Is this… a dream?

Fishball blinked multiple times. Not only did the Senior Demon spare him, she wanted to communicate with the leader of the Witches?

But the piece of paper and his broken gun were proof that it was not a hallucination.

He lowered himself and picked up the piece of paper—The Senior Demon had not bound it or sealed it with candlewax, revealing the content written on it. Despite knowing that he should not be reading it, he stole a few glances.

Bottomless Land?

Deity of Gods?

I have no idea what any of this is about—

This allowed Fishball to heave a sigh of relief.

Just based on the words written, no one would have ever guessed that it came from a demon.

“That’s right, the others!” He suddenly recalled his missing comrades! It wasn’t time to ponder over the letter!

“Fauch! Cartier! Blanket—!”

Fishball yelled for his companions while staggering towards the forest. Strangely enough, the adrenaline had not set in when encountering the Senior Demon. But after her disappearance, he suddenly discovered that his legs had gone soft and he had to rely on trees to support himself.

After a moment, a weak reply sounded out from deep in the forest. “Captain—Captain, is that you?”

After a short search, he discovered a group of four men. Two others could not be found, as though they had disappeared without a trace.

The slip of paper soon found its way to a high-ranking officer.

Three days later, Fishball was summoned to the City of Glow, by King Roland.

And his mode of transport was actually the Seagull.

He had a faint inkling that the matter was not as simple as a mere letter.

…

“How’s it?” After the questioning, Roland asked Nightingale.

“He was speaking the truth. Your soldier didn’t lie at all.” Nightingale shrugged.

“Is that so…” In all honesty, Roland felt that it was impossible for a front line soldier to fabricate such a story, but due to the peculiarity of the situation, there was no mistake in being cautious. After all, the matter was simply bizarre and inconceivable to him as well. “I will head into the Dream World then, I’ll have to trouble you to take care of me.”

“I’ll still do it even if you didn’t ask.” Nightingale turned and loosened the curtains, dimming the entire study. “You want to meet the demon again?”

It was impossible to hide secrets from Nightingale. After all, she was the one protecting him by his side. She was the only other person who knew where the letter came from. Despite not initiating any queries, she naturally gained sufficient exposure after listening to the conversation between Roland and the ancient witch. Of course, Roland did not have the intention of painstakingly hiding it from her. His reason for not revealing it to others was mainly to avoid unnecessary worries, especially for Anna.

“The letter previously had failed, Hackzord has returned,” he muttered. “And another powerful Senior Demon has appeared on the battlefield. You saw it for yourself, as long as the two combines their abilities, they are capable of causing great trouble for the First Army. Before that happens, I have to learn of their intent. For this, both the Taquila Witches and Edith have provided tremendous help.”

It could be said that they were in ‘troubled times.’ Neverwinter was under siege, danger was imminent everywhere, and there was the top priority matter of dealing with the two Senior Demons.

“Although that’s the case, the other party is still a demon. You can’t just trust them that easily,” Nightingale warned. “Bring a few God’s Punishment Witch with you, especially Ling.”

“You might not believe me, but I can fight exceptionally well in the Dream World.” Roland looked at the girl almost blended into the darkness and laid down on the sofa. “But you don’t have to worry, I’ll bring a few people with me.”

“Be back soon.”

“Alright, see you in a bit.”

He closed his eyes and allowed sleep to engulf him—

Half an hour later, Roland caught sight of Valkries walking towards Rose Café. He then recounted everything that had happened to Fishball to her.

“… I see.” the other party sipped on her coffee and pondered for a long time. “They… are looking for me.”

Roland was unsure, but sensed that Valkries was acting more and more like a human.

“They? You mean you know who that person is?”

Valkries raised her head and looked at him. “Serakkas—also known as Silent Disaster. But she rarely removes her heavy and thick armor, so it isn’t strange for you to see her as just another higher ascendant.”

Roland was dumbstruck. He knew of the name Silent Disaster from Sylvie, who had noticed this large and powerful Senior Lord back when the Deity of Gods was moving into the Impassable Mountain Range. Through many other reports gathered, he had verified the other party’s identity—one of the few ‘Charita’ of the demon race, she was an extremely gifted warrior and the previous guardian of the legacy shard. Through the shard, he had once crossed paths with her. That’s right, the armored enemy seated on the blackstone throne was Silent Disaster.

But he never expected for the other party to be hiding such an appearance under the armor.

“Are you sure they’re looking for you?” Roland suppressed the shock in his heart. “The letter was indicated to be handed to the Three Chiefs Witches…”

The content within the letter was simple, almost identical to the one Nightmare Lord had handed over; the only difference was instead of demon characters, it was written in human language. What Roland found it hard to understand was what significance it held for them for the leader of the Witches to have the letter?

“It’s normal for you not to understand, because you are not us.” Valkries placed her fork down and sipped on her cup of coffee. “Actually, you just have to view it from a different angle and you can guess their intent. Firstly, the reason for my disappearance is for the investigation of the reason for humanity’s upgrading. If I am still alive, it means that I have to rely on a human’s Realm of Mind domain to continue existing; otherwise, it is impossible for me to maintain my consciousness for this long under the attack of the Realm of Mind, much less being able to send the letter out.”

“And the most probable person to interact with the Realm of Mind is a Witch?” Roland asked.

“Of course, there’s you,” Valkries frankly said. “But considering that I am able to send the letter, it is even more probable that I am relying on a Witch—Hackzord must have guessed that I was able to convince a few Witches and reached a consensus for the first letter to appear. Provided that you are the one I convinced, it would be easier for you to surrender on behalf of the humans. There won’t be a need for this trouble.”

“What you’re actually saying is… control, right?”

“Don’t mind the fine details.” Valkries did not refute his words. “In a way, a relationship formed by persuasion is firmer than one of control, because the latter is a unilateral action, while the former is a concept encompassing both parties.”

Roland suddenly recalled Agatha’s words where a few humans actually became followers of the demons in the first Battle of Divine Will… He shook his head and turned his thoughts back to the main topic. “But even so, they are unable to verify which Witch you’re relying on.”

“That’s right. But it definitely wasn’t easy to deliver a piece of paper from Graycastle to the Kingdom of Wolfheart, especially in war time. The person who succeeded in doing so cannot be a nobody. She must have figured that the person wields a considerable influence in the human kingdom, or is extremely astute on information. So her choice in handing the letter over to the witches is the most reasonable choice. This will allow importance to be attached to the letter, and the sender of the letter will come to know about it.”

At this point, Valkries paused for a moment. “Aside from that, don’t you think that this letter is too simple? There wasn’t even an envelope and anyone could have gone through the content. Doing so will prevent the Three Chiefs from concealing the matter, and the Witch that I have convinced will be able to learn of the letter sooner or later—and once she finds out, I will know about it too.”

Roland suddenly realized that the words of the letter was not the main point, but the actions on how the letter was delivered by Sky Lord and Silent Disaster was. Compared to the content, the matter of a Senior Demon giving a letter to a human was unprecedented and could never be concealed. He believed that in a few days, Fishball’s encounter would have spread among all the troops.

“I admit that doing this requires a bit of luck. But it has to be said, they chose the best course of action. Also, they are really fortunate…” Valkries pointed to Roland, then to herself. “You see, don’t I know about it already?”

“Based on your explanation, I do understand where they are coming from.” Roland leaned forward and took a deep breath—He knew the next question was the one of importance. “Tell me, why do you think they are looking for you?”