87 The Necromancer and the Priestess 21 (1/2)

”Ah... Leon, this is my childhood friend, El,” Yin Mei said, with a slightly forced smile. ”El, this is Leon. He's been helping me with my magic research...”

El looked Leon up and down. So this was the famous space mage Leon? He remembered - that was right, wasn't he the one that was researching that magic with Celes that caused her to go unconscious? His dislike increased by another degree. No, this sort of frivolous guy wasn't any good... he needed to get rid of him immediately!

El glared at Leon with a pair of sharp eyes, sending a shiver down the man's spine. He immediately became guarded. So these were the eyes of an infamous criminal...!?

No, they were just the eyes of someone eating vinegar without realizing.

”But, this person...” Leon spoke warily, and Yin Mei knew what he was trying to say, seeing the suspicion on his face.

”I-it's my fault!” Yin Mei said, pushing El so that now he was the one who was behind her.

”What?” Even El was slightly confused, the both of the men looking to Yin Mei with startled expressions.

Yin Mei put on an uneasy expression, looking down slightly as she put to use her beautiful face, that pair of watery blue eyes able to evoke all sorts of feelings of pity. ”It's because of me that El did all those things... so don't blame him...!”

El was confused. Could it be that Celes was blaming herself all this time? He couldn't let her do something like that. Someone like him didn't deserve...

On the other hand, Leon was also confused. The high priestess... was the reason that the most infamous criminal of the continent committed all the crimes that he did? Could that be possible? But this revelation of their relationship as childhood friends was shocking enough...

Yin Mei chose this moment to raise her eyes, looking to Leon with a pleading gaze.

Leon was thus immediately KO'ed. ”... Alright, I'll believe you.” He finally said, with slight reluctance. He was still suspicious about this guy, but seeing Yin Mei's expression, he couldn't bring himself to say anymore. It was clear that there was some sort of painful past associated with all this. ”But, what about the thing with the demon...?” He pointedly looked at Eve's unconscious figure, implying how they had seemed to know each other.

At first glance, neither El nor Eve looked like demons, and appeared almost identical to humans. Among demons, there were many races, some appearing less human than others - from horns, to scales, to wings and tails, there were a variety of ways that humans distinguished demons from themselves. Aside from appearance, the other way was magic. Demonic magic was slightly different from human magic.

Though, there were ways to disguise someone's magic to make them completely indistinguishable from that of a human, Eve hadn't done that when she was releasing her aura in anger. Due to this, Leon could feel that this person was ”not human”.

Although he didn't know what demonic magic felt like, he could certainly tell that this person used something fundamentally different from human magic.

If Yin Mei had to describe the difference, then she would say that the magic demons used could be classified into two types. Firstly, an ”elemental-less” type of general use magic that has a basis in science, and secondly, hereditary magic, such as the vampire's blood magic to give an example.

For mages, it was quite easy to tell the difference in feel, though it was hard to find the right words to describe just how it felt different.

As a result, Leon could tell that although this girl may look human, she was most certainly a demon.

And with the conversation between them, he could infer... that El, might also be a demon.

Though, in that case, how was it that he was the childhood friend of the high priestess? Wouldn't that be impossible? Since there had not been a demon in the last thousands of years. Even if some demons survived past the closing of the demon gate, cut off from their world and source of power, they would find it hard pressed to survive. After several thousand years, they would be dead, and their descendants no different from human.

Yin Mei looked away at this, not exactly knowing how to answer. The hatred between humans and demons... hm? Actually, since it had been so long since the last opening of the demon bridge, the hatred between demons and humans wasn't actually as strong as it had been in the distant past. So maybe, if she just said the truth, Leon wouldn't mind? She tilted her head, trying to judge just how severe the racism between these two races really was.

”This is because...” Her expression became troubled, not sure what to say.

This sort of troubled expression immediately caused Leon to come up with all sorts of reasons in his head to answer his own question, all equally tragic and epic stories to rival those that the priestesses would come up with during their free time.

”No, there's no need to say anymore.” He said, surprising Yin Mei. ”I understand. It must be something too difficult to talk about.” He continued, and Yin Mei tilted her head in confusion, a multitude of question marks practically written on her face. ”I'm sure it's a terrible story...!”

... If you say so. Yin Mei didn't know what happened, but if Leon said so, then sure. She'd accept this result. ”I see. That's good.” She answered woodenly, before quickly changing the subject. ”Let's go back to the camp.”

”Ah, but we can't go back with...” Leon looked toward El.

”Oh, there's no issues there,” Yin Mei said, and El promptly changed his appearance. His hair turned black, his eyes green, and his height appeared to shrink a little, while his face appeared more gentle and scholarly than before.

Leon let out a voice of admiration. This sort of thorough transformation magic was really hard to do - there weren't even signs of any magic use, very skillful! But, it also sent a shiver up his spine. Skillful, and just as dangerous. No wonder this guy could escape capture for so long! With such skilled transformation magic, there was no way that he could ever get caught.

”Just call him Kiel,” Yin Mei said, and Leon blinked.

”Kiel? Why is that name so familiar?” He said, trying to remember.

”Probably because Kiel is a professor at the magic academy,” Yin Mei said and Leon gaped. A professor at the magic academy? That prestigious magic academy in the capital?