Book 1: Chapter 16: The Entire City Is Focused On The Word ‘Kill'
When we returned home, Aleya’s peaceful appearance went through no big change.
This made me have a somewhat guilty conscience, so I took the initiative to ask:
“You’re not going to ask me the reason why?”
Aleya replied:
“Since young master did things the way he did, then he definitely must have his reasons.”
Despite her speaking like this, this girl’s little moodiness couldn’t hide itself. She probably hoped that I would act like I did in the past and point at Pierce while telling her “beat him up”.
I bitterly smiled:
“Actually, it isn’t anything that grand. I just suddenly figured things out. When we first arrived, I didn’t understand why those impoverished people were displaying bright eyes and joyous expressions, but now I understand. I’m afraid that the news of the half-human, half-demon girl’s execution has long since been spread. Now, everyone in the city is looking forward to handing her over in exchange for peace. If we prevent this from happening, then it’s the same as becoming enemies with the entirety of West-Resisting City. This means that as long as there’s ever a Demon Race invasion in the future, those people will definitely throw the pot over onto our head.1”
Aleya squeezed the sword by her waist and creased her brows as she muttered:
“How can this be……didn’t young master also hear? That Pierce person said that the half-demon person killed many of her ‘compatriots’, so she should be someone who has been defending West-Resisting City.”
And this is why I call you too young, Aleya.
I shook my head and told her:
“Come with me for a walk.”
After changing into plain and simple clothes, I walked onto the roadside, poured two handfuls of dirt onto myself, then rolled twice on the ground to make myself look more or less dirty. Aleya copied what I was doing, but didn’t understand much as to why I was doing this.
I told her that this was called ‘mingling with the people incognito’.
We once again wandered the streets of West-Resisting City and this time, the amount of eyes we attracted greatly decreased. The people on the street most likely considered us to be one of their own, so they no longer took the initiative to avoid us. I took Aleya with me to find a teahouse to sit down in. After we sat down, I ordered us the cheapest tea, then began silently enjoying the cup of tea.
The teahouse was bustling with noise and excitement.
The people were very passionate.
Everyone was discussing a certain topic.
“Felita is finally leaving, our good days should also be coming soon.”
“What are you saying? In the past, I still thought of her as a good person, who would’ve known that her belly was full of evil tricks.”
“Only now do you realize that she was a bad person? She’s been paying evil back for good even in her childhood, do you not remember how she would throw rocks at our children? Don’t you remember that year she burned down several of our houses? Although nobody died, I knew then that she was a Demon by nature. While she might be very ruthless when fighting the Demons, she also isn’t lenient when handling us humans.”
The teahouse was filled with sounds of discussion.
“Those are some good words! If it weren’t for her, would we have to endure so many years of suffering? She has to take full responsibility!”
“So in other words, she was originally a mixed *******, yet she still thought that she was a person?”
“Hehe, an animal’s daughter is still an animal in the end……those from the enemy side aren’t anything good, just let them continue with their dogfight.”
I poured Aleya a cup of tea and asked while I watched her drink:
“How do you feel?”
Aleya replied:
“Very bitter.”
I chuckled.
Someone inside the teahouse slammed on the table:
“What’s there to fear about the Demon Race? What you should be afraid of is a spy! I knew that Felita wouldn’t be anything good on the day she was born! If she really was that skilled, then why didn’t she counterattack the Demons? Why didn’t she just kill them off? It’s because she was already in the same group with the other Demons a long time ago!”
“So you’re saying that the Demons want her to return because they’re afraid that we’ll discover this?”
“Exactly! Those noble masters of ours are too compassionate and lenient; if it were up to me, I would kill her inside West-Resisting City, then throw her severed head at the Demons!”
“Great solution! How stress-relieving!”
A peal of cheers rang out.
I poured another cup of tea and explained their reactions to Aleya:
“The ‘people’ are ‘justice’, the will of the masses is always correct. But you see, as long as there are a few ‘leader-type’ people with hidden agendas mixed in with the masses, it becomes very easy to rile the masses up. Also, is that Demon called Felita truly so noble as she is rumored to be? You can’t guarantee it, and I also can’t guarantee it. What if she really is a chess piece that the Demons hid in West-Resisting City? If we save her, it will be at an enormous price; is this price really worth it?”
Aleya sat silently without a word in response.
I grasped my teacup and continued asking calmly:
“If you were placed in her position, what would you do? Would you let yourself be captured?”
Aleya shook her head in response.
I remarked:
“That’s to be expected. Pierce used the words ‘punished according to the law’, but I believe that the current West-Resisting City doesn’t have the power to capture her and transport her to the Demon Race’s domain. In this case, the only explanation is that she let herself be captured, but why did she let herself be captured? Did she wish to return to Demon Race territory? These matters are currently unknown.”
Aleya drank a mouthful of tea and smartly nodded.
I pointed at the impassioned crowd and said:
“Furthermore, what those people are saying isn’t necessarily wrong. Did you hear what they were saying? That woman named Felita burned down other people’s houses. In the opinion of the masses whose lives were already challenging enough, how grave would the implications of losing their houses be? Is she really kind-hearted? If she didn’t do anything that would let down humans, then why is speaking of her able to stir up such chaos?”
I didn’t speak any further.
Inside the teahouse, on the streets, even throughout the entire city.
All of the people were in rhythm, uniformly shouting two words.
“Kill her! Kill her!!”
- Aka, the last sentence means that everyone in the city will most likely hand them over to the Demon Race or do something to screw MC and Aleya over.