After careful consideration, Ayla made a small stroke with her pen, separating the dagger representing Zero from the other two.
The reason was simple: that night, Zero was the first to notice the problem but deliberately kept it to herself without telling anyone else.
What did that mean?
It meant there was still some innocent affection in her heart?
The Demon Lord scratched his chin thoughtfully, his mind beginning to whirl.
As a master of schemes and tricks, a cunning patriarch-level expert among all demons, Ayla bore no psychological burden in deception—in fact, she took pride in it.
Her pen tip tapped on the dagger’s position.
A little tea, would it be effective? Hard to say, but it was worth a try.
Suppressing her eagerness, Ayla decided that since these events had just happened recently, it would be too obvious to act immediately.
She would wait a few days before attempting the tea.
Until then, she would practice her inner green-tea skills thoroughly.
Zzzz
A new day, a new morning.
The Saintess returned to the chapel yesterday.
Regarding the establishment of the Sea Port City Branch, she still had many constructive suggestions to convey, so she wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
Vina was sleeping in.
Zero was nowhere to be seen, which was normal—she was always elusive, like a dragon seldom showing its head.
Ayla got up, washed, ate breakfast, and saw the Sword Saint Maiden waiting for her in the courtyard.
“Let’s go. The Teacher might have found something useful.”
“Okay~”
The small voice made Celes pause for a moment.
Ayla cleared her throat and switched back to her usual tone: “I mean, let’s go.”
After thinking about tea all afternoon and dreaming about playing the little green tea last night, she didn’t react immediately upon seeing someone.
Returning once more to the Offering Hall, just a day later, it was completely different.
The living room was no longer tidy but instead filled with old books and parchment everywhere.
Rolls looked up from the pile of books, his beard disheveled but his spirit high.
“I found something.”
He pulled out a nearly falling-apart book from the table and handed it to the two girls.
“The name ‘Iseris’ is mentioned once inside!”
Ayla took it and flipped through the pages.
There was a bookmark inside, so she opened it casually.
Due to its age, the pages were slightly yellowed, but fortunately, the text was mostly intact.
Celes squatted to pick up the cover that had fallen earlier when Rolls handed over the book.
“One Hundred and One Fables of Fairy Tale Village… Fables?”
She looked a bit puzzled. Was this a storybook?
Ayla began reading the story aloud.
The difference between fables and fairy tales is that fables always carry some meaning, serving an enlightening and moral purpose.
The story itself wasn’t complicated: it told of a little girl in Fairy Tale Village, only one hundred and twenty years old, who saw a shooting star on a gloomy night and wished for more wishes—cleverly using her wits.
The starry sky responded to her wish but set a price for the trade.
The girl agreed happily, offering the entire village as payment…
“She poisoned the clear spring the villagers drank from every day. At dusk, there was no longer a single living soul in Fairy Tale Village… uh.”
Ayla paused here, her mind full of questions and unsure what to say.
Putting aside those strange descriptions for a moment—was this even a fairy tale?
After calming herself a bit, she continued reading—
“Her wish was granted, but there was no time for more wishes because that night, a meteor shower fell from beyond the sky.
The heavens changed color, all things collapsed, and every greed and trickery was buried.”
This was indeed a fable, teaching children not to be greedy, to be content, and not to use cunning loopholes, or else they would suffer in the end.
But obviously, Ayla and Celes were baffled by this story.
What on earth was this about?
“Strange, isn’t it? Haha.”
Rolls laughed like a mischievous old man, then explained, “One Hundred and One Fables of Fairy Tale Village is a book from over a hundred years ago. If your history is decent, you should know that back then, it was still during the Alliance Period.”
Celes nodded.
She had studied history well.
Plus, a couple of months ago, because of a comrade’s incident, they all learned a bit about that era.
“At that time, many people in the Kingdom longed for the Elves. Several bards went on a mission of friendly exchange, visiting many places.”
“After returning, they compiled this book based on the Elves’ oral accounts. Fairy Tale Village was a metaphor; to people then, the Elves seemed as if they came straight out of fairy tales.”
Ayla suddenly understood.
So it was about the Elves.
No wonder the little girl was only one hundred and twenty years old.
No exaggeration here—she was truly young.
“Because some of the stories involved unpleasant things, it was considered a dark history there, so the Elves quickly sent a letter demanding this book be discontinued. It’s one of the very few copies.”
Rolls stood and walked to another pile of books.
“Even among the one hundred and one stories, this one is the most outrageous. I always thought it was just a story until yesterday, after hearing what you said, I found this.”
He pulled out another piece of parchment and handed it over.
It depicted a hellish scene: fiery rain from the sky, the earth cracked into many pieces, molten lava gushing out, countless corpses melting away.
“At the end of the Second Age, the second apocalypse recorded in human history occurred. A meteor from beyond the heavens smashed the continent, causing massive casualties. Everyone thought it was just an accident, but today, it seems it was not.”
There was likely a shadow of the Evil God involved.
“So what about Iseris?”
Ayla asked.
“You said you found that name.”
Rolls smiled.
“Look at the title of that fable.”
Title— [Falling Star of Iseris]
Ayla’s heart skipped a beat.
“Is that title given by the author, or…?”
Rolls understood her meaning.
“The author heard it from the Elf who told the story.”
“In other words, the Elves might have more information!”
“Exactly.”
Seeing the excited pink-haired thunder girl, Rolls had to dampen her enthusiasm a bit: “But our relationship with them isn’t good right now.
During the Alliance’s breakup, everyone nearly tore each other apart.
To gain more benefits in the new independence, some unsavory methods were used, so the relations are naturally strained.”
At this, Celes asked, “Since we can try to reestablish relations with the Sea Demons, why not try contacting the Elves?”
Rolls shook his head.
“On one hand, the Elves are rather proud. On the other, the Kingdom has no real need. The return isn’t worth the effort. Right now, the Kingdom is focused on developing transportation. The failure of the maritime route plan has put pressure on the top officials to find a new scheme, but the Elves can’t offer much help.”
He paused, scratching his head.
“Wait, don’t the Elves have Dilu and Dragon Hawks?”
Dilu, the elf deer whose call sounded like a wind flute, was incredibly fast and could be ridden or used to pull carts.
As for Dragon Hawks, those eagle-like birds with a faint lineage of wyverns could carry people in flight.