The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Around night time, Shien finally managed to leave the palace and return back to the western noble district.

"That girl's seriously vicious…"

Shien kind of wanted to grimace at the treatment he had to endure previously.

"She seriously bit me. Did she really have to be that mad?"

Shien rubbed at a hand, completely speechless.

"If not for the fact that I have resistance skills, I might really have ended up with teeth marks imprinted on my hand."

However, the fact that she went this far did also show just how angry that princess was at him.

"I was just joking around really. Was there really a need to get that mad?"

Shien grumbled. Even so, he still headed toward the direction of Lillet's shop.

After all, in order to placate the princess, Shien had to promise to deliver her delicious deserts as apology for the next few days.

Otherwise, given how vicious that angry kitten's acting, she may or may not be wiling to forgive and release Shien from her grasp.

"That said, this is going to do some serious damage to my wallet."

Shien started sighing as he felt at the few remaining gold coins he still had left.

Lillet's deserts are unbelievably expensive from the start. If he's then forced to buy some for her highness the princess every day, then it'd be strange if he didn't get eaten out of house and home.

"Should I perhaps sell this then?"

Shien raised a hand and brought a certain item before him.

The item in question was the magic staff that Jacinta granted him.

Thanks to the [Appraisal] skill, Shien could easily read what the magic staff's powers are.

This magic staff is not only made from various very rare magic materials, the magic crystal embedded into it is also of the highest quality. With the powerful flow of magic power within it, it was obvious from a glance that it's no ordinary item.

That said, no matter how out of ordinary it is, there's no way that the magic staff could compare to the Holy Sword.

Shien's Holy Sword is the absolute strongest, period. Logically speaking then, it's not like Shien would really need the magic staff at all, so if he were to sell it off, it would doubtlessly earn Shien a ton of money.

"But I am really tempted by the staff's effect through. I really can't bear to sell it at all."

This is a [magic staff], not a [mage's staff] after all.

In this world, there's a major difference between a magic and a mage's staff.

Although both are magic weapons specifically used by mages, they're completely different at the core.

To put it simply, a magic staff is a weapon that has innate magical effects, where as a mage's staff is a weapon that increases a mage's spells and magic power.

The former innately has one or more spells or magic effects, so even a commoner who doesn't know any magi can use it. The magic power requirement will also come from the magic crystal in the staff. The only downside is the fact that it can only use the spells and magic effects that are innate to the staff itself, and no other spells are possible.

The latter's greatest effect is that it's a buff. In the hands of someone who can't sue magic, it'll basically be a completely useless stick. However, in the hands of a mage, it will increase the power and effects of the mage's spells, lower their magic power consumption, or even add additional qualities to their spells like making flames from fire spells harder to extinguish.

Melika for example uses a mage's staff. She can borrow the power of the staff to make her fire and ice magic more powerful.

And what Jacinta gave Shien was a magic staff, capable of casting three different spells.

A detection spell.

An alarm spell.

A dispelling spell.

Those three spells are all very powerful too.

The first is just what it says in the name. When used, it will detect everything around the user, including all living and non-living things. So long as it's within the range, everything, be it the smallest grain of sand or an errant leaf will be detected and its position relayed to the user. It's only drawback is that the range isn't all that large, otherwise it would be extremely powerful.

The second one is also exactly what it says in the name. It can give off a warning when it detects danger. Although it's only half as useful to Shien given his [Enemy Detection] and [Magic Detection], it's not completely useless either. That's because [Enemy Detection] and [Magic Detection] both have their own limits. One is only effective against hostility, and the other only works against magic power. The warning from the magic staff is different in that its effective against all sources of danger, so it will send out warnings even for stuff like when something was poisoned or if there's a trap laid out.

The effect of the third is much more useful though. It can dispel already cast magic. It's especially effective against barriers and the like, where any barrier can be immediately shattered with but a tough. The only downside is that it's a bit costly in terms of magic power.

All three magic effects are very useful. It's likely that even in the demon world, only the highest class of items among high class items could have all three effects.

That fact also means that it would still be usable in Shien's hands.

All three magic effects of the magic staff are quite useful to Shien.

"As expected of one of the direct subordinates of the Dragon Demon, a top class demon among top class demons, an existence that's only exceeded by the six great demon lords, and someone who's basically the second in command of the demon race. He really is quite generous there, so let's not sell it after all."

Shien was quite satisfied, so he put the staff away while muttering to himself.

"Given how generous the demons were, the temple's reward shouldn't be bad either, right?"

Unlike Jacinta's direct gift of the magic staff, Joule instead is having Shien come to the temple and visit the inner sanctum.

But Shien has not idea just what his inner sanctum is.

Shien only knows that back when Joule gave that promise, a lot of both the nobles and the royal knights showed an admiring expression.

In that case, this inner sanctum should have something good waiting for Shien as well, right?

Add in the Kingdom's permission of a month of study time in the underground magic library, the more Shien thought about it, the happier he got.

"It looks like those merits weren't completely worthless after all."

Shien started humming a tune as he headed toward the direction of Lillet's shop.

However, when Shien got to Lillet's, he ended up encountering someone familiar.

"Airi?"

Shien fell silent as he saw the girl standing in front of the confectionery's display window.

Then, Shien unhesitatingly turned about and got ready to leave.

Unfortunately for Shien, he was a step too slow.

"Gah…!"

Shien only felt something grab the back of his shirt again, and this time, the strength pulling at him was even greater. Shien nearly choked on the force of the pull, making him let out a strange squawk.

"Why are you running away?"

Then, Shien heard an extremely unhappy voice.

Who else could it be but Airi who suddenly appeared behind Shien, one hand holding her pillow while the other on the back of Shien's collar, with a displeased expression on her face?

"Why are you running away?"

That girl continued interrogating Shien like it was a major matter for her.

Shien really did want to say something like "do you really not know?"

Could I do anything but run?

If I didn't run, then I'd have to buy this little princess another huge collection of deserts again.

"I'm out of money! I'm broke!"

Shien proclaimed his poorness.

But all that got him was Airi's death glare.

Thus, Shien broke… No! He softened… No! His heart softened!

"I dug my own grave here…"

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