The battle was a perfect victory.
Although many soldiers were sacrificed, no one felt it wasn't worth it because their results were fruitful—they had successfully wiped out the Elf Race!
Not to mention the Magic Items and various spoils collected from the Elf Race's settlement, the fertile land of the Elf Forest alone was the kingdom's greatest gain from this war. The quality of the soil here was very high; if used for planting crops, there would surely be a massive harvest, which would be a huge help to the country!
Prince Shurein left some soldiers to guard this land and led the main army back to the royal capital. Before the army even returned to the royal capital, the news of the grand victory had already spread throughout the entire Human Continent.
As the commander-in-chief of this battle, Shurein gained a great deal of fame, and voices of support for him to succeed as king had already appeared within the country. This was all the work of the nobles and ministers; currently, the only one qualified to inherit the throne was Prince Shurein, and they had no other choice.
However, because of previous events, it wouldn't be appropriate for Prince Shurein to inherit the throne so quickly without a proper reason. So, they began to boastfully proclaim the wickedness of the Elf Race and praise Prince Shurein's justice and bravery. As long as the citizens believed Prince Shurein was fit to be king and called for him to take the throne, his succession would be a matter of course.
Thus, when Shurein led the army back to the royal capital, they received a warm welcome. Many citizens ran to the city gates to greet them and offer flowers.
"Your Highness, please look at everyone's enthusiasm." The minister responsible for welcoming the army performed to his heart's content in front of Shurein. "The Elf Race committed many crimes and finally received their righteous judgment. You are the incarnation of justice, the holy sword defending the kingdom's righteousness!"
"Besides you, no one is fit to sit on the throne now. You have proven this to the kingdom!"
No matter how extravagantly the minister praised him.
Shurein remained unmoved.
This matter needed further discussion.
After all, his mission was to seize control of the kingdom's discourse and launch an attack on the Elf Race.
And now, his mission was complete.
Whether to continue being the king was a decision his master had to make.
After a series of events like the welcome party, celebration party, and rewarding of merits, by the time Shurein returned to the royal palace, even he, as a Shadow Demon Servant, couldn't help but feel a bit tired.
"You're back?" In Shurein's room, Shurein's younger sister was also there...
...waiting for him.
Sue held that Shurein doll in her hand and asked the returning Shadow Shurein, "When do you plan to return my brother's body?"
"Sue, what do you mean?"
Shadow Shurein's expression was cold.
He had never said he would return the body.
The previous agreement with Sue was merely to return Shurein to her.
And Shurein had already been returned to Sue long ago.
"I don't mean anything special; I just think it's time you returned my brother's body."
Sue spoke bold words.
Shurein's hand moved toward his sword; Princess Sue no longer had any utility value.
Bang!
The sounds of swords being drawn mingled together.
The door was burst open, and a blue-haired young swordsman wearing Adventurer's clothing and a scarf around his neck launched an attack on Shurein.
Their blades clashed!
After exchanging a dozen moves, the young swordsman proved more skilled, knocking Shurein back against the wall with a single strike.
Shurein looked at the man and uttered his name: "Julius."
The Hero Julius!
Why was this man here?
That was no longer important.
Because he could now be certain that Julius knew his identity. The whistleblower, without a doubt, was Princess Sue. This Princess Sue was even more determined than anyone had initially thought.
To actually dare to inform the Hero while the humans and demons were at war, drawing the Hero back from the front lines.
Having gained the upper hand, Julius decisively prepared to use a Sword Skill to kill the enemy.
Shurein looked at the sword in Julius's hand with an expressionless face, and as expected, Sue cried out at that moment: "No! That's my brother's body!"
"What?!"
Julius stopped the activation of his Sword Skill.
He only knew that the current Shurein was an impostor; he didn't know it was Shurein's actual body.
When Sue informed him, she was afraid that writing about this would be hard to believe and that Julius would think she was joking—after all, such a thing was too incredible. So she only wrote in the letter that Shurein was being impersonated, that the current Shurein was a fake, and that Julius needed to come back quickly to save Shurein.
Sue's little scheme proved quite useful.
When Julius received the letter at the front lines, he immediately made a decision. He worried this was a scheme by the Demon Race and feared that this fake Shurein would cut off the supply lines for the front-line troops after taking control of the kingdom, so he had to deal with this matter immediately.
On the Demon Lord's side, the offensive had temporarily slowed down because of the Spider Child, which gave Julius the opportunity to return. After hiding his movements and secretly returning to the royal palace, he planned this ambush with Sue's arrangement.
Sure enough, before this fake Shurein could react, he was nearly taken down in one go.
But Julius hadn't expected that this fake Shurein was actually using Shurein's body!
"Could this be that secret technique used to control the two princes before?" Julius immediately thought of the news recently spread by the kingdom.
It said that the patriarch of the Elf Race possessed a Soul Transfer skill and could control other people's bodies.
"It seems you Demon Race also use the same methods. Was the reason you were so eager to wipe out the Elf Race to keep this secret?"
"..."
Shurein remained silent.
Although Julius's deduction was clearly off track, he didn't plan on correcting it. If they thought he was Demon Race, then so be it. Since he was exposed, he would be the Demon Race; let them trouble the Demon Race from now on.
"It seems I've guessed correctly."
Julius believed he had hit the mark.
"Let's make a deal. As long as you return Shurein's body, I'll let you leave and won't pursue you further. I swear it in the name of Hero Julius!"
Sue, standing nearby, looked at Shadow Shurein nervously.
Shadow Shurein didn't speak. It wasn't until the Royal Guard heard the commotion and rushed over that he looked at the soldier with a solemn face. "What happened? You... you are Prince Julius?!"
"Soldiers, hear my command!"
Shurein's voice woke the stunned soldiers.
"Yes, sir!"
"Princess Sue has been affected by an evil spell, and Prince Julius has been deluded by her into attempting to assassinate me. Fire the signal immediately and summon the Royal Guard to protect me!"
"How could this be..."
"Do you understand?!"
"Yes, yes, sir!"
Julius shouted: "Wait!"
Although the soldier's expression was hesitant, he still quickly fired the signal because the current acting king was Prince Shurein, not the Hero, and Prince Shurein was about to inherit the throne after returning from this campaign.
There was no need to even think about whose orders to follow.
Even if it was Hero Julius attempting to assassinate Shurein, they couldn't just stand by and watch.
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