Chapter 199 – Is It Time to Guess Who’s the Demon King Again?

The thief acquaintance Rosa mentioned was called Elodie Silvias.
The person's name sounded very much like it belonged to a noble.
In reality, the person was indeed a noble on the surface.
Specifically, she was the daughter of the Gryffin Kingdom's Minister of Land.

Of course, only a few people in the thieving industry knew about her real identity.
After all, the thief profession was an unscrupulous one.
So long as her real identity got exposed, her pleasant days would come to an end.

According to Rosa, she was friends with Elodie.
She was also one of the few people who knew Elodie's real identity.
Although Elodie's identity couldn't be shared with other thieves, there should be no problem sharing it with Alice.
After all, whether it was the Hero or the princess, both of Alice's identities were above Elodie's.
Alice did not stand to gain anything from leaking Elodie's identity.
Thus, Rosa doubted Elodie would mind letting Alice learn about her real identity.

“But if the Minister of Land's wife got cursed by a taboo-level curse, many people should have heard about it, right?” Alice asked as she followed Rosa to a villa and watched Rosa knocking on the villa's door.
“If someone with ill intentions noticed that Elodie's mother and a certain thief's mother are afflicted with the same curse, they should be able to quickly notice the link.”

“Which is why news of Elodie's mother being cursed is temporarily being suppressed,” Rosa said.
“The minister has already requested King Hatter for help privately.
The king has also taken this matter seriously and sent many magic researchers to diagnose and cure Elodie's mother.
However, none of them managed to produce any useful results… So, Elodie had no choice but to place her hopes on her thief connections.”

It was true that the Minister of Land had the authority necessary to call on all of the talents within the country that were capable of lifting the Sunset Bug Erosion's curse.
However, if it were the Minister of Land making the request, those operating on the shady side of society would be excluded.

Some powerful magicians were forced to operate underground because of their past criminal offenses.
Naturally, none of these people would dare to accept a commission issued by the country.
But what if one of these people just so happened to have a way to lift the Sunset Bug Erosion's curse? Wouldn't it be terrible if the minister's family missed out on such a person?

So, to ensure that they could reach every talent available in the Gryffin Kingdom, the Minister of Land and his daughter decided to abandon issuing a commission through the kingdom.
Instead, they chose to make a private request with the king while issuing a commission to the kingdom's underground society.
With Elodie's connections in the thieving industry, it shouldn't be difficult for news of her commission to spread across the entire underground society.

Unfortunately, few people were capable of casting taboos, to begin with, let alone those capable of resolving taboo-level curses.
Even individuals like the demons' Four Heavenly Kings and Catherine, the Captain of the Gryffin Kingdom's Royal Guards, were helpless in this regard.
Thus, the matter had been dragged on until now, and it was nearly two weeks since Elodie's mother had been cursed.

The Sunset Grass's suppressive effects were limited.
If a solution couldn't be found in the next three days, Elodie's mother would lose her humanity and turn into an insect.

“I'm coming.”

Elodie had given the servants at home a temporary leave to prevent information about her mother's predicament from spreading.
Because of this, Elodie and her mother were the only ones staying in the large villa right now, and Elodie even had to get the door herself.

After the villa's large door opened, a blonde girl with an exhausted face appeared in front of Alice and Rosa.
Judging by the girl's face, it was obvious that she hadn't gotten much rest these past few days.

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Elodie was very well-connected in the thieving industry.
Because of this, she received many responses to her commission.
Unfortunately, most of these responses were merely people trying their luck.
Some of the solutions these people provided might be novel and ingenious, but none of them managed to lift the curse.
As a result, all these people did was exhaust Elodie even more.

“Is this the person you said might be able to help me, Rosa?” Elodie asked, a slight frown forming on her tired face when she looked at the little girl standing next to Rosa.
“Why does she look a little familiar…”

“It seems you must be really tired,” Rosa said with a helpless smile.
Then, she pointed at Alice and introduced, “This person here is the Gryffin Kingdom's princess, so, of course, she looks familiar.”

“Ah, Your Highness… I apologize.
My mind truly isn't in the best of states right now, so I couldn't recognize you right away.” When Elodie finally recognized Alice, she hurriedly executed an aristocratic salute.
However, judging by how deformed her salute was, it was evident she was very tired right now.
“Do you perhaps have a way to remove the Sunset Bug Erosion, Your Highness?”

“You might not be aware of it, but Alice is a genius in magic.
Even though she is still attending classes in the March Academy's high school section, she is already at a level where she can learn taboos,” Rosa said, revealing some of Alice's strength to reassure Elodie.
Of course, she neglected to mention how easily and quickly Alice could master a taboo.
After all, this was a glaring point that could link Alice with the Hero.
“Moreover, unlike others, Alice has conducted in-depth research into the principles of taboos.
So, I thought that she might be able to reverse-derive the Sunset Bug Erosion's principles and lift the curse on Auntie.”

“Reverse derivation… That's right, that is indeed possible!”

Elodie's eyes glowed with newfound hope.
If she were to ask someone like Catherine to conduct a reverse derivation on the Sunset Bug Erosion taboo, she'd only be setting herself up for failure.
After all, Catherine was only talented when it came to combat.
While Catherine might have the ability to cast taboos by herself, she was lacking when it came to researching the fundamental principles of taboo.
So, asking Catherine to reverse-derive a taboo was no different than giving her an impossible task.

However, it was a different story for Alice.
It was relatively well-known among the Gryffin Kingdom's aristocratic circle that Alice was a genius when it came to studying and researching magic.
If Alice had the ability to learn taboos, there was a high chance that she could reverse derive the Sunset Bug Erosion taboo and lift the curse cast by it.

Thinking up to this point, Elodie hurriedly welcomed Alice and Rosa into her home and said:

“Please follow me.
I'll take you two to my mother.
I also found a copy of the Sunset Bug Erosion a few days ago, so you can use it for reference.”

When Rosa saw Elodie readily accepting her excuse, she could tell that her friend was already at her wit's end.
If any normal person were to hear that Alice was already capable of learning taboos at such a young age, their first reaction should be to express doubt.
Yet, Elodie had immediately believed it.
Their friendship might have played a part in Elodie's trust in her, but it also showed that Elodie was already out of options.

Elodie's mother was staying in a room on the second floor.
When Alice and Rosa followed Elodie to the staircase, they noticed that the corridor and living room they passed by on the first floor were covered in a thin layer of dust.
Evidently, it had already been quite some days since anyone had cleaned up the place.

Meanwhile, the instant Alice arrived on the second floor, her senses promptly picked up on a familiar aura, and she couldn't help but turn toward the origin of this aura.

The aura came from an inconspicuous room, and it just so happened to be the room Elodie was leading them to.
This meant that Elodie's mother was most likely lying in that room.

But… Alice could clearly tell that the aura coming from that room belonged to a Demon King…