"Fuu… Well, I somehow made it in time."
I let out a breath of relief when the [Map] no longer showed any hostile reactions.
The amount of time…I must have been fighting for was about 30 minutes.
It would have taken longer if I was alone, but thanks to spirit magic, I was able to quickly eliminate the problem.
Unlike when I was in the Demon Forest, the spirit magic that could move autonomously was perfect for this kind of detailed and complicated battle situation where allies were mixed up.
I specialized in one-hit blows, for better or worse, so if I were to swing my Enne poorly in a situation like this, there's a good chance I'd kill all the beastmen.
I could probably form a one-man army with spirit magic with my current magic power.
"Thanks, spirits. You guys have really helped me out."
I thanked the spirits who had drifted over to me in the form I had named [Ifritia], and they spun around innocently and disappeared into the void.
"Enne, thanks for everything, too."
"Hmm… Enne is the Master's sword, so it's natural."
As I finished my work, I was already ruffling Enne's personified head, and next, one of the monsters came up to us, noisily.
It was the sub-dragon that the Beast King had called a Guardian Deity.
"Hey, you too, thanks for helping me out. I'm sorry I got you into this, but I'm not going to do you any harm, so don't worry and go back to where you lived."
After I said those words, the sub-dragon squealed at me and went back the way it came from.
"…I'm sure the Master has a talent for using monsters."
"Haha, well, I could mostly put normal monsters down to their knees, that's for sure…"
…Well, with my current strength, I probably could.
There was no doubt that the trigger for this anomaly was the [magical eruption] that emanated from the volcano, so to speak.
But maybe that was not all.
After that, I appeared… That was probably the decisive factor.
From the looks of it, the monsters probably sensed my presence and ran away from their dwelling place.
When Lefi appeared, all wild creatures disappeared from the surrounding areas.
They were scared away by her overwhelming superior presence.
That was why Lefi usually suppressed her own presence as much as possible. To minimize the impact.
In my case, I could just barely suppress it, but it would still leak out… but I guess that also meant that I could now emit a level of presence that would make normal creatures run away from me.
"Even though I am trying my best to suppress my presence…." (Yuki)
Enne tilted her head as she responded to my muttering, "…playing ninja?"
"Eh? Oh…yeah…that's right. Enne, do you know what my presence is like right now?"
"Hmm… Ever since the volcano, subtly impressive, maybe."
"Subtly impressive, huh? Then that's no good. I want to become a top ninja and learn the art of concealment."
I did have the skill of concealment, but… that's a little different. It sort of made my presence less noticeable, but not really invisible to others.
Well, that's precisely what the art of concealment was technically.
Lefi could always suppress her presence without using such a skill to begin with.
It was probably second nature to her as if she was just waving her arms, or moving her legs.
So perhaps I should be able to do it too, even without any skills.
"Mmmm… The art of concealment… If possible, Enne would like to learn it too. Maybe, it can make me the best at hide-and-seek. Currently Wraith Girls are best at it."
"Well, they can float in the air, so they can hide in all kinds of ways."
When the Wraith girls played hide-and-seek, they possessed a doll to get a physical body, but since they could simply float in the air, the hiding places were endless.
We played hide-and-seek in three-dimensional spaces, like the tops of trees or on objects in the garden.
"…But Illuna is also very good at hiding, and although she can't change like Shii, she can blend her magic into the landscape and make it less noticeable. Sometimes you can't see her, but she can see you. So I'm training to counteract that and practice being able to see through her magic."
"Heh…"
Illuna was actually very good at handling magic.
Perhaps it was because she had been taught spirit magic by the Spirit King Old Man in the past, but she was probably better than me or Lefi in the subtle manipulation of magic.
I should say that Lefi was a bit rough around the edges, as well.
She was very dexterous with her magic, and her accuracy was close to Layla's.
Or rather, were these children doing such a sophisticated thing in hide-and-seek?
They really were an army of high-spec young girls.
-No, let's leave aside the excellence of my girls.
Blending magic power into the scenery…
That probably meant… changing the quality of magic power.
Lefi could adapt to the wavelength of other people's magic and [Send] her own magic.
Now that I had become very familiar with magic, I understood that this was actually a very difficult technique, a feat that not everyone could do… So, if I could match my own magic power to the wavelength of the magic that exists in the environment, would it be possible to suppress my presence from others?
The word "presence" sounded very abstract, but in our world, it was something that actually occurred.
Normal living creatures had magic power inside their bodies, and they had the ability to sense that magic power.
In other words, they perceive the magical power of others as "presence".
If I could assimilate with the quality of this magic power, which exists in nature, I might be able to deceive the perception of others.
Hmm… Well, the skill required would be high, but I would give it a try.
I was sure the monsters wouldn't be comfortable with me as I stood now, after all.
"…Okay."
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
I perceived the surrounding magic.
The magic of nature that existed in the environment.
Moved the magic in my body and transformed it….
Transforming it….
...
….
…
Yeah, I didn't think I could do it so soon.
This would not suppress my presence, but rather, it would have the opposite effect, because I radiated my magical power in the background.
I was not dexterous to begin with, and if I could do it overnight, then others should be able to do it as well with ease.
Although the value of [dexterity] that appeared in my status was high, I recently became convinced that, except for HP and MP, which were special, the values of the other statuses were just compensation values.
Even if the [Dexterity] of me and Nell, the most dexterous person in our family, were exactly the same, I would definitely be more clumsy than Nell.
If we were to try to fold origami under those conditions, the result would be obvious.
…Well, thanks to the fact that this body was the body of a Demon Lord, my original physical strength was quite high, and I'm sure that I benefited greatly from it.
"Hmmm…my magical manipulation is something I'll have to work on in the future."
"…Well, when we get back, let's play ninja together, shall we?"
"Yes, I'll join you and learn what it means to be a ninja. Nin-nin."
"…Nin-nin."
-Oh, I shouldn't be talking about this.
I started to walk away with Enne to report that the matter was over, but then, a group of beastmen came rushing toward us.
It was the Beast King Waldroy and his men.
"Beast King! You came. Are any of your people injured? Anyone dead?"
"No, we're fine. There were a few injured, but thankfully the potions were put to good use. We have already checked the surrounding areas, but so far there has been no serious damage. Thank you for dropping by this time."
I shook my head at the Beast King, who expressed his gratitude.
"Uh, no. Actually, you know, this time it's mostly my fault. I'm rather sorry for causing you trouble."
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
I apologized, and the Beast King showed me a dubious look.
"I was running some errands in the village of Dwarf, and because of that, the volcano blew out some magic, and I was affected by it, and the demons got scared by it and ran away. So rather than coming over here to help you guys, it's more like I'm simply cleaning up my own mess."
"…That's a pretty good explanation, but what about the earthquake a few hours ago?"
"It's probably a result of that. That's why, if there's any damage, feel free to tell me. That way, I'll have peace of mind."
No, I'm serious, you know.
"…I see. So that's why you have so much more magical power in your body than before. Hmm…I'd like to say don't worry about it, but…if that's the case, may we use the corpses of the demons we defeated this time?"
I nodded my head in agreement to the Beast King's words as I thought about it.
"Oh, of course you can. Feel free to use all of them as materials or meat."
"Well, I'll take that as compensation for the damage. Also, I have one more favor to ask of you."
"Oh, I've caused you trouble, I'll at least listen to you."
The Beast King then grinned and gave a manly smile.
"You'll have to visit me in a more proper way later, not like this. Seeing that your wives are not here, you must have flown in on an emergency basis, right? We have a lot of cleaning up to do, and we don't want to greet you in such a hectic manner."
I was momentarily taken aback by his words. I finally replied with a laugh, "Okay, I'll do that. I've left my wives in Dwarven Village, that's for sure. Well…in three or four days, I'll come visit you again. I'm going back for today."
"Okay, I'll be waiting for you. I'll be looking forward to it."
And so I left the beastman village for the time being.
…But then again, a High Lord, huh?
I really needed to check what I could and couldn't do.