In the center of the residential district, several demons had already gathered.
Some carried cloth sacks filled with food, while others carefully cradled Magic Crystals wrapped in cloth.
Several beastkin were checking the runes of the teleportation magic, making sure there were no deviations in the pattern.
Mrs. Nashi stood at the front of the crowd, counting heads.
She had just looked up when she saw Dashi running back, leading two unfamiliar female beastkin by the hand.
Master Phelan was also following beside them.
Mrs. Nashi's gaze lingered on the rabbit beastkin for a moment.
Although her appearance and hair color had changed,
she was still quite familiar with that warm, sunshine-like scent.
Miss Saintess?
Mrs. Nashi was slightly taken aback.
Then, she looked at the cat beastkin next to her, who possessed an obviously extraordinary temperament.
She cast another glance at Phelan, who followed beside them.
She quickly understood.
Since Miss Saintess had disguised herself, she probably didn't want to be exposed.
She merely nodded gently to them, letting them join the group as if they were ordinary companions.
Lin Ling looked at Mrs. Nashi's expression and quietly let out a sigh of relief.
“It looks like the disguise was a success.”
Phelan stood to the side, calmly recording.
“Addendum: Mrs. Nashi is suspected to have seen through the disguise, but has chosen to cooperate.”
Lin Ling: “...”
She turned her head to look at Phelan.
“Could you please not add that at a time like this?”
Phelan did not reply, only putting away his recording board.
Soon, the teleportation array in the center of the residential district was fully activated.
Several demons stood in different positions, injecting mana into the runes.
The magic patterns on the ground lit up circle by circle, and a dark blue light emerged from the gaps between the stone slabs.
Leticia looked down at the magic array beneath her feet.
The White Tower had teleportation arrays specifically maintained by high-ranking priests; their runes were intricate, powered by Magic Crystals, and starting them caused almost no strain.
But this teleportation magic was different.
The runes were not as magnificent, and the mana supply was not very stable.
Every demon involved in casting the spell bore an incredibly serious expression on their face.
They were sharing the consumption of this spell together.
Mrs. Nashi spoke.
“Everyone pay attention, do not let go.”
In the next instant, the light rose.
Space rippled slightly like the surface of water.
Lin Ling only felt her feet go empty as the surrounding scenery stretched, shattered, and reassembled after a brief moment of dizziness.
By the time she could see her surroundings clearly again, she was no longer in the residential district of the Demon King's Castle.
The air had grown drier.
There were low hills in the distance.
The outlines of wooden cabins in a human border village were not far away.
Was this the border?
“Ugh...”
Once the teleportation ended, Dashi was the first to collapse onto the ground.
His face was slightly pale.
“I feel so sick every time we use this spell.”
The other children nearby were in a similar state.
Some held onto an adult's hand, while others squatted on the ground to catch their breath.
Lin Ling hastily looked at the others.
She noticed that the demons who had participated in the casting also looked rather exhausted.
A few of them even had sweat beaded on their foreheads.
“Eh? Does this spell actually consume that much?”
Phelan walked over to her side, raising his hand to push a recording crystal in front of Lin Ling.
A faint magic diagram emerged from the crystal.
“This kind of collective teleportation magic generally consumes more mana, Miss Saintess.”
“Especially near the border, where spatial stability is not as good as in the main city district.”
“To avoid being detected by human detection arrays, an additional shielding spell is required.”
Lin Ling looked at the dense magic structure in midair.
At first, she still tried to put on an “I see” expression.
But before long, her eyes began to spin in dizzy spirals.
Spatial positioning, mana flow, coordinate locking, group load sharing...
She recognized every single one of these terms, but when put together, they felt like a group of strangers dancing in her head.
“I feel a bit dizzy.”
Lin Ling said honestly.
“What a complicated spell.”
Looking at her expression of clearly not understanding but still trying hard to pretend she had grasped a bit of it, Phelan looked down and wrote a few lines on his recording board.
“Teleportation spells involve spatial magic, which is indeed one of the more difficult types of magic.”
Lin Ling immediately nodded.
“Exactly.”
“It's definitely the spatial magic's fault. Spatial magic is just too hard.”
“Addendum: Lin Ling quickly found a reasonable explanation for her difficulty in understanding.”
“Don't add that!”
While Lin Ling was still trying to study the teleportation spell, Leticia quietly approached Phelan.
Her gaze fell upon Phelan's recording board.
Or rather, on Lin Ling's expression that had just been magically imprinted onto the recording board.
It was the sight of Lin Ling staring blankly at the teleportation spell.
Her disguised rabbit ears drooped slightly, her eyes spun in dizzy spirals, and her expression was both blank and hardworking.
Leticia watched for a moment.
Without even raising his head, Phelan spoke:
“If you wish to observe my records, you may ask directly.”
Leticia's movements paused.
Phelan generously tilted the recording board toward her.
“These records themselves are not confidential.”
Leticia silently stared at the magic imprint.
After a moment, she asked softly:
“Can I save this?”
Phelan seemed to have anticipated this.
He raised his hand and conjured another blank recording board.
“If you need it, I can replicate a copy for you.”
Leticia looked at him.
“Is that alright?”
“Of course.”
Phelan said calmly:
“As long as it does not affect the integrity of the original record.”
Lin Ling hearing this, finally recovered from the dizziness of the teleportation magic.
She looked at Phelan taking out yet another recording board, her expression turning extremely complicated.
“Phelan.”
“Yes?”
“Just how many recording boards do you carry on you?”
Phelan did not answer immediately.
He merely glanced at Lin Ling.
“Enough to record Miss Saintess's actions today.”
Lin Ling: “...”
She suddenly felt that this answer was even more terrifying than a specific number.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the distance.
Several humans walked over from the direction of the village.
Leading them was an elderly man.
His hair was graying, his back was slightly bent, and he wore coarse cloth clothes that had been washed to a faded state.
Although he looked very old, his eyes were not cloudy.
When he saw the demons, he did not show any fear.
Instead, he frowned first, as if worried about something.
Seeing him, Mrs. Nashi immediately went up to meet him.
She placed her hand over her chest and bowed slightly to the elderly man.
“Chief Morg.”
“It has been a long time.”
“Have you been doing well lately?”
Morg looked at Mrs. Nashi, then at the many demons she had brought behind her, a clear look of worry surfacing on his face.
“Mrs. Nashi.”
“The First Prince's soldiers have been patrolling this area quite often lately.”
“You brought so many people this time; you must be careful.”
There was no hostility in his tone; instead, it was filled with worry for the demons.
Leticia stood at the back of the crowd, watching this scene, her eyes flickering slightly.
A human village chief, warning demons to be careful of human soldiers?
This was completely different from any border stories she had heard in the past.
Mrs. Nashi nodded gently.
“You are quite right.”
“But we came this time because we want to help everyone in the village.”
With that, the demon group behind her took a step forward.
Several demons set down the food they carried on their backs.
There was bread and some recently harvested vegetables.
And several bags of Magic Crystals carefully wrapped in cloth.
It wasn't a lot of things.
Yet it was already the utmost sincerity the residents could offer right now.
Morg looked at the food and Magic Crystals before him, a clear look of bewilderment appearing on his face.
“Mrs. Nashi, what is the meaning of this?”
Mrs. Nashi looked at him, her expression solemn.
“Just a few days ago, our food crisis was alleviated.”
“Although we cannot say we are wealthy yet, at least we no longer have to worry every day about whether the children can make it through like we did in the past.”
She cast a glance back at the demons behind her.
Then, Mrs. Nashi, along with everyone else, bowed deeply to Morg and his group.
“Therefore, we thought...”
“...now that we finally have some spare capacity, we should come to repay everyone who has helped the demons in the past.”
The demons' movements as they bowed together were perfectly synchronized.
They were all expressing their heartfelt gratitude to the people who had cared for the demons.
Morg and the few villagers behind him immediately became flustered.
“Ah! You must not do this!”
“Please stand up, please stand up!”
Morg hurriedly stepped forward to help Mrs. Nashi up.
The other villagers also rushed to help up the bowing demons.
“We didn't really do much.”
Morg sighed.
“It was just that seeing you all unable to survive, we shared a little bit of food with you.”
Mrs. Nashi shook her head.
“To you, perhaps it was just sharing a bit of food.”
“But to us at that time, those provisions saved many children.”
Hearing this, Morg's expression grew complex.
He looked at the food placed on the ground, then at the sacks containing the Magic Crystals.
In the end, he bent down to pick up the sacks of Magic Crystals and handed them back to Mrs. Nashi.
“The village accepts your kindness.”
“But take these Magic Crystals back.”
Mrs. Nashi was somewhat puzzled.
“May I ask why?”
Morg snorted.
The elderly man, who had seemed quite gentle, now had an undisguised look of disgust on his face.
“That bullshit First Prince only cares about these things now.”
“Every time he comes to the village, he has his subordinates plunder them.”
“We certainly won't make things easy for him.”
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