The Elf Journey In The Western Fantasy World
Chapter 174: Old Enemies, New Allies

Chapter 174: Old Enemies, New Allies

"Would you ever allow spies to completely infiltrate the Demon Realm? Of course not. Everyone turns a blind eye to the existence of planted agents, sure, but they usually only reach the outermost layers, right? If those agents were just marginal figures, how could they possibly know so much about the Demon King’s affairs? Enough to make the people of Yaguk Theocracy act so decisively and quickly?"

"Is this reasonable? No, it’s not," Illiya didn’t give Sebastian a chance to speak and directly peeled the situation apart.

"It’s obvious that this country, which has profited for hundreds of years, only decided to go all in after learning that it would no longer be able to gain any more benefits. Isn’t it obvious enough just from the fact that they sent out the Royal Knights? That’s basically a clear sign they want to catch the Demon Realm completely off guard."

"Even if the Demon Realm, under the Demon King’s urging, won’t be so perfunctory this time, the demon race all know that the war is just a pretense. So they wouldn’t take it too seriously either. Then sending out the Royal Knights must be to hit you when you’re not prepared. But they also know they won’t be able to kill the Demon King, or even seriously wound him. So what then? Causing chaos in the Demon Realm itself would be good enough. At the very least, they could profit from the confusion."

"Would the demon race start harboring ill thoughts about the Demon King? Obviously not. Then how could anyone deal a serious blow to the Demon King from within? The only answer is insiders. Of course, I’m not saying your upper ranks have traitors. I mean those demons whose bodies have been taken over by the fallen."

The more Sebastian listened, the darker his expression became.

This was the classic case of "the darkest place is under the lamp."

Fortunately, he had now learned of this issue and could begin preparing in advance.

Since Illiya had taken the initiative to come and tell him this, it was likely he already had a plan.

"So, Illiya, you must have a method to find the fallen demons, right?" Sebastian gave Illiya a smile, though there was an almost sinister undertone beneath it.

Illiya didn’t bother pretending to be mysterious. "First, we absolutely must not alert the enemy."

Sebastian nodded in agreement. "You’re right. That’s why you came to me. So... what do you say we quietly pull off something big?"

Illiya nodded and flashed a radiant smile. "As an ancient demon, you surely know the weaknesses of the fallen demons, don’t you?"

Sebastian caught on immediately, and a knowing look entered his eyes. "Ah~ so that’s how it is."

"Well, aren’t we preparing for the war anyway? What’s wrong with switching to a different set of equipment?" Illiya was clearly contributing to the grand cause of unmasking the fallen.

Sebastian wholeheartedly agreed. "Exactly. Changing gear isn’t excessive at all. And who’s to say that we’re not slipping some magical crystals into the equipment? Then, we just quietly inform a few of the top-ranking demons. On the battlefield, they can control things ever so slightly and in the process, take care of those fallen demons without drawing attention. Oh, and we could also catch Yaguk Theocracy off guard while we’re at it."

"Honestly, where did Yaguk Theocracy even get the audacity? Not only do they dare threaten His Majesty’s life, but they’ve even colluded with fallen creatures. Really, people shouldn’t get too greedy."

Illiya neither agreed nor disagreed.

But wasn’t it exactly because of their ambition that Yaguk Theocracy had started to show signs of becoming the number one nation on the continent?

Everything has two sides, doesn’t it?

Sebastian understood that there was no need to overstate things.

When speaking with intelligent people, clarity to the point of redundancy was never necessary.

With that thought, he poured himself a glass of water, raised it slightly in Illiya’s direction, and made a toast.

"To the elves!"

Illiya raised his own glass in return. "To the demons."

Illiya and Sebastian’s conversation went surprisingly smoothly—so smooth it was almost unbelievable.

An elf and a demon, two individuals from entirely different races, unexpectedly turned from natural enemies into allies simply because they now faced a common foe.

In fact, such situations hadn’t been uncommon a thousand years ago.

On the continent, if one were to speak purely in terms of combat prowess, the demons and the elves were often at the top.

They were evenly matched—at least, that’s what the demons liked to claim.

The two sides had once loved and fought each other so passionately that during that period, the stories between demons and elves had fed countless bards.

Tales of these two races would always win rounds of applause and therefore more tips and rewards than usual.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that these two races were the bread and butter of bards. Truly.

However, after the Dusk of Majesty, the elves chose to go into seclusion and rarely appeared on the main continent again.

The demons, due to the disappearance of their Demon King, also began to retreat from the world.

At least the elves still engaged in occasional trade and ventured outside.

The demons, on the other hand, became true shut-ins, so much so that they couldn’t even be bothered to pretend to care about the war.

The Demon King’s disappearance had, without question, pulled out their backbone.

They could no longer stand tall.

The elves often teased them about it, though it was only mild mockery.

The elves understood what the Demon King meant to the demon race, so they were careful not to poke too hard at that sore spot.

All in all, the relationship between the elves and the demons couldn’t really be described as good or bad.

However, cooperation between them had been exceedingly rare. And yet, through Illiya and Sebastian’s conversation, one could faintly catch a glimpse of the past, a reflection of how things had been a thousand years ago.