There are always religious conspiracies in any world

What do you imagine when people said 'demon realm'?

The scorching earth and erupting volcanoes? Leaking red lava that melted everything under its touch? Blackened sky with monsters running around? Suffocating, murky air that was choked full of poisonous fume?

Same.

When the author told me about the war, most of it was happening at the border between Lenaar and Halakatz—the Demon Lord of Wrath's territory. The location she described was full of canyons and stony hills, cracked soil that undergoing desertification, and an area where trees were black and dead.

So I was imagining Demon Realm as something like how holy scriptures described hell.

But when I saw the place through Valmeier's memory, it actually looked more like the Grand Canyon or something, just gloomier. But I also thought—ah, it was just the border, so maybe it wasn't that bad yet.

And then I was being showered with the colorful landscape of Natha's territory, and I was...

Well, sufficient to say that I was now very intrigued about the Demon Realm as a whole. So now, I was sitting on a very comfortable sofa in the library's reading area with piles of books about world history all around me.

Since this was a private library, instead of stiff wooden tables and chairs, the reading area was extremely cozy. It was like a sitting room, almost, with plush sofas and thick carpet, overlooking tall windows that filled the wall and enabled us to look outside, making the room feel less suffocating. And since the library had temperature control magic to preserve the books, it was never overly warm or overly cold.

And in that comfortable setting, with Zidoa flying back and forth bringing me books about history, I began my study.

And here was what I gathered about the world and the demon realm:

After the Age of Creation, the Primordial God split itself into three, and they became the God of Virtue, the God of Sin, and the God of Nature—or so was how they were called now. At the dawn of time, they were simply going by their own name, which couldn't be spelled by mortal tongue. They were the embodiment of the Primordial God's essence that was to be birthed in the world; the virtue, the sins, the law of nature. They were supposed to divide the task of administering the world between the three of them.

But perhaps there was a memo missing from the Primordial boss, because instead of working together, those infant Gods scoured the land on their own, and become the patron deity of different mortal races. One became the God of humans, one become the God of demons, and one dwelled within the other minority races.

From here, I could infer that humans and demons were the majority of this world's denizens, and the rest of the minority races rallied under the banner of the strongest among them, the Elves, and called themselves the children of nature.

So it wasn't the kind of demons that I originally thought—you know, the evil-mongering kind. All of the creatures in the world were supposed to be the same anyway; they were supposed to have virtues, sins, and abide by the law of nature.

They were the essence of living beings.

But since the Gods weren't working together, and people—no matter what race they were—inherently territorial, it became some kind of rivalry between their followers.

And the majority always had a louder voice.

Humans had the shortest lifespan among the others, but they reproduced the most, and their number was basically the total of the demon and nature factions added together. But perhaps because of their short lives, humans tended to be warier, and they made a lot of propaganda and bad narratives about the other races, from calling the other Gods inferior to coining the Demon God as evil and sinful. They were especially hostile to the demons, since demons were the second largest race and thus became human's biggest rivals. The demons also antagonized humans in return, and the cycle of hatred was never ending.

Well, it was a classic tale. We just need to think about this as three groups snarling at each other.

Still, pretty wild, I gotta say.

"It's wilder that Natha actually had this book, though..." I closed the small notebook in my hand.

It was the memoirs of an ex-communicated priest that heard about the true genesis stories from an oracle. The oracle, tragically, was murdered. And the priests who listened to the stories were being hunted and silenced. The owner of this notebook managed to at least record what he heard in codes that were spread all over the continent before perished, and Natha managed to get his hand on the book.

Well, as expected of someone hailed as the Collector.

Of course, no factions would write the history as they were, so Valmeier also grew up with the propaganda of an evil, treacherous Demon Realm. And although not as severe, the history books in the Demon Realm and the Elemental Realm were most likely skewed as well.

Didn't really matter to me, though. I was just an outsider anyway. Honestly, my status here was also vague, since I was a scorned figure both in the Human Realm and Demon Realm.

But...technically, since I had the blood of druid and dryad...

"Should I try to go to the Elemental Realm?" I muttered softly.

But since the library was a quiet place, my soft muttering was clear enough to be heard by the two demons.

"What?!" Zidoa appeared like a comet in my face. "What are you even saying?!"

Why were 'you' so agitated about that?

But it wasn't just the succubus. Angwi, who I thought was on the upper floor, was suddenly hovering behind my chair.

"I'm just saying," I shrugged. "I mean...technically, half of me is part of the Children of Nature,"

Zidoa looked at me then, purple eyes narrowed keenly. "Ugh...well, you do look like an elf or something...minus your ears..."

How ridiculous—the real elves would probably scorn you to put the likes of me with their pretty but petty kind.

But still...

"And I wouldn't be considered an enemy there," I said with a shrug. "Probably..."

"...bu-but..." I didn't know why, but Zidoa looked panicking somewhat.

"Well..." leaning back on the sofa, I raised my hand and stared at the mark etched there. "It's not like I can go anywhere with this on me..."

"That's right!" suddenly my hand was grabbed by Zidoa, who was already crouching on the same sofa. "You can't go, so you don't have to think about going to another land, okay?"

I had no idea why she was being like this suddenly. It wasn't like we were close enough—we were only talking for a few hours, basically.

Hmm...ah! Could it be that they would be in big trouble if I manage to go away? Like...perhaps Natha would punish them or something?

That was quite possible, so I reassured them. "Don't worry, it's not like I have the strength to go there on my own anyway. Didn't you hear I'm a weak ass now?"

"Still, you can't say something like that in front of him, okay?" Zidoa puffed her cheek and put her hands on her waist, looking at me with reprimanding gaze.

Yeah, yeah, I already face a little bit of his wrath yesterday, I knew that much. But what Zidoa said next left me speechless.

"You can't make him sad!" her brow furrowed, and I was stunned speechless. Sad? Him? The mighty Demon Lord? "Don't even think about it, okay? Not in front of him, you know he can—no, just don't think about it ever, you hear me?"

And for the first time, Angwi who seemed to always disapprove of Zidoa's behavior, nodded her head in affirmation.

And it wasn't ended there. "Promise me!" the teenage-like demon shoved her face close to me with a fierce glare, like a child pressuring their parent to go to an amusement park. "You have to promise us, Mister Bride!"

Truthfully, I had no intention to go anywhere. I had decided that it was impossible for me to leave, and there was no reason to anyway. His intention was suspicious, but Natha treated me well so far, just like he said. It was truly just a passing thought, and rather than 'escaping' there, I was thinking more along the line of traveling leisurely or something.

Angwi's reaction was one thing, but I was quite surprised that this princess seemed to care about Natha's feeling quite a lot. Was she worried he would send her home if he was upset?

Well...

"I can't make any promise if you keep calling me that," I crossed my arms and pressed my lips.

As expected, she clicked her tongue. "Tsk! Fine, then what should I call you? Young Master or something?" she looked appalled by the idea, and I almost burst out laughing.

But I controlled my facial muscle—it was easier without someone reading my thoughts constantly. "Just call me Val," I shrugged.

"Hmm? But that's what Lord Natha called you..." she seemed to ponder about it for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, in that case, I give you permission to call me Zia."

Was it a problem if she called me the same as Natha? It was just a name. "Fine, Zia, I promised."

"Good, since I allowed you to call me Zia, it means we're friends. And it's okay for a friend to use a nickname, so I can call you Val, too. That's fine, right, Angwi?" she looked at the head maid, and Angwi raised her thumb, although the face was as impassive as ever.

Hmm...I had a feeling that somehow this name-calling thing was something culturally significant, but I brushed that thought aside for now. It's not like I had anyone to talk to this much except this teenage succubus anyway.

I put the notebook carefully on top of the side table so it wouldn't get buried in the pile, and stretched out my body a little. I had planned to move my body as much as possible now that I wasn't in pain anymore, but all I had done was comfortably studying the world's history—or conspiracy.

"Are you tired? Should we have lunch?" Zidoa—Zia—asked me, tilting her head like some kind of cute female lead of some otome game.

I looked outside, at the swirl of the rainbow made of flying creatures, and the CGI-like landscape. "Since I have to stay here, I guess it'll be good if I learned about this realm as much as possible," I took a thick book from the pile, that seemed to talk about the seven territories of the demon realm.

"That's right!"

"But you see," I stared at the cover, and a sigh escaped my lips, "I can't read this..."

I couldn't even understand the title, much less the content. My level of demonese was probably only enough to read children's books at most. I wasn't sure I can read novels, much less something academic.

"Oh, right..."

This also altered my plan, because before I decided to look for any information or secrets regarding the Demon Lord, I had to learn the language first.

Zia had been talking to me in the common tongue, which she knew because she was from a Lord's household. And I could understand the language verbally. But it was different with written text since the letter was totally different.

"Hmm...don't worry!" Zia straightened up her back and tapped on her chest proudly. "Since we're friends now, I will teach you personally!"

So you wouldn't teach me if we weren't friends? I chuckled, but nodded at her enthusiasm.

"Alright, but before that, why don't you tell me—hmm, no, please impart your knowledge about this land to me, teacher," I smiled as I stood up, and I could see the apparent sparkle inside her purple eyes.

"Ouh, of course! Leave it to me! I'll grant you all the knowledge you seek, my student!"

Good, she likely wouldn't hide any information like this, right? Hmm, it would be better to set the mood too.

"Why don't we have an outdoor lunch while at it?" I looked outside once again, before turning my head toward Angwi. "Let's have a picnic."

The brightness on Zia's face and the bounciness of her step told me she would tell me—no, imparting knowledge—about anything that I asked.