“I mean, these sparkly things are glasses, aren’t they? Quite peculiar. Though that light is a bit blinding.”
Faced with the red light flashing from Carol’s instrument, the middle-aged noble let out a light whistle.
Before he could even ask what kind of rare trinket this was, Milin drove a fist straight into his face.
“Oh…?”
Milin’s strike was as fast as lightning, giving him no time to react—but the nobleman dodged in an utterly inconceivable way.
“Good heavens… What was that?!”
“I-It’s a demon!”
Nearby guests screamed in alarm, spilling the drinks they were holding all over the floor—because they saw the male noble’s head split cleanly down the middle, opening a gap for Milin’s fist to pass through.
“Ugh…”
The visually horrifying sight and the viscous shadow oozing from the split-open head of that nobleman made Milin pull back her fist.
With a look of disgust, she raised her leg and drove her knee into the man’s abdomen.
This time, he caught her knee strike with both hands.
He didn’t let his body take a direct hit… but flames erupted from his hands as they blocked her knee, accompanied by the sound of cracking bones and the smell of something burning.
“Everyone, please step back. A demon has appeared.”
While Milin was locked in combat with this nobleman—a hidden demon—the servant Carol calmly began evacuating the nearby guests.
But since the entire venue was suspended in midair, the guests could only retreat with panicked faces to a slightly safer distance from the fighting duo.
“Guards… Guards!”
“What’s happening?”
As the commotion spread throughout the dance party, the young nobles at the other end of the venue also noticed what was happening.
“Lady Nephtalia, a demon has appeared in the venue!”
“Is that so.”
A reformist noble girl ran up to Nephtalia, who was surrounded by others, and reported the situation to her with a panicked expression.
“Then let’s go take a look.”
Everyone expected her to order the guards to suppress and arrest the demon. But she merely nodded slightly and, champagne in hand, began walking toward the scene.
“Lady Nephtalia…?”
“It’s dangerous over there! Guards… quickly, go assist the new Hero lady!”
Those around her quickly stopped her and shouted to alert the security in the venue. But she showed no intention of halting her steps.
“Everyone, please let me through.”
“Nefi, what are you doing?”
Just then, the golden-haired young man known as Alvin, the Fairy Prince, walked over. With a grave expression, he asked.
“Like I said, I’m going to take a look. My good friend is fighting a demon over there, so I have to go admire her heroic display.”
Nephtalia glanced at the two guards following behind the prince.
Now that all the guards and servants scattered throughout the venue were rushing to the scene, only these two stood motionless, firmly guarding the prince’s side.
They were the royal family members’ personal guards. As the hostess of the dance party, she naturally knew this.
“No matter how carefree you usually are, this is no joking matter. After what happened in Northern Elancia…”
The prince was about to seriously admonish Nephtalia. But seeing the expression on her face, his words stopped midway.
“…Could it be that you arranged this?”
He lowered his voice to a volume only the two of them could hear, questioning his fiancée.
“What are you saying, Your Highness Alvin?”
“If it were any other time, you’d be excited about something like this. But now you look completely calm.”
“You know me so well! But I have no interest in arranging something like this.”
Nephtalia looked as if she were surprised… but the prince could tell that the shock on her face was entirely feigned.
“Nefi, I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but demons are dangerous. I’ll have my guards handle it.”
“Don’t be a spoilsport. Don’t you want to see just what kind of power the Hero girl who defeated the Daughter of the Demon King at her own birthday celebration and protected the people truly possesses?”
Her words made the prince, who had been about to order his guards, stop in his tracks.
He stared stiffly at Nephtalia, as if trying to understand why she would suggest such a thing.
“You should know—”
“I understand your feelings. You don’t want to see anyone connected to that Hero, and you don’t want to get involved in my plans. But don’t you want to know why your royal sister has been so fixated on him that, as soon as she heard his daughter was coming, she couldn’t wait to arrange a meeting?”
“…I don’t want to know.”
The prince lowered his head and bit his lip. But Nephtalia reached out and lifted his face, looking at him with gentle eyes.
“You should know that some things are inescapable. And when faced with those things, we must understand them, adapt to them, endure them—only then can we one day break free from their shackles and move toward true freedom.”
“Nefi, I’ve waited many years. But I still see no hope, no future you described, where we can step out from under those curses.”
The prince said with sorrowful eyes.
“Haven’t I promised you? We’ll reach that future soon. And the road to that future will be paved by the girl fighting that demon over there… Milin Klauschel herself.”
After saying this, Nephtalia let go of her fiancé’s cheek and, ignoring everyone’s protests, walked toward the place where Milin and the demon were fighting.
“I have to say, I’m quite surprised… How exactly did you recognize me?”
“I have no obligation to explain myself to something like you.”
With the surrounding guests having retreated, a considerable amount of space had opened up on the floor.
So Milin and the demon fighting in the middle gradually began to fight with more freedom.
Milin’s magically-enhanced heavy fists repeatedly struck the demon’s body, while the demon parried with its original limbs as well as two pairs of shadow tentacles protruding from its ribs and shoulders.
“Using fire magic in a place like this… Even though the giant tree is protected by magic, this glass platform isn’t part of the tree, is it? Aren’t you afraid of blowing the platform to pieces and having everyone fall to their deaths as meat paste?”
After once again receiving Milin’s attack, the two tentacles extending from its ribs fell to the floor with a slap and began to melt.
“I wouldn’t do anything that stupid. I’m controlling my power to just the level needed to roast you, or, like just now, to melt and sever your limbs.”
Seeing that it wanted to create distance, Milin immediately gave chase.
“You’re so cruel. Are you trying to kill me?”
“Something like you can’t die from just this much, can you, Shadow Demon? If you’re willing to surrender obediently, I can spare your remaining four arms.”
“You saw through my race at a glance—what good eyesight. But who told you I only have four arms left?”