"This is unexpected..." I said with a grim smile.
"I'm sure you had a feeling something like this would happen Arulwyr."
Rivena looked slightly stressed out, news had spread about the fort that a group of people were found murdered. Not only was there hardly any knowledge of how the demon would attack this fort, but there was also internal strife that could be caused by demons.
"Perhaps I did, maybe I didn't." I sighed while sitting down on a chair and crossing my legs.
"Do we still have to go to that dinner?"
"Doesn't seem like they canceled it." I leaned my head onto my fist, "I'm sort of looking forward to it."
I knew that if my persona as a SS ranked adventurer grew, nobody would grow suspicious of me being Rei Ven-August... But things never go the way someone truly wants them to.
'That fucking amulet... If I exert the smallest amount of Draconic Force near Dawn she'll know It's me, while I'm fine with Dawn knowing who I am... It will most likely lead to problems, this is common sense.'
[Maybe during this war you won't need to use any.] Althieus chuckled.
'Maybe if I want to die.'
[I don't think you will]
'If the heroes can deal with the Prince demons then I don't have any problems.'
"Are you okay?" Rivena asked sincerely
"Yeah just conversing with a spirit in my head?"
"Spirit? Did you figure out how to use the spiritual magic of elves? You're an elf after all?"
"Just ignore what I said earlier. Please." I pleaded.
"Okay."
***
"Welcome, brave warriors." A servant stood at the entrance of a grandiose manor.
We entered the manor with dwarves following behind us, the orcs were nowhere to be seen. The orcs not being here was the least surprising thing that I've dealt with lately.
The inside of the manor was simply exquisite, white marble covered the place and gold outlined everything. There were rare monsters put up as decorations, and even knights covered in gold stationed.
The servant gestured to us to cross a red carpet, up the stairs was a large door that was plated in gold.
The servant guided us to the large door, the 3 dwarves behind us looked condescending and cocky. Honestly, the dwarves' behavior was strange but they are prideful little creatures so I wasn't surprised.
My mouth gaped when the servants opened the door, the dining hall was a little too fancy for a fort... Indeed, food was laid out and all the heroes were already seated around a large table.
'Solid gold? What the hell?'
The gazes of the 5 heroes soon fell upon us, none of them were quite staring at me excluding the shorter boy with white hair. Sitting down next to Rivena the servants soon left and the hall got quiet.
Silas looked at all of us and cleared his throat:
"It's good to meet you all personally, well not all of you." He glanced at the empty seats of the orcs, "Actually this meeting isn't a very friendly one, despite our appearances. With humans murdered, while I don't believe any of you are the culprit... Well, a lot of the people here do and we have to at least answer to them."
Silas looked directly into my eyes.
"I do have a few suspicions though, for you. The hooded one."
Completely unsurprised by his behavior I tilted my head.
"What could your 'suspicions' be Archon Silas."
"We'd like to see your face, you can put the hood back up after but it's important," Silas answered and gave me a fierce look while emitting a strange pressure that didn't affect me in the slightest.
"That's one thing I cant do."
"Why is your identity something so important you can't reveal yourself?"
"Perhaps, but there are other reasons."
"What could your reasons be, elf." Silas released his bloodlust, everyone felt it but it was directed at me.
"Are you threatening me?" I tilted my head.
"Ahhh! Calm down, Silas!" Amelia spoke up and made gestured for him to calm down. "How could you act this way towards our guest? Personally sent by the High King?"
Amelia sighed and smiled at me.
"Could you tell us your reasons for not showing your face?"
enchanted by the Saint's presence I joyfully smiled and spoke:
"It's because I'm-"
I slapped myself and everyone awkwardly stared at me.
"Did you just try to manipulate me using magic?"
Amelia simply smiled at me without answering.
'That was dangerous! Without my Mana Heart, I have a low defense against any mental attacks...'
Of course, I couldn't cast any spells to protect myself, I could only see and sense mana itself so I can tell when I'm under the influence, but snapping out of the spell itself is a bit harder. Luckily my heritage as a dragon gives me some type of natural defense against them.
"How could you accuse our Saintess of such debauchery!" Ivar said with a look of hatred.
All the heroes looked slightly on edge and suspicious of me, I sighed looking at all of them. If they attacked me right now that would be er... Not great, the good thing is I've predicted such an annoying situation and produced some type of countermeasure.
"The reason I wear my hood is that I was struck with a curse that corrupts those that see my true face."
Rivena gasped, "But you don't wear your cloak around me! In fact, you didn't wear at all in the forest!"
Looking over at Rivena I grit my teeth and lost any composure I had. Looking at her with a completely unhinged expression, my eye twitched but I soon realized this reaction would not help me in convincing the heroes.
"Ahem-ahem. The curse doesn't affect elves like us who are blessed by spirits."
"I-is that so?" Rivena said after swallowing while looking at me.
'Gods! Why are these elves so pure and naive... Even the ones that fight in wars! Why!'
[You can salvage this situation Rei... Maybe? I believe in you.]
'Yeah real helpful.'
Taking a deep breath I got into the perfect position to maximize my calmness and thinking and continued.
"Yes I'm sure you guys were already aware of this, but I am the mysterious hooded SS-ranked adventurer, as well as an elf."
I gripped my hood and strategically revealed my right ear, to use as some type of evidence.
'It seems like they're slightly less suspicious. Right?' I smiled while looking around the table.
They all looked at me suspiciously even Dawn who had been quiet this entire time.
"Is that right? But you haven't really shown us any real proof... And your actions make us even more curious about your face, even if it is cursed I'm a highly-ranked mage so I could handle any pathetic curse." Silas narrowed his eyes and stared at me.
"You are Blade Demon... Truly?" Drameur the shorter hero, with snow-colored hair, asked me with a serious face.
"I guess so," I said looking at Drameur.
Blade Demon was a title others came up with, I never once called myself Blade Demon because the name was quite shameless to use... I was known for never using any type of spells or mana, and using only sword techniques and forms. But in reality, I used Draconic Force a lot, it's just that since I hardly had companions the enemies that witnessed it long perished.
Anytime I fought in public I did it without Draconic Force, with my physical stats alone I could pommel almost anyone I fought in friendly duels, not many adventurers were a threat to me.
"If you're truly the Blade Demon I look up to, I challenge you to a duel. If you can beat me I will acknowledge your identity, as well as my friends." Drameur looked over at the other heroes and they slowly nodded.
'Ahhhh' I screamed in my mind, could I even beat one of these heroes without using much of my strength? I've gotten much stronger since I was an adventurer, not only in my ability to use Draconic Force but also in my body itself.
'Perhaps this is my only chance.'
Taking a deep breath I looked at the Drameur and said:
"I accept your challenge."
"Then let's get to it."
"Now?"
"Yes." Drameur simply responded and walked over to the side of the table.
The dining room was massive, but a fight between the two of us. May not be contained. Everyone looked excited to get up, so without any hesitation I stood up and walked over to face Drameur.
"Do you need a weapon?" Drameur asked looking at me.
"This is all I need."
I got into a fighting stance and faced him.
Currently, I knew nothing about Drameur, but if what the speaker said was true he was an assassin. Meaning, he didn't have much chance against me in a direct fight. With my current strength, I could probably fight all 5 of the heroes, it would be hard but if I use my full strength from the beginning and take out the healer. There would be no problems with me destroying the rest of them.
'Unless, of course, Dawn or Silas got a new trump card. The other two didn't quite emit pressure or seem to be as powerful as Dawn and Silas, and I wouldn't even count Amelia... Though I'm not sure of her fighting abilities.'
These heroes were truly monsters, but I was the pinnacle of a monster. A lineage connected to a God and King of Dragons. Not only was it my lineage, but I was also a pure-blooded dragon, closely connected to the divine blood. Any human blood that I had was swallowed completely by the powerful blood of dragons. Perhaps I'll knock these heroes down a peg today.
I gazed at Drameur with a serious look, and a few moments later our match began.