The Water Magician

That night, in the centaur village, a welcoming feast was held for the party.

Of course, at the center of it all, receiving drink after drink, was Nils.

Harold and Gowan watched from behind, as if he were an object of worship.

The faithful of the Nils religion, number one and number two...

Eto, Amon, and Zeek observed Nils, who kept drinking continuously, with wry smiles while eating the feast.

Ryo, with a proud demeanor, crossed his arms and nodded repeatedly while looking at Nils.

"Nils has really become something," he murmured.

At that moment, the opponent Nils had fought against approached him, holding a bottle of alcohol.

The eyes around them widened in surprise at the sight of the bottle.

It seemed to be quite a rare liquor...

"Nils, well, have a drink."

"Oh, Chiron. I’ll take it."

They exchanged drinks.

Naturally, the centaurs who had been pouring drinks for Nils until now ceded the spot to Chiron.

Although Chiron had been defeated, it seemed the perspective of the centaur tribe had not changed.

In fact, it even appeared that they were showing more respect than before to those who exuded an air of experience.

It seems they appreciated the content of the 'fight'.

"Nils is strong. It was a good match. Thank you."

Chiron said, emptying his cup for the umpteenth time.

"The outcome of the match is left to fate. I won this time, but who knows about the next."

Nils responded by downing his cup in one go.

"Don’t be humble. I lost to a strong opponent. The centaurs respect the strong."

"Is that so? Just because I won doesn't mean Chiron's position is diminished or anything like that..."

"It's fine."

Chiron said with a laugh and continued with more words.

"Victory is an honor, but defeat is not a shame."

Saying this, he downed another cup.

"Each time we experience defeat, we grow stronger. We centaurs know this. Therefore, defeat is not shameful."

With that, Chiron smiled.

Nils looked at that smile, captivated.

It was indeed a fact, but to say it so clearly was no easy feat.

"Indeed... it seems I’ll grow stronger again."

"Ah, I thought so too."

The two burst into laughter.

A centaur dressed in splendid armor—though now he had removed the armor—approached Eto, Zeek, and Ryo.

"I am the tribe leader, Kenloutor."

"I am Eto, and this is Zeek and Ryo."

"I thought I’d let you know before you get completely drunk."

With that, tribe leader Kenloutor smiled slyly.

"First, I must apologize; I don’t know the current location of the demon king."

"I see..."

From his previously sly smile, Kenloutor's expression shifted to one of apology.

Eto responded with disappointment.

With a determined look, Eto asked, "If... if you did know, would you honestly tell us?"

"Mm? What do you mean?"

"Because it would help us reach the demon king."

"Oh, I see what you mean."

Kenloutor answered with a laugh.

"I wouldn’t mind telling you. If the demon king raises an army, we will have to follow him. This is due to the 'demon king's factor' that we possess, and there is no choice in the matter. However, since the demon king hasn’t raised an army at this time, we can say our relationship with him is completely nonexistent. It doesn't matter what the demon king or his other executives and aides are doing."

"The demon king's factor..."

Ryo murmured.

Yes, it sounded familiar... similar to the mysterious term related to Ryo, 'fairy factor'...

"Currently, the demon king has not raised an army... In other words, he has no intention of invading humanity?"

"Well, that’s right. In fact, for over a hundred years, there have been no clashes between the demon king's army and humans."

Upon hearing this, Eto and Zeek were surprised.

In the past few hundred years, most demon kings and heroes have been born in the Western Nations.

And regularly, the Western Church has announced that heroes have successfully subjugated demon kings.

Thus, it could be said that the people of the Central Nations do not accurately know the relationship between heroes and demon kings.

However, based on the announcements from the Western Church, they had vaguely thought that the demon king's army clashed with humans, and that heroes defeated the demon king.