Chapter 175

Belith let out a snort of laughter—she finally found a chance to mock that nasty woman.

“Heh… As a Hero, your vision is truly narrow. The horses in your Kingdom indeed eat only grass and not fish. But in the Demon Domain, our horses all carry the bloodline of the Rocky Demon Horse. In our land, it’s hard to find a horse that doesn’t eat fish.”

“For real…?”

Xiarette had been to the battlefield before, so of course she had seen the horses from the Demon Domain.

Although they looked bigger and sturdier than the Kingdom’s horses, she never expected that their diets would be different too!

But… this was just an exception, right?

Speaking of horses, surely most of them were supposed to eat grass…

“Oh, oh, the horses in our Fire Dragon Clan also eat fish.”

“?”

Timani crossed one leg over the other, her hands folded neatly atop her fiery-red long dress that shimmered like living flames. Hearing the topic, she seemed interested in adding a few words.

“So when I first saw that all the horses in the Kingdom of Aurus ate grass, I was quite surprised. In our Fire Dragon Clan, the horses aren’t used as mounts. They’re actually magical beasts covered in flames, with horns. We call them ‘Flame Domain Horses.’ They’re pretty strong in battle… and also quite tasty.”

“Tasty? Bring me some next time.”

Upon hearing that, the witch Sheffy instantly revealed her “starving glutton” side.

As for Xiarette…

Her entire understanding of what a “horse” was began to collapse.

No way…

Could it be that only the horses in the Kingdom of Aurus were vegetarians?

Livra, who had been holding her tongue all this time, was about to burst from restraint. Finally, a topic she could jump into—she had to say something.

“Yes, yes! Lady Xiarette, you really need to improve your general knowledge. Speaking of horses—”

“Your Highness, please don’t. I know you want to take this opportunity to scold me too, but unfortunately, we’re both residents of the Kingdom of Aurus. The three horses pulling this carriage were personally gifted to us by your father, the King. So please, don’t say it—I’m not listening anyway.”

“Wuu… I just wanted to say that our Kingdom’s horses not only eat grass, they also eat water plants!”

“I know.”

This was what one called the desire to speak—but poor Livra’s desire to express herself never seemed to get any respect.

Lady Xiarette was right; she’d better keep quiet after all.

Ah, though in truth, it wasn’t that Xiarette lacked knowledge. It was just that, as the Hero—the Kingdom’s “final trump card”—she had always been kept safe within the sheltered circle of the Kingdom of Aurus, rarely seeing the world beyond.

So perhaps, this trip with Sheffy could be seen as a rare and meaningful kind of sightseeing journey.

Still, she had to say it—

The horses of the Kingdom of Aurus did eat grass. She wasn’t wrong about that!

“Hero, you know, they say that a thousand years ago, the horses of the Kingdom of Aurus used to eat fish too. Then, for some reason, they switched to grass.”

“Tch.”

Xiarette almost never clicked her tongue.

But whenever she did—

That meant she currently really wanted to jump out of the carriage and sprint around outside to calm down.

The sudden trivia from the Little Holy Sword left Xiarette feeling that she might need to learn from Princess Livra.

Say less, do more.

Speaking too much only made her appear ignorant and foolish.

If she didn’t speak at all, at worst, others might mistake her for a mute.

So, Your Highness, this is why you’ve become so quiet now—what a lesson to learn.

After that despair-inducing topic, Xiarette had, for who knows how many times, gently lifted a corner of the carriage curtain to observe the situation outside.

——By now, the scenery outside was completely different from before.

The wide roads bustled with Demon Clan merchants calling out as they peddled their goods.

Different from the architectural style of the Kingdom of Aurus, rows of refined houses featuring irregular columns and multi-angled conical roofs adorned with small flower gardens lined the roads on both sides, basking in the radiant sunlight.

Pedestrians on the road held fruit they had just bought, spread their black wings, and leapt into the air, directly flying between stalls.

The biggest difference from the Kingdom of Aurus was that here, commoners in coarse linen could joke and laugh freely with nobles in formal tailcoats.

Wealth and poverty coexisted without conflict—none of the rigid class segregation that plagued the Kingdom of Aurus.

However...

She had just seen two of them chatting, and suddenly they started brawling—what was that about?!

Lowering the curtain, Xiarette smoothed out her illusion-conjured silver hair and looked toward Sheffy sitting ahead, who had already cleaned up the orange paste.

“Sheffy, are we already in [Campeno]?”

“Yep! Didn’t Belith just get off to speak with the guards? Did you see that professional salute? This is the capital town where the Demon King’s Castle is located. The personnel here are top-tier in the Demon Domain. So? Isn’t it just as good as Aurus?”

“It is pretty nice... but just now I saw someone outside fighting...”

“Ahem ahem ahem!! Belith! How much farther to the Demon King’s Castle?! We’re not there yet?!”

Great. Xiarette wanted to share her thoughts, but Sheffy, you’re not giving her a chance at all!

Of course Sheffy wouldn’t let her speak—did she not understand what it meant to play to one's strengths while avoiding weaknesses?

If you were about to point out a flaw, how could she let you get a word in?

As long as you kept your mouth shut, then everything would be a strength.

Hearing this, Belith also carefully used her finger to gently lift a corner of the curtain and peeked outside briefly before quickly lowering it again, looking extremely cautious.

It couldn’t be helped. If commoners saw members of the royal family strolling through the streets, it would cause a riot.

In the Demon Clan, the status of the royal family was almost akin to religious reverence—far surpassing the influence of Aurus royalty among their own people.

“Mm... Royal Sister, we’re almost there. Just up ahead is the dandelion field in the inner city.”

“Oh oh, if we’re there, then it won’t be long—just a few more minutes. Ah... Xiarette, don’t be so nervous. My father and mother are really easy to talk to, so just relax~”

When Sheffy mentioned that the Demon King’s Castle was getting close, she precisely noticed the subtle tremor in Xiarette’s pupils.

Was it because they were approaching the Demon King’s Castle… or because it was almost time for her to meet her future father-in-law and mother-in-law face to face…?!

But… Xiarette knew she had to summon her courage.

At times like this, she mustn’t retreat.

Her gaze turned steely, befitting a Hero. She took several deep breaths to relax and regain her composure.

At this point, it seemed the carriage had left the residential blocks.

There was no one outside anymore.

Sheffy turned around and knelt on the seat, half of her head poking out of the carriage as she pointed outside, her expression brimming with excitement.

Because… she saw her home!

“Xiarette! And Livra, Fire Lizard! And you, perverted creep, come look too! That’s my and Belith’s home—the Demon King’s Castle! You can already see it! It’s right over there!”

Huh?

They could already see the Demon King’s Castle…?

Xiarette raised her hand to draw back the light curtain of the carriage, but the fabric felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Hoo... don’t panic, don’t panic.

To be honest, what Xiarette had seen of the Demon Domain along the way was quite different from what she’d imagined.

In her mind, the Demon Domain was supposed to be a foul, chaotic place, filled with lightning and thunder, shrouded in darkness, and saturated with demonic energy.

But one couldn’t truly know without seeing for themselves.

Just like what she’d witnessed earlier—the environment here was beautiful. The streets were clean and orderly, and the residents all wore bright, happy smiles.

If that was the case, maybe the Demon King’s Castle would be a pleasant place too—filled with birdsong and flowers.

Yes… that must be it. Indeed, real understanding only came from actual experience. Most of what she imagined had been far from reality.

With that, her heart found some certainty, some confidence, and a trace of anticipation.

Xiarette finally drew back the curtain and looked into the distance.

But…

“……”

It was midday.

But no sunlight touched her face.

Where had the vibrant, blooming street scenes gone…?

“Sheffy… that… what is that.”

“That’s the Demon King’s Castle! The place we’re headed!”

“I get that… but…”

A vast mass of pitch-black castles stretched across the horizon.

A bolt of lightning ripped through the sky and struck the tallest spire, sending up a flock of crows that surged into the heavens like a cloud of black mist.

It certainly had presence.

But from afar, the only words that came to mind were—

Foul and chaotic, thunder and lightning, dark and gloomy!

Ha… they’d only taken a few more steps forward, hadn’t they…?

Was the Demon Domain’s weather really this fickle?!

The most absurd thing wasn’t the exaggerated appearance of the Demon King’s Castle.

It was that when Xiarette turned back to look at the street they had just passed—it was still basking in bright sunlight.

But if she turned her head again, over on the Demon King’s Castle side, it was still thunder and lightning!

Looking up, one could see a distinct boundary line in the sky, as if the world had been split into two parts—day and night.

Sheffy suddenly leaned close to Xiarette’s ear and whispered a phrase only the two of them could understand.

“Xiarette, look, this is the terminator line~”

“That joke is ice cold… I’m freezing to death.”

It wasn’t just Xiarette—Little Holy Sword, who had jumped out from the Holy Sword, as well as Timani and Livra, were all sticking their heads out of the carriage window in amazement at this uncanny, otherworldly spectacle.

Seeing that they were already not far from the Demon King’s Castle, Sheffy let out a playful “heave-ho” as she plopped back into her seat, her little feet swinging with barely contained excitement as she began introducing the castle.

“Pretty freakish, huh? Heh, that’s how it should be. The Demon King’s Castle didn’t always look like this—it started after my old man became the Demon King. He kept saying the environment around the castle was too peaceful, didn’t have that sense of oppression. So the year I was born, he cast a Perpetual Magic into the sky, saying he wanted his daughter to grow up in an environment proper for the Demon Clan... As if that wouldn’t turn me dark inside... Ugh, forget it. Talking about this just ticks me off again.”

“Perpetual Magic?” Timani couldn’t help but cry out when she heard the term, finally putting down her crossed leg.

After all, the difficulty of Perpetual Magic was on par with Domain Magic. The two were considered the ultimate pinnacles of the magical arts.

As the name implied, Perpetual Magic involved compressing an immense amount of magical energy into a single release, causing a certain type of magic to activate repeatedly over time. While the magic would eventually run out—‘perpetual’ wasn’t truly perpetual—it could still last for several years.

A spell that could persist for years on a single cast… meant the caster’s magical reserves were unimaginably vast.

In Timani’s understanding, only the elders of the Fire Dragon Clan were capable of such a feat.

“That’s why I keep saying, higher races aren’t necessarily the strongest in the world.” Sheffy waved her hand and closed one eye casually. “Fire Lizard, I don’t care if you don’t like hearing it, but you’ve got to face the facts—Perpetual Magic isn’t even that big of a deal to my father and mother.”

“To think that... Ugh, fine, I get it.”

“Oh ho? So honest this time?”

That really was rare.

In the past, if anyone dared speak ill of the higher races in front of Timani, she would instantly go on the offensive, ranting about “honor” and “power,” and might even start a fight on the spot.