A soul-shaking pressure climbed over the trembling, fragile bodies of the ministers, spreading straight toward their hearts.
The ministers stared blankly at the demi-human legion kneeling on one knee before them, suddenly realizing something.
Quentin was even more anxious. He pointed at the demi-humans outside the hall and hurriedly said, "Your Majesty! Please take a look at this unit."
"They're all demi-humans!"
The remaining ministers no longer cared about the chill sweeping over their bodies and began exchanging words among themselves, "That's right… they're demi-humans!"
"How can demi-humans be allowed to enter the country? They even formed a military unit!"
The more the ministers spoke, the more agitated they became, their voices growing louder and louder, completely ignoring Viktor standing behind them.
As if just shouting louder, louder still, would make their voices reach the emperor's ears.
Demi-humans have extremely sharp hearing. The discussion inside the hall reached them clearly.
They lowered their heads, held back their emotions, and only lightly bit their lips.
The fists held against their chests clenched slightly.
They weren't stupid. At this moment, they could clearly feel it.
When those humans looked at them from afar, their eyes were filled with nothing but disdain and contempt.
As if they saw them as nothing more than savage beasts.
The emperor leaned back slightly, pressing his back firmly against the throne. He stared at the noisy nobles, a trace of displeasure flashing in his eyes.
"Then what do you think should be done?"
When the nobles heard the emperor asking for their opinion, they thought he was giving in.
They became a little excited, and in their moment of enthusiasm, they spoke without much thought.
One noble seized the opportunity and hurriedly said, "In my opinion, Count Viktor should be ordered to disband this demi-human unit and drive them out of the country."
"The Empire should not allow these non-human races to enter."
"Ha… then don't allow me in either."
Cocotte yawned as she sat on the cloud, pointing at herself and saying calmly, "After all, I'm not human either."
The moment Cocotte spoke, that noble immediately shut his mouth, frightened into silence.
In the eyes of humans, elves and demi-humans weren't actually that different.
Because neither of them were human.
But elves were still far more noble than demi-humans.
After all, demi-humans had no human rights, you could bully them however you liked.
Elves were different.
He didn't want to suffer some kind of curse for the rest of his life.
At the very least, he didn't want to be remembered by an elf, especially not a powerful fourth-rank elven queen.
Although the ministers didn't dare say anything disrespectful to Cocotte, they still smiled apologetically while arguing back, "That's not what we mean, Councilor Yard. You are an elf, naturally, demi-humans cannot be compared to you."
Cocotte blinked and looked at the noble who had spoken.
"What do you mean?"
"So elves aren't human, is that it?"
That man froze on the spot.
'Weren't elves supposed to be kind and friendly?'
'Could it be that didn't apply to an elven queen?'
"N-no… I… I didn't mean it like that…"
"Then demi-humans aren't human?"
"Th-this…"
He was completely thrown into confusion by Cocotte's wordplay. His hands rubbed together nervously as he thought desperately, but his dull brain couldn't come up with any meaningful rebuttal.
What was he supposed to say?
If he admitted that demi-humans weren't human, wouldn't that be directly insulting all elves, including Cocotte?
Even though elves really weren't human.
The ministers opened their mouths, but not a single word came out.
"Finished talking? Then it's my turn."
At that moment, Viktor's cold gaze swept over everyone.
The instant his voice sounded, they all stiffened in place.
"I remember that every one of you has bought quite a few demi-human slaves for your households."
"That's no secret."
Hearing Viktor bluntly expose this cruel fact in front of the emperor, the nobles broke out in cold sweat.
According to imperial law, demi-humans were forbidden from entering the country, and slave traders were also forbidden from capturing demi-humans outside the borders and smuggling them in.
Although demi-humans might appear within imperial territory on their own, and those who captured them were free to deal with them however they wished, even keeping them at home as slaves, but…
If many noble households all had demi-human slaves, then where did those demi-humans come from?
There couldn't possibly be a group of demi-humans deliberately crossing the border just to wait for humans to capture them, could there?
If the emperor wanted to investigate, he could easily trace lines of slave traders straight back to them.
At that point, things would become very troublesome.
Viktor looked mockingly at the noble ministers. The meaning in his words was very simple.
'If even you are allowed to use demi-human slaves for labor, then why am I not allowed to form a demi-human army for the Clavenna family?'
As for the danger posed by demi-humans?
Who would dare bring up "danger" in front of Viktor?
"I understand that you want me to prove something. Fine."
Viktor raised his hand and snapped his fingers in the air. As if receiving a command, all the demi-humans stood up at once.
The cat and dog ears atop their heads swayed constantly.
They snapped to attention in perfect unison, fully prepared for action.
From the reaction of this demi-human unit, their discipline alone was comparable to that of a regular imperial army.
And from their somewhat slender bodies, there also emanated a faint sense of hunting danger and ruthless coldness.
The noble ministers stared at this perfectly uniform formation, completely dumbfounded.
Even though some of them didn't know much about the Empire's military, this demi-human unit in front of them made them clearly understand, what professionalism meant.
At this moment, many people began to doubt themselves.
Were they really demi-humans?
Could demi-humans understand human commands?
No whips, no food, just a snap of the fingers?
Next, Viktor slowly walked over to Quentin.
One hand gently patted his shoulder.
Feeling the heavy weight on his shoulder, Quentin trembled all over.
He slowly turned his head, looking at Viktor in terror.
"Mr. Quentin, as the director of the Monster Management Bureau, you should understand this better than I do."
"Monsters also possess intelligence."
Viktor's calm voice sounded by his ear.
This was true. The Monster Management Bureau captured rare monsters capable of causing riots and properly contained them.
Among the captured monsters, many had developed a certain degree of intelligence, not relying purely on instinct.
"Then what makes you think demi-humans have no intelligence?"
"Just because you treat them like beasts?"
The icy voice seemed to drill into Quentin's bones.
He couldn't stop trembling. His voice weakened, and his gaze couldn't help but fix on the demi-humans.
The demi-humans sensed Quentin's gaze but continued to stand rigidly in place, eyes forward, not shifting in the slightest.
This was clearly an elite unit that could obey orders completely.
At that moment, the heavy hand on his shoulder slowly withdrew.
Only then did Quentin feel the near-death pressure gradually fade away.
Viktor stood in front of him, his back to Quentin.
"I hope you understand one thing, I am their master."
"It's not your place to point fingers."
The instant those words fell, a strange light flashed through the crow's eyes on his shoulder.
The next moment, a pair of enormous, pitch-black wings suddenly grew from Viktor's back.
Red light flowed between the feathers, scattering black fragments through the air.
The wings gently flapped in midair, as if trying to sweep all irrelevant people away.
The ministers stared at the wings erupting from Viktor, as if realizing something terrifying. They were so frightened that they all shrank deeper into the hall.
'Demi-human traits? No!'
That was clearly something only magic could accomplish.
Quentin was still trembling as he cautiously asked Viktor, "Count Viktor… are you… really human?"
Viktor only turned his head slightly and cast a cold glance at him.
"I'm not human."
"And are you?"
Those mocking words fell upon everyone, making their hair stand on end.
In Viktor's eyes, they looked like primitive beasts stripped naked.
Leaving them utterly ashamed.
After a long silence, a hearty, weathered laugh rang out from the throne.
It seemed to dispel all the oppressive atmosphere around them.
The noble ministers finally moved. They turned around and saw the emperor patting the armrest, laughing loudly.
Aubrey's laughter gradually subsided as he smiled at the princess below.
"Wasn't this already prepared?"
"Aurelian, go with your teacher without worry."
The moment these words were spoken, it was as if a bomb went off in every minister's mind, boom, leaving them completely blank.
Their ears still rang with a sharp tremor.
The emperor had agreed.
Seated in her chair, Aurelian stared at Viktor's back, her eyes sparkling with little stars.
She felt nothing but pure admiration.
Emperor Aubrey looked down at the princess fondly and said with a smile, "Go on, Aurelian."
"Don't disappoint me."
———
Raging wind and snow danced wildly beneath the sky, and the howling cold wind relentlessly sliced at the visitors' skin.
Across the vast, endless snowfield, there seemed to be no trace of life at all.
A group of guards and knights trudged through deep snow, dragging their steps forward with difficulty.
Beneath the blanket of white, an extremely heavy scent of blood rose from the ground and spread through the air.
A calm voice sounded.
"We've arrived. This is where the decisive battle took place."
"And also where the demon appeared."
Led by General Vladimir's deputy, Delk, the third-in-command of the Pale Mage Council, this force from the capital was conducting an investigation into the demon incident.
The second prince jumped down from the sled, wrapped in a thick fur coat, breathing out white mist as he looked around.
Soon, he narrowed his eyes.
"The aura of a demon."
He could clearly feel it, this place had indeed seen a demon.
And that bloody smell…
'Wrath?'
A low, viscous voice slowly echoed in his ear.
The second prince had no time to respond to Yerm's words. He simply raised his head and looked ahead.
Toward that frozen sea.
Some time ago, this snowfield had experienced an extremely terrifying war.
So many barbarians had died that the blood-red color of the ice sea had yet to completely fade.
He was a little curious, who had brought the Wrath from Jashu's body here?
After thinking it over, only one answer came to mind.
"Viktor…"
The second prince softly murmured the name, then cast his gaze forward.
On the surface of the ice sea stood a vast ruin, buried beneath heavy snow.
A ruin appearing out of nowhere on an otherwise flat ice sea was hard for him to understand.
'Had there been some kind of structure here before?'
Delk explained slowly, "According to the scouts at the time, they did see a complete white temple here. At first, they thought it was built by the barbarians."
"But that temple has already been destroyed by Count Viktor."
The second prince looked at the ruins, feeling somewhat surprised.
'Viktor again?'
'But what exactly was this thing?'
Suddenly, it was as if an enraged beast had stopped its roar.
The surrounding wind and snow gradually calmed, as though cut off within a sealed space.
Dark clouds slowly covered the sky overhead, gloomy and oppressive.
Yet this abnormal weather felt… strange.
It was clearly overcast, but...
'Where was the wind? Why was there no wind?'
The second prince seemed to sense something and abruptly looked up.
A pair of eyes, as if piercing through the shadowed clouds... looked toward him.
Or rather... toward the temple ruins.
Staring at them intently.