Chapter 266: Chapter 266 – Receiving Guests (Long Chapter)
Chapter 266: Chapter 266 – Receiving Guests (Long Chapter)
The Prophet has only just arrived at Norland. Yet, she already experienced the ‘enthusiasm and hospitality’ of the people here.
But, that enthusiasm was simply too extreme!
It took the Prophet all her strength to squeeze out of the circle of twenty-some girls. She only just took a breather when she discovered that more people were coming over here. If they do not leave right away, she will once again be swallowed by the tide of people.
Exactly what was going on?
Carrying her backpack, the Prophet took a couple steps back. Her four apprentices also managed to squeeze out of the tide of humans. They ran over to her side.
In disbelief, the Prophet watched as more and more humans started gathering over here from all directions. In the end, she turned to look at her Sin Demon attendant.
She has realized... all these humans were coming for her Sin Demon attendant!
Furthermore, not only were these humans not afraid of her attendant being a Sin Demon, she could even hear screechs of admiration from those human women.
“Es..Esteemed Teacher, what are these humans planning on doing?”
The Prophet’s apprentices were already terrified by the human tides. Never had they ever seen this many humans in their entire life.
Furthermore, due to the image of the humans painted in the Demon Realm, these young demons, more or less, all had a phobia of humans.
It was the same as how most humans were afraid of powerful demons.
“I don’t know either. Perhaps... they’re followers of a certain religion that idolizes Sin Demons?”
The Prophet knew that there were churches in the human world that idolizes demons. Those churches were deemed as ‘evil cults’ by the Nation of the Holy Church. If the demon worshippers were found in the Nation of the Holy Church, they will all be put up to the guillotine.
But, it seemed that in Norland, there was an enormous amount of demon worshippers, far more than the Prophet anticipated. At this moment, there were over thirty people surrounding the Sin Demon Zeru. Because of that, Zeru was feeling extremely uneasy.
“Could it be that the Third Prince had established a religion idolizing demons in Norland?”
The Prophet pondered exactly what the Third Prince did in Norland to make all these women infatuated with a Sin Demon... especially his palms and ears.
“Zeru, maintain a smile on your face. Do not attack these humans and slowly walk out,” The Prophet ordered the extremely nervous Sin Demon with his hairs standing up on end.
Even though the Prophet felt admiration toward the Third Prince’s religion, the number of overly pious followers was simply frightening, she does not believe that the followers of that religion has reached the entirety of Norland.
Someone will most definitely recognize her subordinate as a dangerous Sin Demon and not a kitten that one could touch and pat!
Standing at the stage station’s plaza, Zeru was simply too eye-catching!
The Prophet began to comfort the Sin Demon to ease his nervousness. At the same time, she tried to have him escape from the humans surrounding him.
“Esteemed Teacher.... I... I seemed to have seen the crest from the Nation of the Holy Church.”
Suddenly, one of the Prophet’s apprentices whispered to her.
Before entering Norland, the Prophet had explained a lot of things to these young demons. They included ‘do not interact with humans’ and ‘all the humans wearing missionary outfits and armors with crests of the Nation of the Holy Church are extremely dangerous.’
She told them that they must escape should they encounter those people and definitely not linger around for long.
Following the direction indicated by her apprentice, she looked to the other side of the stage station. Sure enough, there were three knights with the crests of the Nation of the Holy Church walking over here with quick steps.
“Trouble,” The situation that the Prophet wishes for the least finally occurred. The Sin Demon’s giant size had caught the attention of the Holy Church’s templars.
“Everyone, please keep away from that demon! He’s extremely dangerous!”
The three templars hurried over to the stage station. When they saw the Sin Demon surrounded by the crowd, they immediately drew the swords on their waist.
One of the templars was not wearing a helmet. As such, the Prophet was able to see the distorted and fear-filled expression on his face.
Furthermore, even though they were aiming their swords at Zeru, their hands were trembling nonstop.
Those were the proper behaviors that humans should have when encountering a Sin Demon... The Prophet had no idea why she would think of that at a time like this.
On the battlefield, Sin Demons were extremely dangerous monsters. Ordinary templars would definitely not be able to defeat such a dangerous demon. Only veteran templars had the ability to fight a Sin Demon.
But, these three templars seemed to only be new recruits.
“Ladies, please quickly get away from that demon!”
One of the templars once again shouted at the crowd surrounding Zeru. But, not a single person bothered to pay attention to him.
“Careful, I sense more than a single demon here.”
The leader of the templars started to look all over the place. Soon, his eyes fixed onto one of the Prophet’s... apprentices.
“Es...Esteemed Teacher.”
The apprentice started to panic the moment the templar’s eyes landed on him. In fear, he backed away repeatedly.
The moment the templars drew their swords, the Sin Demon Zeru had detected his master was in danger. Slightly rough, he pushed aside the humans surrounding him and shielded the Prophet behind him.
“Keep your distance from them, humans!”
Zeru roared to threaten the three templars. His roar caused two of the templars to tremble their sword-holding hands nonstop. It would appear that the Sin Demons’ deterrence was still effective toward humans.
To the Prophet’s confusion, it seemed like those women became... even more excited after seeing Zeru shielding them?
The believers of the religion established by the Third Prince were this pious?
“Go and inform Lord Archbishop!” At this moment, the leader of the templars made a sensible decision. Then, he shouted at the surrounding crowd, “Everyone, please quickly leave this place! That is a vicious Sin Demon! He is capable of enormous destruction!”
A portion of the bystanders complied with the templar leader’s warning and left the troublesome area. But, a small portion of them still remained.
“Please leave this place immediately!” The templar leader shouted at the people unwilling to leave.
He cannot understand why a dangerous Sin Demon would appear in a human city. But, if this Sin Demon was to wreak havoc, he will definitely bring about an enormous amount of casualties.
“Zeru, we’re leaving.”
The Prophet was not planning to wait for the templars to bring back reinforcements. She was ready to flee.
But, right at this moment, a group of people in white suddenly appeared around the Klia Stage Station. They began to disperse the crowd. One of them also got up to that templar to ask what’s going on.
They’re not... the templar’s reinforcements?
Before the Prophet could even understand what happened, a horse carriage slowly pulled over from outside the stage station and stopped before her.
The door of the carriage slowly opened. The Demon Realm’s Third Prince Joshua was sitting in the horse carriage.
“Prophet, you’ve arrived ten minutes earlier than our agreed time. But, it’s still not too late, get on the carriage.”
“Get on the carriage? What about those templars?” The Prophet discovered that those templars were all stopped by the people in white. Those people seemed to be Norland’s law enforcers.
“They will not be able to cause any troubles for us. Instead, that Sin Demon behind you might cause traffic congestion in the streets leading to Squirrel Street. Right now, there’s a lot of people rushing over from all over Norland to see the Sin Demon behind you,” said Joshua.
After hearing that, the Prophet stopped hesitating any longer and got in the horse carriage. Her four apprentices also managed to get in the carriage. But, it took the Sin Demon Zeru quite some effort to squeeze himself into the horse carriage. He was forced to crook his head and lower his head in the tiny space inside the horse carriage.
The horse carriage began to slowly travel toward Joshua’s destination.
Taking advantage of her small build, the Prophet squeezed over to the window and started looking out. It was as Joshua said, the templars were forced to explain what happened to the law enforcers. They were attempting to tell the law enforcers how dangerous the Sin Demons were.
But, the law enforcers still refused to allow them to pursue after the horse carriage.
Even though she felt utter disbelief at this sight, it seemed like the law enforcers of this city... were standing on their side?
The Prophet returned to her seat and looked at Joshua seated across from her.
Even though it has been a long time since she last saw him, he still appeared the same. The Prophet felt like he still had no regard for his appearance and gave off a very languid and unkempt air.
In simpler terms, he resembled a failure incapable of attaining greatness...
But, what the Third Prince had accomplished in Norland made the Prophet withdraw her contempt for him.
“Your Highness Joshua, did you really manage to make the people of Norland... worship demons?”
Before coming here, the Prophet was skeptical that Norland would accept demons. But, what happened at the stage station earlier made her realize that the people of Norland were not only willing to accept demons, they were even... fond of demons.
“Worship? It’s not at that level. It’s only a small change in their impression toward us right now. It’s actually still a very long way from full acceptance.”
Joshua shrugged his shoulder to express that the citizens of Norland have yet to unconditionally accept foreign races.
“But, when my attendant Zeru exposed his true identity at that stage station, the humans not only showed no fear, they were instead feeling admiration toward him.”
The Prophet looked to the squeezed Sin Demon. Even though the carriage was very big, it was nowhere enough to contain his massive size.
“Eh... it’s because your attendant’s outward appearance is special. Those people must’ve thought him to be another Sin Demon. That is, my attendant, Zenarth. If he’s in Norland... mmm... he’ll be very popular too, especially to some girls.”
“Very popular?”
The Prophet has never heard of a demon being described as popular to humans.
“The details behind this phenomenon is a bit difficult to explain. I will tell you everything once we reach our destination. Furthermore, even though Norland is able to accept most demons, your attendant will still be considered as ‘extremely dangerous’ for the authorities of Norland. Because of that, he will not be able to stay in the city for too long.”
Joshua must admit that the external appearance of the Sin Demons was simply too... fierce. He also cannot ignore their powerful battle capabilities and their space-time abilities.
What Joshua was doing right now was equivalent to bringing a cat-shaped weapon of mass destruction to Norland’s city center.
Even though the fur on the cat-shaped weapon’s paws were very soft, even though his paw pads were so very cozy to the touch, the Seven Sages of Norland would still not allow a demon capable of killing thousands of people to remain in the city center.
Mainly, it also had to do with the Sin Demons’ appearance. Take dragons for example. While they could transform their appearances to that of humans and enter human cities, the humans of the cities will immediately take up arms in resistance should the dragons reveal their true forms in the skies above the cities.
“Your Highness Joshua... you’re not the ruler of Norland?”
The Prophet had thought that Joshua had successfully entered into a position of authority within Norland. Else, his demon religion wouldn’t have gone so smoothly. Moreover, he had managed to maneuver all those law enforcers to stop the templars. No matter how she looked at him, she felt that he was someone with great power in Norland.
“Norland’s power structure is not a simple hierarchy. While I do know a Sage, I do not possess any authority. As for those law enforcers earlier...” Joshua was able to determine the reason why this young-looking demon asked him that question, “It is not because of some orders from above that those law enforcers decided to shield your departure.”
“Then?”
“Are you to say that those humans are willing to protect us out of their own accord?”
Two of the Prophet’s apprentices couldn’t help themselves from interrupting into the conversation. Hearing their naive voices, Joshua couldn’t help but laugh.
“Of course not. Demons aren’t giant pandas. It’s because of this.”
Joshua opened his left hand for a brief moment. When he closed it again, a shiny object appeared between his fingers. It was a gold coin.
“I’ve presented the law enforcers in charge of the Squirrel Street a sum that they cannot refuse. In simpler terms, I’ve bribed them,” said Joshua.
“So that’s the case.”
The Prophet was slightly disappointed by Joshua’s answer. But, that was within her expectations too.
Humans weren’t kindhearted creatures. Most of the time, they were extremely cold and showed no regard toward other humans, much less other races.
“I’ve prepared your residences. But, your attendant Zeru will have to return to the Demon Realm. After all, this is a human city,” said Joshua regretfully.
The horse carriage was not proceeding toward Norland’s city center. Instead, it stopped outside of Norland.
No matter how fond of the Sin Demons the fans of ‘Beauty and the Demon’ were, they would not be able to change the decision of the Seven Sages. They would not allow a Sin Demon with space-time abilities to stay in their city for it would mean an unpredictable threat to Norland.
Even though Joshua was transforming the impression humans had toward demons, Norland had not established any alliance with the Demon Realm.
“I understand.”
When the horse carriage stopped, the Prophet opened the door and walked down.
“You can have your servant proceed to the village Zenarth is at. I believe the residents of that village will gladly accept a Sin Demon,” Joshua offered a new destination for the Sin Demon.
“Zeru, you do as His Highness Joshua suggested and meet up with your kin. Make sure to not engage in any conflict with humans on your way there!”
“Understood.”
After the Prophet gave the order, the Sin Demon left the horse carriage and proceeded toward the forest. The Prophet watched as Zeru disappeared deep into the forest.