The celebratory banquet was held the next evening. If it wasn't for the king's order, Rye wouldn't bother to participate. He directly headed to the balcony after the king finished his speech.

He saw that his parents were invited too. He understood the king didn't mean anything to it since every noble were invited. Not to mention they were also the supreme hero's parents.

He could just jump off the balcony and run away, but the king placed spies around him. He didn't know if it was just one or more, but the king knew that he altered the demon general's spell from them. There was no other explanation.

The king also knew about the phenomenon at the chapel, how many drinks he had at the drinking match, and what food he had for breakfast yesterday. He even told him that the spy told him that tomato pie didn't taste as bad as he expected.

"…"

Rather than a spy, he felt like he has a stalker.

Because of the number of possession they encountered in the border town, the king decided to sweep the entire kingdom to make sure there really was no more demon among the people.

Remembering what happened at the stall, the king's precaution was reasonable. Not only the seller, the pie itself also caught fire before him. Anyone who consumed demonic energy would become more vulnerable towards possession.

Rye drank the juice he brought out with him. He was avoiding alcohol for now.

"Good evening."

Rye turned his head to see a black-haired man approaching him. Just looking at his face and garments Rye guessed that the man was a royal. He could see a resemblance the man have with the king.

Rye nodded at him, "Good evening."

"Why are you out here instead of celebrating inside?"

"I have already done the celebration the day before yesterday," Rye sipped his juice, "Inside, I will get stressed instead."

"You are not wrong," the man leaned to the railing, "Are you not going to ask who I am?"

"I rather not know."

"Oh?"

"I do not want to use my brain just to interact with someone."

The man chuckled, "So be it."

The two of them enjoyed the night view in silence.

It was then Rye saw a couple coming towards him. He decisively placed his glass on the railing and jumped down from the balcony.

The man, "?"

He stretched his body forward to see where Rye fell and saw that Rye was perfectly fine. He waved at him apologetically and gestured at him to not tell that he was down there.

"Where did he go?" Mr. Cazmere looked around.

The man turned around to see the Cazmere couple entering the balcony.

"Oh! We are very sorry to intrude, Prince Kiefer." Mrs. Cazmere hurriedly bowed.

"Yes, you are indeed intruding," Kiefer turned around and swirled his wine in a slow manner, "I hope you have an acceptable reason for it."

The couple gulped nervously. The crown prince was infamous for his bad temper, the total opposite of his father.

"We were looking for our son and we thought we saw him here. We were not aware that you are also here. We apologize for our lack of attention." Mr. Cazmere apologized with a bow.

"Your son? Is he not inside?"

"Our youngest son. He is Ludric's little brother."

"I never knew the Cazmere family has 2 sons."

"He is not a filial child and ran away after his coming of age ceremony."

Kiefer sipped his wine as he scrutinized the couple. His cold eyes sent shivers down their spine.

"Th-Then, we will not impose ourselves any longer. If Your Highness encounters him, might you help us tell him that we are looking for him? Have a pleasant evening, Prince Kiefer." Mr. Cazmere hurriedly retreated with his wife.

The balcony became quiet once more. Soon after, Rye climbed back up onto Kiefer's other side.

"Thank you," he took his juice and went to lean on the wall to hide from the crowd inside, "I ended up knowing who you are."

"And you are?"

"Rye Cazmere. I am sort of like a supervisor for the hero party."

"So those are really your parents?"

"Hard to say. They never regard me as their son."

"Why did you run away?"

"I do not want to deal with them."

"You hate them?"

"Hate…" Rye rolled the word in his tongue in consideration, "I dislike them, but not intense enough to become hate. Still, I cannot handle them, mentally speaking."

The balcony door opened again. This time, it was a butler. He bowed respectfully to Kiefer and turned to Rye.

"Mr. Rye, His Majesty is looking for you."

Rye inwardly sighed, "I understand."

He nodded his farewell at Kiefer before following the butler in.

Kiefer watched them leave with a hidden glint in his eyes.

The butler brought Rye to where the king was. He was currently talking to the elven ambassadors, the elven prince and princess.

The elven race was blessed with superior visage. The people inside kept stealing glances at the two elven royals who have perfectly sculptured visuals and features. They couldn't find any faults even in the way their garments folded from their grace movement.

And rumors said that the elven king was even more beautiful than his children. A beauty that could kill both men and women.

Rye has the urge to squint his eyes from their blinding effect.

"Your Majesty, I have brought Mr. Rye as per your order." The butler bowed and promptly left.

"Your Majesty." Rye greeted the king.

"Rye, I couldn't find you anywhere that I thought you ran away."

"I almost did."

The king laughed and patted his shoulder, "Rye, let me introduce you. This is Prince Aerindel, the first prince of the elven kingdom, and Princess Freanor, his younger sister."

Rye bowed at them, "It is an honor to meet you. I am Rye Cazmere. Please call me Rye, Your Highnesses."

Aerindel and Freanor nodded at him in regard.

"What matter do you need my help with, Your Majesty, Your Highnesses?"

"Straight to the point as always," the king was satisfied, "Do you know where the elven kingdom is located?"

"Yes, I went with my students to see their Light Tree once when I was teaching about elven history."

"Oh? You taught elven history in your school?" Aerindel was piqued.

"Of course, Your Highness. We taught the history of all races. It is important to be aware of the culture of every race's after all," Rye fixed his glasses, "If I am not mistaken, the elven kingdom has no trouble with the demon invasion thanks to the light barrier that was created in the age of Holy War. I suppose it has nothing to do with that?"

Aerindel and Freanor looked at each other.

"Unfortunately, it does have something to do with that," the king answered, "Let's talk somewhere more private."

The four of them left the hall and went to an empty lounge. The king's butler was already there preparing their refreshment.

"As you said, until now, no demons have managed to enter our territory thanks to the barrier created by our ancestor," Aerindel started, "That is, until a few months ago."

"Is it possession?"

"No, it is something more serious. I hope you understand that everything we discuss starting now is classified only to the people in this room." Freanor warned.

Rye nodded.

"Our people…they are losing their light attribute." Aerindel stated solemnly.

"Losing…an attribute?" Rye frowned.

The king nodded, "Not only that, their Light Tree has also stopped producing light energy that charged the light barrier."

"At this rate, the light barrier will disappear within 3 years at most. Sooner if the demons try to break it." Aerindel's hands clenched into a fist.

"And because the elves are losing their light attribute, you will not be able to defend yourself once the demon invaded," Rye understood that the situation was quite grim, "Have you found the cause yet? The elven king's power is linked to the Light Tree, is it not?"

"Before the Light Tree stopped producing light, our father fell ill. At first, it was just light coughs and discomfort, but it got worse each day. The day the Light Tree lost its light, our father collapsed."

"Does your people losing their light attribute happened around the same time?"

"It…is hard to tell when it started. Losing an attribute was unprecedented. Many people either didn't believe they lost it or tried to hide the fact, thinking they have done something shameful and got punished by Lord Muriel."

Rye touched his chin, "If we can find the link between the three incidents and find the sequence, it may lead us to the cause."

"I believe it all started because our father fell ill."

"No, it is more likely that something happened to the Light Tree and cause Adnadan to fall ill." The king said.

Rye thought for a while and added, "There is also a possibility that everything happened in parallel."