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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Now, don’t go asking why I say the humans are obviously stronger than the Elves -some things don’t need facts to back them up.

In all seriousness however, it was a fact that the humans commanded a territory dozens of times larger than the Wood Elves. As for the Dark Elves, the ones who chased them underground were the Wood Elves. Just based on that fact, it was safe to say the humans as a race were stronger. After all, only the strong could hold such large swathes of territory.

That was why that Sword Dancer’s attitude rubbed me in all the wrong ways, especially since I was previously a human!

“Since your holiness dislikes him so much, then there’s no need for him to continue existing.” Having said that, Paliseth turned and waved in the direction of Sarkath, and nothing else. A glint of resolve flashed past her eyes and she lowered her head to whisper in my ears, “Paliseth will give your holiness a satisfactory answer.”

“Who is that Sarkath anyway?” Now that I had made my displeasure known, I became a little curious about this Sword Dancer’s background.

However, Paliseth remained silent and it was Jezsere who raised her head up from my chest and explained, “Master, that’s Jezsere’s older brother…”

“Older brother?”

I was stunned. If that Sword Dancer was Jezsere’s older brother, then didn’t that make him Paliseth’s son?

I gave it some thought for a second before deciding to rescind my order to kill him. “Since he’s your son, how about we…”

Yet, it was too late. There was no need for me to say anything further, because Sarkath’s head just slid off his neck… Just moments ago, he was on his way out of the colosseum, then he was beheaded. In fact, his body even took a few steps forward, as if it hadn’t caught up with the fact that it was dead…

How?! Why is his head gone?

I stared at Sarkath’s headless body in shock, hoping to gleam some sort of clue as to how he died.

There was nothing that stood out at all. The cut on his neck was extremely even, as if something razor thin had sliced its way across it. But there was no such object to be found in the arena at all. There weren’t even any signs of someone else having entered the arena. The only clue I had was Paliseth waving her hand before stating that she would give me a satisfactory answer… don’t tell me…

Hold on! I see it now! It’s a spider silk, lying almost invisibly across his neck. Where did that even sprout out from? And how was it so strong that it could silently slice off a person’s neck like that?!

I gasped to myself in disbelief. However, no matter how hard to believe this sight was, it was also a fact that he was now dead.

With that in mind, I turned my wide eyes towards Paliseth. She still had her head lowered as before, standing there quietly like a beautiful statue. Had it not been for Lolthe’s blessing, perhaps I might not have even seen that spider silk hanging just above the area where Sarkath’s head used to be…

Just frightening… No wonder they say that Dark Elves are some of the most terrifying assassins in the world. Just that silent kill alone spoke volumes about their capabilities. Even more chilling was the fact that the Sword Dancer was actually Paliseth’s son…

If one were to include Jezsere and Reyage, Paliseth had a total of seven children, five of whom I hadn’t seen yet. But based on what Paliseth told me before in the treasure room, it was only Jezsere and Reyage whom she truly viewed as being her children. Which wasn’t a surprise at all, seeing as they came from the seed of the one and only Solar-sama.

Even so, those five other children were her own flesh and blood as well! Yet she killed him, just like that! Even a tiger did not feed on its own spawn, let alone an intelligent race like the Dark Elves. It truly felt like I had just seen a new side to the cruelty of the Dark Elves. As long as it benefitted themselves, they were capable of anything.

Honestly speaking, I couldn’t even be sure what it was that triggered such decisive action from her. Was it when she asked me if I hated that Sword Dancer? Or perhaps it was when she said she would give me a satisfactory answer. Or perhaps she was afraid I would blame her for my foul mood?

Going back to that match I had just witnessed. It was clear now that the Sword Dancer was vastly superior to that female human, especially with his ability to transform into mist. That Sword Dancer had clearly wanted to kill that female human as well, but he chose to humiliate her instead. Because of that, he even ranted on about some nonsense for a good long while. Yet if one were to consider it from another way, he didn’t have to participate in this fight at all. In all likelihood, it was Paliseth who arranged for this match to be as such. She then commanded him to humiliate that female human in public.

Putting it another way, that female human’s unfortunate demise was caused by Paliseth as well. But Paliseth was calm enough to realise that if she killed Sarkath, she could prevent my mood from being soured further. It was her way of showing subservience to me, as if to say that even her son wasn’t exempt from punishment as long as it pleased me.

Naturally, by killing her son, she was also hinting me to not to pursue this matter any further, seeing as she had even sacrificed a son in penitence. At the end of the day, this whole fight was her bright idea, and she clearly had some responsibility to bear. That was why she decisively sliced off his head.

Either way, whatever her true motive, it was a fact that I really couldn’t pursue this matter any further seeing as she had already done so much.

In some sense, that female human died because of me. Because Paliseth wanted to entertain me, that female human was brought out to die. While that might have sounded a lot like self-aggrandizing pity, I couldn’t help but feel guilty seeing as this was the first human I had seen in a long time. Having been stuck with Devils for so long, I couldn’t help but have an attachment to the first human I had seen in a long time.

Now, if it was a male that had died… well, the colosseum is a cruel place…

Either way, the deed was done, and I had no reason to pursue this matter further. However, there was still the matter of that little drama between those two. I clearly saw a deep-seated sense of hatred in that female human’s eyes. If not for that, she wouldn’t have fought so desperately in the first place.

The colosseum had a rule that once the victor laid claim on the loser’s body, he or she was forbidden from harming the loser, else no matter who they were they would be thrown to Arachne Cavern.

It was said that Arachne Cavern had a certain species of arachnid magical beast that could lay its eggs into a living creature like a parasite. Once hatched, the spawn from these eggs would then feed themselves using the flesh of the host… That was a fate worse than death.

With such a cruel threat of punishment looming over his shoulders, the female human would have definitely survived as long as she listened to Sarkath. So why did she do it? Clearly, it wasn’t because of her treatment as a slave gladiator. If it was, she wouldn’t have tried to curse him even in death.

“Do the two of them know each other?” I asked. “There was some mention of a Lewell as well, who is that?”

“Lewell is also Jezsere’s older brother…” With two deaths happening before her very eyes in such a short span of time, Jezsere’s already pale face was even paler now. She leaned into my shoulders and timidly said, “Before Jezsere ran away from home, brother Sarkath had killed brother Lewell…”

Sarkath killed Lewell? Then what relation did Lewell have with that female human? From the looks of things, it wasn’t just a simple relationship too.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

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If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

“I had originally planned for an easy death for you… after all, a low-born, short-lived creature such as yourself has no right to even serve me. But now… I’ve changed my mind. Even though it still disgusts me to look at you, I feel it is my duty to proceed as such… such a fortunate creature you are… I just hope I won’t puke all of a sudden.”

Sarkath the Sword Dancer slowly walked up to the still shell-shocked female warrior. She was in a terrible condition right now and probably wouldn’t be able to get up in the short term. Because of her prone state, her body was filthy, a mix of fresh blood and dirt.

“I swear, I just can’t stand a dirty creature like you.” Sarkath arrogantly declared before swinging his sword in her direction.

A glint of steel flashed across her back, yet his sword did not hurt her as one would expect, instead, her dirtied hemp clothes were completely sliced apart.

What’s going on here? I thought you hated her, so why are you undressing her instead? At this point, the female human’s snowy white back was bare for the entire colosseum to see…

“WOOOOOOO!!!” The stands erupted in cheers once more, intoxicated by the deadly cocktail that was violence and procreation. Even under normal circumstances, such a combination always stirred the imaginations of those watching, let alone in a depraved society like the Dark Elf’s.

Are they going to have a go then? I thought to myself, still shocked by what was about to happen as I turned to face Paliseth.

In return, Paliseth flashed me a wide, long smile, as if to say that the true show was only beginning.

The colosseum was not just a place where blood was shed. Often, there would be public displays of procreation, perpetrated by the more open members of their society. In fact, it was basically a part of the daily show at this point; it wasn’t strange at all to see a few such cases in a day. Even some of the slave gladiators were a part of this live performance, choosing to have a go right after their victory instead of waiting till they were in the backrooms.

What was more shocking however, was that such acts of perversion were actually popular with the crowd… Naturally, all that was assuming such people survived the fight.

Reyage kept his cool for the most part, even when faced with a potentially exciting situation down below. He was every bit an old, wizened monk right now: expressionless and unaffected. As for his sister… her face was already buried in my chest.

Her hands were completely cupping her ears and her body was shivering just like it would when she was frightened. That was how timid of a girl she was. Even though the sword didn’t harm the human in the end, the mere thought of that grisly scene was enough to frighten her.

The human female below had already resigned herself to her fate, but apparently fate had something more cruel in store for her. The dreaded cold embrace of death never came, instead she felt a chill on her back, both figuratively and literally. The Sword Dancer chose not to kill her right away, he wanted to humiliate her in the worst possible way -that was why he sliced her shirt up under the watchful eyes of tens of thousands of people.

Feeling her clothes slip off her back, the female human immediately grabbed onto whatever scraps of cloth that were left covering her chest. Then she turned around to face the Sword Dancer so as not to let him see her exposed back. This time, there was panic written all over her face. Real, visceral panic. Her body instinctively pulled itself away from Sarkath, crawling desperately away in a bid to put some distance between her and him.

Unfortunately, there was no way her crawling was ever going to save her. The perfectly unharmed Sword Dancer had on a sinister sneer as he looked at the female human, as if she was nothing more than a dirty Duergar. “Hmph, you should consider it an honor for lowly creatures like yourself to serve me. Do you honestly think I would covet that body of yours? That body which you might see as perfect but is actually no better than a filthy Duergar’s.”

His barbed words cut into her like a sword, but she never responded to him in the slightest. She merely continued crawling away, all the while clutching on that dangling piece of hemp on her chest.

Sarkath maintained a calm pace as he walked up to her. His face held none of the lust you would expect, instead it held that paradoxical look of disgust you would see on a person who was about to swallow something he knew was revolting but chose to do it anyway.

It was as if the unspeakable acts he was about to inflict on her were actually an insult to his noble self… like how one wouldn’t cavort in bed with a dog.

That self-aggrandising attitude of his only made me want to ask him this: so why are you doing this then… Suddenly, I remembered Paliseth’s mysterious smile. Nothing needed to be explained from that point onwards.

Before his dastardly deed was about to be perpetrated, I finally spoke up.

“Stop.” I said with furrowed brows, voice amplified significantly by my own magic.

Had this been a willing transaction, I would have never interfered like this -just like how I never said a word after that previous match with the Dwarf and the Dark Elf. In fact, I was even a little excited back then by how the Dwarf would react to the Dark Elf’s solicitation… aren’t all men like that? At least, I am.

This time was clearly different. The female human was clearly forced into such an act by the male Dark Elf. And the male Dark Elf didn’t even seem willing to go through with it in the first place. It was clear that he must have had a reason for doing this, and this reason most likely had nothing to do with his will, and all to do with a certain Matriarch who was still excitedly watching the scene unfold.

Unfortunately, my objection was easily drowned out by the frantic cheering from the audience. No one had heard what I said, and even if they did, it was a question whether or not they would even care.

While all that was happening, Sarkath continued approaching the female human with the expression of someone who was about to swallow a cockroach. Yet even if the audience did not hear my objection, there was someone who certainly did.

Paliseth, upon noticing my obvious disapproval of what the Dark Elf below was about to do, tried to intervene right away. Unfortunately, her attempts were a little too late…

Upon hitting the walls of the ring with her back, the female human knew that she was doomed. Her thirst for vengeance might have clouded her mind, but even she could see what was about to happen to her. Sarkath might have looked unwilling, but the fact that he hadn’t tried to kill her yet meant that something unspeakable was about to happen to her…

Without waiting for the Dark Elf to come any closer, her right hand darted to her back, coming out a second later to toss a dagger at Sarkath. However, if she wasn’t even able to hurt him under normal circumstances, she certainly wasn’t going to be able to do so in this state. Sarkath did not even bother dodging this attack. He instead swatted it away with his engraved longswords like a fly.

But seeing her still try to struggle even at the eleventh hour, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger rising in his chest that swiftly reached his head. An instant later, he dove forward with swords aimed right at her throat!

This sudden change in heart was naturally just an attempt to frighten her into submission. He had never intended to kill her, and was planning to stop a hair’s breadth away from her throat. Unfortunately, he had miscalculated. She wasn’t cowed by the impending threat of death at all -she welcomed it! A gush of blood later… the female human had her throat pierced by the Sword Dancer’s engraved swords.

She didn’t die immediately however. Her throat continued to move, as if she was trying to say something to the Dark Elf. I couldn’t hear what she was saying from where I was, but I could clearly feel her words in my soul.

“I curse you.”

Just like that, she died with her eyes wide open.

Yet Sarkath clearly wasn’t one to care for whatever she had to say. He impatiently pulled out his stained swords, and even kicked her on the face to dislodge them even faster. The blood splatters on his otherwise beautiful swords displeased him greatly. He gave them a quick flick to clean them, then turned around to leave, not even bothering to spare the woman he had just slain a second more of his time.

While I could not know what he was thinking right now, my guess would have been something like this…

‘Wretched thing… even in death, you have to inconvenience me.’

This guy… even if you look down upon her, there has to be limits, right? You just killed her and you’re already humiliating her right away… isn’t that just going overboard?

“Who is that?”

I did not specify who I was referring to, but Paliseth implicitly knew who I was asking about. Seeing that I was even more displeased now, she immediately wiped that smile off her face and answered me in earnest.

“Does your holiness dislike that Sword Dancer?”

“I do. I hate him so much that I would wish him dead.”

Honestly speaking, the Elves did possess a more noble bloodline than the humans, what with their immensely long lifespans. But humans had their strengths as well. They were able to learn quickly and had the potential to reach the same heights as Elves. While the Elves had the right to look down on others because of their long lives, it was also a fact that they developed at a much slower right than humans, not to mention the obvious superiority the humans had in numbers. In fact, if we were just talking about high level warriors and mages, the humans had more.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

The Sword Dancer who had swapped to the back of the human female was just about to attack just like before. This time however, he found a round object flying right in his face. In the time it took for him to blink, the buckler was already right in front of him. The Sword Dancer raised his left hand and used his reverse gripped longsword to block the oncoming projectile. Yet while this may have saved him from being hit, it almost meant that his vision was temporarily obscured by the buckler.

The moment the Sword Dancer felt the buckler collide with his left hand, he immediately felt a hair-raising sense of danger close in on him. It was a glint of steel that came slicing through the air with a sharpness that threatened to tear him apart from a distance away.

It was at this moment that the Sword Dancer’s honed instincts took over. He nimbly twisted his body to the side, leaving behind an afterimage just from the sheer speed at which he avoided being sliced at the last minute.

Yet this slicing attack was only a ruse – the real attack was yet to come!

The moment the female human saw that her attack had been dodged, she activated her strongest attack possible. She took to the air in a burst of power, and her Fighter’s Aura began gathering around her longsword an instant later, like a cannon that was just about to fire its load!

Roscar had told me of this move before. It was a famous killing move known as Skyfall.

This move was a powerful one, and fast too. However, because it only acted in a straight line, an agile opponent could easily avoid it if he was prepared. Because of that, Skyfall required a certain degree of setup if its user wanted to guarantee a hit. And setup she did!

However, just when she thought her killing move was going to work, it missed. When the Sword Dancer twisted away to avoid the first attack, and was faced with her Skyfall, I could clearly see him smirking.

With its extreme speed, Skyfall often misled its slower targets into believing they were hit by light instead. Under normal circumstances, the female human’s two tiered attack should have ensured that the agile Sword Dancer was no longer able to dodge Skyfall. However, it still missed in the end. That was because at the instant that it was about to hit, the Sword Dancer suddenly turned into a cloud of black mist…

Skyfall immediately blew up the ground in front. The female human then came to a half kneeling land in the half meter deep pit she dug, face as devastated as the ground…

Impossible! How did that Sword Dancer even do that?!

From our VIP box, I could clearly see what had happened in that instant.

Just seconds ago, that female human had made the biggest gamble ever. She tossed her buckler away in the direction where she predicted her opponent would be. On this count, I had to applaud her combat senses. While she might not have been as agile as the Sword Dancer, her sharp instincts allowed her to accurately guess where he was going to be next. There was no riskier gamble than this for a fighter like her. If she made the wrong call, she was basically dead meat.

Thankfully for her, this gamble paid off. The Sword Dancer habitually came to strike at the female human’s weak spot, and that made him predictable. Yet even when faced with an unexpected chain of attacks, the Sword Dancer reacted with terrifying agility. In the span of a breath, he blocked the projectile and even blocked the next attack without his vision aiding him.

While it might have seemed like fortuitous happenstance that the buckler so happened to block his eyes, this was all planned by the female human. She had used a special throwing technique with that buckler. It made whatever she threw twist upwards right after being launched. Then, as part of the next step, she launched a crescent-shaped wave of Sword Aura at the Sword Dancer.

Aura Projection… that’s a Four-star Warrior ability.

With his vision blocked, the Sword Dancer had no way to see the Sword Aura attack. However, his wealth of battle experience and insane reflexes still allowed him to dodge the attack.

Then came the final step of the female human’s plan: Skyfall. With no doubt in her mind, the female human launched what she thought was the deciding move. In what had to be the fastest Skyfall she had ever launched in her life, her final move raced towards the Sword Dancer like a bolt of lightning. She clearly intended for this move to kill that Dark Elf as well. However, her speed wasn’t what surprised me, instead it was the golden aura that surrounded her longsword as she prepared to attack!

As a quick refresher, only Five-star Warriors were able to imbue their weapons with their aura in order to increase its strength. That meant this female human was a Five-star!

Unfortunately, despite all her planning, she wasn’t able to anticipate that her opponent would have such a strange technique up his sleeve… he actually flew away in the nick of time as a cloud of black mist!

Yet this new form did not last very long either. With a speed that a normal human could never hope to match, the black mist flew to the back of the female human, dual longswords floating within it.

A second later, the black mist began to take up a physical form. The tall, lanky frame of that Sword Dancer materialised before the entire colosseum once more. And in that instant, the colosseum exploded, like water into a pot of boiling oil.

The audience members screamed at the top of their voices, yelling out whatever nonsense they could think of, as if this was the only way they could show their unbridled excitement.

“Wooooowww!!!!”

I had to admit, that transformation move was a stroke of genius, and was a perfect example of why these matches could be so invigorating.

However, just because her killing move had failed, did that mean that the female human had given up? No, that look of devastation on her face was all faked. She had never once given up on victory!

The moment she felt a stir in the air from that Sword Dancer materialising, she swung her longsword behind her without any hesitation. That same golden aura that imbued her longsword also made it suddenly elongate by a whole inch at this point.

Yet even this sudden change wasn’t able to faze the Sword Dancer. He merely smirked at her coldly and transformed back into a black mist, reappearing behind her once more.

This time, his transformation was even faster than before, leaving the female human with no time at all to react. Once he had materialised, he immediately followed up with a swift stab to her heart!

But just as that attack was launched, he suddenly changed the direction of his attack, forcefully diverting it towards her legs instead. Then with a twist of his body, he sent a fierce kick flying towards the female human’s back. That kick had nothing held back at all and sent the female human immediately flying away over a dozen meters…

The female human flew through the air like a deflated balloon, finally coming to a tumbling stop some time later. By the time she stopped sliding backwards, her body was covered from head to toe in blood and dirt.

Thanks to her Fighter’s Aura guarding her, she didn’t just die from that kick. But her condition wasn’t good either. As she laid there on the ground coughing out blood, her golden hair flowed to the ground, mixing in with the blood and dirt that covered the ground. Yet even in her ragged state, her eyes held nothing but hatred for the Sword Dancer… seems like there’s a backstory between these two… too bad that glare of hers can’t kill anyone, at least hers isn’t anyway.

The Sword Dancer slowly strolled up to her. In response, the female human tried to get up on her feet. However, her attempt was doomed to failure as the Sword Dancer immediately kicked her on her shoulders. This time, it wasn’t a heavy kick like before. It was more of a warning, telling her to stay down.

“Aren’t you just in a terrible state right now?” The Sword Dancer haughtily gazed down at the female human. “You weren’t even much to look at to begin with, now you look worse. I still don’t get what Lewell sees in you.”

“Sarkath!”

The female human spat out his name in response. Her voice shook with a fury that was reflected in her eyes as well.

“Don’t say my name.” Faced with her all-consuming rage, the Sword Dancer merely furrowed his brows in disgust. “Hearing my name uttered by your lips is an insult. Don’t test my patience.”

“Sarkath!!!”

“I told you not to say my name!:

“Sarkath! Why won’t you just die!”

As if yelling her hated foe’s name had granted her strength, the female human suddenly struggled to her feet at that point and punched the Sword Dancer known as Sarkath. Her flying fist carried with it all her hatred and her aura combined into one deadly strike that wished for nothing more than Sarkath’s death!

Faced with this powerful punch, the Sword Dancer Sarkath smartly chose not to face it head on. He used that strange movements of his to nimbly swerve to her back before giving her left leg a swift kick.

Still in the process of punching, she wasn’t able to react at all when her leg was suddenly kicked from the back. Her body immediately lost its balance, after which she fell to the ground with a loud crash…

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Based on accepted knowledge, normal humans who are Two-star and below have an average lifespan of 65 years. Naturally, this number assumes a time of peace, seeing as war introduces too many unmeasurable factors.

In contrast, an ordinary Elf’s lifespan is a lot longer. A healthy Elf could expect to live past 500, with stronger members of their clan enjoying an even longer lifespan.

In terms of a normal human’s lifespan, an average human spends a significant portion of his life growing up, taking at least sixteen years to mature from infanthood to adulthood. Most children have their marriage arranged before their sixteenth birthday so as not to waste any time at all.

The Elves, being a long-lived race, actually did not require as long of a development phase as one would think. Up to twelve years of age, an Elf develops at the same age as a normal human being. It is from twelve onwards that an Elf experiences significantly reduced development.

A normal human could be considered mature at sixteen, while an Elf would only be considered matured at forty.

This disparity in development speeds has a major impact on each race’s development as a whole.

Using the same comparison of a human versus an Elf, a human at the age of sixteen could already be a fully fledged member of the army. The Elf, on the other hand, would have barely started puberty. The Elf’s mental age would roughly be that of a twelve year old’s as well. Such a slow development could be considered a fatal weakness in their race.

Perhaps that is why an Elf’s development speed is much faster at the start; in order to adapt to the lifespans of the other short lived races in this world.

Assuming, of course, that Elves really took as long as I hypothesised to mature.

—- From | Elves and Humans: Their Developmental Stages |

Once a pair of gladiators were put into the ring, they were like crickets put into a box, neither was allowed to leave until a winner was decided.

As a race, the Dark Elves employed a wide variety of fighting occupations, but they mostly lined up with a human’s. A Warrior, an Assassin and a Mage; the usual occupations you would expect in a human society were present in Dark Elven society as well. Under the banner of these three main occupations, there were different branching specialisations as well. For example, there were Warriors that specialised in sword and shield tactics, Shieldbearers. Then there were the hybrid Warriors who combined magic and martial arts, the Magisters. Archers who were also masters of swordplay were known as Rangers. Archers who were able to imbue magic onto their arrows were known as Arcane Archers. Mages who relied on summoning magic to fight were known as Summoners, and those who specialised further in summoning Devils were known as Occultists. Mages who studied death were known as Necromancers. Finally, there were those who specialised in lockpicking and thievery, the Thieves. Branching further out, those amongst them who specialised in assassinations were naturally known as Assassins.

There were many, many more variations and combinations, but there was a certain specialised occupation unique to the Elves, these were the dual sword wielding Warriors known as Sword Dancers.

Sword Dancer as an occupation had existed since the ancient times. Given that, it wasn’t at all surprising that the Dark Elves still preserved this occupation after the schism that created the Wood Elves and the Dark Elves. If there had to be a difference between the two factions of Elves, it was that Dark Elven Sword Dancers were mostly beautiful females. Sword Dancers mostly took on non-combat roles, only performing their sword dance during special occasions to please the gods. It was believed that the gods above would bestow their blessings if they found the dance to their liking. Because of this, Sword Dancers had traditionally been considered a non-combat occupation.

In light of all that, it was strange to ever see a male Sword Dancer, especially in a matriarchal society like the Dark Elves… Perhaps that Dark Elf down there is from a special background?

Yet even as my mind began to consider all the possible explanations for this phenomenon, the fight had started.

It was the human female who made the first move. She raised her shield to her front and pointed her longsword forward: the typical starting stance of a sword and shield fighter.

Being a very balanced style of fighting, this combination of shield and sword was also the style of choice for a lot of fighters thanks to the lack of an obvious weakness.

In contrast, the Sword Dancer’s dual sword style was a highly aggressive, highly mobile style. Its defences were lacking, but that was made up for by its swift sword strikes.

Unless there was an obvious gap in power between the two, the Sword Dancer should be the one who had the advantage.

Yet a Sword Dancer’s attacks had to be flashy and intricate, seeing as their main purpose was to please the gods. Their combat strength might have been high, but they were also restricted by their occupational need to be flashy.

The male Sword Dancer below started circling the female human at blinding speeds. Each strike he threw out was executed with an unpredictable, even unusual set of footwork that allowed him to reposition himself easily. Sometimes, he would stab at the warrior’s left flank, and upon being blocked by the warrior’s shield, he would suddenly slide to her back for a slash.

Right off the bat, the female warrior had fallen for the Sword Dancer’s unending chain of attacks, completely unable to counter attack at all.

Such an oppressive style of attacks was what the Sword Dancer specialised in. With two swords in hand, a Sword Dancer could easily overwhelm another melee occupation, the exception being the heavily armored Shieldbearers. At higher tiers, a Shieldbearer’s shield could easily weigh over fifty kilograms and bestowed an almost impenetrable level of defense to its wielder.

In a melee fight, there were only two ways to overcome a Sword Dancer. One: possess a level of defense that allowed you to ignore the Sword Dancer’s attacks. Two: possess a speed that was even greater than the Sword Dancer’s. Unfortunately, the female warrior below satisfied neither of these categories. Her speed wasn’t as fast as the Sword Dancer’s and her buckler clearly wasn’t a fifty kilograms tower shield.

As time wore on, the Sword Dancer’s attacks only grew faster and faster. Her balanced style of combat which ordinarily would have allowed her to stand a chance against any other occupation was now her undoing. The Sword Dancer’s extreme style of fighting had countered her completely. By now, her left shoulder was covered in cuts while the right side of her face was a spider web of thin slices.

The Sword Dancer’s every attack was always followed up by a swift repositioning at an awkward angle for her. With her tiny buckler, she was barely even able to turn around in time to block, let alone strike back.

However, just defending wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Standing in this ring, there were only two acceptable outcomes: defeat or victory. The victor earned the right to mate with the loser while the loser either accepted their fate or killed themselves.

In truth, the appearance of a female slave gladiator was a surprise to me. According to my previous evaluation of the colosseums, this was supposed to be a breeding stock selection ground for females, not really for males. After all, while males might not have enjoyed a very high status in Dark Elf society, the fact of the matter was that there were too many females compared to males. With their overall openness to procreation-related activities, males shouldn’t have a lack of mates.

Long story short, they shouldn’t have to come to the colosseum at all, at most as an audience member if they really wanted to. Therefore, it stood to reason that he shouldn’t have any requests to make of a non-Dark Elf female. In that case, why was he here? In fact, why was the colosseum even keeping female slave gladiators then?

Having asked myself that question, I realised another issue as well.

Compared to the long-lived Dark Elves, your typical human had a very short lifespan. The sense of time between these two races couldn’t be any more different in that regard.

Perhaps the humans were being kept as livestock then? Well, something akin to livestock anyway. Just like how humans reared animals that were comparatively short-lived, the Dark Elves probably had the same idea as well. In the time it took for one Dark Elf to mature, a human could have already sired a mature second generation and was on the way to a third.

So if the colosseum was rearing its own stock of slave gladiators, and these new generation slaves had all grown up in Dark Elf society… didn’t that mean they all grew up being indoctrinated with the idea that Dark Elves were their masters? The moment I realised that, a chill ran down my spine.

Are they trying to raise a human army of slaves that are completely loyal to them?

“Your holiness?” Realising that my gaze had changed somewhat, Paliseth turned away from the match and faced me with a smile. “Is there any matter that Paliseth can assist with?”

“No, not for now.” I shook my head then looked at the match below. “Let’s continue watching the match.”

Back down below, this was the umpteenth time that the female human had narrowly escaped with her life. She was beginning to realise that wearing her opponent down through defense wasn’t viable at all. If she wanted to win now, she had to risk it all. Unfortunately, this bit of resolve was more like a prey’s last struggle in the eyes of that Sword Dancer.

The Sword Dancer up till now had always switched his angle of attack after each strike. His aim was to tire his opponent out from the constant movements. By unleashing an unending flurry of attacks on her, he would severely restrict her movements while his diabolical plan slowly closed in like a vice.

All that was about to change however. Now that she knew that victory was about to slip out of her grasp, the female human finally decided to embark on a risky gamble. She blocked one of his strikes again, but this time, she did not wait for the Sword Dancer to make his second attack. Instead, she tossed her round buckler behind her… in the direction where that Sword Dancer just so happened to appear at…

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

With regards to my origin story, I broadly brushed over it with a stroke of a pen. I never mentioned Nicole or Roscar, instead starting in earnest from when I became a Devil.

I won’t go into the details here, but suffice to say, it was an arduous journey… from me hatching from an egg into a foreign environment, to me recruiting a bunch of subordinates, all the way up to the portal to Purgatory. And not just any old section of Purgatory either, this was a section sealed up by Lucifer himself… Really, does anyone have a tougher life than me?

Thinking back on it however, I was able to scrounge up a whole bunch of benefits because of that. Chief amongst them had to be the identity granted to me by Lucifer. Because of that, I was able to run amok in Purgatory, all the while protected by Lucifer’s words. The strongest opponents I could possibly have were all Overlords, and they didn’t dare lift a finger against me.

Hmm… actually, my luck is pretty good isn’t it… now, if only I can turn back into a male…

“No wonder your holiness required an Overlord’s level of offerings in order to summon, and not just an ordinary Overlord at that. That explains it…” Paliseth exclaimed, having solved one of mysteries surrounding me at last.

Initially, her idea was to offer me up to the not-yet-my-godmother godmother because I was supposedly a successor of the Devil King of Pride. Bluntly speaking, this Devil King was merely a demigod, not at all comparable to an entity like Lolthe.

Basically, it was a ‘not like you can do anything about it’ kind of attitude that drove her to make this decision. After all, the stronger the entity was trying to cross dimensions, the harder it was for that entity to succeed.

Naturally, while I spent relatively more time recounting my Devil experiences than I did with my human experiences, it was still a summarized version, one which took a few minutes to fully tell.

My voice might have been calm while I was recounting these events, but those memories were more than just events in a history book. They were actual experiences, and not easy ones as well. Many things could have gone wrong like, what if Yi Yi didn’t help me reincarnate? What if I wasn’t able to reincarnate anymore? Or what if I reincarnated into a non-humanoid, like a beast or maybe even an insect.

Makes my head hurt just thinking about it… blast, I’ve gone off tangent again.

“Master? Are you alright?” Seeing my brows knit together in frustration, Jezsere anxiously leaned in on me. “Master… it’s alright now… everything is over…”

By the time I came back to my senses, I found myself in the embrace of Jezsere, an ironic reversal to be sure. It had always been me comforting this timid little girl, yet now it was her comforting me instead. That same fragrance wafted into my nose and those same perky hills pressed into my arms like before… is this the legendary secret x-rated scene I’ve long heard about… sheet…

While Jezsere continued to comfort me, Reyage maintained his silence beside her. As for Paliseth, that old hag who looked more like Jezsere’s older sister, she was giving me a very strange look right now. It almost seemed like she had seen through me and that made me uneasy.

What is she up to now? That searching look is now a thoughtful look… she’s definitely up to something!

It was at that point that the match below ended. The Dwarf had won. His defeated opponent was currently lying on her side on the floor, gazing at him while she slowly lifted up her slender legs. Her shapely legs were in full view right now, and one could even see that black lace-like material she wore on her thighs. Next, she used her right hand to prop her chest up, just enough that the Dwarf could see her bountiful chest and curvy waist. Her left hand then caressed her lower abdominal region, barely an inch away from her groin.

Yet that wasn’t the end of it either, her lips formed into a seductive smile that threatened to suck the soul of anyone who stared at them for too long. In the first place, this Dark Elven assassin was definitely above average in the looks department. With her obvious efforts at seduction, her natural beauty was even more pronounced.

Honestly speaking, any man would have been moved by this scene. Of course, this did not include me, because Jezsere was way more beautiful than some assassin. My timid little bunny is perfect in every way except for her timidness and clinginess. Not at all like that used good down there.

Going back to the colosseum, these matches were actually just a way for Dark Elven females to cherry pick the best DNA for their child. After the match, the rare breeding stock that were these gladiators would bring the defeated Dark Elven female to the inner chambers of the colosseum where they performed some sausage polishing… as for the details… there was a sausage and a bun, nothing else needed to be said.

Naturally, there was no denying that there were also those weird ones who wanted to do it right there and then in front of the audience… Either way, the Dark Elf had to obey the victor.

At least, that was how this whole scene was supposed to have proceeded. The long-awaited catharsis never happened. The Dwarf never even spared his defeated opponent a single look, instead throwing down these words before leaving, “you’re too skinny.”

You’re too skinny… too skinny… skinny…

What the fish?! What do you mean she’s too skinny? Look at her! She even fainted because of your harsh words. I swear… this place is just full of uncivilized barbarians who do not understand the sacred waifu. Just imagine for a second, what if all the Dark Elven females were all like your Dwarven females… oh jebus… urrrggh… better destroy this world just to be safe!

No, that Dwarf is just being prudent. He knew that his ugly mug wasn’t worthy of that Dark Elf. That’s right, that’s why he left like that… It’s just a pity that the lady had to suffer because of that…

The moment that Dwarf walked off, the audience stands erupted in thunderous booing. There were even some who questioned if her sausage polisher was even functioning. Then there was talk if this sausage was actually a bun, not a sausage at all! All manner of slander was tossed about to explain this strange sight, and it was mostly the females who were slandering too. The scene was even worse than a fish market right now.

As for me, I was devastated by this whole turn of events. Yes, I did not hope to see a beautiful girl like that assassin die if possible, but the same could be said for an innocent like that Dwarf as well. But the fact was that I needed souls. Also, where is my promised soul?

At this rate, when will I even get my healthy body back? My face progressively became blacker at that point.

“Your holiness, do not mind that Dwarf, their race has a different sense of beauty from ours.” Paliseth shook her head lightly and smiled. “Paliseth knows that your holiness wishes to relax so she had someone prepare for a more exciting match later. I’m sure your holiness will be surprised as well.”

“Surprised?” I turned to find a confident Paliseth smiling back at me. “What kind of ‘surprised’ are we talking about here?”

“Your holiness will see soon enough.” Having said that, Paliseth turned her attention back to the colosseum.

Well, since you put it that way, I guess I will just have to see then.

The crestfallen assassin had already left the ring and the new challengers had been chosen. Not too long after, a man and woman walked out from opposing sides of the colosseum.

Because we were seated at the highest point in the colosseum, and also because of my heightened Devil senses, I was able to clearly see what was going on down there as if I was actually there. I was even able to see the slight change in both the challengers’ faces.

The two challengers had fully stepped into the ring at this point. The man was a tall, lanky and handsome Dark Elf. The woman was a human warrior wielding a sword and shield and was roughly twenty-seven years old.

The man wore a set of leather armor that allowed for easy movement. The leather armor itself was adorned with intricate weavings that were only matched by the pair of engraved longswords he wielded. Longsword held in a reverse grip in one hand, the Dark Elf arrogantly turned his nose up at the female and even snorted.

Oh boy, there’s your typical arrogant rich kid attitude.

The woman looked decently pretty had it not been for that awful hemp clothes she had on now. Her golden flowing hair reached up to her shoulders. Her peach-shaped face and high-nose matched well with her golden eyes to give her an almost heroic look. Somehow… she seemed even more arrogant than that rich Dark Elf over there. Of course, that could just be her trying to protect the last shreds of her dignity. Or she could have just been born with that kind of face…

Her toned body peeked out seductively from below her hemp ‘clothing’. While she was no Aphrodite, she definitely had some curves on her.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

For Devils, the taste of a soul is directly related to two factors: the strength and the will of the person. To be exact, the will of a person refers to the strength of the person’s desires and his morals.

To a Devil, there is no better delicacy than a soul that was filled to the brim with desires or one that was of irreproachable character.

This taste for souls is one of the reasons why Devils have such a foul name outside of Hell. Devils have been known to form pacts with mortals through which they lend a portion of their strength to the mortal temporarily. Once the pact has been completed, the Devil may come to reap the soul at his or her pleasure.

A pact like this can be counted as a high level pact, one that caused both parties to be bound by the laws of the world. Until the pact has been completed, the Devil is restrained by the power of the pact. Once the other party has completed the pact however, they will no longer be able to resist the whims of the Devil.

Because the power of the signee stems from the Devil, there is no way for the signee to ever overpower the Devil by himself. However, the pact signee who is somehow able to kill the Devil he signed the pact with would be able to free himself from the pact and avoid being reaped. As for what method should be employed… The most effective method was to have someone else do the dirty work for them. Assuming, of course, the Demon Hunters or the Church were still willing to help someone who had sold his soul to the Devil…

From | A Devil’s Pact |

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Before I could go hunting for Nicole in the human realms, I had to remedy this weakness in my body.

According to Ferti’nier’s parting advice, this weakness was probably the side effect of eating all those magical beast cores. Such a condition was something I had never dealt with before, but she did leave another advice behind as well, and that was to eat more souls… perhaps that is the way to remedy my current situation?

Either way, any possible avenue had to be explored, that was if I wanted to return to the human realms anytime soon. It’s all for Nicole… in that case, let’s get to it.

The question then became: where the heck am I going to find a large amount of souls in Shadowhunter City? The Duergars? That probably wasn’t a good idea… after all, I have no quarrel with them, and they are one of the servant slaves of the Dark Elves. While I might have been their holy son, the fact was that even I couldn’t just slaughter a bunch of Duergars without reason. They were valuable labour, and whether it was from a practical or emotional standpoint, I shouldn’t raise my blade against them.

Hmmm… if quantity isn’t going to work, perhaps quality then… There are those Dark Elves and Dryders I saw earlier… actually, scratch that. I don’t want to be scolded by the godmother I just acknowledged… I need a more reliable method.

“Your holiness, has your current illness dampened your spirits? If that’s the case, how about we watch a quick colosseum match to relax?” Seeing as I was silent for a while now, Paliseth first thought was that my mood had soured. Her usual levity was quickly replaced by a solemn sense of concern. “That’s what we usually do to kill time.”

The colosseum again? The last time we went there, I was left speechless, and not in a good way too. All those wasted Dark Elven lives… as a member of the Waifus for Laifu Club, my heart aches… nay, tears at the thought of more bloodshed amongst females!

“Your holiness doesn’t wish to visit the colosseum then?” Paliseth asked, seeing as I hadn’t responded yet. “If not the colosseum… perhaps some sightseeing then?”

“No, let’s go to the colosseum, right now in fact.”

Given that I couldn’t directly slaughter some Duergars, Dark Elves or Dryders, the colosseum might have just been the method I was looking for. As the name suggested, the colosseum was where countless matches took place every day. It wouldn’t surprise me if over a hundred people died in that ring on a daily basis, else it would be a shame to its namesake. Not only that, the colosseum had the chance of showcasing some high level fights, perhaps some Five-stars or maybe even Seven-star experts. Such souls, while not very plentiful, were still more than a match for a bunch of weaker souls.

Under Paliseth’s and Jezsere’s gentle guidance and help, we finally reached the colosseum stands after much effort. This colosseum was one of the most popular spots in the whole of Shadowhunter City. At every point in the day, the stands would be packed with countless Dark Elves screaming at the top of their lungs.

Our seat was situated at the highest location in the colosseum so our arrival did not cause much of a stir. Especially not when there was a particularly fierce match going on right now.

Down below, a male Dwarf dressed in rags was currently fighting a Dark Elven female dressed in your typical assassin’s garb.

Before we arrived, these two had engaged in multiple exploratory clashes. Based on those short clashes, it seemed like neither side was stronger than the other.

The Dwarf fight was your typical Dwarf who prided himself on his beard and had an old uncle’s face paired with a large nose. He wielded a double-handed iron hammer that was constantly flailing about in the air. The head of this hammer was a large rectangle, and its body was a long rod made entirely out of metal. If it was resting on the ground, its height would most likely tower over its wielder… Speaking of which, that fellow down is probably a whole head shorter than me. I have heard that Dwarves tended to be around the 150 cm range.

Because this Dwarf took part in the match as a slave gladiator, he had no armor provided at all. All he could rely on for defense was his gigantic hammer. Without any armor whatsoever, that also meant that he couldn’t afford to trade blows as every hit from his enemy was a bonafide injury.

Assassin were known for their one-hit kills. For an assassin, there was no better target than a warrior who did not have his armor on. Assuming, of course, that this assassin was able to land a hit on said warrior.

Unfortunately, the Dark Elven assassin below seemed to have been injured before this match and was moving oddly. Her waving daggers seemed slower than expected which led to her being hesitant about facing the Dwarf’s swinging hammer. Without a way to approach the Dwarf, she naturally had no way to land a strike either.

In contrast, the Dwarf was still fiercely waving his hammer about. The Dark Elven assassin had tried multiple times to break through this defense but failed. Without any other choice left, she had to duck about while she waited for an opportunity to strike.

Yet the Dwarves were a race known for their hardy constitution, and the Dwarf below was no exception either. Even after ten minutes of wild swinging, he showed barely any signs of tiring at all. In fact, he seemed to be getting faster by the second, forcing that Dark Elven assassin to leap away multiple times in order to avoid a hit.

Well, isn’t he an energetic Dwarf? I’m guessing they have been feeding their slave gladiators well in the colosseum. Also, rather than calling this place the colosseum, how about calling it a speed dating agency instead?

As long as the slave gladiator triumphed over his Dark Elven challenger, he had the option to have a go at her… really, is there even any other form of dating that is faster than this? Perhaps a brothel… but I guess the employees of a brothel relied more on their charms rather than their brawns.

Also, as a testing ground for potential breeding stock, it wouldn’t make much sense to starve the gladiators, else any form of contest would be pointless.

Honestly speaking, up till now, this match hadn’t been the most exciting of matches. Rather than cheering for the match itself, the audience were probably just excited by the bulging muscles of that Dwarf. According to the rules, the winner gets to have his way with the loser, and it was said that big noses tend to come paired with a big weiner… ahem.

Before the Dwarf tired out, the Dark Elven assassin likely wasn’t going to make her move. Such a fight of endurance was, putting it bluntly, boring. I turned to look at a visibly excited Paliseth and asked in a concerned voice, “I remember there were reports of Minotaurs and Harpies causing trouble at the south side. Are you sure it’s alright for you to be here with me now?”

“Your holiness’s matters are more important. Besides, the war on the south side is a small matter to begin with, don’t worry. Paliseth has already sent more reinforcements their way, and Zurnalin has full control of matters over there.” Realising that my mind wasn’t on the match below, she smiled and asked, “Does this match not entertain your holiness?”

“Well, I was never the type to get excited by such hotblooded stuff. Besides, I have another motive for being here.”

To be honest, I was here just for the souls.

“Another motive?” Paliseth merely nodded her head after giving this matter some thought. Without asking what that motive was at all, she called for one of the attendants and whispered something in her ear. With that done, she turned her attention back to the ring.

“Master, if you’re feeling bored… how about telling Jezsere some stories from your past?” Jezsere leaned in at that point, eyes practically shining with curiosity and expectation. “Jezsere still doesn’t know much about master.”

“You really are an adorable one, aren’t you.” I gently flicked her on her nose then under her slightly dissatisfied gaze, began recounting in earnest. “Honestly, there’s really nothing much to say about my past. Before becoming a Devil, I was just an ordinary human who ended up dying to save a young Fallen Angel girl. After dying, that Fallen Angel sent my soul to Hell where I was reborn as a Devil…”

The moment I began telling my tale, Reyage perked up his ears as well. Not only Reyage, even Paliseth and the other Dark Elves present seemed to have changed the focus of their attention to me.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.

Leave a comment

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Author: The Sole Survivor	Original Source: SFACG
Translator: CatatoPatch	English Source: Re:Library

Now. When I said bully, I didn’t mean anything naughty by that… absolutely not! After all, we now had a couple of unwelcome guests: Reyage and Paliseth.

“Your holiness, are you alright?”

Paliseth barely stepped into the room before she immediately leapt in my direction. Ignoring the visibly at a loss Jezsere near me, she reached out and pulled me towards her, right into a rubbing embrace.

I say, how about you stop showing off those mountains of yours for once… I’ll admit, they are big, but they are also suffocating me right now. Also, I’m still a bonafide man here! Why are you acting so brazenly in front of me? I might just… just… fine. At least my soul is that of a man’s!

If it wasn’t for your kids and Solar-sama, I would have already… muffled sounds I… I swear! Just because my pee pee isn’t here doesn’t mean you can just bully me…

“Master… master’s body is convulsing…”

“Mother… cease and desist…” I could vaguely make out Reyage’s panicked pleading from within the depths of bouncy hell. “You’re hugging his holiness too tightly, he can’t breath…”

After a fair bit of flailing later, I was finally allowed to breath once more. The first thing I did then was to distance myself from Paliseth, scampering all the way to the safety of Jezsere’s back.

“Back off, don’t come a step closer!” I even threw her a ‘scram’ look to make my point even clearer. “That’s right, just like that, stay the right heck away from me. Also, I forbid you from pointing those deadly weapons in my face again… I still want to live for a long time…”

“Alright.” Paliseth cheekily smiled as she said that. Clearly my warning had no effect on her.

However, there was nothing I could do about this nonchalance of hers. This centuries old hag definitely knew that I didn’t truly dislike her chest rubbing, that’s why she always opened up with that move. Speaking of moves… that bounciness only gets better the more she does it, like an acquired taste… but I definitely do not want to suffer death by bouncy suffocation! At least give me some warning before you do that.

Putting aside the slightly smug Paliseth for now, I turned my attention towards Reyage. “How’s your injuries, Reyage?”

“They are fine now, Reyage is grateful for your holiness’s concern.” Reyage lowered his head as he said that. His face looked a little tense, just like his unusually polite words, as if he didn’t dare look me in the eyes.

I guess this is what an emperor felt like in the past when his subjects addressed him… for him to change so much overnight… Without a doubt, my status in Dark Elven society had reached the level of an emperor of old.

“As long as you’re fine.” I nodded lightly in his direction but made no mention of why he was even injured to begin with. Reyage smartly chose not to bring up his failure in Arachne Caverns as well.

Just like that, the both of us fell into an awkward silence. Realising this, Paliseth rushed in to break the ice on our behalf. “Your holiness, you don’t seem too well yourself.”

“It’s fine, just some minor side effects, that’s all.” Having said that, I raised my left hand to show them my new accessory. “This is my… +11 Epic Purple Mithril Triple-threat Fire Elemental Guarding a Inferno Lion Summoning Tool…”

Don’t ask me why the name is so long, because I am shocked as well. Why the heck did I think of that name the moment I saw that bracelet?! I know why, it must be Ferti’nier’s fault! That she-devil, why did she have to come with such a weird name!? And I thought that’s just a name you only see in games?

Has she been flipping through my memories? Or did I leak out some information from my previous life? Either way, she seems to have found out some stuff about my previous life…I just hope this won’t come back to bite me in the butt.

“Master… the name is a bit much for Jezsere…” She groggily shook her head, clearly shocked by the majesty that was my bracelet.

“Your holiness sure has a unique sense of… naming…” She tried to think of a more polite way to describe my majestic bracelet but finally settled on a dry laugh instead. “Really unique…”

Reyage: …

Hey, don’t give me that ‘I’m looking at a moron’ look… it’s really not my naming, it’s Ferti’nier! Also… also… you know what, there’s no point in denying it at all. To the uninitiated, I was the one who created this majestically-named bracelet. In that case, the one who came up with the name had to be me as well…

“Alright, alright… it’s real name is Inferno Lion’s Splendor. As for that really long and convoluted name…” I cleared a throat a couple of times and smiled. “That was just a joke. The atmosphere was getting a bit bleak so I thought I should liven up the mood. How was it? Funny, right?”

Reyage: …

“Ah, so that’s what it was.” Paliseth smiled obligingly, but I could tell that it was a very forced one. “Your holiness is such a kidder.”

“Master?” Jezsere looked at me quizzically. “So that name wasn’t real?”

“Mhm.” I nodded. “It’s real.”

“Ehhh?!”

Her mind exploded at that point… hey, hey ,hey, don’t go collapsing now…

My current state could only be described as frail. Even walking was difficult for me now, so when Jezsere started to faint because of my teasing, I was unceremoniously pushed down onto the bed by her…

Oops… seems I went a little overboard with the joke…

Inferno Lion’s Splendor was an Epic level piece of equipment, one that had already reached Epic-grade without any further enhancement.

One of the traits of such equipment were that they had their own will and could choose their own master. Furthermore, at their full strength, an Epic-grade equipment could allow an Eight-star to go up against a Nine-star.

However, being an equipment with its own will, not everyone would be able to tame it. Normally, there were two ways of gaining the equipment’s approval: suppressing it by force, or just be liked by it. Naturally, there was an even better third option of being liked by it and suppressing it by force.

Of course, that wasn’t to say that a person automatically had the power of a Nine-star just by owning such an equipment. After all, the tool was a dead thing. The wielder had to be the one to bring out its full potential.

Just like how a Gundamn piloted by a Newtypeh was stronger than one piloted by a normal person, a weapon was only as strong as its wielder.

Going back to the Inferno Lion’s Splendor, a name which was infinitely easier to remember than what it originally was, this tool had the ability to automatically absorb the fire elements in the environment in order to replenish itself. At the end of the day, a whole Nine-star’s core and three Eight-star cores were used up just to make this tool. From Six-star onwards, such magical beast cores had the ability to absorb the elements from the air, just like a self-charging solar battery. In fact, I could use them as a battery right now, although it would be quite an extravagant battery.

Ferti’nier had already carved a summoning array onto this bracelet. As long as I infused some of my own mana into it, I could instantly summon three Fire Elementals or an Inferno Lion. Either could be summoned separately or together at the same time. As for the actual strength of the summons… well, let’s just say that it was directly linked to how much mana I put in.

For the time being, I was only able to summon a Fire Elemental. I tried summoning an Inferno Lion, but the proud creature that it was wouldn’t submit to me, even in its weakened state. In all likelihood, I had to wait a while longer before I was strong enough to summon it.

Other than summoning, the bracelet also had the ability to control fire to some degree. It was entirely possible to treat it as a mage’s staff.

That meant that I could still use some fire spells without having to expose my identity. However, rather than calling these spells, they were more like an ability at this point. Also, this fire was only limited to ordinary fire. Nether Flames were flames originating from Hell. If I dared to use that in a human kingdom, that would pretty much expose my identity.

Speaking of Nether Flames, the Inferno Lion’s Splendor had two different modes to it. The first was where it enhanced ordinary flames while the second was where it enhanced Nether Flames.

That’s right, Nether Flames. This bracelet could enhance Nether Flames. The same flames that even Devils did not dare touch. Even though Ferti’nier’s personality left a lot to be desired, I had to admit, she did me a solid favour this time. Had it not been for her awakening my transformation ability and giving this bracelet, my journey for Nicole might just be my last.

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Shameless Self-promotion

Announcement: I’ve re-opened my Patreon in case anyone wants to sponsor more chapters. Every end of the month, those chapters in early access will be released for free for all to read. If you sponsored a chapter, you will gain permanent early access to these chapters. Essentially, everyone gets more chapters to read, but those who donated get to read earlier. More chapters will then be translated at the start of the month. Explanation on the Patreon itself.

LINK HERE

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.