The giants and their allies invaded the holy lands, killed some people, captured the weak ones, and burned everything in their path.

They even had mercenaries, who were allowed to kidnap, torture, rape, and commit massacres.

That was because the Mercenary Guild, despite forbidding such acts, had a few exceptions. One of these exceptions was war.

The Mercenary Guild was a neutral faction, so whenever a war started and two different kingdoms asked for mercenaries, they wouldn't be able to control these acts.

Preventing the mercenaries from choosing a specific side would look like an act of enmity, and preventing them from choosing either side would force the kingdoms to hire illegal mercenaries and criminals.

That would even encourage the people to become illegal mercenaries, ignoring the Mercenary Guild completely, as the wars were considered gold mines for those who survived them.

Thus, the Mercenary Guild had no choice but to make an exception.

Everything and anything is allowed in wars!

There were thousands of people dead and even more captured innocents. Those captured often faced fates worse than death.

A lot of villages turned into ashes, and one small town fell.

The war was accelerating rapidly.

Although it was still at the beginning, hence the high-ranking beings didn't participate yet, there were a few concerning events.

One of them was a huge explosion that affected one of the biggest farms in the kingdom.

And another one was the kidnapping of the youngest princess.

Those were the most important information about the war according to the saintess candidate.

Everything showed that the war wasn't something that started on a whim, but they had planned too many things to have an early advantage.

As she explained all that, she suddenly brought a scroll out of her bag.

"Also, you have to look at this, though it's a bit sensitive and heartbreaking." She opened the scroll and showed it to them.

Instantly, most of them gasped in shock and disgust. Some of them even cursed and insulted Uldor and King Valor loudly. There were even those who couldn't endure the sight and turned their heads.

"I can't believe this."

"They are monsters!"

"Mira, you don't have to see this."

"Where did you get this from!"

Elizabeth listened to them in confusion as she asked: "Can someone tell me what she is showing? I'm blind and can't see..."

"Oh, it's understandable." The candidate with the scroll cleared her throat and explained: "A few days ago, the giants released some of their prisoners and led them toward us with magical scrolls with them."

"The magical scrolls had recording magic in them. They play one scene over and over endlessly so long as you provide them with mana. As for the scene…"

The candidate hesitated for a moment before muttering in sadness: "She's the princess… They're torturing her in every way and forcing her to stay alive with healing magic. It's obvious that they recorded this scene to make the king feel more guilt for not handing over the Crown to them…"

Elizabeth opened her mouth, but no words came out. She couldn't help but feel pity for the princess who was being tortured and the king who was forced to watch that.

It was well-known that the king loved the youngest princess deeply, as he even gave her a bloodline, which not many of his children and grandchildren were able to get.

And although Elizabeth couldn't see it, she knew that the torture was likely in the most aggressive and humiliating ways. Maybe for once, she was lucky that she couldn't see.

"In fact…" The candidate added: "There are rumours that the meeting is announced to discuss this. It was announced the next day after we got the scrolls, which couldn't be seen as a coincidence."

Feeling most of the people listening to her, she said: "There are rumours that he wants to ask for help from the angels to retrieve the princess. The princess is technically an angel like them, and the rumours suggest that he wants to use that fact to ask for their help before King Valor decides to kill her and send her corpse to the king."

The candidates and the others showed different emotions to these rumours. After all, although they had a good relationship with the angels, they weren't close enough to participate in wars. If the king wanted their help, he'd have to pay a high price, and that was in case they even accepted.

All of a sudden, Elizabeth felt a hand touching her leg. She knew that it was Fafnir's hand, so she started focusing on what he was trying to say.

He moved her foot to mimic the act of writing on the ground. After he finished what he wanted to say, Elizabeth raised an eyebrow and smiled: "Sure, you can come out. I don't think anyone would mind."

The moment he heard her, Fafnir immediately manifested on top of the table, his eyes fixed on honey…

'CAKES!'

There were a few honey cakes in the middle of the table. They didn't look as good as the cakes on Earth, but they still looked delicious.

He didn't need to eat, but he knew that Dante was sharing his senses.

In his memories, he saw that the last time his master ate a cake was before his parents died. He wanted to eat a piece to let his master taste it again.

Fafnir took a few steps forward, under everyone's gaze, and cut a small piece with a shadow knife.

Carrying it with him, he returned to Elizabeth and sat on her lap casually.

'My lord, this bite is a gift for you!'

Dante's mood was a bit depressed due to his conversation with Greed, so Fafnir felt it was the perfect time to eat it!

He opened his mouth widely, but before he could take a bite, he felt Elizabeth's hand patting his head.

He turned around and tilted his head in confusion. She was looking at him with a smile and flush on her face, and her eyes seemed to be shining despite her blindness.

"Is–is this your real form? I didn't know you were actually an adorable boy!"

Using her spell and her touch, Elizabeth examined Fafnir's appearance.

He was small enough to sit on Elizabeth's shoulder, and he had no toes or fingers.

He wore a simple shadowy outfit, and his head was round and lacked all of the human features other than two big eyes and one mouth.

This appearance made Elizabeth form an adorable image for him in her mind. If Elizabeth were from Earth, she would have recognised his appearance as that of a plushie.

Unknown to her, that wasn't his real form. He just made himself look like this so he wouldn't scare anyone while taking the cake.

Fafnir ignored her and opened his mouth again, but before he could take that bite, a young candidate pulled him into a hug.

"Is this your pet? Are you a tamer? You don't mind, right?"

"Wait, I want to hold him too!"

"Me next!"

The young girls started taking turns in playing with him, and even Elizabeth was having fun with them. But Fafnir's gaze was fixed solely on one thing.

'THE CAKE!'

As he was about to use some force to go to the cake, he heard a voice that made him dismiss that thought.

'Pfft, hahaha! Fafnir, what did they do to you?!'

Dante laughed inwardly, showing that he was barely suppressing it physically.

'He's enjoying it…'

He gave up immediately and started playing along with them, going as far as acting like a cute living plushie.

He didn't feel embarrassed. He didn't feel humiliated. He didn't feel ashamed.

'So long as he's happy, I'll do anything…'

✧A/N: I started my exams, so I'm now spending less time writing and editing. If you find any mistakes, please inforn me...✧

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.