CHAPTER 131: ILLIYA’S SOCIAL DEATH

The second choice was to completely delete the memory of discovering Juwon’s magic power from his mind and act as though nothing had occurred.

However, the result would still be the same for Illiya—an epic social death scenario.

Truly, it was a tough choice.

Before Illiya could make his decision, he heard the demon king’s steward, the one who had been pretending to be transparent for quite some time, Sebastian, say with a particularly meaningful tone.

"This Juwon... is surprisingly lively."

Illiya fell silent: "..."

OK, fine.

He’d noticed! He’d picked up on it! Juwon, you’re done for! Social death, here you come!

But unfortunately, Juwon on the display platform couldn’t hear the desperate cries in Illiya’s heart.

Ah, what a pity.

Hearing Sebastian’s words, the two demons, Ke’Oth and N’zall, exchanged a glance.

They didn’t possess the elves’ natural affinity, nor were they as powerful as a certain steward.

They had no choice but to use the most troublesome method to sense the magic power in the air.

The moment they reached out, they immediately caught the rippling magic power in the air.

As they focused on it, waves of joy and excitement instantly flowed along the magic power and into Ke’Oth and N’zall’s minds.

The feedback of these emotions was so swift that both of them couldn’t help but momentarily lose focus.

Their mental seas churned and became wavy, as if they’d had a few drinks.

Although they quickly suppressed this unexpected disturbance, they instinctively committed this feeling to memory.

Juwon truly was far too lively.

Ke’Oth tried to explain, "This ice flower... it’s normal for him to have a lively personality, right?"

N’zall quickly added to the patchwork explanation, "The ice flower has only had sentience for a short time; he’s still a child, after all. Children being a bit lively is perfectly normal, isn’t it?"

Illiya: "..."

Sebastian: "..."

Everyone else: "..."

Ke’Oth & N’zall: "You all agree, right?"

Illiya maintained a stony silence and Sebastian responded with a faint smile.

Seeing the reactions of the others, Ke’Oth and N’zall opened their mouths, but not a single word came out—they were feeling guilty and had nothing else to say.

What could they do? Even they didn’t really believe what they were saying.

The ice flower... born with an ice element.

While elemental affinity didn’t necessarily determine a person’s character, it definitely had an influence.

So now, if you told them that an ice-element being naturally had a lively personality, it would be like saying someone shy and introverted had suddenly become a social butterfly.

Equally unreliable.

Illiya had a few guesses in his mind as to why the Ice flower on stage was behaving this way.

It probably had something to do with the words that had been blocked last time.

Moreover, he suspected that the soul within the Ice flower wasn’t just an ordinary soul.

It was highly likely that it was similar to the existence of that Eoryun.

He certainly wasn’t a normal one either.

But all these were merely his speculations and couldn’t be taken as the truth.

Illiya quickly collected his thoughts and forcing his wild runaway imagination to return to normal.

A normal elf wouldn’t waste time thinking about these strange and fantastical things.

Ever since the Ice flower had made its appearance, the first-place winner of this festival was more or less settled.

There wasn’t any controversy and no demon wanted to argue about it.

It wasn’t that demons didn’t like to think, but that didn’t mean they were foolish.

Besides, the demons were a race that valued strength above all.

Of course, this "strength" didn’t only refer to brute force — like today’s "external objects," these also counted as a form of strength.

As long as one had an aspect in which they surpassed another, then in that aspect, the other would willingly acknowledge them as stronger.

This was a shared understanding among demons.

It was a principle that would never be changed.

Today was no different.

Since no demon could produce a rare magic plant that had awakened intelligence, the final first-place crown could only fall on N’zall and Ke’Oth’s heads.

Once the first place was confirmed, the progress of this plant appreciation gathering seemed to accelerate as if someone had pressed the fast-forward button.

The progress bar shot ahead and before long, a demon stepped onstage to announce the end of the first plant appreciation gathering, reading aloud the names of the top three winning demons.

After the awards were handed out, the gathering could be considered successfully concluded.

When Ke’Oth and N’zall received their awards from the demon servant, their entire demeanor changed.

If one had to describe it, they were like peacocks fanning out their bright and dazzling feathers — flamboyant and proud.

Ke’Oth tried to maintain a calm face. "Oh dear, to accidentally take first place like this... it’s honestly a bit embarrassing."

N’zall, carefully storing away his reward with a blank expression and said flatly, "Taking first place wasn’t our original intention. It just happened along the way. The most important part is the final surprise — I wonder if His Majesty liked it or not."

Ke’Oth chimed in immediately, "Yes, yes, I wonder if His Majesty was surprised."

Suddenly being mentioned like that, Anos felt an invisible sweat break out on his forehead.

He didn’t know why the topic had been dragged back to him again.

Just when no one was paying him any attention, giving him a rare chance to let his thoughts wander freely, he was once more snatched back by the scruff of his neck by fate.

He was truly heartbroken.

But because he had been spacing out, he actually hadn’t heard what N’zall and Ke’Oth had just said.

So now that they were asking him, he didn’t have an answer to give.

Anos could only give an awkward laugh. "Haha..."

The others present: "..."

It seemed like they had just learned something incredible.

Ke’Oth and N’zall quickly realized what was going on.

Considerately, they repeated what they had just said and their delivery was so smooth, it was as if they’d done this countless times before.