Chapter 224: The City of Demons

Although my thoughts accidentally veered off in a strange direction, Vilyric had indeed made preparations to facilitate her movements in the demon-occupied area.

Her true self would find it quite difficult to appear openly before the demons, but the identity of Miss Fox she was currently using was different.

Furthermore, while Xī might be hailed as a great hero in the Holy Empire for foiling the demons’ plots twice, that was merely how the holy people saw it. From the demons’ perspective, was it really so?

The answer, of course, is no.

As for the so-called “Chaos of the Masked Demons,” it was merely a black mark scapegoated by a certain Saint of Bright Light.

In reality, the “Masked One and the God of Rapture” and their Faceless Ones were completely different entities, utterly unrelated to the demons. How could Miss Xī’s beating of Musk have anything to do with the demons?

While she directly faced the demons’ infiltration forces on the Heavenly Barrier Holy Bergen Mountains, Vilyric had intentionally made contact with them using her true form. She didn’t engage with the demons herself, only letting Xiao Guang in dragon form and Lucas take action.

What seemed like a spontaneous act was actually tacitly calculated.

Thus, in the end, Xī’s identity had never faced a direct conflict with the demons. Perhaps the infiltrators under “Corruption” could hide within the Holy Empire to gather ambiguous information, but under circumstances that contradicted the facts, such intelligence could never be widely disseminated among the lower-tier demons.

This is why Vilyric was confident she could pass through the city gate guard.

Eventually, just as she anticipated, an entourage of eight passed their inspection and reconvened beneath the inner city wall.

Though they appeared somewhat shocked that the demons were foolish enough not to recognize such a formidable enemy as “Xī,” the Grim Reaper’s Scythe crew were not naive folks who would make a fuss. Having successfully passed inspection, they chose not to dwell on that detail.

“So, next, I plan to wander around this city. What about you? Any plans?”

The reason for her inquiry was that they had come to the City of Saint Sanos based on the suggestion put forth by the Soul, as it was believed there might be an Enchantment Pearl or traces left by the Judging Saintess, necessitating a closer look.

After all, according to intel, the last great battle before Fleidetrika went missing occurred in this provincial capital of Sanos.

After a brief moment of contemplation, the Soul solemnly responded.

“This city has a branch of my Lingyin Merchant Association. Although my mentor foresaw the fall of the City of Saint Sanos and preemptively moved most of the assets and personnel, there should still be some important items left behind.”

“We four plan to scout ahead, so we won’t accompany Miss Xī for now. Let’s split up and regroup later… What do you think?”

“Is that so.”

Not particularly concerned, Miss White Fox gestured toward the distance—the central temple, which was taller and more magnificent than the other buildings.

“Then let’s meet outside the temple tonight, at the battlefield ruins. Be careful not to get caught by the demons~”

“Okay, please be careful as well.”

Then, even though she didn’t state it outright, the Soul, evidently burdened with some tasks, hurriedly departed with her three companions.

Watching the four members of the Grim Reaper’s Scythe gradually vanish down the street, Miss White Fox leisurely stretched.

“Well then~ let’s stroll around; it’s my first time visiting a city ruled by demons.”

…

Though it was said to be a demon-ruled area, upon walking through it, I found it not much different from an ordinary city in the Holy Kingdom.

Of course, the foot traffic couldn’t compare to other major cities in the Holy Empire—after all, most people in the Holy Empire feared demons like the plague. Many locals had already done everything they could to escape when the city fell, much like the situation in the Holy City.

Those who remained were either unable to flee, had been corrupted by the demons and turned into traitors, or were bold merchants from elsewhere who didn’t share the same intense fear of demons as the Church of the Goddess devotees.

The city wasn’t particularly prosperous, looking rather desolate instead.

Walking down the street, at least half the shops were closed, and those that were open primarily sold food and essential supplies.

Based on Vilyric’s observations, many of those shops probably were no longer run by the original owners but were established by the ruling demons to sustain basic needs and prevent the city’s structure from collapsing entirely.

Occasionally, patrols of demon guardians wielding battle blades moved back and forth on the streets. Additionally, Vilyric spotted a number of bizarre high-level demons with superior intelligence leisurely wandering about the city, even shopping, creating a rather unique sight.

“They’re pulling it off quite well. Are those demons really intent on colonizing this world?”

“Eh? Miss Xī, what’s colonizing?”

Hearing Tilysha’s curious inquiry beside her, Vilyric, already accustomed to her asking this and that, answered without a second thought.

“It’s when countries with too rapid population expansion can no longer sustain their resources, so they choose to invade other nations and regions, occupy their lands, enslave the local beings, plunder resources, and relocate some of their own citizens… It’s a way to alleviate internal conflicts and such.”

The blue-haired girl instinctively looked down at the pink-haired loli walking closely beside her, who was also listening with curiosity.

“That means those demons’ homeland… has their population really grown too large to contain, so they’re invading other worlds?”

Too large to contain, huh…

As she pondered this, Miss White Fox shook her head.

“…It’s hard to say right now. But you might be onto something. You saw those seemingly endless magical beasts on the battlefield before, didn’t you? They were practically attacking the Holy Kingdom’s defenses like it was a suicide mission.”

“That fighting style reminds me of the seasonal wars that happen every year with the Beast Kingdom in the United Kingdom. That’s about the latter trying to consume excess population, conserve resources, and plunder food.”

“Population pressure ultimately boils down to a lack of resources, leading to difficulties in supply and distribution. If the demons are facing a problem similar to the beastmen…”

No, thinking from a different angle, a lack of resources doesn’t necessarily mean overpopulation… Could it be that the energy itself has begun to dwindle?

Once that thought struck her, Vilyric suddenly remembered what she had seen in the Kingdom of Azure, the Aibus world beneath the Abyss.

That world clearly differed from this one.

Unlike this world, which thrived and was stable, when she arrived there, it had lost its cycle of stability, practically on the verge of decay, like an old, dying man.

No sunlight, no energy; the land was filled with despair and silence, with only a few survivors barely hanging on in underground shelters.

If it weren’t for the Priestess creating the Snow Wing and providing them with a new source of light through the goddess’s blessing, the complete demise and destruction of Aibus would probably just have been a matter of time.

So, they bet everything and chose to trust those so-called divine envoys, using the doomsday cannon to attack, attempting to place their hopes on the Earth Goddess Xi Fu, who had once helped them.

Then… what about the demon realm?

The demons’ nature and various aspects differ from those of the Aibus people, but in certain aspects of waging war and invading, they seem particularly similar.

Previously, Vilyric had asked her pet—“What usually prompts the formation of alliances?”

Though she had vaguely brushed it off with “How would I know?” the truth was that the Priestess had some speculation.

Alliances usually emerge when facing powerful external enemies or when one’s homeland encounters unprecedented crises.

The three great demon lords stunningly put aside their grievances during this war, uniting to attack other worlds, plundering energy, even colonizing—there’s a profound message hidden within all of this.

Although war is war, Vilyric has treated this world as her current home and doesn’t sympathize with external enemies, she still finds herself curious.

Could it be that the demon realm… is also facing some life-and-death crisis?

   

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