"Lady Fíliya, may I ask you a question?"
After watching Fíliya eat the snack he had prepared, Macht slowly sat down directly across from her.
He knew that humans seemed to follow a certain rule of being unable to refuse a request after accepting a gift, so since Fíliya had accepted his snacks and tea, she would likely not refuse his question.
"Mm, go ahead."
After getting Fíliya's consent, Macht continued with his question.
"Are the changes in Solitär and Aura related to you?"
"Oh? So that's what this is about."
Fíliya looked at the demon before her with great interest.
"Of course. Their changes are my proudest achievement."
Hearing Fíliya's answer, Macht nodded.
"So it is as I thought. I remember visiting Solitär several decades ago and having a discussion with her, but our talk did not lead to a satisfactory conclusion. To this day, I still do not understand what 'guilt' is, nor do I comprehend human emotions... But it seems she and Aura have already found the answer, one step ahead of me."
"So, you want me to directly answer your questions? That's quite difficult. Some things, even if I were to lay the answer out before you, you still wouldn't understand without experiencing them yourself. After all, the power of words is just that feeble."
"You are right."
Macht's tone remained as calm as ever, but he lowered his head, appearing as if deep in thought.
The room instantly fell silent. Fíliya was happy to use this brief silence to continue observing this demon.
Then, she noticed something that caught her attention.
She saw a strangely designed magical device on Macht's right wrist.
So she curiously reached out, pointed to the magical device, and asked.
"What is this?"
At her words, Macht followed the direction of Fíliya's finger and glanced at the item on his own wrist.
Because he had worn it for so long, the magical device had practically become an extra organ for him, to the point that even he sometimes had trouble noticing its existence.
"I've heard it is a magical device passed down from ancient times—the 'Stone Ring of Domination'. The nobles of Weise had the lord put it on me. In their words, it's supposed to be a 'test,' I suppose."
"Oh? What are its specific effects?"
Fíliya pressed on.
"Well, the lord used this 'Stone Ring of Domination' to give me three commands."
"'To forever obey the people of Weise,' 'You shall not harm humans,' and 'If you ever hold malice toward humans, you will die.'"
Macht slowly recited the three shackles that bound him, but after he finished speaking, the smile on his lips was clearly one of disdain.
Oh? Fíliya narrowed her eyes and began to think.
She just felt that these three commands were a bit too strange.
If the lord here was, as Macht claimed, a wise man with 'ideals,' then it's impossible he wouldn't know the nature of the Demon Race. Such ambiguous commands could not possibly restrain a demon; it would be a complete waste of the magical device's power.
Hmm... In other words...
Fíliya thought of a possibility and looked at Macht.
"This is truly interesting. So you and the lord of this place are 'in cahoots.'"
Fíliya chuckled.
Her deduction successfully caught Macht's attention, and he immediately pressed for more.
"Why would you think that?"
"It's quite simple. Commands like 'You shall not harm humans' and 'You shall not hold malice toward humans' are completely ineffective against a demon like you. You don't understand what 'harm' is, nor do you understand 'malice,' right? So such commands can't restrain you at all... To control a demon, you must issue precise directives, like 'You shall not attack humans.' After all, even a demon couldn't possibly misunderstand the meaning of 'attack,' right?"
"The lord knew this, yet he still wasted the opportunity... So this is all a performance co-directed by you and the lord, just to make the noble factions believe that you've been brought under control."
"Am I right?"
Fíliya looked at Macht with a confident expression.
"Completely correct. I must say, Lady Fíliya, you possess experience that far exceeds your age."
"Alright, alright, spare me the compliments. By the way, I'm quite curious, what kind of agreement did you two make? One that would have the chief of the Seven Sages of Destruction serve humanity for several decades."
Back at the abandoned shipyard, Fíliya had already deduced Macht's intentions from Solitär. She knew Macht had become the guardian of Weise to form a bond with humanity, but what she didn't know now was why this 'shrewd' lord would accept Macht's existence, and even willingly cooperate with him.
The two of them must have had some kind of secret deal.
"It's simple. The lord offered to 'help me understand human malice' in exchange for my service. I helped the lord eliminate his political rivals and, in the process, also became the guardian of this city."
"I see."
Fíliya nodded, took another sip of tea, and tossed a piece of snack into her mouth.
"Don't you feel like you got the short end of the stick? You've wasted decades, and in the end, you still haven't managed to understand 'malice,' yet you've been consistently lending your military might to humans. Looking at this deal, it's clear you're on the losing side."
"I wouldn't necessarily say that. After personally turning Weise, which I had protected for decades, into gold, I did feel something inside me. But it's still not distinct enough. Perhaps I need to conduct a few more similar experiments to find the answer."
"Is that so? A pity, then, that you won't get another chance."
Looking into Macht's eyes, Fíliya stated her assertion directly.
This took Macht by surprise.
"Oh? I thought you and Solitär were here to rescue me."
"Heh? What gave you that idea? I'm with the Magic Association, you know? If I really let you go, wouldn't that make me a traitor to humanity?"
Fíliya chuckled and shrugged.
"Because I feel we are the same kind of person. We are both the type to stop at nothing for our persistent goals, for our ideals... To understand 'malice,' to understand human emotions... I can betray the Demon Race, and I can betray humanity. I believe you are much the same."
Macht's words made Fíliya's lip twitch slightly.
Is that really the image I project? Did something go wrong somewhere?
"Then I'm afraid you've misjudged me. While I dream of achieving my ideals, I do have at least a few scruples. At the very least, I couldn't do something like what you've done."
___
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