Chapter 322 (Patreon)

Chapter 322

The group had just crossed the massive trench over Kel’s lair with the help of the dragon and decided that it was finally time to head for the demon continent. Kel told them about a couple of islands right off the continent's shore that were inhabited the last time he was nearby, so Sophia decided they should head in that direction.

"Oh! Wait a moment!" A day had passed since they left the trench, and Sophia suddenly energetically clapped her hands when everyone was back on the boat. Even Ari had decided to join them once more after the abyss was nowhere to be seen again. “I just picked something up with my detection magic! I’m sensing a couple dozen individuals with roughly as much magic, maybe a somewhat less, as what Anna and Ari used to have!”

“Ohhh!” Steph’s tail started to wag even harder. “That must be the demons, right? Right?!”

“Yup, those are the magic signatures of demons.” Aura reacted with a big nod while looking in the direction Sophia was. As her detection range wasn’t too far behind the tiger’s, she had been able to recognize them as well.

“LET’S GO!” Both sisters had the same reaction.

“That means I’m a lot stronger than most demons, right?” The jaguar sounded a little concerned. “Is the difference in strength big enough that they won't challenge me to test their strength?"

"A large number of demons would challenge Canir if they get the chance.” Aura shook her head. “You’ll be really popular with everyone there.”

“Great…” She didn’t seem too happy about that.

“I’m going to fight so many people!” Steph, on the other hand, was. “In a friendly manner, of course.”

“Well, on the other hand, luckily for you, Sophia will probably gather all the attention.” Aura tried to cheer Ari up.

“True!” It instantly worked.

“Speaking of that,” Kel suddenly joined the conversation and addressed the tiger in question. “I know how much you like being in the center of attention, so I’ll be returning to your domain before you all get too close to the island. Elder dragons aren’t usually around demons or regular people in general, so I don’t want to steal the attention away from you.”

“…” Sophia stared at him for a moment. “I’m not even going to humor that.”

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The group continued to get closer to the area where they detected the demons, but just before the islands they were on came into view, Kel decided to leave them as he didn’t feel like stealing Sophia’s spotlight, on top of elder dragons being a bit reclusive.

“By the way, is it okay if I’m not being a princess on this continent?” Anna looked at the others while scratching her cheek. “I mean, as long as the demons don’t know what being a tiger means amongst the beastfolk, at least. I want to explore everything just like a regular person. Well, it seems regular will be difficult because of our magic levels, but I don’t want to ride on the royal and diplomatic side of me. I just want to have fun.”

“Ohh, that would be nice!” Ari was an instant fan of the idea.

“Well, I’m just a friendly neighborhood tiger anyway, so I don’t see why not.” Sophia gave her a thumbs-up.

“Awesome!”

“Though, it would be nice if you could slip into your official role if it’s needed.” The blonde shrugged. “For example, when we end up in the capital and somehow end up meeting the demon royals and tell them about my portals and the possibility of linking the continents and kingdoms.”

“Of course!” She reacted with a big nod. "Just during regular travel and exploring, I want to be a normal overpowered girl~."

“Fair!” Sophia could follow her logic. “I think I’ll continue to mask my full power as well, so they don’t look at just my magic.”

“You still stand out in plenty of other ways, so I'm not sure if that will change much." Aura reacted with a small chuckle.

“Shush.” She rolled her eyes. “Speaking of, what are the chances that you’re the one going to stand out the most, my dear Dragonhunter of whatever-the-place-was-called?”

“Igath.” The wolf looked back at her. “I’ve hunted and fought them all over the continent, but I really only got that name and title in the capital. I also immediately left afterward because I remembered my past life during that time. I doubt my name traveled all the way to this island.”

“It’s going to turn out that she’s famous over the entire continent, right?” Steph leaned closer to Chloe while thinking about what she just heard.

“Her title definitely comes with some sort of honorary royalty perk.” The fox-girl nodded a few times. “Everyone will have heard of her. Even in the most remote of places.”

“I like it better when I’m on the other side of this type of teasing.” Aura didn't appreciate the couple's comments.

“No, I think it’s good that you’re on the other side every now and then.” Sophia shook her head.

“Your side, you mean?” The wolf immediately switched back.

“…”

“Let’s pick up the pace already!” Steph had enough of the bickering because she really wanted to meet the demon folk.

“Sure.”

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They started using a bit of wind magic to speed up their boat and continued to navigate in the direction Sophia and Aura were detecting the demons. Soon enough, a sizeable island emerged from behind the horizon.

It was still too far away to make out any fine details, but it seemed like it would be a nice holiday retreat for people, as it seemed like the island had beautiful white beaches and palm trees everywhere.

The closer the group got, the more details they could make out. Soon enough, they started noticing wooden huts with big straw roofs, which only added to the retreat-like feeling of the place.

A little while later, they came close enough to finally and clearly make out the island’s inhabitants, as well. There were many dozen individuals going about their day, and at first glance they resembled humans, but upon closer inspection, this wasn't the case for most of them. Various people had ram-like horns on their heads, and even more sprouted a thin tail with an arrow-shaped tip. Some of them even had a set of wings neatly tucked together on their backs. Their skin colors also varied much more than those of humans. Besides the more natural colors, there were also blue, red, and fully ashen hues. From a quick overview, it seemed like all the male demons had at least one non-human feature, but there were still some females that also came with at least a tail or horns on their heads.

“WOAH!” Steph’s eyes were sparkling. “They look so cool! So many hot girls, too! Wait, that one looks like a succubus from those fantasy movies!” She was very excited.

“I think we’re approaching the last one with caution.” Chloe found her to be at least 15% too into what she was seeing.

“It’s true, they look fun!” Sophia agreed with her sister, but then looked at Maya. “I might be misremembering things, but back when you and Chiyo mistook me for a demon, didn’t one of you or maybe Fenny mention that female demons look just like humans, with the only difference being that they're a lot stronger?”

“That’s what I remember having heard about demons.” The cat-girl in question shrugged. “I mean, to be fair, a few of them on the island seem exactly like that. Maybe the percentage of them back when they lived on our continent was much higher?”

“There are various demon tribes.” Aura nodded a few times. “The main tribe that lived back on the beastfolk continent indeed had fewer outer markings, especially when it comes to females. However, there are plenty here that have just as many, if not even more, demon features than the male counterparts.”

“Ohh!” Maya and Sophia had the same reaction. “Makes sense!”

“We also learned in school that the female demons don’t have any visible clues of them being members of the demon folk, but I guess that really wasn’t the case, huh?” Anna nodded along with them.

“Well, Aura just mentioned that the tribe living on our continent was more like that.” Ari shrugged. “Also, it’s been multiple thousands of years since then. It’s not too surprising that maybe some details went missing over time.”

“Oh, it looks like they noticed us!” Steph was still watching the island while they were talking and saw that more and more demons had started gathering on the beach, near a small dock with two other boats attached to it. Some of them were pointing and gesturing in their direction, too.

“It’s probably not every day that a private luxury-style sailing boat arrives from the direction of the area that they call the Abyss Trench around here.” Fen could understand their curiosity.

Now that they were awaited by the demon folk on the island already, in one way or another, they used a little more wind magic to get there faster to meet their first member of the demon folk. For everyone besides the wolves, at least.