Before Fern could finish speaking, Frieren suddenly set down her suitcase beside her.
Her staff appeared in her hand.
Fern's heart skipped a beat. "Lady Frieren, please don't be angry over the villagers' attitude."
"There are demons here."
What!
Everyone's eyes widened at once.
In the open space ahead of the village, an old woman spread her shawl and pulled two children into her arms.
Before anyone could react, Frieren had already aid her staff at the two children, mana gathering at its tip.
Just then, several villagers ran over and blocked their path.
"Stop!"
They were the sa people who had looked at them so coldly when they first entered the village.
The one leading them was a middle-aged man with a goatee. His expression was stern as he stood in front of Frieren. "You're adventurers, aren't you? Judging from your actions, you've already discovered those two children's identities. Since that's the case, please refrain from using force inside the village."
"Otherwise, we'll have no choice but to ask you to leave."
???
Shane and the others looked at one another, all of them completely baffled.
"Sir, you know those two children are demons."
"Of course."
"Then why—"
"So what if they're demons? They're still only children."
That one sentence left Shane speechless on the spot.
For a mont, he almost felt dazed, as though he could no longer tell what era he was living in.
"If you want to stay the night here, you're welco. But those are children our village has taken in. Please don't hurt them. Otherwise, we won't be polite."
As he spoke, the villagers surrounded the four of them.
Shane frowned.
He looked past the villagers toward the children being firmly protected in the old woman's arms.
They seed to be twins.
The two children looked only three or four years old. Their eyes peeked out from the crook of the old woman's arms as they warily observed Shane.
The mont their gazes t his, the two children did not shrink away. Instead, a faint provocation appeared in their eyes.
"Grandma, we're scared. They're talking so loudly. It's so scary."
The old woman shielding them stroked their backs again and again, her face full of affection. "There, there. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid."
Shane imdiately understood.
Now was not the ti for a confrontation.
These two demon children had probably run out on purpose to draw their attention.
"Frieren, in that case, let's respect the villagers' choice. After all—we're adults. Why should we make a fuss over two children?"
Hearing Shane's words, Frieren frowned slightly and glanced at him.
Shane nodded to her.
When the villagers saw how reasonable Shane was, their attitude imdiately softened. The way they looked at him also grew a little friendlier.
The goateed man patted Shane on the shoulder. "Not bad, young man. I can tell you understand the bigger picture. There's an empty house behind the village. Stay there as you like. As long as you don't hurt the children, you can stay as long as you want."
Shane smiled and nodded.
Following the man's directions, the group arrived at an empty house and tidied it up briefly.
Once the villagers were no longer watching them, Shane imdiately opened [Goddess's Barrier] inside the house, cutting off all information from the outside.
"Shane, the villagers will pay the price for this."
Inside the barrier, Frieren spoke.
She understood demons better than anyone.
They were nothing more than monsters that imitated human speech. They were not "children" at all.
"Frieren, humans are a very arrogant species. People have always believed what they see more than what they hear."
"Since that's the case, we'll just let them witness it with their own eyes."
Fern looked worried. "How are we supposed to let them witness it with their own eyes?"
Shane did not answer right away. Instead, he smiled and looked at Stark.
Stark froze for a mont under Shane's smile, then slowly beca wary. "You… you're not planning to make —"
After all, you're the king of children.
"We'll stay in the village for the next few days. Spend more ti playing with the children. Don't worry. A vicious wolf in sheep's clothing will show its true colors sooner or later."
In his previous life, surveillance caras were the ultimate weapon against bratty children.
Here, [Image Recording Magic] was the divine weapon against "demon children."
Over the next few days, everyone lived leisurely.
Fern was a good girl and always helped the villagers with whatever she could, especially the elderly.
As Shane requested, Stark spent all day running wild with a group of children.
Naturally, the two demon children were among them.
Shane and Frieren had nothing to do. They either stared blankly at the children or chatted nearby about [Attributes].
"Did you feel anything special after your spiritual power upgraded?"
"I feel like I can last longer."
"?"
"Oh, I an that every ti I manipulate attributes, I can handle more of them. The chance of high-grade attributes appearing has also gone up a little, and they're all very useful. Here, take a look at this."
As he spoke, Shane took out a bean and handed it to Frieren.
Frieren looked at the completely ordinary bean, her face blank.
"Try injecting a tiny bit of mana into it. Just a little. A tiny, tiny bit."
Following Shane's instructions, Frieren injected the faintest trace of mana into the bean. In an instant, the bean erupted with blinding light, turning the entire village into a field of white and nearly drawing everyone's attention.
Frieren was shocked.
"This is—"
"This is [Magic Amplification]."
[Magic Amplification (Purple/Epic)]: Amplifies the power of magic up to tenfold.
It was a very simple attribute, but its effect was explosive.
For a mage, this attribute was worth half a lifeti of grueling training.
Frieren's mouth parted slightly in disbelief. She had only ever seen this term in very ancient grimoires. In ancient tis, many powerful mages constructed this [Amplification] spell formula on the staves or magical tools they used in order to strengthen the power of their magic.
She never expected Shane to be able to reproduce it!
"Based on my recent experience, attributes can be obtained repeatedly. But right now, I only have one copy of this attribute—"
Shane touched the beans in his pocket. Several green [Water Purification] attributes were lying inside.
According to his experience, the higher the grade of an attribute, the lower the chance of duplicates appearing seed to be. So far, he had only obtained repeated white and green ones.
Originally, he had wanted to gather two of them, one for Frieren and one for Fern.
But even after using up all the scraps from the Solar Dragon's nest, he had only gotten this one.
Hearing his words, Frieren imdiately understood what he ant. She decisively shook her head and handed the bean back.
"Whether you want to give it to or to Fern, don't do it for now."
"Why?"
"Because growing a tree takes ti, but cutting one down is easy."
Shane nodded.
He understood Frieren's concern.
Training and accumulating mana was a lifelong required lesson for any mage. If one could take an easy shortcut so effortlessly, then the hard work of day-and-night training would beco a joke. Once that opening appeared, the firmness of one's heart would be tested and tornted.
"Then we'll save this for a critical mont."
At that point—
From the distance, a child's scream suddenly rang out.
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