“We might be able to negotiate peace!”

Clara raised her eyebrows upon hearing the elf's seemingly absurd statement. “Are you serious? Do you think that's possible?”

At the blonde's question, Fran's hopeful expression faded and turned neutral again. “Personally, I don't think that the odds are good. But I think that making peace with them is the only way for the human races to survive. As things currently are, I don't think we stand a chance at all... not after I failed the ritual all those years ago.”

Fran clenched her fists tightly as she muttered the last sentence.

It was obvious to the other three that Fran deeply regretted how the Hero-Summoning-Ritual ended over a decade ago and that she blamed herself for its failure.

To make matters worse, Fran had even lost all her power to move the country, no, the world, in a direction that could withstand the impending doom. Sadly, even though most of the scholars, researching everything concerning demons, and non-noble advisors had warned against making Fran too powerless, the aristocrats of the Valkyria Kingdom had done it anyway.

As a result, the kingdom was now led by a bunch of power-hungry, ignorant, and greedy nobles, who were steering the country in the direction of doom. And Fran, now powerless, won't be able to do anything to counteract it and is forced to watch humanity potentially getting wiped out. All this, because of one stupid mistake she had made in the past, that she hadn't even had control over.

Watching Fran, Rina really wanted to say something to comfort her, but she couldn't, as she had never been particularly eloquent with words. Luckily, she didn't have to this time, as Clara spoke up changing the subject, and with it overall mood on the terrace.

“By the way, I was under the impression that you hated the demons. So to hear you talk about possibly negotiating peace with them is surprising.”

Fran reacted to Clara's comment by relaxing her clenched fists on her lap, and even smiled a little, albeit wryly. “Well, yes. Having mindless demons roaming around and killing people is obviously not good. However, if the high-ranking demons are intelligent enough to be able to communicate with us and control those lesser demons so that they don't kill people anymore, I think worth trying to coexist with them. Especially when our future is at risk.”

“Makes sense... But still, to learn that we can talk to the higher-ranked demons is quite shocking. You said you talked to two of their leaders. What do they look like?”

“At first glance, one had the appearance of a woman, while the other was like a small child. But what made them different were the demon-like appendages they had on their bodies, like horns, wings, and tails. So, keep in mind, that if you ever come across someone who has additional body parts that other human races don't have, it's most likely that they're a high-ranking demon.” Having said that in a teacher-like tone, Fran's expression softened and she even chuckled slightly. “Though, I highly doubt you would ever get into that situation.”

“Have you suggested negotiating with the demons to the king?”

Fran's mood soured immediately after Marianne's question. So, the elf answered with a bitter look on her face, “I did. But it was in vain. King Loki clearly overestimates the strength of his troops and underestimates the demons' threat. He and his ministers even seem to want to use the demon invasion to expand into their territory instead.”

“Is there a possibility that you and all the scholars are overestimating the strength of the demons? Maybe the demons really don't stand a chance?”

After hearing these words come out of Marianne's mouth and seeing Clara nod in agreement, Fran initially wanted to scold them for being too naïve. But when Fran thought about it more deeply, she found herself being rather hopeful herself, so she kept silent instead. After all, with how things were at the moment, she had no choice but to believe in King Loki's path, as she lacked the power to change it. Sadly, she doubted that the odds for humanity's victory were looking good.

With that, the conversation between the four of them died down and they sat in silence finishing their tea and snacks.

When everyone was finished, Rina quietly got up, cleaned the table and put the tableware on the on the cart. Seeing this, Marianne wanted to help, but Rina signalled, that she wanted to do it alone, so Marianne remained seated.

Once everything was on the cart, Rina pushed the cart and disappeared inside the mansion. However, instead of heading straight to the kitchen, she stopped in the hallway. She then looked around to make sure that no one else was currently close by. When she was convinced that this was the case, she called out in a small, but antagonistic tone, “Are you here? I want to talk about something.”

Half a minute later, the air rippled behind her and the man she had met at the inn in Mousa appeared. “My existence is supposed to be a secret. I can't have you call me whenever you like.”

Ignoring his patronising tone, Rina opened the door to a room, which she knew was unused. But instead of going in, she looked at the Duke's spy, urging him to enter the room first. Luckily for her, he only shrugged nonchalantly and followed her demand.

Only when they were both inside and the door closed behind them, did Rina speak up, “Did you hear?”

The man didn't have to be particularly clever to understand what the redhead's words meant. The question was how to answer them. After a short moment's contemplation, she shrugged his shoulders again and nodded.

“Does he already know?” Rina followed.

Again, the man didn't have to think long to understand which person Rina was talking about, so he nodded again in confirmation of her question.

“What is his position on this matter?”

“Nothing has changed. Our Master doesn't want any uncertainty in his life.”

When Rina heard the words 'our master', her eyebrows involuntarily twitched. After all, the Duke was many things to her, but certainly not a 'master'. However, she knew that the man only put it that way to annoy her, so she just remained silent and waited for him to continue.

“You're going to the Royal Knight Academy with the blonde chick in a few weeks, aren't you? So just concentrate on getting stronger. The others are already on the lookout for the Demon Lord and his so-called high-ranking minions. We will call you when the time is ripe.”

At his comment about her attendance at the academy, Rina raised her eyebrows. “Is there even time for that? What makes you so sure that the capital won't just be overrun by the time you find the Demon Lord?”

“Paah! The elf is so blinded by her resentment for the aristocratic class that she can't even properly estimate the power of their armies. I can't speak for every noble, but our master and his ancestors have protected the kingdom since its founding. There's no way an upstart like that former High-Priestess, who hasn't even lived half of Master's life, can compare to him.”

Hearing this, Rina's eyebrows twitched involuntarily once again. She felt uncomfortable that the efforts of someone so close to her were being belittled like this, especially when he was just a dog running errands for a powerful noble. After all, Rina was well aware of how much Fran had worked to reach the position she had and how much of her energy had flowed into trying to save the world. Sadly, she also knew that all of Fran's efforts had been in vain so far. So, for the moment, Rina couldn't think of anything to fight back and therefore just kept quiet, clenching her hands in frustration.

And now, when she thought about it more deeply, it was pretty obvious that Fran had enemies back then who were supposed to be her allies, the nobles. Weren't they supposed to be preparing to fight against a common foe? Realising this, Rina clenched her small fists even tighter, not noticing, or noticing but not caring, that the swelling on her palms was getting worse.

Unaware of Rina's inner turmoil, the man let out an exaggerated yawn and decided to wrap up the conversation by saying, “Well, enough about that. Our master said the demon invasion won't start any time soon. As long as that's the case, the roaming demons that destroyed the villages outside won't be able to even scratch the walls of Valhale. So, as I said earlier, continue honing your skills further at the Royal Knight Academy. Master said he's used his power to revamp the curriculum there, so I'm pretty sure your time there will prepare you for the battles ahead.”

Before Rina could even respond to these words, he opened the door and went invisible again. Even though Rina knew that he was still around to keep an eye on her, it was also clear that he wouldn't react to her again, so she just sighed.

Although she found the man's condescending attitude towards Fran annoying, she decided to not let it affect her. After all, the information he had given her was good in her eyes. So, feeling her mood improve over the next few moments after he had left, she went back to work with a satisfied expression on her face.

'It seems the peaceful days will last a little bit longer.'