The Elf Journey In The Western Fantasy World
Chapter 173: A Forgotten Mission

Chapter 173: A Forgotten Mission

Just as he reached out his hand, before he could even knock, the door swung open from the inside.

The person who opened the door stood just slightly to the side and made a polite "please come in" gesture.

It was obvious, he had known Illiya was coming all along.

Caught off guard by this unexpected welcome, Illiya was momentarily stunned.

However, after seeing the figure standing inside the doorway, he guessed that someone had already passed along word of his approach.

Or perhaps... there had been a demon keeping watch over his every move from the very beginning.

Thankfully, it seemed they were only tracking his movements, not eavesdropping on his conversations with his companions.

Otherwise, who knew what wild assumptions this group of demons might’ve come up with?

Despite his speechlessness, Illiya found the situation a bit amusing. "It seems you knew I was coming before I did. It appears your abilities have grown even sharper."

To be able to predict his arrival from such a distance wasn’t that proof of "enhanced skills"?

Sebastian, however, showed no sign of guilt for having demons monitor Illiya.

His expression made it perfectly clear that he considered such actions entirely justified.

Still, as an excellent steward, he knew he had to ensure his guest’s mood remained pleasant at all times.

While smiling gently, he accepted Illiya’s light teasing and pretended not to catch the sarcasm, instead acknowledging only the surface meaning of Illiya’s words.

"My abilities...you still doubt them, Illiya?" Sebastian replied with a subtle smile.

Illiya couldn’t be bothered to keep bantering with this fox of a demon.

He didn’t want to accidentally fall into some trap that he couldn’t climb back out of.

Elves had always been creatures who knew how to assess the situation and the person standing before him now was someone he clearly couldn’t win against.

So why keep struggling?

There was no need really, no need at all.

Illiya didn’t continue dwelling on the matter.

Instead, he graciously accepted the step down offered by Sebastian.

With practiced ease, he found himself a seat and poured himself a glass of water, acting entirely at home like he wasn’t a guest at all.

After all, back when he’d been following behind Demon King Anos, this was exactly how he had behaved.

Sebastian quietly closed the door.

As the door shut, a faint black light flickered from his fingertips and an invisible soundproofing spell array swiftly enveloped the entire study, ensuring that no one outside would be able to hear their conversation.

His actions made it obvious, he understood that Illiya’s reason for coming to him was important, possibly even something that had to be kept secret from everyone else.

Even though he had no solid intel to confirm it, Sebastian had a certain understanding of elves, especially this elf, who happened to be a student of his old rivals.

"No one comes to my lair without a reason. You must have something to discuss with me?" Sebastian skipped all the aristocratic small talk and cut straight to the point.

Illiya wasn’t surprised at all.

The demons had always favored a simple and direct approach to everything.

Especially someone like Sebastian, who handled massive workloads daily, if a problem could be dealt with using the easiest method, then wasting time on complications was absolutely unnecessary.

"It’s nothing much. I just suddenly remembered something," Illiya replied casually. "The reason I came to the Demon Realm in the first place was to investigate the appearance of fallen demons on the main continent."

Sebastian didn’t immediately grasp the importance of that statement. "Oh, you came to investigate fallen demons... Fallen demons?"

"You said fallen demons, didn’t you?!" Sebastian’s voice instantly rose in volume, and his entire expression darkened. "So why are you only mentioning this now?"

Sebastian shook his head in disbelief. He couldn’t understand.

This was clearly a huge matter!

Illiya was startled by the sudden escalation in tone. His hand that was still holding the water glass, trembled instinctively, causing some of the water to spill and soak his sleeve.

However, he didn’t have the energy to care about that right now. Hearing Sebastian’s accusatory tone, he felt a bit embarrassed.

"...I forgot, okay?" Illiya’s voice grew smaller and smaller, obviously guilty, and he didn’t know what to say to ease the tension.

Even if it was his fault, he wasn’t about to lose in presence. "But it’s only because everything in the Demon Realm is so new to me—it totally pushed the matter out of my head. Don’t you think all these new developments in the Demon Realm are amazing?"

Sebastian was speechless and could only respond with a tight smile.

How could he possibly say anything bad about their own realm’s innovations, especially when those new developments were spearheaded by none other than His Majesty the Demon King himself?

They were practically sacred. He should be worshipping them, not complaining.

"You still shouldn’t have forgotten something this important," Sebastian said with helpless resignation.

Illiya instantly felt reassured and decided to push a bit further. "If I didn’t mention it, that means it wasn’t too urgent. Besides, I only came to the Demon Realm because some fallen ones happened to be demons. That’s why I thought I’d take a look around."

"And have you discovered anything?" Sebastian asked.

Illiya, without a hint of shame, answered, "Nope."

Sebastian: "..."

He had never felt so speechless.

Illiya continued, "Even if I had told you about it earlier, what difference would it have made? Are fallen creatures something that can be easily found? And the reason I suddenly remembered this is actually because of the war."

The moment the war was mentioned, Sebastian instantly perked up.

Thinking about it more carefully, Illiya wasn’t wrong.

If fallen creatures were so easy to identify, then things wouldn’t have ended in such tragedy a thousand years ago.

But why was Illiya connecting this with the war?

Sebastian had a sudden, ominous feeling.

He listened as Illiya went on.