Chapter 161 – I Shouldn’t Have Recklessly Decided on My Appearance

The muscular Hero did not leave his name behind, nor did he accept the elves’ offer to stay a few days in the elven village. He simply walked across the grassland and toward the distant horizon, leaving the elves with the sight of his mountainous back.

Alice naturally wouldn’t accept the elves’ invitation. She still wasn’t adapted to moving in the power armor. The only reason she didn’t get seen through just now was because she had mostly stood still throughout her entire fight with Luna, thus hiding her stiff movements from everyone. If she accepted the elves’ offer to enter the village, it’d mean that she would have to interact with the elves at a close distance. In that case, it was almost certain that she would expose her secret.

Thus, while subjected to the elven patriarch’s disappointed expression, Alice had rejected the other party’s offer and promptly walked into the distance. Then, as soon as she moved out of the elves’ sight, she promptly retracted her power armor and used Flight to fly back to the elven village. With the March Academy’s magic robe combined with her right hand’s ability, Alice flew back into the Elven Forest and returned to her room undetected.

By the time Alice had returned, news of the demon army surrounding the Elven Forest and the Hero’s subsequent appearance had already spread throughout the entire village, causing a huge commotion. On the one hand, the elves could finally relax their tense nerves. On the other hand, the March Academy’s students expressed their regret in missing the fight between the Hero and the Demon King.

Everyone from the March Academy had remained ignorant of what was going on outside the Elven Forest during this past week. The elves had previously told them that there was danger outside and that they shouldn’t run around recklessly. Meanwhile, taking this warning at face value, the March Academy’s instructors and students remained in the village and never bothered to check what was going on outside the Elven Forest.

Because of this, the March Academy’s students and instructors missed the opportunity to watch the Hero in action, and many people expressed their great disappointment. After all, the Hero’s popularity among the human race surpassed even that of celebrities. Even if everyone knew that it was dangerous to spectate a fight between the Hero and the Demon King, there were bound to be some people who’d be willing to take the risk to spectate the fight.

“You’re back?” Zauna was one of the few people who knew Alice’s real identity. So, when she saw Alice entering the room, she revealed a sly smile and asked, “How was the Hero’s fight? Was it exciting?”

“Huh? Did you go and watch the Hero’s fight, Alice?” Lalu, on the other hand, was ignorant of Alice’s real identity. So, when she heard Zauna’s words, her first reaction was to assume that Alice had snuck out to watch the fight between the Hero and the Demon King. “How sly of you! Why didn’t you bring me with you? I wanted to watch it, too!”

“How would I know the Hero would appear? I was just curious what was going on outside the Elven Forest, so I went outside to look around,” Alice said, giving Lalu the excuse she had prepared beforehand. “I didn’t expect the Hero to appear nearby as soon as I arrived. I also didn’t expect him to start a fight with the Demon King. Overall, the fight was daunting but predictable.”

The “daunting but predictable” part was Alice’s answer to Zauna’s question. Of course, Lalu didn’t notice the underlying meaning of those words, and she simply sighed regretfully and said, “That’s for sure. The Hero has only ever lost once in history. There is no way the Demon King can win against the Hero. It’s a pity I didn’t get to see the Hero’s heroic appearance.”

“There is nothing heroic about his appearance. The contrast between that face and body of his is simply too much.”

Although the target of discussion was herself, Alice still couldn’t help but grumble a little. Looking back at things now, she somewhat regretted her decision to give herself the image of a muscular man with a pretty face. It would’ve been perfectly fine to just describe herself as a muscular man. She was simply asking for more trouble by giving herself such a contrasting appearance.

When she was talking with the elven patriarch, she had noticed several elves secretly taking photos of herself. She guessed that it wouldn’t be long before her appearance appeared in the various races’ media and news outlets. Many people would also probably be stunned by the sight of her muscular body and pretty face.

After receiving an answer to her question, Zauna nodded in satisfaction and curiously looked behind Alice. However, she failed to see Luna, so she asked, “Where did Luna go? She seems to have also left for quite some time already.”

“I had her gather some things from me around the village,” Alice answered ambiguously. “She’ll be back later.”

Although Alice’s explanation sounded incredibly unreliable, Zauna and Lalu still took her answer at face value. In Zauna’s case, she thought that Luna must be helping Alice follow up on the Hero’s battle. In Lalu’s case, she thought that Alice had tasked Luna with gathering some information on the elves. After all, Alice was the Gryffin Kingdom’s princess. It was necessary for her to understand more about the elves so that their two nations would have a better chance at forming an alliance in the future.

Meanwhile, Alice wasn’t particularly worried that Luna would be in any danger. While Luna might seem like she had received many hits during their fight, Alice was certain that Luna had recovered from her injuries almost immediately after she received them. After all, even if Luna no longer had the Demon King’s Power, she had still hosted the Demon King’s Power in her body for many years. Even if she didn’t have a Demon King’s full strength, she should still have half of it.

Hence, rather than worrying about Luna’s safety, Alice was more worried about where Luna had teleported Davis and the demon army. It’d be both terrible and interesting if she teleported them to a certain part of the human realm.

“Although the elves have already lifted the martial law, the sky is already getting dark. I’m guessing that we’ll only return to school tomorrow,” Zauna said as she walked out to the balcony and looked at the lively scene outside.

The elves originally behaved aloofly. However, probably because they were finally liberated from a week-long stressful situation, many of them were behaving excitedly right now, and some were also interacting with the March Academy’s students. Though, every one of them was talking about the Hero without exception.

After this incident of the Hero saving the elven village, the elven patriarch shouldn’t face too much resistance when he proposed his idea of introducing human technology into the elven village later on.

“Since we’re leaving tomorrow, I better go and take care of my final bit of business here now,” Alice said as she got ready to leave again.

Lalu originally wanted to ask what Alice was going to do. However, after seeing Alice putting on the magic robe again, she promptly understood what Alice was trying to do. She also remembered that a certain someone had remained unconscious inside the Nature Shrine for the past week.