"This isn't a spell from Yggdrasil, is it? While I don't have a complete grasp of all the magic in that game, I know quite a bit, and I've never seen a spell like this," Sir Xia Na asked, turning her head to look at the Ranch that had existed just tens of seconds ago.
"Indeed, it's not. This is Original Magic from this world, the Original Magic used by Dragon Lords… uh… strictly speaking, it should be magic that only Dragon Lords can use. Ordinary dragons can't cast it," Ellie said, looking at the ruins where a large area had been burned into glass-like material by the high temperature.
It was then that Ellie noticed… at the very edge, a small section of the city wall hadn't been vitrified. It was merely blackened, and in front of that small section of wall, a building resembling a very large watchtower stood tall.
After all, Ellie could only guess it was a watchtower; everything else had been melted into glass-like substances, making it impossible to discern any shape. That small section of the wall must be the one she saw in the Slane Theocracy!
"Used by Dragon Lords? As expected… the Dragon Lords of this world are indeed very powerful. Then why can you use the Original Magic cast by a Dragon Lord? Are you one of them?" Sir Xia Na asked.
"How could I be the same kind as those big lizards! My ability to use magic only a Dragon Lord can use is purely accidental, and it's mostly thanks to this ring that I can cast it. This ring was created by a Dragon Lord, and it fell into my hands due to some reason."
Ellie shook her hand with the ring again, then took the ring off. It was best to only use this thing when necessary; its power was truly too exaggerated.
"Does that mean if I equip that ring, I can also use the Original Magic used by a Dragon Lord? Then, may I try it?" Sir Xia Na said very calmly.
"Go ahead and try it…" Ellie, without a moment's hesitation, tossed the ring in her hand to Sir Xia Na, looking indifferent. Even Sir Xia Na hadn't expected Ellie to be so decisive; she was half a beat slow in catching the ring and almost dropped it.
"…" After catching the ring, Sir Xia Na merely held it in her hand and observed it for a while. She didn't equip it, nor did she 'try' it, naturally. She just threw it back to Ellie.
"Hmm? Why aren't you trying it?" Ellie, on the contrary, asked with a very mischievous smile.
"I've tried it…" Sir Xia Na replied.
"You've already tried it? That was quick!" Ellie said with a smile. Ellie, of course, understood that what Sir Xia Na meant by 'try' wasn't to test whether she could equip the ring and cast Original Magic, but to test Ellie herself!
When Sir Xia Na suggested trying the ring, Ellie already understood her little scheme. If she had shown even the slightest hesitation, Sir Xia Na would undoubtedly continue to suspect her true intentions and motives.
She had no intention of harming them, but convincing her not to be wary of her was troublesome. Besides, she herself genuinely wanted to know.
If other players equipped this ring, would they really be able to use Original Magic? But judging by Sir Xia Na's action of directly throwing the ring back to her, she probably wouldn't suspect her anymore, right?
"Finally, I have one more question. Why did you destroy this place? Was it just for venting anger? Aren't you afraid of incurring the hatred of the Dragon Lords by doing this?" Sir Xia Na asked.
"We already stole all their provisions… so we were already incurring the hatred of the Dragon Lords. We don't care about smashing their granary, do we? Besides, I wasn't simply venting anger. Didn't I just say that the magic I used to destroy this place was Original Magic that only a Dragon Lord can use? Ordinary dragons can't use it, you know!" Ellie said with a smile.
"I see… I didn't expect you to have so many crooked ideas." Sir Xia Na immediately understood Ellie's meaning.
Actually, Ellie's maneuver wasn't difficult to understand: attacking the Ranch owned by the Dragon Lords with magic that only a Dragon Lord could use.
Firstly, the benefit was that it could conceal the fact that the true culprits who rescued everyone were players, thereby hiding the players' existence.
Secondly… naturally, it was to point the finger of blame for attacking this Ranch at other Dragon Lords. Dragon Lords themselves are not that harmonious with each other, probably… so by pulling off such a stunt, even Dragon Lords with good relations would suspect each other of being responsible. It would be best if it could cause infighting among them; even if it didn't reach that extent, causing them to suspect each other would be extremely good.
"This is standard procedure, what's so bad about it! Alright, alright! We should head back now, or Arute and the others will start suspecting us of having some unspeakable 'yuri' relationship." Ellie urged Sir Xia Na, as Ellie herself hadn't been to the place where they settled those people, so she couldn't directly teleport there.
"It seems I wasn't wrong when I said you were more suited for the role of a Great Demon," Sir Xia Na said quietly, then raised her long staff and began to cast High-Tier Teleportation Magic.
"Thanks for the compliment." Ellie unceremoniously accepted Sir Xia Na's "praise"… After returning to the settlement with Sir Xia Na, they saw Arute and the uncle staring blankly at each other, looking completely helpless. Livia-san and Lan, who had arrived earlier than them, also stood dumbfounded, and all the rescued people sat on the ground listlessly, looking utterly lifeless.
"What happened?" Ellie couldn't help but feel a bit deflated upon seeing this scene when she returned. Was she going to have to play the villain here too?
"The uncle and I are at our wits' end. We don't even know what to say. I just wanted to talk to them properly, to first let them choose representatives to help us distribute food and so on, but they didn't show any response at all…" Arute said helplessly.
"Uh… that is indeed a problem." Ellie also understood that Arute's approach was correct. After all, there were tens of thousands of people, and relying on just a few people to distribute food, some would probably starve to death before the food even reached their hands.
There was only one Endless Fruit Basket. Although it could endlessly pour out various fruits, it wouldn't work if no one distributed them. Letting them take it themselves would also cause chaos. It seemed she would still have to maintain this Great Demon image.
"So we could only wait for your return, Lord Bai Xia!" Arute said half-jokingly. It seemed Arute also understood why Ellie wanted to establish a Great Demon image for herself.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"