Chapter 4~ The Demon Race’s Activity
“I’m not sure about your book-keeping habits, Astrid, but the book you forgot to take back—I’ve placed it on your bedside table. Don’t forget next time, okay?”
“Tillysha, you’re too kind.” The silver-haired girl clenched her fists lightly, her toes gripping the floor. If it weren’t for maintaining her composure, she’d be tempted to rush back to her dorm with her face covered.
“By the way, so Astrid here has a thing for that kind of artistic style?”
“……Artistic style? What artistic style?”
“The art of spotless maidens?” Tillysha cast an innocent smile toward Astrid. “Who would have thought Astrid would be into such a style? Quite unexpected indeed. We should discuss it some time!”
“……Tillysha, did you see the contents inside?”
“Well yeah, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and flipped a few pages. If Astrid feels offended by this, please accept my apology.”
“It’s fine.” Under Tillysha’s smiling gaze, Astrid remained silent, her eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling.
Was this the punishment bestowed upon her by the Mother of All Forests?
Surely, her impure thoughts could not be forgiven, even by the benevolent Mother of All Forests who encompasses everything.
“Astrid?”
“Tillysha.” Astrid promptly bowed her body, her voice devoid of emotion. “I’m sorry for letting you down. I’ve disgraced the elf race.”
“Huh?” Tillysha looked puzzled. “Why are you saying that?”
“You need not say more, I understand. Please allow me to reflect on my own.”
“Before tomorrow, don’t call me.” After saying these words, Astrid hurriedly ran upstairs, shut the door, and everything went silent.
Through her sharp elven hearing, Tillysha could hear the sound of something soft landing, perhaps the young miss collapsing on her bed after entering.
She didn’t know what was troubling her.
Initially, Tillysha intended to ask Astrid about the current attitude of the Moon Elves towards the Gold Elves, but it seemed like Astrid wasn’t in the mood today and possibly wasn’t feeling well either.
It was understandable — every woman had those days, after all.
Except for Tillysha, who spent the holidays at the academy, Astrid was among the first batch to return. Princess Filisia and Wenfu apparently were still packing at home or saying goodbye to relatives and friends. Regardless, the fact that the estate was slightly more lively was good. Previously, it was just Tillysha and Yimi.
During the holidays, Yimi had visited Tillysha more than once under the pretext of ‘assassinations,’ causing Tillysha to get used to falling asleep clutching her icy jade pillow.
With the new semester arriving, Tillysha pondered that she should come up with a new plan as well, after all, she was still the ‘chosen one’ of the team, and such responsibilities naturally fell to her.
Regarding the fact that Tillysha was actually Dillin — a secret that could not remain hidden for long — Tillysha no longer made any deliberate concealments. It mattered little to her whether her teammates discovered it or not.
In fact, Tillysha already had a plan in place. Her planned theme for the new semester’s practical course was still Ruglien.
With partial memories restored and her self-awareness strengthened, Tillysha gained a rough outline of what she needed to do in the future.
That girl should be deep within Ruglien, where the Elf Sacred Tree once stood.
After regaining her memories, Tillysha remembered her childhood friend’s name and partial information.
The grey elf girl was named Ifenniel, the daughter of the grey elf chieftain, and a past acquaintance of hers.
Once, their relationship was good until they had a falling out, leading to an ever-growing mistrust that eventually culminated in a complete rift.
Even though they both knew their relationship couldn’t be reconciled, Tillysha still wished to meet her in person.
She realized since the falling out, they had never properly sat down and exchanged their views, which ultimately led to their estrangement.
Of course, Tillysha’s wish to find Ifen was a personal matter, and she couldn’t drag reluctant teammates into it. Thus, before deciding on the course topic, Tillysha would frankly discuss it with her teammates and consult their opinions.
There were still a few days before school started, and with people finally at home, Tillysha stepped out of the estate gate. The streets near the academy were a bit more bustling than before, whereas during the holidays, the streets were devoid of people altogether.
Many students had already returned from their hometowns to prepare for the second semester in their dorms.
Proof of the increase in people was evident on the street within the school, filled with students.
Mid-September was the height of summer, and Tillysha, adorned in her school’s crown uniform, entered a fruit tea shop. Her silk-like golden hair shimmered with dazzling brilliance under the glow of the crystal chandelier.
A quick glance revealed that the tea shop was bustling with customers. Good friends and teams returning from vacation gathered here in small groups, chatting about family matters.
Since Tillysha no longer intended to conceal her identity, whether outside or inside, she stopped using any disguises.
This change had quite an impact. At first, when there were few people on campus, it didn’t seem like much. But now, with more people around, the difference was noticeable.
The moment Tillysha stepped onto the wooden floor of the tea shop, she felt several pairs of eyes gather on her immediately.
“Wow, it’s an elf!” someone whispered softly.
“Tsk, tsk, her skin’s like snow.”
“Such long eyelashes, like little fans. And her hair texture looks amazing… I’d love to touch it…”
“Why don’t you just go up and ask? Maybe if she likes you, she’ll let you touch it.”
“No way! I don’t want to be labeled a pervert.”
Even though their voices were deliberately low, Tillysha’s sharp ears picked up every word.
“Isn’t this elf looking kind of familiar? Like we’ve seen her before, but… it’s like meeting her for the first time.”
“Crown uniform… Ah! Isn’t this Tillysha?”
“Tillysha? The one from Brilliant Sun and Moon?”
“Yeah, that’s right, this year’s Coleman Champion!”
“Are those elf ears fake accessories? They look so real!”
“Maybe she’s an actual elf?”
Thanks to the presence of some elves in the school, walking around as an elf wouldn’t cause a huge stir, but drawing attention was inevitable.
From a human perspective, all elves were the same: blonde elves, gold-haired elves, and brown-haired elves alike were all treated the same way. People who lacked detailed knowledge of elves might not even know that they had different sub-races; those who were somewhat informed would likely mistake Tillysha for a wood elf.
In reality, elves could easily distinguish each other’s sub-races.
Wood elves and grey elves were the most common, with wood elves being the type most often seen and associated with the elf race in the public’s mind.
Grey elves were the easiest to identify; while other elves tended to have fair, pinkish skin, grey elves’ skin leaned toward a darker hue, often appearing tan.
The primary identity marker of moon elves was their silver hair, which shimmered like moonlight, and their violet eyes, making their hair glow faintly under moonlight.
Golden elves, on the other hand, stood in stark contrast with their golden hair and green eyes, their hair radiating brilliant gleams under the morning light.
But due to the numerous wood elves and other elves with silver or golden hair, many humans unfamiliar with high elves would find it hard to differentiate them from wood elves.
Tillysha vaguely remembered reading about methods to distinguish golden elves from wood elves in a book.
If there wasn’t sunlight, one could look at their eyes and eyelashes.
Golden elves predominantly have golden hair and green eyes, with their lashes the same color as their hair. For wood elves with gold hair, the lashes aren’t as vibrant, and their hair color wasn’t as luminous.
Clearly, the people in the tea shop knew little about elves. Although they claimed to adore the beautiful and elegant elf girls, wishing to live happily with one, they couldn’t even tell the difference between wood elves and golden elves.
This reminded Tillysha of a phrase she’d learned in her second life: ‘A dragon-lover who fears dragons.’
Though she had some initial worries, it seemed unnecessary. Now she understood that even if she didn’t conceal herself, most people would simply categorize her as an elf.
“One strawberry cream cake, one mango fruit tea, thank you.” After ordering, Tillysha politely handed the menu back to the young server, his face slightly red and eyes constantly avoiding hers. She smiled politely in return.
The server hesitated for a moment, then repeated Tillysha’s order stammeringly, before hastily leaving. All he could think about was the smile she gave him earlier, his heart pounding with thoughts like “Did she smile at me? Does she fancy me?”
Tillysha sat at a window-side seat, sipping her fruit tea bit by bit. Each time she looked up, she noticed several people glancing at her and then quickly averting their eyes.
Tillysha chuckled silently, pretending not to notice.
“Hey, did you hear? Something’s going down in Coleman Forest lately.”
“What? What could possibly happen? Why worry about it when the armies of bordering countries are stationed there? If anything happens, it’s their problem, not ours.”
“I’m talking about those soldiers. Did you know I arrived at school a few days ago? Well, when I passed by the empire’s military camp, I saw several soldiers carrying stretchers, constantly bringing wounded imperial soldiers out of Coleman Forest!”
“Are you sure?? That’s not something you can say casually.”
“Absolutely sure. If the imperial soldiers hadn’t chased me away, I would have taken a closer look.”
“The imperial army is suffering losses? They’re always there like they’re collecting protection money; even dogs steer clear of them. Who would dare to confront them?”
“You still don’t get it, do you? It wasn’t the Light Races who clashed with them!”
“You mean… the Demon Race is on the move?!!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down! I’m not completely sure right now… but it’s highly possible. Among the armies stationed outside the city, the empire’s military has the largest presence. If there was a conflict with another country’s troops, they wouldn’t be in such a terrible state.”
“Besides, these Light Races have had numerous localized conflicts over the past four hundred years, but there have been no large-scale wars. Everyone’s scared. The Demon Race lurking in Ruglien is like a lurking wolf, waiting for Calaburn to falter and deliver us a fatal blow.”
“The Demon Race… finally launching their final assault??” The other person exclaimed. “d*mn, does this mean there’s going to be a war?”
“Who knows? If a war breaks out, we’ll be in danger. Coleman City is so close to Ruglien; if the demon race charges out, Coleman would likely be the first target. Those imperial soldiers will likely run away if the situation doesn’t look good, so we shouldn’t rely on them.”
“So terrifying… Hmm, does our school know about this? With classes about to start, shouldn’t we extend another holiday? Let students go home to take cover?”
The murmuring between the two people at the next table were barely audible to others. However, Tillysha’s hearing was exceptionally sharp. Pretending to be indifferent, she was actually all ears listening to their conversation.
Regardless of the reliability of the information, Tillysha wasn’t surprised to learn that some trouble had arisen in Ruglien.
The reason? This incident was likely caused by her.
During her last visit to Ruglien, she personally used “Holy Oblivion” to slay all the monstrous creatures in the Forest of Gluttony, eradicating its accumulated grudges.
Upon reflection, that forest probably formed as a manifestation of grievances. What kind of grievances? That might be inferred from the nature of its resentments.
Roughly speaking, it was likely the resentments of humans or other races who starved to d*ath after getting lost in Ruglien, forming the forest.
In addition, whether intentional or not, the forest’s existence separated the peripheral Demon Races from the more central and deeper Demon Races, creating an odd balance.
Now, with the barrier forest gone, the demons that resided there would soon discover that the forest, once considered forbidden territory, had become passable, leading to inevitable conflict between the central and peripheral demons as they met and clashed.
Tillysha was aware that the Demon Race had arisen from faulty evolution of Light Races in the past. Therefore, it wasn’t surprising that the Demon Race wasn’t a unified entity; there were many divisions within it. Perhaps these demons, unseen for hundreds of years, would encounter each other and insult each other as “ugly monsters.”
Naturally, a number of demons would seep out from the Coleman forest and encounter those “protection fee” collecting thugs. When these two meet, things would get ugly.
Tillysha speculated that given the current quality of the imperial army, the demons appearing near Coleman Forest might only be small groups or a few individuals. Otherwise, with those imperial good-for-nothings, they’d likely have wet themselves even before they could pick up their weapons upon spotting the demons.
