Chapter 47

“Ah… okay?”

Sheffy finally got up from the ground.

Though for some reason, her movements looked a bit awkward, her steps were out of sync, and from time to time she sneaked glances in her direction?

The blockheaded Xiarette naturally couldn’t understand much.

But seeing Sheffy like this… it must mean she was now going to take her to prepare for the fight, right?

Xiarette didn’t know why Sheffy kept heading further into the hall.

But she trusted Sheffy, simply gazing fondly at the back of her head and following behind.

Sheffy looked around, occasionally standing on tiptoe to sniff the air.

In the end, she finally stopped in front of a row of cabinets that had already been smashed beyond recognition.

Xiarette looked closely…

—It was actually the birthday cake section!

Looking at the cakes already smashed into a mess of cake paste, a trace of heartache appeared on Sheffy’s small face.

After some effort, she still managed to find an intact, unharmed piece of cake.

She broke the cake in half and threw one half into her mouth.

The other half she handed to Xiarette.

“Happy birthday…” The first part was said softly, but the latter part quickly returned to her usual hurried tone. “Hurry, hurry! Once we finish this, we’ll go handle the trouble! There’s no time for cake right now…! Slurp… hmm? I have to say, your cake is pretty good! Fragrant and sweet!”

“It was clearly you, Sheffy who… well, never mind, thank you for the birthday wish… I’ll try it too.”

She took a small bite of what was her first bite of birthday cake today.

Though she didn’t eat as fast or as eagerly as Sheffy.

But the fragrance and sweetness Sheffy mentioned… Xiarette could already fully taste it.

Let the noise outside the window rage.

Let the hall remain in disarray.

The two of them, as if standing in a field of flowers, exchanged a smile — a smile as brilliant as a thousand blossoms.

—Just as they had promised before, to find a quiet corner and celebrate a birthday belonging to just the two of them.

Swallowing the last of the half piece of cake, Xiarette held Sheffy’s hand, looked at the now completely empty hall, and at the large doors swinging in the wind, then finally stepped forward.

“Sheffy… come on, let’s go take a look.”

“Okay! Let’s see who it is, and avenge the fallen cakes!”

49. Surprise Attack

Almost everyone was looking up at the sky.

Whether it was the strong ones who had already sensed something,

or the nobles who were still completely clueless.

Because the sky right now… was truly abnormal.

When they had arrived earlier for the evening banquet and looked to the horizon, the skies had been clear, and even late at night, the sparse stars and bright moon could still be seen.

Yet now, after coming out of the hall… the sky had turned murky.

Black clouds churned, with lightning occasionally flashing between the layers of clouds, and an ominous sense of oppression loomed over the sky between the castle and the church.

In fact, some nobles were already thinking of fleeing… but alas, the king was still stationed on the other side. If they were to flee at this moment, their noble titles and estates would likely be stripped clean by the next day.

Moreover… there was nowhere to run.

Here stood the Hero, members of the Wright Family, the Kingdom’s Knight Order — was there anywhere in the kingdom safer than this place?

By now, Xiarette and Miss Shaya had also arrived side by side outside the hall.

Looking up at the sky filled with swirling dark clouds, Xiarette worriedly shielded Sheffy behind her.

“They haven’t arrived yet?”

“They’ve already arrived.” Sheffy observed the dark clouds, now more certain of who the enemy was. “I’m familiar with this magic. Our guess was right, it really is the Six-Winged Demons. But don’t worry about that now. Xiarette, I need to confirm something — do you still remember what I told you before?”

“Uh… you told me… um… saying it out loud is so embarrassing.”

“Hey…! Again? Why do you always lose your nerve at critical moments! Don’t stammer, hurry up!”

Xiarette hesitated, her face turning slightly red.

Steeling herself, she chose to speak plainly!

“You said… you said you would choose to stay in the kingdom… and that you would rely on your big sister’s help… isn’t that right?”

“Where is your mind going?! I meant even earlier! Something I said before that!”

For once, Sheffy spoke with uncharacteristic seriousness. She slapped the Hero’s head, then angrily kicked Xiarette’s heel with her small foot, repeating her earlier words.

“I said! If facing the Six-Winged Demons head-on, don’t even think about fighting! And don’t even think of winning on your own! Did you forget all of that? Is your brain only filled with thoughts of eating?!”

“Ugh… clearly the one whose brain is only filled with food is you, Sheffy… but I remember what you said…”

Xiarette held her aching head where she had been smacked, but her words showed no intention of actually following Sheffy’s warning.

“But Sheffy, you can’t really fight right now, can you? That makes things different. If it really becomes necessary, I think I might ‘temporarily’ forget your advice, you know?”

“Huh?! But if you don’t listen to Shaya’s words, you’ll suffer for it!”

“Hmph hmph… well, I don’t care. I already said earlier — if anyone tries to take Sheffy away, big sister will help drive them off. I can’t just go back on my word just because it’s the Six-Winged Demons. I always stand by what I say.”

Sheffy was utterly dumbfounded!

For her poor, slow-brained Xiarette to actually learn how to argue back today — what was going on?!

But this was really the worst possible moment to suddenly become clever!

Sheffy opened her mouth several times to try to dissuade her, but in the end, she could only sigh heavily in frustration and turn her head away with a huff.

—That counted as tacit agreement.

“You really are… where did you learn this stubborn, reckless habit of refusing good advice? It’s so infuriating!”

“I learned this stubborn habit from you, Sheffy… it really is infuriating, I completely agree.”

“…”

“And besides… even if there really is danger, Sheffy will still help me at the critical moment, won’t you?”

“Obviously.”

Sometimes, a simple “obviously” could convey more than a thousand words.

Xiarette gave a soft chuckle, gently placing her palm on top of Miss Shaya’s pouting face and patting her head.

Then she lifted her gaze once more to the sky.

Lightning still churned, and the dark night grew heavier, almost tangible.

This stalemate would not last forever.

Standing guard beside the king, the Head of the Wright Family, Eclight, first made sure that his fellow clansmen were properly protecting the royal family members as instructed, then stepped forward with his broad sword.

The blade of the broad sword pointed straight toward the heavens.

At the same time, Eclight’s deep, powerful voice, amplified by some form of magic, resounded across the land.

“Would you deign to show yourself? Since your earlier attack was merely a greeting, now that you are here, why continue to hide and refuse to appear?”

“Heh heh heh…”

“…”

A startling scene unfolded.

An aged-sounding chuckle echoed down from within the clouds.

As a bolt of lightning struck the ground nearby, charring the trees black, a human figure gradually emerged in the sky.

—It was a thin, frail old man with snow-white hair, deeply wrinkled, dressed in a dark red robe, looking so weak that a single blow might send him to his grave.

It wasn’t just the nobles whose first reaction was this.

Even Eclight — who clearly understood the terrifying power of the earlier magical attack — couldn’t help but be momentarily stunned upon seeing this figure.

Was this… the one who caused the disturbance?

But what happened in the next second showed everyone the meaning of “appearances can be deceiving.”

Dark currents surged to either side of the old man’s body, and in the blink of an eye, six pitch-black wings burst forth, radiating a dark light!

Though the black wings extended only about two meters to either side of his body, the abyssal magic they exuded made it feel as though they could blot out the sky and moon.

“Six… Six-Winged Demons! It’s the Six-Winged Demons!!”

Among the nobles, someone finally shouted out what kind of existence hovered above them.

What they feared was not merely the six wings — but what the Six Wings represented.

—Destruction, slaughter, terror, despair.

Many nobles already tried to flee, no longer caring about titles or wealth, only desperate to save their lives! But the Kingdom’s Knight Order had them tightly surrounded. Escape was impossible.

“I am Jeffriel.” The aged Demon hovered in midair, nodding slightly, yet without truly looking at anyone below. “Heh heh… It’s been so long since a human has greeted this old one… such a rare word to hear again…”

His self-satisfied entrance made the king involuntarily furrow his brow.

A Six-Winged Demon coming to the Royal Capital… this violated the restrictions on the higher races…

But the king was still the king.

He instructed those beside him to prepare a voice amplification crystal. Before open conflict erupted, he first needed to confirm whether it might be possible to negotiate an outcome both sides could accept — to persuade this one to leave voluntarily.

During this process, the one named Jeffriel seemed unconcerned — he was also glancing around, as if searching for something.

Shielded behind Xiarette, Sheffy was still muttering to herself.

“What… so it’s Uncle Jeffriel?”

“Uncle… he looks more like someone’s grandfather, doesn’t he? Sheffy, you know him?”

“Not bad. He was the one who first taught me how to fish. But his fishing skills are terrible — could never catch anything, yet he always bragged and said things like, ‘Even if there are no fish on the line, there are fish in my heart.’ If you can’t catch them, then you can’t catch them! As if having fish in your heart would let you actually eat them. Such nonsense. I called him out on it, and he got all flustered — at his age! He even flipped the whole lake in a fit! Now tell me, isn’t that absurd?”

Alright.

Now Xiarette could more or less understand why Sheffy’s fishing skills were just as bad — and why she was so prone to getting impatient.

Clearly, they had the same teacher!

However, Sheffy’s attention wasn’t only on the clearly searching Jeffriel.

Behind Jeffriel, for a fleeting moment, there had been a surge of magic…

And this had been completely captured by Sheffy’s Visual Magic.

“He didn’t come alone.”

“Could it be… the Demon King’s Army is here too?”

“No. Besides him, there’s one more. I don’t know why, but they’re still hiding and haven’t revealed themselves.”

【Magic Surge】— a special magic used by demons of Four Wings and above. It allowed them to conceal their presence, rendering themselves completely hidden for a period of time.

Just now, Sheffy’s Visual Magic had clearly detected the traces of a Magic Surge being activated not far behind Jeffriel.

No one else would have been able to see it — the Magic Surge was executed very well, hidden perfectly, as if prepared in advance.

In other words, besides Uncle Jeffriel…

—There was another demon present.

And at the same time, that one was observing from the shadows.

‘Tsk… who could that be, and what is their goal?’

But then again — why did Uncle Jeffriel suddenly come to the Royal Capital?! Was he here to fish too?!

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