Chapter 68: 067 ‘Let’s cooperate.
Just like Tielle had mentioned, since Laischa claimed to be “escaping” into Lamijion upon their first meeting, it became quite intriguing as to why she was escaping.
To need to escape meant there was someone pursuing her.
Considering this, and recalling how the Old Demon Clan Faction people had come to her with Laischa’s portrait, asking if she had seen her and where she might be, it was clear that the pursuers were indeed the Old Demon Clan Faction.
The question was, why did the people of the Old Demon Clan Faction want to pursue Laischa?
“Could it be because you stole a residence left by the Demon King, and now they want to kill you for it?” Shane speculated.
“How could that be?” Laischa laughed dismissively, “Those people, although they loudly claim to want the Demon Clan to revert to its original form and follow the will of the Demon King, and not disgrace themselves just to cling to life and coexist with the Divine Race and Human Race, are in reality just a group of ambitious and malevolent individuals who use this pretext to do whatever they please, to satisfy their own selfish desires. They wouldn’t go through such trouble for a mere mansion that has no practical use.”
“The premise must be that the mansion truly has no use, right?” Shane pointedly got to the heart of the matter, “What if the mansion actually has a function that the Old Demon Clan Faction cannot ignore?”
That would give them a reason to take action to seize the mansion.
Laischa naturally understood this reasoning.
“Don’t worry, just as I said before, the mansion was merely stolen as an afterthought; while it does have some unique effects, it’s still not enough to spark a struggle among those with ulterior motives.” Laischa casually sipped her tea and continued, “They are fixated on something else, something I actually intended to steal, and it’s not on the same level as this mansion.”
“So, you do have something on you that the Old Demon Clan Faction wants?” Shane looked directly at Laischa, “What is it?”
“Why? Are you interested?” Laischa smiled with interest, “Indeed, as a Hero, you can’t simply ignore something that has attracted the attention of dangerous elements from the Old Demon Clan Faction, can you?”
Such a statement was met only with Shane’s indifferent expression.
Laischa raised an eyebrow.
“It seems not.” Laischa muttered, “You seem much less interested in these matters than I expected.”
Indeed, that was the case.
To be honest, Shane had no interest in the Old Demon Clan Faction or the conspiracies surrounding Laischa.
Initially, Shane had been avoiding Laischa precisely because he knew she was “escaping.” Given these circumstances, he really wasn’t inclined to look into what dangerous things might be involved with Laischa or what the Old Demon Clan Faction’s goals might be.
These issues were unrelated to him, so why should Shane care?
Thus, unless it was a direct threat to himself, Shane really didn’t want to get involved in these troubles.
“This is what it means to be part of the world, I guess.” Shane said reluctantly, “Since Vivian’s Team is quite concerned about this matter, I guess I won’t be able to stay uninvolved.”
Vivian’s Team was clearly acting for the sake of this town and the Kingdom.
Considering the favors Shane had received from them, it seemed necessary to return those favors.
To put it simply, that would be…
“Whether it’s you or the Old Demon Clan Faction, since this town has already been dragged into this, unless I run away, I’m bound to get involved sooner or later, right?” Shane said with a forced smile, “Don’t you think I should do something about it?”
“Oh?” Laischa perked up, curious, and asked, “What do you plan to do?”
“It’s simple,” Shane said bluntly. “For instance, I could kill you right here, throw your stolen items and your ashes into the mountains for the Old Demon Clan Faction people to tend to your grave and such.”
“No, no, no! Shouldn’t the normal course of action be you and me teaming up to drive away the Old Demon Clan Faction people!?” Laischa’s face stiffened, and he couldn’t help but blurt out loudly, “The real evil faction is over there! What kind of thought process is this for a solution? You’re supposed to be a Hero, not the Demon King!”
Clearly, even Laischa was nearly frightened by Shane’s unique style.
Only Shane felt nothing wrong with his statements.
“Who said a Hero must always act in an upright manner?” Shane responded, “After all, a Hero is just a tool summoned by the Divine Race from the Otherworld to confront the Demon King—flatteringly called a savior of the world, crudely a weapon for war. It’s all a matter of perspective. If it were the Demon Clan summoning the Hero instead of the Divine Race, I guess ‘Hero’ would just be another term for ‘Demon,’ wouldn’t it?”
“You… you’re not wrong there…” Laischa was left dumbfounded, speaking as if he’d lost all strength, “Has your line of thought always been this unique? What on earth were the Divine Race thinking when they summoned someone like you to this world?”
“You’re telling me—I’d like to know too,” Shane admitted. “Getting a chance to live again is certainly great, but lately, I’ve started doubting whether it really is such a good thing.”
“Right…” Laischa found himself at a loss for words and finally managed to muster, “Just a reminder, regardless of the power issue, if I wanted to escape, nobody could possibly kill me.”
As a user of Space Magic, if Laischa really wanted to escape, it would indeed be very difficult for anyone to catch her.
Otherwise, whether Laischa could live unscathed and continue to live her carefree life amid the Old Demon Clan Faction hunting her would indeed be a question.
But this was precisely the question Shane wanted to ask.
“If you wanted to escape, you could have at any time, but instead, you chose to stay in Lamijion, even knowing that people from the Old Demon Clan Faction were looking for you. What exactly is your purpose?”
Shane finally asked the question that concerned him the most.
His intuition told him that this matter might involve him.
And Laischa’s response the next second confirmed this thought.
Laischa reined in all expressions and stared intently at Shane.
“It’s because I knew you are the new Hero that I stayed, even after receiving news that people from the Old Demon Clan Faction had infiltrated Lamijion.”
Upon hearing this, Shane had only one thought.
That was, trouble was coming.
Laischa looked straight at Shane and spoke out.