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Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

Those who did not know our little acid tongue might not understand the reason for her prickliness. They might not even like her, especially seeing how hostile she was with everyone. But I knew the reason why she acted in such a way. Why she bit at anyone she encountered like a rabid dog…

Even after learning of her mother’s death, Aishael did not show much emotions. In fact, she did not even attend her mother’s burial. Clearly, this wasn’t because she had no idea that a burial was being held in the first place. Thanks to the care I showed her, Paliseth made sure Aisha’s burial was a grand one. Being the meticulous old hag that she was, Paliseth would have definitely sent a messenger to inform Aishael, but that was met with silence.

The last two days had been insanely busy for the little girl. Yet this still wasn’t the reason why she missed her own mother’s burial. The reason was because she wanted to suffer.

There were those in the world who would forgive whatever transgressions they suffered, as long as their survival was ensured. No matter what atrocity was committed against them, as long as they could live, they would choose to forgive their aggressor. It was a very practical yet weak attitude. Then there were those who met aggression head-on. The harder the opposition was, the harder they would resist. Aishael was just such a girl.

That was why she wanted herself to suffer. She wanted to carve this hatred into her heart, and by using those negative emotions, she would grow stronger! Naturally, this wasn’t good for her psyche, but she did it anyway.

Regardless of what her motives were, I wanted to help this poor girl, to be her shield. The last thing I wanted was for the darkness in her heart to irrevocably take root.

There was a saying that appearances were deceiving. There was no better example than Aishael herself. She had the appearance of a little girl, but she was already twenty. At such an age, most humans would already be getting married. But amongst the Half-Elves, she was just a slightly older elementary student. Yet that didn’t stop her from being beautiful…

What I was trying to say was this… the reason why I helped her was simple: I’m a member of the Waifu for Laifu club! As the saying goes, anything can be forgiven as long as you’re beautiful.

Right this very instant, I was galloping furiously ahead on Mo Ning, Jezsere hugged securely in my embrace. With Zurnalin at the lead, we had already travelled over ten kilometers when we came upon a strange sight of a bunch of Murlocs frolicking by the underground river.

There were three Murlocs in this group, of whom two were those two potato brothers we encountered not too long ago: the Murloc Shaman and the Murloc Clanleader. As for the last ‘Murloc’, she was a mermaid-looking creature… that’s right, the kind with a human body and a fish tail!

However, this mermaid wasn’t like the mermaids in the fairy tales. While she might have had a human face, her upper torso was that of a human’s but covered in scales…

What would have ordinarily been a beautiful female upper body was now covered in dense scales. Her hair grew out behind her like brackish seaweed that gave off a strangely horrific look. If I had to describe the look, it was like a beautiful girl suddenly turned her head a full 180 degrees around to stare at you.

Naturally, if one were to cover up the rest of her body, she was still a sight to behold.

“Your holiness… you’re here… nothing feels me with greater joy than to see you present in person…”

The moment the Murloc Shaman saw me, he leapt towards me like a son who had just found his long lost father. Unfortunately for him, I was still riding on Mo Ning with a very timid girl in my arms, a girl who immediately screamed when she saw a fishy face jumping right towards her. Upon hearing that high-pitched scream, Mo Ning looked around as well, only to find a rather strange looking creature crawling out of the river and jumping towards them. That strange creature not only had sharp fangs, but he was ugly as well. That was why she sent him flying away with a kick of her hooves.

Because Mo Ning did not use too much force with her kick, the Murloc Shaman merely tumbled a little before getting to his feet once more. Upon doing so, he swiftly prostrated himself before slowly crawling towards me. He smiled and said, “Hahaha, even your holiness’s steed is impressive…”

… are you even a man, or maybe your heart is just that big that you would immediately come and curry my favor after getting kicked aside like that…

“Are you alright?” That was the only response I could come with when faced with his shameless bootlicking.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. Definitely fine!” He repeated with fervor. “It’s my honor to be kicked aside by his holiness’s steed!”

Even though this Murloc Shaman had always struck me as shameless before, the span of three days had somehow made him even more hateable. No longer able to stand his wretched behavior, I quietly signalled towards Mo Ning who stamped on the Murloc’s head. Yet instead of crying out in pain, he seemed to be enjoying it.

“Ahhh… even your holiness’s kick feels so good… as long as it doesn’t kill me, please do not hold back…”

… I want to punch his shameless face… ah… Mo Ning already did it…

This time, Mo Ning did not even require any hint from me before she sent him flying away once more. Finally, the world was peaceful once more, except for a fishy scream in the background.

“Come here.” I gestured towards an unhappy Murloc Clanleader in the distance. The more prideful of the two brothers, the Murloc Clanleader wasn’t too happy about being summoned over like that, but because of Zurnalin’s death stares, he had no choice but to comply. Unlike his spineless brother, the Murloc Clanleader was more than happy to glare right back at me.

“Alright, what’s going on with that brother of yours. How did he get so much more annoying in just a few days?”

Hearing that, the Murloc Clanleader couldn’t help but be exasperated as he said, “Zurnalin told us about you so…”

“So…”

“So he thought that by garnering your favor, he can legitimately replace me, or maybe even control the entire Fluorescent Marsh.” At that point, I could detect a hint of resignation in his voice. “You are the holy son of the Dark Elves, after all…:”

“…”

Even though the Murloc Clanleader did not say much, I could already guess the gist of the situation. Zurnalin had told them about me when she was out subjugating the Fluorescent Marsh. Because of that, all the Murlocs knew that the severity of the situation, seeing as attacking a holy son of another religion would often lead to a massacre. Because of that, that shameless potato also had the idea that he could use me to gain more power.

At the same time that she mentioned my identity, Zurnalin also talked about the war that was happening in the south and how they needed fodder for this war. The Murloc Clanleader wasn’t all that happy about this arrangement at the start, but because they couldn’t defeat her Blood Drake Riders, he had no choice but to go along anyway.

Being the smart potato that he was, the Murloc Shaman saw this an opportunity and happily obliged unlike his brother. By showing subservience towards Zurnalin, he was hoping to show his own loyalty towards me as well. To Zurnalin, whatever reason he had was irrelevant, she just wanted the Murlocs’ allegiance.

Originally, the plan was to introduce me to the Murlocs again when the war was over. Yet before it had even started, I ended up appearing before him. That was why he practically leapt at me like a mental fish in order to grasp this opportunity.

In actuality, the Fluorescent Marsh was a massive territory that held more than just those two Murloc tribes. There were all manner of strange creatures living in the marsh and the Murlocs merely formed a small portion of the entire region. But with the help of the Dark Elves, the Undermarsh Murlocs might just be able to conquer the entire Fluorescent Marsh.

Assuming that I gave the word…

Naturally, power wasn’t just the only reason why that Murloc Shaman was trying his hardest to butter me up. He was wooing the affections of a potential mate as well. That potential mate was Lily.

Lily was a mutated mermaid, an offspring of a mermaid and a snake magical beast. Because of her strange looks, she was often despised by the other mermaids. No longer able to endure this mistreatment, she left in search of her father. In the end, she somehow landed up in Fluorescent Marsh.

Is her father here then? Actually, that’s not even important right now. What’s important is to end this battle quickly, then find Nicole after settling the issue with the Half-Elves.

The Murlocs who came to participate numbered close to 5000. Even though this was an impressive showing, the Murlocs themselves weren’t as strong as the Dark Elves or the Half-Elves. Still, a cannon fodder was still a cannon fodder no matter how weak he was.

Lily wasn’t all that impressed by my presence so she merely bowed in my direction before leaving to settle her own matters. She led her own band of Murlocs as well thanks to her strong magicks and the fact that her bloodline was more noble than that of the Murlocs.

(TL: I’m assuming the author is referring to Lily here. Otherwise, her name is Mary…)

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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Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

“How do you know that?!” The moment those words left her mouth, Mo Ning realised she had been tricked. She quickly came up with a weak excuse to try and rescue her folly. “Hmph, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Is that real ignorance or are you feigning it? I’m sure you know better than I do.” Zurnalin sneered in return.

With that said, both sides fell into silence, their ruby red eyes glaring at each other while the atmosphere around them got noticeably tenser by the second.

Maybe I should step in?

I felt a tug at that point. I turned around to find Jezsere looking up to me with a scared expression. “Master… are those two going to fight?”

“I don’t think they will…” Yet even I did not know if that was true based on how they were facing off against each other.

Then, it happened…

The one to strike first was Mo Ning. The rules of Purgatory were simple: if you didn’t agree, then you fight, winner takes all. To some extent this was true for the whole world, but even more so for Purgatory which was relatively backwards.

Mo Ning raised her lengthy body up high, rear hooves bursting with muscle as they propped up her upper half. Her white skirt was no longer able to hide her horse bits, revealing two menacing front hooves that were about to stamp down hard on Zurnalin.

Yet Zurnalin easily evaded those oncoming hooves, and with a quick grab, she reached for the sword at her waist and stabbed at Mo Ning’s abdominal area with its sheath still attached…

Zurnalin knew for certain that Mo Ning was related to me. That was why she tried not to hurt the half horse lady. But Mo Ning wasn’t one to be so easily caught as well. Before the sheathed sword could land a hit, she had already jumped backwards, and with the fastest speed possible, leapt forward in a charge.

In a direct competition of strength, Zurnalin was definitely no march for Mo Ning. As a knight, the lack of her steed also left her at a great disadvantage. She knew that Mo Ning had the strength to severely injure her, thus she wisely chose to play it safe.

If there was something to be thankful for in this crazy turn of events, it was that both sides weren’t trying to kill the other, merely teach the other a lesson. Because of that, the fight had only been restricted to simple physical strikes.

Still, the fact that they were fighting so brazenly in front of me was just disrespectful! What would people think of me if I couldn’t stop two ladies who were madly in love with me from causing a bloodbath?!

“Stop!” I yelled, finally unable to bear with it any longer. The two of them promptly stopped fighting the moment I said that. However, both of them kept up a wary stance as they glared at each other.

“Master…” Never a big fan of fights to begin with, Jezsere was already shaking from the hostility both sides showed in front of her. It wasn’t a true fight per say, but that didn’t stop our resident timid girl from ducking behind me.

“There, there. The fighting is over now.” I comforted her, slightly exasperated by that timid personality of hers. I then turned over to face the two ladies, face black as the ground I was standing on. “What are you two even thinking? Starting a fight like that in front of me?”

“Dearest, she started it!”

“Your holiness, that woman was the one who clearly struck first!”

I naturally knew that Mo Ning was the one who struck first, but it was Zurnalin who started this whole argument in the first place…

Yet that didn’t stop Zurnalin from being angered by Mo Ning’s accusation. “But you’re the one who hit me first!:

“Hmph, that’s because you had already caused me psychological damage before that.”

… psychological damage? What the potato is that?!

“Dearest, who are you planning to help here?”

“Your holiness, don’t tell me you’re interested in this odd-looking horse?”

“What do you mean odd-looking? I’m beautiful!”

“You’re neither a proper horse nor a proper humanoid… and you think yourself beautiful?”

“Hmph, I still have an engagement with my dearest.”

“What engagement? I haven’t heard of it.” She flipped her eyes in scorn. “Besides, so what if you have an engagement? Engagements can always be broken, especially when you look so strange.”

As I watched the scene descend further and further into chaos, my head began to ache as well. I wasn’t used to such confrontations and if they forced me to make a choice, would this result in another fight… but I don’t even like either of them…

“Dearest, you will side with me, right?”

“Your holiness, don’t tell me you really like horses?”

The two ladies tugged on each of my arms as they said that, causing my headache to only worsen by the second.

“Master…”

With so much vying for my attention, I was about to blow my top at any second. Thankfully, just before I lost my cool again, a slightly lackadaisical voice cut in from behind.

“If I am to be fair here, it is only to be expected that someone as noble as his holiness would be highly fought over. But at the rate you two are going at it, his holiness would undoubtedly be displeased. I have a solution that can settle this problem right now. First, I need both of you to let go of his holiness, because you two are causing him discomfort. If neither of you wish to be disliked by his holiness, listen.” Paliseth elegantly walked up to me as she said that. She then freed my right hand from Mo Ning then sent a warning glare towards Zurnalin to have her release the other.

Now that I was free, she continued with her explanation. “I can tell that both of you wish to claim his holiness as her own, but his holiness not only possesses a supremely noble bloodline, he also possesses a charm like no other. His future partners will definitely number greater than the two of you, so monopolising him is impossible. That’s why I suggest that both of you form an alliance. I won’t say that the both of you can prevent all the strays from gaining his attention like this, but at the very least, neither of you won’t find yourselves isolated in his future harem.”

Mhm, that’s right, absolutely convincing… like hell it is! How am I going to start a harem when my pee pee is still on vacation!? Someone teach me please!

Yet while her explanation might not have worked for me, it clearly worked on those two warring ladies. At the very least, both sides stopped glaring at each other and instead turned to me with an incredulous look in their eyes. The two then nodded in unison, as if they had just come to a mutual understanding of some sort…

Fudge…why does it feel like the days ahead are going to be stormy…

The situation at the south of Shadowhunter city was complicated, to say the least. The Harpies and Minotaurs would never ally with each other under normal circumstances, unless some absolute force was pushing them together.

Naturally, identifying the reason for this impossibility wasn’t our priority right now. The first issue that had to be tackled was the combined armies of said races marching towards the city. They had to be dispersed and destroyed if possible.

The one leading the army this time around was Zurnalin, the interim leader of the Blood Drake Riders, and a Dark Elf whose power was at least Seven-star. The Blood Drake Riders were the main fighting force of the Shadowhunter Clan. They had 2000 riders but only 1000 were deployed for this army.

As part of the supporting army, 200 Assassins were deployed as scouts. Then, there was the composite Dark Elven army of 5000 and the Half-Elven army of 2000.

For the most part, the army itself was organised according to occupations. Those of the same occupations -Archers, Knights, Shieldbearers, etc. – were put into the same contingent. A composite army meant that the occupations were mixed up in order to form a unit that could respond to any situation.

Each unit within the composite army had its own share of Archers, Shieldbearers and Spearmen. These were the basic building blocks of each unit. Those units with more backing might have even had a few Knights in the mix. Such an arrangement clearly had an advantage over the traditional army composition since it was more well-rounded. But it also had the disadvantage of being harder to organise in a large-scale battle.

Because of that, the Dark Elves mostly employed such tactics in small to medium scale skirmishes of under 50000.

The 2000 strong Half-Elven army basically encompassed the whole Half-Elven population within the city. The Half-Elves themselves had their own composite units. With the exception of Knights, they possessed all the occupations you would expect in other armies. Even though these Half-Elves were significantly better equipped this time around thanks to my care, the fact was that these Half-Elves looked uncoordinated from a distance, like they were just a ragtag bunch of soldiers thrown together at the last minute.

However, that didn’t stop the morale of the Half-Elves from being high. After all, this was the first time they were receiving the same treatment as the Dark Elven army.

The fact that 2000 Half-Elves were deployed meant that basically every Half-Elf who could pick up a weapon was in attendance. To the Half-Elves, this was a form of forced conscription. Whether it was the Hawkish Faction or the Peaceful Faction, both factions had to take part. Naturally, the one leading this entire army was Aishael.

Half-Elves matured at the age of thirty, that meant that despite Aishael’s immature appearance, she was very close to the age of maturity, given that she was already twenty. At her age, a normal human would already be able to go out hunting for his own bottle of chili oil.

Being the Matriarch of the Shadowhunter Clan, Paliseth naturally wasn’t going to lead this war. She had a lot of matters to attend to herself. As for why I was here… honestly, I would love to put it off to just wanting souls, but that clearly wasn’t a good reason, seeing as I could have just gotten the Occultists in the city to give me some souls.

The real reason I was here was because of Aishael…

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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Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

What was supposed to be a simple shopping trip between two ladies around the city ended up taking up the whole day instead. There wasn’t even a trace of either Paliseth or Mo Ning during this time. Had it not been for the fact that Mo Ning preferred females, I would have honestly thought that she was kidnapped by some weird male Dark Elf.

What a boree… I really need to find something to do. Maybe I should ask Lanbael to do some soil sampling… or maybe just bread sampling, that works too. She seemed rather happy with the previous bread sampling, what with how elegantly she gobbled down the entire bread without even me saying. Not like she had a choice… unless she wanted to do some soil sampling…

I ended up spending the night over at Jezsere’s room in a very comfortable embrace throughout. Now, if only my pee pee was back from its holiday… In the morning, we ran into a decidedly excited Zurnalin who so happened to be out on a stroll. I could tell that she was excited by how she leapt at me with arms wide open…

“Your holiness! I’m back!”

“Welcome back.” I said while deftly dodging her embrace and pushing Jezsere between us. “Now, is there anything I can help you with, as long as it’s not a hug.”

Seeing how I pushed Jezsere out to block her advances, Zurnalin couldn’t help but pout in dissatisfaction. “Hmph. Not even a hug… at this rate, having children together is going to be difficult.”

“Who said I was planning to have children with you?!”

If there was a word that could describe the character that was Zurnalin, it would be heroic. Whether it was her words or her bearing, they all perfectly fit the mould of a female hero. Yet from what I’ve heard about her, she was still single, the kind who had no experience with another man no less. Perhaps, rather than saying that she did not wish to have a romantic relationship with the opposing sex, it would be more accurate to say that she abhorred the opposing sex.

The question of whether or not she liked females instead had crossed my mind before, but while she might not have hated females as well, she had no intimate relationships with them either. And I would bet my bottle of chili oil that she was still a functioning female. As for why I was so sure… let’s just say that I could see it.

Honestly, I was sure of all that because of the state of her soul. When a male and female mated, it wasn’t just simple physical contact, each side would leave a mark on the other’s soul as well. Zurnalin’s soul was impeccably clean, pristine even.

In order to prevent any further indecency from this Dark Elf, I quickly took control of the conversation. “Have the Murloc Tribes been integrated successfully?”

“Yes. The two biggest Murloc Tribes have been integrated.” Having said that, she turned towards me with tears in her eyes. “Your holiness, I’m about to head off to battle, if I do not make it back this time…”

“You’re joking… I know the Minotaurs and the Harpies aren’t weak, but your Blood Drake Riders are clearly stronger. You even have the Murlocs and Half-Elves to aid you. There shouldn’t be any problem at all.”

“But what if…”

“I guess that’s true as well. The battlefield is a capricious mistress, no one can say for certain what might happen next.”

“And that’s why…”

“And that’s why?”

She turned her puppy dog eyes to me once more. “As a precaution, please bestow unto me the honor of bearing your child! Even if something were to happen to me on the battlefield, I would at least have a descendant…”

“Are you saying you can give birth to a child within a day?! Do you think they are bread or something?!”

I swear… is she insulting my intelligence?

“I can’t even have a child to begin with!” I practically yelled at this point.

Someone please take this indecent woman away right now… My pee pee is not even back yet. If it was, we wouldn’t even be talking right now! We would be in bed!

“That’s enough horsing around now. I’m going to be a part of the battle as well.”

“Your holiness is taking to the battlefield?”

“That’s right, I am.”

The moment she heard that, her once jovial expression was immediately tempered by a tinge of worry. “But the battlefield is a dangerous place to be, and those monsters do not know the holiness of your person. They might even frighten you…”

“There’s no need to worry about that. I may look like this, but I got to where I am by climbing a mountain of corpses.”

That was true too. Literally. I climbed a mountain of corpses in the Blood Sea. Whether it was the Blood Sea or the Prison of the Dead, when was my journey ever easy? Even if my experience up to Sable Radiance might not have raised my Star-level much, it had at least hardened my heart to the toils of war. At the very least, I wasn’t about to be scared by some battlefield.

“Is your holiness sure about that?” She tried once more to persuade me. “The battlefield has dangers lurking in every corner…”

“My mind is set.” I firmly said.

Seeing that her persuasion had failed, she finally gave up as well, steering the conversation to another topic in the process. “Then at least allow Zurnalin to bear your holiness into battle. Zurnalins swears on her life that your holiness will be safe!”

Her words were as firm as I had been just a while ago. Her eyes peered right at me and I could see the genuine worry reflected within them. It touched me. But I still turned down her offer in the end.

“I’m afraid not.”

Having been rejected multiple times already, Zurnalin was starting to break down a little. I could see her eyes begin to water up as she asked, “Why must your holiness reject me so?”

“Because dearest already has me.”

A set of steady hoofsteps echoed sonorously from behind me, out came a fiery redhead girl that had to at least be two meters tall judging by the shadow she cast. Her face was beautiful and had a wildness to it, like a proud, untamable stallion. As she got closer, she smiled in my direction, a thick waft of scent blowing in my direction. It was an unfamiliar scent to me, but I knew that any normal man would immediately fall to her charms from just a whiff of it. The redhead girl gently wrapped her arms around me then lifted me up onto her back in a manner you would expect of a pillion rider on a bicycle.

All that was fine and all… but how should I say this… she’s a half person, half horse… and I was now sitting atop what looked like her skirt…

“You… you’re… Mo Ning?” The moment I recovered from the shock, I hurriedly slid off her back and looked at this smiling but unfamiliar face with a heart that was about to implode right about now.

The Mo Ning standing before me right now was no longer a black horse but rather had a humanoid upper half!

Her lower half was covered in a wide, white skirt that practically covered up the rest of her horse bits, leaving only her beautiful hooves visible from underneath. Her torso was dressed in the typical garb of the Dark Elf, similar to Jezsere’s own. If there was one thing different, it would be those mountains barely hidden behind her garb…clearly a facsimile of Paliseth’s…

Ever since her makeover, Mo Ning’s smile had a wild charm to it. Her skin was milky white and she had the typical pointy ears of an Elf. Her ruby red eyes seemed to draw you in as much as her smile did while her fiery red hair flowed freely behind her, spoiled only by a couple of cow licks sticking proudly upwards…

Her current appearance was a conundrum for me. She was definitely beautiful… but there was still the matter of the horsey bits…

Honestly speaking, I was a strict adherent of the “what’s outside is what matters” philosophy. Despite being a member-for-life of the Waifu for Laifu club, my tastes were still rather normal so monster girls were a little out of my strikezone. As the old adage went, 2D is fine…3D? Maybe not.

“That’s right, dearest, how do I look?” Mo Ning smiled bashfully in my direction. “I know dearest is put off by my non-humanoid form, but look, I have the same body as dearest now, so…”

Mo Ning immediately latched onto me and refused to loosen her grip, barely giving me any chance at all to breathe.

Realising my harried state, a sense of duty suddenly swelled from within Zurnalin’s heart. She immediately stood forth, separating Mo Ning from me. “Who are you? Can’t you see that his holiness is uncomfortable around you?”

“Who am I?” Mo Ning immediately felt a spark of hostility with this obviously aggressive Dark Elf. “Dearest and I have an engagement pact together.” She sneered. “What about you? Who are you? What is your relationship with my dearest?”

“Me?” Zurnalin confidently flashed her a grin. “I’m the one to bear his holiness’s child in the future!”

“Hah! You wish to have a child with my dearest? Have you sought my permission?” Mo Ning said, words dripping with scorn for the foolish confidence that this Dark Elf displayed. “I bet you don’t know that dearest and I already have a child.”

“What?! Impossible!” That simple revelation was like a bolt of lightning to a now visibly distraught Zurnalin. The blood quickly drained from her face as she stammered with disbelief, “But you’re clearly that… either way, there’s no way you can bear his child!”

“Hmph, our child’s name is Mo Na and she’s very cute.” Having said that, the confidence in Mo Ning’s voice only grew surer, as if the existence of this mythical daughter ensured her a spot in posterity.

Come to think of it, is the relationship between Mo Na and her actually that good? Did something happen in the few days that I was gone that made them such close friends?

Hold on… that’s not the issue here! When did Mo Na become mine and Mo Ning’s child?! She’s clearly Mo Ci’s child!

Just as I realised that something was amiss here, Zurnalin recovered from the colossal shock that was Mo Ning’s revelation as well. “As if. You know better than I do that you don’t have a child. Hmph, trying to act all experienced in front of a Dark Elf -laughable.”

“At least she’s my stepdaughter.” Mo Ning gave her a lofty stare as she said that. “What about you? I bet you don’t even know who Mo Na is.”

“His holiness might not have told me who Mo Na is, but I dare say that your relationship with this Mo Na isn’t all that good to begin with.”

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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Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

As the last of the chant filled the air, the bloody array swiftly burst into crimson flames, heating up the giant hall that once summoned me. Despite being in a cave, the flames danced about as if blown by a gust of wind. Yet this strangeness did not last long as the flames suddenly parted to reveal a black rift from which a blackened hoof emerged…

Unlike a normal horse’s hoof, the area above was covered in a tuft of reddish fur that seemed more like fire than fur. Next was to emerge was a black horse head. On the head itself was a bloody red mane that flowed majestically as it emerged from the darkness of the rift. Finally, the entire horse emerged. Red fur and the size of a normal horse… These were characteristics of a Nightmare Steed!

I had fought with a Nightmare Steed multiple times before so I knew full well how to identify one. But wasn’t I trying to summon Mo Ning?! She was a Purgatory Warhorse the last time I checked…did she die? How else was there a Nightmare Steed standing before me right now?

I really did not know if I should be happy or sad if my hunch was proved true. However, that conundrum didn’t last too long as I realised I was overthinking matters once again. If she were really dead, I would have sensed it through our pact. In other words… She evolved?!

Hold on… hasn’t it just been a week since I came to the Shadowhunter Clan… how is she already a Nightmare Steed?

“Dearest!”

The moment that black horse stepped out of the rift and laid eyes on me, she galloped towards me in a fit of excitement, calling out to me with that dreaded word.

Scram! I’m not your dearest! Blasted horse, I don’t want you anywhere near me!

Unfortunately, I needed her right now so I did not say that out loud. Blast… better keep a smile on…

“Don’t call me dearest!”

Or not…

“But… we already signed a pact…” She said with the downcast eyes of someone who had been wronged.

“Don’t bring up that pact too…” What are you looking all wronged for? Dang it, I should be the one who feels wronged.

Faced with such obedience however, it wouldn’t be right of me to stay angry, but I really wanted to… such a conundrum. In the end, I decided to turn the subject to something else before she had the chance to bring up any further talk of that pact.

“How has Mo Na been while I was gone these few days?”

“She’s doing well, but she doesn’t seem to like me too much.” As she said that, her tone seemed a little odd, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words to say it with.

“Oh right, how did you evolve into a Nightmare Steed?” The last time we parted, she was still a Five-star Purgatory Warhorse, so how did she change so much? Based on her aura, I could tell that she should be a Six-star right now.

“It’s all thanks to the pact I signed with dearest!”

The moment the subject was about her evolution, her eyes practically lit up as she went on and on about the whole process. Honestly, the whole reason was because of my noble lineage and that high level pact we signed. Thanks to that, she ended up receiving some unintentional benefits. Said benefits included the strengthening of the weaker party’s bloodlines. However, this strengthening had strict conditions attached to it. The bloodlines of both parties must have differed by at least three tiers before one side could be strengthened. Furthermore, the party being strengthened must have had a higher evolution available as well.

In Mo Ning’s case, the Nightmare Steed was the next evolution of a Purgatory Warhorse, so she naturally evolved into that form when her bloodline was strengthened. Now, if she were a Nightmare Steed to begin with… the strengthening might not have happened at all.

Naturally, that wasn’t to say that the Nightmare Steed was the peak of Mo Ning’s evolution either. That only applied to ordinary Purgatory Warhorses.

So I’m basically a walking miracle elixir then? Just one taste and you will see the effects right away? Horse breeders hate him! But this horse has never looked stronger since using this one little trick! Not like it matters though… you’re still a horse. Let’s see you try and turn into a human instead! If you can do that, I swear on my bottle of chili oil that I will engage in the act of fornication with you right away!

Naturally, I was not one to voice out something so hurtful to a horse…

“Master… master…” Came a timid little voice from behind me. Clearly, our resident timid bunny was startled by the sudden appearance of a black horse.

“There there… no need to cry. Mo Ning is my steed, she won’t hurt you.”

Being the timid girl that she was, her first instinct upon seeing a Nightmare Steed was to duck behind my back for cover. Her little head shrunk into her neck as she began shivering uncontrollably. If there was ever anything more pitiful looking than her, it hadn’t been invented yet. But that was what made her so endearing to me.

After a short session of comforting, along with Mo Ning standing harmlessly beside me, Jezsere finally conquered the fear in her heart and stuck her neck out. “Hell… hello. I’m Jezsere, the master’s… servant…”

“Hello, I’m Mo Ning. I have an engagement pact with dearest over here.” Mo Ning nodded in Jezsere’s direction. “Are you one of Dearest’s new servants? So you’re my servant as well then? Is there a lava lake nearby? I would like it prepared later…”

Seeing as her requests were only getting weirder by the second, I quickly interrupted her while hugging Jezsere in the process. “Jezsere is my own personal servant, not yours.”

“But dearest…”

“No buts!”

Hmph. How dare you try and touch my harem, you must be looking for death!

Once again, she had on that look of a bullied wife. Even so, she didn’t seem to show any signs of wanting to object.

To be honest, her personality was really likable, but I just had no feelings towards a horse… not even if that horse could take on a human form in my dreams and perform the acts of fornication… ahem…As everyone knows by now, I am a person of virtue. I have walked the path of a sage and have now set my sights on the title of Grand Sage. And that’s why, I will have to pass on doing it with a Nightmare Steed…just let me be a quiet little monk… minding his own business… cultivating his days away…

Now that Mo Ning was here, I took the opportunity to introduce her around. First, there was Paliseth, Reyage and Jezsere. These three were the closest to me right now. Paliseth seemed intrigued by this newcomer, and because of Paliseth’s own strength, Mo Ning showed her a great deal of deference.

Yet since finding out about the rather complicated relationship between Mo Ning and I, the look Paliseth gave the both of us changed, and in the strange direction no less… Either way, this horse and Dark Elf combo chatted for a while then left together, hand in hoof.

Because this whole exchange happened through a private channel, I had no way of knowing what went down exactly. At times, I saw Mo Ning shaking her head as if she was objecting to something. But whenever that happened, Paliseth would slap her bountiful chest as if to say, leave it to me. At that point, Mo Ning would hesitate and look in my direction. Finally, she seemed to nod her head in acquiescence… what the potato were those two even talking about? Some new way of scamming me, I bet.

I swear I’ve gotten PTSD ever since Ferti’nier scammed me so many times… maybe they have a medieval shrink somewhere…

Before leaving however, that old hag elegantly walked up to me and said, “Your Holiness, Paliseth intends to bring her new younger sister over here around the city, would your holiness like to come along?”

“No. It’s fine. May your trip be a fruitful one.”

Hah. Like a Grand Sage would ever accompany a female on a shopping trip. You know what, I hope those two have a blast together, that way all that nonsense with Mo Ning is settled as well.

Even though it was a guarantee that I had to travel with Mo Ning within the Western Human Realms…but this isn’t the Western Human Realms, is it? There’s no need to rush now… early bird avoids the horse and all that… I just can’t stand having that kind of relationship with a horse…

Still, looking at the way Mo Ning turned her head back to look at me every step, I couldn’t help but wonder if going to the battlefield now was a good idea.

Before this, my plan was to head to the battlefield myself to harvest some souls, but now that I had absorbed the souls from the Soulstones, my body was perfectly fine… Really, why didn’t I think of this sooner?

With that in mind, I turned to look at the timid girl in my embrace… Sigh… if there’s one fault to be had about her, it’s that she is unreliable… I mean how does an Occultist not even have a filled Soulstone?! Geez!

Maybe she’s just born into the wrong environment, or job.

“Master?” Feeling my gaze on her, Jezsere blinked her eyes adorably then poked her own face gently. “Does Jezsere’s face have something on it?”

“No, no. I just wanted to look at you, that’s all.”

Jezsere blushed in an instant. “Oh… master can keep on looking then.”

“Oh you…”

Really… what am I to do with her… just smile lovingly, I guess.

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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Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

Being a highly intelligent species, it was only understandable to want more than just food and shelter. Yet to the Hawkish Faction of the Half-Elves, the idea that their comrades would side with Lanbael simply because they could not take the hardship was abhorrent to them. It was nothing short of a betrayal.

Being the leader of such a prideful faction, Aishael had to put on a resilient front. No matter who it was that came at her, she would meet them head on, never showing any signs of weakness lest those beneath get disheartened as well.

As the saying went, a lion leading a pack of sheep is stronger than a sheep leading a pack of lions. The importance of a leader could not be understated.

Even though she was still a young Half-Elven girl, Aishael had a strong sense of responsibility and duty to her people. On her dainty shoulders was the pride of her entire faction, and on her back were the eyes of every downtrodden Half-Elf. Those of the Hawkish Faction looked to her for hope while those who sided with Lanbael were merely waiting for the time when their cowardice would be vindicated by her failure.

For so much to rest on such a young girl might have sounded ludicrous, but that was the reality of the situation -sometimes, reality was even harder to believe than fiction. Should I find this laughable or just sad?

With the onset of war, those of the Hawkish Faction had to organise themselves into an army. It was a patchwork army, one that answered the call to war wherever they were needed. Yet despite their long history of service, each and every one of them came off as scrawny looking, like a single gust of wind could blow them away.

In contrast, the slave gladiators were a lot sturdier built, most likely a result of their normal diet. After all, these gladiators were not just entertainment, they were potential breeding stock as well. They had to maintain sufficient strength to fight both in the arena and out of it.

It could be said that the Hawkish Faction led by Aishael took a fevered approach to battle. They craved it, because that was how they would show their worth to the world. Or perhaps, that was how they garnered some measure of dignity for themselves -through a warrior’s death.

Without further ado, Aishael led her comrades out of the training ground. The cold and efficient girl that she was, I had no doubt that it wouldn’t take long before an army was formed.

“Who’s the one in charge of supplying the Half-Elves? Is it Lanbael?”

“Their equipment is their own. As for everything else, that’s handled by another elder.” Paliseth shook her head as she explained.

“Make sure they are properly fed. And properly equipped too. During times of war, they should at least have that level of treatment.”

“Understood.” She answered but gave me a deep, long look in the process. As for the aforementioned Lanbael, she was practically shaking in her boots with regret right now.

I bet you didn’t expect me to favor that little acid tongue so much, did you? Honestly, I didn’t as well… I know she made my little bunny cry, but I don’t hate her for that. I pity her, and wish to help her. She shouldn’t be made to bear such a heavy burden at such a young age. At the very least, I can help her bear part of it.

To think that all this started because I wanted to munch on a few souls in the colosseum…

To be honest, these Half-Elves deserve our pity, at least in my books. As a proud member of the Waifu for Laifu Club, my motto has always been: what matters is what’s on the outside. Aishael was a very pretty girl, and that was reason enough for me to help her. Now, if she could just fix that acidic tongue of hers…

Either way, since the colosseum wasn’t going to work, it’s time to head off to the battlefield.

There should be souls for me to feed on there… right?

“That’s right. There’s no better place to harvest souls than a battlefield.” Just as I came to that decision, someone who I had long thought gone suddenly joined the conversation. Ferti’nier, who last said that she had some beauty sleep to catch up on, was more than happy to send me off to that battlefield. That meant something was up.

‘Weren’t you just saying that you were tired?’

“Ha ha ha.” She laught dryly. “Your big sis is no longer tired.”

‘Liar.’

“Your big sis is not a liar. She just awakened because of that Sword Dancer’s soul.”

Sword Dancer? Don’t tell me she means Sarkath? But I don’t remember absorbing any such soul… she didn’t…

‘Our little brother was busy being angry so he probably didn’t notice at all.’

‘All I have to say is, I hope you get a stomachache.’

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t forget, your big sis still has no body so if anything were to happen, it would happen to our little brother.”

“Jokes aside, your current condition isn’t suitable for war, but your big sis has something fun in mind.”

‘Hey. This isn’t some fieldtrip, I’m going there to harvest souls. And you’re the reason why I’m in this trouble in the first place.’

“Oh ho? So our little brother doesn’t want that bracelet then?”

‘Scram! That’s mine now! Speaking of which, why is it so girly… couldn’t you have made it manlier to suit me?’

“But your big sis is a girl. It’s only natural that she would like pretty things.”

‘Girl? A girl that is tens of thousands of years old?’

“You want your big sis to smack you?” She teased. “Your big sis has a way to summon your mount for you. With a specialised mount by your side, riding into battle should be a lot safer.”

‘A mount? That’s true. Right now, I can’t really move about as I would like. A mount would make things more convenient as well. But when you say my mount, you don’t mean…’

“That’s right. Mo Ning.”

‘Mo Ning!? That same Mo Ning who swings a certain way and calls me dearest?’

‘No! I refuse! All I wanted was just a mount and somehow I got myself a fiancee?! Absolutely, not. Never.’

“But have you ever considered that when you step into the Western Human Realms, having a Purgatory Warhorse would mean that no one can ever catch up to you?”

‘Still, no! It’s precisely because of a Purgatory Warhorse that I’m in this weird situation! And do you think those Demon Hunters are blind? Purgatory Warhorses are a bonafide creature of Hell, there’s no way they would side with a human! I might as well wear a sign that says I’m a Devil.’

“Not at all, little brother. All you have to do is claim that you are a Summoner. It’s not like there aren’t humans who have a Purgatory Warhorse steed. Also, you have to transform once you step into the Western Human Realms. When that happens, your combat powers will be limited. Having her by your side would save you a lot of trouble.”

‘But… but… dearest…’

Seeing that I was still against the idea, Ferti’nier finally decided to pull out her trump card. “So to you, which is more important? Finding Nicole? Or not getting harassed by Mo Ning?”

‘Hmm… that’s not really a choice, is it? Of course, it’s Nicole! For her sake, I’m willing to climb the highest mountain.’

‘Fine. Tell me how to summon her.’

Two hours later, with the assistance of Jezsere, a summoning circle was drawn with the blood of a fire magical beast. The materials required for the summoning were all prepared by Paliseth, of which there were at least one thousand Soulstones…

Soulstones could be said to be a must-have tool for Occultists and Necromancers. They were magical tools used to seal a soul, something which was always required in large amounts whenever a summoning was required by an Occultist. Necromancers required souls in their spells as well. Clearly, such stones were something every Occultist or Necromancer had to have… except for Jezsere.

Because of her timid personality, all the Soulstones in her possession were all empty. Thankfully, the Shadowhunter Clan, while not a Devil-summoning clan, still had some in reserve for the smattering of Occultists and Necromancers within their ranks.

In truth, these Soulstones could have been used to feed me as well, but… what’s the point of saying that now?! Mo Ning’s summoning has already begun!

Ahhhh… why am I so stupid?! I could have just told Paliseth about my condition! I’m sure she can scrounge up some Soulstones from her clan members for me.

Unfortunately, it was all too late. By the time I came to this realization, Paliseth had already gathered all the materials before me.

As the saying went, there was no taking back an arrow that was fired. And even if I was restored to my former condition, Ferti’nier’s suggestion still had its merits. With her by my side, escaping would not be a problem at all.

With that in mind, I began summoning as per her instructions.

Because of our engagement pact, we were able to sense each other, even through dimensional barriers.

“The fires of the Apocalypse descend upon the wastelands… the skies foretell of the day the stars weep… O ancient pact… curse of the Apocalypse… master of the sleeping world…”

As I read those lines filled with only the hammiest of hams, I could feel my very skin tingle, like something had possessed me. Thankfully, the whole incantation wasn’t too long so the awkwardness was really just an instant.

Being one with me, Ferti’nier naturally knew of my feelings as well. A fact which she made abundantly clear when she snickered. “Actually, all those lines weren’t necessary at all. Your big sis just thought that they added to the atmosphere so she decided to incorporate them.”

asf@u$%*!!!111… whatever… I’m used to it now…

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

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

As the saying went, before hitting a dog, look at its master. Just because Paliseth did not care about this mixed blood granddaughter of hers, there was no guarantee that in the future she wouldn’t suddenly take an interest in her. What then? Lanbael clearly couldn’t just conjure up another granddaughter. That why was Aishael had been safe up till now.

Just because Paliseth could abuse her own children, didn’t mean that others were allowed to.

Besides, if Lanbael were to really kill off Aishael, she might just start a rebellion amongst the Half-Elves. Naturally, the Half-Elves weren’t a threat on their own. The problem was if they allied with the slaves -now that would be trouble.

However, just because she couldn’t kill Aishael, that didn’t mean she couldn’t make life difficult for her. By using her position as the elder of the colosseum, and the opportunity provided by Paliseth when she wanted to butter me up, she arranged for Aishael’s mother to be the slave sent out to fight…

As for Sarkath, there was no doubt that Paliseth had given him a mission beforehand. Yet he had no way of knowing who he was about to fight, especially not when Paliseth had completely forgotten about this non-Dark Elven daughter-in-law of hers. Not that he would have minded either way, being the pure-blooded snob that he was.

I’m sure the two of them would have gotten along famously…

Essentially, that was the gist of the situation leading up to Aisha’s untimely death. A cruel and disheartening set of circumstances that made one question the value of being an intelligent species, if all that was achieved was more excuses to kill each other.

Naturally, all that philosophical talk was irrelevant right now. All that mattered now was Aishael and the heavy burden that was laid on her as a result. She was a smart little girl, but the weight on her shoulders was already beginning to suffocate her.

It was at that point that Lanbael suddenly brought up an interesting question. “Matriarch, I’ve heard news of stirrings in the south.”

“Yes. The Harpies and the Minotaurs have banded together to cause trouble for some reason.” Paliseth gave her subordinate a thoughtful look as if she had already seen through her intentions. “You have something to say about this?”

“I wouldn’t dare. But I do have a suggestion I would like to make.” Lanbael eyed me trepidatiously at that point. Seeing that I had no intention of stopping her, she continued. “I suspect something is amiss in the south. I would like for the Half-Elven army to be deployed.”

“The Half-Elven army…”

“Yes, Matriarch.” Lanbael paused for a second to see if Paliseth had any intention of objecting. Seeing none, she continued once more. “Whenever there’s war, the Half-Elven army has always been at the forefront. Now’s a good time for them to show their worth.”

“I gave full authority of this war to Zurnalin. She should have been busy gathering up the Murlocs, meaning she should be done by about now.”

“I’m sure her Blood Drake Riders are more than capable of handling such a matter, but with the Half-Elves aiding them, their job would only get easier.” At this point, Lanbael was almost certain that her plan to have them sent out would pass through. With that in mind, she pressed the point further. “Those harpies are airborne creatures. While the Blood Drake Riders are powerful in a charge, they would be exposed against such creatures. But if the Half-Elves were there to back them up with their bows and magicks, the casualties would undoubtedly be lower.”

“Hmmm. A fair point.”

Paliseth nodded her head in agreement. Even though this was probably Lanbael trying to take revenge on the Half-Elves, there was no denying that she had a point.

While in a cavalry charge, it would be nearly impossible to pay attention to the skies so some form of backup was definitely needed. And as long as they could focus solely on the Minotaurs, this entire battle would be a walk in the park.

However, that raised another question as well. Couldn’t the normal Dark Elven armies perform the same job as well? Clearly, Lanbael was pushing them out on purpose.

After giving it some thought, Paliseth came to the decision that this was a workable solution. But because I was still here, she decided to seek my opinion as well. “Your holiness, what are your views on this matter?”

“Are you willing to go to war?” I asked Aishael, skipping over Paliseth’s question entirely.

Seeing as her mother had just passed away, I wanted to give this little girl some time to recover first.

Yet that was just my own opinion. Aishael, on the other hand, did not hesitate at all before rejecting my good will. She looked Lanbael right in the eyes, ice cold fury barely disguised. “We are not afraid of a challenge.”

Having done that, she turned to the Half-Elves beside her and exclaimed, “You hear that?! War has come! Even though this witch is just trying to use us as fodder, this is still a chance to prove ourselves with the blood of our enemies! If we fight, we fight for our dignity!”

“We fight for our dignity!” The Half-Elves present pumped their fists into the air as they chanted, every one of them burning with hot-blooded passion. Such was their passion that even I was beginning to feel a surge of blood in me as well.

In their eyes I could see Elves who had long put aside the notion of life and death. They were battle-hardened warriors, wrought from the corpses of their enemies, and thirsty for another battle.

Faced with such a rousing scene, Lanbael frowned. This wasn’t the reaction she had hoped for, and neither was this a reaction she understood. But all that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they now had an army to send to war. In war, some of these Half-Elves were bound to die, and if lady luck favored her, this despicable Aishael would be amongst the dead.

Just like that, I had gained further insight into the relationship between Aishael and the Half-Elves… for dignity huh…

There was no doubt now that there were two factions amongst the Half-Elves. One, the Half-Elves who guarded the elevator and would immediately prostrate themselves before Lanbael -the faction that most would consider spineless. Then there was Aishael and her Half-Elves. They did not kneel before Lanbael and even tried to argue with her -the faction who claimed to be fighting for their dignity.

Broadly speaking, these two factions were the Peaceful Faction and the Hawkish Faction.

The leader of the Hawkish Faction was clearly Aishael. She was a natural choice for this position given that she was a powerful Magister, and more importantly, she was of Paliseth’s bloodline. Even if Paliseth did not care about her before, there was no doubt that if anyone could change their current awkward situation, it would be her.

While that might have sounded like an arbitrary reason to elect someone as leader, the world was just that: arbitrary. Whether on Earth or in a fantasy world, some people were just born with a better start than others. This was a plain and simple fact, not something you could wash away because it offended your notion of fairness. What could be changed however, was how one faced such an arbitrary world.

The choice was what was important. And it was this choice that defined the Half-Elves before me today. Rather than just simply existing, they chose to live with dignity.

Aishael knew she had to put on a strong front now. If she were to act like the Peaceful Faction in front of Lanbael, how would she lead her people then? This was a road of thorns she was travelling, but one she had to take as their leader.

Their current situation was such that they were no better than slaves. They had to take part in pointless wars, and were basically no better than dogs to the Dark Elves. Perhaps by bending the knee like the Peaceful Faction members, they might have been spared some of the mistreatment, but that was a tiring way to live.

To the Half-Elves screaming for dignity today, those Half-Elves were a disgrace to their race. They would rather die standing than live kneeling. But were those Half-Elves really so wrong for submitting to Lanbael? Yes, and no. After all, who didn’t want to live a better life for themselves?

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

Sponsored by: Quentin Carey, tyler scheuering, LoliMaster 69, Chocobeanz, Kordell Mckee, Wesley Brown, The Black Fiend, Primula Hope, nord_nikon, Wyverius Blackfire, Silva, Yanga, HatefullMango, Andrea Boudas, Alex Rodrigues, Mazamaicus, Emblyon, Alexander Semino, maou99sama, Sager

Amidst my wild delusions, Aishael came up and kissed me on the hand. To be exact, she was lapping up the bits of the bread still left on my right hand. Because of their proximity to my fingers, she ended up kissing my finger inadvertently… it was kinda cold and nice… but it wasn’t because I liked little girls! The girls I like just happen to be little!

So she wasn’t trying to seduce me…

Now that the breadcrumbs were gone, she released my hand and went back to her position.

Just like that, the scene descended into awkward silence once more. In just the span of ten minutes, this awkwardness had happened multiple times. Just based on that fact alone, I had to hand it to this little ice princess, her ability to end conversations was something else.

“You mustn’t waste food.” She looked me right in the eyes with utmost seriousness, to the point where I couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed… I actually got lectured by an elementary school kid. I mean, she’s not wrong. It’s still food, even if it’s hard as a rock. But I still stand by what I said before, that bread isn’t meant for eating!

In a lot of ways, you could judge a person by the way he or she treated food. At least… that was what everyone else said -I can’t attest to its accuracy. Either way, the way she treated food so dearly was very telling.

First off, such an obsession with not wasting food had to be learned, or had to be caused by severe shortage. Based on how naturally she lapped up a rock masquerading as a bread, she must have had this stuff for a long time now. Given how little resources were actually allocated to these Half-Elves, it would be safe to say that she wouldn’t have had too many of these to eat as well. In light of that, it was only natural for her to value such a piece of edible weaponry so highly.

Unlike the worryless world I had left behind on Earth, food wasn’t something you could just pick up from a supermarket. Even more so for these Half-Elves. The Dark Elves despised them with a passion and even confined them to the same area they kept slaves. Their rations were not only little but of a low quality. In such conditions, feeling full was basically impossible. Was it any wonder that she would lick up those breadcrumbs? Of course, it could all just be an act… either way, she was trying to use her actions to tell me that the Half-Elves had it really bad.

Now if it was the old me back on Earth, I wouldn’t have understood the logic behind this mistreatment at all. Yes, a Half-Elf was definitely a dilution of their bloodlines… but who cares? As long as they are pretty, it’s all fine in my books, am I right? Yet having experienced a life in this fantasy world myself, I was beginning to understand why they would show such aversion to their bloodlines thinning.

A normal Dark Elf had the normal lifespan of at least five hundred years. A human, on the other hand, was merely a hundred or so if he wasn’t powerful. Objectively speaking, their genes were inferior to Dark Elves.

The four hundred year gap also meant that any form of romance was an uphill battle. If one could not even accompany you to the end of your days, what right did that person have to claim your heart at all? Barring some special circumstances, the idea of marrying such a race was just absurd, like marrying a dog! Their offspring would be objectively inferior and so would their future offspring. All inferior products of a failed coupling.

This was why the Half-Elf population was strictly monitored and even kept with the slaves. The more extreme Dark Elves would even come to Slave Chasm to find Half-Elves to kill. They would first apply for a duel with the Half-Elf of their choice then duke it out in the colosseum.

During such matches, ties were forbidden. You either killed your opponent or you died. A tie meant death for both sides. And yes… there were those who saw killing Half-Elves as a sport.

Under such circumstances, their living conditions could be said to be worse than slaves.

“Elder Lanbael.”

“Yes, your holiness.” She replied with utmost deference. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly dropped to her knees right now and started licking my boots.

“You’re the one in charge of this place, correct?”

She sneaked a glance at my suspiciously calm face and hesitated for a second before answering, “yes, this place is managed by me.”

“Well. These… things are inedible. I want them changed for something fresher.” I tossed the rock-like bread towards Lanbael who was at a loss as she caught it. Then, under her confused eyes, I smiled thinly and said, “since we shouldn’t waste food at all, how about you finish it.”

“I…” She gripped down hard on the black bread to no avail. Her face, on the other hand, was decidedly twisted.

“I guess all that talk of holiness was just an act then.” As I said that, I turned towards Paliseth and gave her a deprecating smile.

“Elder Lanbael!”

The moment Lanbale saw that stern glare from Paliseth, she knew there was no escaping now. She either ate the bread… or she died. Should she go out with a bang or accept the bread?

Naturally, that wasn’t even a choice at all. She stuffed that bread into her mouth along with her shame and began chewing… and failed.

The art of eating such a… delicacy was clearly lost on her, seeing as this was the first time she had even touched the darn thing. For someone in such a lofty position as hers, eating the same food as a slave was just unthinkable. The mere act of doing so brought a tear to her eyes. Just from that alone, one could tell how much of a mental collapse she was going through now.

However, that only made me want to rub more salt in her wounds. “Don’t you like it?”

“I do…”

That’s right… absolutely delicious…

Now that the bread had found its proper home, I turned to look at Aishael. “Are you happy now?”

“Why did you help me?” Aishael asked with that same icy look on her face.

“I had a feeling that there was some enmity between the two of you. And I feel somewhat responsible for what happened to Aisha.”

“Mother… her fate was inevitable.” Just like before, her face was the picture of coolness, like her mother’s death was just another page in the book of her life. However, I knew her heart was wrenching from the pain right now.

To be perfectly honest, Aisha did not have to die at all. If I was only a little more decisive, I could have stopped the fight before that fateful stab to the throat happened. Yet who would have expected Aisha to choose death like that… all just to avoid being humiliated.

Just based on this short interaction with the Half-Elves, I was able to glean a fair amount of information. First, the Half-Elves were no better than slaves in the eyes of the Dark Elves. Aishael held a lofty position amongst these Elves. Next, Lanbael’s relationship with these Half-Elves couldn’t be any worse. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if this animosity boiled over soon.

If I had to hazard a guess as to why these Half-Elves treated Aishael so specially, it would be because she was the granddaughter of the Matriarch. Even if Paliseth herself did not know of this granddaughter, the same couldn’t be said of the others in the clan. She could be the key to changing their treatment as long as they played their cards right.

Because of her position as their de-facto leader, Aishael would naturally look out for the interests of the Half-Elves. That immediately put her at odds with Lanbael who placed a heavy emphasis on blood purity. Normally, Lanbael could have just done away with such opposition, but given that this was the Matriarch’s granddaughter she was dealing with, even she had to think twice before acting.

The fact of the matter was that the blood of Paliseth flowed in Aishael. While Paliseth herself might have killed her own children on a whim, that didn’t mean Lanbael enjoyed that privilege as well. And even if Paliseth did not know of Aishael before, who was to say Paliseth wouldn’t just suddenly remember that she had a granddaughter? Like what was happening today…

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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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Given how Aishael was able to lower the temperature of her surroundings in an instant, she had to at least be a Five-star Magister.

Since she found out that her foe was dead, she was back to being the same frigid little girl she was. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that she did not care about her mother’s death. However, I knew that it wasn’t that she didn’t care, rather it was that she was already prepared for her mother’s death from the beginning.

A slave gladiator either won, died or was humiliated. Those were the only options available to them.

Because of Aishael’s little episode, the mood was rather awkward again.

So far, out of all the people she had spoken to, only Reyage had gotten off unscathed. Everyone else was basically a victim of her acidic lashing. You could almost say that this little girl had talent in this field. Even Paliseth ended up with the short end of the stick after their exchange.

Naturally, that wasn’t to say that Paliseth wasn’t any less talented either. It wasn’t that she truly lost, she just knew my stance on this matter, and that stance was definitely in favour of Aishael. If the two of them were to ever get into an argument, I would clearly stand on Aishael’s side. This little girl was just too pitiful for me to consider otherwise. Not only were her parents all dead, she now had an uncaring granny to deal with as well.

Being the cunning old hag that she was, Paliseth smartly chose not to dwell on this matter, even if Aishael had angered her. In fact, she even put on a benevolent smile like an elder looking at her favourite grandchild.

All this was a result of Paliseth’s determined efforts at currying my favour. Whether it was the death of a son or swallowing her pride, nothing was off the table.

Because of the awkwardness of our current situation, some of the surrounding Half-Elves began to congregate around us. Slowly, they began to walk up to us, surrounding us in the process. And unlike those Half-Elves we saw at the elevator, these Half-Elves were unabashedly hostile towards Lanbael. Not that they were showing it openly, but they weren’t really hiding it either.

Seems like this Lanbael hasn’t been treating them well normally.

“Hey! What do you mongrels think you are doing?! Have you grown tired of living?!” Realising their intent, Lanbael swiftly yelled at the daring Half-Elves, every bit the practised tyrant of this little domain. “How dare a bunch of mongrels act so disrespectfully in front of his holiness! Treasonous, the lot of you!”

The moment the T-word came into play, the Half-Elves almost gave in on the spot. Whatever anger was propping them up had dissipated in an instant, replaced by an inbred subservience hammered into them by Lanbael.

However, just as she had a smug smirk on her face, the Half-Elves rallied together once more and pushed forward a couple of steps.

“You… fine! Since you lot want to die that much, I’ll happily oblige!”

Having said that, Lanbael promptly took up a combat stance while the other Half-Elves prepared for a last desperate charge as well.

However, the impending clash never came to be. With just a simple sentence from Aishael, the entire situation was defused. “It’s alright. Stay back for now, I wish to talk to that old hag over there who claims to be my grandmother.”

Claims to be?

Even with Paliseth’s jadedness, that last bit rattled her quite a bit… Man, would it kill you to not provoke her?!

I hurriedly coughed to draw their attention towards me, then… nothing. Everyone was staring at me right now, but I had clearly not figured out what my next step was… awkward…

“So… what do you Half-Elves usually do?”

It was just casual chatter on my part, yet Aishael seemed to have been considering this question quite seriously. She paused for a good long while then looked me right in the eyes. “Guard the slave gladiators… and fight.”

Oh? So they take part in fighting as well then? But the equipment they are training with is really bad. Even those Half-Elves guarding the slaves seemed to be poorly equipped as well. And that was me being polite.

“And what do you guys eat on a daily basis?”

Still out of a topic to talk about, I asked the next thing that came to mind.

“Eat?” Aishael was stumped once more. This time however, she waved towards a mature-looking Half-Elf and beckoned for her. The lady took out a small sack from her waist and threw it at Aishael who couldn’t even be bothered to open it as she simply shoved it in my direction and said, “this.”

“This?” I took the sack from her and gave its contents a feel. Before I even opened it, my nose was immediately assaulted with a foul odor. It was an acrid smell, the kind you would expect from rotting food.

My brows furrowed subconsciously as I prepared to open the dreaded sack. At the side, Lanbael anxiously whispered in my ears. “Your holiness, there’s no way these lowly Half-Elves would ever have anything good to eat. If your holiness is hungry, I can prepare…”

“It’s okay. What I eat is different from you all anyway. I’m just curious. I’m sure you won’t mind right, Elder Lanbael?”

“Not at all… not at all… why would I ever…”

Faced with my smile that didn’t seem like a smile at all, Lanbael couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat. One could almost describe her expression as being slightly twisted right now. She probably already knew that I liked Aishael. Furthermore, while this little girl might have been really rude towards most here, she hadn’t done much to anger me yet. The fact that Lanbael seemed so apprehensive only made me even surer that there was something in this sack that I had to see.

As expected, the moment I opened up the sack, I was greeted by a translucent bottle of white, slightly viscous liquid. Next to it was a black piece of bread that looked more like a stone and probably hit like one as well.

Because the bottle wasn’t sealed up, it gave off a sour, fermented smell. As for what the liquid was, I just knew it was dangerous and definitely expired. The rock-like bread itself was probably every dentist’s nightmare, or perhaps wet dream -depends on how you look at it. You could tell from a glance that someone didn’t even bother milling the wheat before baking it into bread.

No way… is that mold I see growing on the bread? So it’s not just a blunt weapon, it’s a chemical weapon as well… What the fish, is that even edible anymore!? A pig wouldn’t eat that…

Naturally, the bread wasn’t actually as hard as a rock, but it wasn’t that far off either. At very least, it would hurt if I tossed it at someone.

“Is this what you eat normally?” I picked up the black weapon with a pinch, lips twisted in a curl. “And is this really bread?”

Aishael didn’t respond immediately. She instead took the bread from me and then took a bite out of it. She did not take a forceful bite of the bread but instead chewed on it slowly. Finally, after a good long while, she managed to bite off a small chunk of the bread. She kept it sloshing about in her mouth first, allowing the stale bread to soak in her saliva and soften before swallowing it.

Madness… rather than eating a piece of bread, that’s more like fine dining!

Under my disbelieving eyes, the now moistened bread travelled visibly down her throat, at which point she said, “we get two pieces of bread instead during wartime.”

“Two pieces of bread?” I was stunned. My finger reflexively shot up to point at the bread. “You eat this even during times of war?”

“Mhm.”

I know I’ve asked this before but… is that even edible? Are you sure they didn’t give you that extra piece of bread to use as a backup weapon? Your normal weapons do look pretty bad in comparison after all…

I practically snatched the bread from her at this point. I couldn’t bear to watch a little girl munch on a black rock any further. Bread in hand, I pinched it with my other hand to test its hardness. I felt the moistness from the point where she bit down… should I try it out? Hmmm… maybe not. I’ll just give it a sniff instead.

The bread itself did not stink. However, I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was giving off some strange odor… my imagination, perhaps? Either way, I did not want to keep it any further. I tried to toss it away, but the moment I did so, Aishael suddenly reached out to stop me.

I gave her a confused look. The next thing I saw was her placing her own hand on top of mine then guiding it towards her. First, her body then her face began to come closer as well.

Is she trying to seduce? Hey, let’s be clear here. I know I might seem like I have a preference for little girls, but that’s not true at all. It just so happens that all the girls I like are little. Besides, this little acid tongue is probably older than Nicole.

By the way, how should I even react to her advances? Maybe close my eyes and take the plunge? Who knows. Someone tell me please.

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.