Is this how deep regret feels like?

Alexia couldn’t help herself to have the negative feeling. She finally realized that her short thought on accepting Ennario’s offer was probably the reason she had fallen into the darkest depths she couldn’t climb out.

Regret.

How painful that word felt to her ears right now, er—no, she probably should say nostrils, not ears.

Right, her nostril was being tortured, so hard. She had led herself to this shithole and she didn’t have a way out. The thing she wanted to say the most was ‘Holy shit it stinks!!’, high note.

But she held back.

Alexia didn’t want the demon lord to know her predicament, not after what she did back there in the cavern. She had accepted the dragon boy confidently into her ranks, regardless of what he said. She clearly didn’t want him to know that she was facing a problem right now. Even in regret, she still had her pride.

Still, when Alexia took a glance towards Zefrael who walked by her side, she immediately felt her pride crumbled into pieces. The demon lord was casting a disdainful gaze towards her, a gaze that said, ‘your fault, I’ve told you’.

Alexia felt so embarrassed. She hurriedly turned her face away from the demon lord, escaping his silent accusation.

It was really hard to admit, but the demon lord was actually right. She wasn’t supposed to accept Ennario to be one of her party member. Not because he was a dragon that wasn’t included in the Zefrael’s nonsensical list, but because he stank as hell.

Of course, the one that stank wasn’t the dragon boy himself (if he was, it would be horrible beyond words), but his stash that was hanging by his hips.

Alexia didn’t need to ask anymore. She could guess the source of the stinky smell which was wafting from inside the dangling pouch. It was the very same ingredient of the stinky potion which had changed his form.

Zefrael had said once, that it was rice vinegar.

Tortured by rice vinegar, a mere cooking ingredient, it sounded so ridiculous she would laugh herself if she wasn’t the one experiencing it. But she did, and it was so excruciating.

Now that she thought of it, everything had gone wrong since then.

As they left the cavern, they had stopped by the town (Alexia finally heard the town name, it's Kieln). Night had fallen, and resuming the journey immediately wasn’t exactly proper. Without the light from the sun, it was too dark to see. So, they had spent the night at the town’s inn.

As gratitude for slaying the dragon, and saving the missing item merchant (sometimes truths were better not told), the group got the inn’s two nicest rooms at the second floor for free. One for Alexia, and the others were provided for her supposed party members. From her room window, she had seen the golden bell—hanging inside Kieln's bell tower—illuminated by the starry sky. It was beautiful, and she quite liked her room.

Then a night passed.

It passed with—no, she probably mean without. Yeah, definitely without!

Nevertheless, WITHOUT notable problem, the night had passed very quickly as she slept. The bed was really comfortable. That was one of things she rarely experienced in her first journey to the demon lord's castle. At the time, to keep her contact to strangers minimal, Alexia oftentimes slept outside with grass as her bed and sky as her roof. Of course, it had its own comfort, seeing the world as it is, vast and beautiful, but to be honest, nothing beat snuggling inside a warm and comfy bed.

At the morning, Ennario had stopped by his house—his ex-house, the rubble—to pick up his things. Alexia had wondered to herself, would there be any things left in the unrecognizable rubble? She already knew from the time she searched for the potion, nothing valuable left there, not even a coin left.

Even so, he did found the thing he was looking for.

It was a shabby pouch with a dull cream color of dirty rags. It looked like a trash, even Alexia thought that it was a trash when she first saw it, but Ennario said that it was the pouch where all of his valuables were stashed, whatever that is.

In a way, it could keep all of his valuables intact from thieves. No thief would want to steal something trash-like, right?

After the dragon boy bounded the pouch at his hips, they were set to go. Ennario said he had some delivery to a village in the eastern part of the continent, and if she was fine with the detour, he would want to go there in the meantime.

Alexia had no objection.

Actually, she didn’t have an exact destination in mind. They were only looking for party members, anywhere would be fine. As for Zefrael, he had said that he would follow the hero wherever she went, exactly as he promised.

Then, they simply left the town.

When Kieln finally disappeared from sight, right at the middle of soil pathway which divided the grassland, Alexia finally realized that she’d done an uncorrectable fault. She became aware of it, because the wind suddenly blew towards her way.

While it had supposed to bring a breeze of fresh air, she smelled something which caused her to grimace in disgust instead. It was a familiar stinky smell of shit, wafting from her front, exactly from Ennario’s location.

For the purpose of leading the way, the dragon boy walked in front, while she and the demon lord followed behind. The one who knew the way should lead, that was the best choice to avoid being lost. Alexia just didn't expect that the best choice would bring her an awful stench that could cause her to puke her entire breakfast.

She had a simple oatmeal breakfast, by the way. Puking them out would be too disgusting, so please no.

Trying to avoid the stinky smell, Alexia slowed down her steps, putting a distance between her and Ennario, but it was still no good. The shitty smell was still wafting in the air around her, torturing her nostril with the awful stench.

The demon lord was following her example, and staying as far as possible from his friend's figure, but his disgust drawn face told the girl that he also face the same problem as she was.

In the end, Alexia couldn’t hold out anymore.

“Holy shit this really stinks!” she exclaimed in whisper. Staying quiet in this kind of situation wasn’t really like her, but at the same time she didn’t dare to voice out louder than she needed to.

She only wanted to vent up her frustration for her own sake, and not exactly hoping someone to hear her or something like that, but naturally, Zefrael who were by her side heard it quite clearly.

“I would hold off on using the dirty words,” he whispered back with a mumble, not too loud for Ennario to catch it, “but yes, I agree, this is too overly stinky. How many vinegar he’s carrying inside that pouch? What do you think, Alex?”

Alexia rolled her eyes in his question. “Do I look like I care about that, huh?” She only cared about a way for her to be freed from this stinky smell, rather than the alternative, and she was sure whispering behind the dragon boy’s back with the demon lord wouldn’t give her what she wanted. “I should just tell him,” she finally said as she took the first step towards Ennario.

Yet, Zefrael suddenly grabbed on her wrist and stopped her march. She wheeled back to throw an angry glare to the demon lord, only to saw him returned her glare with an alarmed face.

“Telling him what?” the demon lord whispered with a serious tone, “The stench?”

Alexia immediately pulled her hands away from the demon lord’s grasp. Brushing off the last remnant of his touch from her hands, she glared at him. “He needs to trash it, period.”

“That’s a bad idea, Alex. You will only provoke his wrath, so don’t.” Zefrael shrugged with a resigned look, “He would never throw that away. It’s the love of his life after all.”

Naturally, Alexia didn’t want to provoke Ennario’s wrath. It would be rude for her to ask him to throw it away if the stinky rice vinegar was really—as Zefrael said—the love of his life. To begin with, she had a hard time to believe there is someone who was in love with that stinky cooking ingredient, so she had a doubt at the demon lord’s words.

In any case, she also wouldn’t like it if someone told her to throw the things that she loves. Zefrael did have a point, but she has no other idea to round up the stench problem.

“Hmph!” Alexia scoffed, “So what? You have a better idea?”

Walking casually by the soil pathway, Zefrael cast a glance towards Ennario. With fingers rubbing on his tusked pendant, thinking, he muttered quietly, “Well…maybe…?”

His unruffled gesture only irked Alexia more. She for once, had already sickened from being tortured by this stinky smell of shit, and clearly, she didn’t want to spend more time dawdling in this hell hole.

“Just out with it already!!” she shouted loudly, forgetting completely that they were still in the middle of talking behind Ennario’s back.

Her shout produced an instant effect.

Ennario immediately jumped in surprise and wheeled back. His confused silver eyes were alternating between the two who tailed him in a distance. “What are you guys doing back there??” he asked, “And why are you two walk so far away??”

Alexia promptly halted her step. She was in the middle of trying to find some excuse when the demon lord stopped by her side.

“Look what you have done,” blamed Zefrael. He sneered at her, and clicked his tongue between his teeth, “Now the discussion time is over.”

The girl instantly felt annoyed. To begin with, he was the one who had started the damn discussion by whispering around. She would rather like to blurt it head on to the dragon boy, but he had dragged her to it. Now he blamed her because his sneaky time behind someone’s back is over? What a joke!

She clenched her teeth, and resentfully glared the annoying demon lord, “You got what you deserve! Just do that idea of yours immediately!”

“Patience is a virtue, Alex.”

Alexia really wanted to slap the demon lord. He had been dragging the stench problem longer than it should be, and it really irritated her. Still, she felt like she would lose if she did that.

“Whatever!!" the girl clenched her itchy fingers, "Just spit it out!!”

Zefrael promptly let out a long and weary sigh from his nose. As he shrugged in resignation, he darted his eyes towards Ennario who approached with an unhurried run.

The awful stench in the air gradually became thicker, but the demon lord seemed unfazed. He swiftly approached his dragon friend, and said, “You stink, Enna,” in a straight and impolite manner.

Alexia felt her mouth dropped down. After what he did, sneakily talking behind his back about his friend's stench problem, she never thought that he would say it straight to his face like that. Don’t tell me this is his better idea!?

Seriously, she couldn’t guess even a grain of what the demon lord wanted to do, so the girl chose to stay quiet for now.

Still, the horrible smell reminded her that her mouth was still opened from a second ago. She hurriedly moved them to a close in panic, but it was a little too late. Her tongue felt like it could almost taste the disgusting stench. Holding off her gagging urge, Alexia forcefully veered her attention back to the guys.

“S-s-stink??” Ennario seemed surprised with Zefrael’s direct indictment. He looked lost as he blinked his eyelids a few times.

“Yes, totally,” the demon lord continued, hand crossed in front of his chest like a sign of his discontent, “How do you store your vinegar stash, Enna?”

“Huh? Eh? My vinegar?” Ennario was confused, but urged by Zefrael’s words, he involuntarily darted his eyes towards the dangling pouch on his hips. As he opened the rope bindings, he pulled out a corked glass tube, filled to the brim with a clear yellow liquid. The stinky smell instantly doubled in intensity. “It’s here, why?”

Zefrael grimaced at the intensifying stench and glanced sharply to the opened pouch. “How many are there? Care to elaborate?”

“Uh…why?”

“No reason,” the demon lord nonchalantly answered. “Just guessing, they were too many to create this horrible and disgusting stench.”

Ennario shrugged quietly. “Well, yeah, I have all of my stash here. Is the smell really, really that bad?”

As she watched the conversation in front of her eyes, Alexia gradually became more impatient. She hadn’t felt a slight hunch that this stench problem is going to be over soon, not if the demon lord and the dragon boy keeps dragging on it. She really had to add herself into the pointless conversation to point it towards the right direction.

With the decision in hand, Alexia kicked her boot to the soil below, and walked towards the guys. She thoroughly ignored the intensifying stench, and let out a disdainful scoff. “Hah! Is your nose broken or something? It smells awful.”

As both of the guys turned to her, the girl took her place between the two of them, and glared the demon lord with a discontented gaze. “You’re going nowhere, shitlord. Just hurry it up and do your stupid plan! Or you’re saying you don’t have that damn plan?”

“Easy, Alex,” Zefrael casually brushed off her anger with a smile. If he was tortured by the stinky smell, he wasn’t showing it. “I’m on it.”

As if he had rounded up his excuse for the girl, the demon lord shifted his attention back to Ennario. “You heard what she said, Enna. It IS unbearably stinky, so to save all of us, I have something for you.”

Zefrael slowly opened his palm. With a flash of bluish small magic circle, he summoned a palm-sized cylindrical—thing with clear crystal color.

Honestly, Alexia didn’t know what it was, but he seemed so sure with himself, so she didn't say anything. Not yet.

The demon lord gestured Ennario to open both of his hand, and he handed the cylindrical thing to him.

“Here, use this to store all of your precious vinegar.”

Ennario confusedly accepted the cylinder and wrinkled his eyebrows. “I probably should ask what is this first," he muttered, "but what you just did piques my interest more.” Looking perplexed, he pointed his finger at the demon lord’s hand which had just summoned the cylindrical thing. “What exactly have you done there, Zef? This just popped out of nowhere.”

Alexia promptly widened her eyes, startled with Ennario’s question. Now that she remembered, the demon lord occasionally did those flashing magic circle ever since she met him.

He had miraculously summoned many things out of nowhere, and it appeared so suddenly within his hands—whether if it was a book, a paper, a bag of potato chips, or the mysterious cylindrical thing.

If she thought of it all over again, his vanishing act seemed like it had the same basis. Plus, her necklace had been gone in the same manner. The demon lord did say something about keeping her necklace in a safer place, but of course, she couldn't make sure of it. Hopefully, he wasn't lying for that. She couldn't afford to lose that important necklace after all.

Zefrael acted like the miraculous things he had done was a pretty normal gesture. Alexia never asked for the details—clearly she wouldn't stoop so low to ask her enemy—but now when Ennario pointed it loud and clear, she finally realized her shortsighted action of not asking. It could possibly give her a hint of the ability of her enemy, and maybe, a way to turn over that ability to defeat him.

It was time for her to pursue the answer.

“Oh, this?”

The demon lord's question promptly cleaved her running mind. Alexia immediately returned her focus at the present situation.

Zefrael was opening his palm, and a bluish magic circle flashed before his hand. This time, a bag of potato chips appeared within his hand. “You know, it’s just a simple teleportation magic,” he said while popping open the bag of chips in his hand. As he fished out the chips from the bag and threw them into his mouth, he straightly continued, “Packing things for this journey is waaay to bothersome, and bringing them all the time is definitely worse. So, I just use this magic to fetch anything I want from the castle. Simple, huh?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As she felt a pang of envy, Alexia unconsciously gaped. She promptly closed her mouth when she realized her blunder, but it was already too late.

Two pair of eyes was staring right at her, as if they were waiting for the explanation behind her gaping mouth. The girl mentally cursed, but she knew that she had failed miserably to hide from the reality.

Of course, she also would want to do what Zefrael did. It very practical and easy with a lightweight journey, but it was just way beyond her capability.

Having no other choice, Alexia sighed quietly. “You're just being unfair, shitlord."

“Yeah! Exactly!” Ennario agreed immediately. He vigorously nodded, before he moved his discontented gaze to the demon lord who was having a leisure eating time with his beloved potato chips. “Not fair, Zef, not fair! At least teach me how to do it!”

As he swallowed a mouthful of chips, Zefrael glanced towards Ennario with disinterest. “It’s impossible, Enna. Magic isn’t for a dragon like you. But really, I don’t think you need it too, your pouch already warped the time and space itself.”

“You realized??” the dragon boy instantly raised his voice vibrantly. He seemed surprised, but at the same time, he was glistening with joy. “It’s the rarest item I’ve got a few years back. An old hermit—”

“Okay, so you got that, the end,” Zefrael promptly interrupted in a hurry, as if he wasn't interested at the dragon boy’s word even for a bit, “Leave it at that.”

Ennario’s shoulder dropped down in disappointment. He obviously wanted to tell a story about his pouch and the old hermit, but this time, Alexia definitely sided with the demon lord. She didn’t want to hear the unimportant story, not at all. She only wanted to point at the more dire and confusing thing.

“Uh…what about the stinky pouch?” she immediately asked. The faster she knew about the damn pouch, the faster she would be freed from the awful stench.

“Heyyy, you shouldn’t call it like that, Alexia!” Ennario instantly protested. With a pouting face, he incoherently waved the mysterious cylindrical thing he got from the demon lord. “It got a cool name ‘Daedalus’s Sacred Pouch’. Use that!”

“What a lame name,” Zefrael commented while munching his chips, “Who is Daedalus anyway? Never heard of him.”

Alexia instantly rolled her eyes. Both of the guys hadn't given her the straight answer, and she was really sick of waiting in this stinky hell hole.

“Ugh! So what of the pouch!?” she exclaimed peevishly.

Zefrael promptly stopped his munching, and peered into the upset girl in silence. He seemed thinking for a second, before he darted his purple eyes towards the dragon boy. “Enna, take out all of your vinegar stash. It will tell Alex all about your pouch without difficult explanation. And in the same time, I can show you how that thing in your hand functions.”

Ennario had confused for a second, but after a moment of contemplation, he shrugged his shoulder and finally yielded in. As he crouched on the side of the soil pathway, he put the cylindrical thing beside him, before he started to spill the insides of his pouch.

With a crisp sound of glass bumping on each others, hundreds of glass tube filled with yellow liquid—vinegar—rained down like a waterfall from the opening of Daedalus’s Sacred Pouch, along with a thick horrendous stench of shit. Alexia didn't have any plan to open her mouth because of the disgusting smell, but her mouth instantly dropped down as she saw the unbelievable amount of vinegar tubes.

After the vinegar rain was over, the piled up vinegar tubes were lying in the edge of the soil pathway in a shape of a small mountain. Weirdly, the small pouch in Ennario's hand looked as normal as ever, not deflated or inflated, even after an abnormal amount of things had gushed out from the inside.

Alexia finally understood the demon lord’s incomprehensible words. The thrash-looking pouch with a lame name was indeed warping the law of time and space.

Following Ennario's position, the demon lord moved to a crouch. The bottom part of his long coat brushed the tall grass, before they fell by the soil pathway, taking on dirty dust of the pathway. He gestured Alexia with his chips-oily finger to do the same, but she immediately refused.

“No!” The girl shook her head. There was no way, no way she would go near the piled up source of stench in her own volition. Whatever the shitlord wanted to do with the dragon boy, he could do it alone. Period.

As he realized her stubborn refusal, Zefrael gave up pretty easily. He shifted his attention towards Ennario who sat by his side, “Okay then, put all of this vinegar inside the thing I gave you, Enna.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Your precious treasure will be safer inside that thing,” explained the demon lord while eating his chips, “This thing is kinda like your pouch, sorry if I don’t name it like you do,” he paused for a moment to swallow his chips, before he continued, “It locks the void inside the cylinder, in a way that your Daedalus can’t do.”

“I’m not the one who named it!” The dragon boy disapprovingly puckered his mouth, “Don’t mock me.”

The demon lord grinned in his accusation. As if he didn’t care what Ennario thought, his expression swiftly changed back into serious one. “I created that some time ago,” he resumed his explanation, “At first, I thought to use this to store and preserve my chips. It would last longer than if I let them lie outside, but it turns out, I don’t need it.” Looking somewhat unsatisfied, he muttered with a pout, “My chips ran out faster than I’ve expected that I don’t have time to store it properly.”

“Of course it ran out!” Alexia let out her peevish voice in between the guys’ conversation. It just crossed her that the stupid demon lord didn’t realize the obvious blatant reason. “You eat them all the time!”

Zefrael raised his eyes to glance the bag of chips in his hand, and let out a short sad sigh, “Yes, I guess…it’s just as you said, Alex.”

“Hmph!” Alexia snorted and turned her face away. Even if the shitlord was agreeing with her, it was still difficult to accept it with open arms.

The vast grassland accepted her annoyed gaze, and returned into her mind with a lull which calmed her temper. Morning sun shone on the well-ordered line of green grass. They glistened with the reflection from the morning dews. The grassy landscape was swaying in the rhythm of the wind, extending far and wide below a clear blue sky. The scenery should’ve been perfect, if it wasn’t for Ennario’s mountain of stinky vinegar.

“Got it, Enna?”

Zefrael’s serious voice pulled Alexia’s attention back to the crouching guys. She sneakily cast a glance towards both of them, while opening her ears wide, trying to understand the demon lord’s plan for Ennario's vinegar.

“Inside this cylinder, your vinegar will be preserved. Additionally, it will push back the expiration date. Isn’t it wonderful?” said the demon lord.

“Yeah, if so, that’s too wonderful, Zef,” Ennario mumbled astonishingly, “You sure you want to give it to me?”

“Yes, Enna, it’s—” the demon lord paused. As if he’s aware of Alexia’s gaze, he cast an upward glance towards her, “to save all of us,” and, he added with grin, “especially this one.”

“Wha—”

Feeling embarrassed that the shitlord found out she was looking, Alexia immediately turned her face away again. Her face felt a little hot, but she hurriedly pretended that she didn’t feel it.

“Oh, I see. I remember you guys say that the smell is bad.” Ennario’s eyes dropped down in guilt when he glanced towards the girl, “Sorry about that, Alexia.”

As she hears the dragon boy’s apologizing words, she finally realized that he didn’t even aware that his vinegar stash smells so awful. No wonder he looked so carefree back there as if there is no problem in sight. It was because he loves the vinegar so much.

After she saw the unbelievable amount of vinegar tubes with her own two eyes, she could finally believe what Zefrael had said back there. The rice vinegar was really the love of the dragon boy’s life.

“So, Zef, how to use this?” asked Ennario. His fingers were tapping on the upper part of the cylinder’s side, and created a slow rhythmic sound.

“Hm?” Zefrael raised his head from the bag of potato chips in his hand and incredulously stared the dragon boy, looking somewhat confused. It took him a second, before he realized, “Oh, right! I haven’t told you.” He pulled his fingers out from the chips bag, and pointed to the cylindrical thing. “You saw that glow on the upper side?”

Ennario promptly wrinkled his eyebrows and observing the cylinder carefully. Standing behind him, Alexia did the same. She peeked behind the dragon boy’s shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of the supposed glow of the cylindrical thing.

At the upper flat area of the cylinder, there was something like a small vortex which glowed dimly with a diffused green color. It was thumping with a constant beat, and revolving in an endless circle.

“It was the socket,” Zefrael continued, “Just use your finger to shove something in or taking something out.”

Drilling his eyes at the swirling vortex of the cylinder’s socket, Ennario muttered with doubt, “Is that—safe? Looks kinda dangerous.”

It did. Alexia mentally agreed with the dragon boy. A sane person wouldn’t carelessly put his hand, in this case, finger, into something as bizarre and mysterious as this.

“Pshh! Dangerous? No way, it was one of my creation,” the demon lord scoffed disdainfully and confidently shoved his chips-oily fingers into the vortex. He pulled them a second later, and waving his crumby fingers—which looked pretty much the same as before—towards the dragon boy. “Here! Perfectly safe!”

“Huh…" Ennario promptly muttered, "it does look safe.”

“Of course!” Zefrael said with a proud smile. He resumed eating the potato chips, crunching them loudly inside his mouth and glanced towards the dragon boy. “Now, chop-chop, Enna! We can’t spend all day here, can we?”

Urged by the demon lord, Ennario started to put his vinegar stash into the cylinder, one tube at a time. It actually took some time for him to do that. During the time, Zefrael kept eating his chips (obviously), while Alexia attentively watched Ennario’s diligent proceedings.

Like the Daedalus something pouch, the cylinder—regardless the compact size—could accommodate every each one of Ennario’s vinegar stash. It was such a miracle beyond anything she could ever imagine. How in the world the shitlord could create something like that?

When Ennario finally put the last tube inside the cylinder, the horrible stench vanished from the air. The wind blew off another breeze of fresh air, and finally pulled Alexia out from the stinky hell hole. Really, she was beyond grateful with the blessing.

“Done!”

Raising his body to stand up with a small jump, Ennario held up the cylinder—which was filled with hazy yellowish color—towards the sky. The sun etched a cylindrical shadow to his smiling face as he glanced back to the still crouching demon lord, “I got a name for this, Zef—”

“Please don’t use my name,” the demon lord promptly interrupted while raising his body to stand. As he halted his chips gluttony, he threw a disapproving look towards the dragon boy, “That’s lame, Enna, so no.”

“Eehh? But—”

Zefrael instantly shrugged, “It doesn’t really need a name, just call it a cylinder.”

“That’s no fun!” Ennario replied with a pout while rubbing the glassy surface of the cylinder in his hand, “Then, scratch your name, make it Cylindric Conservation. In short, CC!”

The demon lord casually waved his hand to his dragon friend, and darted his eyes back to his potato chips. It was obviously an ambiguity between agreement and disagreement, more like he didn't even care or interested in whatever name Ennario would put to the cylindrical thing.

“Ugh, fine!” Ennario blurted dejectedly. As if he was looking for a confidant, he turned his face to Alexia, and showed her a vigorous smile, “What do you think, Alexia? CC!! Pretty nice, huh?”

Startled at the question which was thrown at her, Alexia was speechless for a second. Only a moment later, she found her voice back. “Well…yeah…CC…okay…” she mumbled hesitatingly.

Whatever the name, it was a cylinder that had saved her from the stinky hell hole. Zefrael’s plan had passed brilliantly with flying colors, and she was so grateful for it. Finally, the journey could continue with more comfort than torture. So really, she didn’t care about Ennario’s lame naming sense. Even if he named it ‘SS the Shit Sealer’, she would still be fine with it.

“Your reaction is too bland…” Ennario muttered quietly while puckering his mouth, but in the end, he breathed a long sigh in resignation, “Well, CC it is then.”

As if he’d just got the approval he needs—even if it wasn't exactly clear—Ennario shoved the cylinder, CC, into his pouch, before he tied it to his hips. “Okay, we’re done! Let’s go!”

At the same time, Zefrael—who finally finished his potato chips—moved to throw the empty bag to the ground.

“Hey, don’t litter here!!” Ennario suddenly shouted, stopping the demon lord’s movement in air. He pointed the empty bag in Zefrael hand with an upset look, “It’s bad for the environment, so throw it at the proper place.”

Acting all amazed, the demon lord swept his surrounding exaggeratingly. “Where?? Maybe I’m blind but I don’t see any trash can here.”

Ennario fidgeted, “Well, the existence of a trash can in the grassland is really out of place, but—“

Showing a victory drawn face, Zefrael happily grinned, “Hee…so I can’t help to throw it here then? Well, there is no trash can.”

Alexia felt itchy all of the sudden. She was really itchy to retaliate to his obvious falsehood, and to interrupt his blame on the dragon boy, so she did. “Do you ever throw a trash into the proper place, huh, shitlord?" she scoffed in disdain, "Your castle’s audience chamber sure looks like a big dump waste rather than a proper room.”

“Oh, right,” the demon lord instantly gasped like he realized something, but soon his surprise turned into another playful grin, “now that you said that, Alex. It did look like a giant trash can. In that case—"

Stopping his sentence mid-way, he raised his hand which was holding the potato chips bag and promptly flashed a bluish magic circle there. In a blink of an eye, the empty bag was gone, leaving the demon lord’s hand empty as ever.

“There, I threw them into my personal trash can,” Zefrael grinned, “No more objections now, Enna? Alex?”

Ennario looked surprised, but he didn’t say anything to object. As for Alexia, she didn’t want to feel more tired by objecting to the demon lord’s exaggerating action just now.

As a matter of fact, she wasn’t as environment-friendly as the dragon boy. In many occasion, she had let the demon lord litter all the time, saying nothing to compel him for the otherwise. She was one hundred percent sure that raising her protest wouldn’t do her any good. She rather closed off every chance of him teasing her.

Still, to tell the truth, she wasn't able to move her eyes away from the missing chips bag in the demon lord’s hands, for an entirely different reason.

It was a surging wave of jealousy and envy.

She had felt it sometime before when Zefrael demonstrated his summoning. It was obvious that it was a magic process. It was the power of magic which would never arrived within her reach. It really frustrated her that he’d done it so easily—without even casting any incantation, to beat—even if the first rule in magic was the incantation itself.

“Please don’t look at me like that, Alex?” Zefrael suddenly said while gazing at her with a downhearted look.

His abrupt words instantly slapped Alexia awake. She gasped in horror when the meaning inside his words struck into her brain with a hard impact. Being too frustrated in her inability, it seemed she had unconsciously showed her envious expression to her enemy.

The girl hurriedly plastered a tough face, hoping that the demon lord would leave the topic immediately before he sniffed out the thing she had been hiding for some time, but he straightly devastated her hope.

With piercing purple eyes straightly directed into her eyes, he murmured, “Don’t tell me you want to learn my teleportation magic too? You know that you can’t.”

“Eh!?” Alexia instantly felt her blood drained out when she heard that. “Wh-what did you say?”

Vigilance started running through her entire body. She never thought that the worst case scenario where the demon lord guessed her inability in magic could happen, moreover at the time when she was not ready.

Right, Alexia confessed. She couldn’t do any magic. She knew its existence, she theoretically learnt it at the Hero School, she even memorized some of the incantation, but less conjuring magic, she couldn’t even perceive magical energy.

That was what she had been hiding, her sole flaw as the Chosen Hero.

Magic was a power of nature, given by the blessing of the World Tree, to the people of the land. Some individuals accepted those blessing into their selves fully, and born with a gift to channel the power of nature. It was the power to call on magic using the magical incantation.

The qualification of the Hero School had stated that the Hero should be able to use magic, to become best of the best, both in magic and physical combat. But, Alexia hadn't been born with magic power.

She had seriously thought that she could’ve been dropped out from the school because of that fatal flaw, but it turned out that her physical combat part was top notch. She had won against other students with magic power in every chance, whether if it was the sparring battle, a mock-up quest, everything.

Her desire for revenge was the one that pushed her to the limit. To counter magicians—who usually had slow attacks because of the long incantation—she drilled herself with every speedy techniques. She even dared to say that she trained harder than anyone else, just for a chance to kill the demon lord with her own hands.

Fortunately, her effort had paid off. As the best graduate from the Hero School, she was finally chosen as the Hero by the King and dispatched to the evil castle.

Yet…

Now, the demon lord—the sworn enemy she had to kill—pointed straight to her face, and said that she couldn’t do magic. Alexia was really in the verge of losing herself. How the hell he found out!?

“Um…Alex, why are you making many different faces on your own?” Zefrael incredulously peered into her face, looking like a lost child in a crowd, “I just wanted to tell you that you can’t learn my magic because it was my privilege as the demon lord.”

“Eh?” Alexia couldn't even believe what she'd just heard.

“It was one of the exclusive magic that only I can do—” he stopped, and confusedly stared at the girl, “What now? Your mouth is gaping like an idiot.”

Alexia hurriedly closed her mouth, finally aware that she had unconsciously opened them. Her tongue felt really dry. How long did she open them???

Still, looking at the demon lord's words, she seemed to have misunderstood something. Zefrael wasn’t aware on her inability of magic. He only thought that she couldn’t do it because it was his own personalized magic. Alexia instantly felt relieved, the worst case of scenario wasn’t going to happen.

Acting like nothing’s happened, the girl let out a nonchalant snort, “Hmph! Not your bussiness, shitlord.”

“Really?”

Zefrael’s violet purple eyes was staring into her eyes with the color of hesitation. He looked like he was having a hard time to believe her word, but Alexia didn’t have a plan to give in.

“Really,” she curtly answered. As she glared his doubtful purple eyes with the strongest gaze she can manage, she added provokingly, “Not satisfied?”

The demon lord finally shrugged in resignation, “Well, have it your way.”

As soon as she seized her victory, Alexia immediately sneered, “Certainly.”

“Um, sorry to interrupt.”

Ennario suddenly said from the side. Alexia almost jumped in surprise. Zefrael, on the other side, wasn't exactly so. Looking pretty much unfazed, he was wiping the last oil splotch in his finger using the tail of his dark long coat in a casual gesture. As usual, he was so filthy.

“Uh…we better get moving,” the dragon boy hesitatingly continued his word, “long way ahead.”

“You’re right,” Alexia instantly replied, taking all her chance to leave the topic of magic, “Let’s go!”

Without further wait, she kicked her boots and resumed the journey which had been paused because of the stench problem. Now, without the torture of the stinky smell, her stride felt lighter than before. Behind her, two sets of steps straightly followed, as they were ready to welcome the next chapter of the journey.

Or it was supposed to be like that.

But suddenly, Ennario let out a confused mutter, “Zef, you said back there, about the exclusive magic only privileged for you.”

Without stopping her stroll, Alexia opened her ears wide to hear the conversation behind her back. Undoubtedly, she wasn’t part of it, but who knows she could get some information from it?

Zefrael only sounded a confusion, leaving Ennario to continue his sentence, “By that, you can’t mean the power of the World Tree?” he carefully asked, "But isn't that—the power owned by—?"

“Of course it was her power. It was the power which was coming from our mother World Tree, what else?” the demon lord replied as the matter of fact, but suddenly, he sharply inhaled his breath in wary, “But wait, do you actually meant someone else??”

“No, sorry," Ennario shook his head, "Maybe I'm over thinking things."

“Huh? You can think, Enna??" Zefrael asked in disbelief.

"Should I really smack you, Zef??"

Zefrael giggled quietly, but then, his tone of voice turned somewhat serious, "Well, isn't it common sense that the demon lord is able to use the power of the World Tree? And I am that demon lord, so nothing's wrong, right??"

“Don't get cocky!!!”

Tired of being a spectator, Alexia shouted. She stopped her stroll and wheeled back towards the two guys, “I’ll kill this shitlord and stop him from using the power of the World Tree," she declared, "It was my mission after all.”

That's right, it was her sole mission.

Honestly, Alexia never thought a lot about her mission. She only wanted to fulfill her wish of revenge with any means possible. Still, to tell the truth, as the Chosen Hero, her mission wasn’t limited to kill the demon lord, but also to release the World Tree from within his evil grasp.

Ennario promptly gazed the girl with a difficult look on his face. He wasn't saying anything after the girl's declaration of war.

In opposite of the dragon boy, Zefrael giggled quietly. He smiled to the girl, looking happy and joyful as usual, “Sure, I’ll be waiting until you get your party member, Alex.”

Alexia instantly rolled her eyes and wheeled back to the front. She had no plan to drag the topic any longer, so she immediately resumed her walk on the pathway. Not long after, her step was followed by demon lord and the dragon boy.

She heard no more conversation from her behind, and the melody of the calm grassland involuntarily lulled her into a long contemplation.

To be honest, she was a little lost back there with Zefrael and Ennario’s conversation. The information didn't seem comprehensible enough or even useful to her, and besides that, the demon lord’s reaction was really off.

Faced with a sure end which was lying in front of him, Zefrael looked like he was having fun with it. He even helped her—the Hero who would kill him one day—by raising her chance on winning. He was being too tenacious for getting some party members to help her, and even used such a cunning way of robbing her necklace. It was so twisted beyond her imagination.

Seriously, was he that proud and confident that she wouldn’t be able to defeat him? Or he was just an insane and weird one? Or maybe, there was actually another hidden reason behind his action?

Alexia didn’t know much about her enemy. For example, many of his abilities were proved unknown to her. He was gnawing at the power of the World Tree, and seizing it as his own, but what was actually that power?

Summoning things from his castle to his hand in an instant? Using a vanishing magic without any incantation? Creating the CC which could bend the law of time and space? What else she still hadn’t found out?

Everything about him was completely shrouded in mystery.

Now that she thought again, that was probably the reason she couldn’t even win from him.

Then, in that case, her next agenda would be to know the demon lord more, so she could cook another plan that would end his life once and for all.

Didn’t he say that he will be waiting?