"Lord Aura, the matter of your debut is imminent. Look at Macht next door, who is also one of the Seven Sages of Destruction. He has already traveled throughout the Northern lands, gaining the strong support of the border nobles and achieving coexistence between Humans and Demons. What a forward-thinking Demon he is! You cannot continue to cower like this!"
Aaron pleaded earnestly.
"Aura, the great task of reviving the Demon Race is entrusted to you. From now on, the Demon King and I will be watching you from the heavens. Believe in yourself. You are one of the Seven Sages of Destruction, handpicked by the Demon King himself!"
Schlacht entrusted his dying wish.
"Aura, at your age and at your stage, how can you sleep? Do you have any ambition at all?"
Another unfamiliar voice rang out.
"Aura, this is an ultimatum. If you don't agree, I'll use the Magic of Obedience to make your head fall to the ground!"
Nanoda, whose face was completely blurred, held a round object in her hands.
Aura looked closely and saw that it was her own head!
That head was smiling at her!
!!!
"Gasp!"
It was only a dream.
Springing up from the bed, the first thing Aura did was touch her own neck. Feeling that it was still smooth and flat, she finally let out a sigh of relief. She fell back onto the bed once more, supporting her forehead with one hand.
In the more than five hundred years that Aura could remember, this was the first time she had ever had such a nightmare.
Even when her scales were cut down by the Hero and she fled in defeat, she had only run continuously for several days without sleeping.
"How strange..."
A few days ago, Aaron had just told her about the Aura debut plan finally drafted by Nanoda, which she had directly rejected.
Anyway, Nanoda wasn't around, so she was the boss in Gaderia right now.
As for traveling around the nations of the Central Lands and the border nobles of the Empire, engaging in friendly exchanges with them, and earning their trust—she wouldn't do it.
If she didn't have an army with her, the cautious Aura wouldn't even step out of Gaderia's gates.
Dealing with human nobles alone as a single Demon? Impossible. It would be impossible in this lifetime.
Two months later.
Aura's comfortable days were thus brought to an end.
After more than three months, the barrier left by Böse had been conquered. Because Nanoda and Yuna had joined halfway, they had only stayed there for two and a half months since leaving Gaderia.
The group entered the barrier, only to find that besides an abandoned Elven village and large swathes of skeletal remains, there wasn't even a trace of half a Demon army inside. The joy of obtaining new supplies and breaking the barrier in the final month completely dissipated, leaving the collective group to return in resentment.
Actually, Nanoda had discovered long ago that this allied army of nations was mostly for show. When she had quietly slipped out of the barrier in the early hours of the morning, those soldiers on guard duty had been lazily dozing off. Under those circumstances, it would be strange if those Demons hadn't managed to run away.
Denken, however, seemed to have anticipated this to some extent. He ultimately came up with a compromise: report the information regarding the breaching of the Undying Böse's barrier to the higher-ups. This way, they could at least claim some results.
With the matter settled, Nanoda took Yuna and returned to Gaderia.
As soon as she returned, Aaron told her about Aura's current situation.
"I must be dreaming, right? I'm guessing you're going to use the Magic of Obedience to threaten me and make me become that... uh... debut ambassador, right?!"
Because she had returned a little late, Nanoda originally wanted to go see Aura and ask her for her reasons.
She accidentally woke the sleeping Aura, resulting in this scene.
"It's so realistic. I actually thought I was awake right now. No, I must still be dreaming!"
Watching Aura muttering to herself somewhat neurotically, Nanoda suspected that there was something wrong with this fellow's head.
"Let me tell you! I, Aura, would rather die than submit! I will never be that debut ambassador!"
"Nanoda! I'm in a dream right now! Let me tell you! I've tolerated you for a long time!"
"Coexisting peacefully with humans? That's simply idiotic behavior! Wouldn't it be better to kill all humans and directly create a world with only Demons?!"
"There is no future in cooperating with humans. They merely want to use our power and put a collar on us! You should discard that plan of yours as soon as possible!"
"One day, I will break this Magic of Obedience and kill all those humans you cherish! I'll make you revert back to a true Demon!"
At this moment, a hint of ferocity actually appeared on Aura's face.
The content was incredibly explosive, making Nanoda's fists clench hard.
"Aura, do you think it hurts in a dream?"
"?"
Aura, who thought she was still dreaming, suddenly felt that something was wrong.
The person in front of her seemed to be the real deal. Those words she just said...
Nanoda suppressed the urge to chop Aura into eight pieces. She reached out and grabbed the dazed Aura's twin horns.
"Ugh! It hurts! They're going to snap! I was wrong, I was wrong, let me go! Just now, I really thought I was in a dream!"
With a forceful shove, Nanoda directly pressed Aura face-down onto the bed, pinning her back. Gripping her large horns with both hands, she yanked upward with immense force.
"Waaah, I'll go, alright?! Debut, I want to debut, I love debuting the most!"
The previously arrogant Aura was now reduced to begging for mercy. The pain was telling her that this was no longer a dream.
Finally, Nanoda sighed and let go.
"Can you tell me the reason why you don't want to debut? I can pretend I didn't hear what you said earlier."
Aura's previous words had indeed struck a nerve. After all, from a certain standpoint, what Aura said wasn't unreasonable.
"Waaah..."
Having regained her freedom, Aura huddled on the bed. With a face full of grievance, she reached out to hold her head, rubbing the roots of her horns that were throbbing with pain.
"Because it's too dangerous! What if those humans set a trap to ambush me?"
"Look, Macht has been touring for so long, and he's still doing perfectly fine."
Now knowing the reason, Nanoda tried to persuade her.
"No, his Universal Gold Transmutation Magic is very special. Humans can't do anything to him."
Nanoda always felt that Aura suffered from persecution paranoia.
"How about this? You either undo my Magic of Obedience, or you send another Great Demon to accompany me!"
After pondering for a moment, Nanoda finally agreed.
"I can't let you use the Magic of Obedience freely for now. But what do you think of Qual? I'll go to the research base and ask him tomorrow."
"Qual? ...Hmm, then I would be very willing." Aura nodded.
"Alright, then let's leave it at that for now. Have a good sleep..."
Walking to the door, Nanoda stopped again.
"There won't be a next time."
She was referring to Aura's earlier insolence.
"Hey, Nanoda."
Nanoda paused as she was about to close the door.
"To use human terms, you are overly merciful. Don't always try to solve problems with peaceful outcomes."
As she left, Nanoda met Aura's expressionless face.
____
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