lilith and stole her memory, since then regarded Demian as a demon, not a human being.
Paimon was staring at Demian. His red eyes shook madly. He, who pretended to be a slave naturally enough to be close to perfection among humans, lost his composure for the first time and revealed his real self.
Even in hell, Paimon was a demon strong and old enough to be considered as a demon lord candidate.
If he faces Demian Drake, who will win? And will God, who cares very much about the saintess, just wait and see the demon's fight in the human realm?
Valac's heart trembled as if it was convulsing. When he released his clenched fist, his palm was wet with cold sweat.
Demian turned his head their way.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
"Saintess."
Lara glanced at Nicholas' hand that was held out to her, he was politely asking for a dance. Meanwhile, Eunice was already fascinated by Lafort's liquor that Nicholas had brought in particular and Ximena was dancing with the slaves.
An elegant dance song was played. After disappearing with Valac, Paimon had not yet appeared. Lara put her finger slightly on Nicholas' palm and took a step. The bead dress chosen by Konny shook with a jingling sound.
"Hautean is said to be a country of elegant nobles. I was wondering where your extraordinary discernment came from. Apparently, you're a noble from Hautean."
"If I have to say, I'm not a noble anymore. I have abandoned my family name."
Even while revealing her status as a commoner in front of a member of a royal family, Lara's attitude was confident. It was as if she was a royal and Nicholas was a commoner.
"Hahaha. Won't you visit Lafort one day? It's not as good as Hautean, but there are also many good things in Lafort. His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor of Tarragon is too great of a person to enjoy the arts so I don't even dare to recommend it to him."
Lara found Nicholas' clever speech interesting. While complimenting Lara, a native of Hautean, he brought up Lafort and even subtly defamed the Emperor. He had a friendly tone and the words he said sounded like a joke but his eyes were serious, making her suspicious of his intentions.
Lara could have danced to his tune here. Mixing lies and truth and exchanging words as if gambling, it would be a good experience for her too.
But Lara was a saintess—a person who received the protection and support of the greatest being in the world. In short, Lara did not have to change the subject while walking on eggshells like that.
"I do want to go to Lafort someday."
When Lara muttered with a chic face, Nicholas smiled warmly. However, when he heard her following words, he was astonished.
"I mean, after Lafort unifies the East."
"Pardon?"
"Prince Nicholas, how much do you believe in the union?"
Nicholas was taken aback. He only thought of Lara as a 21-year-old immature saintess who was yet to grow out of being a child. But a terrifying question poured out of her mouth.
"Do you think the Eastern Union is valuable enough for you to give up the throne of Lafort?"
"The union…is bound by a pledge. The situation in the East is different from that in Hautean…"
"The North was devastated by just one demon. If the same thing happens in the East, are you confident that you can stop it?"
"The East is strong."
"Does that strength come from Lafort?"
Lara's eyes shone clearly under the light.
Though the Eastern Union had Lafort at the center of their territory, their military power came from Sias. Therefore, the King of Mortan maintained a closer relationship with Sias than Lafort. Lara was pinching that very point.
"If there are three friends in a group, there must be two of them who are closer to each other. Where do you think Lafort stands in the hierarchy?"
Nicholas could not readily answer. Because Lafort was the one who was left behind.
What in the world is this saintess? I thought she was just an immature young lady who just wanted to play. But she has a tendency to be a swindler.
Nicholas, who barely calmed down the confusion, smiled by habit and asked.
"Why are you saying this? You're not going to say that all of this is God's will, are you?"
Lara contemplated for a while and spoke out.
"If it's hard to get the throne of Lafort, what about Sias?"
"What?"
This time, Nicholas was genuinely surprised and threw down Lara's hand that he was holding in spite of himself.
As the King of Lafort tried to hand the throne over to his grandson, rather than his son, Nicholas, Lara was asking why he did not rather go to Sias, his mother's country, and take the throne there.
"Saintess, what are you…"
When Nicholas tried to vent his anger toward Lara, the front door of the banquet hall was wide open. Bright lighting came in the dark hall and slowly disappeared. People's gazes poured toward the central hallway. A man stood with his back against the red light and looked the saintess' way. Then, he walked up and approached her.
"Demian?"
Lara's eyes have widened significantly. She turned toward Demian, leaving Nicholas alone in bewilderment.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
The mercenary wolves who belonged to the trading company moved to the East, they carried with them the magic circle components for long-distance travel that Valentine invented. After hearing Lara say that it was an urgent matter, they ran at full speed day and night to Demian.
Demian was camping at an old ruin near the border and was confronting the East. Oscar tried to dissuade him by saying that the magic circle was dangerous, but he threw him aside and put his foot first on the magic circle. In just a blink of an eye, Demian arrived at Dandelion and ran straight to Lara.
"I heard you came here to deal with the demon alone. I came here because I'm worried…"
Demian smirked. Someone was staring hard at the back of his head. It was a stare with such a great determination that his skin stung. If they were outside and had weapons in their hands, they would have already rushed toward each other.
As Nicholas was standing nearby, Lara could not tell Demian about Paimon. She just gestured to Demian's right back with her eyes. He slowly turned his back and looked back.
It was the red-haired. The demon with wine-like red hair and red eyes was grinning toward him.
"Lara."
Demian opened his mouth. With his eyes fixed on Paimon, he asked Lara.
"Should I catch that for you?"
Lara could not answer, it was because Demian had moved even before she could do so. Wherever he went, he left behind a dent on the floor. Demian and Paimon rushed into each other regardless of who attacked first.
Smash!
Paimon ran over, breaking the chair in front of him like a toy and throwing the debris at Demian.
"Argh!"
"Aaarghhhh!"
The banquet hall quickly became a mess. The space, which was filled with elegant music, was now chaotic with the screams of the nobles.
"Your Highness, you should shelter yourself."
"This way!"
Lafort's knights, who had been placed for the safety of the guests, escaped outside with only Nicholas, disregarding anyone else.
Lara stood tall on the spot. Demian would never let her get hurt and she also had the giant of fire so she did not feel the need to run away.
Paimon did not use magic. He did not use the demon's attribute power either. This was because he did not want God nor the saintess to intervene. He dealt with Demian only with his physical ability.
Demian ripped a thin metal pillar off from the wall, he swung it and rushed to Paimon. Paimon blocked the pillar with his bare hands before crushing it. Their movements were so fast that one's bare eyes could not keep up with them.
It was a trivial matter for chairs and tables to break. Everywhere they fought, the floor caved in and the wall collapsed. If they were left as they were, the theater could be destroyed. People were in chaos and tried to flee from any direction.
"What are you doing? You need to run away from this!"
Valac ran to Lara, who was standing around and watching their fight. He already took care of Eunice and Ximena.
"Hey, if you stay here, you're going to die!"
"You bish! I don't want to be the dying prawn in the midst of a battle between whales."
Sharp debris flew from the wooden pillar thrown by Paimon. Eunice screamed and hid behind Valac. He eventually took off his jacket and covered Eunice and Ximena's heads with it. Then, he dragged Lara and moved to the emergency exit.
When they went outside, the nobles were screaming and running to their respective carriages. However, the road was blocked by carriages that tried to leave first, and so the nobles could not even escape the scene and just screamed towards each other.
Crack!
The sound of the theater pillar collapsing could be heard and acrid smoke came out from inside. It seemed that a fire had broken out from the collapse of a candle or lamp.
The fire quickly spread and pungent smoke rose from each window. Fortunately, it was deep in the night so there was no one inside except for those who were enjoying the banquet.
"Let's run away quickly. Please? Do you want to die early? God may protect you, but not me! I can't waste my long demon life here!"
"Valac."
"I want to live a long life!"
"Who do you think will win?"
Lara asked. Valac was terrified and Eunice and Ximena were totally freaking out, but only Lara had serene eyes. She was thinking about something else.
"What did you say?"
"Who do you think will win?"
"Is that important now?"
"Answer me. It's an order."
Valac bit off his lips. He repeatedly opened and closed his mouth several times while looking at the theater building, which began to roar as if it were about to collapse. Then, he spoke with little conviction.
"As long as Paimon does not use magic or any of his powers, I think it's worth a shot…"
"Really?"
Lara laughed silently. As she turned around and looked at the collapsing theater, the bead dress slightly shook, making a clear sound.