The Regressed Demon Lord is Kind

he mission better than he expected.
It was not hard to realize that their plan was a resounding success.

-Aghhhhhhh!

A loud, furious cry resounded from a distance.
Zich smirked.

‘It’s that guy.’

Zich guessed that the individual who just made the cry was the commanding general of the Iron Tribe.
He was sure that it was the same elf who led the army of elves yesterday.

‘The way his expression changed was an amazing sight to see in battle.’

Zich felt regretful that he couldn’t see the elf general’s face in front of him, but he soon dropped this thought.

‘Well, this is not the only chance.’

Even though Zich had finished his business in this building, he didn’t immediately withdraw.
Since the elf soldiers were probably going to run around frantically to find the missing armored soldiers, he still had some time.

‘Moreover, I don’t want to use those for too long.’

No matter how well they acted, it was hard to keep hiding the fact that the armored figures were actually empty.
Before getting caught, they had to use the armor as much as they could.
Zich quietly landed near the castle.
He considered how long he had until the invisibility and presence-covering magic disappeared.

‘I have enough time.’ 

Zich slowly infiltrated the castle.
The neatly cut stones of the castle reflected the bright moonlight and gave the whole castle a cold image. 

‘It really doesn’t look like a place that elves normally live in.’ Zich thought as he looked around the castle.
However, this wasn’t the time for him to contemplate and ponder about why the castle’s design was not like other elf dwellings. 

‘If the shaman was captured, where would they have put her here?’

He could immediately think of two possibilities: a tall spire or a dungeon. 

‘And why did they put only the shaman in a different place?’

It wasn’t as if there were no more rooms in the building with the other hostages.
Zich thought there must be a specific reason, significant or not, as to why they specifically separated one individual from the rest.

‘They might need her for a specific plan.’

However, Zich was going to think more about this after finding the shaman first.
In order to sense presences around him, he increased the range of his sensing abilities.

‘…What?’ Zich dumbly murmured to himself.
He closed his eyes and increased his concentration, but the result was the same.

‘What the heck?’

He had a hard time sensing any presence.
It was as if someone was interfering with his senses.
Zich recalled a time when he felt this stuffy feeling, as if someone was putting a blindfold on his eyes—it was in  Violuwin’s ruin.

‘Perhaps, this cas…’ Zich widened his eyes and looked at the top of the castle.
Zich strained to move his neck far back to see the top of the castle, and the darkness from the top seemed to peer down at him.

‘Is it a remnant from an ancient ruin?’

Then everything made sense.
Now, he could understand why the buildings and structures in Mentis didn’t follow normal elf architectural designs.

‘It didn’t belong to the elves in the first place.’

Without realizing it, Zich patted Windur in his arms.
As if Windur judged that this mission was a significant event, Windu morphed into a small dagger and peacefully slept in Zich’s arms.
Zich smiled.
He wanted to immediately burst out laughing as he never imagined that he would be able to find more remnants of the ancient empire like this.
It had really been a good decision for him to follow Leona.
However, Zich quickly repressed this thought and emotion. 

‘No, I have to calm down.
Nothing is certain yet.’

The castle could just coincidentally have the same powers as the ruins of the ancient empire.
Moreover, elves from the past could have preferred to live in stone buildings rather than in trees like modern elves.
However, it was also true that there was now a strong possibility that Mentis had a connection to the ancient empire. 

‘I have to make sure the elves become really indebted to me.’

He wanted them to be indebted to the point where the elves would be understanding if he investigated every inch of Mentis.
Zich began moving again, but more cautiously than before. 

‘If this place really has the same powers as the other ruins of the ancient empire, I might not be able to easily escape.’

The ancient ruin was a place where Lyla’s teleportation magic and Snoc’s ability to control the earth were cut off.
If he was captured here, Zich would only have the strength to make his escape.
But he had no plans to move out just because he thought the situation was dangerous.

‘Should I check the basement first?’

When thinking about imprisoning someone, the first image that came to Zich’s mind was a prison; and normally, prisons were in the basement.

‘A princess would be in a tall spire, but this time, I’m looking for a shaman.’

Zich chuckled at his own joke and looked for stairs to go down the basement.
It was not difficult to find the stairs.
In a hole that looked as if several stones had been pulled out of the floor, there was a staircase leading down to the lower floors.
However, the security around that place was extremely tight.
There were eight armed elves guarding the staircase. 

It was clear that they were guarding something very important.
Zich carefully approached the staircase.
Thanks to Lyla’s artifact, the guards weren’t able to see Zich.
Moreover, the artifact hid Zich’s presence, and Zich was also extremely skilled at hiding his presence too.
However, Zich still took great care to remain hidden, because the invisibility effect wasn’t perfect and elves had superior senses and instincts compared to normal humans. 

Zich continued to carefully move towards the staircase, and fortunately, he was able to reach the staircase without much trouble.
He went down the basement, and torches were blazing underground, which was a common sight.
Since the basement barely received any light, there were usually torches to help people see.
However, the torches piqued Zich’s interest. 

‘There’s too many of them?’

The basement wasn’t an area that was used often.
It was mostly used as a storage place.
For that reason, there usually weren't many torches in the basement—especially if it was being used as a prison.
However, this basement was very bright from all the torches lighting up the whole area.

‘There’s definitely something down here.’

Zich continued to go down.
Buildings usually had an underground floor just below the ground floor, but this basement floor continued to go down without an end in sight.
After a while, Zich finally reached the end of the stairs and arrived at a large space.
In that space, Zich found the shaman.